Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concert: Jonny Cooper Orchestra

The Jonny Cooper Orchestra entertained audiences at Kirstenbosch with a mixture of the old favourites from Glen Miller and Frank Sinatra and added a few Proudly South African compositions to the list. I looove big band music and was pleasantly surprised to see so many other people under the age of 40. I even spotted a couple jiving to one song.

Salsa @ Deluxe

For those who love to salsa or are keen to learn, beginner and improver classes at Deluxe on Long Street is ideal. Its a mixture of ages and levels of competency and has a wonderful vibe. Classes are R40, 8-9.30pm on Thursdays and you can stay for social dancing afterwards to put into practice what you just learnt.

Sadly from next week I cannot make it to classes due to UCT Ballroom lessons, but I will hopefully pop in occasionally to social dance (if silver lessons don't kill me). See everyone on the dancefloor!

In other news, if anyone is keen to start ballroom and latin, UCT Ballroom has free beginner lessons for the next two weeks for everyone to come try, 5-6pm Tuesday and Thursday.

Elephants Eye

Early mornings on campus are beautiful in summer. I don't normally get to see the sun rises through the trees at my office but today my friends dragged me on a hike to Elephants Eye, leaving UCT at 6.30am.

The hike leaves from Silvermine Reserve (entrance R15 per adult) and took us roughly 40 minutes to cover the walk through spiderwebs, fynbos and rockery. The view on the hike was stunning, especially the orange glow off the sea from the sunlight and veld fires. The view from Elephants Eye encompasses Muizenburg and towards Somerset West, well worth the short trek.

Plaza 09

Plaza week so far has been frantic and hot. The weather has gone through its typical CT pms and had rain on monday morning, howling gale today, boiling sun and overcast. Welcome to UCT Upper Campus microclimate :)

Signups are steadily increasing though convincing students how have never danced before that R320 for a year is cheap is quite a mission. For the foreigners, that is roughly $35 a year for which you can get a minimum of 4 hours a week of classes.

We did a demo yesterday on plaza in a mixture of shiny dresses and tshirts and jeans, to show the variety of levels and dances we do. Dancing on cement is never pleasant, turns are an absolute killer and if you are bare foot as some tried, you can shred the skin very easily. But overall it was fun.

Fire bad, tree pretty

As most people know, I have been pushing myself (with the help of a supervisor) to meet some pretty hard deadlines. By yesterday afternoon my brain took a holiday and went back to low-level thinking 'Fire bad, tree pretty'.

I also realised that saying 'fire bad, tree pretty' at the moment is rather bad given the number of fires within the Western Cape. They even closed the N1 last night because of a veld fire causing zero visibility.

Battle of the Supervisors

To all those with two supervisors, I am beginning to understand the potential headaches. I have been adopted by the new lecturer in CSAG, Babatunde Abiodun, a veritable workhorse who really really works his students. This contrasts with my actual supervisor Bruce Hewitson, who lets students design their own work program. While I like deadlines, it is going to interesting to balance the two.

My first conflict of interest is my chapter 1 structure. I have been diligently working away at a outline designed last week only to have it changed this morning into a more philosophical introduction into the topic.

If I can balance the two styles I think I will end up with a very comprehensive thesis. Here is to hoping.

Adventures in LaTeX

I have spent the last couple weeks starting to write my thesis. This is normally fairly easy in Word, just start typing and format later. In LaTeX its the other way around. Format first and then write, you'll save yourself loads of time and headaches at the end. I last used LaTeX for my honours thesis and have mostly forgotten the commands.

Andrew nobly pointed out a thesis template from UCLA that is very handy but not terribly well documented. I have eventually got set up and realised that the reference formatting in the text is somewhat bizarre. I have now switched back to abbrv until I find out what the UCT standard is. You will also need to add the amsmath and graphicx packages

A really helpful resource is Andy Robert's LaTeX Starter Guide which contains nearly everything you'll need to do maths, tables, figures and formatting. It even includes a comprehensive list of symbols so people like Raoul don't have to search all day for the infinity symbol :P

Editor-wise I am writing in TexShop, a Mac program and using BibDesk to store my Bibtex references. If you're in Windows I'm told that MiKTeX is very nice including a file structure sidebar and JabRef for reference editing. For those of you who break out in hives at the thought of learning a new markup language, try LyX, I've heard wonderful feedback about it.

Pro20 Cricket

I haven't attended a domestic cricket match in years which I rectified this weekend. Watching the Cape Cobras beat the Titans was a fun-filled afternoon and relatively cheap at R30 for a grass seat. I don't normally enjoy watching 5 day tests live as the TV provides a much better perspective but with Pro20 the constant action means you never miss out or have time to get bored.

Thesis advice

I had a meeting the other night with one of the new lecturers in EGS. He comes to UCT from the USA and seems to work days, nights and weekends. Our meeting started at 9pm (night owl that I am). I went over my last couple of months and where I see myself heading this year. I was offered some interesting advice.

