kappa

Discussing about making sushi and other foods we ended up with "kappa", the cucumber-liking frog-like monster, which is the reason for the name kappamaki, the cucumber-sushi roll...

the game

Yesterday, we played The Game (aka "settlers of Catan"). We used to play it in Tübingen every weekend. However, after moving to England it was just lying around. It was quite fun. Particularly, playing the German version of The Game with non-German speaking people :-)

simpsonized

I was simpsonized!!

snow in tübingen

When I went to the lab this morning it was snowing. Seems that winter began.

pre-christmas party

Back in Germany I was invited by my former housemates to have a pre-Christmas party. A really good idea: we had some Lebkuchen and other sweets in the afternoon before we started making Christmas cookies by ourselves. In the evening we had an excellent dinner before we enjoyed Feuerzangenbowle (not the movie). Thanks a lot!

england is out

Although England only had to get a draw versus Croatia, they lost (in Wembley!). Therefore, the EURO 2008 happens without England. On the one hand there is schadenfreude (this word seems to exist in English!) on the other hand we would have had a lot of fun if Germany had beaten England during the EURO... :-) I hope I don't get punished in the lab...

sightseeing in cambridge

Some friends came over from London for sightseeing in Cambridge. It was freezing cold combined with wind—quite uncomfortable. However, we joined the opening of the Christmas market in Cambridge (mid of November!) with fake snow.
Moreover, we joined a service in King's College Chapel, where King's College Choir was singing. Pretty nice. I hope, Christian and Jasmin arrived at their home in London without enjoying nice cold rain...

movie night in lab

We launched our weekly (?) movie night in the lab to test the projector and the new sound system. We have to say that it's really good. In particular, the sofas are worth using them

back on top

Let's enjoy this picture as long as it is still valid. Borussia Mönchengladbach is back on top of the second German football/soccer league after a great match versus Carl Zeiss Jena (2-1). Moreover, it's 9 points to silly Cologne!!!

remember, remember the fifth of november

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parliament.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Today was Guy Fawkes night (Bonfire Night). Everywhere in the country you could see fireworks celebrating the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November 1605 in which a number of Roman Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament (this is a wikifact). We had a quite nice evening starting with a welcome lab party, fireworks on the roof of our department, and ending in a restaurant having some food.

the problem with presentations

Knowing that I have to give something like five talks within the next 4 weeks I started preparing the first one. It's always the same never-ending story: You have a rough idea what you are going to talk about. Then you get new ideas what can be improved and what would be a nice thing to show. The problem is that you still have to code it because you don't have the results yet. So did I during the last days/week. Finally, I got (at least I think so) something that is hopefully interesting enough to talk about. However, the first talk is on Wednesday and not prepared at all. But I have probably the program code that might generate good results and some colorful pictures (this is most important!). I hope I don't get more ideas about what to show before Thursday. At some point I really have to finish those slides...

when you use your old code...

I went back to a working version of my code from 2 months ago. First simulations were promising. So, I did some modifications (which didn't work before) and started the simulations. 8 hours later, the run was done. What I forgot was the following line:
save data
So, we start again and save all the data after completing the simulation. Argh!!

new desks and stuff in office

Today's good news is that our new desks arrived such that we really could start working in our nicely refurbished rooms.

bad football game

Unfortunately, my favorite German football team just lost their match in the German cup (DFB Pokal) against Bayern Munich, the so-called "Drecks-Bayern". This is actually a very bad end of October!

hiking in lake district

We spent a weekend in the Lake district for hill-climbing. We had a nice walk on Saturday with mist, wind, and rain. Shoes (and everything else) were soaking through...

In the evening we had a Halloween party, which was an interesting experience. On Sunday, the sun came out, we had a perfect day and a very nice walk. I don't know, how many mountains we climbed, but it was great!

more pictures

bart simpson density

Just found the Barts Simpson density (see plot). The corresponding equation is

f(x)=0.5 N(x|0;1) + 0.1\sum_{j=0}^4 N(x|j/2-1;0.1)

N(x|a;b) is the normal (Gaussian) density with mean a and variance b. So, the Bart Simpson density is just a plain old Gaussian mixture with 6 components. Nevertheless a cool design.

greensleeves

Not bad if you should be working...

ph.d.-comics talk

I just come back from a talk by Jorge Cham. This is the guy who writes the PhD comics. Great talk. And probably the one in which I laughed most. Particularly shocking was the comparison between an average grad student salary of $14,055 per year (in California) and a salary of a McDonald's worker of $14,040 per year. I knew that we don't get much, but this little ... "You know, you can survive — somehow ..."

ubuntu upgrade

After upgrading my linux to ubuntu 7.10 I had some dependency problems (X died during installation...). However, I could fix the problems and ubuntu is running again.

official ph.d. student ;-)

I just got a letter from Karlsruhe saying that they accepted me as Ph.D. student.

nan got a ph.d. position

Yesterday, Nan (my housemate) applied for a Ph.D. position here in Cambridge. Her professor agreed. Congratulations!

moved to new office

Finally, we can move from our temporary office into our new office. Internet already works, shelves, office mates, computers, etc. will come soon.

hiking around edale

Today we (hill walking club) went to Edale (peak district) for hiking. Really cool.


We walked through moor and small creeks. The weather was as I imagined typical British weather: foggy, drizzle, gray sky :)

1st year's report submitted

The first year is over and finally I submitted my first year's report. Finally... Weekend is waiting!

sunrise in autumn

When I woke up everything was gray like early morning (wasn't too early, though). However, when I left our house the sun was rising. I crossed the meadows with the cows along the river Cam covered with mist. I had to take some pictures. It was so beautiful.

first rain

Unbelievable, but true! Today I felt the first raindrops in Cambridge falling on my head. Ok, I was away last week, but nevertheless the weather is not too bad here. Especially not too hot :)

bicycle stolen

Coming back from Italy, I saw that somebody liked my bicycle so much that he took it. Have fun with it and break your legs!

summer school in lazise

This week I attend the IEEE-RAS/IFRR School of Robotics Science on Learning in Lazise (Italy). Nice event! It's a combination of lectures and practical sessions, where we can play around with mobile robots and implement some algorithms.

This is our group (Sander, Marc, Shun, Jun, Isabella), who tries to teach Eddy, the robot.

arrived

So, finally I arrived in the UK and found a place to stay (permanently). Instead of sending thousands of emails to millions of people I decided to start blogging. Let's see if this works.