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26 March 2005
It turns out that restaurant 1 is closed for Easter, but the other restaurant is still open, so I went there for dinner last night, and breakfast this morning. It turns out the Grid Cafe, which I had previously visited on the computers at Microcosm, is a real place with a real cafe. And yes, a real grid. There's a wireless network there, but I was unable to access the internet from it as I have to register my machine with the IT department first. I could have done that over the web but I wasn't sure whether to register as a guest or as a CERN employee, since they don't seem to have my name on file yet. Anyway I suspect a human in the IT department would have to complete the registration process, and since CERN is closed for easter there aren't many of those around.
On my way back from the restaurant, following a road along the inside boundary of CERN, I heard the unmistakable sound of Swiss cowbells. It sounded like they were right behind me, as though I had one in my backpack (and I know what that sounds like, because believe it or not I have walked along with a Swiss cowbell in my backpack before.) Actually it was somebody walking his dogs on the other side of the fence, where strange saplings are growing.
Today I'll visit Cafe L'Adresse and use the internet there. Maybe I'll also get myself some easter eggs and other essential supplies.
Figure-ground inversion
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25 March 2005
Well, here I am home in Geneva. I'm not sure whether a room in a hostel can be counted as home but it will do for now.
Swiss International Airlines gets the award for cutest safety video... it uses animated characters including a little girl who reminds me of 'Boo' from Monsters Inc. It's back to the old 'chicken or beef' routine for meals though (actually, beef or noodles in this case) no printed menu or announcement explaining what sort of beef or noodles it is. And there was no choice of breakfast at all. There are screens on the seat-backs, but although they're as big as the Emirates ones, the movies are played Qantas-style whenever they're scheduled to be played, rather than when I say so. And this time, there are no games and nothing to say what is on each channel.
As we were flying over Newfoundland I snuck a look out the window (even though we were supposed to keep the cover closed so that we could pretend it was nighttime.) At first I thought it was a giant lagoony-swampy thing with patches of land and water. It may well be that, I don't know much about Newfoundland, but when I looked closer I realised the patches were actually of snow. I took a few pictures.
I had a couple of hours in Zurich airport, where I bought a Zurich keyring for my collection, using the ten-franc note I had saved from my last trip here. I accidentally left my document wallet (with passport, boarding pass, ten-franc note etc) behind on a seat for a few minutes, but luckily everything was still there. I couldn't find any wireless internet there either.
On the plane from Zurich to Geneva there was no meal, only a piece of Swiss chocolate. Believe it or not I didn't even eat it... I was feeling a little nauseated from having been awake most of the previous 48 hours or so. I saved it for later, of course... I would never actually throw out Swiss chocolate. Or any other chocolate for that matter. I had to entrust my carry-on bag to the overhead compartment, which I was a bit nervous about as I've heard of laptops being damaged up there, but the woman behind me had to put here PowerBook G4 up there too. Mine survived, so I guess hers did. We had to circle for a while at Geneva, as apparently some of the other planes were slow at getting in.
I got a taxi from Geneva airport to CERN. I was able to say in French that I don't know the address, but I showed him the logo and he understood (I guess I don't pronounce it clearly or Frenchily enough.) I understood perfectly when the night guard asked (in French) whether I had a reservation at the hostel. I also understood when the taxi driver said (in English) that I'm crazy... I didn't bother explaining that the reason I have two huge suitcases, a backpack and pockets full of books is that I'm staying in Geneva for two years. Here's to the crazy ones.
The hostel room is pretty good for a hostel, it's more like a hotel room really since it has its own toilet and shower. Aside from the lack of bath I'd say it's better than my cheap room at Taylor Hotel in San Francisco. I haven't found any wireless networks yet though.
I was a bit surprised to wake up at half-past midnight, but even more surprised to see light streaming through the gaps in the shutters. I checked with my Mac to make sure I had the correct time zone. It really was half-past midnight, but there were quite a few lights on outside.
It's now 7:07a.m. and I think I'll take some pictures of the view from my window. I was going to take some about ten minutes ago, but got distracted typing this. I just looked up again and I don't know whether it's a subtle change in lighting or just that I was blind before, but behind all the CERN buildings I can see mountains. Or rather, I can see a strip of snow between the sky and what I thought was the sky, but is actually the stuff holding the snow up there. A mountain view, how about that? I guess the thing about mountains is that they're big, so if there's one around, chances are you'll have a view of it.
Later...I just had a wander around. All the streets in CERN are named after scientists, as I'd noticed the first time I was here. I'm not far from Route Marie Curie, which is quite apt. I sat down for a while in the garden of Microcosm. It looks different this time of year, with no leaves on the trees. I saw some kind of bird walk up the side of the tree. I don't think I've ever seen a bird climb a tree before, flying seems to be the norm.
The restaurant I had coffee and sandwiches in with Matti last time I was here seems to be closed for cleaning. I guess I'll wait for lunch time. Until then I might go to the service station across the road again and buy a sandwich, if I can figure out how to get to the road without going through Microcosm. Halfway
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23 March 2005
Remember that 'Middle Seat' iBook ad, where the guy asks for a middle seat on the plane so that he can show off his iBook to the people on either side of him? Well, it doesn't work. I had a middle seat on my flight to Los Angeles and I didn't bother getting out my shiny new PowerBook, because there just wasn't the elbow room for anything like comfortable typing. That ad sure wasn't filmed in economy class.
Anyway, here I am in LA, with about four hours to wait before my flight to Zurich starts boarding. I would have had a nine hour wait but my flight here was delayed, which meant some of the waiting time was spent with family and friends at Auckland airport.
