Is it a swindle?

I know I'm getting boring now, but I came across the Royal Society's simple guide to the science behind global warming, which nicely gives the counter arguments to some misconceptions put forward by, amongst others, 'The Great Global Warming Swindle'. It can be quite difficult to syphon out any real scientific information from the media (terrified as they are of being too alarmist or not alarmist enough), so why not go right to an excellent source of scientific knowledge - the national academy of science for the UK and Commonwealth.

No stories? - Rubbish!

It's been more than a month and not a story has been told! That's not to say I haven't had any stories - just that I never bothered actually writing any! I've even had plenty of procrastination moments where I could have, but I did less interesting stuff like staring at bbc news website, or playing dumb games. Ahh, the joys of a PhD.

So stories, eh? Well, obviously there was the rugby world cup, which we had some very drunken and fun evenings staying up to watch, and some obscenely early mornings for the last games. Whilst I was chuffed England got as far as we did, I'm still so disappointed the All Blacks got knocked out. The fact the French didn't even have the decency to come third makes it even worse - the All Blacks would have TOTALLY won it if those evil Frenchies hadn't brought their curse again (and indeed if the referees hadn't been playing for the French!).

Then of course there was Raikonen winning the F1. Wahoo. Not. That said, whilst I dislike Kimi most intensely (anyone who gets his name written in diamonds on his helmet is a complete loser if you ask me), to see a McLaren win this year would have been a travesty. I'll be firmly reserving judgement on the current 'it' boy Hamilton until I see him in a season where he and his team weren't blatantly cheating. I know Ferrari are cheating scumbags too, but at least they have the decency to keep it quiet! I used to have a lot of respect for Ron Dennis and the team, shame. If it was just the car design they were cheating with I wouldn't mind so much, but from what I've heard they could listen in to the Ferraris radio and find out about pit-stop strategies, so the drivers totally would have benefitted. And I might add Hamilton is NOT the only rookie to fight for the championship (as the BBC would have us believe), Jacques Villeneuve did as well. And he wasn't a cheating scumbag! ANYWAY! Moving on...

Yeah so, things are pretty much fine over here. Not done much recently so no photos for ya'll. Went to a lovely wedding last week though, for two of the most well-suited and nice people you could find! And then the next day my friend Emelie gave birth to a gorgeous little girl! So that's all the major milestones in one weekend! Big kiss to you, Mickey and little Maxime.

We were supposed to be going off tramping the Routeburn track this week coming, but it's still closed cos of avalanche risks. It sucks, cos I was TOTALLY ready for a week off! Except a week off last Christmas I haven't had a day off since March 2006 and almost never take a whole weekend off, so I figure I'm due a holiday! Hopefully we'll rebook it when it reopens, but in the meantime it's onwards and upwards. I was supposed to finish absolutely all labwork this week, but I still have a couple of reactions left to do. Unfortunately I got supremely close to making my target natural product, but just couldn't get what should have been an easy step to work. At a certain point you just have to finally admit defeat, though, and finish the thesis. Maybe I'll come up with a cunning plan which I can try when I've submitted, but in the meantime I think I'll just have to accept it. It's been an awesome journey though, and there's plenty to write about in my thesis. Finishing the synthesis means the difference between a publication in a mediocre journal and a publication in a fantastic journal though, so it's a big shame to get so close. Next stop is finishing my thesis, which should be largely done by Christmas, but no doubt it'll drag into the new year. Definately gonna be submitted by end of January though.

So, any other stories? Not really. Guess I should sign off then. Hope you're all well. Thanks for dropping by!

Wellingtron and lab boredom

I have had a very unmotivated couple of weeks in the lab, fortunately punctuated by a wicked weekend up in Wellington visiting Charlie (Sean's bro). We were only up there from Friday to Sunday, but we packed loads in, whilst still saving time for chillage. Went to a brilliant party on the Friday after getting in at 11pm cos our flight was delayed, but it was well worth livening up for. Met some supremely friendly and fun people including two girls from Essex, of all places! It was a funky party complete with crazy folk band and was very reminiscent of the party's we used to have in the old WG in Basel. God I miss Basel and that WG, with its wonderful musicians, alternative therapists and youth social workers! I felt like such a capitalist working for an actual company! At least I was an intern and wasn't getting paid much!

