at GSA

I got a lot of good feedback from my talk yesterday. People seemed to be really interested in it. I was even invited to come to the Thermo Electron party with Steve Mojzsis, Francois Robert, and Dorothy Oehler. I kind of asked myself "what would Joe Michalski do?" because he was always talking with people and seemed to know everybody. It's important for me to do that now so that I can get a good job once my postdoc ends.

Denver!

I'm here in Denver now for the GSA meeting. I'm staying in this really cool hotel called the Curtis, just a five minute walk to the convention center. I don't think I've ever stayed this close to a conference venue. I'm staying on the 14th floor, which happens to be the TV Mania floor. I kinda wish I was on the 9th floor, which has a Simpsons theme (although theme in this case only affects the wall decorations).

It's nice and sunny here, but cold.

EDIT: Turns out the 9th floor is the "Big Hair" floor, not a Simpsons theme, which is why there is a big display of Marge Simpson by the elevators but pictures of 80's hair bands in the hallway.

Rainin'

It has been raining non-stop for two days now. Pretty dreary stuff. And it's a pain to have to dry off Gunner every time he goes outside. Also, traffic has been pretty bad too. It took me an hour to get to work this morning. I hope the rain stops before I leave for Denver on Saturday.

The Big Two-Nine

I suppose I should mention that Kelly and I had our birthdays this weekend. Not a big deal. Kelly got me a really nice shirt and tie from Banana Republic. I need more nice clothes like that, since I'm getting too old to wear "cool" t-shirts.

Stupid Adobe Illustrator

I'm working on my poster for GSA, and I came across the most retarded bug ever. Illustrator CS2 cannot save a file into it's own *.ai format! The problem seems to stem from putting text in your file (required when making a poster) and saving a PDF-compatible file (makes it easier for proofing and printing mini-posters). A quick search on the internet comes up with a fix, which I shouldn't even have to do. You MUST install Adobe Reader 7 or 8, and copy a couple fonts from those install folders into the Adobe common fonts folder. It pisses me off that I have to have a different program installed to even save my work in Illustrator! Stupid!

ALS recovery

I'm back from ALS now. That last day was just horrible. What with the beam downtime, and then when it came back at 3AM, I couldn't get the microscope aligned properly again. So I spent the next 6 hours fiddling and trying different things. I think the x-ray beam was off center somehow. I couldn't even get any intensity through at higher energies. And the guy to call for help had already worked the day shift for me, so he was getting his necessary sleep, and I had to fend for myself. At least it's over now.

I didn't get to go to bed afterwards, though. I had to check out of my hotel and head to the airport instead. I napped a bit in the terminal and on my flights, but you know how it's not the same when you're not sleeping in a bed. I didn't get home until 1AM, and after a quick shower and meal, I finally went to sleep at around 2AM. I slept until 1 in the afternoon yesterday, and I felt alot better. I also pigged out on food yesterday, because I hadn't been eating well out in California. I still don't feel 100% yet. Maybe in a day or two.

The ALS Brain Drain

Another long night at the ALS. Right now the x-ray beam is off for some reason. It shut off unexpectedly at 11:30. I've been sitting here waiting for them to start it up again, but it looks like the control room is waiting until 1AM (the regular refill time). I am dead tired from these long nights, and I didn't get much sleep during the day. I think I'll go take a walk around the synchrotron ring and try to wake up a bit.

from the ALS

I'm here at the Advanced Light Source at Berkeley now. Yes, I'm at another synchrotron facility. I hope to complete my "tour" by visiting the Canadian Light Source in Saskatoon sometime after the New Year. It's just an opportunity to use each of these facilities and decide which one(s) is(are) most appropriate for my samples and the travel costs of visiting them 3-4 times a year. Unfortunately, I'm running the night shift...8pm-8am, which in DC time is 11pm-11am. I just started and hour and a half scan of my sample, so I gotta go run and eat something. I hear there's a Thai restaurant that's open 'til 1:30am. Let's hope so.

The System Works!

So I've been wanting to read The Name of the Rose for a long time. I've heard it's a really good book, and I kinda want to ease into Umberto Eco's themes and style before I tackle Foucault's Pendulum. But I've never started the book because it's chock full of Latin, and I don't know a lick of it. I learned my lesson after reading Lolita that if you can't understand a large portion of the book, you're gonna miss out on some plot development. There's a book called the Key to the Name of the Rose which has a glossary and translations of all Latin phrases, but neither ASU nor various public libraries had it. Well it turns out the Fairfax County Library system has a copy, but it's in a branch far away (well, too far away to be worth the effort). Plus it was checked out. But, not only was I able to put a hold on the book online, but they shipped it to the library branch just down the street from me. So I think I'll start reading it tonight or tomorrow.

I'm back in DC now, and it feels good to be home again. Gunner seems a whole lot bigger than before. Kelly's been making this special food for him full of protein and vitamins. I'm taking the morning off to do some laundry, pay bills, and rest for a bit, especially since I didn't get a weekend.