A final message from Washington DC

I write this final message from the hotel foyer as I wait for my 2:40 pm shuttle bus. When I came and sat in the foyer, it was nice and peaceful. Unfortunately for some reason there are now about 50 kids (I guess about 14 years old) wearing brightly coloured tops hanging around and generally irritating me. In response, I have used my baggage to erect a barrier around my little corner of the room.

Yesterday, for my last full day in Washington DC I decided to just walk about town and see the sights. Although there are plenty of museums I still haven't seen, Captain Flash was tired of being x-rayed and groped by fanatical security guards, and requested a day off before the trials of airport security.

We headed from the hotel towards the White House, across the ellipse and to the World War II memorial. After spending some time examining the memorial, we walked past the reflecting pool to the Lincoln memorial.

The Lincoln memorial is actually very impressive. My photos don't show it well, but the thing is ENORMOUS! After admiring the Lincoln memorial at length, Captain Flash and I wandered to Foggy Bottom - mostly to please Hilary. It was a fun neighbourhood to wander through. George Washington University is found in Foggy Bottom, and has a different atmosphere from downtown DC. By then it was getting dark, so I took the Metro back downtown and returned to my hotel to pack.

The hotel check-out time isn't until 12 noon, so I slept in a little before checking out. I then lunched at the Hard Rock Cafe and now I am waiting in the hotel foyer.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed my time in DC, I am now really looking forward to getting home. The security checks, calculation of tips and the lack of Australianness is really beginning to get to me. Not long now: about 30 minutes until the airport bus arrives and then another 36 hours or so to get home!

Tour of the Capitol and the Newseum

First of all, I didn't take any photos today - I didn't take my camera to the Capitol because I thought I couldn't bring one on the tour. It turns out I could, but no matter. Captain Flash still got to see it all. The upside is that I can put up another photo from yesterday - Captain Flash hanging with his fluttering friends in the "Partners in Evolution: Butterflies + Plants" exhibit. I also forgot to mention that Captain Flash made a human friend at the Air & Space museum yesterday: a girl who works there liked him so much that she took a photo!

Moving back to today's business: the Capitol tour. I set off at a decent hour this morning, and arrived there ready for my tour time. The lady there kindly agreed to shift me to the slot 10 minutes later so I didn't have to tour with 30 schoolchildren. The Capitol dome is very impressive, and thoroughly worth seeing. The rest of the tour was also pretty good - seeing where Obama walked down the stairs on the way to inauguration and plenty of other things.

After I finished wandering the Capitol building, I wandered casually back toward downtown and my hotel (about 2km). I decided (since I was walking right past it) to fork out some cash and visit the 'Newseum.' The newseum was well worth visiting. You begin the visit by going into a theatre to watch a 10 minute video: "What is news?" which was actually pretty good. You can also view a section of the Berlin Wall. After that, you take the lift up to the 6th floor (an enormous lift capable of holding 50 to 60 people). The 6th floor has an outside balcony, with some pretty spectacular views of DC.

After going back inside, they have a display with the current front page from newspapers all over the country and the world. It was quite interesting - especially seeing how many papers covered the Australian bushfires on the front page. There is no question that the fires are a tragedy, but I am so used to Australia being ignored that it came as a surprise to see coverage on the front pages of both the New York Times and The Wall St Journal. There was also coverage on the front pages of newspapers from papers all over the world. Oddly, I feel that being on the other side of the world from Australia right now is almost like being away from a loved one when they are going through a difficult time. Naturally, I offer sympathy and virtual hugs to anyone affected.

Moving on from current news to some more distant 'news': the newseum displays many front pages of newspapers from the past, dating back to the 16th century. Naturally, the newspapers of the 16th century do not closely resemble the newspapers of today. In the same exhibit was an issue of Scientific American from 1845 . . . and MANY other papers, dating right up to the election of Obama.

Also on display: the door from the Watergate building which had its latch taped open - eventually leading to the uncovering of the whole Watergate scandal. This door was FBI evidence from 1973 to 1977.