Anyway, I diverge. So yeah, the party really reminded me why I wish I lived in Wellington and not Christchurch, with it's cool vibe and style. Got to go shopping which was lots of fun, and Sean even cruised round with me for most of it. I was very impressed, but he said he was exhausted by the end after all that walking! See boys; shopping's hard work, not fun! Managed to buy and bring back to Christchurch coffee eclairs from a little French cafe which my pregnant French friend Emelie has had cravings for since she went up there a few months ago! Anyone visiting Wellington should go to Simply Paris on Cuba Street - brilliant desserts and apparently very good coffee too. We also went out to a bird sanctuary which is basically in Wellington which was cool.

Below is a photo of the awesome view Charlie has from his bedroom window.
Wellington is crammed into a bay so a lot of the houses are built up on the hills around which makes it a really pretty and cool city. The houses are all timber-built and have to be built on some pretty ridiulous angles, with one part of the house dug into the bedrock and the other end often up on stilts a couple of metres tall! All very precarious given that Wellington is particularly prone to earthquakes (it's right on the faultline at a twisted point where on one side the east plate is trying to go above the west and the other side the west side is trying to go above the east - no idea how that's supposed to work but nevermind!) and they get landslides occasionally.

Apart from that, just been stuck, being slow and slack, in the lab. I'm losing momentum at the moment, cos of spending two weeks at a time laboriously trying to make the starting materials I need, only to get like 2 mg of the compound I need! Not sure how long I'll be stuck in the lab before I can finish off my writing, but at this rate, it'll be a while!

Been enjoying the rugby, despite the ridiculous times of the matches. We did an all-nighter on Saturday to watch SA/Tonga and England /Samoa. Whilst it may be treachorous to my nation, I'm kinda hoping the All Blacks will win the world cup this time, cos it's such a rugby mad country and it'd be cool to be here if they did. Plus they've got so many hotties on their team, it's a pleasure to watch em! I love that new haka they're doing sometimes as well; so exciting!

So anyway, not been up to much else recently. Hope ya'll are well.

Another lovely sunset!

Incredible Feats of Will Power (inherited from my dear mother)

Well, I'm bored waiting for my ketone reduction so I thought I'd share a thought. Why is it that you can hardly find a can of coke anymore these days. They tell you a can of coke contains 6 spoons of sugar, which is a thought I don't like to think about. But sometimes a girl just NEEDS a can of coke. But can I find one on campus? No. Only 600 mL bottles, which by rapid mental arithmetic I can tell you is 11 spoons of sugar. Now maybe there are those amongst the readership who would say - but that's fine, you have half today, and the other half tomorrow. An admirable concept, but quite clearly ridiculous. I had a headache all afternoon cos I'd drank far too much, but then still demolished the last of the bottle whilst beginning this blog.

I think we need a Bring Back the Can campaign. Coke tastes better out of a can anyway.

"How to care for your house elves - a beginners guide" or "using one's blog for therapy"

So, you've just got some house elves? Whilst house elves are a wonderful addition to any student flat, be sure to look after them properly by following this simple guide, which is punctuated by illustrative examples.

The number one rule of house elf maintenance is that they are highly sensitive to your needs and must be made to feel AT ALL TIMES that they are serving you and that you are not having strain yourself. Whatever you do, do NOT attempt to carry out any menial household tasks. Or at least no useful ones. If you really must satisfy any yearning to clean, do something completely useless like mopping the kitchen ceiling.

At absolute worst, you may wash your own dishes, but do ensure that you leave them lying around on every available kitchen surface (no neat piles next to the sink, now) surrounded by crumbs and grease for a few days first. Then when you "wash" your dishes, ensure that they have a good amount of grease or bits stuck to them so that the house elves can redo them for you later, and do not attempt to clean any surfaces you may have sullied.

If you can find ways to make your house elves tasks more difficult, this will only heighten their sense of worth. A good example of this is placing unwrapped broken plates on the top of the bin bag that they will be taking out (because obviously you must avoid taking it out yourself at all costs). In this way they may cut their hands, and feel much better about the task. If they take out the pieces of broken plate and suggest you might like to wrap it in paper, for safety - DO NOT BE FOOLED. What they actually want you to do is leave the broken plate lying on the floor for 3 days so that they can wrap it up for you on bin collection day.

