Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose
Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose
Panda hippo gnu deer
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
The most wonderful time of the year
Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose
Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose
Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose
Panda hippo gnu deer
Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose
Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose
Panda hippo gnu deer
Friday, November 11, 2011
The synchrotron roller-coaster
I've been meaning to write an update for a while now; lately I've become a little paranoid about announcing that I'm going to be away for a week or so, so I've been saving it until I get back. The only thing is that my last trip away was now over three weeks ago, and I haven't written anything about it.
No prizes for guessing where I went. Two colleagues and I travelled to Melbourne for some soft X-ray spectroscopy experiments, looking at aluminium in zinc oxide (for solar cell applications; at least that's what we write in our research grants). Now I've only used the soft X-ray beamline once before, and it is quite challenging. I should point out here that there are different kinds of X-rays, soft and hard: soft, falling in the range between the ultraviolet and hard X-ray region. Hard X-rays being of high enough energy that they aren't absorbed by the air. Soft X-rays are absorbed by the air, which means that the experiments all have to be done under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions. Which means you can't just pick them up and put them in the beam, like I do with all my other experiments, but there's a complicated loading procedure as the sample gets transferred from one chamber to another, all the while getting pumped down to a vacuum level approaching that of outer space. So it takes a while (about 2-3 hours), and on top of that is the added pressure that the soft X-ray beamline is ultimately opened up to the same vacuum that the electrons that make the synchrotron work, are whizzing around in. So if you open the wrong valve at the wrong time, and lots of air gets in, you might as well pack your bags because you won't be allowed back.
We had four days of beamtime, and every day there was some period of frustration followed by another period of elation. It was a real roller-coaster ride. On day 1 we went through figuring out what scans we were going to use to measure all of the samples. Peak #1: we were able to get beautiful data from the aluminium in our standard compound. Then we swapped to one of our samples, which had a much smaller amount of aluminium in it. Problem #1 - we couldn't see anything. This was a pretty major issue, because we had samples with between 0.5 and 4% aluminium, and this was a 4%. So we swapped to a 0.5% that was on the same sample holder (bearing in mind it takes 2-3 hours to load a new sample), and Peak #2 - we could see a decent signal from the 0.5%. We measured a few more and figured that something was screwy with the 4% samples. So that helped us make up our minds in terms of priorities. Then we tried a 2% and a 1%, and there was something wrong with the 1%. So we decided to focus on the 2% samples. Everything went pretty well from that point, until the last night. When transferring one of the samples, I managed to get it lodged in a place that I could only push it forward and couldn't pull it out. Ultimately it ended up sitting in a window port, completely inaccessible with the transfer arm inside the vacuum system... in full view, as if it was saying, 'Na nah na nah, can't get me!'
The stuck sample! (It's meant to sit in the rack just behind it, but somehow I managed to push it all the way through)
The whiteboard system used for keeping track of what samples are where. My colleagues added a new location - 'magazine window'. Yeah well it was funny at the time!
The next day the synchrotron beam was turned off for maintenance, so we helped the beamline scientist open up the vacuum system, retrieve the sample (there were another couple that had fallen off previously too, which he also retrieved), close it all up and start pumping down again. After we'd apologised profusely and helped as much as we could to fix things, and since our flight wasn't leaving until the following morning, we decided to head into the city and spend the afternoon there. It was probably the best day we'd had weather-wise, and it was good to relax a little bit. Although we did end up relaxing perhaps a bit too much on the City Circular tram... we were all starting to fall asleep. So at that point - we were pretty close to where we had parked the car - we decided that we probably wouldn't be able to stay awake until the evening to have dinner in town as planned, so we headed back out to where we were staying in Clayton.
That night I remember was pretty rough. Usually I'm able to get a flight home in the evening of the day I finish beamtime, so I'm home when the post-beamtime blues set in. But not this time. It's weird, the way that I put myself through it time and time again. Sleep deprivation (caused by long hours and weird shifts), combined with brain having to be completely focused on the task at hand, means that when you're high you're high, and inevitably there's a big crash waiting for you as things return to 'normal'. That, and you do develop a very unique relationship with your colleagues. After four or five days you get to know things about them - and share things with them about yourself - that you wouldn't normally. But I can't say any more than that, because as the saying goes, 'what happens on beamtime stays on beamtime'.
I have two more synchrotron experiments in Melbourne before the end of the year, but thankfully they're both short - one for two days and one for one day (i.e. 24 hrs). Add to that there's two annual meetings (one for the MacDiarmid Institute and one for our combined nanoparticle research groups' meeting, this year in Martinborough), and the Australian Synchrotron user meeting. And here was me hoping to do something special for my Christmas lights this year. You never know, it might still happen... but only if I do it now!
Oh and in other news we had a church retreat last weekend. It was great fun - although hard to go back to work afterwards.
And yet other news, Mum and I have booked our tickets for a holiday to Europe next year for six weeks...
No prizes for guessing where I went. Two colleagues and I travelled to Melbourne for some soft X-ray spectroscopy experiments, looking at aluminium in zinc oxide (for solar cell applications; at least that's what we write in our research grants). Now I've only used the soft X-ray beamline once before, and it is quite challenging. I should point out here that there are different kinds of X-rays, soft and hard: soft, falling in the range between the ultraviolet and hard X-ray region. Hard X-rays being of high enough energy that they aren't absorbed by the air. Soft X-rays are absorbed by the air, which means that the experiments all have to be done under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions. Which means you can't just pick them up and put them in the beam, like I do with all my other experiments, but there's a complicated loading procedure as the sample gets transferred from one chamber to another, all the while getting pumped down to a vacuum level approaching that of outer space. So it takes a while (about 2-3 hours), and on top of that is the added pressure that the soft X-ray beamline is ultimately opened up to the same vacuum that the electrons that make the synchrotron work, are whizzing around in. So if you open the wrong valve at the wrong time, and lots of air gets in, you might as well pack your bags because you won't be allowed back.
We had four days of beamtime, and every day there was some period of frustration followed by another period of elation. It was a real roller-coaster ride. On day 1 we went through figuring out what scans we were going to use to measure all of the samples. Peak #1: we were able to get beautiful data from the aluminium in our standard compound. Then we swapped to one of our samples, which had a much smaller amount of aluminium in it. Problem #1 - we couldn't see anything. This was a pretty major issue, because we had samples with between 0.5 and 4% aluminium, and this was a 4%. So we swapped to a 0.5% that was on the same sample holder (bearing in mind it takes 2-3 hours to load a new sample), and Peak #2 - we could see a decent signal from the 0.5%. We measured a few more and figured that something was screwy with the 4% samples. So that helped us make up our minds in terms of priorities. Then we tried a 2% and a 1%, and there was something wrong with the 1%. So we decided to focus on the 2% samples. Everything went pretty well from that point, until the last night. When transferring one of the samples, I managed to get it lodged in a place that I could only push it forward and couldn't pull it out. Ultimately it ended up sitting in a window port, completely inaccessible with the transfer arm inside the vacuum system... in full view, as if it was saying, 'Na nah na nah, can't get me!'
The next day the synchrotron beam was turned off for maintenance, so we helped the beamline scientist open up the vacuum system, retrieve the sample (there were another couple that had fallen off previously too, which he also retrieved), close it all up and start pumping down again. After we'd apologised profusely and helped as much as we could to fix things, and since our flight wasn't leaving until the following morning, we decided to head into the city and spend the afternoon there. It was probably the best day we'd had weather-wise, and it was good to relax a little bit. Although we did end up relaxing perhaps a bit too much on the City Circular tram... we were all starting to fall asleep. So at that point - we were pretty close to where we had parked the car - we decided that we probably wouldn't be able to stay awake until the evening to have dinner in town as planned, so we headed back out to where we were staying in Clayton.
