Half Way Thru

The week's almost half over - given my Thurs/Fri in Chicago for an extra long weekend.
I have a few things weighing on my mind. My SO's bday (hi!) What to get!? And work related stuff. The continued existence of our research group is still uncertain. University collaborations that are progressing, but unsustainable if we don't get budget information soon. And new collaborative conversations with some folk in SEAsia who might be helpful in my research. I'd rather do it here, but resource issues might preclude that.

I was also looking into some British commuting yesterday. If I join my SO on a UK biz trip in midsummer, it is an opportunity to spend some serious time at the archives in Kew, one of my favourite places to hang out. The issue is transit times between the place we will be and where I want to go - looks like over an hour each way to get to Kew and back. Might be able to do something with half train, half taxi or something. Time is more important than money in that case. Could rent a car, but it would be more annoying to have to deal with traffic, parking and gas. If we were further out, it wouldn't be so bad.

My python coding had a bit of a breakthru yesterday. I had some global vs. local variable referencing challenges, but I seemed to get around them okay finally. Next I want to do some socket programming. Hoping to keep current in my knowledge, and perhaps use the skills for coding some oceanographic research and simulation. :)

Well, my tea is made and email awaits. Onward...