Beyond menial tasks, you should also allow them spontaneous pleasures, as special treats. If you set off the fire alarm, for example, you should stand still. Do not address the house elves, and wait until one of them has turned the alarm off for you. Do NOT thank the house elves once they have done this for you. Alternatively you could fill the freezer up to bursting with tupperware pots of nuclear war rations and then leave the door open so that the only thing they have in there, icecream, melts and dribbles all over the freezer and fridge. They then have the pleasure of cleaning the whole sticky area as a special surprise.

Now we come to how to address your house elves. When they say hello to you, you should ignore them. This may seem a little rude at first, so you may say hello to the cat instead, if this makes you feel more comfortable. If they wish you a pleasant day, the appropriate response is 'I will'. Under no circumstances should you engage in pleasantries with them, such as 'you too'. It should go without saying that you should never ask them how their day was. You may describe at great length any mundane stories you have, however. You should avoid giving these stories any context, so that your house elves will not really know what you are talking about, if possible.

Finally and probably most importantly, make sure that your house elves get to pay for the pleasure of serving you - not paying your rent for anywhere up to 5 weeks is probably sufficient. If you can leave the country for several weeks without telling them and without paying them rent for several weeks before or during your trip, you can earn extra brownie points with them.

If these simple guidelines are followed, you can expect a happy and enjoyable time with your house elves. And when you leave, they will shed a little tear.

Wow. That's audacious.

Johnson & Johnson are suing the Red Cross. Yep. I don't think I need to say much more, but I should probably give some context. Apparently whilst the red cross was given international rights to 'the red cross' back in 1864, the american branch of the red cross didn't open until after johnson & johnson had trademarked the symbol in 1887. Those kind hearted people at J & J put up with it til now, but have now changed their minds (cos the red cross sell some stuff for profit which is then syphoned directly back to their charitable work). So not only are they suing them to get them to stop using it, they're demanding back all profits made to date by the red cross and all their lawyers fees paid. This is the company with a yearly net income of 11 billion US dollars.
Personally I'm now boycotting their products which, unfortunately, are many. Course some people may agree that they've got a right to protect their brand, and I'm not suggesting anyone else do likewise. But in my opinion, if you choose to trademark a symbol which is already being used by a major international humanitarian organisation, you're a) an idiot or b) asking for trouble.

London calling - KORA!

OK, my fine and fabulous friends in the london area. Here's your chance to catch the boys that i have been talking up SOMETHING CHRONIC! Quite literally the best live band I have seen in all my days (and I've seen a lot of big rockin names in my time) is coming to London in September. I know this is a little early, and there's basically no chance that they will sell out far in advance, but I thought I'd give ya'll a bit of advance notice so there's no excuses.

So all you crazy kids who like their music both rockin and incredibly funky, go and see KORA n give the fellas a good welcome to the UK. They're playing Koko in camden (near Mornington Crescent tube station) on the 20th of September.

Bonus chocolate fish for those who shout CHUR BRO at the fellas and get a grin! I have no idea what it means either!

Exciting new skills!

Yesterday I successfully tried my hand a new skill. I made paneer, an Indian cheese that you often get in vegetarian Indian dishes over here. I'd never seen it in the UK, but I guess you get it there too. And it's easy! Takes an hour or two, but was surprisingly easy. You just boil 2 litres of milk, take it off the heat, add three or four tablespoons of lemon juice, leave it over a gentle heat whilst stirring for half a minute, til the curds crash out of solution then filter it through a coarse weave piece of cotton in a colinder. Once it's cooled down a bit, you squeeze as much of the water out as you can, then wrap it in the cotton, put it between two plates, and put a big saucepan of water on to press it. Leave it pressing for an hour, then unwrap and use it in your favourite curry instead of meat. Easy!

