Lots to catch up on ...

My blog hasn't properly been updated for a while. Vikram stayed at my house for a week or so (and got some great work done) before we all (Vikram, myself, Jonathan and David) drove to Parkes for the open weekend. It was amazing. Apparently over 3000 people had tours around the telescope and we shared giving talks on the control room and what we were observing. David and I also gave talks in a big marquee to a huge crowd of people.

Last night Anna came around to sing lots of songs and eat some macaroni cheese. BTW ... has anyone ever had macaroni cheese with corn beef and tomato soup? Apparently this is common in Germany (it's actually very tasty!).

I'm celebrating because my paper on timing noise has finally been submitted. I started the paper sometime during my PhD (around 7 or so years ago) and so I'm quite glad to get it finally done. Our PULSE at pks paper also came back from the referee with very positive remarks and so that should be accepted for publication in the next couple of days.

What else? I've been having great fun chatting with Sha and trying to organise my trip to China. Apparently I have managed to challenge her dad to a game of ping-pong. This is probably a silly idea! Tomorrow, Anna, Dominic and I are doing the next stage of the Great North Walk. This should get us from Cowan to Brooklyn (hopefully in time for some fish and chips!).

Oh, I've also been discovering how to buy a house. Apparently the rule is that you can borrow 4X where X = amount of money that you earn in a year. But you must have 0.05X in a deposit and, if possible, 0.2X (otherwise you pay a lot on insurance). I've discovered that houses are very expensive in Sydney.