Not many people would be thrilled at the prospect of doing jury duty.
However, given that i am still unemployed and that the processing time for scientific jobs can best be measured by an astronomical clock, an 8 week trial seemed like a promising option. I mean, you get something to do, the day ends at 4pm which leaves time for interviews etc, ( Read more... )

I've just finished reading Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife.
You've probably seen it around - it is all over the best seller lists in the book stores, it is on the 3 for 2 lists at Borders, it is in airports and train stations.

There is a reason that is everywhere;

This is the best piece of fiction writing that I have read in a very ( Read more... )

Gah!
it took a long time for people to convince me to join LJ, and i finally did because no one emailed anymore and you had to be on LJ to be in the loop.

Now,

everything is announced via Facebook and apparently it is MY fault that i don't get fricken invitations to things!Facebook, MySpace, LJ, mobile phones. ICQ, msn, gtalk. God help us, do we ( Read more... )

They call me Dr Pip.
Good Morning, how are you? I'm Dr Pip.
I'm interested in things.
I am a real Dr and I am a real Pip
I am and actua-al pip (etc)

HANDED IN AND DONE!!

Hi all ( Read more... )

Pip has emailed me to say that LJ is blocked by the notsoGreat Wall of China, so she can't post the entire time she's there with Alec ( Read more... )

Luang Prabang, the sacred centre of Laotian Buddhism, tucked away in the mountains, was so refreshingly quiet and peaceful after Vietnam that we instantly fell in love with the place and have so far failed to leave. (Again ( Read more... )

It was an epic 24 hour trip from Hanoi, involving a surprisingly comfy 9hr sleeper train ride and a nerve-racking 6 hours of Daytona through Vietanmese highlands in a 20-seater bus, but last night we safely arrived in a rather chilly Phonsavanh and christened our arrival back in the country with a bottle of wonderful, wonderful Beer Lao ( Read more... )

Yesterday, we finally got around to posting photos to the photosite http://picasaweb.google.com/astuartmuirk of our tours in Nam so far.
( Mui Ne, Nha Trang and the beautiful Central Highlands )

In what was the earliest start in nearly three months, we woke up at 7am to start our two-day tour of the Mekong Delta. This place is BIG - there are 12 whole provinces that are cut up by innumerable canals from the river - so we only got to see a tiny fraction ( Read more... )