Plan your thesis so that it fits into two or three papers plan what you want to present in the papers and then your research has a focus, a streamlined idea. Plan the figures you would want in a paper, no more than ten that summarise of highlight something you wish to discuss. Anything more you probably would just add to your thesis and never explain properly in the flow of text.

Think about the type of journal you are aiming for, is it a review of the literature available? Most journals want to print new work so if you want to discuss old work you have to include suggestions of new areas open to this type of technology or how the literature has lead to the experiments you're working on.

Do not go into a doctorate working for three papers and not a thesis. A thesis is a valuable tool to present a body of work as it developed. UCT has a newish option open for doctorate students, doctorate by papers. Your thesis is them a collection of three papers published and an introduction and conclusion to link them all together. The nice option is that if the papers are already published, the examiners cannot fail you, your work is already peer reviewed for every paper and they are more making constructive comments.

Plan your timetable to produce at least two papers by the middle of your second year, and a third by the end of the second year. This way you have time to write up your thesis and get published before you head off to post-doc and don't have time anymore.

Just some food for thought, use, don't use.

Clifton

I have not been to Clifton for years due to a combination of overcrowding, cold water and friends choices but was pleasantly surprised on Sunday that Clifton 1st Beach is quieter and therefore quite nice to visit. The water was still cold though.

The reason for my trip to the beach, an engagement party. I think there is something in the air, I have 3 sets of friends who have gotten engaged in the last month. I offer congratulations to all.

The day ended with a glorious, if short-lived, sunset behind some clouds

From undergrads to oldies

UCT Summer School offers a wide variety of courses for all student ages, even the old people. Campus this week is bursting with older students (mostly retired) who are here for one day or two day workshops from literature to history to computers. Its seems a quick way for UCT to make money and provides an excellent social scene. I find it fascinating that the demographics of UCT can change so drastically overnight.

In other news, I have finally finished my PhD proposal and can hand it over for approval. I wait with bated breath for the comments.

Countdown to O-week: 18 days

There is a limited amount of time before campus is swamped with newbies, otherwise known as undergrads. PHD Comics have a wonderful account of this.
As part of the Ballroom committee I will be on Jammie plaza for the week handing out flyers, dancing and probably getting sunburnt. I will also take a few snaps of the chaos. Maybe we can convince the Ikeys Tiger to dance again, that made for a laugh last year.

If anyone is interested in trying ballroom and latin or salsa at UCT, visit www.ballroom.org.za for class times and fees. We start lessons on 17 Feb 09 at 5pm.

Girly Girls in Science

I recently discovered a posting by scientific researcher that starts "My name is Irene and I am a Girly Girl in Science", maybe I should start a bio like that, its a very accurate description. She suggest we start a Girly Girl in Science (GGS) Anonymous Association, I would join.

Book: Critical Mass by Philip Ball

For those of you who love the science of society, this book really is for you. I'm on my second read, the first time round I didn't finish it because of time constraints, but I recommend it to anyone no matter their field. Critical Mass delves into the question of how society emerges from individual actions and how one thing leads to another.

Twilight

I went to see Twilight over the weekend. I had not realised that during my stay overseas the movie prices had escalated to R45 a ticket. Besides the obvious changes from the book, I didn't quite realise that the movie was aimed at a younger market, namely the type that require less wit and flowing dialogue. I was sadly disappointed. I can only hope that the sequel will include better dialogue and maybe a more rounded explanation of each characters unique skill, something they just left out.

Venue Booking in CT

For those of you who have ever tried to organise a large event in CT will understand the frustration of people not getting back to you with quotes, saying yes and then saying no cause there are bigger corporate people the venue MIGHT be needed by. If anyone has any suggestions for a venue that you can lay down a dance floor on and seat roughly 500 people, I would really appreciate it.

Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concert: Watershed

I have been meaning to go to a Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concert for the last few years. I finally managed to see Watershed last night. We packed a picnic and arrived when the gates opened at 3.30pm. There were queues like you would not believe. We spent the next two hours eating and chatting and I realise I should have taken a book or magazine.

I was worried that their music would be too chilled for the event but Watershed have a very good dynamic on stage. They were on time and did an encore of three songs which I am sure was all preplanned. Their new album has some fantastic tracks, I say some because I have yet to hear the whole thing. Did you realise that every album they have produced has a song about a train on it? Typical men...

The organisers said the band had 20 mins to sign CDs at the end and I hope they starting signing faster because we passed the queue on the way out and it was long. I highly recommend going to a concert, Parlotones is still coming and Arno Carstens. Check them out at: Old Mutual Kirtenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts or the Facebook group

Magpie tendencies

I fully admit to magpie tendencies. I cannot walk past a jewellery store without looking at the earrings on display and I won't even discuss beaded earrings in accessory stores. Over the years I have received and made many pairs of earrings and have finally done a count. Total: 73. Not bad considering my compulsive buying in every country I visit.

How to store this many? My mom came up with the idea from a jewellery store, she took Hessian and edged a piece wrapping the top over a wooden stick, then attach a hanger to it to hang in your cupboard. This way none of them get tangled or disappear.

Hout Bay Hike

Hiking is not my favourite activity but I felt compelled to try again. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I am not as unfit as I assumed and managed the Hout Bay Radar Station. We ascended into the clouds in the morning and camped out for lunch in the burnt out buildings at the top. As we feasted the clouds blew away to reveal the coastline form Melkbos to Kommetjie.











The clouds gave way to sunshine and with it heat. If anyone is looking for a nice hike that takes an hour each way I highly recommend the Radar Station, especially on a clear day.

Tigger Tigger

I ventured into Tiger Tiger for the first time on tuesday night. I somehow doubt I will ever make it into Tiger again on student night. It was packed, the people there were decked in their best and young, very young in comparison. It make you feel very old when music from the 90s plays and the majority of the crowd don't know it.

Before my foray into Tiger we stopped off at Beluga to catch the tail end of the half price sushi half price cocktail special they run everyday. I love their sushi but the service left a fair amount to be desired, especially when the food took over an hour to arrive.

Constantia Uitsig

Constantia Uitsig is a winefarm nestled between the mountains of the Cape Peninsula. Well-known for its white wines, it also has a restaurant and a River Cafe. My family ventured to the River Cafe for lunch yesterday and were pleasantly surprised at the vast array of choices avaiable on the menu. The popular order of the day was the Karoo Lamb Burger followed by River Cafe Chocolate Brownies. I must say though that the Strawberry Pavlova was demolited at great speed.

Time Out

For those that live in Cape Town and wonder when everything happens and where the new in things to do are Time Out Cape Town 2009 is for you. Its R40 for a magazine from CNA and is packed with touristy ideas. It also has the website addresses or contact details for everything they suggest. Your social directory has arrived.

Naughty-cal New Year

The last sunset of 2008 over Hout Bay. I love watching the sunset over the mountains and the moon rising especially on a warm evening. 2008 ended on a good note and gives me hope that 2009 will be an even better year. I wish everyone a happy New Year.

I spent the night partying away in Naughty-cal style with friends and I loved some of the costume ideas from the night. 276 knots and octopi and the ancient mariner made debut appearances. I chaos was minimal and the entertainment surperb.

Dinner South African style

We had family from overseas for dinner. Dinner had a distinctly South African feel, Bobotie and Malva Pudding. It went down really well and I wonder if some of the ingredients are available overseas, I'm pretty sure Mrs Ball's Peach Chutney is hard to come by overseas. A recipe for those keen to try:

Bobotie (Serves 6-8)

A
30 ml ground(powdered) ginger
30 ml brown sugar
45 ml Cartwrights medium strength curry powder
15 ml turmeric
10 ml salt
2 ml pepper

Meat
50 gr (60 ml) butter/marg
5 ml oil (so the butter doesn't burn)
5 medium onions chopped
1 kg mince
2 slices of bread soaked in water
375 ml milk
2 eggs
fresh lemon leaves (bay leaves are an alternative)

B
100 gr (150 ml) seedless raisins
60 ml Mrs Ball's peach chutney
30 ml apricot jam
30 ml vinegar
30 ml Worcestershire sauce
30 ml tomato paste

Put A into a heavy pan. Heat well. Add butter and stir till melted. Fry onions till soft (add oil so the butter doesn't burn). Remove the pan from the heat and add B and mince and bread. Return to the heat and stir constantly so it does not stick and cook for 20 minutes.

Place in a greased dish. Beat the egg and milk and pour over the meat. Place lemon leaves on top. Bake for 45 minutes at 180C or 10-15 minutes in the microwave.

Bead factory

The bead factory has returned. I've missed this creative outlet while in the USA, especially after seeing the price of beads in America versus beads in South Africa. I guess the quality is much higher and hence the prices but the average piece of jewellery does not need precision Czech seed beads. The Chinese seed beads at a quarter of the price do just as well.

I made a gemstone knotted (pearl-knotting technique) necklace in brown with matching earrings and a plum bugle bead necklace with a bronze pendant. I am now in a quandary of what to make with my purple gemstones to match my new dress.

Tonight is a family dinner of babootie and malva pudding, yum. Both are very well known in SA but I know for a fact are unheard in most other parts of the world.

Under the African Sky

I have finally returned home after 4 months away. Its nice to be home and weird to note that very little changes. There is comfit in stability. I have yet to unpack but have taken advantage of the glorious sunshine and warmed my frozen limbs and reflective legs (i really need a tan).

