Archive for March, 2006

Touring Oxford

Thursday, March 23rd, 2006

Happy Birthday Marc Gurstein
During what proved to be quite an ambitious day, my mother and I walked at least fifteen kilometres through and around Oxford, over the course of three different expeditions. Firstly, we walked northward, visiting places as far up as St. Antony’s and the Church Walk flat before returning to Wadham through the [...]

Queen of the North sinking

Thursday, March 23rd, 2006

I don’t know too many of the details of the Queen of the North sinking, in British Columbia, but it’s excellent to hear that all or nearly all of the passengers and crew have been rescued. To have effective emergency response procedures demonstrated is always a welcome thing, though you tend to hear a lot [...]

First familial visit

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006

My mother arrived in Oxford this evening - the first family member I’ve seen since I left Vancouver in September. We will be in Oxford until early Saturday morning, when we are heading to Gatwick for our flight to Malta.
By the time my mother had deposited bags in my room and the one in college [...]

Happy first day of spring

Tuesday, March 21st, 2006

As I carry on with the early stages of revision, I am getting more nervous about the upcoming qualifying test. While it’s only three hours long, the total amount of material covered is highly extensive. While nobody will have read all the hundreds of books on the various reading lists, there is still the general [...]

A farewell to spheres of tungsten carbide

Tuesday, March 21st, 2006

When I saw fountain pens on sale for the price of a pint at Smiths, I decided it was time to try and improve the elegance of my correspondence. It was with some success that I made my initial foray into the world of non-ballpoint pens: writing a thank-you note to Sarah’s parents and a [...]

Four weeks of break remain

Monday, March 20th, 2006

My mother arrives in the UK tomorrow, and is coming to Oxford on Thursday. On Saturday, we are leaving for Malta, where we will remain until the 1st of April. After that, there will be nineteen days remaining before the qualifying test, during which I also need to do thesis preparation. On the 10th, with [...]