stranger in a strange land

dear all,

firstly, apologies for my lack of activity. i've had a busy couple of days. i'll explain what i've been up to of late.

we left hilo last thursday, made the short hop to honolulu, and then ian and i went our separate ways. i flew in to LAX early friday morning and got a shuttle to pasadena, about 40 minutes away. i'm staying in a theological seminary, which is really very nice... unfortunately i arrived quite early, so my room wasn't ready. tired from having no proper sleep for a long while, i decided to find caltech. the receptionist drew me a quick map and i set off. it wasn't 8am yet, and already pretty hot. jeans were a mistake.

i quickly learnt two things:

1. there are no bends in the US
2. they give you a very short amount of time to cross roads

the first thing i learnt was to my advantage - it is pretty hard to get lost. the second took some getting used to. i eventually found the campus, and took a little wander round... very nice. i'll take some pictures tomorrow so i can show you. when i got to the astro dept, found an office to sit in, and got online. by this time i was pretty knackered, and in desperate need of sleep.

so i headed back to the seminary, and this time had more success checking in. my room is fantastic - a little kitchen, en suite, nice bed, tv. then again, i'm easily pleased. i had a little rest before having a shower (took me a while to figure out how that worked - plus i'm too tall for it), then it was time to head back to the dept for journal club and beers afterwards in the courtyard (can we start doing that here?). had a mexican in the evening, and slept soundly until 11am.

the next day i had a wander round pasadena... again, sweltering heat. i was recommended the huntington gardens to take a look at, so i took a walk down there - a pleasant cultural experience all round. nice gardens and some art galleries... again, i have some pictures. i walked back as the sun went down on california boulevard, casting long shadows of the palm trees, and catching the light in the ubiquitous sprinklers irrigating immaculate lawns.

once more i slept soundly. i will tell you more about the trip tomorrow, but right now i have to write a bit more of my talk... yikes!

oh yeah, here are a few tv highlights i have taken note of:

• william shatner presents some sort of quiz show along the lines of deal or no deal. the tag lines are hilarious: "shat-tastic!" , ad infinitum
• OJ Simpson outrage: he has written a book called "If I did it...", basically outlining how he would have done it 'if' he did it
• every advert is about medication, or some sort of exercise equipment
• things seem to be repeated even more than in the UK

as i say, more tomorrow. speak to you soon. j.