The plane trip was a rushed transfer from Delta to NorthWest to make my Cape Town connection and musical seats in the plane to accommodate families with children. The flight itself was turbulence free, but I still managed about 3 hours sleep total. After 27 hours in airports and planes I officially landed on home soil and the feeling on coming home was glorious. Sunshine and wind. Welcome to Cape Town.

I will hopefully get around to seeing everyone in the next few days when my jetlag disappears and be back in the social whirl of summer. See ya soon :)

Last Day

It is my last day in Michigan before I jet off home to the land of sun and sand. I wish I could extend my time here but another part of me wishes I could be home already and laughing with old friends on the beach. I guess its something that happens whenever you leave a place you have invested time in.

Will I come back? I'm not sure, I like Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, but I'm not sure if I could do it long term. We'll see where my studies take me, if I'm ever in the States again for a conference or workshop, I'll definitely make an effort to visit everyone.

On my final day it is snowing and -15C, I think Michigan tried to show me the worst of winter before I left. There is over a foot of snow on the ground and icicles hanging from the trees. It is all beautiful yet a stark reminder that I am in a foreign climate.

Girls Night

I missed the girls nights in CT so I decided to host girls night last night. I warned my housemates in advance that there would be an influx of girls if they wanted to hide :). I made malva pudding and got some candy and chips, veggies and dip and we watched girly movies. First up Made of Honor which was entertaining and a perfect way to relax. The second movie for the diehards (since we started it after midnight) was Wall-E which is super cute.

HKN Banquet

The HKN Banquet was held last night in at Creek Side Bar and Grill in their functions room. The banquet is a semester event for all HKN members and their dates. It is also a chance for the electees to be inducted into the Society. The food was decent, a buffet style. I wore a teal dress I borrowed from the Ballroom Team stash, not sure I want to give it back though, its pretty. I never realised how socially awkward most engineers are on the dancefloor.

The electees have to wear resistors for the week leading up to the banquet and if seen without them have to pay a penalty in the form of some humiliating act. This time was serenading the president of the society with "I want it that way" by BackStreet Boys. Funny to watch though none really got into it and made it a comic event. The president and president-elect opened the dancefloor with YMCA, more socially awkward :)

Journal Club MTG9: Land Use and Land Cover Change

My topic of research while in Michigan is on Land Use and Land Cover Change which made today's paper which I had to present especially interesting. The paper "Evaluating the effects of historical land cover change on summertime weather and climate in New Jersey: Land cover and surface energy budget changes" by Paul Wichansky et al (2008), investigates the sensitivity of a warm season climate of New Jersey to land cover change from 1880s versus 1990s. The areas of specific interest include the magnitude of land cover change and sensitivity on near surface air temperature, rainfall, dew point temperature, heat fluxes and climatological episodes.

Previous studies have shown that deforestation causes an increase in temperature and rainfall shifts, while reforestation causes cooling in the region. Urbanisation also causes an increase in temperatures and changes to the diurnal cycle. The interesting thing to note is that all three processes have occurred in the state of New Jersey within the last century. Reconstructing the land cover from historical topographical maps and land consensus, a full land cover map was available for direct comparison with NLCD data from 1992. Aggregated to 1km and combined into 8 vegetation classes, the researchers used RAMS and LEAF2 to compare atmospheric responses to land cover change.

They nested the grid in 3 levels (above-purple) and 3 ensemble members per land cover scenario, they used a 2 month period in June/July 1999. From NCEP data to force atmospheric boundary conditions, they used June as a spinup and July as a month for analysis. The soil moisture was described from observation.

The model comparisons showed an increase in near surface air temperature and dew point temperature in urban and deforested areas and cooler in reforested areas, just as previous research stated. The results overall come as no surprise but they way they use the ensemble without giving the spread or error is slightly weird.

Land of ice and snow

I awoke today to white, not little bits of it, but the entire world blanketed by snow. The roads are the only thing visible currently. Last night was a treacherous time to be on the road, the snow was falling fast and ice covered the roads. Most cars couldn't stop and fishtailed before the wheels caught. I have no wish to be in a car again for a good while. Things in Michigan are moving, albeit slowly. Exam time looms in a week.

Its all about connection

For those who dance and gap, these exercises are for you.

Get into cuddle hold (think std 8 dancish cross ballroom hold), I'm serious that's what they called it. Now do Rhythm Foxtrot and try stay together by leading with the body and girls not anticipating the next move. Stay on your toes so that the girls can feel the weight transfer. When this is working try do Slow Foxtrot steps like the feather finish and heel leads through lowering.

In Rumba, girls try match the guys moves by following the body and hips (no looking at his feet). I'm including hip twists, fans and hockey sticks in this. Apparently people in tune will be able to follow from body cues, not just arms. Try for a while and you'll notice your awareness of your partner increases and your concentration.

Now girls close their eyes and just try holding your hands flat against each other like in shoulder to shoulder. Girls should feel the guy moving the girl through his weight moving and the aim is to feel the direction and timing. You'll be amazed how much concentration it requires, especially from the guys to communicate their moves through and wait for the girls.

