Adventurous weekend, laid back week

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.