I thought I was mostly done with the NSERC Discovery Grant, but I worked on it a lot in October as well. Apart from that, Alex presented our VSTTE paper; I talked to some prospective students; and I recertified my Wilderness First Responder in Whitehorse.
Health news
Huh. Having accurate health recommendations, and acting on them, helps. Science!
More vaccine-related news:
- HPV vaccines reduce cervical cancer rate even among unvaccinated: good enough to induce herd immunity.
- 2024-2025 season COVID vaccines still reduce rates of emergency department visits, hospitalization, and death (by 64%)
- Recent mRNA COVID vaccination correlated with higher survival rate after immunotherapy; also in Nature but paywalled; and covered in The Guardian also.
And non-vaccine news:
- A universal SARS-CoV-2 antagonist (but these things often don’t work and are years away); from the article: “Our serum stability studies are clearly not the same as in vivo animal experiments; unfortunately, in vivo pharmacokinetic studies are not currently possible.”
Professional
It really was a lot of Discovery Grant writing in October. I sure am glad I wasn’t teaching this term. Any other things I did involved a lot less work. This was 24 work days in October out of 22 work days (in addition to the WFR, which wasn’t work.) Also, as I said above, I supported Alex’s VSTTE presentation.
Teaching
I did not start SE465 prep in Octoberโthat’ll be November.
Grad students/mentees/collaborators
Meetings on 8 days. Also 2 former SE undergrads, now long graduated. There was a suitcase transfer following a failure to short-check luggage, but that’s not my story to tell (“cursed suitcase”).
Collegiality/Service
TOSEM review. FAUW governance. Second round of questions for a master’s student.
Trips
Just the one trip to Ontario and Whitehorse (via Auckland) for just under 2 weeks, otherwise stayed around Wellington. Pictures from Wellington:
Trip: Ontario and Whitehorse
Left for Auckland on the Wednesday on a separate itin, stayed overnight near the airport, then flew to Toronto via Brisbane and Vancouver.
Was in Ontario for almost a week.
Travel Planning
I’ve noticed a couple of times that airbnb hosts have been cancelling on me more often recently. Had to re-plan a night in Auckland this month.
As I mentioned above, I failed to travel plan an improved itinerary back to Wellington after a flight delay.
Movement statistics
Some driving, one trans-pacific flight, and otherwise pretty normal, with not much walking.
Movement statistics:
- ๐ถ Walking: 66km on 16 days
- ๐ฒ Biking: 69km on 13 days
- ๐ Driving: 557km on 9 days (mostly Ontario, some Whitehorse)
- ๐ Taxi: 113km on 5 days (YYZ-Waterloo, within Waterloo to my airport ride, Whitehorse, WLG)
- ๐ SkyTrain: 31km (Vancouver)
- ๐ Train: 36km (Auckland)
- ๐ Bus: 39km on 5 days (Wellington, Auckland, Whitehorse, Brisbane inter-terminal)
- โ Plane: 39561km (WLG-AKL-BNE-YVR-YYZ, YYZ-YYC-YVR-YXY, YXY-YVR-BNE-SYD-WLG)
- ๐ Cable car: 0.7km (1ร Wellington)
106km of transit, which was buses and trains in Wellington, Auckland, Whitehorse, and Sydney.
Walks
Tried to keep up the walking, but really not much. There was 12km around Whitehorse when I had a free morning there before leaving (took the noon flight not the 5am flight).
Pictures
In October I was working on my NSERC Discovery proposal, so I may have procrastinated sometimes by processing pictures. I selected about as many pictures as I did in July (887 versus 846), but the total number of pictures processed was 27% higher in July (3354 versus 2642). July did include a large collection of Estonian bird photos (710) and a walk up to Apostolidis (528). This month, on the other hand, I had lots of tiny sets, including in-transit days. Still, there were 13 over-100-picture days.
Picture logs available, and, as always, pictures are clickable to go to the full gallery.
- Sets of pictures processed: October=39, September=10, August=12, July=15
- Total pictures processed: October=887, September=414, August=563, July=846
- Total pictures in selection pool: October=2642, September=1486, August=2123, July=3354
- Accept rate: 34% (min 28%, max 66%)
- Pictures posted on this page: 204
Miscellaneous
Less miscellany to report than September.
Posts
None this month. I did have to fix this site due to a Hugo upgrade. Yay not-so-well-documented breaking changes and plugins.
Acquisitions
- got a spoke fixed on my bicycle, as well as new brake pads ($100).
- my dentist in Waterloo seems to be encouraging people to get night guards. I have one. I’m not sure I actually like it.
- massive Cooker King โ Master Chef wok for C$26 in Richmond. It’s hard to find a non-treated wok.
Sports
Bouldering at Faultline 8ร (including a coaching session), plus one day bouldering at Grand River Rocks, plus one day at Rattlesnake Point (Ontario) with an old friend from CEGEP. Did not make it to the new Whitehorse climbing gym. Judo 4ร, which was pretty much all of the times I was in town except the day immediately after getting back.
Food
Didn’t have cooking facilities in Whitehorse, so I explored some restaurants there. But first, Ontario:
- Markham Station: despite the name, actually in Scarborough; competent diner, not crowded on a Friday night.
- Fratelli Village Pizzeria: small place; good pasta, also in Scarborough; pizza oven broken when we were there (they warned us)
- Naan Kabob: 10-location chain with good kabob and somehow lots of birthdays on a Sunday
- Banh Mi Saigon, Waterloo: I didn’t think my banh mi tasted like anything? Maybe I’ll give them another chance.
- Miga Japanese & Korean: Chatted with the owner, who is ethnically South Asian but grew up in Korea and sold a store in PEI. Had a curry. Decent option.
- Risposta Bistro: On the way to Rattlesnake Point; had been to previous restaurant in that location. Fancy Italian place with tasty but fancy food.
- Ajisan Ramen: Ramen chain with a location in Waterloo. Maybe I should have had ramen, not fried rice.
Wellington, Whitehorse, Vancouver, and back to Wellington:
- Leafee Cafe: a nice change in scene from The Shepherds Arms on Tinakori Road in Wellington; lighter fare, I feel.
- Vรถlco: (no picture) I’ve noticed this popping up in a bunch of locations. Had a pie from the Kelburn location, which is one of the more premium pies available around here these days.
- Desycan: now to Whitehorse; fried fish was a smaller portion than a main, and tasty, though of course fried.
- Dirty Northern: excellent arctic char, but really noisy especially with the baseball game.
- Kita: hyped Japanese food which legit lived up to the hype.
- Airport Chalet: someone told me to try the milkshake and I’m glad I did; would go there even on the not-hotel-restaurant scale.
- BC Momo: momo not shown but eaten; also lives up to high ratings. Modest restaurant.
- Satay Malaysia: best roti canai in Wellington according to The Spinoff (more about Mayalsian in Wellington). Sure, I’ll buy that.
Volunteering
This was a low-volunteering month, apart from showing up to referee at the Ontario Open. Just OAC survey updating, a Board meeting, and a FAUW governance committee meeting.
Conclusion
That really was a lot of effort on the NSERC Discovery Grant, as well as a North American tour.