That night I remember was pretty rough. Usually I'm able to get a flight home in the evening of the day I finish beamtime, so I'm home when the post-beamtime blues set in. But not this time. It's weird, the way that I put myself through it time and time again. Sleep deprivation (caused by long hours and weird shifts), combined with brain having to be completely focused on the task at hand, means that when you're high you're high, and inevitably there's a big crash waiting for you as things return to 'normal'. That, and you do develop a very unique relationship with your colleagues. After four or five days you get to know things about them - and share things with them about yourself - that you wouldn't normally. But I can't say any more than that, because as the saying goes, 'what happens on beamtime stays on beamtime'.
I have two more synchrotron experiments in Melbourne before the end of the year, but thankfully they're both short - one for two days and one for one day (i.e. 24 hrs). Add to that there's two annual meetings (one for the MacDiarmid Institute and one for our combined nanoparticle research groups' meeting, this year in Martinborough), and the Australian Synchrotron user meeting. And here was me hoping to do something special for my Christmas lights this year. You never know, it might still happen... but only if I do it now!
Oh and in other news we had a church retreat last weekend. It was great fun - although hard to go back to work afterwards.
And yet other news, Mum and I have booked our tickets for a holiday to Europe next year for six weeks...
Saturday, October 8, 2011
The rugby world cup, and a new bike
Ok, so these are two things that you wouldn't think would go together, but for me they kind of do.
Even Kirk's (Kirkaldie and Stains, the Harrods of Wellington) has decorated their shop for the Rugby World Cup. Not a bad effort, either!
So here's my new bike. It's a 2011 Giant Talon 2 - hydraulic front suspension, hydraulic disc brakes, Shimano gears, all very nice (and on special too!). I took it out on my 'regular' firebreak route - up the Kingsley St track from Stokes Valley, then south along the ridgeline to Summit Road. I normally allowed 3 1/2 hrs on my old bike (which I bought from my brother Stuart, which he bought in 1999), but either I'm getting fitter or the new bike means I can go faster, because it now takes just over 3 hrs and that's with a couple of breaks to take pictures and munch on a muesli bar. Certainly I'm noticing a big difference in the bottom gear: second-to-bottom on this bike feels like the bottom gear on the old one, which means getting up the steep bits is now mostly achievable because there's just that little bit extra range.
I rode it to work yesterday, and being such a nice afternoon (and a Friday) I decided to go home early, the long way - up the Wainui hill road (well, up the walking track next to the Wainui hill road), the along the ridge to Summit Road and home from there, which took just under 1 1/2 hours. It's normally 20 minutes if I go the most direct way, on the road.
The photo above was taken last Saturday - a perfect day for biking, nice and warm, hardly any wind.
Then on the Sunday the weather packed up, so I went and joined a whole bunch of people all wearing jeans and black shirts...
... to watch the All Blacks play Canada in their final pool match of the Rugby World Cup. I was offered a free ticket by someone at work; IRL had been given 4 tickets by a local law firm, and the powers-that-be decided to give them to people who had been involved with IRL's 'education outreach' programmes (school visits, tutoring etc.). I've been helping out occasionally with the tutoring group on Thursday afternoons for the last couple of years. So that was a very pleasant surprise!
This is only the second rugby game I'd ever really been to (the other being a Super-12 game of the Hurricanes vs the Waratahs, which we lost; I also tagged along with Dad one time in Palmie when he was doing the computer scoring, for Manawatu vs. Tonga, but I didn't really watch the game).
So the game was all right (although I did feel sorry for Canada), the crowds were pretty well-behaved (given it was a Sunday afternoon, it meant people were still pretty civilised on the train going home), and apart from struggling to make small talk with the lawyers it was a pretty good day!
Even Kirk's (Kirkaldie and Stains, the Harrods of Wellington) has decorated their shop for the Rugby World Cup. Not a bad effort, either!
So here's my new bike. It's a 2011 Giant Talon 2 - hydraulic front suspension, hydraulic disc brakes, Shimano gears, all very nice (and on special too!). I took it out on my 'regular' firebreak route - up the Kingsley St track from Stokes Valley, then south along the ridgeline to Summit Road. I normally allowed 3 1/2 hrs on my old bike (which I bought from my brother Stuart, which he bought in 1999), but either I'm getting fitter or the new bike means I can go faster, because it now takes just over 3 hrs and that's with a couple of breaks to take pictures and munch on a muesli bar. Certainly I'm noticing a big difference in the bottom gear: second-to-bottom on this bike feels like the bottom gear on the old one, which means getting up the steep bits is now mostly achievable because there's just that little bit extra range.
