Close Encounter

I was expecting the US-VISIT program to be the highlight of my flight through San Francisco, but I got to take these photos instead. Quite the surprise.

As we were coming in to land I noticed another plane, way below us. I was listening to the flightdeck radio at the same time so knew that our plane was meant to "maintain visual contact" with an Air China Cargo flight. I didn't realise that meant a parallel landing, nor how close the planes would be to each other. I understand that it's normal practice (according to the pilot's reassuring announcements), but still quite the sight to see.

Aussie Train System

One thing I've noticed that's different between Vancouver and Sydney is trains, though the difference is noticeable the world over. The Sydney rail network is very complex and uses huge honking trains. Rail networks elsewhere are simpler and/or use lighter rail. The difference is most evident when you compare something like the Vancouver SkyTrain service to our regular Sydney CityRail service.

I know I'm comparing apples and oranges here, but that's deliberate. You see, Canada and the rest of the world also have heavier trains but they're not like CityRail; they're most similar to the New South Wales CountryLink service. You pay a higher price and are given a fancy ticket with a pre-assigned seat number, optional food service, etc. The idea of massive, cheap, come-as-you-please, heavy rail network doesn't seem to have reached many places outside of Australia. Very odd.

Cairns Photos

I've put up some photos of beautiful Cairns. Some of the photos at the end are actually from my parents' cameras. Will upload some more photos and blog some stories later.

Food, Glorious Food!

I'm stepping up in the world. Nissin noodles (chicken flavour of course) with egg and imitation crab meat! Hey, it's better than my average.

On an unrelated note someone seems to have stolen the pump that was mounted to my bicycle. Not the helmet or the odometer or the headlight or the taillight. Just the pump. Either that, or I've taken it off and forgotten where I put it. Which do you think is more likely?

Wedding Photos

Took some photos at my good friends' wedding. I'm not a very good photographer, so I took about 500 photos. Most of them are crap, but the good ones I've put up on a Picasa Web Album. The bride of course looks beautiful. That's probably not the right term for the groom, so I'll say he's handsome. Check out the panoramic shots to get a feel for the fantastic garden venues. :)

Wishing the two of them the best of times together. Come visit when you're done with the honeymoon!

Back in Canada

Wooo! Back in my own bed. Actually, I've been back for 48 hours now - I just didn't have the time/energy/interest to blog the fact. I got over jetlag sufficiently enough to go to work some 16 hours after landing, but I'm still very tired in the mornings and have some trouble getting to sleep.

Spent some time reading "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" on the plane, so expect my usage of punctuation to improve. Though I'm now wondering if there was meant to be a comma after "plane". Will look it up later.

Thesis is extended until December. That gives me a little bit of breathing space. Not as much as I'd like, but enough. I can take tonight off to sort out all my photos from the trip. Expect more posts in the next few days. :)

P.S. Punctuation will improve, but not overall sentence structure. Half sentences are fun! :D

Quick Update

A little over halfway through my trip now. Have been doing a lot of stuff, and a lot of travelling. In later posts I'll describe snorkelling in Cairns, the Aboriginal dance show, and just life in Cairns.

I'm in Sydney now and going to have dinner with (part of) my family. Not very hungry as Qantas stuffed me with food (lunch, drink, and a mini-Magnum ice cream). My parents flew Virgin Blue to get here and didn't get pampered anywhere nearly as much.

Unfortunately my brother was called in to work this weekend at the last minute, so I won't get to see him this trip. That honestly really sucks, but very much not his fault. On a related note, I think cars need an extra horn on the top for when the driver is frustrated with life but not the people around them.

P.S. Expect my punctuation to get better, if not my grammar. My parents bought me Eats, Shoots & Leaves as a present. :D

Jet Lag

Just a note on jetlag. I seem to be surviving it now, though it took:

• an energy drink on arrival
• a coffee in the afternoon
• an energy drink and some Milo for breakfast
• a coffee and a Mars bar in the morning
• a Coke at my presentation

I did manage to sleep 8 hours last night, waking up at 5.30am. So as long as I repeat that tonight I will have shifted into Australian time within 2 days. Pretty happy about that.

Catching Up

OK, things are mostly on schedule. And it's a blazing schedule. Within 12 hours of being in Wollongong I'd met up with 7 great friends (and 1 new baby one) from 3 different eras of my life. We had a great lunch at Chilis which was really fun, and then a few of us went to the beach. Too cold for a swim, but had a nice coffee and later a small dinner.