Another section of the museum holds part of the antenna from the North tower of the World Trade Centre (and part of the fuselage from flight 93). These were both part of a dedicated September 11 display, which was very well done.

As I progressed down the levels there were many more fascinating displays, exploring many different aspects of the news. Once more, I left just on closing time at 5pm.

Thoroughly satisfied with my day's endeavours, I continued on my journey home. I stopped for dinner at a delightful little sports tavern, and settled in for an evening in front of the TV. Once again, the highlight has been the Colbert Report - I will miss it once I get back home! Tonight he interviewed the guys from TV on the Radio. At one point, he asked if he could stroke the beard of one of the band members. Since Neil bet me $1 to stroke the beard of Hashim Amla, I really appreciated that.

Captain Flash and Annette visit three Smithsonian Museums

First of all, I think it is a bad idea for me to return to Australia. I have been in a proper winter for long enough now that I considered today's temperature of 15.5 degrees C to be warm.

Today, Captain Flash and I went down to the National Mall to visit various Smithsonian museums. We arrived shortly after opening time (which is an Annette-friendly 10am), and headed first to the American History Museum. We went there first mostly because Captain Flash isn't very good at reading maps and so we initially thought it was the Natural History museum.

The American History museum was ok. Interesting enough to wander about, but I wouldn't make it an absolute number one priority. The coolest bit there? Seeing the C3PO suit from Return of the Jedi. For Sex & the City fans, the laptop shown in the photo with Captain Flash and C3PO is the one Carrie used to write her columns on.

After the American History museum (complete with dodgy cafeteria lunch - I am really missing Aussie food now!), I went on to the Natural History museum. The Natural History museum was pretty cool. Plenty of your usual ocean/mammal/dino stuff, but my favourite major exhibit? The geological exhibit. Some of you may know of my fondness for the the glowing rocks exhibit in the Perth museum - they have glowing rocks at the Smithsonian too. Well, it turns out I like looking at rocks. There are so many pretty colours and patterns, even in the non-fluorescent or phosphorescent rocks. I spent quite a lot of time admiring the comprehensive geology display. It is probably worth mentioning that they also have the Hope Diamond on display there.

Now, the geological exhibit was cool - but the Smithsonian Natural History museum also has a section with live butterflies. It costs $6 to get in, but since the Smithsonian entry is free and this display is awesome it is well worth it. It was like the butterfly display they had at Perth Zoo for a while, but a bit smaller. I now have plenty of photos of butterflies up close, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in there.

The last museum stop of the day was at the National Air and Space Museum. This was a museum I was really excited about seeing, and I am certainly glad I went. Although it can't contain truly giant rockets and so on because of size constraints (those are out in Virginia, I'm trying to figure out if I can get there), it still has some pretty cool stuff. Amongst the stuff I saw there:

• The original Wright flyer
• The spacesuit Buzz Aldrin wore to walk on the moon
• The command module from Apollo 11

I had a thoroughly good time, and took many photos. I left just before 5:30 pm, which is closing time. Having spent a good part of the day walking around I was pretty tired and decided to head home - through the sculpture garden.

Walking through the sculpture garden I discovered something FABULOUS: there is an open-air ice-skating rink in the middle! I promptly paid for a session, hired some skates and put my bags in a locker. During my session someone fell over and somehow managed to fall severely enough that an ambulance came to pick them up! I didn't see the fall, just the guy lying on the ice for quite some time. I did my best to ignore it, and skated for 1.5 of my allocated 2 hours, by which time my ankles and calves were paining me a lot. Although my ankles are still a little sore, I am thoroughly glad I had the opportunity to do the open-air skating - it is something I had in my head I would like to do while in the USA, but didn't think would be possible.

And finally, on a less fun note, the bushfires in Victoria are even making it into the news here. Even from this distance, I feel somehow affected by it, and things certainly seem pretty bad. I have been checking up on the ABC website for Aussie news the whole time I have been away, but for this ABC isn't necessary - it is the top item of CNN, BBC and even Al-Jazeera. I have been sending thoughts of sympathy and love from the other side of the world.

