Been a bit longer than normal since my last update – just been lazy! A reasonable amount to say though….
Firstly, throughout the month of November, Ben, Andy, and I took part in “Movember” and grew some moustaches for charity. We looked pretty stupid, but it was good fun, and we raised $130! A chain of burger restaurants called Grill’d were also doing a special deal which meant that anyone who’d raised some money and had a moustache could have a free burger once per day for 13 days. I only managed to get three in the time, but they were great stuff!
Andy’s parents were here for a few weeks and I think they had a good time. They very kindly took a few of us out for dinner a few times – curry, steak, more curry – so I have to thank them for their generosity. I hope I can find some time to go visit them & Andy in Preston over Christmas.
Ben & Tilly have been hosting a few events lately too. We had a classic “One Tree Hill-athon” a few weeks ago and managed to get ourselves up to date with the story whilst pigging out on cakes and crisps and BBQ. They also hosted a Christmas BBQ get together for a whole bunch of us just yesterday. Tilly organised a secret santa, which was very successful, and we had decorations, crackers, and mulled wine. There’s some photos from the night here. On the subject of going out for dinner – Timmy and Jami invited me to their place a few weeks back too. They put on a great roast dinner as my reward for helping Tim install his new CPU cooler. Haha. Good deal I think 
Other fun events included a trip to King’s Beach, Caloundra, for the day. Two cars full of us braved the heat and drove up the coast and spent a few hours messing about in the (really rather warm) sea, and having fish and chips, before we came back again. The beach was incredible, although a little busy, and there’s some photos here.
Chemistry and lab-life has been a bit stressful lately! My research has been even slower than usual, with some targets getting tantalisingly close, but refusing to accept I deserve to reach them. On the plus side I took a poster of my work to two mini “conferences.” The first of these was just at uni, and involved all the chemistry/biochemistry/biosciences/immunology postgraduate students from UQ. My poster won an award! I was given the people’s choice poster prize, which comprised a certificate and a stereo, which has been installed in the lab near my fumehood. Ben also won a prize for his oral presentation so it was good news all around. Arthur and I then took a trip down to Sydney for 3 days to attend the AINSE/ANBUG Neutron Scattering Symposium. Unfortunately no prize for my poster or Arthur’s talk, but it was interesting to see some of the work in the field and meet some people doing similar things.
The final good news is that I have reached my original weight target! I am officially below 100 kg and have stayed there for a few weeks now, hovering between about 98-99 kg (about 15.5 stone). In true geek fashion, I have put a graph up of my weight loss, which can be seen here. I still feel like I have a few more kilos/pounds to lose, but I definitely feel quite good about myself The problem I have now is that very few of my clothes fit… I know what I will be asking for for Christmas this year!
I think that’s it for now. I am busy getting ready to come home for Christmas! I cannot wait – just not looking forward to the flights. See some of you soon!