First week back in Cambridge

I've actually been back for almost two weeks now, but I don't want to overwhelm this one post.

FRIDAY
Lots of flying. I had a six move flight from Sydney to Los Angeles, which is a bad thing (it means I slept almost no time). I was wearing a physics olympiad t-shirt, and in Los Angeles airport the Australian informatics olympiad team came and said hello. They were heading to Toronto for their olympiad. I slept a lot on the flight from Los Angeles to Dallas. I didn't want to sleep between Dallas and Boston, fearing it would prevent me from sleeping at night (I arrived at 8pm). There were several men around the back of the plane discussing margaritas: I don't think they had actually had any that day, but they were fairly boisterous nonetheless. One of them managed to get stuck while trying to exit the plane (I can't remember how), so I suggested perhaps it was too many margaritas. I headed to Lechmere and took the short walk to my new home. Patrick was about to start dinner (yes, he eats relatively late), but instead he went with me and we bought a pizza at one of the nearby shops, which we brought home and shared. The others (currently An Son, Jordan and Su Yee) returned and joined us for a game of Settlers of Catan. Patrick in particular, and perhaps to a lesser extent than the others, is a big fan of German-style games.

SATURDAY
My first priority was to buy a bed: since I need an extra long, I ended up ordering one and it still hasn't arrived (fortunately there is still a mattress for me while An Son is here). I also did a little bit of shopping, and in the afternoon I saw the Gilbert and Sullivan group's performance of Sweeney Todd. I explored Cambridge St a little in the evening: while there are numerous places to eat, there doesn't seem to be quite as much variety (or quality, perhaps) as on Mass Ave. I ended up at what appeared to be a very popular Indian place in Inman Square. I thought Jacqui and Vik would appreciate the clocks they had: one showed the regular time, while the other was "Indian Time", and hour and a half behind. I thought this was just a joke, but I realised it was probably actually telling us the current time in India, which was far less amusing. Jordan and Su Yee were away for the week/end, so Patrick, An Son and I played the very fun (but initially quite complicated) game Power Grid. I decided to adopt a Steven Bradbury strategy, which thanks to some of those complicated rules actually worked to some extent, although it only brought me back from well behind to being able to delay Patrick's victory and finish second.

SUNDAY
I went to Mass at the campus chapel as usual. I can't remember anything else particularly spectacular or interesting that I did: just more settling in activities (shopping, cooking, etc.).

MONDAY
I went back to the office for the first time. Although I had thought of looking for information on potential grants (as requested by my supervisor a little while ago), instead I worked on gathering my thoughts from before I left, so I could tell people what I've been up to and then continue from there.

TUESDAY
We had the first group meeting since those who were away from the summer returned. It was particularly useful to hear what Peng had to say, since some parts of his project are very relevant to mine. In the evening, I went with some Gilbert and Sullivan friends to see the College Light Opera Company's production of Patience, which we'll be performing this semester. It was very enjoyable: the chorus was particularly good, probably unsurprising for a group with that particular makeup.

WEDNESDAY
I worked on my presentation for the following day's group meeting.

THURSDAY
In addition to the group meeting, I started that search for grants. I found that US government websites were on the whole poorly set up, so it was hard to find information. I found one very odd site, which states that the foundation "is especially interested in devices and processes with a claimed over-unity character—more energy output than input—or the device is "self-sustaining" (no input power provided from a conventional source)", ie. they're looking for a perpetual motion machine! It was disappointing to see that crank science rates so highly on a Google search for real science!