random bullets of travel...

I am just returned and still in a jet lag fogged haze from a week and a half in Europe for a conference and a little vacay. Since travel tends to bring up some of the oddest things, I present random bullets of travel (with hubby):

• Hubby looks around and says to me: "Madrid is a going concern." ... Really? I think it probably has been for centuries now.
  
• To airlines (especially StupidJet... I mean EasyJet): Either have a system or don't. Preferably have one. "Free seating" is not a "feature".
  
• It is possible to survive for 12 days on only 45min of internet (that cost 7.50 Euros)... but you don't blog, and don't get much work done.
  
• "Platos Combinatos" was the new theme for travel in Spain this year (last year was "sacacorchos"... it's a good story).
  
• Unlike most restaurant meals in Spain, you can get a "Platos Combinatos" before 9pm, and it more resembles a meal than Tapas.
  
• Finishing dinner at 11:30pm and getting up for talks that start at 9am does not help with jet lag.
  
• I actually kind of like calamari.
  
• If you have a conference posse (of people you like), you could rent an apartment for the week and have a grand old time. Of course we thought of this after we arrived.
  
• When transferring from plane to train in Lyons, you will likely need to take a long bus ride into the main station... even though there is a train station in the airport and it is closer to where you are going... really, you can go ask the guy at the desk there, he'll tell you where to catch the bus and possibly that you are much older than he thought (a compliment, I think).
  
• Glaciers are tricky things to get to (more on that later).
  
• Stay to the inside of the trail when hiking.
  
• 2200m altitude will kick your arse even if you think you are in shape.
  
• European hotels do not provide wash clothes.
  
• Has anyone ever followed those signs in hotels asking you to hang the towels if you wish to use them again and returned to find that the same towels are actually there? Every time I hang them up neatly and I come back to fresh towels.
  
• "ensoleillement" is a word which means "chance of sun"... it is predicted daily in Chamonix, but appears to have no actual correlation with the amount of sun appearing on a given day.
  
• Do not say "hey, why don't we take a different route back" after hiking for 4-5 hours already when you are not sure where you are going and it will get dark soon.
  

To Disgruntled Julie: I will post the meme soon... unfortunately I have work rather than knitting to do today. ;)

Piled Higher and Deeper... they weren't kidding

My desk as it stands today:

Piles upon piles... stacks upon stacks... books and notes and files everywhere. I guess that's where PhD comics got the "Piled higher and Deeper" moniker from.

But wait... what is that sitting at the edge of my desk...



... could that be seven thesis copies bound and labelled in acco press binders? forms all signed and ready for submission?? Why yes, that's exactly what those are, and submit it is exactly what I did first thing this morning.

Whoah.

Post-doc loc: hint #1

evergreen, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

Since I'm still waiting for my supervisor's thesis comments, let's play a game!

Guess where I'm going for a post-doc?

*No cheating by going to Flickr to see the other pictures.*

I'm still here...

bursting with blooms, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

... still writing, finished with conferences for the time being, papers are out of the way for now, dreaming of a bit of vacation when my thesis is submitted.

I have lots of things to post, but all writing energy is going elsewhere.

Meanwhile, look at the pretty flowers...

(taken in May with my film SLR Olympus OM-1 with my new-to-me 135mm f2.8 lens... dreamy bokeh)

Alberta

Alberta::summer 2008, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

Two weeks ago, my best friend got married in the Rockies. Beautiful mountains, beautiful wedding.

I love this country, there are some incredible places and we had a great time out west. I just wish it weren't so big so I could have my friends and family closer.

Scientists just aren't that exciting...

einstein grafitti, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

See, this is what happens when you make scientists into action heros. He's holding a piece of chalk. What can you do with a piece of chalk?!

truffled potatoes au gratin

truffled potatoes au gratin, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

Last night we made Truffled Potatoes au gratin, made by (more or less) this recipe from epicuious.com.

