The past two weeks have been spent teaching IAEA inspectors how to use neutron detectors. My two students were named Zbigniew (zBEAK-nee-ev) and Gytis (GEE-tis) from Poland and Lithuania, respectively. They were really great to work with and it was interesting to hear their stories from inspections all over the world. We were running short on calculators in the laboratory that weren't out of batteries, and no one knew how to operate the lone RPN calculator we had. I figured that of everyone there, the Polish guy should know how to use it. So I taught Zbig how to use an HP calculator and he took to it so strongly that by the end of class he was asking me where he could buy one.

I also met a guy called Paulus from Namibia who had done his graduate work in Shanghai. We bandied about in Mandarin for a bit, at which point it became clear that my Chinese ability had really deteriorated. Getting some international perspectives on... everyting... was really interesting and only fueled my desire to get my travel on.

When not teaching at the IAEA school... let's see... Robin and Meg left this morning to drive back to southern California and are no longer my transient roommates. Bob and Cari are in the process of moving in. Bob and I spent a few hours on Thursday getting his 50 gallon saltwater fishtank moved over.

This was somehow achieved without spilling any significant quantity of water or killing any fish. It looks really good in the dining room.

Tool quit at work, which I see as a huge loss to the team. He was the go-to guy for a lot of quick embedded systems work and he really knew his stuff. There is some chance that he'll become and offsite contract employee, but who knows. The up-side is that I get to inherit his lab and all of his gear. Sweet.