Arrived

Well I arrived safely back home this morning, managed to get to church with plenty of time to spare. All of the flights were on time or early, and my bag didn't get lost (although one of the wheels did get damaged, but that's not a big deal).

Thanks to everyone who was praying for my trip, I do appreciate it; and thanks and praise to God for keeping me safe all the way home.

Going home

I've been keeping track of what's going on with the weather back home; it's not much better here in New Hampshire but at least we're not getting the wind here, just incessant rain. It wasn't raining much during our soccer game yesterday (which I successfully managed to avoid injury in) but the grass was wet so my sneakers were soaked within the first 2 minutes.

Anyway I checked out the MetService website this morning, and found this waiting for about 12 hours before I'm meant to be flying back into Auckland:



Could be interesting... whether we take off from San Francisco if there's such severe weather waiting at our arrival. Or whether we will get diverted somewhere else... anything could happen, so I guess we'll just take it one day or one hour at a time (and try to find somewhere to take a shower at San Francisco airport!)

Thunderstorms in New Hampshire

Well the conference is less than interesting, I have a cold, and the weather leaves a lot to be desired. In short, I can't wait to go home...

My talk was ok, but I really should have looked into things (i.e. what the conference is about) and declined on the basis that it is outside my field. I feel kind of guilty that the conference organisers have paid for half of the trip and I'm skipping the sessions to do other stuff (or else staying in there and doing crossword puzzles because I'm bored out of my tree). There is a talk tonight on synchrotron techniques which I think is going to be the highlight for me. Anyway we shall see, and in the meantime I won't get my hopes up too much.

The place we are at is in the middle of NOWHERE. I walked 40 minutes into 'town' the other day (needed to buy some tissues and cold medicine) and got more than just glanced at by a couple of guys, if you know what I mean. I guess they don't get much practise at being discrete around girls. That was pretty close to where somebody had parked a pick-up truck with trailer on the back, 2 cows in the trailer. All rather amusing... but still I can't wait to go back home.

Bawston

I arrived in Boston yesterday, the flight was ok. Just the usual, neither good nor bad (apart from the fact I have to do it again next week, followed by another 12 hours to Auckland).
I'm currently sitting in a hotel at the airport, don't have to check out until 10 am to get back to the airport to go to another hotel which is where the bus will pick us up to take us to the conference site.
The good news is I practised my talk last night and it was exactly to time (20 minutes). The bad news is that they are forecasting thunderstorms this week...

The two days at Stanford were ok. Taking stock as I was on the way to the airport, I realised we weren't ever really going to get much done in two days. The guys seemed to pick everything up pretty quickly (it's not really all that difficult).
My American experience is now complete however; the only vehicle available at the rental car place was a pick-up truck. It's easily the biggest thing I've ever had to drive!

Next trip - starting tomorrow

I mentioned already that I have another trip coming up.

Tomorrow it's off to Stanford for 2 days before heading on up to New Hampshire for a conference.
This is my first taste of being an invited speaker. Exciting!

The conference program is rather interesting. Every afternoon we get 3 hours of free time (with organised activities). The one I am most looking forward to is the 'Europe vs. the rest of the world' soccer match. Other activities include kayaking, hiking, golf etc. The conference sessions are held in the morning and the evening, and there is an emphasis on discussion over merely presenting your results.

So tomorrow morning will be spent tidying up the house and packing...

About as useful as a screen door on a submarine

Imagine my joy at receiving this incredibly generous fuel discount voucher at the supermarket today.

Given that petrol (that's "gas" if you live in the US) is currently NZ$2.19 a litre (about US$6.50 a gallon), a 2c discount... yeah well it could save me on a single piece of toilet paper for this week perhaps?

Petrol went up 12 cents in 3 days a couple of weeks ago, which meant I had to fill up with it costing $2.12, less a 6c discount, grand total over $70. Then we hear on the news that every $5 per barrel that crude oil increases, means a 6c per litre increase at the pump.
But then crude oil fell by $5.39 today. I know because I saw it on TV. So surely we should expect the petrol price to fall too? Yeah... pull the other one, it plays jingle bells.

A few years ago, petrol companies would go up and down by a couple of cents a litre, several times a day. It was ridiculous. Now they've changed to doing big jumps every couple of weeks, without warning. Which is also ridiculous.