Today I surprisngly met up with a long-time (and elusive) friend, my supervisor, and a few more friends from the University. Tonight should be a dinner, and then sleep, ready for a plane flight to Cairns tomorrow.

Feels good to be back. Do wish I had more time with my friends here. Will have to drag someone from Canada next time so I have an excuse to stay longer. ;)

Airport Security

Entered the US on Canadian soil (yes, that's how it works here). They took my photo and fingerprints. Four hours later I was doing the same thing to leave the US. Apparently they're very scared.

Stupid in so many ways: a self-serve kiosk for security, that requires an attendant because it's too confusing.

PS. Choice quote coming over the PA system. "Please come to the desk when I call your last name. Do not come to me now. If you come to me now I will tell you the same thing." Service with a grimace.

San Francisco

Hey, I'm in San Francisco. Saw the Golden Gate Bridge (I think) as we flew in. It was night time, but could still make out the shape. I've flown an F/A-18 under it so many times when I was younger, I should recognise it.

Flying here was 'fun'. First, they canceled my flight and changed me to an earlier one - without telling me. I was lucky that I caught an earlier bus to get to the airport, otherwise I would have missed it. When I board I find there's lots of people in my vicinity who had suffered the same and ended up with identical seat assignments. Some had Air Canada tickets, others had United. I changed seats 4 times ("I'm single, I'm easy, I can go anywhere" - yes I said that) until everyone was sitting with their family/girlfriends/boyfriends/etc. In the end, everyone else was packed in tight, and I had 3 seats to myself. Brilliant! :D

Next flight is straight to Sydney. Hope they have good food, because I'm hungry.

Travel Plans

So I'm coming back to Australia for about a week. Travel plans so far are:

1. Leave from work at 4pm, Friday 15th
2. Leave from Vancouver at 7.10pm, Friday 15th
3. Arrive in Sydney at 6.25am, Sunday 17th
4. Visit friends and supervisor in Wollongong
   • Lunch and dinner with friends, Sunday 17th
   • Meet with supervisor about thesis, Monday 18th
   • Give presentation at lunchtime, Monday 18th
   • Dinner with friends, Monday 18th
5. Leave from Sydney at 9.50am, Tuesday 19th
6. Arrive in Cairns at 1.00pm, Tuesday 19th
7. Visit parents on holiday in Cairns
8. Leave from Cairns at 2.00pm, Friday 22nd
9. Arrive in Sydney at 5.00pm, Friday 22nd
10. Visit family and relatives in Sydney
11. Leave from Sydney in the morning, Saturday 23rd
12. Arrive in Leura/Katooma, Saturday 23rd
13. Visit friends at wedding in Leura
14. Leave from Leura/Katoomba in the morning, Sunday 24th
15. Arrive in Sydney, Sunday 24th
16. Visit family and friend in Sydney
    • Needs organising
17. Leave from Sydney at 2.40pm, Monday 25th
18. Arrive in Vancouver at 3.07pm, Monday 25th
19. Arrive at work 10am, Tuesday 26th

It's a relaxed trip by my standards. :D

The monster is alive!

Thesis troubles grew a little bit more today. Forced me to reassess some of the fundamentals, and I think I have a solution now.

But I'm so sick and tired of doing it that I took today off. Spent the day doing laundry, playing games and chatting. Normal stuff. Felt good to get back to it. It's like a taster of what I might get next year when it's done. If it's done.

Tempted to take a year's extension based on the fact that I'm working fulltime and (emotionally) just can't push myself that hard. Will think about it.

Thesis Troubles

I've been struggling with my thesis code here. I just can't seem to nail down this last, crucial piece of code. Programming an unstructured distributed system just sends your head into a spin. Gave up for a bit and went to lay down.

Was then that I remembered: noone has ever been beaten by a coding exercise. It can be a severe impediment, but you will always win. Eventually.

Steve Irwin Dies

Late last night I read the news headline "Crocodile hunter dies". What was my first thought? "Some untrained idiot has tried to replicate Steve Irwin, and was killed in the process".

I wasn't prepared to read that it was Steve Irwin that had died. Even today I'm pretty shocked by it. A little piece of Australia died today.

Attack of the Worms

No, not real worms. I've been working on my thesis and created some funny little diagrams that look like lots of coloured worms. No, I won't explain what the diagram means. It is left as an exercise for the reader. ;)