Sauntering Vaguely Downward

This is me and Spanish Colleague, at Polish Colleague's leaving do last week. I'm putting this up because it feels like a long time since I posted a photo of myself in nice clothes. I love this dress. The bloke bought it for me at MadChique, a boutique just on the edge of the red light district in Amsterdam.

The rest of this post's content is unrelated to the photo. Sorry/not sorry! Yesterday, one of my Dreamwidth circle brought their daughter to London. Said daughter is about to start secondary school and likes science. We (daughter and I) have been corresponding periodically for a couple of years, and I thought it would be nice for her to visit the lab and see science and engineering in action.

They arrived just after noon and so got to experience the utter randomness that is the lab's lunchtime conversation, as well as being introduced to all of the lab members who aren't currently on holiday. One of the more flamboyant undergraduates currently doing a summer research project with us dropped an f-bomb. (He sends his profuse apologies, DW friend.)

Then we went downstairs and got a proper lab tour underway. Daughter got to see the Solar Orbiter qualification model sensor being tested with its spacecraft simulator, and the JUICE breadboard model electronics being tested with its spacecraft simulator. Daughter got to see the JUICE engineering model sensor being put into the thermal chamber and heated up. Daughter got to see the breadboard electronics for the Radcube instrument (Radcube is a CubeSat, so very small) being tested. Everyone in lab was very happy to talk to a keen young person about what they do, and Daughter seemed keen to absorb all they had to say.

Daughter also got to see our cupboard full of Space Junk. Well, some of it is space junk, like the charred bits of the Cluster I instruments we built. The four Cluster I spacecraft exploded 35 second after launch, and pieces of it were subsequently fished out of the swamps of French Guyana by some (presumably very disgruntled) French foreign legionnaires. The four Cluster II spacecraft have been in orbit around the Earth since 2000 and are still producing science data 18 years later. The non-space-junk includes scale models of various spacecraft we've build parts for, and flight spares, and the bit of glass subjected to deep dielectric discharge, leaving a pattern that looks like a frozen lightning strike.

All too soon it was time for Yet Another Telecon, so I escorted my visitors downstairs lest they get trapped forever in the rabbit warren that is our building. They said goodbye and went off to enjoy the nearby Science Museum and Natural History Museum unhindered by overenthusiastic scientists. Fingers crossed we made a good impression!

Yesterday I ran a meeting all day, which was productive but not the best way to celebrate Thanksgiving.

But then! Then, I went to have kamayan (Filipino feast) at a restaurant in Earl's Court, as organised by kake. Also in attendance were owlfish and tiny baby aka Tonic, oursin, kaberett and someone whose Dreamwidth handle I don't know, if they have one. All A+ company, would nomnomnom with again.

We had kamayan, which included lechon, chicken adobo, bangus and pinakbet, served on a bed of rice and with corn on the cob on top. The veggie among us had the tortang talong (aubergine omelette), which I didn't try but am assured was delicious. For the meat-eaters, the fish and the pork were definitely the winning entrees.


The feast laid out on the table. Kamayan is eaten with the hands, hence the lack of utensils.

Many sighs of contentment were uttered amidst the conversation.

And then, joy of joys, afterward there was halo halo with ube ice cream.


Halo halo topped with ube ice cream, leche flan (caramel custard) and purple twirl. Also note dueling dessert photos. The nice thing about this is that we then we get to eat our desserts. Everyone wins! \o/

I think this might be the best way to celebrate Thanksgiving outside of the USA that I've tried so far. Many thanks to kake for this. Also to Tonic, for being a tiny baby at whom I could gaze adoringly across the table.

If you have seen me and/or Humuhumu in the past three weeks, please read the rest of this entry.

This Saturday morning, 23rd August, Humuhumu woke with red spots on her back and legs. We thought it was heat rash, but the spots had spread and widened and developed little pimples in their middles this morning, so we made an appointment with the out-of-hours GP at the hospital.

He confirmed that it is chickenpox.

She will have been most contagious the day before (Friday 22nd) and for the next five or six days until the spots begin to heal. However, the incubation period for chickenpox can be anywhere from seven to 21 days, so it's possible she was contagious while we were in London and at LonCon 3.

Please be on alert if you or your children have not had chickenpox previously. Humuhumu was lethargic and grumpy with a mild fever for the three days before she developed the spots (we thought she was just tired from the intense stimulation of the London trip), so the symptoms may not be entirely obvious. People I know for certain we had contact with include rmc28, kaberett, qian, sfred, djm4, purplecthulhu, hano, coughingbear, major_clanger, foxfinial and liv. I offer my apologies to those, and to anyone else we may have exposed. If you know of anyone else, particularly those with compromised immune systems, that we may have come into physical contact with or with whom I was on a panel, please pass this information on to them.

Separately, I have come down with an absolutely stinking cold. It's the worst I've had in years - I normally shake these things off quite quickly but this has had me almost flat for two and a half days. So I apologise for being a vector for Con-Crud as well. :(

How I Know We Have A 22-Year-Old American Cousin of the Bloke's Staying With Us:

• Number of panniers/rucksacks in the kitchen yesterday: 1. Number of panniers/rucksacks in the kitchen this morning: 6.
  
• Number of sausages in the fridge yesterday: 16. Number of sausages in the fridge this morning: 5.
  
• Slices of bread in a new loaf yesterday: All. Slices of bread in a new loaf this morning: 2.
  
• Cartons of juice in the fridge yesterday: 2. Cartons of juice in the fridge this morning: 0.

To be fair to him, he is cycling around England. It takes more than a couple packets of Haribo to fuel that. I think we're going to have to do a shop tonight that would normally be reserved for the impending apocalypse.

I feel like a tiny speck of oestrogen adrift in a sea of testosterone. It's like being at a chemical dynamics conference, right down to the amount of beer consumed. Although there is considerably less discussion of photoelectron angular distributions.

Ho yes it is. As it is midnight on my birthday and I am currently tucked up in bed with two purring cats, a cup of herb tea and a Folio edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels with a Donkey rather than trying to pour as many drinks down my throat as possible while dancing to terrible music at a club I couldn't find again if I wanted to which I most certainly wouldn't whilst sober, I hereby declare myself old enough to use this icon, designed by the inimitable seismic.

I did, however, go out to have rum this evening in the company of the elegant and sultry alwayswondered. We drank Sailor Jerry in one of those bars in Soho that's too cool to have a sign and talked of many things that will never be spoken of again, particularly not in the company of menfolk. After parting at Oxford Circus, I ran to the train at Cambridge. I happened to refresh Twitter when I sat down and discovered that rmc28 was on board. It would have been foolish to let the potential of such a random happenstance go unfulfilled, so we met on the platform. She was fresh from the Liberal Democrat conference and glowing with optimism. Since she had a large suitcase in tow and little non-adrenal energy remaining, we simply had a quick 10-minute chat. It was a nice little unexpected birthday present nonetheless.

And now, a picspam. Here I am on the train this morning.



( Moar camhoorin this way )

PS If you want to make me very happy today, you can contribute a photo to my post on multibeautiful.

PPS I'll have you know it was a real struggle to stay up to make this post. OLLLD.