Around Notre Dame

Here is my little squirrel neighbour. Since this photo was taken, we have had a few inches of snow. However, this little guy is still active and I saw him perched on the fence earlier today.

From Notre Dame I

The weather was turning cool, so I made use of the hat I received from furhatworld.com

From Notre Dame I

The Main Building supports the Golden Dome, an icon of Notre Dame. That is Jenny on the stairs.

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And here is the interior of The Dome.

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Another iconic building is the Basilica.

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We took a tour of the Basilica. I haven't been to a service here yet but figure that I might give it a shot at some stage. When in Rome...

From Notre Dame I

Jenny and I walked back past the soccer fields to my apartment, marked by a telephone tower. It is a convenient navigational tool and a reminder of man's ability to transmit and receive radio waves for the purpose of communication.

From Notre Dame I

My next post should have some photos of Notre Dame under snow! (I will try to get out for a shoot this week.)

Notre Dame Vs Utah

The University of Notre Dame is home to the largest college marching band in the USA. The band opened proceedings at the enormous stadium prior to Notre Dame's clash with Utah.

From Notre Dame I

Jenny and I had great seats with a good view of the cheerleaders.

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Notre Dame, in the gold tights, took to the field and started warming up.

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Despite the rain, the stadium was still packed. And as a reward for the ND fans, the Irish got up in a big way over Utah.

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Go Irish!

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The band had the field taken from them after the game by the students! As this was the last home game for the season, the students were allowed to flow on to the field after the game.

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The next day, the weather turned cold but Jenny and I still got out to tour the campus; I will post some more photos, from the Basilica and the dome next time.

Tail-gaiting before the Utah game

Prior to the Notre Dame Vs Utah game, I went "tail-gating". Bean-bag toss was pretty popular. A beer in one hand helps with balance.

From Notre Dame I

Here's a true Notre Dame supporter.

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After lunch we headed over to the stadium and passed the "touchdown Jesus".

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Next post, I'll post some pictures from inside Notre Dame stadium, shown in the background of the following photo.

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Fall at Notre Dame

Jenny visited Notre Dame last weekend. We took a walk around the lakes on campus. Here, I am on the edge of St. Joseph's Lake and you can see the golden dome of the main building and the spire of the Basilica in the distance.

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The buildings on campus are grand. Morrissey Hall (pictured below) and Walsh Hall are my favourites. Morrissey has the most imposing presence and Walsh has a little archway that I go out of my way to walk through when going to-and-from the Rockne Memorial sports centre. (Gnute Rockne, a football coach from Notre Dame's golden years in American Football, is immortalized in many ways all around the university.)

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Jen joined me on the pier near the boathouse for a photograph in the style I refer to as the "Amy Sullivan-style selfie".

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This cute, well-fed squirrel was not really put out by our presence. I enjoy watching these busy little creatures gathering, burying and re-burying nuts. I was intrigued to read that squirrels will often fake burying nuts if they think that they may be watched! (In order to conceal the real location of their caches!)

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There's a little magnetic attraction here but it's very innocent; I'm loading a sample into the 300 MHz NMR to quickly check that the titanium-based catalyst system I use has served me faithfully.

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Before I headed off to introduce Jenny to my new colleagues at our end-of-the-week function hosted by some of the grad' students, I posed in my invisible safety glasses and lab coat.

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Post-doc at the Uni of Notre Dame, IN

At the end of September, I moved to Indiana to take up a post-doc at the Uni of Notre Dame in Indiana. The photograph below shows me in front of the "Touchdown Jesus" on the Hesburgh library. Though pretty busy in the laboratory, I have "tail-gated" a few times, watched a couple of football games in the huge (80,000+ seats) stadium, cheered the Irish to victory in ice hockey, and made a road-trip to Grand Rapids, MI, for a Ben Folds concert. Without my own camera, I'm a bit light-on for photos, though. I especially wish that I'd taken some pictures of our first snow on the Friday before last. Last month, I also took my driving test to get an Indiana driver's licence. It's more handy than always using your passport for ID, especially as you must show ID for all grog purchases here. I have also had Jen visit in the past week and will post some more photos of Notre Dame next.

From 2010-10-10

Last ride

I missed posting this photo from early September. Marko and Les and I have been playing more and more golf recently. The course in Cowra was returning to its former glory, having had a lot of rain this year. (And I believe that it's still coming down.) We actually played in the rain on the same day that the following picture was taken, though the western sky had cleared for us as we were coming up the eighteenth.

From 2010-06-14

Bill and I took our Suzukis (1400 and 500 cc, respectively) out for a spin on my last full day in Australia before I was to leave for the States. We rode south-east through Mount Collins on the way to the Wyangala Dam. There were many fields of canola lining our route.

From 2010-06-14

The Dam had risen to about 25% at this stage and now I hear that it is up to about 50%. I hope that it's full by the time I get back.

From 2010-06-14

The next day, Jan and Les gave me a ride to Lithgow and then I rode two trains and took two flights and 30 hours later I was in Indiana and getting ready to start my post-doc. In the next post, I'll put up some pictures from the Uni of Notre Dame.

A packed August but light-on for photos

Jen left for the States at the end of July and after hanging out in Sydney for a few days, and then Cowra, I headed north for my last big ride for the year. I didn't have a decent camera, so from this point on, the photos are pretty ordinary. On the second morning of my journey to Brisbane on the GS500, after staying in Newcastle on the first evening, I took the photo from my campsite at Minnie Water in the Yuraygir National Park east of Grafton.

From 2010-09-18

I reached Brisbane on Saturday afternoon, 11th of Sept, and after a motorcycling tour through the city, Hall and I stocked up with some Belgian beers.

From 2010-09-18

Later, we headed north to catch up with the extended Roberts clan for a few more brews.

From 2010-09-11

I lived in Hall's garage for almost a week and was starting to feel right at home. After spending a heap of time lounging by the pool, soaking up the great QLD climate, and catching up with Gunners too for a few brews, I made the trip south again to the Central West. I camped out the first evening and plotted out my route home. Crossing west into the countryside was absolutely freezing. Though the ride from Grafton, through the mountains, to Armidale was outstanding even if it was freezing!

From 2010-09-18

Leaving the RSC

Last Thursday of August, I was farewelled by the Banwell group at a dinner in town.

From Eden

And the next day, Jen and I had our last Bramley's Bar session with a few more of our friends from the RSC.

From 2010-09-18

Good times at Bramley's.

From 2010-09-18

And we followed it up with dinner and cheap beers at the Hellenic Club. It's a good routine!

From Eden