Megan's Blog http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/ The blog of Megan - It's a proper blog now! en-gb Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:33:00 GMT Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:33:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Marzipan (v0.5.7) Zzzzz http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000183.shtml So, last week was the Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) of the Astronomical Society of Australia. It's a big national conference, analogous to the National Astronomy Meeting (NAM) in the UK, only a big smaller as there aren't quite as many astronomers here. It was an interesting meeting with talks on very diverse topics including an outreach session with updates on the plans for the IYA in Australia. This year (conveniently) it happened to be in Perth, just across the river at UWA. Although there were some really great talks, there were times when I still couldn't keep my eyes open. This was always a problem at uni anyway, falling asleep in 9am lectures was an unfortunate side-effect of doing the astronomy experiments and having been on the roof in the freezing cold until ridiculous hours of the morning (not normal student behaviour, I'll admit, but I never said I was normal). So why do I still do it now?! Nevermind, it could be worse - at least I didn't snore. Well, I don't think I did...

After the conference ended, the organisers (I say organisers, but it seemed that Andre was doing pretty much everything himself!) ran a trip out to visit the nearby observatories. First stop was the Perth Observatory, relocated to the Perth hills in the 60s when light pollution got too bad. They have quite a few working research telescopes up there and an exhibition of historical bits and pieces. They run public viewing nights and publish the Western Australian Astronomy Almanac which contains heaps of useful information. Then we went to the Gravity Discovery Centre at Gingin where there is a visitor centre, the leaning tower of Gingin, the Australian International Gravitational Research Centre which runs the AIGO detector, and the Gingin Observatory which is set up purely to run public observing sessions. It was a fun day out, but it was long and I was glad to get home at the end of it!

Having been here for two months, I went climbing on Saturday. I got fed up of not having anyone to climb with so I put an ad up on the notice board. Well, it's amazing how much strength your muscles can lose in two months. It's not that I've been doing nothing, I'm cycling over 100km a week to and from work, but I haven't used those particular muscles very much recently. Before I left the UK I was climbing at least once a week, often more than that if I could. On Saturday I was trying to climb at the level I had been at in the UK and it just wasn't working. My arms got tired way too quickly and I started falling off, not being able to pull myself up when needed. It was very frustrating. Still, the only way to improve is to keep trying, so I'll be back up there this weekend.

On Sunday I visited the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition that has been on the Esplanade since I arrived. I haven't seemed to have time to visit before now, but I figured I better see it soon as it's moving on in a week or two. It was worth the trip. A lot of the models are fixed and don't work, but there are quite a few you can play with and even a "build your own bridge" exhibit. It was fun to see a lot of his machines made real - I've read a book on some of his work and the sheer amount of stuff the guy did is pretty amazing. What was really fun was seeing the kids playing with the models and actually working out what was going on. They all seemed to be having a really good time, I didn't see a single surly teenager (but may be there is a selection effect going on here (it's possible that the teenagers were so surly that their parents decided it wasn't worth forcing them to go...).

I've been reading Touching the Void again. I didn't bring many books with me (assuming my stuff would be here fairly soon...) so I went to a bookshop the other day. I borrowed this one from a friend ages ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I figured it was time I got my own copy. Trouble is, every time I start reading a book like this I remember what it feels like to be out in the open, camping wild in the mountains (admittedly though, I've never attempted anything quite that big), and I wonder why on earth I sit in front of a computer all day....
 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:33:00 GMT http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000183.shtml Guides and Scouts http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000182.shtml I've been involved with the Guide Association for a long time, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it thanks to the wonderful leaders that I've known, all of whom are volunteers who give up their time (often large amounts of it) freely. It's always difficult finding adults who are prepared to commit to helping on a regular basis in order to keep a group going, and many units have closed due to lack of support from the parents. For many people, spending a night a week helping to run a unit is a big commitment. I did it for a number of years, although I'm not a parent, and for me it involved a 30-mile round trip on a bicycle every Tuesday, so it can be hard work. But it's fun, and it's great seeing the young people you're working with make friends, learn skills and achieve something new. It is supposed to be fun, after all.

But still, leaders are hard to find and, in the UK, recent legislation regarding child protection has made things worse. Now, anyone who works with children on a day to day basis (teachers, childcare workers, nurses and so on) have to be checked by the Criminal Records Bureau. But this also applies to volunteers working in youth groups such as the Guides and Scouts. This can put people off volunteering altogether and is only making the situation worse. This, from an article in the Times yesterday:

"Our research also indicates that the current obsession with adult misbehaviour has a destructive impact on volunteering to work with children. When asked if they knew anybody who had been put off by the CRB process, 28 per cent said that they did."
I understand that people worry about their children, but the more barriers that are put up and the more hoops you have to jump through before becoming a leader, the fewer people are going to go through with it. This will mean more Guide units close due to lack of adult leaders (you can't run a unit with one adult in charge) and then what will the kids do? The parents would be the first to complain.