And since I've recently learned something of the chemistry of cheesemaking, I'll share the following interesting fact. Milk has all the proteins dissolved (well, suspended is more the word) in solution because it's at just the right pH to dissolve them. If you change the pH (eg by adding acidic lemon juice) they are protonated to insoluble forms and crash out as curds which you use to make the cheese. Sometimes it's surprising how long you can study a subject without knowing basic chemistry of real life stuff. Oh well. Hedumacation, eh?!

Well, off to read some exciting chemistry papers now. On nice inaccessible things like spirobisnaphthalene synthesis. Hope ya'll are well. By the way Little Miss Sunshine is a good movie.

Addendum: I must point out that most cheese is not made by changing pH, they add rennet which is a mixture of enzymes usually taken from calf stomachs (but also available from vegetarian approved sources) which cuts the main milk protein into two, an insoluble half (which forms the cheese) and a soluble half which is washed away.

ANABELLAMIDE!!!!

That's right my friends - anabellamide! I have my very own natural product! Spelt a bit dodgy, but that's ok; poor ol guys at University College of Science, Calcutta, must have just been havin a bad spelling day. Best of all, I get to put it into my thesis cos its got N-benzoyl groups!

Bet none of you losers have got your own natural products! HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Thesis procrastination

How I'd like to write my thesis:

"It was pretty wierd that the NMR showed something completely different to what HPLC said, but since the HPLC said what I wanted to it to, I just ignored the NMR results."

What I have to write in my thesis:

"Analysis of HPLC and NMR data shows conflicting results. Rationalisation of this observation is as follows....."

If anyone can rationalise my conflicting results, please feel free to let me know. In the meantime I'm gonna tell you about my tramp on the weekend!

Me and Sean decided to (almost) get out of town and climb Mt Herbert on Saturday. Thought I'd show ya'll a couple of photos. Mt Herbert is the highest point on banks peninsula which is the remnants of a volcano which Christchurch is right next to. We drove to Lyttelton and took the boat across to diamond harbour. (by the way, e and m, we did consider dragging you guys with us, but since we only came up with the idea late on friday, it seemed a bit short notice!)

Turns out Mt Herbert is somewhat higher than it looked. I foolishly claimed to be able to see the top, but the top turned out to be very much in the clouds. Was a good walk, took about 6 hours and 2 days for my legs to recover. You walk through sheep fields most of the way which is pretty, and you pretty soon give up trying to avoid poo. The last third or so was in the cloud. It hadn't been snowing up there but ice had formed mental shapes on one side of everything, including tussock - giving some cool ice finger shapes.

Hopefully we'll do it again sometime so we can see what is apparently great views, with Akaroa on one side and Lyttelton on the other. (and maybe that time, e and m and ?, we'll come haul your asses up there with us - so the D2 engine can show us what it's made of!)

Nice boat on the crazy blue water in Lyttelton harbour



Typical tourist shot

Port Hills with Lyttelton



Meeting locals...

...who are just enjoying the view

Cool ice formations

Nice day for it.

Glorious views of Akaroa

Well earned

A little respite

As quite rightly pointed out by my dearest Miss G, this blog has become very serious of late. I think it's high time for a little lightening of the tone, so I took some photos of the ol kittens, cos lets face it, kittens cheer EVERYONE up!

We've been having plenty of adventures with them recently, cos it's been ridiculously cold over here the last week or two (-6 C frosts and hardly above zero all day at times). And what with grey's little bald patch, we've let them stay in most nights. And such things give you a great deal of insight into cat habits. Such as the somewhat surprising penchant for muffins. Apple muffins to be accurate. I'd left some fresh muffins on the kitchen table, well covered, but they managed to pull one off (very naughty - we've been trying to train them off the table, obviously). I noticed soon after, but since it was wasted anyway I thought I'd let them keep it, expecting them to give it a bit of a lick (guess they like the buttery smell). A couple of minutes later I wandered back and...nothing but a couple of crumbs left! Turns out kittens will demolish entire muffins! And kittens don't get sugar highs (thank God, they're bad enough without being high), they just crash out in a daze for a few hours! At least muffins contain a reasonable amount of butter; they've since polished off several slices of bread when left unattended! And we have started feeding them now, so they're not just starving or anything - they just like baked products! Wierdos. I need to explain 'carnivore' to them sometime, obviously.

