Catching up

There are a lot of things that I haven't been able to write about on my weblog due to a lack of time, inspiration or just because I didn't feel like writing. This is an attempt to give you a brief update on all these matters.

Lovely Yarraville
For example there was this ironic event when I had agreed to meet Michael (Taylor, friend from RMIT) in a bar in Yarraville, a suburb two train stops from Footscray. The general idea of Footscray is that it is not one of the best suburbs. There definitely is a drugs problem, but the overall idea that it wouldn't be save is just false. In all the time that I've been living there now, not a single disturbing event happened. It's just that the streets are deserted after midnight. That's most likely why people feel uncomfortable.

Anyway, I took the train to Yarraville and shortly arrived at the station, where I gave Michael a call and arranged to meet at the station. While waiting there I noticed from the corner of my eye the drunk guy who already had been very annoying on the train. Sensible as I though I was, I didn't pay any attention to him. Apparently that was just what he was looking for, as he approached me and started to make all kinds of irrational threats. At first I thought it would be best to still ignore him, but that only seemed to make him even more furious. Thus I replied on his question that I was OK (unlike him, but of course I didn't say that). My answer didn't seem to cool him down. Maybe I should have responded that I was NOT OK, in Eddy Murphy style (see Raw). Fortunately his sober friends prevented him from trying to beat me up. I doubt he would have succeeded in doing that though, as he had enough trouble standing straight. Probably taking one step backwards would have been enough to make him fall over. While he was dragged home by his friends, the cavalry (Michael) arrived, late as always. He was quite stunned when I told him what happened and at first he didn't believe me. He had never had any problems in Yarraville. Whatever people say, Footscray is my save suburb :-).

Melbourne Central
It might not surprise you (after I told you how big Melbourne Central shopping mall is) that I actually got lost inside in one of my first weeks in Melbourne. Well, actually you don't get lost, you just exit the shopping mall in a different street, in my case, two blocks away from where I needed to be. Strolling back to RMIT I came across a billboard with a advertisement for what had to be a Turkish restaurant run by a Chinese owner, as the name of the restaurant read: " Mr. Tulk".

Nacho Libre

Last night I went to the cinema with Paul. Paul had won gold class tickets at work a couple of weeks ago and we hadn't found a opportunity to go to see a movie until yesterday. I got to pick a movie and choose the most promising one, Nacho Libre. (I refuse to go see Snakes on a plane, just because of the most idiotic and least original title ever. Some friends at RMIT though were positively surprised about the story and plot of the movie.) But Nacho Libre turned out to be a very good choice. In the beginning you don't know quite what to expect and you're fearing it is going to be some boring movie, but it turned out to be a very entertaining story. I enjoyed the movie very much, but I'm not likely to ever spent 32 dollars on gold class, it's definitely not worth it. A possible dinner is not included and my 18 dollar expensive main tasted like nothing. I've had better dinners for just 10 dollars.


On the way back to Southern Cross train station we passed the five pillars along the Yarra river. Every hour several meters high flames shoot out of these pillars, releasing an enormous amount of heat and light. Paul already had told me about the pillars, but I hadn't seen them until now. It is magnificent to see how the fire crawls up on the turbulent gas cloud that sprouts from the top of the pillar. In just a few seconds every vortex along the path of the fire lights up and then dowses again.

3 weeks and counting

With only three more weeks to go it is time to start finishing things. I started writing my report almost at the first week of my project as I couldn’t start experimenting then. So at least the introduction, background and experimental setup chapters are almost finished now.

The results and conclusions chapters are a different story though. Ironically I haven’t been able to do any experiments apart from one day of experimenting. The results from those experiments are unfortunately not particularly interesting. As it turned out I closed the holes partially with glue when I mounted the cantilever. I’m now hoping to get it clean with some chemicals before this Wednesday. Chengi, a Chinese scientist at Melbourne University, is helping me now with my research and he has arranged beam time on Wednesday and Thursday. If everything goes according to plan (which is very unlikely) I’ll have some more results by the end of this week.

Two weeks ago I started on planning the cycle journey that Inge and I are starting in about four weeks. That means that from now on I also will be posting on http://going-down-under.blogspot.com. For the moment you’ll find there a first version of our travel schedule.