Did not watch the you-know-what. Friday Oct 5th

My office desk yesterday. My laptop, large screen belongs
to the Geology Department. This was when I was trying to
get YouTube to work.

I tried to watch the you-know-what last night (well, it was 2 pm my time) on YouTube, and there were horrible bandwidth problems resulting in 20 second snatches of alien-robot sounding language, so I gave up. I just worked (sort of) with Dan Rather's facebook comments popping up every now and then as I wordsmithed. All a bit dismal. I was disappointed. This morning I got a newspaper (I know, I can get the news online, but I love reading a physical newspaper). I had somehow thought there might be something about the debates on the front page, but no, I am in New Zealand after all.

Evening light on the old University buildings (the 'Registry' -
which is old speak for Administration) as I left this evening.

On to more interesting things, which includes the fact that I have been to four seminars this week. It is really fun. In one I learned about how they have determined the uplift rate along the alpine fault, in another I learned that quartz has lots of impurities and the amount (in parts-per-million of those impurities - such as titanium - can be used to determine the temperature that the quartz has most recently - geologically speaking - been subjected to. Then today I learned about the current research at Wairakei Geothermal Institute in the Taupo Volcanic Zone.

Most of the University looks more like this.
Concrete 50's, 60's and more recent buildings.

In other work news, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for the Eyre Creek paper. I should be able to finish the conclusion and get the references done tomorrow. Then I have to make all the tables pretty and draft all the figures. I am hoping that won't take longer than a week. Progress.

In other news, Dunedin is clearly a magnet for conventions. It was the New Zealand Parking Association Annual Conference yesterday. Note: in yesterday's paper there was a report of a parking enforcer having their gadget stolen and thrown in the lake at Queenstown by a disgruntled parkee.

Otherwise, it seems like animals have been having a hard time (I've heard of all sorts of things falling off the back of a truck, but calves?). I won't bore you with the myriad of lamb stories - anyone would think it was a slow news day - mostly about dogs worrying sheep.

They are looking at pictures o f 'interesting' parking jobs

Calves unhurt after falling off vehicle

Okay. It shouldn't upload in this orientation.
BUT, the point is that if I was in Alex this
weekend I would go to the merino shearing
competition. 

My plan for the weekend: finish the text of the manuscript tomorrow. Then, as long as the weather is okay (it doesn't even have to be good) I'll take the Otago Excursion train up to Middlemarch and back. They filmed some of the Hobbit movie (due out in November or December) up in Middlemarch, and they are hoping for a tourism boom there.