And now for bed. I have my tour of the Capitol tomorrow. w00t.

General wanderings around DC

Today I had originally planned to visit various Smithsonian museums, but I changed my mind and decided to wander around Washington D.C. instead. Washington D.C. is a very pretty city, and I thoroughly enjoyed my wanderings.

When I reached the White House, we weren't even allowed near the fence. Police were directing people to stand a couple of hundred metres away on the ellipse. Soon, I figured out why - I could hear a helicopter not too far away. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later Marine One flew right overhead - pretty cool! After that we were allowed to go up to the fence, so I went and took plenty of photos. I then continued wandering about for quite some time, seeing the Washington Monument and plenty of vendors selling Obama and Washington D.C. stuff.

On the way back, I stopped by a store selling Obama stuff - complete with cardboard cutout! I bought myself a couple of things including a pretty cool t-shirt. I said to the guy at the counter that I know lots of Obama fans in Australia, but Obama stuff is harder to come by there. He told me that he can understand that, because there are only about three Kevin Rudd stores in DC. Classy guy - I really appreciated that!

UPDATE: I hear in the news that Obama went to Camp David for the first time today, (obviously) travelling on marine one. So, I guess I got to see him leave...

From Blacksburg to DC

Today I successfully caught the home ride bus and then the metro, and then walked to my hotel. Not a lot to say so far - I haven't been here long enough! I did walk by the FBI building on my way to get some food for dinner. My hotel is REALLY central - should be really convenient for all the sightseeing I plan to do.

One nifty thing I have noticed so far? In DC, the pedestrian lights have a timer counting how long until the lights go red again. If waiting to cross, you can countdown by watching the lights for the other direction. It's pretty cool.

I spent this evening planning all the things I want to see - it will be a pretty jam-packed 5 days! I was quite tickled by the web address for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (responsible for printing all the paper money): www.moneyfactory.gov

Tomorrow I plan to visit various Smithsonian musuems. They all look cool, but I am particularly excited by the prospect of the National Air and Space museum. But I guess I can write about that after I have seen it.

Finally, I have successfully booked a place on a tour of the US Capitol (which I will do on Monday). I am very much looking forward to that!

I found my vegemite!

About time too. In fact, just in time for me to leave Blacksburg. I will have to figure out a way to eat it in DC.

Annette is also disturbed by a marching band

After I came home, I was working away at my desk... when all of a sudden I started hearing music! I looked out the window, and sure enough, there goes the marching band. Nice weather for it too: it was about -9 degrees C outside today.

Annette and Captain Flash visit Bogen's

Today Phil, John, Will and Raquel very kindly took me to lunch at Bogen's. Bogen's is a restaurant in Blacksburg, and I asked the boys to take me there, explaining that a bogan is somewhat similar to an American redneck. They were quite amused by this, since apparently Bogen's is somewhat of a redneck hangout.

Bogen's was ok - traditional pub-type food. The oddest thing? Their food comes served with "waftos" (waffle fries): still deep fried potato, but waffle shaped rather than fry shaped. Weird.

Annette feels a need to bang her head against a wall.

At some point late during today's experiments, I started thinking about how these pendant-drop measurements actually work. I realised that there is no way the interfacial tension could actually be measured without entering values of density. So I checked in the manual and (hidden within its depths) I discovered that sure enough, entering density values is a crucial part of the calibration process. Say it with me: "Ohhhhh nooooo!"

The good news? We don't need to repeat the actual experiments. Raquel and I saved the data files (we're not just pretty faces), so we can open them using the analysis software and recalibrate using the correct density values.

The bad news? I don't have windows on this machine, and it is windows only software: meaning I will still probably have to go and sit in the lab to redo the analysis. All 129 files of data collected over the last two days.

