Wearing Stripes

July 10 - Well, it’s come to the last night in Sydney :(  How did this happen!? Probably terribly cliche to say, but this really did fly by. Hopefully the next 48 hours of plane rides goes by as quickly!

You probably won’t hear from me again on here until I get back! I remember that it was $20 to get internet at the Auckland airport, and I’m not going to pay that just so I can update the blog (which about 2 people read) :P  So, when I next post on here, I’ll be back in NY. Also get excited - there may be a new beer brewing post soon after I get to Rochester…it’s definitely long past hefeweizen time!

Bye Sydney! I’m gonna miss you, but I’ll see you soon I’m sure. This trip has been amazing - the people, the places, even the work has been a nice change of pace (maybe I’m just getting carried away). I’m not going to be able to walk to the ocean in 45 minutes back home…

July 9 - Oh man, I completely spaced on the whole blogging thing! I was just doing a mock packing run (half heartedly, I barely packed anything really) to see if everything can come back with me…it’s looking all right I think! 

Anyway, today featured the glorious, glorious defeat of MATLAB, as I finally got my damn curve fitting code to work. This has been an off and on battle for the better part of 2 years (the off portions of the battle are the portions where I gave up). Turns out it’s kind of motivating when your supervisor just says, “Oh you can do those curve fits today right? Because I’m going to talk about this data at the conference I’m leaving tomorrow to attend.” Not the exact words, but the basic gist.

Sadly, tomorrow is my last (full) day in Sydney, at least for a while (I have a sneaking suspicion I will return someday). This may call for a return to the Portuguese chicken place (Angelo’s, I found out, is it’s name) because they were closed today! Oh well, I was not sad to eat Pad Thai instead (although they did not give me any utensil, so I had to use two plastic knives as chop sticks. Actually this was not as much of a disaster as I expected).

July 8 - By all definitions, I am definitely an old fart now. Bring on the late 20s! So what, now my grey matter density starts declining, and my body starts falling apart, right? Time to start meditating I guess!

Anyway, me and my decrepit brain/body slept in until after 11, and then spent the rest of the morning listening to the Yankee game (until it got really ugly - 4 errors guys, seriously!?). A bit after noon I headed off to Coogee (pronounced, surprisingly, as it is written, “coo” - “gee” ) Beach to do another coastal walk from Coogee to Maroubra (hard to say). It was almost two and a half miles walk just to get to the coast, and then about 5k (~3 miles) each way from Coogee to Maroubra…just another 10 mile day, no big deal. Most of the walk to the coast was on Rainbow Street, which I consider a huge missed opportunity for Sydney - why would you not name it Rainbow Road! I really want to photoshop this picture with the Mario Kart characters and colored road, but I’m not sure I’m really good enough with photoshop to pull it off. Takers?

Anyway, for those of you playing along at home, Coogee Bay is the next bay south of Bronte (and then Bondi is north of that) which you might remember from two weeks ago, and it was a clear enough day to get a view all the way up to Bondi. Looking at google maps, it seems there is only one more bay (on the East end of south Sydney…) which I sadly will not get to, Long Bay. Here was the view looking south from the start of the walk.

At one point along the walk there were stairs going down to the rocky coast, so I went down and wandered around a bit.

Little did I know that part of the walk later on would require walking across a large stretch of rocky beach, so I really didn’t need the additional beach walking. There were big boulders in the way, so not much of a view south from here, but you could see a bit north (looking right into the sun). Similar to other coastal walks I’ve done here, this one had various points where the walk just ended, and you had to wander through the neighborhoods to get to the next section. Usually the markings were clear enough…

Just before getting to Maroubra Beach, there was a very high outcropping of rock that gave great views back all the way to Bondi. It seemed like a good lunch place, though sadly I had not seen a single cafe (except one that was closed until 2013) along the walk (luckily there were some at the beach). It was already after 3 at this point, I was hungry!

The waves crashing into the coast were really ridiculous, I sat and watched them for a while. There were lots of large rocks going out into the water, so the waves would hit them, get redirected, then crash into other waves…something like that. Anyway, the result was water splashing very very high in the air and very violently (I think maybe the tide must have been coming in). Neato.

I continued on to Maroubra Beach where I was finally able to get some lunch. Once again I had to stare down several seagulls so that I could finish it all, they really come right up to you just waiting for you to stop paying attention for 2 seconds.

