So, Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix is finally available for cheap tickets in Auckland. Crystal and I are going tonight, so I should be able to post some sort of review later.
Crystal is also working to get a job now. We're going to be dropping resumes at a bunch of the retail places near our apartment this afternoon.
But, I am reading The Deathly Hallows now. Crystal and I bought a copy at Border's this weekend. We're currently half-way through the book, as we are taking turns each reading a chapter aloud. It's a fun way to read with someone, especially so that you can share the thrills and laughs at the same time. So far, I think that the tongue in check humor has surprised me more than anything else. I've also made the rule that unless presented with a complete body, that I will not believe any deaths that may have occurred.
Crystal is getting some illustration ideas from the book too. We'll see if she goes through with any of them.
Work on the thesis is alright. I feel a bit like I'm racing against the clock to get some work done to put on a poster in the University contest. I'm not sure if I'll have the work done in time though. I'm going to do my best on it. Crystal is helping me to prepare figures for my poster that I will present in Brisbane. Its a real help. I think my figures will make a lot more sense and generally be more useful.
I've begun work to prepare my poster for presentation at the ANZ Geomechanics conference. I have not yet received the details of format, but I have a number of steps that can be used to get started. One of these is preparing figures to present on the poster. I have a lot of work to do to making sure that I have all of my information presentable in pictoral form. I plan to use the lest text possible, because that really seems to make a more effective poster. Also, I already have plenty of text in the article that will appear in the proceedings, so interested people should be able to look at that.
I've forgotten how Illustrator is both wonderful and difficult to work with at the same time. Some of the features that make it quick to sketch over photos also make it difficult to color various areas. I have at this point finished one of the poictures that I will be interpreting.
I'll be getting Crystal to help me a bit with this when she has time. But I think I have been sucessful with my first attempt.
Well, the last time that I posted, my wife had recently arrived and we were still settling in. Since then, I've been very busy with my research project. I've run a number of samples through the geomechanics lab and done some more field work. I have a lot of other things to talk about but many of them seem a bit silly and are mostly gaming related. Crystal and I are still making slow but steady progress in World or Warcraft. We'll soon be able to join the rest of our friends in end-game events.
I have recently sent several thank you cards to people who sent birthday or other cards or gifts. They are much appreciated, I'm just of the absent minded sort. So, several people, and you know who you are, should be looking for mail in the next couple of weeks.
Crystal has just submitted her application for a work permit, so we are hoping to get a positive response back soon. We ended up sending two large envelopes stuffed to bursting, containing evidence of our "partnership". The fact that we are married was not enough for INZ last time, so we have sent in letters from friends and family, as well as copies of our chatlogs and letters to each other as corroborating evidence. I don't think that they can dispute that we qualify as a partnership anymore.
I've applied for every descent scholarship that has come my way in the last few months. I tend to be limited due to my international status, but there are a few scholarship that I'm eligible for that other people aren't. Two of these would give us enough money to mostly pay rent and food, leaving whatever income that Crystal ends up with to pay her student loans. I can only hope that one of these will be approved.
I'm going to Australia in October for a conference. I still need to make the poster, but I have a grant for the travel costs. Crystal is going to help me with the poster design, once I get around to planning the content. I need to design another poster for the University competition as well. These are parts of my important task for the next few months.
I think I'll end this post here, since I'm busy with a number of other things as well today. Take care everyone, and I hope to talk to you soon.
After much waiting and anticipation, I finally made it to my field area to do some sampling. I'm glad that I waited. We had a beautiful day, and we were able to time the tide so as not to need to wake up before dawn. Sampling went really well. Matt (another grad student) and I made pretty quick work of all the sampling. Now I have a large number of samples sitting around, waiting to be tested. I'm planning to start work on them tomorrow, since Matt is busy graduating or something today.
Meanwhile, in the virtual world, I've nearly made it to level 58. Only another hour or so of playing will be required. More about this is available at The Gameslave. We're getting ready to implement new website design too. So, there's lots to check out over there.
