Rambling on ...

It's been about a week since my last blog entry and this one is just going to be a ramble. I've had an odd, but basically fun week. Yesterday, the Beecroft orchestra was again superb - I was lucky enough to lead the 'cellos in Stauss' Four Last Songs with Mal conducting. The TOPS orchestra rehearsal also went well on Sunday. What else? I've also been back in touch with Ganga from University who was in a bit of a shock as a student had been dead in his room without being found for 4-5 weeks!

I've also been organising with Christine our trip to Alice Springs and the surroundings. We'll probably be spending much of the time camping (probably Joris + a friend of Christine's will also come along) and hiking in the gorges near Uluru.

Work has been busy. I've been on the selection panel for a new indefinite research position at the ATNF. This has been incredible. It was the job that I thought that I'd been applying for and now I'm actually helping to select! The applications are all superb and I know most of them. I have no idea how I'd have competed against them.

I was going to write heaps more, but I've drunk a few too many beers whilst attempting to learn the guitar and am feeling ready to fall asleep. Tomorrow, "Cat" (my new violist friend), Maureen and Nicole are coming around to play some music. I'm also hoping to go for a meal with Nedia later in the week. I love getting emails from her ... my inbox always reports an email from "³¹ ¹ÅÁ¨" and then the emails always say things like "do you have a good time when you all have dinner with your friends?" which makes you think a little before replying!

How things change

What a change. A few hours ago, I was feeling very down and upset. I'd been like that for a couple of days. I was going to write this blog complaining about everything. But! I've just been to the Beecroft orchestra. I was dreading going. Yesterday, I went to play with TOPS (The Occasional Performing Sinfonia) and although the music was fun (Bernstein - Candide, Copland - Rodeo, Britten - Young Person's Guide to the Orchetra, Wolfe - Sydney sketches and Belioz's Hungarian March), I was feeling tense throughout the rehearsal. Lots of people wanted to know where M. was and I learnt that a few of my good friends in TOPS have become extremely ill. In the evening, Jessica, Daniel and I went out to eat lots of sushi. Today, work was okay, but I didn't seem to get much done. I wasn't looking forward to going to the Beecroft orchestra, but Rod came around to pick me up. The orchestra was great! I led the 'cellos, the sound was good and Mr Yum played a superb (and virtuostic) violin concerto (by a composer with a long sounding Russian name). I met a whole heap of new people and my old friends all seemed to know about M. and so I didn't need to explain everything in lots of detail. I had a lift back home from a lady who got divorced about 10 years ago. She agreed with me that the strangest thing about splitting up is that for the people involved divorce is huge, life changing and you cannot stop thinking about it, but to everyone else life just goes on as normal (not sure where all my commas should have gone in that last sentence, but you get the idea)!

Oh yes! Another thing to look forward to. I'm going with Christine to Alice Springs in April! She said that she wanted to see the "outback"! I made the mistake of buying a map of the Northern territory. It was a mistake because it cost $5 and there is one road going North/South and another one going East/West. It will be hard to get lost!

A bit mixed

errr .... I'm suffering from post-Parkes syndrome (i.e. very, very, very tired). On the positive side, I've managed to get wireless installed in my house. It took about three hours and rather too many swear words, but I'm updating this blog using it and so it's working now! The box that the equipment came in says "Click 'n connect" -- ha!

I've also organised my talk for the 2007 Orange conference, which will take place in Canberra in 2008 (don't ask!). I'll be discussing pulsar glitches. This is partly because my summer student has just finished a project on this and also because I've just got a grant to work with the University of Melbourne on the formation on glitches.

Tomorrow, I'm going to be rehearsing in the TOPS orchestra. I'm looking forward to this, but it will be the first time that I've played in an orchestra since M. left and everybody will want to know where she is.

Christine emailed me and we're planning a trip into the outback sometime during April. Any suggestions?

