Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Plugging along

My busy days (Sept 19) have continued. Our friends who reside in Mexico, have just returned from their Alaska cruise, and are staying with us.

Every now and then, there is a bit of a break in all this. For example, last Sunday, the Vancouver Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada hosted the Paul Sykes Lecture (an annual event, funded through an endowment from Paul Sykes), hosted a talk by Dr. Neil Turok - the eminent mathematical physicist, and collegue of Dr. Stephen Hawking. His topic related to the evolution of the early universe, which is one his fields of interest. Dr. Turok presented the subject in a most engaging, humorous way, and did not shy away from telling us how little concrete information we have - even though there have been astounding breakthroughs achieved in accumulating accurate data. My wife, whose interests only peripherally include astronomy, enjoyed the talk, and said so several times.

After the meeting, the RASC's council invited Dr. Turok to supper, and a few of the council members (of whom I'm one) joined in spirited, wide ranging discussions about the various aspects of theoretical physics. A good time was had by all.

The Paul Sykes lecture is free to the public - come and join next year.

Tomorrow I'm slated for cataract surgery - another break in the routine.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Busy time.

I run a business which involves many of the larger educational institutions in our area. Since school started earlier this month, I've been very busy, including weekends. In addition, we have good friends visiting, and staying at our home. That has meant no time for blogging. For those of you who may be wondering, both my wife and I are ok - we're just involved in our various activities at the moment. This is a chance to write a little note here, before I continue with business today.