Washington

After a week of crystallography conference, we finally flew on to Washington DC and settled into Gaithursburg, just to the north west. The flight in was cool in the sense that in arriving at Reagan International, upon final approach the plane cruised right down the guts of the Potomac, affording spectacular views of the unnervingly close Washington monument (we were lower than its tip), as well as The Mall, Congress, White House etc. Not much room for error! A much more attractive option than flying into Dulles if you have the choice.

Finally we were in a position to collect data on the samples we'd sweated over, and had since been sitting in a thermos for a week. The time at the facility (NIST) was intense, as such visits are. We had two systems we aimed to collect data on, with a third as a backup. As it turned out, we managed to collect quality data on all three, so that was very pleasing for all of the team, who had each invested considerable effort into the projects in one way or another. Hence, I could depart DC and look forward to a holiday of sorts - riding in France over the biggest hills we could find. Before getting on the plane I purchased "From Lance to Landis" by David Walsh. A little sensationalist, but a compelling and disturbing and damning read none-the-less. Lets just say Lance has been a very naughty boy. Highly recommended for all you LA apologists. Almost devoured it all on the plane, but sleep finally got to me in the end.






Team neutron ted at the beamline