Reason Not The Need

Wow, but I can be such a fanboy sometimes! The RSC performance of King Lear was phenomenal! The actors, the set, the lighting -- it was all just amazing! And, by chance, as cheshcat and I were leaving, we happened to bump into Ian McKellen!! So -- and here comes the fanboy part -- we got him to sign our program and I got to shake his hand! Awesome!

After driving back to Oxford, I dropped cheshcat off at Skullcrusher Mountain and continued on to the University to check on the status of the K-400 cryostat. When I left work at 5pm, we were down to about 750 mK and falling. I was nervous about the status of this cooldown, as the last few have been plagued with troubles. We didn't get stuck at about 700 mK as we did last year, but something had been preventing us from dropping below about 50 mK. Last week, we did thorough checks of everything we can think of... and it appears to have worked! I walked into the lab at a few minutes past midnight, and the display tells me that our thermometer is at a resistance of over 25 kilo-Ohms, corresponding to about 7 mK. More awesome!

It's funny. Last night was really fantastic. Tonight was also really fantastic, but in a totally different way! Time to go home and eat now, then rest so that I can come back and work with this cold cryostat tomorrow...

Reason Not The Need

Wow, but I can be such a fanboy sometimes! The RSC performance of King Lear was phenomenal! The actors, the set, the lighting -- it was all just amazing! And, by chance, as cheshcat and I were leaving, we happened to bump into Ian McKellen!! So -- and here comes the fanboy part -- we got him to sign our program and I got to shake his hand! Awesome!

After driving back to Oxford, I dropped cheshcat off at Skullcrusher Mountain and continued on to the University to check on the status of the K-400 cryostat. When I left work at 5pm, we were down to about 750 mK and falling. I was nervous about the status of this cooldown, as the last few have been plagued with troubles. We didn't get stuck at about 700 mK as we did last year, but something had been preventing us from dropping below about 50 mK. Last week, we did thorough checks of everything we can think of... and it appears to have worked! I walked into the lab at a few minutes past midnight, and the display tells me that our thermometer is at a resistance of over 25 kilo-Ohms, corresponding to about 7 mK. More awesome!

It's funny. Last night was really fantastic. Tonight was also really fantastic, but in a totally different way! Time to go home and eat now, then rest so that I can come back and work with this cold cryostat tomorrow...

In Brightest Day, In Shortest Night...

Leaving work in a little while to get ready for tonight's trip to Stonehenge.

"What's that?" you may say. "Again?? Didn't you recently claim to be getting tired of visiting Stonehenge?

Well, yes, I did. Having been there four times already, I am getting a bit bored with the usual one hour visit that consists of a self-guided audio tour while viewing the roped-off ancient stones from a distance.

"Then... why?" you might ask.

Ah, but tonight! Tonight is different! To commemorate the start of summer[*], the ropes are coming down, and Stonehenge will be open all night for a solstice celebration! There should be drumming and samba and -- best of all -- we can go right up to those enormous ancient standing stones. What a sense of history -- spending the solstice in the same place where people flocked to do so all those thousands of years ago!

The party begins around 8pm tonight, with sunset at 9:26 and sunrise at 4:58. Things start to wind down around 8am... after which cheshcat and I will hop into Peter, drive home, and get some [by then] much-needed sleep!

---

[*] Yes, I know that the solstice actually occurs tomorrow evening, at 6:06pm UTC. But tonight is when the celebration was scheduled for, so tonight is when I go.

In Brightest Day, In Shortest Night...

Leaving work in a little while to get ready for tonight's trip to Stonehenge.

"What's that?" you may say. "Again?? Didn't you recently claim to be getting tired of visiting Stonehenge?

Well, yes, I did. Having been there four times already, I am getting a bit bored with the usual one hour visit that consists of a self-guided audio tour while viewing the roped-off ancient stones from a distance.

"Then... why?" you might ask.

Ah, but tonight! Tonight is different! To commemorate the start of summer[*], the ropes are coming down, and Stonehenge will be open all night for a solstice celebration! There should be drumming and samba and -- best of all -- we can go right up to those enormous ancient standing stones. What a sense of history -- spending the solstice in the same place where people flocked to do so all those thousands of years ago!

The party begins around 8pm tonight, with sunset at 9:26 and sunrise at 4:58. Things start to wind down around 8am... after which cheshcat and I will hop into Peter, drive home, and get some [by then] much-needed sleep!

---

[*] Yes, I know that the solstice actually occurs tomorrow evening, at 6:06pm UTC. But tonight is when the celebration was scheduled for, so tonight is when I go.