I rode it to work yesterday, and being such a nice afternoon (and a Friday) I decided to go home early, the long way - up the Wainui hill road (well, up the walking track next to the Wainui hill road), the along the ridge to Summit Road and home from there, which took just under 1 1/2 hours. It's normally 20 minutes if I go the most direct way, on the road.
The photo above was taken last Saturday - a perfect day for biking, nice and warm, hardly any wind.
Then on the Sunday the weather packed up, so I went and joined a whole bunch of people all wearing jeans and black shirts...
... to watch the All Blacks play Canada in their final pool match of the Rugby World Cup. I was offered a free ticket by someone at work; IRL had been given 4 tickets by a local law firm, and the powers-that-be decided to give them to people who had been involved with IRL's 'education outreach' programmes (school visits, tutoring etc.). I've been helping out occasionally with the tutoring group on Thursday afternoons for the last couple of years. So that was a very pleasant surprise!
This is only the second rugby game I'd ever really been to (the other being a Super-12 game of the Hurricanes vs the Waratahs, which we lost; I also tagged along with Dad one time in Palmie when he was doing the computer scoring, for Manawatu vs. Tonga, but I didn't really watch the game).
So the game was all right (although I did feel sorry for Canada), the crowds were pretty well-behaved (given it was a Sunday afternoon, it meant people were still pretty civilised on the train going home), and apart from struggling to make small talk with the lawyers it was a pretty good day!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Melbourne
I just got back on Thursday night from my most recent trip, again to Melbourne. We had two sets of experiments scheduled back-to-back, and I think I'm now suffering from beamtime-lag.
Both were using the powder diffraction line; the first was using a new technique (new for me, anyway) called pair distribution function analysis or PDF (not to be confused with Post-Doctoral Fellowship or Portable Document Format or any of the other 66 acronyms). This involved having to change samples about every hour, and take what feels like pointless measurements of the same empty glass capillary and the air (i.e. nothing in the beam). The analysis is even more tricky and I suspect it's going to take quite a long time - although we do have an under-utilised computer geek at work whose services I have been encouraged to avail myself of.
The second set of experiments involved using the beamline in a completely different way than anyone has used it before, to look at diffraction from thin films. This involved bringing our own rotation stage across several months ago, and then hooking it up to the beamline with an area detector (and this was the first time this had been used by anyone other than the beamline staff). It took the best part of a day to get everything up and running, and then when we started looking at the samples (high-temperature superconductors on a highly oriented commercial substrate) it got quite frustrating. My brain had had enough, and with so many diffraction peaks from the various oriented layers, we struggled to figure out a suitable protocol for measuring things. This led to repeating some of the samples a couple of times, but after those initial hiccups, everything went pretty smoothly. The only trouble was, this experiment needed something doing every 5 minutes. Fortunately we had planned for this and had a team of three, so we could work around the clock and try to have at least 2 people on at all times. We got through all the most important samples and think we managed to see what we set out to see (that can't be seen on the lab instrument). So just from those three days I have about 8 GB of data to work through. So that will keep me busy!
