tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61421162024-03-08T03:26:39.229+00:00Ryan's AdventuresTales from an increasingly disturbed mind trapped in the body of a physicist. Featuring all those various things which amuse, annoy, entertain or interest me enough to remember them and write about them.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.comBlogger295125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-33494907640112908282009-01-27T23:50:00.002+00:002009-01-28T00:06:03.164+00:00Bottled for Kenya AirwaysIt is currently about ten to midnight, and I'm sitting (well slouching) drinking Hennessy cognac that was bottled for Kenya Airways. It is all a little surreal. Well actually the cognac is quite nice, but other than that it is a little surreal.Let me tell you a story... Once upon a time there was a little boy who was teething, to take away the pain his grandmother used to rub brandy (well it Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-34575440978686455772007-04-22T17:20:00.000+01:002007-04-22T17:58:38.283+01:00The (Long Awaited?) First London PostSo it happened. As with all things, my American days have come to an end. I am no longer an Englishman adrift in the sea that is mid-western America. No longer do I have the excuse (and conversational tool) of being foreign. No more can I shrug my shoulders and say that it isn't my country. For now, for better or worse, I'm home. I always thought it would happen (my returning to England that is),Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-33199274880281503652007-02-13T21:26:00.000+00:002008-12-11T20:37:11.798+00:00The beard and groom issueSo here we are, as promised photos of a beard and a groom's party. I sadly don't have any photos of the bride and groom together, as I didn't take very many photos throughout the night (instead opting for the getting drunk strategy).Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-16891167804823509292007-02-02T00:08:00.000+00:002007-02-05T23:36:01.142+00:00Quick updatey sort of postSo where have I been? And why have I been so bad at blogging over the last few months? To start with the latter, I'd like to plead busy-ness and tiredness and dead laptop-ness, but I probably have to put most of it down to laziness.For the former, last I mentioned I was in Antarctica waiting for nice weather to launch our balloon. Well, the nice weather came on December 15th and our balloon was Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-9134714408123956872007-01-31T19:56:00.000+00:002007-02-05T23:38:23.996+00:00My Favourite Antarctic PhotoHere is my favourite photo from Antarctica, and yes that is a smoking volcano in the background.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-86508635473328915002007-01-25T22:15:00.000+00:002007-01-25T22:17:14.013+00:00It had to be a Michigan treasurer...... who fell for a Nigeria email scam. Silly boy.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-16798387342595806842006-12-12T02:54:00.000+00:002007-02-05T23:38:44.868+00:00Launch Day Take 5So ANITA has been fully assembled for a while now, we declared flight ready almost 10 days ago and since then we've been waiting for the weather. It's not all that much fun to wait for the weather. It's particularly not fun on the days where the weather is almost good enough and we get out of bed early to catch the bus to Williams Field (it started with the bus leaving at 6:30am for the first Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-80471007890041292092006-12-01T08:15:00.000+00:002006-12-01T08:24:17.296+00:00End of a hectic month, start of a hectic daySo, it's been pretty busy down here on the Ice. In the last month ANITA has gone from a collection of of wooden crates recently off-loaded from a cargo ship, to a fully constructed balloon payload ready for it's hang test tomorrow (for those who aren't balloonatics — Jim's word, not mine — the hang test is the test we do before flight to ensure that our instrument plays nice with the Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-72548860279412022422006-11-08T08:54:00.000+00:002006-11-08T08:58:34.425+00:00Election 2006It's kind of amusing that at home I don't really have a political affiliation any more (growing up I was told that Labour was evil, the Lib Dems was a wasted vote and the Conservatives were the least bad option, but nowadays I'm not sure that any of them are better or worse than any others), but in America I discover I'm a Democrat — or to be more technically true, I discover I'm definitely Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-47268766850389651582006-11-08T08:43:00.000+00:002006-11-08T08:53:39.310+00:00The sun never sets...Yeah, I know it's a cliche but it's still strange to walk out of the bar at 9:30 in the evening (we get up at 6, so we try and keep it early) and it is still dazzling bright outside. In fact, it is always dazzling bright here in Antarctica and the wearing of sunglasses is apparently mandatory — not that I think there are penalties, beyond snow-blindness, for those who don't wear them.WorkingAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-78985933463747862202006-11-01T04:20:00.000+00:002006-11-01T05:13:03.887+00:00The seagull and the sausage, and other tall talesLike all good stories this one starts with a football match. Unlike most football matches this one started at 8am on a Sunday. Unlike most football matches that I've played in, our team actually won. I know it sounds unbelievable, but it is true. (For reference: The Clawless Marauders, our outdoor seven aside team, managed to concede 70 goals in 6 games — one of which the opposing team Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-1153520707366881892006-07-21T23:24:00.000+01:002006-11-01T03:49:28.099+00:00The day Ryan accidentally purchased clothingDue to popular demand...Now I should probably describe my situation and mindset at the time of the shirt buying incident. That morning, it was a Saturday, I'd woken up on a bed that was a little too small for me in Las Vegas. That evening I had a flight to catch from LA to London so that I could be around for UCL's Rolling Grant review. Now I had no real idea what a Rolling Grant review consistedAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-1152831467015755702006-07-13T23:56:00.000+01:002006-11-01T03:49:28.016+00:00Not dead, just feel like itYeah, I know long time no post. I bet you thought I'd gone crazy from too many night shifts and killed all my colleagues with a some fishing line, or something. I didn't though. Honest. They are all as alive and well as they ever are. So, I'm back in Columbus after what seems like nine and half weeks — largely because it was nine and half weeks — and it is good to be back. Who'd think Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-1151066591303606532006-06-23T13:10:00.000+01:002006-11-01T03:49:27.929+00:00Five o'clock in the morningSo tonight marks the fourth (I think) night for which I've been in charge of the night shift here at SLAC — where the ANITA payload is currently dangling from a crane and recording pulse after pulse of Askaryan radio Cherenkov radiation emanating from a ten ton block of ice in the beam line. For some reason, even though I am getting something close to my normal (recent) quantity of sleep, Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-1148444598130856502006-05-24T05:22:00.000+01:002006-11-01T03:49:27.848+00:00In which the author misses a wedding in Bismarck, a bachelor party in Vegas and much sleepYes, it's that time of year again... it's ANITA integration time! Wherein a large number of physicists, engineers and technicians group together in a large room and try to figure out how we put all our toys together and make them work. What fun!So, here I am at nine O'Clock on Tuesday evening bravely battling against the evil forces of malignant disks and misanthropic IDE buses (trust me you Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-1146805430713401032006-05-05T06:03:00.000+01:002006-11-01T03:49:27.761+00:00Tales from UtahYeah, that's right I'm in Utah. I know it's hard to believe but it's the truth. Of all the States I thought I'd be spending a night in, Utah wasn't very high on the list. Can you believe I even suffered the indignity of eating a steak dinner without alcohol at the restaurant this evening. Actually, to be honest with the exception of the no alcohol thing Utah isn't all that bad. For a start there Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-1146189535687950002006-04-28T02:36:00.000+01:002006-11-01T03:49:27.685+00:00Featuring a chest of drawers and a pineappleOn Saturday night I went to a leaving party, to be exact I went to Matthias and Sabine's leaving party. They are leaving lovely Columbus, Ohio, and returning to Germany. All of which means that my office is busier than ever, my arms have hurt all week and I have a pineapple. None of which I were expecting.The office came as particularly surprising as I was expecting things to become quieter afterAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-1145404241240320852006-04-19T00:41:00.000+01:002006-11-01T03:49:27.601+00:00Work, work, work and travel and a bit of house hunting and some other stuffRegular readers (both of you) will probably have noticed the scarcity of posts in the recent couple of weeks. As you may be able to guess, this is largely due to the fact that for ANITA (the experiment I work on) it is getting perilously to the time when the brown smelly stuff gets up close and personal with rotary air mover. But I guess that's why the pay me the small, to medium sized, bucks.At Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-1144969523270591692006-04-13T23:38:00.000+01:002006-11-01T03:49:27.524+00:00The back in Ohio postSo, I'm back. And the Ohio bar owners association is rejoicing once more. Within a mere few hours of my arrival back in Columbus I was in a licensed premise and doing my bit for the oft beleagured alcohol industry. In fact I was in a bar filled with girls in costumes on roller skates, which I have to confess was not where I thought I would be as I sat looking out of the window of the plane a few Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-1144043421823482082006-04-03T06:49:00.000+01:002006-11-01T03:49:27.442+00:00Why I need a wife and other musings from an island paradiseWell to be honest I don't really need wife, what I need is someone to save me from myself and I'm just not sure who would be willing to other than a wife. Now if I had bucket loads of cash, I could probably hire a personal assistant to do the job, but I don't have bucket loads of cash — although I do have a poster roll (you know one of those cardboard tubes that poster's come in) that is Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-1143316270773057012006-03-25T19:46:00.000+00:002006-11-01T03:49:27.360+00:00In retrospect clicking on this link at work was probably a mistakeFrom the popbitch issue that informed me of what a polecat is (it's a nocturnal weasel not a cat, and a prairie dog's a rodent) I came across the following.Find out what happens to breasts when girls run:http://www.shockabsorber.co.uk/bounceometer/shock.htmlAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-1143315718801388422006-03-25T19:13:00.000+00:002006-11-01T03:49:27.285+00:00An unusual Saturday postUnusual in the sense of there aren't very many Saturday posts, as opposed to this a particularly unusual post of itself. Now I must admit that I have on occasions walked down the train tracks. I've never really considered this to be a dangerous occupation. Of course I've never been trying to write a text message as I walked down the tracks, but still if I did I would still feel fairly safe. Of Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-1142985041395872952006-03-21T23:39:00.000+00:002006-11-01T03:49:27.211+00:00Reason number 713 why the author is going to hellThis story made me laugh. And not just smile or chortle but actually laugh out loud a couple of times. I found it particularly amusing that the TV show was called A Challenge to the Heart.Like I said I'm a bad person and I'm going to be toasty for eternity. In other news, I saw V for Vendetta this weekend. On the plus side Natalie Portman's attempt at an English accent was marginally less Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-1142635726862906622006-03-17T22:47:00.000+00:002006-11-01T03:49:27.135+00:00The "Are you married?" postIn the morning I wake up, have a shower, drink some orange juice — or grapefruit, sometimes — and then start my stroll to work. There are days however when for one reason, or another, there is no juice in the house and I have to start the walk un-juiced. Yesterday was one such day.On such occasions I usually stop in at the United Dairy Farmers on High Street (the one at 12th, not the Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6142116.post-1142381664497940882006-03-14T23:54:00.000+00:002006-11-01T03:49:27.057+00:00With a smattering of sex, smut and innuendoActually this post doesn't really contain any of that, I just thought it would be amusing to write it and then have people's hopes and dreams crushed, under a giant stone. Well okay, I didn't really think that I just thought it would be amusing to write it and ...You remember that Brit went to drunk camp last weekend, well this week he got to go and meet with his probation officer. What fun! Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668799845149353616noreply@blogger.com0