(no subject)
Space Frosting...
So, I’ve had a day of conferencing, and several days on the beach, and I’m coming to the conclusion that Rio is a bit of a rip off, mainly because people don’t give you the right change when you go for food. This has happened twice now, and I’m really bummed about it. Yes, I’m stupid for not paying enough attention and not realising until it is much too late, but it’s not nice to take advantage of my jetlag like that. Stupid paper money that all looks the same. I’ll be on my guard from now on.
Anyway, I’m still under budget, so that’s okay. Worse, I bought a loaf of bread and will pack some vegemite sandwiches tomorrow. *grins* But I must be sure not to turn a profit on the trip, because that wouldn’t be nice for the boss.
So I’m thoroughly jetlagged. I got myself sorted so I was able to stay awake until a reasonable hour, but now I’m waking up at 3am, and by about 7pm I’m so very dead it’s no wonder the restaurant people can rip me off. This morning I made it back to sleep around 5am and it was the most wonderful thing in the world.
Yesterday I went to Ipanema, as there were some markets there that certain parties wanted to see. They were alright; I managed to pick up birthday presents for the people back home, and a few more small things for the family. Ipanema is more of a surf beach than Copacabana, at least in the winter, and the water was full of young people taking their turns on perfectly curled waves.
I love the beaches here, and wish I could go swimming as I think it would be nice (after the first moment of OMG WINTER SWIMMING AIEEE!). There’s something perfect about sitting in the shade of a palm tree, drinking out of a nice ripe coconut and watching the pretty young men play volleyball or soccer. It’s just wonderful.
The conference started today, so there goes my next two weeks. I hope I will have time to do Sugar Loaf and Corcovado this weekend. Otherwise I might have to miss out on some of the official business sessions to get there. Because, you know, it would be a tragedy to miss out on the vote to pass a resolution stating “the IAU members should continue to encourage and support the female astronomers in their communities.” Why can’t they have some controversy on my trip?
Hopefully as time goes on they’ll come up with some sort of interesting thing to vote on. Or at least discuss meaningfully.
***
Think I’m going to skip the politics, as oh my does it sound boring. It’d be okay, but there are at least an hour and a half of speeches before they get to the music and ddancing. And six hours until the drinking. But really, it’s okay.
Went to a fantastic review talk this morning on icy bodies in the solar system, which is the comets and asteroids and space junk out past jupiter (including pluto). It was really good, given by a David Jewitt, who speaks in a manner quite like that of Steve Jobs, and his “powerpoint zen” (keynote really) was fantastic. I think I might get in touch to get his slides, since he had to skip many for time purposes.
So, the next session is starting. Will post more tomorrow.
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