After hanging around there for a while, I started the long journey back. I certainly could have taken a more efficient route, but I decided to retrace my steps to enjoy the beautiful scenery a second time. I also finally went to the bakery I’ve been eyeing for most of my stay here (Breadtops, about 4 blocks south from where I’m staying). Why I waited this long, I do not know. I got something called (I think) a chocolate horn, which honestly rivaled the pain au chocolat from Paris. The chocolate was soft, I seem to remember it being harder in the French ones. But man was that good. I think I’m going to go there for breakfast every day until I leave, and I may bring some to lab meeting Tuesday!

July 7 - Due to technicalities of the massively fast forwarded time zone here, I am actually not older yet, and won’t be until 3:17AM tomorrow! But for tradition’s sake we’ll say that today was indeed my birthday. Today featured many things, including: 1) another friggin’ rainbow (a double rainbow in fact…keep reading), 2) the world’s most pointless lookout, 3) one of my more ridiculous souvenir purchases, and much more!

The plan for the day was to set out for Watsons Bay (basically opposite Manly, all the way out east), and then to head back to circular quay and wander through “The Domain” (giant park south and east of the Opera House). And the plan was successful! First took the ferry to Watsons Bay (bit less than 30 minutes), and as usual had many great views of Sydney (I’ll spare you most of them since I’ve probably posted a ton already).

After getting off the ferry, I headed left (north) towards South Head - yes, that is correct. I passed my birthday dinghy (the boats all had numbered slots, but not all of them had stickers)  and first stopped at Camp Cove, about halfway to south head. 

As you can see, it was another one of those weird Sydney winter days where if I look in one direct, it’s a beautiful sunny, almost tropical, day. And if I turn around, it looks like the world is about to end. I continued along the path through remnants of an old fort (I think, I’ll be honest I did not read any of the signs here…), and you could see back all the way to downtown (weather permitting).

This path also featured the world’s most pointless lookout,

 where you could stare adoringly at the trees in all directions. Finally I made it to south head, atop some rather dangerous looking cliffs. In fact signs (foolishly I did not take pictures) assured me that people had been injured jumping from the cliffs. I really did not need convincing on this one.

From here I headed down to the “Gap” (not the shopping one). I don’t really know why this park was called the gap…but it was! Again, nice views of Watsons Bay, and theoretically downtown although it was getting a bit too apocalyptic out to see all that way. It never did more than lightly rain, but the clouds really looked like doomsday. 

Oh hey, I’m still on this trip! I was confused by the timer, hence the awkward almost smile. I really need a haircut…

This was also sight of the double rainbow (whoa). In addition to there being two of them, one of the rainbows was EPIC. On the plus side, I could see where it ended. On the downside, there didn’t appear to be a pot of gold, and if there was, I wasn’t about to dive down there to get it…

OK. By now it was about 2:45…lunch time! There was a place selling fish and chips by the ferry terminal, so I got some food there, fended off the seagulls, and then departed back to Circular Quay. I entered “The Domain” (so dramatic), and made it to the government house barely 10 minutes before they closed the gates. This was a neat building, although I was too late to get a tour of the inside. Proof that Europe wuz here.

After the security guard told me it was time to leave, I continued to the other “arm” of the park, opposite the opera house. The sun was setting so there were some nice views. Here I saw 2 groups taking wedding photos (and 2 more later in Hyde park, across from St. Mary’s). 

Speaking of St. Mary’s, yes, that was the next stop! I ended up way farther east in the park than I though, so it was a bit of a hike to get back to Hyde Park. But I made it in time to get some dusk photos of the cathedral, and to take a brief stroll through the inside (it was under construction on the last trip). I am particularly proud of the photo of the church with the fountain in the foreground :)

I kept walking south in the park until I got to the ANZAC memorial (Australia and New Zealand Army Corp, I believe).

Well, this was as far south as I wanted to go, so I crossed over to Pitt Street (which runs right next to the Sydney Tower). There is TONS of shopping along here, and an extensive pedestrian mall where there was a band playing. I bought a kebab, but decided to save it until I got back down to the harbor area. Along the way I passed the Queen Victoria Building (they are all about her here, also I think this building might have been pictured in a previous post)…

I found a nice spot for my kebab, and I couldn’t help but laughing at all the photographers who were out. Now, I’m all for night photography (obviously). But this scene just made me laugh a little, just everyone lining up their tripod right next to everyone else. And after these people left, more people took the spot! Be a little creative people!

