Travelogue part fin

I always intend to blog more frequently than I end up doing it.  I’m envious of people like Vera who seem to blog all the time.  I intended to blog more during the end of our US trip, but was just too…busy, I guess…to do it.  I spend enough time on the computer at home that I thought Kiwiman would get upset if I computed any more than necessary while were were on holiday.

Mom’s ewes, desperate for the animal crackers I was holding

Dad’s car restoration project – his 1953 Mercury, “Betty”

I last told you about our relaxing time in Flagstaff with my parents.  The relaxation continued when all four of us packed up and went to Vegas, staying at the very plush MGM Grand hotel.  I’d stay there again; it was close to the monorail and all of the employees were polite and helpful.  The bed was fantastic.  (Vegas pics on Flickr and Picasa)

At the Venetian

Kiwiman and I went to see Cirque du Soleil’s “Love” show at the Mirage.  We’re Beatles fans, and the idea of seeing a CDS show set entirely to Beatles music was something we couldn’t pass up.  The show was great – though less acrobatic than I’d expected given the CDS reputation.  I’m glad I hadn’t listened to the Love album first.  I relished the pleasant surprises of the new song mixes.

The Bellagio’s conservatory decorated for autumn

Our time in Vegas wasn’t long enough, and after only two days we jetted off to San Francisco for the last bit of holiday.  We didn’t do much in the Bay Area except visit with Brent and wander idly along the waterfront.  We’ve both been there many times before and feel like we’ve “done” the tourist activities.  At this point it was just time for a break before we had to face going back to work again.

One particularly neat (and yet still relaxing) activity we did do in San Francisco was to see the movie Across the Universe – a musical describing a 1960s love story between a Brit boy (Jude) and a Yank girl (Lucy) set entirely to excellent Beatles covers.  Can you spot the theme here?  We weren’t trying to be Beatles-centric, and we’re not rabid fans, but we’d already wanted to see the movie and it wasn’t out in general release (and certainly not in New Zealand!).  We loved the movie and we’ve both been listening to the soundtrack obsessively.  I liked the way the story was written as if the characters just happened to be expressing themselves through songs we all knew and loved.  They weren’t taking the piss from the Beatles, nor were the characters (for the most part) pretending to be fictional songwriters who’d just happened to write those songs themselves for their own lives.  The framing worked very well.  Boy, could those actors sing!

The “sky” at the Venetian

We returned to NZ on last Wednesday morning at the not-as-bad-as-it-sounds 5am and went to work as usual.  I had organized a phlebotomy course for myself and several coworkers, so I had to be there…and I even managed to take a blood sample from a nervous coworker without any problems.  It’s taken me a few days to get my bearings again at work.  Tomorrow my friend Roneel will start work at my company; he’ll be doing some of Kim’s work while she’s away, and as we worked together last year on my PhD project I expect he’ll also be a great help with my proteomics work.  I can’t wait to work with him again.

A Tucson sunset

I suppose I should say a bit about my thesis even though this entry is about the end of our holiday.  The thing didn’t cross my mind once while we were gone.  At work on Wednesday, the day I came back, my boss asked whether I had submitted my thesis yet…as if those three weeks while I was away were filled not with weddings and sheep and video poker but with frantic editing and citations.  I had to laugh.  I still have the same amount of work to do as I did last month with a notable exception: CSO is now going through two of my chapters (sent a few days before we departed).  I have many changes to make to all of the rest of them following my late September meetings with Placentologist.  Realistically, it will take me until the end of December to do these as well as whatever CSO requires.  I will submit in January barring any major hurdles – though, again, I’ll know more once I get the two reviewed chapters back from CSO.

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