ICCC39 - When too much chemistry is not enough.

At the end of July I attended my first chemistry conference. It was in Adelaide and Chemists from all over the world dropped by to introduce the latest research the international academic community. For those of you who have never been to a conference before, the day is filled with talks of approx 20 mins each outlining cutting edge research.

Cutting edge chemical research

The attendees who are not speaking are invited to supply an A0 poster portraying how they are making the world a better place through chemistry. Some of the world's preeminent scientist also give quite exciting hour long talks at the begininning of each day. All in all the day is very exciting for those who enjoy academia.

At the beach in Adelaide with fellow Phd chemists Karl (New Zealand) and Rashmi (Melbourne)

The nights, however, a very exciting for those who enjoy a tipple or two of water is on hand. Networking I think they call it...

Dan 'networking' with a pig. I bet this never happens in Adelaide

I met some awesome people from all around the world, but mostly I spent time with the Kiwis, Germans, and Polish contingent. However I did immensely enjoy confusing the Japanese by speaking to them in their own language.

Highlights include the following:

• I had heard about Adelaides giant balls, but they had to be seen to be believed

Liam (Engalnd) and I emasculated by giant steel balls

• I also visited the zoo and lions and tigers and bears (pandas!) oh my. I also saw a snake feeding

A real live panda bear that is not sleeping(apparently they sleep a lot)!

• On the last day Tom (polish) and I went to the wildlife park. Due to the copious amount of alchol consumed on the previous night we missed the bus we had to catch to get there so we walked up a narrow windy road for about 7 kms to get the park (quite dangerous). The animals were all aussie natives. We unexpectedly ran into another groups of chemists who were not aussie nativesand I felt superior by knowing more than the others around me about the fauna. As I had to catch a plane that arvo, Tom and I walked back down, but this time through the national park using my awesome watch/wristtop computer to guide us back.

There are some Germans patting the Dingos, they did this for about 15 minutes

• At the beginning of the trip involved sitting with the Kiwis playing cards and drinking beer just 5 minutes after I had met them. My watch's weather alarm starting going crazy and I mumbled off hand there was a storm coming. A quick glance outside showed a bright sunny day. Later that we exited the pub into a downpour. Everyone was very impressed!

Mike, Scott, Dan and Matt are are about to be very impressed


• Five of us Aussies sneaking off the a pub on one night, followed by a small contingent of kiwis. People sent messages to friends and supervisors, and than wave after wave of chemits appeared at this quant little pub. The owner was so stoked he stayed open for us every night just waiting for us to come back. And go back we did.
• The Dog and Duck (or was it the Duck and Dog). For one night we owned this place
  
• An aussie meat stone grill. A stupendously hot piece of rock is brought out and a plate with uncooked meat. You put the meat on the grill and cook it. AWESOME
  

Raw awesomeness - about to be cooked

Thanks all for the good times and great memories.

Oh what a trip!

Is there such a thing as too much fun...

After the long Saturday that was Open Day a few classy individuals retired to my humble abode for a tipple of wine...and scotch...and multiple varieties of vodka...and beer. Needless to say we stopped being classy fairly quickly.

Featured, one such classy individual

We played Dance Dance revolutionThen we dancedI think everybody made sweet love to Stubsy.And we made music
And finally to F5 I leave you with this.
we five men; drinking beer
no lives, no wives
all we do is drink drink drink

We would also apologise to all ground floor residents

Dela and Georgia offer peace to all those we annoyed on Saturday night

Hoodoo Gurus

Friday was a day of ups and downs - Pinko submitted his Thesis (Good onj ya mate), the Hoodoo Gurus played live at the unibar for really cheap, and the Bombers suffered an epic 13 goal defeat at the hands of Carlton (thats a downer)...

Dave Faulkner hums a simple tune for his beloved fans

The band was awesome - musical gurus you could say - followed closely in awesomeness of Chicken Gourmet at 2am in the morning...

Highlights included not being able to hear properly for the next 24 hours, being hit on by a 40 year old woman after she demanded to know why I was at the concert (obviously I was too young for this scene), and the two extremely drunk wankers who pushed in front of us and proceeded to spill drinks on everyone and hug Micheal. This was actually kind of a lowlight but it was amusing to watch the plethora of fans tell them to leave the area using the diverse forms of the f-bomb.

