Fun stuff

Ah I see you were curious enough to check this small section of the website! You might be surprised to learn that I didn't just make the Beta lab my second home. I actually did do some really cool and fun stuff during the summer of 2004.

Here is a bunch of them in no particular order:

• In the second week of my work term, Mirela, her friends and I have decided to attend La Traviata at Vancouver Opera. It was magnificent. The only problem was that I forgot my glasses, and since I am near sighted, I had to squint a bit during the performance... but then you go to listen to the music and beautiful voices, not so much as to see the make up on the opera singers' faces. Oh, and we also had some wonderful cheeze cake at "Sweet obsessions" or was it "True confessions"? I always confuse the two.

• The CS department at UBC also held a departmental BBQ out on the lawn, just in from of the CICSR ie (Centre for Integrated Computer Systems Research) building, so as to welcome the summer and more or less carefree days (for some people anyways).

• For a whole month, I was fortunate enough to attend a summer school down at Caltech, California, US. I learned a great deal about things I didn't even dream existed or were possible. I met a lot of cool, intelligent, determined and simly fun to hang out with people.

• I also was very grateful to have been given a week to visit my family at Dallas, Texas, US. It was so refreshing to be pampered for a whole week! I have an awesome family.

• Alice Lake outing (the photographs that can be seen in the picture section of this website). These were conveniently provided by Ph.D student Dan Tulpan). One weekend, just a week before the deadline for the paper... we were pretty stressed out, a colleague of my supervisors was visiting and we were just dying to have fun, so these were good enough reasons to go ahead and hike for the whole Saturday up at Whistler, and have a great dinner all together at a local restaurant.

• On a few occasions, Mirela and I went out bowling and clubbing with some other friends of ours. We also tried to lead a healthy life and do swimming regularly down at the Aquatic Center, but I'm afraid that we might have failed to go as many times as we wished to. It was still a lot of fun! I'll miss these outings.

• To top it all, Beta lab also had exciting meetings happening. The Beta lab itself had a reading group where a newly published article was discussed almost every Tuesday. I even gave a talk on my group project that I participated in down at Caltech. (You may find the link to the presentation on the about me page) There were also occasional theory group meetings and just some random visitors' speeches that I found myself being drawn to.