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. ;)