And now that I’ve made fun of other people, here are my night photos :P

On my walk back to Circular Quay, I remember that I still needed to buy a few souvenirs, so I walked a block back up Pitt Street.

On one hand, I’m ashamed I spent money on this. But on the other hand, no, I’m not.

July 5 - It’s funny the things you type when your hands aren’t properly lined up on the keys…Also, literally the second I started typing this it began absolutely POURING outside my window. I can barely hear my music over the rain on the roof outside (even though there are 7 floors and I’m on 2, I guess part of the building is just 1 floor so there is a roof right outside my window).

Anyway, no work today! All the kiddies in the lab took me to Cockatoo Island, which is an old industrial area that’s been turned into a (sort of) park. It’s a pretty neat place, and they had some installation art that was on display. Some of it was really bizarre, but some was pretty neat. Here is a sampling…

As you can see, some really neat (and some totally bizarre) stuff! I think our most common phrase while walking around was, “is this part of the art?” One “exhibit” was literally a pile of driftwood and random garbage fished out of the bay all piled up with a tree growing out of the middle. There was another one which feature about a dozen rocks that were mounted on wooden posts with random letter strings written on the post. Sometimes I just don’t understand art.

Anyway, even without the art it would be a neat place to visit - kind of a cool experience to walk around and in all the old industrial buildings.

Overall fun day! Certainly better than doing real work, although we did briefly go back to the lab after our adventure (I did not accomplish anything, although I collected another data set thanks to other people being more motivated than me!)

After a brief break, I went rock climbing with one of the guys in the lab. It was…moderately successful! My first two attempts I was able to make it to the top of relatively easy courses. Trying anything harder was a complete failure - one course I couldn’t even do the beginning at all, so I never made it off the ground! I was eventually able to make it up a third course later, though it took pretty much all my remaining strength. It really is much much harder than it looks, especially for someone with pretty much zero upper body strength. But definitely a good workout, my arms are still completely dead! I also never realized that the hand/footholds are colored by course (i.e. you’re supposed to only use the red ones, or only green, or whatever you choose). It makes much more sense this way! I always wondered what was so hard about it, because it looks like there are holds everywhere! But yeah, you “can’t” use them all (obviously I cheated a bunch of times because I was horrible, but if you’re actually good I guess you wouldn’t). 

All right well, that was my day. Tomorrow, back to the grind! But only for a day, though I still have to plan an adventure for the weekend…

July 4 - “Mankind…that word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore.”

- President Whitmore (Bill Pullman, Independence Day).

Best movie, or best movie ever? Seriously though, that is one damn good speech.

Hope you all have a good 4th of July! Please enjoy some BBQ and fireworks on my behalf! I decided to celebrate with a second heart attack burger, since it seemed like something that America would get behind, even though the particular combination of toppings I got here I have never seen in the US. I think this will be my last one of the trip, since I may actually have a coronary otherwise!

Speaking of horrible things I did to my health and well being today, I don’t think I’ve told you about the glory that is the caramel slice. I got one today since my cup of soup lunch was not going to cut it at all, but I’ve had one or two others at various points on the trip. Basically it has a top layer of chocolate, a middle layer of caramel, and a sort of pie crust-esque bottom (most of these recipes lead me to believe it is shortbread). The very top of the chocolate is hard (just enough that it breaks cleanly when you bite it), but the rest of it is pretty soft through the middle. Anyway, I would like to be your best friend if you would like to make these.

Also entertaining today - I walked past a dental clinic in Randwick (neighborhood on the other side of campus from where I’m staying) which had the slogan “Nothing but the tooth.” That just cracked me right up. It’s cheesy I know, but I love it. Also make note of the website on that link.

Anyway, it was a good day in the office today! Collected two and a half more data sets today which is a considerable amount (I have 7 total now). Things are looking good, enough so that my supervisor was trying to figure out a title for a paper writing up the results! I’m not sure we’re quite there yet, I’m not even convinced I fully understand what’s going on in the data…but it is looking promising, and certainly the overall (i.e. group average) metrics are looking intriguing. I still haven’t spent enough time looking at all the numbers to feel sure, gotta try some more analysis. But still, looking good!

