Misc

It's summer here. Gloriously, summertime means upper 70's F, not sauna weather. I did get sunburned during our coffee break today, since we've been taking the coffee outside. Most of my group went sailing this afternoon, but when asked if I wanted to come I told them next time they go on a cloudy day, thanks. I know very well how burned I'd be in this sun plus water reflections. I did leave work a little early, though.

Went to the bike shop to replace my recently stolen bike. I'm already tired of walking when I could ride! Mostly because my shoes keep getting sand in them when I walk through construction areas, of which there are 3 on my trip to campus. Sadly, the bike shop no longer has the purple bike I was planning to get. I liked the purple one. I did look at a couple other ones instead, and I'm leaning towards a cheaper black one. They also can't take my credit cards (EU cards have a different scanning system, or something like that) so I couldn't get a bike today. I'll be getting some cash tomorrow and buying one then, on my way home from the market.

On Monday (if I have a bike, it's too far to walk in the hour they're open after work) I can pick up my new debit card! And finally use plastic here! I'm pretty happy about that.

I had a good day at work yesterday. I finally got my broken output problem all squared away, which was a relief. I spent most of today running experiments and trying to read a dissertation. I made it all the way through Chpt 1, which would be a lot more impressive if it were more than 5 pages long.

I've been here for 2.5 months already! It's craziness. I feel like I'm getting to actually know my coworkers a bit, which is pretty awesome. On Monday we made up a ridiculous new sporting event during coffee; underwater upside down hockey. Lots of silliness, which was pretty fun. Today I introduced them to the world's awesomest religion; the cult of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Good times.

I really like having work to do. I finally feel like myself again, after 6 months of horrible stress and nearly of year of boredom. This is much better.