Stonefest at UC

Stone-fest-er's and others gathered for lunch at UC last weekend.

I harvested my first crop of beans later that afternoon and ate them.

Kaleen Halloween

Nora hosted a Halloween party last weekend.

I'm a pimp (thanks Jen!) and Torsten is (evidently) a pirate.

A storm-trooper helmet spices up any outfit.

Renaissance princess meets pop princess.

Roberts' 27th birthday celebrations

Jenny and I rode the GS500 to Kensington on Saturday in order to toast Roberts' 27th birthday. Ross and Olga will share in that exquisite pleasure that is gaping at Hall and I in our bathers. Of course, they should already know that the most accurate way to judge time is by the Roberts-Beer method.

Plumbing has come some way since Todman avenue days: Roberts and I took turns to urging each to perform pool-tricks for treats.

Terrible cast by Roberts here.

Darlinghurst's Lord Roberts kept the food and beers up to us until mid-night and then we were thrown out because every barman worth his salt knows what happens to JB after midnight.

Robets vividly describes the day's harrassment.  (Very animated; so funny!)

The lads and I pose after our lengthy struggle with pool.

Two-day keg

This morning, I shot 491 in "standard pistol". The weather has been fantastic, so Jenny and I rode to Gundaroo on the GS. We drank Zeeholtz (pale ale and draught) and ate beer-battered chips at the Royal Hotel.

Steve, recently returned from Dunedin, helped us finish what little imitation Hoegaarden remained after Friday's Singstar evening. Steve went down in Scrabble but I know that he was playing his usual game and holding out for particular words with impact.

I selected a piece of Queensland coal that had been shipped to me by Scotty and prepared to incinerate it.

A little kerosene and I was in business. Wood burns well and so does coal. Honeycomb burns really well! (No bees were harmed).

Ball sports, week four

Squash with Marko, Mix, Louis and Jen on Sunday:
Covered in the previous post

Squash with Mix on Tuesday:
Early in this session, strings broke on my raquet. I immediately upgraded to a new Head Liquidmetal Raptor.
11-8, 11-2, 11-3, 11-5, 11-4, 11-6, 11-4, 11-4
Avg: 4.5

Squash with Torsten on Thursday:
The raptor tore some strips, early, from Torsten.
11-2, 11-8, 6-11, 11-10, 2-11, 1-11, 6-11, 9-11
Wins: 3/8

Squash with Ash on Friday:
2-11, 3-11, 8-11, 1-11
Avg: 3.5

Squash with Mikey on Friday:
8-11, 11-4, 1-11, 2-11
Wins: 1/4

Squash with Jenny on Friday:
11-4, 11-1, 11-2, 11-0, 11-1, 11-1, 11-1
Avg: 1.4

The Bathurst Squash Tournament

On Sunday, our party of five played a squash tournament at the Panthers Club in Bathurst. My final game was with Mixy and it was a total slog-fest.

It was a real blast (and totally free fun). I took four victories, Marko three, Mixy two, Louis one and Jen had a great time.

Having worked up a serious thirst over three hours, we quenched that thirst (and more) with Marko's latest dry lager brew poured from his new keg system.

In fact, we happily emptied the kegs. Sorry Lee!

We parked ourselves in the garage/make-shift bar and must have been some entertainment to pedestrians.

Floriade 2008

The wisteria on our doorstep was a prelude to our visit to the Floriade display in Canberra.

Like many visitors to Floriade this year, Jenny took some popcorn to go with the movie-themed day.

Jenny and I enjoy looking at bonsais.

I will continue to model my own flower bed on this ideal.

Rimsy, Jess, Miffy and their new house

Jenny and Miffy were instantly good friends.

Jess and Rimsy are living the Australian dream here in their own lovely house.

Ball sports, week three

Tennis with Hodgo on Sunday:
6-4P, 6-2P, 6-3P
Squash with Mix on Tuesday:
11-9, 11-5, 11-1, 11-1, 11-5, 11-0, 11-5, 11-1, 11-2, 11-1, 11-6
Avg: 2.7
Squash with Torsten on Thursday:
11-6, 2-11, 0-11, 2-11, 3-11, 6-11, 4-11, 1-11, 9-11, 4-11
Wins: 1/10
Squash with Ash on Friday:
2-11, 11-5, 6-11, 7-11, 7-11
Wins: 1/5
Squash with Mikey on Friday:
7-11, 6-11, 6-11
Avg: 6.3

Lauren's 21st birthday party

Happy birthday, Lauren.  You had a really fun party!  Here are several photos of us from last night.

Ball sports, week two

Tennis with Hodgo on Saturday:
6-3P, 6-0P, 2-2
Squash with Mix on Tuesday:
11-0, 11-0, 11-1, 11-4, 11-2, 11-1, 11-1, 11-1, 11-5, 11-1
Avg: 1.6
Squash with Torsten on Thursday:
8-11, 4-11, 7-11, 7-11, 6-11, 6-11, 5-11
Avg: 6.1
Squash with Mike on Friday:

7-11, 8-11, 4-11

Avg: 6.3

Squash with Ash on Friday:
11-9, 4-11, 2-11, 9-11

Wins: 1/4

Third, fourth and fifth squash games in one week

Mixy worked hard on Tuesday arvo:
9-0, 9-1, 9-2, 9-0, 9-3, 9-1, 9-4, 9-1, 9-0, 9-4, 9-2, 9-2, 9-3
Mix avg: 1.8

Ash played strongly on Wednesday arvo:
6-11A, 2-11A, 1-11A, 11-7P, 7-11A, 8-11A
My wins: 1/6

Torsten also played a strong game this morning:
7-11T, 5-11T, 9-11T, 11-9P, 8-11T, 11-7P
My wins: 2/6

European Trip *Bonus*

St. Lambert's church, Münster.


St. Paul's cathedral, Münster.

Victoria Peak, Hong Kong.


Frustratingly dry Ocean Park, Hong Kong.

$1 squash at Cowra Services Club

Marko served first:
14-11, 14-6, 14-5, 14-9, 10-14, 14-10, 14-5 ,14-11, 14-13
Wins: 8/9

Squash scores

I won the toss, against Ash:
4-11, 2-11, 4-11, 5-11, 8-11, 0-11
Avg: 3.8

Much work needed!

My European Trip

Roberts, Scotty and I flew to Brussels in mid-July. We visited Jubilee Park in Brussels and the Triumphal Arch is shown here.

I travelled to Ghent for the Belgian Organic Synthesis Symposium. Here, I have climbed the belfry and was viewing St Baafskathedraal.


I presented a poster at the conference that encapsulated the research that I have conducted in the first part of my PhD.


While at the conference I made met a bunch of friendly people from the Uni of York.


Our bus tour started from Berlin. Some sections of the infamous wall have been preserved. Our tour passed through the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and finished in Poland.


Elene and Saara greeted us in Helsinki. One of our most memorable activities was the trip out to Johannes' island for saunas and a barbecue on the Baltic.

Our party spent four days in Estonia. Here, Roberts defeated me in an archery competition and has vowed to take up the sport in Australia.


Via Sweden, we travelled to the UK where Kevo kindly played host for me.


I'm lacking photos to illustrate our loop around the UK where we made stop-0vers in Oxford and York. I visited Germany again and enjoyed staying in Katherine's charming university town, Münster. The lads and I flew out from Brussels and took two days in Hong Kong on the way to Sydney.

Ghent, Belgium

The lads and I dropped into Brussels on Friday and we stayed at the Hotel Continental.

This week, I've been an attendee at the Boss XI chemistry conference in Ghent, Belgium.