Blog Archives: January, 2006
Bruno and Boots birthday
My friend Melissa got me a very cool birthday gift: Gordon Korman books. You might be wondering, who is Gordon Korman? He’s a Canadian author who, among other things, wrote a series of books about two characters named Bruno and Boots who get into trouble at boarding school. It’s standard fare for any 12-year old Canadian to read growing up, and I’m excited to have copies of my own again.
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Vote early, vote often
I’ve returned to Waterloo from the conference in Paris. On the last day in France I visited the cathedral in Chartres and then went to the catacombs in Paris; I’ll post pictures later. I went to vote this morning and was the first person in line. Did you know that if you’re the first person there they give you an extra vote?
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Party in Paris
Arrived in Paris last night and am at the conference now, which thankfully has wireless Internet access. Not much else to report at the moment, as I’m working hard! Really!
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No millions from Monaco
Apartment buildings in Monaco I’m in Nice airport at the moment, about to fly back to Paris. I spent yesterday in the Principality of Monaco. I wandered around town for most of the day (and the stairs to my room in my hotel seemed much longer by the end of the day). At left is the view from my hotel room in Monaco. (I don’t have other pictures with me at the moment to post.) I visited the palace of Prince Albert II, went to the cathedral in which Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace (Kelly) are buried, visited the humongous Oceanographic Museum, and walked around the Botanical Gardens. I lost 5 euros in the slots at the Monte Carlo Casino and alas did not win enough to buy a yacht and live on the French Riviera for the rest of my life. From here I’m off to Paris for the week for a conference. A bientot!
Update 2006/01/16 13:45 CET: Picture added.
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Millions from Martin
Liberal announcement Yesterday morning I got up ridiculously early to get on bus to go to Markham to attend a press conference at which Paul Martin announced a Liberal plan for $180 million for various extended greater Toronto area research initiatives, 
Mike Lazaridis including $50 million specifically for my research group, the Institute for Quantum Computing, and $50 million for the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo.
The announcement itself, while important for us in Waterloo, was not overly exciting. But it was very interesting to see the whole election campaign process going on. 
Ray Laflamme being interviewed There were probably around 100 media there in total. When it came to question time, not one of the questions was about the announcement, instead hammering the Prime Minister on the recent Liberal attack ads and questions about a BC Conservative candidate apparently smuggling a car into Canada. Indeed, here is the Liberal press release. 
Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada Compare that to the CTV coverage and the CBC coverage. I do have some pictures from the event, but can’t post them from the Internet cafe I’m currently at in Nice; they’ll be up later.
Update 2006/01/15 11:08am CET: Photos posted from Nice airport.
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In Nice
Houses along Quai des Etats-Unis Bonjour, from Nice! I’m in France to attend a Quantum Information Processing conference in Paris next week and am currently in Nice. I spent the afternoon wandering around town, watched the sun set over the Cote d’Azur (see photo at left), and am about to go off for dinner. Tomorrow I’ll be going to Monaco, and then Sunday I go up to Paris for the week, unless of course I win millions of euros at Monte Carlo in Monaco, in which case my next blog entry will be from a medium-sized Caribbean island that I will purchase shortly after winning my millions. And then I’ll finish my PhD, really, I will.
Update 2006/01/16 13:45 CET: Picture added.
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Back in Waterloo
Happy New Year! I hope you had a better New Year’s Eve than I did; I came down with a cold on Dec. 28 and spent New Year’s Eve at home watching Serenity, The Simpsons, and Futurama (coincidentally, I watched the first episode of Futurama, which takes place on New Year’s Eve 1999, when Fry gets transported into the future).
Now I’m back to Waterloo and mostly moved into my apartment. I had my first class yesterday — I’m taking Integer Programming (here, “Programming” means “Optimization”, not computer programming); sadly it has both a midterm and a final, and I was really hoping that all of my remaining classes would be exam-free. And FASS is already underway; auditions were last night and continue tonight and tomorrow, while the show is Feb. 2-4.
I’ve added a new feature to the website. On the right hand menu bar there is now a section entitled “Where in the world?” which tells you where I’m currently living. That way, you don’t have to try to remember. Of course, I have to remember to update it, so we’ll see how that goes.
