I need a Camera

Well I arrived in Milano yesterday for a calibration workshop for ATLAS. I took the train, reflecting on how it is probably the most civilized available mode of locomotion. Next to the Geneva train station I found a comic shop displaying Magic(TM) cards, which made come to the happy realization that there are nerd everywhere. Finally I can feel at home in Geneva.

After that pleasent experiance I had to play a bit og dodge the heroin addict at the train platform while waiting for the train. After that I was off to a very enjoyable train ride though the Swiss and then Italian countryside.

After about 4 hrs of riding the train I arrived at Milano Centrale, about 30 minutes walk from the downtown area. That walk I did with my supervisor Michel and our man at CERN Damir after locating our hotel by the train station. We found the the Duomo cathedral ... they don't build churches like that anymore. Poster that, there is one being build in Barcelona ;)

After that we went to see the Castello Sforzesco a big keep just outside the center of Milano. Sadly it was closed when we got into the keep, so we were forced to duck out to the park behind the castle. Here we found out that the reason all the shops were closed was that it was Liberation day in Italy, so everyone was in the park and nobody at work. I also had a chance to interact with a few girls who were wondering where I was from. It appears they were dissapointed to find out I am from Canada ... maybe they were hoping I was from somewhere more excotic? Norway maybe? Cause Norway is fsckin' Metal.

Anyway I better get back to listening to the workshop discussion. Apparently nobody is motivated enough to analyze testbeam data.

Guranga!

I did not realize that gamers were being tageted thanks to the latest killing spree in the US ... I do rather much enjoy the turn slashdot reader took blaming JC,, i suppose if you aren't blaming Marilyn Manson you have to find somebody else.

The net connection at cern rocks

Well, I just downloaded the ubuntu cd image in 1.5 minutes, that is an average rate of 6Mbps. That was pretty cool.

Tripping to Europe

Well I get to spend most of the summer this year working at CERN in Geneva. I arrived last week Wednesday after a relaxing 20hrs on various planes and in various airports. In the meantime I have not only found an office and a computer to write this message from, I have also moved into a small appartment in the village of St Genis-Pouilly, France. I have started stalking up on wine, cheese and beer, and have even managed to successfully feed myslef breakfast this morning. It lacked pancakes, I will have to get some pancake mix on the way home today.

Aside from working I am also planning to go visit my sister in Hamburg (Last week of May) and my friends Aleks and Caroline in London (First few days of June). I am going to try out some three way combination between ryanair and easyjet and hope that I will make it to Hamburg, London and back in one piece :)

Now I think it is about time for a coffee break.

Best Scifi of all time?

Well the BBC just conducted a poll of 300 people to find the top 10 SciFi films of all time. It seems that Serenity came out on top, even above Star Wars, just to show that Fox is run by morons. I hope that they will get back to producing Firefly, but for now we'll just have to read comics ...

And is it just me, or what happened to KAAAAHHN!!!!?

Best Lab Ever!

Wondering about the hallway in our basement I found a lab that way too exciting to belong in the basement of a physics department: