Category Archives: Travel

Travel

Almost-Final Preparations

I’m still in Mandeville (see the map link!). I finished the roll of film that was in the SLR camera, and popped it out. Much to my chagrin, it was professional-grade black-and-white. What that means is, barring possession of a lab and developing skills, it costs about $17 to develop the roll. That’s a lot of dough just to see if the camera is taking okay pictures. Not only that, but no place around here will do it in-house. They don’t have the equipment, so they have to send it away. Bah, I say, bah!

While I suspect that the camera is working fine, I may yet venture out tonight to get a cheap roll of color film, shoot it, and develop it. Taking 5 rolls of film on the trip only to find out that I have zero pictures would be something of a waste, not to mention a let-down.

Meanwhile, I discovered an error in some simulations I ran recently, one of which takes at least three days no matter how I slice it. I need the restart files from those simulations to run the 72 cases for the project I’m working on. I’d hoped to load them up in the cluster queue before I left, but alas, it’s not to be. Luckily, they’re short jobs, so I can swamp the whole cluster with them using the short queue when I get back.

The Countdown Continues

T-60 Hours and counting… (’til I get on the first plane of the trip to Niger). Lots of packing and finding of items. Strike that, reverse it. I’m still not sure where my old pair of nylon hiking pants are. I used them in March. I’m going to have to double my efforts searching at my apartment, because they aren’t here in Mandeville.

I also couldn’t find my old point-and-shoot Nikon camera, but my father offered to let me use his Yashica FX-2 35mm SLR on the trip. I’m pretty excited about that — I once took some snzzy black-and-whites with that camera. Too bad they now cost 3x as much to develop as color, since nobody has machines to do it on-site anymore. I can’t take my digital because the battery wears out too fast, and it’s a non-standard rechargeable, so I can’t just drop in a replacement. Lesson learned for the next camera purchase I make.

Sleepy now, time for bed. I’m getting a ride back into town tomorrow with my sister, and she has to leave at 07:00.

Enqueue

  • Results outline for paper: check
  • Pacing currently running for another project: check
  • Niger visa application ready: check

I’m waiting for some things to happen. Sam’s out getting the alignment on his car fixed, while I wait here for his PowerBook to arrive via FedEx. I work at home a lot, so that’s okay, but once he gets back I’m off to the post office to get a money order and some postage, and mail in my visa application.

I hope to hear from my advisor today about the outline, and I just have to wait for the pacing to complete before I do anything else with that project. There’s one other project I need to work on in the mean time, which I think I’ll do. But first, I need to go load the dishwasher. The sink is getting kind of full.

Immune System Alert Level Yellow

As mentioned previously, I’m going to Niger this summer. I went to see a travel doctor yesterday to make sure that I had all of the necessary powerups… er… vaccines. Based on the risks and my immunization history, here’s what we decided on:

  • Influenza
  • Polio booster
  • Tetanus booster
  • Typhoid
  • Yellow Fever
  • New and Improved Meningitis

All of these but the Typohid (which is live culture in pills, mm!) were injected into my arms yesterday. I imagine my immune system is going shit nuts, but I feel fine. I also got prescriptions for Cipro and Lariam. BTW, should you ever think about doing this, keep in mind that vaccinations are not cheap, except for Influenza. It was ~$15.