Although this whole reanalysis procedure will be a pain, I don't really mind. My results weren't making whole lotta sense, which is what made me wonder about the procedure in the first place. Hopefully now the numbers will fit in with the rest of the data I have collected during my PhD. Certainly the one file I did recalibrate (to test that it works) gave a value for interfacial tension far closer to what my experiments in Perth have predicted.

To cheer me up as I left the lab this evening, when I went outside it was snowing. And not the piffly little efforts that Blacksburg has presented me with so far. It had been snowing most of the afternoon, so when I went outside everything (apart from roads and pathways) was blanketed in white. Very pretty. The photos aren't brilliant because I have a cheapo camera and it was dark, but I think they show it well enough.

Finally, American TV has brought me joy once more. This evening it came in the form of Colbert's summary of one of their anti-terrorism shows. I bet you all remember the "Be alert but not alarmed" campaign. If I remember correctly, one of the suspicious activities is taking photos of particular structures or particular places. Well, it seems security types in the US are far more vigilant when it comes to capturing photographers. Colbert's summary of a particular episode of an antiterrorism show:
1) Amtrak (train company) announces photography competition
2) Man takes photos of Amtrak trains
3) Man is arrested for taking photos of Amtrak trains

Trust me, it was much funnier with the build up and the presentation on the Colbert Report.

Experiments - and clues to help solve a mystery

I spent a fair part of last week playing with this particular set of equipment, trying to get it to work. The details are too boring to go into, but I spent about 3 days just trying to get the equipment to work.

I then spent about two days working with some PDMS (VT manufactured) ferrofluid. It turns out that the PDMS ferrofluid is possibly one of the most difficult samples to work with for this kind of measurement, mostly because it is so viscous. Instead of forming a nice droplet shape (neccessary for this kind of measurement), it comes out of the syringe still tube shaped. To understand the system I am dealing with, imagine trying to make toothpaste form a nice droplet shape - except the toothpaste in this case is brown, magnetically responsive and coming out of a syringe tip 1mm in diameter.

After another two afternoons of work, and I had a single measurement for the PDMS ferrofluid in water (ideally I would have measured a value for the fluid in glycerol). By this stage it was late on Friday afternoon and I was getting worried - I won't be able to use the equipment much next week because it will be used for undergraduate labs most of the day. After consulting with Dr Davis and Dr Riffle, I arranged to have access to the lab this afternoon. After a leisurely Sunday sleep-in, Dr Riffle collected me from my place and we went into the lab.

This afternoon, rather than trying the PDMS ferrofluid again, I decided to try and make a measurement with my commercial ferrofluid sample. Finally, some success! Not only were we able to measure a value in glycerol (and also in water and then mixtures of glycerol and water), but the results I was able to get possibly explain one of the odd effects I had been seeing with my droplets. We worked until 9pm getting as much as we could done, and I am now hoping I can get a few hours access during the week - because I have another experiment in mind.

In other news, I caught up with Thompson over the weekend. I met up with him at his friend's place on Friday night, which was a whole heap of fun. When I arrived, there were two mormons sitting inside - the girls who lived there invited them in and asked them to stay for dinner. They then proceeded to offer them a range of beverages they couldn't have. There were also a whole bunch of other people, and we sat, chatted, laughed and generally had a good time.

Saturday afternoon Thompson met up with me and we went to a favourite old haunt of his - The Cellar. After that, we went back to the same friend's place as the previous day (where Thompson was staying), and had dinner again. As well as several of the same people from the previous night, I also got to meet a few new people. After dinner, we played a game a lot like 'Taboo' - but using an application on someone's iphone to give the words to be guessed. We made teams of boys vs girls, and it was a lot of fun. At one point, Thompson was trying to get his team to guess 'Time Travel', and said "They recently introduced this element on 'Lost'", to which his friend Lee responded "Titanium?" I laughed, but everyone else missed it - and Lee and I bonded after that. Ahh, good old science jokes. The whole group is a really great bunch of people - and I've been invited to dinner again on Tuesday =)