As much fun as I’m having out here in Aus, it’s not THAT often you have a day where lots of things seem to go right for once….. Today was a good day 
Firstly, I gave a presentation at the group meeting (something we do reasonably regularly) but you never quite know how it’s going to go and today’s went pretty well. So that was nice.
Secondly (and this bit is a bit chemistry-y) I had a reaction to purify. This was a reaction I haven’t done before, and a similar one I did recently didn’t go very well so I didn’t hold much hope while I was doing the purification today. Most of the way through it looked like I was going to get essentially none of the chemical I wanted out the other end. I must admit – I haven’t checked that what I obtained is DEFINITELY the right stuff – but assuming I’m right then the reaction went much better than I first hoped and means I can progress with doing it on a larger scale.
Thirdly (and also to do with chemistry…… seems I don’t do much else) a journal paper that I wrote about my work has been accepted to quite a good peer-reviewed chemistry journal (Langmuir) for publication with just a few minor changes suggested by the referees. This is the first time I’ve really been the lead author on a paper so that’s really cool too. I look forward to seeing it in print
Finally (not chemistry related! Hoorah!) I went to the gym. This doesn’t sound like much, but all the time Mum & Alexandra were here I barely went at all and we ate out almost every single night. Basically I haven’t weighed myself since before they arrived about 5 and a half weeks ago. When I first started at the gym I weighed about 121 kg (just over 19 stone!) – just before mum and small arrived I’d lost about 7 kg (just over a stone) and since then I have been paranoid to weigh myself what with all the eating and no gym. However tonight I finally did it, expecting the worst, and low and behold I have actually lost weight again! Down to 112 kg (17 stone 9 lbs) which means I’ve lost about 9 kg (about 1.5 stone) since I started at the gym! My target to go below 100 kg (about 15 stone 10 lbs) by Christmas is looking good
That’s all for now. Just wanted to put up a post about a nicer day.