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...It's SUPER-Physicist!
Actually, I doubt that I have any claim to that title, especially given the posts I've been reading from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
madandrew lately. But, aside from the obvious reasons, being in Paris was wonderful simply because it was a weekend (plus a Monday) off. Before the Paris trip, I had worked through the past two weekends... and it was beginning to take its toll. By the end of the week, my good mood was definitely eroding as burnout crept in. I need to learn not to work myself quite so hard, just for the sake of my general well-being.
Since getting back, I have been working on a number of projects, past and present. I received an e-mail from a prominent neutrino theorist who is interested in using the dissertation research that I conducted on Super-Kamiokande. We spoke at a conference in Tsukuba in 2003, actually, but nothing much has happened until now. Unlike most people who cite my paper on Supernova Relic Neutrinos, he is not at all interested in the signal that I was searching for but, rather, my background: Low energy atmospheric neutrinos. I probably have the best (only?) measurement of these neutrinos at their lowest energies, which makes my paper interesting in ways that it was not intended.
Besides SK, my time on the Pierre Auger Observatory has also been coming back into the spotlight. The technical paper that I wrote on the Central Laser Facility is progressing on its way to publication. And, on another note, I received an e-mail from an Auger collaborator asking about an observation I made during the roving laser calibration campaign of May 2005.
Of course, in addition to tending to my past experiments, I am also preparing to make one more attempt at cooling down the Kelvinox-400 cryostat before leaving for my vacation in the States next Thursday. I doubt that we will attain base temperature, but I am hoping to rule of the last of the potential problems so that we can finally call in the experts from Oxford Instruments.
Balancing out all this work, and attempting to avoid a relapse of burnout,cheshcat and I played games with the Board Game Club on Wednesday evening. We played a very close four-person game of Settlers of Catan. I came a stone's throw from winning; if the player who won had not won exactly when he did, I was going to play my third soldier and win on my next next turn. Ah, well. We also played the Hunters & Gatherers version of Carcassonne, with cheshcat emerging victorious.
Thursday evening was another bell-ringing lesson at St. Giles Church. This was my third lesson... and, for the first time, I actually got to ring the bells in four rounds (previously, I had only practiced on tied bells, which make no sound). Although I can now do both the backstroke and the handstroke, I have not yet done them both together. So I rang handstroke in two rounds and backstroke in the other two. I will miss the next few Thursdays, since I will be in the States, but I am very much looking forward to continuing these lessons when I get back to Oxford in late October.
Finally, I should just follow up this story by announcing that I did not get the faculty position that I had applied for. This comes as no surprise, especially since my rejection comes for exactly the reason I expected: Too little experience (only six months so far) working with cryogenic detectors. I knew it was a long shot going in, though, so I am taking the news in stride. And I have a plan for how to progress, career-wise, for the next year or so.
Actually, I doubt that I have any claim to that title, especially given the posts I've been reading from
madandrew lately. But, aside from the obvious reasons, being in Paris was wonderful simply because it was a weekend (plus a Monday) off. Before the Paris trip, I had worked through the past two weekends... and it was beginning to take its toll. By the end of the week, my good mood was definitely eroding as burnout crept in. I need to learn not to work myself quite so hard, just for the sake of my general well-being.Since getting back, I have been working on a number of projects, past and present. I received an e-mail from a prominent neutrino theorist who is interested in using the dissertation research that I conducted on Super-Kamiokande. We spoke at a conference in Tsukuba in 2003, actually, but nothing much has happened until now. Unlike most people who cite my paper on Supernova Relic Neutrinos, he is not at all interested in the signal that I was searching for but, rather, my background: Low energy atmospheric neutrinos. I probably have the best (only?) measurement of these neutrinos at their lowest energies, which makes my paper interesting in ways that it was not intended.
Besides SK, my time on the Pierre Auger Observatory has also been coming back into the spotlight. The technical paper that I wrote on the Central Laser Facility is progressing on its way to publication. And, on another note, I received an e-mail from an Auger collaborator asking about an observation I made during the roving laser calibration campaign of May 2005.
Of course, in addition to tending to my past experiments, I am also preparing to make one more attempt at cooling down the Kelvinox-400 cryostat before leaving for my vacation in the States next Thursday. I doubt that we will attain base temperature, but I am hoping to rule of the last of the potential problems so that we can finally call in the experts from Oxford Instruments.
Balancing out all this work, and attempting to avoid a relapse of burnout,
cheshcat and I played games with the Board Game Club on Wednesday evening. We played a very close four-person game of Settlers of Catan. I came a stone's throw from winning; if the player who won had not won exactly when he did, I was going to play my third soldier and win on my next next turn. Ah, well. We also played the Hunters & Gatherers version of Carcassonne, with cheshcat emerging victorious.Thursday evening was another bell-ringing lesson at St. Giles Church. This was my third lesson... and, for the first time, I actually got to ring the bells in four rounds (previously, I had only practiced on tied bells, which make no sound). Although I can now do both the backstroke and the handstroke, I have not yet done them both together. So I rang handstroke in two rounds and backstroke in the other two. I will miss the next few Thursdays, since I will be in the States, but I am very much looking forward to continuing these lessons when I get back to Oxford in late October.
Finally, I should just follow up this story by announcing that I did not get the faculty position that I had applied for. This comes as no surprise, especially since my rejection comes for exactly the reason I expected: Too little experience (only six months so far) working with cryogenic detectors. I knew it was a long shot going in, though, so I am taking the news in stride. And I have a plan for how to progress, career-wise, for the next year or so.
