Friday kicked off with myself and Christian + Peter Murray-Rust's group going down to the beer festival at lunch time. There was a large variety of beer from all over the UK and a foreign bar for those not particularly keen on the local brew. I had a pint of Claife Clare, not too bad, it was an Ambleside ale (near the Lake District) which was apparently made in Ireland.
I enjoyed the festival so decided to go there on Saturday with my brother after attending brunch at a friends house. It was quite crowded on Saturday and we stayed for two beers. We would have got there later due to punting complications (excessive traffic on the river, we went drinking instead). Following the festival we met up with our parents for a meal at the Avery. The food is normally good and on time, not on Saturday though! Shocking service, they took so long then got our order wrong. I think they've lost my custom for a long while.
Sunday could have been a relaxing day, though we decided to go to the seaside (Lowestoft) - 2 hours travelling there then 2 hours back. The weather was absurd being cold, wet and windy. We had some traditional sausage and chips, then went down to the sea, which according to my brother was bloody cold! Not really much else in Lowestoft other than the arcades, we had a go on the dance machine (first time, cained the beginner level, then got a rude awakening on the intermediate). Two 15 year old chavs went on after us, they did rather well but had blatantly been spending all their pocket money and spare time on that machine. Lowestoft though nice for a day out, is rather bleak....I pitty the teenage population, they must really struggle to find things to do.
I forgot to mention I also went to the cinema twice, once to see Iron man then Indiana Jones. I preferred Iron man, not such a big fan of Indy, but it was ok.
Today, I have been checking a chapter of my thesis then pratting around with my website, which is great fun. I've added a new photo album of our adventures in lowestoft (http://chemoinformatician.co.uk/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=487), set up an rss feed for this blog which can be accessed at: http://chemoinformatician.co.uk/main/Chemoinformatics_Blogging.php embedded some youtube videos into my wiki (http://chemoinformatician.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Youtube_Videos), put a google map mashup (or soon to be) on my website and have also included some extra chart functionality for my wiki (http://chemoinformatician.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Google_Charts)...important graphs coming soon!
I will start to blog more actively about the semantic web and polymer informatics from now on.
On a last note dance practice is tonight, it should be good, the routine is getting better.
Wednesday 28 May 2008
Monday 19 May 2008
Polymer Informatics here we come!
I am really excited about the new postdoctoral position I have been appointed to in Peter Murray-Rust's lab. The work will involve a lot of java programming and xml processing. The main goal is to develop a polymer ontology. I think I will learn a lot over these next two years.
Other work related issues include the submission of my thesis, which should hopefully happen pretty shortly as I have given a second draft to John (fingers crossed, he'll give his blessing!). Not much else, but I may start writing up another publication related to my thesis in my spare time.
Miscellaneous news: my parents are in Madeira for a week, hopefully they are having a good time on holiday, I think they needed a break from work. My brother came back from a Tax conference, then went out to the dogs (betting on dogs). I don't think he won anything, but it sounded like he enjoyed himself.
Other work related issues include the submission of my thesis, which should hopefully happen pretty shortly as I have given a second draft to John (fingers crossed, he'll give his blessing!). Not much else, but I may start writing up another publication related to my thesis in my spare time.
Miscellaneous news: my parents are in Madeira for a week, hopefully they are having a good time on holiday, I think they needed a break from work. My brother came back from a Tax conference, then went out to the dogs (betting on dogs). I don't think he won anything, but it sounded like he enjoyed himself.
Tuesday 6 May 2008
A milestone or simply a one off?
Last week was the first time Christian and I managed to convince some of the traditional 'cyber cafe' goers (Lukman and Christina) to get out of the department for lunch at Queens'. I myself am a big fan of leaving the department for an hours break at lunch, it gives me more time to think and chill out, others I guess prefer the closeness of the cafe and the apparent chemist community based atmosphere.
Watch this space for future developments.
Other than that I can safely say I've had a fairly hectic weekend. The UK salsa champions put on a show on Friday, the performance was great, pitty about the rather large number of people down the club....wasn't exactly conducive to dancing. Saturday I had a free meal at Emma College. The food was Mexican, so tortilla then fajita wraps followed by a chocolate mousse for dessert. I didn't have much to drink which might surprise one or two, but the one margarita cocktail I had was strong enough. The dinner was followed by a bit of dancing to a live band, Capricorn..which was suppose to be a salsa band, though it turned out that they were in fact a funky/soul band.
Sunday, I must have woken up fairly late ~11am, it's nice to have a lye in if there is no compulsion to get up and work. Some people I have noticed do however go into the lab at weekends and proceed to work on Bank holidays. Well it's their choice, I just think it's a little excessive, unless of course "desperate times call for desperate measures." More likely though the fact that they have nothing better to do in their spare time.
Anyway it was good to see my brother's new flat on the Sunday night after a lesson at SOS (level 4 - Advanced). I think the shine routines down there require a hell of a lot of attention, the partner routine (which I guess I'm more use to) was fairly straight forward.
I think I'll have to get a regular gym routine going on the Tuesday night as the 'On2' has now finished...or work later.
Watch this space for future developments.
Other than that I can safely say I've had a fairly hectic weekend. The UK salsa champions put on a show on Friday, the performance was great, pitty about the rather large number of people down the club....wasn't exactly conducive to dancing. Saturday I had a free meal at Emma College. The food was Mexican, so tortilla then fajita wraps followed by a chocolate mousse for dessert. I didn't have much to drink which might surprise one or two, but the one margarita cocktail I had was strong enough. The dinner was followed by a bit of dancing to a live band, Capricorn..which was suppose to be a salsa band, though it turned out that they were in fact a funky/soul band.
Sunday, I must have woken up fairly late ~11am, it's nice to have a lye in if there is no compulsion to get up and work. Some people I have noticed do however go into the lab at weekends and proceed to work on Bank holidays. Well it's their choice, I just think it's a little excessive, unless of course "desperate times call for desperate measures." More likely though the fact that they have nothing better to do in their spare time.
Anyway it was good to see my brother's new flat on the Sunday night after a lesson at SOS (level 4 - Advanced). I think the shine routines down there require a hell of a lot of attention, the partner routine (which I guess I'm more use to) was fairly straight forward.
I think I'll have to get a regular gym routine going on the Tuesday night as the 'On2' has now finished...or work later.
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