Windy Springtime

This weekend we had our first house BBQ on the back patio with housemates Elizabeth and Ryan (both Australians) and a few friends and neighbors. The morning was beautiful, but right at about noon, within just a few minutes, it turned to gale force winds. Good thing I got some snorkeling in before coming inside to make the guacamole. BBQ was fun anyway. Also got myself over to the harbour for the first time and took a ferry to nowhere in particular and back. Can't have a Sydney blog without an Opera House shot.

With it windy more often than not this month, I haven't been surfing. But here's a goal: once I have actual skills I'll be able to take advantage of the break that forms at the point just past my house on some days (shown here).

In work news, I have been doing a lot of learning and little producing, but evidently someone thought me worthy of being featured in the first newletter of the ARC (that's the Australian NSF) Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals. That's the big source of funding for my group, but the whole Centre is like a hundred people - 99 of whom have done a ton more than me in this field - at six universities, so I'm a bit embarrassed at this.