Here's a couple more photos of em taken over the last wee while.

On a cold night, they both got tucked up in Sean's coat - super adorable!

Comfort levels - very high.

Scientific community take matters into their own hands.

I spent far too much time today trying to get hold of the original source, but failed miserably. But I still want to highlight this story, and hopefully come back with some real data or at least knowledgable commentary when I get my hands on the RS publication.

The BBC did an article on the release of a study which should apparently finally put the nail in the coffin of the sunspot theory trumpeted by "The Great Global Warming Swindle" swindle (grrrrrrr....). I like the study author's comment: "All the graphs they showed stopped in about 1980, and I knew why, because things diverged after that, ...you can't just ignore bits of data that you don't like"

The story's covered by the BBC and the Guardian. Nice to see that the scientific community won't put up with the media willfully abusing them. It's one thing to give the other side of the story, quite another to make stuff up when the other side of the story is vanishingly small. Basic premise of the show - bash the naughty, apparently money-grabbing climatologists. And of course all those poor defenceless oil companies, with no money to research their defence. People complain that there's not enough evidence that global warming is happening, so money gets put into research to look for it. But apparently now that they're getting lots of evidence, all that (minuscule amount, comparatively) money is going to their heads and their integrity must now be questioned.

Several major scientific organisations have pointed out that the program adjusted data, misrepresented some of those interviewed, presented antiquated and discredited data as new, and even told outright lies (eg volcanos produce 100 times less CO2 than human activities, not more, as claimed). And unfortunately, the story panders to the audience's desire to ignore the problem.

So anyway, this was supposed to be a quick post, I wasn't planning to bash the GGWS! It just came out cos it annoyed me SO MUCH!! Anyone who has no idea what I'm talking about (ie anyone in NZ, I guess) can get a copy of the show from me, if you're interested.

Live Earth Complainers Part 2

After my ramble last night, I've managed to figure out the thing that annoys me and have finally managed to form a succinct point! I dislike the fact that complaining about live earth is a self-fullfilling argument. By that I mean that if everyone decides Live Earth is deeply uncool, then yes, it will be a complete waste of time. If, however, people get behind it, ignore all the little 'oh concerts for causes is SOOOO last season' losers, just enjoy it and get into the spirit of it, maybe it will actually be a success and help get the ball rolling.
So yeah. I really am done now!

Live Earth Complainers

Well, I hate to be a bore, but this is MY blog and I get to say my bit! I have heard from quite a few people recently that Live Earth is just a way for a whole bunch of celebrities in their private jets to feel good about themselves and organise a wasteful environmentally unfriendly waste-of-time festival. And I'm getting more annoyed about it the more people say it.

There seem to be a number of misconceptions about the festival. For a start, those who watched will have noticed that many of the artists who performed weren't in their home countries. That's because they were asked to play at the concert they were closest to. So most won't have had to fly more than an hour or so and many won't have flown at all. The website for the event had a great deal of information on it for how to get to the venues by public transport to help the audience avoid using cars and planes. And besides, if it wasn't this gig, the venues involved would all have had some other major concert going on anyway. Do you seriously reckon if these gigs didn't happen they would have closed Wembley for the weekend and planted trees over it instead? I don't think so.

It has been shown that these sort of events can raise awareness, to the extent that much needed change actually happens. After all it was just after Live 8 that a great deal of debt was cancelled for the poorest countries in the world, giving them a chance to start again and improve their lot. On that occasion about all people were being asked to do was write a quick letter to dear ol Tony. Unfortunately this time they're being asked to actually think about their own lives, find those areas where they are being wasteful and trying to tighten the belts a little. I don't think you'll ever hear Al Gore suggesting we all have to live by candlelight and ban all vehicles. We only have to make small changes, but we have to all do it. But of course until we're actually screwed and we have to squeeze into the last little band of the earth that's still hospitable, everyone prefers the ostrich position. Nice and easy huh? And if, as seems to be popular, the media tells us that actually it's all just a hoax (which they say is in the interest of giving both sides of the story) using misrepresented data and outright lies (don't get me started on The Great Global Warming Swindle!) only panders to our desire to ignore the possibility that we are shooting ourselves in the foot unnecessarily.

