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!!