We skipped the truffles for truffle oil, made a little less than half of the recipe, and added some parmesan cheese for extra flavour and crispiness. We used the slicer on our food processor for the potatoes cutting down the prep time dramatically. :) I'm loving the "robot culinaire" now that we have it.

Sadly, we were too excited to dig in, so I don't have a photo after baking. Trust me, it looked delicious and tasted even better! Maybe we'll spring for some truffles next time... Yum!

wishing for summer to return

wishing for summer to return, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

It's just one of those days, where I wish summer would hurry up and come back. Don't get me wrong, I've been enjoying this winter (hockey! snowshoeing! lots to knit!), but it's a gloomy stormy day and I'm gloomy and stormy today, and I'd like the weather to fix my mood a little. *sigh* Unfortunately, I don't think the seasons take orders from the likes of me.

In the meantime, a picture from last summer to warm things up a little.

toasty toes

finished Tyrolean stockings!, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

Warning: knitting post.

Details:

Pattern: Tyrolean stockings from Interweave Knits, Fall 2007
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino, antique rose (~1.75 balls)
Ravelry link

I finally finished my Tyrolean stockings. I started these right after I got the magazine as I was enthralled by the pattern, seduced by the thought of having some great knee socks, and justified yet another WIP by the fact that I was using stash yarn. I worked away at them here and there, but set them aside for the Christmas knitting, and interrupted them for a sweater. Over Christmas I finished the first one and was so thrilled I got the second done within a couple of weeks.

The pattern is actually relatively easy. I didn't think it possible, but by about half way down the first I had the chart memorized, and the second one flew by. I honestly never thought I would make it through a pair of cabled socks, but here they are.

One note on the pattern that wasn't clear to me was that the last row before starting the heel flap should contain the twists and small cables. I didn't do it on the first sock and by the time I'd finished the heel I realized that I should have done it, but was too lazy to rip out the whole heel to fix it. So they are fraternal twins, as I knit the second as I thought they should be.

A note on my yarn selection: this isn't an ideal yarn for the pattern. I used it because it was in my stash and I loved the colour. I forced it to gauge (though in hindsight I could have gone up a needle size and made them roomier anyway), which made for some very tight cable knitting that gave me shoulder knots. The resulting fabric is pretty tight (not so much stretch) and very, very warm. This is perfect for the -20 degC we have today, but I'm afraid these won't see too much use. It also isn't superwash, which means these are handwash socks. Yuk. However, Patons Classic wool is quite soft, and relatively cheap. If you have it in your stash, all the better.

Final verdict? Love. :)

(ps- don't worry, I wore pants with them today. my knees are quite safe from frostbite!)

2007: in the yarn

2007: in the yarn, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

2007 was actually a pretty big year of knitting for me, but somehow not much of it really made it to the blog. To summarize:

• 3 pairs of socks completed, plus baby booties
  
• first cable project (fetching)
  
• 2 pairs of mittens
  
• my first garment ("Tank Top" from Erika Knight's "Classic Knits")
  
• my first attempted and frogged sweater... ugh
  
• my first successful sweater!
  
• 2 dish cloths
  
• 1 cat toy
  
• 2 warm hats
  
• 1 big scarf
  
• some stash usage
  
• some stash enhancement (don't ask the net balance... please!)
  
• 8 gifted items
  
• the introduction of Ravelry into my life!
  

Not bad! I'd still like to get around to blogging a few (especially my sweater!). I've already got one FO for 2008 I want to share, and was making rapid progress on another I'm in love with until I got derailed by my knitterly ADD.

Happy New Year!

Cheers!, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

2008

The year of the THESIS.

Eek. I actually worked out the LaTeX template yesterday and looked over my outline yesterday.

I wonder how it will go? I generally feel good about it. I'm confident in the collection of stuff I have to put into it. The data is solid, much of it is at least preliminarily analysed. Much of it is published or at least submitted. But what else will I learn? I came up with so many new ideas and interpretations while writing my MSc thesis, I'm kind of curious to see what will fall out this time.