Lastly stand side by side holding hands. (Girls should be on the right). Girls close their eyes and let the guy lead you in walking, following his timing and direction (forward, backward, side to side). Girls don't anticipate anything.

Its all about the connection.

Thanksgiving

I am in Rochester for the Thanksgiving break for my first American Thanksgiving, turkey and all. The trip to Rochester is long, that is about as descriptive as I can get. We left at 8.50pm from Ann Arbor by bus to Toledo and then waited for the train for 4 hours. The train station itself has limited comfort and a little drafty. The train trip took roughly 7 hours, stopping along the way. The seats were reclineable and came with footstools, so we could stretch out and sort of sleep.

The Thanksgiving hype was well worth it. The amount of food was amazing, xmas x 2. We had 14 people at dinner and managed to blow up the microwave an hour before dinner. Fun times. We watched Moulin Rouge afterwards.

Today we ventured to Niagara Falls in the freezing cold and saw the American side, I don't have a visa to see the Canadian side. It was snowing for periods while we wandered around over the rapids and on the observation decks. We got a little wet from the spray from the waterfalls.

Following the falls we watched Quantum of Solace. I liked it and appreciate the continued storyline. The fight sequences were very well done and I really really like the fight scene on the pullies in the church. The body count was astronomical though.

Collegiate Ballroom Competition

Attached to OSB is the National Collegiate Competition that the University of Michigan takes part in. We drove there on Friday night (see previous post) and watched the professional dancers on Friday night. The competition is split into four parts, American Smooth, American Rhythm, International Standard and International Latin. For OSB we can sign up for up to 2 levels and 8 events total, far less than Purdue.

Saturday morning was American Smooth and meant I could sleep in. I only had to dance from 12.05 which was the International Latin section. I participated in 4 events, Bronze Chacha-Rumba, Bronze Samba, Bronze Jive and Silver Samba-Jive. Lining up I realised why you can only sign up for 8 events. Bronze Chacha-Rumba had 119 couples! I marvel at the organisation involved in marshaling such numbers. The picture below shows the layout of the back of the exhibition hall we danced in.

After the Latin section were fun dances, I have no clue how to do Bolero, but I can do a decent Paso Doble (at least in the fun section). Kevin and I (apparently a Bronze couple can beat the Gold couples) placed fourth.

Round up for day one:
Bronze Chacha-Rumba: Semifinal
Bronze Samba - Quarterfinal
Bronze Jive - 2nd place (woohoo)
Silver Samba-Jive - First round
Fun Paso Doble - 4th place :P

Day two started with American Rhythm which meant another sleep in (yay) but they ran so far ahead of time (1.5 hours) that our leisurely morning became somewhat short, our warmup dance was the first round of Bronze Standard Waltz, not ideal. Bronze Waltz-Quickstep had 118 couples, so the same chaos as the previous day applies and hence the same number of rounds to get to the finals (6 rounds in total). I had a lot of fun doing Standard but was so tired when i had to dance QF,SF and finals in a row without leaving the floor. Need water....

After collapsing in a heap next to the dancefloor we were priviledged to watch the Novice to Championship dancers and WOW, I can't describe the gracefulness and musicality of the couples. I am positively jealous.

The last event of the day were the fun dances, something I think UCT should adopt for Intervarsity next year. Anyone can get on the floor and the judges walk round and pick 6 couples each, next round 4 etc until 6 couples are left for a final. Sunday's dances were Hustle, Merengue, Salsa and West Coast Swing. I learnt the basic on the floor during the dance for West Coast Swing (still don't get it). Kevin and I have been practicing for weeks with Matt and Julia for Hustle but due to lift issues Julia had to leave. Kevin and I won, which in all fairness should be Matt and Julia's first, they taught us all their moves. The Fun Merengue was a blast, Eric Yu (president of UM Ballroom Team) and I sometimes dance it together at Open Dance but we pulled out all the stops for Merengue, I have never shaken and shimmied that much before. We won which was hilarious. Definitely something to remember, I'm glad there were no camera's at that point though.

Round up for day two:
Bronze Waltz-Quickstep - 6th place (yay for fixing Waltz dynamics)
Bronze Tango - Semifinal (we finally got the sharpness right)
Bronze Foxtrot - Semifinal (I'm slightly annoyed we didn't make finals, if I look as bad as a few of the couples in the final I should just give up now)
Silver Foxtrot-Tango - First round
Fun Merengue - 1st place (with Eric Yu)
Fun Hustle - 1st place (never let it be said a foreigner can't beat the locals at their own game :) )

I am now tired and sore and have heel size bruises from people heeling me in various dances. I am officially done with competitions over here and am quite happy with the results, I did much better than expected given the number of couples in each level and the competitive attitude I have yet to adopt. That aside, I can't wait to come home and dance at my first UCT social again.