The most ridiculous bit about the whole thing is summed up by this quote, again from the Times article:

A volunteer involved in girl guiding said that it all makes you a lot more wary about child protection. "That's detrimental to your relationship with the children, because you can't give an upset Rainbow [guide] a cuddle and they don't quite understand why." Another guider said that "sometimes a Brownie just needs a cuddle when they are away from home for the first time, and I know many adults who won't do this as they are scared it will be perceived wrongly".
I remember being that Brownie, away from home for the first time, being upset and having a very comforting hug from the Guider in charge (who, incidentally, continued to run the unit until very recently retiring and with whom am I still great friends today).

Here in Australia, I enquired about joining the Guides as a leader, but I never heard back from them. Luckily, the second weekend I was here, the Scouts were having a big city-wide event as part of their celebrations of 100 years of Scouting in Australia and I came across a group of leaders running an activity base on the south shore of the Swan River. As a result of that chance encounter, I am now applying to be a leader with my nearest Scout Troop instead.

They are a great bunch of kids with enormous amounts of energy and enthusiasm, and the leaders are great, too. In just three weeks I've been to three meetings at their hut, a hike and a weekend camp! Even though the camp was a washout, everything and everyone got absolutely soaked, and we had to put up the tents in the dark and the rain, we all had a great time.

But here too, there are barriers that would put some people off. The equivalent of the CRB check is the Working with Children card, which I've applied for. It takes six weeks to come back. There is also a lot of paperwork to complete, an interview with people from district, and compulsory training to do, but from what I hear, the training is good fun and involves a lot of camping! Sounds right up my street.

I'll keep volunteering because I enjoy it (as Womble says "it's a game, when it stops being fun, stop doing it!"), but I wonder how many have been put off already?
 Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:32:00 GMT http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000182.shtml Finally! http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000181.shtml After three weeks of looking and goodness knows how many applications, I've finally been offered somewhere to rent. It's a small flat in South Perth, close to the city (fifteen minutes by bike over the bridge or ten minutes on the ferry) and the zoo, and about half an hour's cycle from the University. I signed the lease yesterday and pick up the keys on the 21st, then go looking for cheap furniture again! I'm getting good at that now...

I've been climbing for the first time in a month as well. On Tuesday I headed up to The Hangout to meet some people from the climbing club. There are quite a few routes there, but it's a bit different to the walls I'm used to. For a start, all the ropes are fixed to the floor (which is an advantage when you're belaying a heavy climber!). They also all have belay devices attached and ready-made loops to attach the climber, so all you have to have is a karabiner. Most of the walls are short, but a lot of them have overhangs so, even though I didn't climb anything very high, my muscles complained about it the next day!

At work I've been getting on with old projects in between sorting out somewhere to live. I've installed AIPS and, as well as getting on with supernova observations, I'm also trying to run some simulations which are giving my new computer a good test!
 Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:08:00 GMT http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000181.shtml Ups and downs http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000180.shtml Into week four now and this evening I'm going to a Cub Scout group in Victoria Park. The weekend before last I came across some Scout leaders on the south shore while I was out and about. They were running an event station as part of a huge event celebrating 100 years of Scouting in Australia. Scouts from all over the state were in Perth for the weekend, exploring the city all the way down to Freo and doing all sorts of challenges as they went. I spent Sunday with them on the station helping out and thoroughly enjoyed it. They put me in touch with HQ who helped me get in touch with a local group. Far more helpful than the Guides were!

But, I still have nowhere to live. The housing market in Perth is ridiculous, partly because of the mining boom the region is going through. House prices are going up rapidly it seems, pushing more people to compete for rentals. Every viewing I've been to has had upwards of twenty other people there. You just have to apply for as many as you can afford (you have to pay an option fee of one week's rent up front when you lodge each application, which adds up quite quickly) and hope you get lucky. Of course, I'm getting around on a bicycle so I can't go to viewings that are too far apart because I'd never make it in time! Still, at least I'm learning my way around quite quickly. So, I've been having problems finding somewhere to live, but there have been problems with the bank back in the UK as well. They detected an overseas transaction the other day (I was trying to get enough cash to pay the bill on the temporary accommodation the Uni arranged for me - it's expensive!) and put a stop on my card! What's really annoying is that I made a point of telling the bank I was moving to Australia and even had a meeting with a financial advisor to sort out my finances before I left. Argh. After several phone calls to the UK, it is now sorted and I should have access to my money again.

It's wierd. I've been away from home for a whlie before, but this is different. It's exciting exploring a new place, of course it is. But it's quite depressing being on your own sometimes. Normally I don't mind, I quite like the peace and quiet normally, but when you've got nowhere to live either, and not even any music to play (everything is still in the container which hasn't even left the UK yet), it can get very frustrating.

