Latest Update

Sad really that I've not made the time to make a contribution here lately. There hasn't really been a series of events that has conspired to keep me away from writing an update, but somehow I just haven't bothered myself to really do anything here for a while.

I would also like to, but won't, use this post to make a commentary about a few current events, such as Rupert Murdoch's chickens coming home to roost, the hysteria surrounding Australia's laudable if imperfect Carbon Tax scheme, Julian Assange in his third appearance before a British court, Germany's decision to kill nuclear permanently, Italy's resoundingly awesome participation in beating down Berlusconi in the latest referendum, I don't know, the list goes on. I keep track of everything I've always been interested in, it's just that I'm adding my voice to the milieu less often these days.

Instead of any of that, I'll try to emulate an excuse as to why nothing has appeared here recently. First of all, I got published, this is now the third official, noteworthy scientific contribution I have made in my life. This also means I am somewhere between one third and one half finished with my PhD.

The content of that paper was entirely evaluated using Mathematica, and unfortunately, from now on I need to start doing my calculations in Fortran. I was kind of hoping that the last half of my PhD would be easy sailing, but the need to learn yet another programming language has scuppered those ambitions. Still, I have time on my side I guess.

Otherwise, I have been doing a lot of mountain biking. I guess the season kind of started in May at some stage with the Saarschleife Marathon, I placed 47th out of a huge field of ~300; I had a broken rib and breathing problems on that weekend yet managed a result with which I was supremely satisfied. Next stop was the Rookies Downhill Cup in Winterberg, 19th out of 80 in both heats, my name is now entered for eternity on the ixs downhill cup website for the 4 points (2*2 points in each heat) I gained from that effort. Then I went to some stupid xc race in Hessen and finished last, mainly because I decided that it would be ok to catch the train and ride the 15km through hilly windy landscape to the town hosting the race. I was completely out of energy after 500m and knew I would be rubbish; at least I finished the race and the track wasn't too boring. Next stop was Austria for the first ever Brenner Downhill in Steinach am Brenner. That was a cool one, I finished exactly in the middle of the field 44th/90 but still I was happy with my performance, a 4.2km downhill track is punishing, and to finish it in 7 minutes I believe is somewhat of a decent achievement, although catching the starter before me cost a little bit of time. After that I spanked 'em at the Rhens Marathon, 32 out of 300 and an awesome average speed of almost 23km/h, I was pretty stoked about that one. And the latest adventure in this series happened the weekend before last in Ilmenau for the German Downhill cup, unfortunately I injured myself pretty bad during Friday training and just took it easy for the rest of the weekend, I wanted to get my money's worth instead of risking a trip to the hospital. The next race is the Rookie's Downhill Cup in Steinach on the 8th of August, after I return from a conference in Northern Ireland.

Otherwise, I have been hosting a lot of couchsurfer's, all of whom were very cool to me, but I have to say I regret not having the time during the week to fully enjoy their company when they stay, I really am only providing a couch and a bit of short conversation for my surfers at the moment instead of a fuller experience.

Other than that, there really isn't too much interesting to report, oh, I am sick at the moment which sucks, I have a cough that is producing some really bad smelling lung muck that I wouldn't wish upon anyone. Suffice it to say, I'm currently hoeing through the breath mints like there's no tomorrow. Oh yeah, and my cousin Murray has been here quite a lot recently, he's moving through Europe in an attempt to find some work to finance his next ski season. He's had, let's be honest, zero success, but I don't think his expectations have been that high. Still, his lifestyle is enviable, couchsurfing everywhere, hitchhiking and ride sharing through Europe and meeting a bucketload of awesome folk.

Anyway, Flyingspaghettimonster speed, and good luck