Ohio Star Ball

My lasting impression of OSB is glitter and sparkles, but that is getting ahead of myself. The car trip to OSB was uneventful until we hit Toledo and a freak snowstorm and accidents. I don't think I ever want to drive in the snow on a highway again. After this I went to sleep for the rest of the three hour trip but I'm told there was another snow storm about an hour later. Arriving in Columbus Ohio was interesting, there was bumper to bumper traffic. I must mention that the biggest football of the season between Michigan and Ohio State was also in Columbus this weekend.

The hotel - Red Roof Inn - was OK. Numerous people had complaints about the beds and our sink clogged. Apparently the room allocations got screwed up when the hotel lost our bookings and so instead of 4 people to a room we had 5.

Registration packs included tickets to the real Ohio Star Ball (not the collegiate competition we were in) which has pro shows and World Champion Standard and Latin competitions. The first night we went (in black tie - there is a dress code) they were still judging rounds of competitors for both Amateur and Professional American and International style. We started naming people according to their outfits. Peaches and cream, flamingo, medieval, gypsy, bondage, bunnytail, bee etc. The dancing was awe-inspiring. especially the quickstep and samba. I have to state though that the costumes had sooo many sequins and rhinestones, a little over the top in some cases.

The second night was the finals and America's Best and was taped for PBS. Black tie again. The professional finals were just WOW. You see some of it on TV when you watch Strictly Come Dancing or Dancing with the Stars and they do demonstrations but an entire floor dancing infront of you is something else. Its is funny though the amount of collisions in a final of a world championship though, apparently floorcraft can suck at any level. We have arrived at the conclusion though that a couple could have great floorcraft but their egos say they have right of way and everyone else should move.

Noodles Benefit Dinner

This last Thursday was a fund-raising drive for the UM Ballroom Dance Team at Noodles and Co. The idea is that for everyone with a flyer that eats during a specific time frame, Noodles and Co would donate 25% of their meal costs to the team. It was also a great way to carboload before the killer dance weekend. I'm not sure how much was made in the end but the idea is worth investigating for UCT.

Journal Club MTG8: Isoprene emissions

Today's article "The effect of elevated CO2, soil and atmospheric water deficit and seasonal phenology on leaf and ecosystem isoprene emission" by Emiliano Pegoraro describes an experimental biosphere laboratory in that looks at stresses to cottonwood plantations and their responses with respect to isoprenes. The experiment ran over a few years, and looked specifically at the fall of 2000, fall of 2002 and spring of 2003 to cover the range of phenological influences. The plantations were controlled, one with present day CO2 levels and one with elevated CO2 levels. The plantations were both stressed as a result of a vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and drought conditions. The idea was to measure the isoprene emissions under various conditions. The results show a correlation between photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) which makes sense as isoprene emissions shutdown with the absence of light. It was interesting that as the drought conditions continued, no matter the CO2 concentration, the isoprene levels tailored off to roughly the same emission rate.

As a side note, I am finally learning all that high school biology I didn't take.

Chocolate cake in a cup

For those of you who don't have baking equipment, I finally tried a recipe for making chocolate cake in a coffee cup.

4 Tablespoons cake flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 Egg
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons oil
1 Mug

Mix the flour, sugar and cocoa, add a beaten egg and mix well. Add the milk and oil. Mix very well. Cook on high (1000watt) for 3 minutes in the microwave.

A few comments, I think there is too much egg in the recipe and too little sugar. I also think that if you added baking powder the cake might explode as it may rise too much. I think a nice alternative might be to include chocolate chips in the batter (might also add to the sweetness).

Hairspray and Lipstick

Just woke up after getting back from Purdure Uni in Indiana, its snowing!! The drive there was 6 hours (not the reported 4.5) and mostly in the rain. We arrived late and missed most of the welcome function :( We registered and found our host for the night, a postgrad named Jennifer who actually lived 20 mins away and wasn't dancing cause he partner pulled out at the last minute. 6 of us stayed with her including 4 newcomers and kevin and myself. I had to teach the newcomers to iron!! I ended up ironing a whole satiny dress between other cotton skirt layers. Eventually they stopped asking us question and let us sleep (at 2am).

We got up at 6am and startig getting ready, I'd just done my hair and started my makeup when a newcomer arrived saying she didn't know how to do her hair and had no gel/hairspray/hairclips. So I ended up doing it and then running late. As a side note, I never finished putting on all my makeup, I still haven't used my fake eyelashes or my proper lipstick or my top eyeshadow to match my dress.

The day itself was really really tiring. I danced 2 levels, Bronze and Silver and my lasting impression of the day is standing in line waiting to go on, I did it so much. I danced both American and Internatinal for both dances. The first section of the day was American Smooth (ballroom) and the first time I have ever done an American tango was the first round!