After that (my last shift started at midnight on Tuesday and finished at 8 am) I got a couple of hours' sleep and then drove down to visit my friends Paul and Marge who live in Mornington. I stayed with them for a couple of days; we took a trip out to Phillip Island, which I hadn't been to before. Kind of reminded me a bit of Waiheke Island with the different kinds (and classes) of holiday homes, the beaches, the townships with only a couple of shops, the laid-back-ness (is that even a word?). But I'm sure the weather is quite different in a southerly
The second set of experiments involved using the beamline in a completely different way than anyone has used it before, to look at diffraction from thin films. This involved bringing our own rotation stage across several months ago, and then hooking it up to the beamline with an area detector (and this was the first time this had been used by anyone other than the beamline staff). It took the best part of a day to get everything up and running, and then when we started looking at the samples (high-temperature superconductors on a highly oriented commercial substrate) it got quite frustrating. My brain had had enough, and with so many diffraction peaks from the various oriented layers, we struggled to figure out a suitable protocol for measuring things. This led to repeating some of the samples a couple of times, but after those initial hiccups, everything went pretty smoothly. The only trouble was, this experiment needed something doing every 5 minutes. Fortunately we had planned for this and had a team of three, so we could work around the clock and try to have at least 2 people on at all times. We got through all the most important samples and think we managed to see what we set out to see (that can't be seen on the lab instrument). So just from those three days I have about 8 GB of data to work through. So that will keep me busy!
My colleague Martin hard at work
After that (my last shift started at midnight on Tuesday and finished at 8 am) I got a couple of hours' sleep and then drove down to visit my friends Paul and Marge who live in Mornington. I stayed with them for a couple of days; we took a trip out to Phillip Island, which I hadn't been to before. Kind of reminded me a bit of Waiheke Island with the different kinds (and classes) of holiday homes, the beaches, the townships with only a couple of shops, the laid-back-ness (is that even a word?). But I'm sure the weather is quite different in a southerly
With Paul and Marge at Phillip Island
The Nobbies, Phillip Island. We saw two penguins hiding in burrows
but couldn't tell which part of the penguin we were looking at...
but couldn't tell which part of the penguin we were looking at...
The beach at Mornington
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
More snow
First there was snow on the hills. Then on Sunday, we had this slushy stuff falling out of the sky, right here in Lower Hutt. Monday we had real flurries, that settled in the hills (like at Al's place) but on the valley floor it was more like hail. I took a detour to work via the hill suburb of Kelson...
Then about 3:30 pm today we had some real snow that actually settled. About 3-4 cm at my place, I reckon. Sure it's a far cry from the 50 cm being reported in Christchurch, but this is the first time it's happened here in living memory. Enjoy the pictures... (click on them to see larger images)
Then about 3:30 pm today we had some real snow that actually settled. About 3-4 cm at my place, I reckon. Sure it's a far cry from the 50 cm being reported in Christchurch, but this is the first time it's happened here in living memory. Enjoy the pictures... (click on them to see larger images)
I think it's time to leave work!
Back yard
Front yard
Looking south along the Hutt River trail (stopbank) from Percy Cameron St
My street, and my house
My street - letterboxes all covered with snow
My favourite arty shot of the day!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
The last few weeks
So there have been a few things that have happened in the last few weeks that I should mention:
1. I finally got the kitchen finished by having the tiling done for the splashback. I'm enjoying the kitchen very, very much and am glad that people (i.e. Mum) convinced me to actually do something about updating it!
2. The Association of Women in Sciences (AWIS) conference presentation, which I was invited to do, went better than I was expecting. No nasty questions about how hard-done-by women are... I also got interviewed for Unlimited magazine - the online articles can be found here and here.
3. The day after the AWIS conference I gave a whole day workshop for the MacDiarmid Institute emerging scientists association (MESA) on synchrotron techniques. I really enjoyed myself, there was a great turnout, and people seemed interested the whole day. The handouts and lectures (all six of them, should you want to listen!) are also online, here.
4. My friend Alison was in town from the US for a week. Last Sunday after church we had a potluck and games afternoon, which involved a Wii tournament... lots of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I also took some time off work to spend with her, so it was nice to have a bit of a break! We talked lots, drove up to the Kapiti coast one day, and saw a few things in Wellington. Hopefully she'll be able to come back again sometime soon.
1. I finally got the kitchen finished by having the tiling done for the splashback. I'm enjoying the kitchen very, very much and am glad that people (i.e. Mum) convinced me to actually do something about updating it!
2. The Association of Women in Sciences (AWIS) conference presentation, which I was invited to do, went better than I was expecting. No nasty questions about how hard-done-by women are... I also got interviewed for Unlimited magazine - the online articles can be found here and here.
