Saturday 28 July 2007

Salt Lake

The conference of The American Crystallographic Association has now been and gone and it's almost time to once again up sticks and head off to Washington DC for our experimental beam time. Salt Lake City has been a fun place to stay, especially so as Jill (my boss) has a house here only 10 min stroll from the conference centre, right next door to the capital of the Mormon universe. Lots of smartly dressed young men and women mill around the tabernacle and conference centre (distinct from our conference centre, which is next door), eager to catch you at a moment of weakness and sign you up. Advice from a friend who used to live here (Duffman) was to head for the hills when the heat got too much - which is exactly what we did one afternoon. We blew off talks for the afternoon and headed up one of the many canyons which lead from the flat basin into the Wasatch mountains, which are home to many of the more famous american ski resorts (think Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Deer Valley). About 45 min after departing the 35 C city, we parked just above the Snowbird resort where, at an altitude of ~3000 m the temperature was a lovely ~20 C. We walked up a trail to a col and then down the other side into the Brighton valley where we got picked up by Don, our host. Fabulous alpine country, although not many snow drifts to be seen, which I guess is not too surprising given how hot it can get up here. Almost immediately I saw my first hummingbird of the day - exciting for the twitcher in me. Vast numbers of Chipmunks and slightly larger gopher-type rodents littered the meadows, no doubt easy pickings for the Coyote's we heard having a collective howl at one point. Overall it was a fantastic walk and finally a chance for the legs to actually do something. This seems to have helped sooth my jetlag, and might even slow the slide into muscular atrophy I feel myself succumbing to.

Mormon HQ
Looking back to the col we have just come over
Lovely alpine meadows
Hamster with stripes

Yesterday, checked out one of the local bike shops. Greggles, spotted Orca's for about US$5500 equipped with Dura-ace (frameset only at ~2300) . The Vino BMC's were going for about 6.3 K, whilst the Telecom Giants for just over 7K. Speaking of which, what a disaster the tour has turned into. We will see what Cadel can do on the last TT, which I will miss as I'll be in transit.

Hope the lads in Oz are getting over colds and holding some condition. Don't worry BT, I'm doing as you suggest by drinking lots of beer, consuming loads of calories and getting lots of rest so I should be in absolute peak condition when I arrive in Geneva. Till next time.
Anyone for Pizza? Jill models dinner. Five of us failed to eat more than about 2/3 rds of this deep-dish monument - washed down with lots of beer, of course.

Monday 23 July 2007

really outa here

The lead-up to my departure was hectic , to say the least. I knew that we had a lot to accomplish before getting on the plane (packing the experiment), but I didn't anticipate doing an all-nighter in the lab the night before. I got home at about 6 am, slowly packed my bike on autopilot (lucky i've done this before), and somehow got myself to the airport with ample time before departure. Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything important. Upon resting into my allotted seat (fortuitously a window this time) i fell asleep immediately, waking up to find we were well into the air and being fed. It actually turned out to be the most restful passage of the pacific I have done, probably sleeping solidly for 2/3rd of it. When I wasn't sleeping I managed to devour to my satisfaction the Saturday Herald, something I haven't managed for some time. The Leunig cartoon of the Haneef case pretty much summed up my disgust at the current state of affairs in Johnny Howard's Australia. Here it is in case you missed it (click on it to get the full size version). And you think I'm odd for eschewing a mobile phone!

Arrived in Salt Lake City basking in ~35 C heat. Quite a contrast to Sydney. Not much humidity fortunately. Had to tear myself away from this morning's stage of the tour on TV for conference lectures - just after the start of the last climb (doh!) - only to discover that Cadel had cracked on the stage. Hopefully he'll be able to recover and still make the podium. Don't know the details yet

Beer aplenty at this end to help my aid my general state of trash'dness. Have a look at the label on this one (will require tilting one's head to the side - and possibly blowing it up). Quite appropriate I think. By the way, I left without collating the list of email addresses I might normally take with me, so if you want to say hello, shoot me a quick one and i"ll reply when I get a chance. That's it for now.
Full Suspension Ale!
My boss's home away from home, overlooking Salt Lake City.


Tuesday 17 July 2007

Outa here

Enough with the cold Sydney mornings (coldest Sydney morning in 20 years today). Ice on the birdbath again. Time to migrate north to warmer climes. Looking forward to catching up with you northern-hemisphere lads soon. Now for 2 weeks of American grease and zero excercise.



Sunday 15 July 2007

flights

DBL flights

FROM TO FLIGHT C DATE DEPT FARE BASIS ST
SYDNEY SAN FRANCISCO UA 870 H 21JUL 1440 YRWSPCL OK
BAGS:2PC VALID:21JUL-21JUL
SAN FRANCISCO SALT LAKE CITY UA 650 H 21JUL 1250 YRWSPCL OK
BAGS:2PC VALID:21JUL-21JUL
SALT LAKE CITY DENVER UA6608 H 28JUL 0750 YRWSPCL OK
BAGS:2PC VALID:28JUL-21JUL
DENVER WASHINGTON REAG UA 484 H 28JUL 1040 YRWSPCL OK
BAGS:2PC VALID:28JUL-21JUL
WASHINGTON REAG WASHINGTON DULL VOID VOID VOID
WASHINGTON DULL ZURICH UA 936 H 02AUG 1808 YRWSPCL OK
BAGS:2PC VALID:02AUG-21JUL
ZURICH GENEVA LX2804 H 03AUG 0945 YRWSPCL OK
BAGS:2PC VALID:03AUG-21JUL
GENEVA FRANKFURT LH3671 H 17AUG 2005 YRWSPCL OK
BAGS:2PC VALID:17AUG-21JUL
FRANKFURT SINGAPORE SQ 325 H 17AUG 2225 YRWSPCL OK
BAGS:2PC VALID:17AUG-21JUL
SINGAPORE SYDNEY SQ 221 H 18AUG 2030 YRWSPCL OK
BAGS:2PC VALID:31JUL-21JUL

9279126836194986984142342846134130370
L3848213
GP 61 400-545-023
GS 61 417-664-227
BT 61 418 670-773
KS 420 603 89 40 55
KE 31 6 21 11 64 26
NL 44 7990 510 142
JT (801)694-3896
BH (301)975-3961