Inception

I thought I met my dream girl at the Belconnen cinema on Sunday whilst on my way to see Inception with Pinko, Jen, and Roberts. However, on closer inspection her personality seemed a little flat.

She was a good listener, but didn't really say all that much.

The Stats are in!

You may remember a few months ago I was very excited at my 8-Ball team's Division 5 premiership. Well, recently the seasons stats have come in.

The stats are ordered in two ways overall games won, and % of games won.

Div 5 Ranking per games won

Players		Frames		Rankings		Ranking
Name	Won	Played	%age	Points
Mike Cairns	28	39	71.795%	53.846		1
Phil Gatt	26	35	74.286%	55.714		2
Robert Sansum	25	35	71.429%	53.571		3
Stuart Valentine	25	35	71.429%	53.571		4
Mark Lott	25	37	67.568%	50.676		5
Dominic Stinziani	25	40	62.500%	42.188		6

Div 5 Ranking per % of games won

Ranking	Players			Frames
	Name		Won	Played	%age
1	James Parker		4	4	100.000%
2	Phil Gatt		26	35	74.286%
3	Rob Page		24	33	72.727%
4	Mike Cairns		28	39	71.795%
5	Stuart Valentine		25	35	71.429%
6	Robert Sansum		25	35	71.429%

It turns out I came in a very healthy 2nd in both categories for Div 5 and the only reason I wasn't 1st in % of games won is because some choker played only 4 games He won them all and so he has a 100% win rate (he also won those game playing for our team). the table above shows the top six ranked players, marked in red are fellow Gringos - my team mates. Not surprisongly the majority of the others in the top 6 came from the team we defeated in the GF.

Pub Golf

A couple of weeks ago I got my first taste of Pub Golf. An interesting game; you get a list of pubs each with a correspoonding drink (these represent the holes), and a 'par score'. This is how many sips (gulps is a more accurate term) one has to finish said drink.

Micheal and myself, I'm an unhappy golfer at the best of times.

So five sips for a pint if Guiness is a quick method of losing your way (and as it turns out a great way to start the night/lose large chunks of memory). Most 'competitors' dressed up in their favourite golfing attire and hit the town. The following photos remind me of where we went...

Louisa, Georgia and I at King O'Malleys. That was my first, but not my last, pint of guiness for the night

Here I'm with Kate at the Wigg and Penn

Georgia was quick on the draw, but I photo'd her back good and proper

Dan and Laura, I was supposed to be in the photo but the wicked witch decided she was more 'photogenic'

There's not much more to the night. We visited lots of places a lot of which I have hazy memories of. A t one stage I sang some Karaoke...

Mr Fenner

An exciting annual event at Fenner Hall is Mr Fenner. In the fortnight leading up to the occasion all residents are able to make a 50c donation and nominate a male resident (all proceeds go to Beyond Blue).

Alex Patterson, my escort for the event, helps me prepare my fire juggling balls.

The 10 residents with the highest amount of nominations are invited to partake in a men's beauty pageant. This year I received a single nomonation, and due to the amount of ressies not keen to strut their stuff on stage I made the final cut.

Togs and Toga - you could iron a shirt in that stomach! This is extremely useful as I don't own an ironing board.

There are four categories and a talent. Afterwards the judges choose the five contestents for the final round, in which each finalist is asked two questions.

When I grow up.

This year the four categories were evening wear, when I grow up, togs or toga, and fantasy. Throughout the night the contestants wore everything from suits to leather outfits to trousers with with the butts cut out.

Fantasy category - I decided I want to be a woman. In reality everyone must have known I would put on a dress at some stage.

Talents were just as varied, some serenaded the crowds with ballads (or raps), cooking, and strip shows. I decided to call upon my skills as juggler and combine the with my fetish for fire for some 'extreme juggling'.

The not so extreme part of my extreme juggling!

It was an incredible night, I am happy to say I made the final five (I was one of only two to be unanimously voted in by the six judges).

Don't try this at home, I'm a well practiced amateur! My finale was a fireball in my bare hands. It amazed everyone and caused only minor burns to my sensitve skin

Kudos goes to this year's winner Ross McQuinn and thanks to those who helped out, be it my lovely escort Alex Patterson, my (drunken) advisor Michael Liu, and Dave and Jen who let me practice juggling fire in their backyard.

My eveningwear outfit, just before I was told I made the final five - Shaminda, next to me in the photo, was voted Mr Congeniality and was the only other contestant to have all judges pick him as a finalist.