2004
22 March This is old-fashioned as far as blogging goes. I've been busy with judo (Varsity and BUSA), some travel over Christmas and afterwards to Barcelona, Venice, Rome and Paris, and study in Cambridge.
From the 23 March I'm off to New York, Los Angeles, Palo Alto and Sydney for the next seven weeks or so. I should be returning to Cambridge on the 16th of May.
2003
Month of August Oh dear, I'm not doing such a good job of keeping up to date. Another month gone! This month has been spent in Cambridge, with judo twice a week and lab during the days.
Got a computer from college and have set up redhat on it. Just like in the lab really. Spent some time getting used to sysadmin and visualisation: ray-tracing and the many molecular vis programs out there. Hope to produce some pretty pictures soon..
End of July In Berlin for a workshop at the Fritz-Haber Institute. I arrived on the weekend before and stayed in Mitte, at a hostel called 'Circus'. Amazing city- very happening and run-down in parts. Can't get enough of that brutalist architecture- especially down Karl Marx Allee.
Wandered around a lot. I liked the area around Prenzl Berg- especially Kollwitz Platz and the gelati that is to be found there. Went to the Museum Insel and an outdoor performance at the Kulturforum-Boban Markovic was playing and for a mere 10 euros on the spur of the moment I went in. These guys- two trumpeters out the front, a few percussion and lots of brass- rocked and had us all bopping away. If I'd been around for another month I could have seen Goran Bregovich and PJ Harvey (not together though).
The workshop was held at the FHI in Dahlem, in the SW of the city. The area was nice and leafy. There wasn't much to do apart from eat a lot, sleep comfortably and attend lectures and computer practicals. The program they had was neat- written in C++ and very user friendly. I think it suffers a little for being new and still undiscovered, but given time and its advantage (of being clean and efficient), it should do well.
On the weekend we had an outing to the Pergammon Museum and a boatride along the Spree. I also saw the museum at checkpoint charlie (not so good), the Egyptian Mueseum (very good) and the Jewish Museum (stunning architecture of course, but also good exhibits).
Culinary highlights included eating a nice rump steak in an Italian restaurant called Salumeria Culinario near the New Synagogue.
After 12 days I headed back to Cambridge- with a full head and depper tan.
11 July: Felicity came to visit- it was nice to take some time off and just hang out. The weather has been perfect (22 degrees with lots of sun), so we did all the touristy things- punting, walking to Granchester and popped into cheesy club (Coco's).
10 July: Finally feel refreshed and ready to work. Have had a whirlwind month in Cambridge and about. Highlights:
Paris: Quick trip to with Alex and Sam from college. Graciously put up at Alex's place by M. & Mme Amouyel, fantastic lunch at Helene Darroze, wandering around the 6th... experienced the joys of a greve firsthand while trying to meet up with Olivier Ponti in the south of the city. Got there in the end though.
The Ball: Two weeks out of my life for one hell of a party. There was the usual set-up and last minute rush, then the calm before the ball, then the buzz of the night, and next thing you know we're being punted up for the survivor's photo- with a sense of satisfaction. The morning after was pretty rough though- stayed up until noon to clean up and felt like I was at altitude. Took a few days to recover, but by the following Friday, everything was cleaned up and you couldn't tell that the Ball had even passed through (apart from some mushed worms and yellow grass.
Amsterdam: I won a trip for four to Amsterdam through the McCoy's Beer Amnesty website and decided to take the trip just after the Ball cleanup. I brought Nick, Lachlan and Dave -all Aussies in Cambridge- with me and we flew Basiq Air (!) from Stansted. The first two nights were at the Renaissance -5 stars courtesy of McCoys- and the last two were at a Christian Youth Hostel (the Shelter) in the middle of the (tourist) red-light district. Did day trips to the Hague (by train) and Haarlem (by bike) but the highlight was (you guessed it) the food- yum cha, indonesian, thai and occasionally some dutch.
Sanity The end of the academic year also brings the end of my duties on the BA society, Judo Club, ANZ society and Ball committee. As much fun as they all were, I'm going to enjoy my new found freedom and am consciously avoiding any more commitments- I have a Ph.D. to finish.
Strange but true
19th June: I received an email informing me that I had won 'a month's supply' of Primula- cheese in a tube. It arrived and it was more like a year's supply- 30 tubes of assorted flavours (cheese and ham, cheese and shrimp, cheese and chive... you get the idea). Creative things to do with cheese?
Dutch Restaurant: When in Amsterdam we thought we'd better eat some dutch food. Ended up in a place called Moeder's Pot in the Jordaan. Bizarrely decorated, in a half-converted house, and run by a guy with a curly mullet, it didn't inspire great faith in the food. The menu was long but basic- and the food ended up much better than expected(given the guy's one man show, denim shorts and habit of mumbling to himself).
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