Final tally as follows:

Bronze Smooth(waltz, tango) - Quarterfinal (QF)
Bronze American Foxtrot - 4th place
Bronze American Viennese Watz - Second round (I'd like to note the first time Kevin and I did VW was friday for the saturday competition)
Silver Smooth(waltz, tango) - Semifinal (SF)
Silver Smooth (foxtrot, Viennese waltz) - SF
Bronze Standard (waltz, quickstep) - SF
Bronze Intl Tango - SF
Bronze Intl Foxtrot - 5th place (woohoo, apparently the improvement/hard work shows)
Silver Standard(waltz,quickstep) - first round
Silver Standardd(foxtrot, tango) - SF
Silver Intl Viennese Waltz - SF
Bronze American Swing - 6th place
Bronze American Mambo - QF
Silver Rhythm (swing, mambo) - SF
Bronze Latin (Chacha, rumba) - QF
Bronze Samba - QF
Bronze Jive - QF
Silver Latin (Chacha, rumba) - SF
Silver Latin (samba, jive) - SF

I would like to point out that I did equal/better in Silver than Bronze. There is this theory that the rounds are too crowded for the judges to see everyone in Bronze but Silver had the same number of people on the floor per round (approx 25 ppl).

The trend here is to hand out ribbons not medals which say first to sixth place. Each have a distinctive colour. Its not quite the same as walking away with a medal or trophy but its definitely easier to pack! The results are also announced throughout the day, actually straight after each final (have to love electronic judging - see below).

By the time I sat down at the end of the competition I was soo tired I could hardly move. My legs cramped at the end of ballroom (right before lunch) and I lost a toenail (I'm waiting the next one to go) from various occasions of being trod on. My legs in general are talking very loudly today about their overuse.

Final dance tally: 74 (number of times I had to dance each one)
American Waltz - 5, Waltz - 5
A Tango - 5, Tango - 6
A Foxtrot - 7, Foxtrot - 7
A Viennese W - 3, Intl VW - 2
Quickstep - 5, Swing - 5
Mambo - 4, Chacha - 5
Rumba - 5, Samba - 5
Jive - 5

Overall the competition was managed using a computer system. There were multiple screens wirelessly getting information and updating almost instantly, a huge projector screen showing the results and upcoming heats. When you lined up, the marshallers checked you off on palmpilots and the judges marked on palmpilots for almost instant results. There were no delays, nothing major broke(the wireless died occasionally). The judges each had a palmpilot to score competitors and by the time you walked off the dancefloor, the results were already submitted and if it was a quarterfinal upwards the results were already on screen. Another interesting judging note was that the judges called back the top whatever number from all the heats, but a part of each heat so there was less bias. Interesting system and one you can see has been perfected over the years. I have to say the MC and DJ both did an decent job.

At the end of the competition there were fun dances including Salsa, Merengue, same sex rumba, girl lead, guy follow waltz. They were very entertaining to watch and if we didn't have to leave to go home I so would have done them. If we had time to do these at Intervarsity I think it would be great.

Climate Saver Campaign by WWF

I attended a talk titled "The Business Response to Climate Change" with WWF's Matt Banks (Senior Program Officer of Business and Industry). I thought it would be about initiatives in industry within the USA but I learnt more about polar bears and how the Arctic ice sheet is disappearing. This I suppose was an emotional ploy to the audience but the speaker came across as bored. I lost interest within the first 10 minutes. I did learn though that HP, Johnson&Johnson and CocaCola have all signed on to this Climate Savers campaign.

Competition Preparation

This weekend is Purdue Ballroom Classic in Indiana. This is a five hour drive away. The hosts are providing crash space for the Michigan team. With the competition now days away preparation is well under way. I have organised all my clothes and stocked up on makeup and hair flowers. I bought my first pair of fake eyelashes today (did you know they come in different colours and sizes and density?) and next week I'm going for my first spray tan (I feel wrong getting a fake tan). My next step is to try clean my satin shoes. The voice of experience here said hairspray and a toothbrush works. I'm going to experiment.

First Snow

It snowed for the first time today. Apparently it won't "stick" but just fall for the next few weeks. I think the locals thought I was crazy, I was dancing around outside in the snow catching snowflakes :) I am sure I will hate the snow soon, but its still a novelty. Next time it snows enough to collect on the ground its snow angels and snowmen time.

In other news, the Engineering Graduate Symposium took centre stage on Friday. The day started with an overview of what to expect doing Engineering at Michigan and then department talks. This event is directed at undergrads looking to join Michigan and is sort of like UCT Open Day but for students already in university. The AOSS grads presented topics ranging from regridding climate models for translation from cubes to lat/long, Venus and its oxygen and nitrogen nightglow, Aerosol composition and cloud formation and Mars's middle atmosphere. Afterwards we went to dinner and drinks on Friday night and we took over 2 tables in the end. Dinner was nachos, salsa, burgers, beer and a Cookie-tini! The girls shared it, the thing is huge, 7 cookies and 5 scoops of ice-cream.