I still feel very strange being at home alone. There's no problem when other people are staying. I'm thinking of moving house, but don't really want the fuss of organising a move. Perhaps a good sleep would be just as effective and not quite so expensive!!

Attached is a photo of me helping students from Muswellbrook high school carry out pulsar observations.

Back in Sydney

Quick blog to say that we had an enjoyable (but long) drive back to Sydney. Back to work now.

Spiders in the toilet

Plenty of wildlife around the Parkes control room at the moment. The observing is fun though (particularly with Matt doing some rather impressive magic tricks every now-and-then). We've just been contacted by the police asking if we spotted a massive shooting star - it was either that or a plane crashing and they wanted to check with us before sending out search parties! Unfortunately, we couldn't help them.

I attach a photo of a frog that is hanging around and one of Barry, Matt and Vikram in the upstairs control room. We're working hard for the PULSE@Parkes observations that take place tomorrow afternoon. We're also producing a whole heap of webpages that should go live sometime over the next few weeks. I also got my conference paper in for the AMALDI meeting which has been on my to-do list for a long time!

George on a rock radio station

It's 1:30am at Parkes and I've just been interviewed on 3RRR, the Melbourne Rock radio station. They wanted to know what I was doing! They also told me that the "big bang theory was crap". Anyway, they were also interested in whether I'd detected an alien and what the best football team was. I also told them all about gravitational waves and pulsars. I'm currently listening to their streaming broadcast and not understanding a word although they are speaking to "Surge" or "Serge". Anyway, they were very, very friendly and this (new experience) was great fun!

A crazy time

It's about 1am and I'm sitting in the Parkes control room eating a very stodgy dessert. I'm rather exhausted! Yesterday, I attended the summer vacation student talks for the morning, worked with my new student (Sam) in the afternoon, met Kate for a coffee in the early evening and then went to the summer student dinner in the evening. Also, Christine left for Brisbane :( but tidied up my house before she went -- THANKS HEAPS! Matt and I returned rather late (after stopping for a drink at the pub and then playing ping-pong). We left at 6:30am this morning for Parkes. I hope that Vikram will come and take over the observing at about 2am and I should be in bed by 3am!

The photos on this page are a mix between those that Christine, Minnie and I took (and no comments about my rather bad ice-skating - I only just survived being pulled along by Minnie and Christine - in fact Christine managed to injure two people within a few minutes!).

Okay, back to trying to produce sensible webpages for the student observing project!

A kangaroo stir-fry

Another nice day (although rather wet). The weather stopped Christine and I going snorkelling and so we went around the Australia Museum instead. The exhibition on the Aboriginal people again rather shocked/upset me. Anyway we enjoyed listening to a guy play his didgeridoo and telling stories. We went went for a rather long hike around Epping. Amazingly the path through the Lane Cove National park was flooded and therefore we couldn't do the walk I had planned. I've never seen so much water! However, we saw heaps of bird and plant-life.

In the evening, Christine cooked us a sweet-and-sour kangaroo stir-fry (see photo) which we ate whilst watching "Amelie"! The other photos on this blog are from the wonderful walk yesterday.

Christine and I are planning to go tango dancing tomorrow with our friends from yesterday's hike. I'm rather nervous about this - I'm going to be laughed at! On Tuesday, we intend to have a BBQ (I might try and convince Christine that we should try emu and crocodile on the BBQ, but she isn't convinced yet). On Wednesday, we're going to have a meal in the city at night. Unfortunately, she leaves for Brisbane on Thursday.

Before I forget, we saw two amazing things in the last few days. First, when Christine and I were on the Manly ferry we saw a huge submarine heading out to sea! It was impressive! Secondly, when we were waiting in the Blue Mountains we saw the Indian Pacific train head past. Even now, that train will still be heading west towards the Indian Ocean!!!!

The Blue Mountains

Haven't written my blog for ages and am now rather tired. However, I thought that I'd put up a few photos of the hike that Christine and I went on with Vikram, Minnie and Anita today.