Swings and roundabouts.
 Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:17:00 GMT http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000180.shtml First week http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000179.shtml Well, I've been in the country just over a week now. It's been a combination of being absolutely hectic and having stuff all to do. I've got a staff card but no email or access to my office yet, and my computer hasn't arrived either! So I'm working on my battered old laptop (it's third trip to Oz), spending most of my days trying to find somewhere to live and most of my evenings watching rubbish telly and playing the guitar.

Even though I haven't done any real work yet, I've already got involved with outreach. I'm helping out this afternoon with a visit by a group of 30-ish school students who have a strong interest in science. They're visiting the astronomy group so we're taking them up on the roof to play with some telescopes. I'm looking after the optical telescope - a little SC Meade with a solar filter and an LPI camera. There is also a small radio dish being looked after by Bruce, a PhD student in the group, and a low frequency dipole and receiver that my boss is going to demonstrate.

At coffee this morning we were discussing outreach more generally. The group gets a lot of requests for talks, school visits and the like and I've been asked to coordinate all the outreach activities. This is going to involve quite a bit of work for next year's International Year of Astronomy. I can't wait! Tue, 27 May 2008 04:49:00 GMT http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000179.shtml Awesome! http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000178.shtml Before I left the UK, I was keen to get in a bit more outdoor climbing. Last weekend my boyfriend and I went out to Hathersage and spent two days with a couple of instructors. On Saturday we went to a small limestone quarry called Aldery Cliff and climbed a couple of easy routes. We climbed Nettlerash a total of three times: first as a second unclipping the rope from the gear as we went, then leading it with an additional top rope as a backup, the leading it without the top rope. It's scary enough leading indoors when you haven't done it for a while, leading outdoors takes some getting used to! After lunch we went over to Matlock Bath and climbed Lynx, a two-pitch climb at Wildcat just over the main road from the Heights of Abraham. The climb was 46m in total and the view was pretty impressive from the top. Rappeling back down was fun, too!

On Sunday we met up in Hathersage again and drove just down the road to Stanage (popular). We did a couple of climbs at Black Hawk area. This is where our relative heights showed in our techniques: while Roy was tall enough to reach the good holds, I had to rely on hand jams and try and get my feet higher before I could reach! Then we did a 22m climb up a really impressive crack which was (I think) Robin Hood's Right-Hand Butress Direct. The crack was so wide, and I was so short, that to make progress in places I was using full-blown arm jams.

As well as climbing some pretty impressive bits of rock, we learnt a lot as well. I'd never belayed with an Italian hitch before, never used a prusik, never placed any gear or set up anchors. Now I've had a go at all of it and I'm looking forward to climbing some Australian cliffs with a bit more confidence! Wed, 07 May 2008 09:15:00 GMT http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000178.shtml It's official - I don't exist! http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000177.shtml OK, so I'm off to Perth soon to take up a new job, and in the meantime I'm still doing my old job. Even though my contract has ended, I'm still working and still getting paid on a fees basis, so I am still working for the University. Unfortunately, it seems that someone has actually been efficient for a change and removed me from the staff directory, deleting my email account at the same time. That was nice of them. So, as far as the University is concerned, I no longer exist.

What is the problem, you might ask. Well, when scientists publish papers or go to a conference, they use their email address as a contact. Often, you are working with collaborators overseas so email is vital in order to stay in contact and exchange information. What usually happens when someone changes jobs is that their old email account gets used as a forwarding service to a new account at the new employer, so you don't lose any email and you keep your contacts. So, as you can imagine, this has caused me a bit of a headache.

What was worse is that they gave me no warning what-so-ever, and people who I know left the University in excess of five years ago are still listed and still have working accounts! Charming. I'm trying to get it reinstated, but (even with the head of the department involved) it's taken nearly a week to get this far. Argh.
 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:17:00 GMT http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000177.shtml Visa - granted! http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000176.shtml Well, four months after I accepted the job, my visa has been granted. In a few weeks I will be heading to Perth, WA, for a three-year post as an astronomer. It's the first time I've worked away from where I grew up so it's going to be a big change, but hopefully an exciting adventure and I'm hoping to learn a lot while I'm there.

My job involves researching the nature of starburst galaxies - galaxies which for one reason or another have undergone a widespread and rapid burst of star formation - as well as working on the development of the Square Kilometre Array, a new telescope which is to be built either in South Africa or Western Australia. I'm also going to be involved with public outreach there, participating in the "indigenous astronomy" project as part of the International Year of Astronomy in 2009.

I love astronomy (in case it wasn't obvious), and I've always known that I'd have to move overseas at some point if I persued it as a career, but now that I've actually reached that point I'm really nervous about it! I'm going there on my own, leaving behind a lot of close family and friends, as well as my boyfriend. It's going to take some time to get used to being so far away.
 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:23:00 GMT http://www.rigel.org.uk/blog/000176.shtml