And of course I can't wait to wear the floppy hat. THAT is a bold fashion statement.

And then there is the "I wonder where I'll be next year at this time?" California? Germany? Freezing my arse off in Edmonton? Will I follow the project I can't stop thinking about? Or go for a big name place? It's all exciting, but I'm not so good with uncertainty.

Why does every year seem like a BIG year these days.

Here we go.... Wheeeeeeee!

I love film

L'Amour embrassant l'Amitie, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

I finally got around to getting my film from Europe developed and actually managed to go pick up the prints. These rolls, especially the black and white, have reminded me again why I love film so much. There is grain, but it is unobtrusive. Really, it only shows up in the very bokeh-y backgrounds of the shallow focal depth shots, the sharp detail is never obscured. The balance of light and shadow is so much stronger. I photograph light, really I do. I think this is why I don't care that I don't have a good flash. I'm rarely moved to take a shot unless I have great light. The sculpture gallery of the Louvre has the most fantastic light. I could have stayed for hours just there sitting in the warm sun and watching the shadows dance off the walls and sculptures.

If you're interested, head over to my Flickr photostream, or directly to my Olympus OM-1 set for just the film photos.

where i've been... under a rock

under a rock, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

Lack of intelligble blog posts due to a general lack of intelligibleness. Instead I present you with a photo I took months ago, made new again with dumpr.net's turn-my-photo-old tool. Makes me kinda want a Holga... but then my obsession with cameras is a whole other issue, and we don't need to go there today.

In other news, I'm chipping away at that to do list for August. However, now that things have settled down a bit compared to the rest of the summer, and most of the key items are either done or mostly done, I'm starting to slow down and relax more.

what's it to you?

what's it to you?, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

Yesterday morning, barely awake, I looked out the window and spotted a little furry creature jotting across the balcony ledge. This "little" guy stopped to sniff the trellis of morning glories to determine if there was anything worth eating and then dissappeared down the side of the building.

If I hadn't taken pictures I'm not sure I'd have believed it once awake.

Ravelry... because I need more internet communities to distract me

yarn diet?, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

So, I've signed up for Ravelry, a knit and crochet online community thing, that looks like just so much fun. You can show off your projects, browse around other peoples' projects, list your stash yarns (stash? what stash? i don't have a stash... achem), search for patterns to match yarns and see what other people have done... why, it's going to be like Flickr, but for knitting, maybe even better! :0

The catch is they're still in beta, so they are sending out invites as fast as they can handle new users. I waited too long to sign up:

Found you!

• You signed up on July 20, 2007
• You are #19118 on the list.
• 11687 people are ahead of you in line.
• 2401 people are behind you in line.
• 33% of the list has been invited so far

*sigh*

My first sweater experience... to be continued...

riiiip it?, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

So there it is, the beginings of my first sweater. I'm starting to wonder if my sweater attmepts are to be forever cursed. I set out to make this design by drops my first sweater. I got the yarn (drops alpaca in a lovely burgundy colour). I finished other projects before starting this exciting venture. I swatched. Oy. My gauge was completely off, I changed needle sizes, and well, I was just dismayed by the fabric created when I actually got gauge. I packed the yarn up and shoved it to the bottom of my stash (I'm starting to consider other ideas for this yarn now, maybe Arisaig which I've had my eye on since picking up knitting again), and set out to knit this instead. After such a success (bulky yarns are great for confidence aren't they?), I set out after another first sweater attempt...

The details:

• "Cable cardigan" from instant expert: Knitting (I'm still on the fence as to whether this book is good or not. The patterns don't have "sizes" persay, but rather suggest changing gauge, which is strange, and not so good, and I've found several errors already, but the patterns are good for inspiration and there is a nice stitch library and some decent how-to for beginners...)
  
