September 30, 2005
Filed under: Uncategorized — David @ 9:59 am Comments 7
Today marks the day that I am “Into” my 30’s. Being 30 was great, but it is when you actually enter into your 30’s that one starts to feel old.
So far today:
I woke up at 3am feeling dehydrated and gross from drinking the night before. There was a wine and cheese type thing that the ICMS put on. I must of had 1.5 bottles of wine followed up by 1.5 pints of beer at the pub afterwards.
When I woke up at the normal time, I recieved some great presents from Neyir, (a wool hat she knitted for me, some aftershave and the third season of 24 on DVD). Additionally, a friend of ours here gave me two bag of crisps and a beer (don’t be put off, these are really exciting for me to get!).
My parents gave me an early present, money to help pay for a plane ticket home at christmas. This is much apprieciated as it will probably be the only time I go home during this PhD.
My co-workers at IBM sent me a card. Not to mention all the great things they send with vania for Neyir and I. (yikes… i still have to write the thank you card).
Tonight we are headed to a cocktail party and I think tomorrow I get treated to some new shoes from my wonderful inlaws. (maybe I’ll get two pairs). The shoes are much apprieciated as most of you regular reader might know. For those of you who are new to the site, read this entry.
Filed under: Uncategorized — Neyir @ 9:46 am Comments 2
I really wanted to title this blog ‘to my Prince Charming’ and then have a really silly picture of David but alas I am not that organised so you will all have to use your imagination!!!
Today not only marks David’s birthday but also the day that we officially started dating. As of today David and I have been a couple for 4 years! It seems like such a short time and yet we have done so much. We have moved three times, once across the ocean, left jobs, started school, started new jobs, sold all non-essential items, sold my condo, left our beloved Basil, left many dear friends and all family and luckily made some new friends.
But this is David’s day so in his honour here are a few David related thoughts.
David makes up the craziest funniest songs. He is currently distraught because he cannot remember yesterday morning’s song.
Putting aside Spiritual concerns David’s number one goal is to make me happy and suppport me and my music - sometime I worry he is more invested in my singing than I am ;-). You know he did do that silent role in my Fringe recital and now that he has a taste of performing…..
I have rarely met anyone as passionate as David is about their work. He has the unique ability, if he so desires, regardless of what is happening to focus soley on the Math in his brain - spooky.
David loves Children and all things Child-related mainly due to the fact that some part of him has yet to grasp the fact that he is an adult. I am resigned to the fact that when we eventually have children I will mainly be adding another child not acquiring the first 
When my mother and David spent time together they rub off on each other - not neccessarily in the best ways - my ribs are still recovering from all the fingering poking when my parents were in town!!!
David is super generous. Let me tell you if you are a server and we come into your restaurant (not likely to happen in Scotland but Canadian servers take notice) you want to have our table!
Lastly David still makes me laugh and smile and he really does do the dishes (sorry to all David’s previous room-mates!)
September 24, 2005
Filed under: Uncategorized — David @ 10:41 am Comments 13
Since our arrival in this lovely country, I have consumned copious amounts of short bread. It appears all the time. It seems we have it at every other astro tea (suplied by my advisor). When there are colloquim for more imortant groups than astronomy, the department supplies it (which I promptly consume in large quantities). The Applied Math colloquim does not get short bread though (we are supplied with Turkish Delight).
On our trip through the highlands, every B&B which we stayed at supplied Short Bread in the Rooms. Neyir Parents, having not lived here for as long as us, purchased large quantities of short bread while on our trip. Mine and Neyir’s favorite was a hazelnut shortbread.
I don’t understand the Scottish (perhaps UKish?) obsessioni with the treat. It is just an excuse to eat butter with a whole bunch of surgar. Plus… it isn’t deep fried. I wonder if you can get Deep Fried Short bread (I wouldn’t be suprised).
I am getting sick of shortbread. That being said, if someone put it in front of me, I would gladly eat it!
