First Draft of My First Paper Done

I just finished spending about 5 long days going through a bunch of research data, analyzing the results, and writing the initial draft of my first paper. This particular project started off as a side project about a month after I arrived, while I was waiting on other settling in items to get taken care of. Some of that work was sloppy, and took a bit of practice for me to get my lab skills up to standard, as well as my note taking. As I redid some measurements over the summer, some of the results looked a bit strange and interesting, so my supervisor and I outlined a few further tangents to try. Then I got all busy with my battery project on the printer and put this work aside. January was slated to be a slow month, which made it the ideal time to finish up this side project. I booked the lab equipment for two weeks straight, to the disdain of some of the other students (this goes with the territory of doing research).

I redid some of the previous work, just to be sure all was still consistent. Some of the measurements seemed stranger than before, and when I checked my solutions after leaving them overnight, they were black when they were supposed to still be green. It turns out the solvent had gone bad, and had been decomposing all along. So the results were not as strange as we thought, and were very consistent after I switched to my new bottle of the same solvent. I spent the rest of the time getting all the measurements and variations I could think of.

Writing this paper was hard work. Normally, I probably would have about two weeks or so to work on the writing, but the pressure is on for me to have this paper done this month. I had to put all the data into spreadsheets and graphs, study the results, and come up with ideas why I think things ended up the way they did. That process was the most laborious. Once I had thought everything through, the actual writing wasn't too bad. The result was 25 pages long (13 pages without the graphs).

Now the draft is in the hands of my supervisor, and I'll be discussing the details with him on Friday. Undoubtedly, there will be edits, but I think the hardest work is done. It will be real exciting once I start submitting this paper to peer-reviewed journals. Stay tuned!

Huge Figs

This morning I went to one of the local produce markets to stock up on fruits and veggies for the week, and bought a pack of figs. I've seen these figs there before, but they've usually been moldy so I passed on buying any. But today, the packs were in good condition, and I decided to try them. The most noteworthy thing about these figs is the size. The photo shows a coffee mug for perspective. Each fig is roughly the size of two golf balls. I'm eating them right now as part of a late breakfast, and they are quite good.

We often see produce that is a bit larger than life here. The average cabbage head is the size of a bowling ball; celery stalks are over two feet long. Occasionally, I've seen apples larger than softballs. Most produce is not terribly expensive, even by Australian price standards. I bought a whole cart full of produce for about A$40, with these figs being one of the more expensive items (A$5). Obviously, the best places to go are the local produce stores/stands, not the grocery store duopoly. I've noticed the grocery store produce tends to be chemically treated (with things like preservative gas on bananas, for example), or otherwise is just plain crap. I've bought avocados that despite looking ripe on the outside, were very unripe (or flat-out beyond ripe) on the inside. The added benefit of patronizing the produce stores is that in turn supports the local farmers (corporations have a tendency to push prices and quality down too far).

NYE Sydney 2007

Last night was the first New Year's Eve we spent in a major city, and what an event it was! The press was reporting that this year Sydney was going to outdo previous years with the fireworks show. Nobody was disappointed. The weather was perfect -- clear skies, warm, and only a slight breeze.

At the Christmas dinner we had with our landlord's family, we met Gerard and Margaret, who live in Sydney close to the harbor. When they found out we were going to the city for NYE, they invited us to join them at the park near their house. That turned out to be such a lucky break for us. The show is extremely popular, so all the prime viewpoints get taken early. People were actually camping in some spots from the day before. Gerard staked a spot around 9:30 a.m., right at the water's edge, with a perfect view of the Harbor Bridge. By the time we got there at about 6:30 p.m., the place was packed. The whole city gets out for this event, which combined with out-of-towners like us, means crowds everywhere. Everyone was doing a run on the bottleshops and the grocery stores -- so if we ever do this again, we will buy food and drinks ahead of time.



The show itself was magnificent, and a very worthwhile experience. The water added much to the effect of the light of the fireworks. Another cool thing was that there were two shows -- one at 9 (so families with kids could get home earlier) and the other at midnight. The midnight show was obviously better, and had a spectacular finale.