3. The day after the AWIS conference I gave a whole day workshop for the MacDiarmid Institute emerging scientists association (MESA) on synchrotron techniques. I really enjoyed myself, there was a great turnout, and people seemed interested the whole day. The handouts and lectures (all six of them, should you want to listen!) are also online, here.
4. My friend Alison was in town from the US for a week. Last Sunday after church we had a potluck and games afternoon, which involved a Wii tournament... lots of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I also took some time off work to spend with her, so it was nice to have a bit of a break! We talked lots, drove up to the Kapiti coast one day, and saw a few things in Wellington. Hopefully she'll be able to come back again sometime soon.
Wii team canoeing challenge
A game for everyone involving balloons... hilarious :)
Monday, July 25, 2011
Snow!
I know for many people snow is not that big a deal. But if you grew up in a place where it never ever snows, like I did, and if the first time you touched snow was when you were about 11, and if you can count the number of times on one hand when you've actually had snow falling out of the sky on you, then is it ok to think it's a big deal?
I've lived in the Hutt Valley basically all my life and I only remember it snowing on the hills around once before, around 1992 or so. I took a photo of that then too. Anyway, here's what the Eastern hills looked like this morning (click on image for a bigger version):
Apologies to Christina and everyone else I know who lives in Christchurch - I know you've got it much worse than this at the moment!
I've lived in the Hutt Valley basically all my life and I only remember it snowing on the hills around once before, around 1992 or so. I took a photo of that then too. Anyway, here's what the Eastern hills looked like this morning (click on image for a bigger version):
Apologies to Christina and everyone else I know who lives in Christchurch - I know you've got it much worse than this at the moment!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
SYD-WLG
I had a whirlwind trip to Melbourne on Tuesday, Sydney on Wednesday, then back to Wellington on Wednesday night. Our flight was delayed by about an hour leaving Sydney, and when we were on the plane about to leave the pilot explained why: they had been held up with bad weather in Queenstown, then had to face a strong headwind coming over. "But," he said, "we should be able to make up the time; we'll have a 250 km/hr tailwind going back."
He wasn't kidding - and I have photographic proof. We took off at 7 pm and arrived at 11:20 - a total flying time of 2 hrs 20 mins. Surely that's got to be some kind of record??
He wasn't kidding - and I have photographic proof. We took off at 7 pm and arrived at 11:20 - a total flying time of 2 hrs 20 mins. Surely that's got to be some kind of record??
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Happy shortest day
Today's the shortest day of the year - which means it can only get better from here on, right?
Actually I read something a couple of years ago that the mean temperature lags the length of the day by about 6 weeks, so although in July the days are slightly longer, the temperatures are colder.
Unless of course you live in the northern hemisphere.
Actually I read something a couple of years ago that the mean temperature lags the length of the day by about 6 weeks, so although in July the days are slightly longer, the temperatures are colder.
Unless of course you live in the northern hemisphere.
Friday, June 10, 2011
All done
Wednesday this week turned out to be rather exciting, even though I was at home sick with a cold. I had a phone call about 9:00 from the electrician's office, asking if it would be ok for him to come around. I said the last time he had come he said the builder had to do something first but it wasn't clear to me what he expected to be done; the office lady said she would ask him to get in touch with the builder directly. Then about 10:30 there was a knock at the door. It was the electrician, who said he was in the area and thought he'd stop by to see if things were ready for him to finish off. It turns out that he was waiting for the units to be installed (I'd been making a distinction between the builder, being the guy from Tradeskills who removed the kitchen and patched a few things up, and the installer, being a different guy who, well, installed the units). So within about an hour he was able to put in a new plug for the microwave, replace the plug for the fridge, and put a new plug on for the phone jack. Then at 1:00 the installer arrived to do the final touches: attach the handles and seal the bench. When he was just about finished the plumber arrived, he had a few hurdles in fixing up the tap, but everything has worked out nicely in the end.
So now I finally have a new kitchen!
... with stuff in it!
So now I finally have a new kitchen!
... with stuff in it!
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