Now I don't want to debate whether climate change is really going to happen and/or happening. Cos I just don't know. Of course the number of scientists whose data and models all agree on climate change (and have done for 20 or 30 years) provides compelling evidence, but the major problem with this issue is that we just won't know for SURE until it's too late. I really don't understand what is wrong with using precautionary tactics. Some people compare the precautionary policy to the absurd concept of "pre-emptive war", but this is a bad and dangerous analogy, since war necessarily involves violence, death and environmental damage. The only thing needed to solve this potential problem is to tame our rampant desire to consume. As such, a 'pre-emptive war' on climate change is a much more wholesome beast. People claim that there's no point in each of us making an effort as long as china is still growing and polluting, but they forget that the main market for what China produce is US - half the time buying pieces of tat that we don't even need. And making these small changes will have other benefits - if you cycle to and from work each day you'll feel healthier and happier (as I now do since I made the change) and that way you won't have to pay to drive to the gym, then pay when you get there to run on an electronic treadmill. So saving the planet saves you money too! (not to mention your cheaper electricity bill)

One small point on the lack of consensus on if climate change is really happening, though: go turn your engine on, and sit down next to the exhaust pipe for a few minutes. What do you think? Does that smell like good, wholesome, natural goodness? Even if you don't believe in climate change, surely you'd have to agree that that air isn't good air. Not the life-giving, healthy stuff we like to breath, huh? So really, would it be that bad to minimise it - even if there is no such thing as climate change?

At the moment most of the debate for stopping climate change revolves around 'how can we produce electricity with less CO2 emissions?'. This sort of question is clearly very important (and as usual ol Georgie has set his heart on arguably the worst of all the options). But first and foremost, the easiest thing to do is just use less.

To return to Live 8 it is important to remember that poverty and climate change are linked. Our reliance on oil fans the flames of most major problems facing our society. Many wars (both outright and subversive) have been fought over 'strategic resource management' and many of these wars promote extreme counterreactions like terrorism. Usually the discovery of oil in a third world country does not cause the growth and development of that country; it throws them into turmoil. And realistically if climate change turns out to be true it will be the poorest countries that will be least able to adapt and will suffer the most.

I was, therefore, horrified to hear that Bob Geldof is one of the chief amongst the Live Earth complainers. Get this quote from our great saviour, Mr Geldof: "I would only organize Live Earth if I could go on stage and announce concrete environmental measures from the American presidential candidates, Congress or major corporations. They haven't got those guarantees, so it's just an enormous pop concert. ... I hope they're a success. But why is Gore actually organizing them? To make us aware of the greenhouse effect? Everybody's known about that problem for years. We are all [expletive] conscious of global warming."

Riiiiiiiiiight. I don't remember the bit of Live Aid when Bob got on stage and announced 'it's ok everyone; George, Tony and the boys have agreed to give all those poor people a few quid, so you can all go home now'. As I recall it was 'just an enormous pop concert'...which managed to generate awareness and force change. And dude, seriously, YOU organised the one twenty years before...we are all [expletive] conscious of poor African children. I'd say Bono was pretty conspicuous in his absence at Live Earth too. Seems like sour grapes to me - throwing their toys cos someone else found a cause too.

So anyway. I should close this rant and congratulate those of you who reached the end of such an ill-constructed and train-of-thought hodgepodge of ideas. All those of you who did will receive a free chocolate fish (those in the UK can have a rolo instead) for making it. Claim your prize next time you see me! Feel free to write abusive comments if you think I'm talking rubbish and if you can convince me, you'll get a bonus chocolate fish!

PS I must say, some of Live Earth did get on my nerves and some of those videos were particularly over the top. It also seemed like it was mix and matching different issues rather than concentrating on the main one. Plus I'm not convinced that changing lightbulbs alone is the answer (which is the impression the sum of those videos gave me), personally I'd suggest the humvees and Ford 25o's might have a little bit to do with it too. Although that video with Prunella Scales was genius! Anyone who can tell me who the guy in it was also gets a bonus chocolate fish!

Forgiven!

It would seem that all is forgiven! As soon as the kittens came out of their boxes from the vet they were all over us and desperate for some attention! They're even more affectionate than usual.

