Finished my previous daily-log notebook and started a new one in May, which means that I have to look through two notebooks to write this entry.
In general, May had a sustainable pace of work. Submitted one paper and started working on another one.
Advances in health
There seemed to be a lot of colds going around. MP and I both caught colds independently, in New Zealand and Canada. And I heard of people I know having colds in Germany.
There was talk about using UV-C to disinfect air, though that might increase ground-level ozone (not ideal). The Ontario Society for Professional Engineers also put out a lot of good advocacy for clean indoor air, and I’ve been paying them membership fees. Anyway, glycol seems to be another potential approach.
In other news, it’s been shown pretty definitively that the shingles vaccine reduces dementia risk, at least in women, but it’s unclear why. Other vaccines may help too, like the flu vaccine. The immune system is mysterious, but there is a hypothesis that vaccines train the innate immune system.
There are still people with lack of taste and smell after COVID. Here’s a pilot study that used special gum to restore these senses in some people.
And, hantavirus was kind of a concern, but Ebola is turning out to be a lot more consequential.
Professional
Finally teaching was pretty much done. Still, 19 days with work (20 work days in May). This resulted in submitting to SAS; next, working on a submission to ICSE. Reasonable month.
Teaching
All I did was some assignment revisions for ECE 459. There is some appetite for more LLM content in SE 465. I do not want to put more LLM content in SE 465 and I hope the AI bubble crashes before next Winter, if only for that reason. (We are seeing Copilot becoming much more expensive, as it must be, so there’s that.)
Grad students/mentees/collaborators
Talked to students/collaborators on 7 days, which is the long-term average.
Collegiality/Service
Started reading a PhD thesis in preparation for a defense the first week of June; reviewed a paper for TOSEM (and declined to review a blockchain paper); worked on preparing for SCAM reviews as PC co-chair. Accepted an invitation to serve on OOPSLA PC for next year and as consultant for an ECE Capstone Design group.
Trips
Came back from Montreal, crossed the Pacific, and visited Christchurch.
Montréal/Waterloo/Sydney, May 1-2-3-4
Left Montréal on May 1st on the train after a poutine at La Banquise; took a mentoring call before getting on the train.
Finally managed to join a Jane’s Walk in Waterloo, Through the Eyes of a Photographer, led by local photographer Philippe Elsworthy. The Uptown BIA ED was also on the walk. He is quite knowledgeable about what’s up with the land use. Anyway, Waterloo isn’t exactly my favourite photography target, but maybe I got a picture or two that is of interest.
Then there was the Ontario Alliance of Climbers Spring Fling at Rattlesnake. Great weather, great turnout for our annual parks cleanup.
I picked up contact lenses, got a dental implant and then had a FAUW governance working day on the Monday and then ran off to YKF for the bus. They will only load the baggage if it is tagged, but they will tag the baggage 2 minutes before the bus leaves.
Finally, I arranged an 11 hour layover in Sydney, went to some parks, didn’t really get good bird pictures even with the good camera, and went to the bouldering gym, where I sent some problems I was happy about.
Christchurch, May 15 to 18
The only activity I did in New Zealand was a trip to referee at the Canterbury Opens. This seems to now always conflict with Canadian Nationals, but I didn’t get selected for those.
I much prefer the Wellington urban design to that of Christchurch; Christchurch feels more sprawling and somewhat car-centric (though the topography should be bicycle friendly), and the central city reconstruction has been challenging. There is also no higher-order transit. (The tourist train to Greymouth doesn’t count.) But Christchurch does have rock climbing and the Southern Alps closer by. Perhaps this picture (from 2024) summarizes how I feel about Christchurch urban design.
Explored some other nature in Christchurch including Travis Wetland (looking for crakes, didn’t see any, got a recommendation for Styx Mill) and the Rapaki Track (scenic but I prefer Wellington), and made it to Daphne’s for Chinese food; it’s been on my list for a while.
Travel Planning
Was hoping to do a Southern Crossing but the weather was unfavourable. Did plan and pack for it. No other travel planning this month.
Movement statistics
Central Wellington is super walkable, though if you live in Kelburn you have the risk of walking uphill. Daily trips that are on bicycle in Waterloo are on foot in Wellington for me. So 77km is quite decent for a month without any hikes.
The bicycling also included a ride to Petone on the new Te Ara Tupua path, for a 31km day, and a ride to Miramar for brunch, for a 19km day.x
I went to the WLG airport 3 other times when not flying: once to retrieve my delayed luggage; once to file an expense report for reimbursement for emergency expenses (underwear); and once to pick up MP. That is in addition to the trip to Christchurch and flying in from Sydney.
Movement statistics:
- 🚶 Walking: 77km on 23 days (getting better again, no big walks)
- 🚲 Biking: 122km on 13 days
- 🚗 Driving: 456km on 10 days (Rattlesnake Point, Tavistock, Christchurch-Lincoln, got some lifts around Wellington)
- 🚗 Taxi: 30km (from Kitchener Station; to YKF; from WLG 2×)
- ✈ Plane: 18621km (YYZ-YVR-SYD-WLG; WLG-CHC-WLG)
- 🚌 Bus: 92.5km on 3 days (YKF-YYZ; around Wellington)
- 🚆 Train: 672km (Montreal-Kitchener, Sydney, around Wellington)
- 🚆 Metro: 9km on 1 days (Montreal)
- 🚆 LRT: 18km (Montreal’s REM)
Transit: 791km.