But those more analyses will have to wait for Friday, because tomorrow I’m not going to the office! More details tomorrow :)

July 3 - Well people, I don’t know what to tell you. Today was a data collection day, which is good - I need a bunch of data. But mostly that means my day in the lab consisted of playing Sudoku and reading papers while waiting for other people to do my experiment! Still not sure how it’s going to turn out, but there are some promising trends so far with just 5 people, so it’s looking (potentially) good! Tomorrow I’ll get a few more subjects and hopefully things will continue to look good. Fingers crossed! I also gotta do some piloting on a second paradigm I’ve been working with here, so hopefully I’ll have a chance to do that too.

In other news, I finally got around to posting a whole bunch of NZ photos on facebook, so if you’re ‘keen’ you should take a look at those. I tried to include a bunch of new ones that haven’t been in the blog though I’m sure there is overlap. It’s still less than 1/4 of all the pictures I took (and the album is ~130 photos…)

July 1 - Hi there everyone. I’m still alive, thanks for worrying! I have returned from Melbourne after only an hour and a half weather delay (followed by sitting on the tarmac in Sydney for 45 minutes due to some sort of bizarre electrical problem), and the city appears to still be here, mostly as I left it. I am however, le tired, so photos/recap of the weekend will have to wait until tomorrow. But I successfully saw Leo, watched some “footy” (not to be remotely confused with any other version of football you’ve ever heard of), and wandered around Melbourne. Anyway, full details coming after I get some sleep. Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee for now.

June 28 - Well today was a shorter day than usual, mostly because I massively overslept and didn’t get to the lab until 11:30AM! I can always tell when I’m later than usual (funny concept since I’ve been here less than 3 weeks) because the crew on the coffee cart changes over. I kinda like their system - 4 guys operate it, but it seems they change jobs every hour or so (i.e. who takes orders/money, who makes the coffees, who pours in the cream and hands them out). Very “fair” system.

I collected my first two full data sets (should have a 3rd and maybe 4th tomorrow) - naturally each person showed a nearly opposite pattern. So now we wait to see what more people do, and hope more people do one than the other I guess! We also zapped some brains today (tDCS), so that’s always fun :)

Anywho, that’s pretty much the excitement for the day. Tomorrow, to Melbourne! You probably won’t hear from me until Sunday night or Monday, cause I’m not sure I’ll be bringing my computer with me. But, I’m sure there will be many exciting writings when I return!

June 27 - So you’ve probably noticed from my periodic “revelations” about blogging that I’m a bit slow to figure out how this whole thing works (see: adding comments, getting photos to work, etc.). BUT, I just figured out how to imbed photos! This is sad, because I’ve done it before in some of my older posts (homebrew ones from January), I guess I just forgot. Now I can do it again. Of course today I don’t have any photos…

But today, I did give a talk in Australia, marking my 3rd continent talked on! In fact, 3 in the past year (Toulouse, France in August, Rochester, NY in October, and now Sydney Australia in June…there were some in the US before that too - and 1 in Canada!). I thought it went pretty well, a few people asked me for my slides and asked if my work was published (it’s not yet…sigh), so that’s always a good sign! AND I got a free beer at the end. Seriously, Rochester needs to up its game with the department seminars (although the cog sci dinners are pretty good on this front).

After that I just hung around the lab until about 8PM (yikes!), but didn’t actually do any work. We discussed that Americans cannot properly pronounce the names of Australian cities (among other things, probably, like “tomato”) - my mistake, it seems, is that I (foolishly) pronounce all the letters. It should be, for example, that Cairnes = “Cans”, Brisbane = “Brisbin”, Melbourne = “Melbun” (p.s. I knew that these were the right pronunciations, but if I didn’t that’s not how I would have said them!). There was some debate over the word “schedule” as well, and a definite disagreement on “simultaneous”. This reminds me of when I arrived in London, needing to get to an address on “Worchestershire” street. I pronounced that thing out to the bitter end. The cab driver had no idea what I was talking about. Naturally it’s pronounced “Wooster,” so that totally makes sense. Not that we don’t have our own share of bizarro pronunciations…