I've been having mixed reactions to the whole petrol price thing. I should probably try cycling to work... but it's cold in the mornings right now. I can't manage without the car, because I have to get mountains of stuff down to church for the kids' programme, plus public transport in New Zealand is rubbish. So I just grimace and bear with it, and keep track of how much I'm now having to spend on petrol vs. food.

Anybody else like to share how fuel prices are affecting your lifestyle?

Winter is here

So Sheba's new family came and picked her up on Friday night. I guess I'll find out at work on Monday how things are going. Saturday I did vacuuming and am now relishing having my house back to 'normal'. Definitely a lesson learnt. I was a little bit sad to see her go, but also very relieved that things have worked out as well as they have. So it was a dry-eyed farewell and readjustment period. Although Mum went out and bought a pot-plant for me, in the cat's stead... I suppose at least that won't leave poos in the bath.

We had the second week of church badminton on Friday night which was fun, although my shoulder still has a twinge of pain every now and then, if I make some sudden movement or try to smash. Anyway it feels good to be getting some exercise again.

Speaking of exercise our soccer game on Sunday was cancelled - it's been raining continuously here for the last 24 hours and the grounds are resembling a big duck pond. So it'll be another week to wait for my first post-recovery game.

This week being the last week of the school term, I'm organising the first CKC prize night, at my house - just like we had for KBC. There are 4 kids who have enough points to qualify, so hopefully it will be a fun time.

Two weeks to go until my next trip overseas: two days at Stanford for experiments on the way to a conference in New Hampshire. This is my first conference invitation, which means they are paying for most of the travel. It looks good on the ol' CV too! And it'll mean adding another state to the list of where I've been...

I made a mistake

"I've called her Sheba. Yes it is unusual to have a female ginger cat.

We got her from the Wellington SPCA, she'd only arrived a few days before (so that was a good deal for them, I guess!) and the reason she was there was her previous owners said they didn't have enough time for her. Which is pretty sad on their part.

So far she's been very good, only ever done her business in her dirt box, and eaten pretty much anything I've put down, and not scratched at the furniture too much. The first night she was a bit mad, running everywhere (it didn't help that I wasn't feeling well). But she is very friendly, and hopefully in a couple of weeks she'll settle down into being in a new house."

Sorry Sheba. I made a mistake in thinking I was in a position to look after you. You're very cute, and friendly, and you deserve better than me. I know you're still settling in, and I shouldn't mind it that you've been using the bathtub as a toilet, that you don't want to eat sometimes, that you leave hair all over the place. That's what cats do, so I'm told. To be honest I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe that's the problem.

I hope you'll be happy with your new house. Come Saturday and you'll have a real family to look after you, not just a loner who's hardly ever home.

You'll be ok - look how quickly you settled into my place.

The question is, will I? Talk about feeling like a complete and utter failure. But this is the best thing for you, and it's definitely a lesson learned for me. There are some things in life that you can't test-drive, and this is one of them. How do you know how much your life will change by taking on a new pet, like any new relationship? Simple - you don't. Unless you've been there before.

The shortest day

Tomorrow is the shortest day (in the southern hemisphere, at least).

Anyway I needed a title more interesting than "last week".

Big news from last week is, I went back to fracture clinic yesterday for another x-ray and consultation. While things are far from 100% it is slowly getting better, there is clearly bone growth. I'll always have a lump but they don't need to do anything else. And best of all, I've been given the all-clear to get back into sport!

That evening we had our inaugural badminton night down at church, which was lots of fun. My shoulder was hurting by the end but it is ok this morning.
They didn't have soccer training on Friday night so hopefully I'll be able to play if I just turn up tomorrow - assuming the game is on. The weather is supposed to be bad.

New addition

Sorry for being cryptic in the last post.

Here's my news:





I've called her Sheba. Yes it is unusual to have a female ginger cat.

We got her from the Wellington SPCA, she'd only arrived a few days before (so that was a good deal for them, I guess!) and the reason she was there was her previous owners said they didn't have enough time for her. Which is pretty sad on their part.

So far she's been very good, only ever done her business in her dirt box, and eaten pretty much anything I've put down, and not scratched at the furniture too much. The first night she was a bit mad, running everywhere (it didn't help that I wasn't feeling well). But she is very friendly, and hopefully in a couple of weeks she'll settle down into being in a new house.