UMBDT Ice Skating

The UM Ballroom Dance Team graciously provided discounts for team members to skate around and make a fool of themselves at the Yost Ice Arena. I haven't skated in years and it shows. I was guided around the nice by the guys for most of the night telling me to glide and coast etc. Meh, somehow I don't think I'm ever going to be an ice-skater. The worst is that I now have areas on my feet with no skin and a competition in one week :( That being said, I had a great time and might have to go more often when I get back to CT. I mean the ice rink is only 5 mins away.

CUDA with NVIDIA

CUDA by NVIDIA is a new C language environment for developers to solve numerical processing problems on Graphical Processing Units(GPUs). The speedup of certain problems in astronomical such as an N-body problem can get up to a 100x faster. The GTX200 has 1.4 billion transistors and can reach 1000 GFLOPS as opposed to a quad core Xeon which reaches 96 GFLOPS. The reason is the difference in architecture. The CPU is designed for minimum latency, not throughput, something a GPU excels at and number crunching is essentially a throughput problem.The speaker Jonathan Cohen believes the scientific community and their problems are ideal for the GPU architecture. A few interesting features of the GPU include 240 processors split into groups of 8 to create shader multiprocessors(SM). Each SM has 6 SPs, 2 SFUs and and a DP. Note that Double precision (DP) processors are not needed for graphics/games and included for scientific reasons. The SFUs are optimised for sine/cosine/sqrt/exp operations, all common in scientific computing.

One application is transferring the cloud microphysics subroutine from WRF into CUDA and John Michalakes at NCAR reported a 1.3 speedup. This shows that it might be possible to build much cheaper clusters with more powerful GPUs and run climate models faster and for far less. Cohen is building up to a ROMS-like system for GPUs. A group in Italy built a computer with 8 GPUs (8 TFLOPS) for $6000. Think of the possibilities...

Journal Club MTG6: Global Change and Ozone Air Quality

This week we delve back into organic chemistry with an article on ozone quality over the United States. Titled "Effects of 2000-2050 global change on ozone air quality in the United States" by Shiliang Wu et al (2008), the paper looks at various changes in climate and anthropogenic emissions of ozone precursors using the GEOS-Chem model. Looking into the sensitivity of ozone to climate events, one can see minimal changes in the southeast, but large increases in ozone as the cyclone tracks change and don't protrude inland as far as presently occurs. The anthropogenic emissions are looked at under the A1B scenario from IPCC and has a decrease in emissions in the US and as a result a significant decrease over southeast. The final consensus is that the emissions cap currently in place at 40% needs to be increased to 50% to take into account the effects of climate change by 2050.

An interesting question at this point is, given that decreases are going to have different effects in different regions, should we have one solution at a federal level(in the US) or a state level?

Fading to Winter

Winter is steadily approaching Ann Arbor, but Autumn is putting up a fight. Today is a bright sunny day and the trees are showing off the last of their vibrant colours. Walking to the bus this morning I passed the tree in the picture on the right. I'm going to miss the yellows, oranges and reds in the next two weeks when the first snows are forecast and the last leaves fall.

Obama prevails

The votes are in, the country has spoken and the winner by a landslide of electoral votes (not popular vote) is Barack Obama. We all sat glued to screens as state by state the polls closed and CNN started projecting winners from exit polls. This map became our whole life for the evening: CNN Results. People had to explain the electoral vote system to me, but I got there in the end. McCain gave a very nice concession speech, one that was both gracious and appreciative of Obama's methods, a change from his usual rhetoric. Obama's speech was one focused on the people, not himself and his wish to be the president of all, not just the Democrats, which I hope the Republicans appreciate.

I would just like to point out that this is the starting point for Obama, not the finishing. He has arrived at what could be the dawn of a new America and I hope he can carry through with his promises. The rest of us (the world) will be watching and hoping.

Election Fever

I am surrounded by wannabe politicians who debate the pros and cons of every candidates policies and standpoints. I wish the whole thing was over and done with and I can go back to turning on the TV or read a paper without seeing the latest stupid thing Palin just said or the new terrorist they found in Obama's past. Its truly scary being here right now, everyone has election fever, and somehow when the results comes out on Tuesday night its not going to end, they'll start debating what went right/wrong. Its also interesting to see the incentives shops are giving to citizens to vote. I've been accosted to register since I arrived and that finally ended with the registration deadline, but now shops are spamming facebook, email etc with offers of free coffee, ice-cream etc when you've finished voting.

However, if you are following the election with equal fervor as the American people, look at:
Barack Obama for president: Endorsement by the Times and their endorsement history. Its actually quite interesting to read. And I realise I just lost the battle to stay neutral in this debate and have become a social liberialist. Or perhaps I always have been?

Halloween Party

Undergrad parties rock! I had forgotten just how taxing an undergrad partying is. The place was packed and smoky and loud. I dressed up as an African fairy.