I am such crap at crossing time zones (tired edition)
I got back from Vancouver on the red-eye this morning. There were two flights departing for Toronto within 45 minutes from each other, and the one that wasn't mine got all the small children. Score! I mean, kids are awesome.
The conference was great - it was my first IGARSS, and now I'm wishing I had been going every year since starting my grad studies. I came in with various ideas for the direction of the next part of my work, and based on the talks I saw, I think they are in fact good ideas. Also I ran into a few of the people I worked with at DLR in Munich last year, and we ended up having dinner together most nights, and doing some exploration of the area on Friday - we took a tour of TRIUMF and walked along the beach near UBC (thanks for the ideas, delta_november!) which was a great way to decompress after five days of technical sessions.
I spent both my arrival and departure days doing touristy things on my own - I took in the Aquarium on the day I arrived, and hiked up Grouse Mountain yesterday before catching my flight back to Toronto. The Aquarium was nice, if a little bit depressing. They had a harbour porpoise named Daisy who had been injured and treated by the Aquarium when she was too young to have learned survival skills, so she's a permanent resident of the Aquarium now. She's the only animal in her tank, and she spent most of her time up at the glass observation window, interacting with the people there. I worry that she's very lonely and bored in the tank by herself.
The Grouse Grind was rather intense - a climb of 853m over a distance of 2.9km. The climb itself was hellish, but 20 minutes or so after reaching the top I was pretty much fine. I'd do it again, although more regular exercise first would be a good plan. Whoever came up with the idea of putting a BeaverTails stand on the peak is bloody brilliant - I had my first ever Beaver Tail (apple cinnamon) and after the climb it was absolutely fantastic. After descending via the gondola, I bummed around Vancouver for the rest of the day, snapping photos and writing post cards until it was time to head back to the airport and enjoy one last Whistler Pale Ale before the flight.
The conference was great - it was my first IGARSS, and now I'm wishing I had been going every year since starting my grad studies. I came in with various ideas for the direction of the next part of my work, and based on the talks I saw, I think they are in fact good ideas. Also I ran into a few of the people I worked with at DLR in Munich last year, and we ended up having dinner together most nights, and doing some exploration of the area on Friday - we took a tour of TRIUMF and walked along the beach near UBC (thanks for the ideas, delta_november!) which was a great way to decompress after five days of technical sessions.
I spent both my arrival and departure days doing touristy things on my own - I took in the Aquarium on the day I arrived, and hiked up Grouse Mountain yesterday before catching my flight back to Toronto. The Aquarium was nice, if a little bit depressing. They had a harbour porpoise named Daisy who had been injured and treated by the Aquarium when she was too young to have learned survival skills, so she's a permanent resident of the Aquarium now. She's the only animal in her tank, and she spent most of her time up at the glass observation window, interacting with the people there. I worry that she's very lonely and bored in the tank by herself.
The Grouse Grind was rather intense - a climb of 853m over a distance of 2.9km. The climb itself was hellish, but 20 minutes or so after reaching the top I was pretty much fine. I'd do it again, although more regular exercise first would be a good plan. Whoever came up with the idea of putting a BeaverTails stand on the peak is bloody brilliant - I had my first ever Beaver Tail (apple cinnamon) and after the climb it was absolutely fantastic. After descending via the gondola, I bummed around Vancouver for the rest of the day, snapping photos and writing post cards until it was time to head back to the airport and enjoy one last Whistler Pale Ale before the flight.