September 19, 2005
Filed under: Uncategorized — David @ 11:54 am Comments 14
Yesterday, Neyir and I arrived safely home from a road trip through the highlands of Scotland thanks to the generosity of her parents who are still visiting with us.
The first day of our trip found us arriving in Dundee after a nice drive through some of the fishing towns in Fife. The B&B was good despite the low ceilings which our heads were introduced to several times. To our surprise we found a turkish restaruant in Dundee and had a wonderful meal there. I wish i remembered the name of the restaurant. Also of Note, we discovered the wonderful Scottish Cold War bunker.
The Second day we headed to Pitlochry. On the way we had stops at Glamis Castle and Scone Palace .
Day three found us heading towards Inverness. Stops along the way included Blair Castle , a whisky distillery, and the Clava Cairns . Also we visited the Famous Battle ground of Collodun. Damn British!!!!. Our B&B that night was a funcy Pink Colour that was interresting to say the least. We stayed two night in inverness with our second day spent driving down the coast of Loch Ness. No monsters were spotted. And yes… we visited another castle…. Urquhart Castle is definatly worth a visit if you are on the west coast of Loch Ness. Besides looking for Nessie… there wasn’t much else to see except for wonderful scenery.
Day five (yes… day four was in Loch Ness), we headed towards the west coast and the little town of Plockton. On the way we visited another castle… Eilean Donan . I really enjoyed this castle. Plockton is a great little town and the sea food was yummy!
Day 6 saw us headed towards Oban. Stops along the way were the Isle of Skye, and lots of twisty turny road. Oban was really cool. I liked this town alot. We had some yummy pub food that night as well. I wish i remembered the name of the pub.
Day 7 we headed to the Isle of Mull and the Isle of Iona. These are beautiful islands and I wish we had more time to visit the area. On Iona we got to see some Celtic Stone Crosses which have been standing for over 1000 years.
Day 8 we left Oban for the area of Lock Lomond. This area reminds me alot of nothern ontario cottage country. Beautiful locks and firths with actual woodlands.
Day 9 was spend traveling back to edinburgh. Stops along the way included the Falkirk Wheel and Rob Roys Grave an d visitor center. The Falkirk Wheel is not to be missed. It is a marvolous piece of engineering.
So that all for now. Oh by the way… while we were gone I ran some more experiments and completed the picture below. Check out the cool image here .
September 8, 2005
Filed under: Uncategorized — David @ 3:28 pm Comments 6
Well, it could be either. Think back to the days when fractals made it big. When this gets better resolution it will make a great piece of art!
This is the coolest thing i have done all week. I am looping through about 10000 initial conditions . This is a plot of the escape time for an initial condition of the free fall three body problem. for about 50% of the cases.
the white areas represent faster escape times for the third mass. The blue is longer escape times. The black is nothing! Notice the large regions of quick escape times (only a few crossing times).
September 2, 2005
Filed under: Uncategorized — Neyir @ 6:31 pm Comments 4
Well, it has been a few days since Vania left us and the flat still seems a little emptier than it ought to. Vania was with us for 2.5 weeks, three days of which she spent in the highlands. An intrepid traveller she researched and organised a number of shows for us to see in the Festival and was generally a whole lot of fun and a pleasure to be around!!!
The top 5 things I will miss about Vania are;
1. Her super cheery attitude and willingness to help - handing out flyers for my show, partaking in meal prep, swiffing the floor(we may have a convert here folks)…
2. Her appreciation of all things Scottish and desire to try and experience everything she could.
3. Someone who can not only keep pace with me when walking but who can outwalk me!
4. Her scouting abilities for good shows, good Scottish tours, fantastic movies..
5. And finally an almost mindblowing ability to make fun of David!
Well Vania, though you are missed over here we pray you are safely home and enjoying preparing for your exciting year. Enjoy school!!! Enjoy not working (not that I would know ) but mostly enjoy life!!!