• Plymouth yarns Galway Highland Heather in colour 705 (a nice navy) and it is lovely and soft and springy (bought from kpixie, a quick and pleasant experience ;) )
  
• now using 4.5mm needles (less than the recommended for the yarn), 4mm for ribbing
  

So, now to explain why the heck Pistachio Frog is sitting contemplating my sweater progress. Well you see, the sweater the back piece is sitting on top of is my very smallest sweater. Infact, that sweater is almost too small when worn over anything of any bulk. So as I headed into the arm shaping, I started to contemplate frogging the whole damn thing and starting over. Oh sure, it sounds extreme and reactionary... but I did set it aside for two months and think about the consequences of finishing a sweater that I couldn't wear and would be too small to give to anyone either. Ripping it out and starting over didn't sound like a bad option in comparison.

But did I mention that this is my very first sweater, and that actually I don't know what I'm doing? And the pattern doesn't have sizes? That would mean having the time to sit down with a calculator and rework all the increases and decreases required including the neck shaping which is something that terrifies me because I just don't understand it. So I finished some socks instead (more on that later).

Finally, I posted this photo to Flickr, where there are many supportive knitters, and I experimented with blocking my swatch (oh yeah, I swatched baby), and so deciding that blocking can solve anything (well, at least with this yarn) I am plowing ahead. Hopefully there will be no more catastrophies. Right? Somehow I doubt it...

At least for now, I have some knitting to do.

more film, life in colour this time

lone sailboat, not lonely, originally uploaded by physics*chick.

More photos from out west and trip home, this time taken with the Olympus. First colour roll of film. I chose a pro film that was supposed to have high saturation and cool tones which worked out well for the Ferry. Unfortunately many of the scans lacked the saturation and good tone depth that the prints had, so I tinkered with them in iPhoto. Anything that looks a bit strange is likely a result of my over processing the scans... except for the japanese maple, that one looks just as trippy in the print! :)

Specs:

• Olympus OM-1
  
• Zuiko OM 50mm/f1.8 lens
  
• Fujicolor pro 160C color negative film (ISO 160)
  

I ♥ this camera.

vacay is a good thing

big BC sky, originally uploaded by physics*chick (aka saburke).

So we recently went out west (to what I often call the "wrong side"... being a east coast sort) for a summer school, a wedding, and a wee little vacation.

Some comments about Victoria BC:

• People drive 35km/hr. No joke. We were almost late for the wedding. 35 people!!! THIRTY-FIVE!
  
• The weather is adjusted for optimal comfort in the summer. Warm, but not too warm. Dry, not muggy, but not too dry either. Everyday as we exited the hotel and I wondered if I'd dressed appropriately for the weather, a giant smile just crept up onto my face as I realized that it didn't matter, because I was just going to be comfortable all day.
  
• Downtown gets pretty empty in the evening. Don't try to find something to eat after 9pm. It will be difficult.
  
• J.J. Wonton Noodle House is still amazing. And according to their fortune cookie I will have "good money-luck next month". Here's hoping for that.
  

We had fun just relaxing and wondering around for a few days in a place we both briefly called home.

Vacation is good.

Best of digital photos are up on Flickr now, and my film should be ready, I just have to pick it up and post those.

I'm still alive

over here, originally uploaded by physics*chick (aka saburke).

...and I will blog again. Really... maybe not soon? but someday.

I've posted my 2nd roll of photos from my Olympus OM-1. More black and white. I'm even more thrilled with this roll than the first.

Specs: Olympus OM-1, Zuiko 50mm f1.8 lens, Ilford black & white ISO 125.

happy spring

cosmic sky, originally uploaded by physics*chick (aka saburke).

spring/summer has arrived in Montreal... I hope for real this time after flip-flopping on the matter several times and almost landing snow on us last week.

busy these days, work, visitors, parents, friends. all's well. enjoying the nice weather.

took this as part of a set of photos of some of the flowers i planted on the balcony. the rest are on flickr.