Qantas has the low-budget version of Emirates' seat-back entertainment systems. The screen is much smaller, not a touch-screen, and yet mine had four dead pixels. Although you do get to choose which movie you watch, you don't get to choose when... the movie on each channel is repeated every two and a half hours. There's nothing to tell you when a movie is about to start, so you just have to keep checking to see how far through it is. And forget just leaving the movie of choice playing and waiting for it to get to the start... after the movie is finished and before it starts again there's a couple of minutes in which you can't even stay on that channel. You just have to try again in a few minutes and hope you don't miss much of the start. And no rewinding (or viewing on a big screen) if you have to get out of your seat for a while to let somebody else pass. There aren't channels showing the view from the front or underside of the aircraft either, so if your row happens to be between windows, there's no chance of a view. On the plus side, the system didn't crash.
However, I did get sleeping socks, an eyemask, and a travel toothbrush. The only other time I've flown Qantas was to the Mini Olympics in Rarotonga in 1994, and I remember being envious of the adults who got sleeping socks then. Why anybody would need special socks to sleep in I don't know. We also got Magnum mini ice creams with dinner. I look forward to seeing what Swiss International is like -- I will probably add a log of my impressions of various airlines, since I've been on so many now.
I can't find wireless internet here at LAX, and neither could the guy who just came up to me asking if I've found any. I'm not sure if I found any last time I was here, if I did I don't think I knew a password for it. If I remember correctly Dublin airport was the only one with free wireless internet.
I had four US$1 notes from last time I was here, but I just spent two of them on a packet of guacamole Doritos. They were weird, as expected. Moving
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22 March 2005
I ended up getting flights earlier than I had intended, since all the other flights via the USA were full... if I fly via the US I can take two 32kg suitcases, compared with about 30kg all up flying through some other country. Just when I've attained Silver status I'll have to join up with a couple of other airpoints schemes, since none of the airlines I'll be flying with is a Star Alliance member.
So, as it turns out, I'm leaving tomorrow! I bought a sturdy new Samsonite suitcase and put about 32kg of stuff into it, and another 32kg into my old $30 suitcase. Mostly clothes and books, and the souvenirs which have, for the most part, already passed through Geneva once. There were a few days of panic as I thought my suitcases were horribly overweight despite being only half full, but then I realised that my mother's bathroom scales measure in pounds rather than kilograms. Does anyone (apart from Lockheed Martin) still use such outdated units? Anyway, now the books have all gone back into the suitcases, and I'm even taking my eMate. I started up a Geneva Newton meetup group so I might have somebody to introduce it to. I actually tried to sell iZac (my Newton MessagePad 110) on TradeMe, but the highest bidder turned out to be a scammer so the sale did not go ahead.
I have had my Einstein 'Think Different' poster laminated, since it will be the most appropriate Apple poster for a CERN employee to have on display, and what's more, it fits nicely in my suitcase. It's a little tattered around the edges from hanging unlaminated on my wall for more than six years, but I can't go back in time and fix that.
I'll be staying at the CERN hostel at first, while I'm looking for a permanent place to stay. I have just over a week before I actually start my fellowship, so I guess I'll be doing a lot of house-hunting during that time. The first test that any accommodation has to pass is being within easy reach of CERN via public transport, and that should be an easy thing to gauge if I'm living on the CERN site while going out to see the places.
I have updated the itinerary to include tomorrow's flights, and also those two and from Sydney earlier this year.
Oh yeah... did I mention I got a new Mac? One of the new 1.6GHz PowerBook G4s, 15 inch with SuperDrive. The old iBook is staying in NZ with my friend Carla and her new husband. Now I'd better get some sleep, I have a long couple of days tomorrow. Time distortion is so much fun! Back in NZ... but not for long
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9 February 2005
It's about time I filled you in on the rest of the Sydney trip. Since getting home I've been too busy planning for moving to Geneva.
On Thursday and Friday were the Tiger Tech Talks. I knew most of what was said from WWDC, but it was nice to have a bit of a refresher, and catch up with developers I'd met at WWDC and other events. Some people even recognised me from my website. One had met Woz on a geek cruise and reminded him of meeting me in San Francisco.
After the sessions finished on Friday I walked with Chris's friend Lilith (who also went to the Tech Talks) to Chris's work. That was tiring, but much more scenic than going there via bus... I saw some weird-looking birds in Victoria Park, and a very picturesque view of the university.
Saturday was another of those glorious days of sleeping, watching anime and playing computer games. Jess bought some krispy kreme doughnuts, because she's addicted to them, and I had also mentioned wanting some on Thursday morning because the tech talks reminded me of the plentiful krispy kremes at WWDC. I hadn't even known they were available in Australia. We also had pizza -- mine was called 'The Oz' and included bacon and egg as toppings.
The next day we got up at 5:30a.m, and Jess took me on the train to the airport while Chris went back to bed. I can't blame him... at least Jess had the incentive of a boyfriend to meet further along the train line. We got to the airport at around 7:20, 20 minutes late for check-in but that's why they say to check in two hours before the flight. I didn't have a lot of time to wander/sit around before the flight, which suited me fine. On this flight it was my screen which was playing up, but luckily I had a good book to amuse me.
So here I am home, trying to figure out how to get a Swiss bank account, and what to take in the 64kg of checked-in baggage and 7kg of carry-on I'll be allowed to take with me if I go to Geneva via Los Angeles. It's exciting stuff.
I start at CERN on April 1st, and I'll be involved in the Controls, Trigger and Data Acquisition Project for the Compact Muon Solenoid. Sounds fancy, doesn't it? No, I'm not making it up!
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