Pictures
May was reasonable, though still well short of last November and December. Pictures processed is definitely anticorrelated with a combination of workload at the day job and trips; indeed, May was also a reasonable month for workload, and didn’t have much travel.
I pushed through last night and reduced the backlog to under two years now; excluding historic (pre-2020) sets, the next set of pictures is from June 27, 2024. So I have a bit of runway. There are a lot of pictures from the second half of 2024, though: five major trips with more than 20 big days. In some sense, the days that are most of a drag are the hiking days, because it’s hard for me to decide which are the best pictures from those days.
There are about 7 new sets from May versus 22 processed, so the backlog is definitely shorter overall. I’d like to get the start of the backlog through the end of July 2024 and did a random selection of historic and more recent pictures this month. I think 2024 has more pictures than 2025, as I was on sabbatical in 2024.
Highlights include the last Cascade Saddle set; Travers Sabine 2024; and one more Tour du Mont Blanc day.
Picture logs available, and, as always, pictures are clickable to go to the full gallery.
- Sets of pictures processed: May=22, March/April=10
- Total pictures selected: May=846, March/April=330
- Total pictures in selection pool: May=2330, March/April=1263
- Accept rate: 36% (min 18%, max 71%)
- Pictures posted on this page: 216 (25% of selected)
I noted last month that most of my highlights were from the Cascade Saddle. This is not the case this month, though the Cascade Saddle pictures are still overrepresented.
Miscellaneous
Reasonable amount of stuff going on in May.
Posts
None.
Acquisitions
Upon arriving in Wellington, I found that my laptop screen screen was broken. And then I didn’t bring the screwdriver with me, so I needed that too. It does look like a pretty good kit though. The screen was straightforward to install following the Display Replacement Guide.
- Framework Laptop 13 Display Kit
- ProsKit SD-9322M Smart Phone & Tablets Repair Technician 24 pcs Bits & Tools Kit
- Pocket Notebook by Castelli Milano (not exactly that one, but similar): where I log facts for these monthly summaries
- Replacement Nalgene bottle (sigh)
- A bigger pot for my cactus. “Grow your own way” (but not crooked, please).
Also, I noticed that my Pixel can drive an HDMI monitor through a USB-C/HDMI hub. Of course you need at least a mouse too, if the HDMI monitor is not a touch screen.
Sports
Faultline, the bouldering gym, doesn’t do self-scan for entry. It’s kind of an expectation that the staff get to know you. Anyway, today I was at the gym, and the staff was like “Oh, you come here a lot, I should know your name.” In May, I got to the gym 10× (but outdoors 0×): once at Grand River Rocks, 7× at Faultline (plus one non-climbing visit during NIBS, the bouldering comp), and 2× at Uprising in Christchurch. I ran into someone with a GRR shirt at Faultline, from Waterloo, who had moved to Wellington to do a master’s, and stayed on.
Somehow I only got to judo 3×, in part due to travel and in part due to having a cold. Travel kind of made going to judo impossible in the first week and a half of May.
Food
The new places I went to this month were mostly in Christchurch. One new place in Wellington and Sydney. I must’ve gone to La Banquise sometime in the past, but I’m not sure.
- La Banquise, Montreal: as someone wrote on Reddit: “Its just a place to get a good poutine, not the best, not the biggest: just a good one.” I’ll buy that. MP was disappointed and hoping for better.
- The Betel House, Annadale, Sydney: good lunch stop on a 12h connection in Sydney; exceeds expectations for a random, convenient Thai place.
- Maranui Cafe, Lyall Bay, Wellington: Bustling spot on a Saturday morning, convenient after stopping by WLG to collect my delayed luggage, but not out of the ordinary.
- Souvlaki Licious, St Albans, Christchurch: I did not have souvlaki. It was fine; I’d go there again, but I wouldn’t make a detour for it.
- Arbie Restaurant, Waltham, Christchurch: right next to Uprising, seems authentic; there seem to be more Filipino restaurants in NZ these days; quite good, though I have better memories of the place in Rotorua.
- Coffee Culture, Addington, Christchurch: this chain had a location right next to Jailhouse Accommodation, so I got breakfast there, which was fine. Then someone at the tournament said they had seen me at the Coffee Culture while they were working there that morning. The tournament is 20km away.
- The Famous Grouse, Lincoln: burger was as expected; had ads for a sheep shearing competition next weekend.
- Daphne’s Restaurant, Upper Riccarton, Christchurch: one could choose many Chinese restaurants in this neighbourhood, but this one was good. It had been on my list for a while. Would make a small detour for it.
- N’Joy Christchurch, Addington, Christchurch: a change from Coffee Culture, took my time with a “banh mi”-style sandwich (“Old Quarter”). Fillings were good, but the bread was not banh mi bread.
- Ngon Spot, Wellington: great bread, sauce too sweet, guy addressed me by the Vietnamese “younger brother” term (I am sure I am older than him).
- Cafe Polo: excellent eggs Nduja, not too crowded on a (windy but clear) Saturday morning.
- Satay Me, Wellington: OK banh mi; the rolls had structural integrity problems.
Volunteering
Vaguely helped out at the OAC Spring Fling; FAUW governance volunteering ran to the last minute with respect to catching the bus/flight; was less active in running the FAUW governance town hall, being remote (in fact at a branch library in Christchurch), but helped set up the presentation.
Apart from the Spring Fling, also had a chat with ACC and did some sysadmin for the OAC.
Conclusion
Onwards. Should think about more papers to write (though not for Onward! right now).