H2O(s)

Oh and today it snowed if you didn't know.

So I have been at my new job now for two weeks. Over these few weeks I have been sorting out various things. We have had one leak in the radiator system fixed and now I have identified another that has to be fixed. It's not as bad as the last one but still quite annoying.

The last two weeks I have been reading lots to get my head around transition metal chemistry and Ligand Field Molecular Mechanics and now just getting into the basics of Multi-Objective Optimization Algorithms. I also have 2 programs to learn and I will be learning how to code in SVL and Java/C++, which will be good because then I will be generally more employable in the future.

Last weekend my sister, Zoe, and her boyfriend Rob (the poor git who drove us up and down from Manchester when we moved) came over so we had a good walk around Leamington Spa. It took them some time to find some where to park (parking in the wrong car park that was filled with posh super cars) but they finally joined us for the indulgence of coffee and sweet pastry goods.

This last week was rahter much the same but we have slowly been unpacking things and the flat is almost in a good shape, though missing a few oddments that would make it better and finish off the study. On Friday we met up with Ben, Joe's little brother, and his mate Steve. It was good to meet up with another who knows of the fun of Manchester and makes Leamington seem more fun. We went for drinks and unfortunately ended up in the local Weatherspoon. The bad part was not the comical collection of student drunks, or the weird older people drunk and sounding like they had just come off the farm. No the bad part was the smell of a sewer that swept through the pub as apparently the loos had been flooded. By the Gods!!

Saturday was more random with myself and Sam making our way into the metropolis of Birmingham. I think the fresh air in Leamington had made us feel so good that the foul, cold air, and that same air that was being recycled by the shop heating systems, just made both us feel absolutely grim. After some time shopping and getting annoyed with other idiot shoppers in the Bull Ring, we headed off into the suburbs to go to Anna's place. Anna is one of the two fellow postdocs in my group. At her house she was holding a get together of the research group. This was quite different from my old group in Manchester. The highlights of the night is that both Rob, my supervisor, and his wife, Pam, can talk the ear off you, as can their daughter Lauren who is just doing her mocks for her GCSEs (strangely feels so distance now those times). As a fmaily they are very loud together. Rob recited a wonderful piss taking poem of Australia (he's Tasmanian). They all watch a lot of sci fi and fantasy (Pam loves Supernatural and SG: Atlantis, Rob has read The Book of the New Sun). Rob is also a pilot and I believe has flown old WW2 aircraft.

The rest of the research group are typically geeky science types, but not too geeky or weird. Another of the group is Sara, who is Italian, comes from aplace very close to Venice and wants to come out with myself and Sam to clubs in London that play music that goes 'thud thud thud!'. I think we can organize that.

Getting back from Anna's was not quite as fun. We got to the train station in Birmingham and had to wait an hour in the freezing cold for the last train back to Leamington. Sunday was as result quite a lazy day.

Today I awoke to a layer of the white stuff covering the town. I headed into work, enjoyed a nice free lunch, and then at 4 thought I'd better get home before things get a little risky. Fortunately Ben was driving by and so I got a lift back rather than having to brave the bus filled with students.

So huzzah. Two weeks have gone by and things are going ok down this way. I am finally getting the deposit and the rent back from the old flat and that means I buy things. Next up another few days (17 in fact) and myself and Sam will be off to sunny (but cold) Venice for the end of Carnivale and our wedding.

Oh and once I'm back I'll be starting up my new rp group. First stop will the thrills, spills and moans of zombie as I get new players to have ago at the splatterpunk fun of Unhallowed Metropolis.