Mostly SE 465 (software testing and quality assurance) prep, plus helping on a submission to FM TAP and an Amazon Research Award submission. Two weekend trips within driving distance from Wellington: one to Mitre Peak and one to Tukino (again).
Health news
That HPV vaccine really is effective.
and Hilda Bastian (Absolutely Maybe) writes about it too, at length, particularly in the context of Cochrane systematic reviews:
Specifically: “… the weight of the evidence has tipped heavily in favor of HPV vaccination”.
There’s also the monthly roundup:
Mucosal vaccines are still proceeding with trials. It seems like this is a thing that absolutely could have been accelerated by spending money.
Professional
Counting more specifically, I worked on SE 465 notes on 13 days of the 19 days I worked in November (20 work days in total). The other things were only a couple of days at each end of the month (ARA at the beginning and FMTAP the end).
Teaching
Lots of SE465 prep in November (and December). I want to reduce the amount of last-minute prep. We’ll see how that goes. As I write this, I have 75% of the written lecture notes done (which is a B+), but a bunch of work to do still for assignments and slides.
Grad students/mentees/collaborators
Pretty constant: meetings on 9 days this month. I do like not having meetings on most days. Turns out I’ll be teaching 4 dqys a week next term though.
Collegiality/Service
I am worried about a lot of reviews coming up. But in November I only went to a workshop supporting SIGPLAN-M mentoring, about asking better questions. More FAUW governance work than usual. Wrote at least one reference letters, maybe two?
Trips
Did not go anywhere far! One weekend attempting Mitre Peak (Tararuas) on the other side of the Remutakas, and one weekend at Tukino again.
Pictures from Wellington:
Trip: Mitre Peak (Tararuas)
Went along with MP on a Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club trip just short of the Mitre Peak summit. We left on Friday evening after work. I’d been to the bouldering gym before that, and the 4 hours of walking over uneven terrain and a bunch of treefalls was kind of hard. It was clear but super windy on Saturday and we stopped 20m (vert) short of the summit. Back to Wellington on Sunday with a stop for ice cream and a second stop for a pie. Great views.
Trip: Tukino
Always scenic. Near the end of the ski season here, but one more successful run down the Mangatoetoenui and a little lake on the summit plateau, extremely blue.
Travel Planning
My records show travel planning for the Christmas trip to Canada and for the December trip to Angelus Peak.
Movement statistics
No travel and one hike means a three-digit walking number.
Movement statistics:
- 🚶 Walking: 100km on 20 days
- 🚲 Biking: 74km on 13 days
- 🚗 Driving: 771km on 5 days (Tukino is pretty far, Mitre Flats is sort of far, Upper Hutt isn’t that far)
- 🚌 Bus: 6km on 3 days (train station and getting back uphill with a NAS once)
- ✈ Plane: 0
- â›· Skiing: 12km on 1 day (touring Tukino)
Only 6km of transit, though the driving was carpooled.
Walks
Named track: Mitre Flats and then Mitre Peak, 26km. Otherwise walking around town and at Zealandia. Pretty good for around-town distance.
Pictures
Less procrastination in November, though also no travel, so still a high number of photos processed. Notably, the oldest unprocessed set is now December 2023, so less than 2 years of backlog.
I find it difficult to get through days where I have 100+ pictures (typically hiking or city visits); there were 13 such sets in October. I plug away at them, usually over multiple sessions and sometimes over multiple months. Accept rate this month was in line with usual, though a bit lower than October.
Picture logs available, and, as always, pictures are clickable to go to the full gallery.
- Sets of pictures processed: November=27, October=39, September=10
- Total pictures selected: November=1043, October=1330, September=414
- Total pictures in selection pool: November=3592, October=3883, September=1486
- Accept rate: 29% (min 10%, max 69%)
- Pictures posted on pictures page: 158
This month I’ve separated birds from non-birds. Many birds from New Caledonia, some from Whitehorse, and a couple from Aotearoa.
Miscellaneous
Interesting to see what happens during a no-plane month.
Posts
Another submission, about the Fast Track Approvals Amendment Bill:
Acquisitions
- sent my midlayer to Twin Needle for zipper and tear repair.
- got my MEC hiking pants fly zipper replaced
- QNAP TS-216G 2-Bay NAS Server
I decided that the 2013-era Synology in Wellington was pretty old, so I got a new NAS. It’s still pretty slow over WiFi, and is definitely snappier over wired connection. I should check how snappy the Synology is over a wired connection; anyway, it’s not bad as a backup of the new NAS.
Sports
Faultline 11×, judo 6× plus the Wellington Closed (but I wasn’t in action very long that day, with each of my 3 matches lasting not much more than a minute.)
Food
Wairarapa (no pictures):
- The Olive Branch, Carterton: mixed grill plate, supper for 2, tasty but took longer than ideal
- Indian Grocery Masterton/Fusion Fresh: well-appreciated ice cream after Mitre Flats tramp
- Cahoots Cafe, Greytown: proper pie
Wellington:
- The Library: high tea (twice)
- Fried chicken and shrimp chips from Harbourside Market vendor
- Lunch Money: I failed to get a pie from Brew and Pie and a scone from here more than made up for it (even though I prefer pies to scones). The staff were really on point, too.
- Atlantis Reef N Leaf: food truck at Harbourside Market with loaded rael paua fries, definitely a “sometimes” (once a year) food, super delicious but so rich.
- Kajiken: a chain with a Wellington location near MP’s work with excellent abura soba.
- Hei: yet another place with good (modern) bao and dumplings
Honourable mention: I’d already been to Viet Street Food but stopped by for a banh mi this month. Would go back.
Volunteering
High civic engagement this month. Spectated at the Zealandia AGM (and talked to various people); helped with the OAC AGM; WJA and FAUW constitutions; provided feedback on NZAC Wellington leader training; refereed at Wellington Closed Championships.
Conclusion
No planes, huh. Teaching prep and some research.