I had a laugh at the vet's suggestion that they avoid exerting themselves for 3 days - how on earth are we supposed to stop them flinging each other and any other inanimate object around for 3 days?! And sure enough, I've already had to break up a monster fight that was kicking off, and they've only been out of anaesthetic for 5 hours! Grey doesn't seem fussed about her cut, although I'm sure she's a bit miffed at the humiliation of wandering round with her new hairdo.

Uh oh, the tell-tale bangs and crashes. Better go check out who's winning the fight next door!

Now I feel truly evil.

The kittens were so well behaved last night, quiet as mice and cheerful this morning. And then I signed away their bits.

Poor little things.

West coast trip

Thought I'd put up a couple of photos of me and Paul's trip to the west coast just before he headed back to the mothership. We went over to stay at my favourite NZ hostel - Te Nikau retreat. Hidden in amongst the rainforest in the middle of the back of beyond on the slightly crazy west coast. We took it easy over the Southern Alps and stopped off at Castle Hill (where they filmed large chunks of the chronicles of Narnia) wandering between the Maori sacred rocks. Then a chilled evening at a west coast pub, a couple of short walks through the rainforest and to the beach and the obligatory pancake rocks visit for the blowholes, which were in fine form and put on quite a show.
All in all a great weekend and nice to get out of town again.

By the way - anyone noticing a contradiction in my putting a whole bunch of photos of a roadtrip and a LiveEarth badge on my blog in one day should know it's the first time Norman's had a run out for ages, he hardly leaves his parking spot! But I hear you!

Castle Hill



Castle Hill



The main divide


Paul and Norman



He didn't pull that pose willingly!



Me n the bro at the beach on the west coast

Oh yeah, and me.

In case you're wondering what I'm up to these days, I am surrounded by precarious piles of journal publications, scrap-paper and lab books and I'm becoming very intimate with the backspace key. That's right my friends, I am indeed writing. Or doing tippety tappety, as it's know in this office.

Fear not, my lab work is not finished yet - I still have a fair bit to do in there before I can finish. But I decided to get a large chunk of the writing out of the way and then go back in there once I've knocked a bit of writing on the head.

Writing is kinda fun, cos when you get to the end of the day you can scroll back through your day's achievements and say - yeah - I did achieve something today. In the lab you can do a 70 hour week and end up further behind where you were, cos all you've managed to do is smoke your precious starting materials and bleed the chemical stores dry of solvents. That said, writing is pretty painful; when you manage to get a real tough bit done, you pat yourself on the back...and then start the next tough bit! Continuous stream of fighting with the literature (eg discovering someone else did half your work - and got better yields!) and trying to make sense of your garbled lab-book.

Still, it's going quite well and overall I'm kinda enjoying it.

Little bugger!

How did he know? Maybe some higher level of reproductive self-preservation kicked in.

So our kittens were supposed to get neutered today. Something which I feel quite guilty about in a way, not helped by both my parents (jokingly) saying - "oh how could you, when they trust you?!", and especially when Grey is so pretty and they both have such nice temperaments. Shame to take them out of the gene pool. But I know it's for the greater good of our cat infested neighbourhood. Just the other day, another kitten of about the same age as our two and who also looks suspiciously like Squish (their dad) showed up miaowing his little heart out! He's disappeared again so I'm hoping he was just a figment of my imagination.

But anyway, since we don't know who's feeding them, we had to keep them in last night to make sure they didn't eat anything. We've kept them in a few times before to let them get used to it (and Grey has now figured out kitty litter - I was so proud!) and each time they've been pretty chilled about it.

So this morning, bright and early I go out to find a happy Grey sat in her box, but no Monty. Anywhere. And there's nowhere to hide in our hallway. Was getting slightly spooked until I realised that our bathroom window was open by about 3 inches. Little bugger had managed to climb his way up there, then squeeze himself through the crack in the window and then drop down a good 6 foot. So now of course they both have to wait to get done next week.

So how did he know that this was the occasion to scarper? Did he get suspicious that we were being so nice? Has he had words with his homies round the neighbourhood? Beware the box, they say in hushed tones. I told Sean it was a bad idea to show them the boxes the night before!