Observations + keys + packing
So, preparing the observations, that should end tomorrow. Now leaving to get the keys of the new flat and home to continue packing ... still some way to go and that WILL end tomorrow ...
Packing
So, weekend, monday, yesteday mostly packing for the moving on saturday.
Those days there was some preparing the observations for Calar Alto, but mostly today! Now at home packing! Hopefully I'll get to the point of start disassembling furniture!
Photometry and a thousand other small things
From arranging the work part of the trip to Brazil, until renting a van for the moving to the new flat ...
Also ACS photometry that will keep partially going on the weekend together with the packing ...
Half step back!
So! Our ACS imaging for this cluster was taken in V and not in R as I "assumed". So, one more band, but with some issues to be careful with. The day was astrometry corrections in those images and locating our targets on it. Done. Tomorrow photometry and back to k-correction.
Also solving apartment and moving issues.
Almost there
So, the morning was taken on a series of talks about "waves". Got to see the last two ones, "Neutron Stars and Black Holes" and "acoustic waves in the CMB" with Ned Wright. Great talks.
Finished the photometry and the catalogue for the last cluster, just have to finish the K-Correction!
Almost done with the last cluster
So, today real work!
Almost done with the last cluster. Finishing the objects match and then K-correction and it's over.
Also some time discussing with a possible colaborator a project on SDSS full catalogue (yet trying to figure out, how to do what I want to do).
Not much on science :-(
Not a very productive day. Some seeing measurements ... no real science.
Day used on non-scientific issues (shame on me), like going to the city-hall to enter the paperwork of my german driver's license (I did the first-aid course during the weekend), solving stuff like buying some books inside the Springer conference discount, checking apartments in the internet and good part, checking computer stuff.
Result: checked new laptop for Fernanda and got myself a MacBook, finally!
End of the week!
The week ends ...
Today more data reduction. FORS2 images in B from scratch until astrometric correction of the final combined. Monday photometry ...
Weekend ... reading and "first aid" course to my German Driver's license.
Astrometry
Photometry of the last cluster!
Of course it starts with new astrometry for the field ... blah :-) That was the day. New astrometry and new coordinates for the objects also. Tomorrow reduction of the third filter ... from scratch (the two of today, the images were already reduced!).
Also a bit of searching for a flat in Bonn and bibtex update.
Also, a bit of arranging things for the new flat here in Goettingen ... kind of a busy day!
Now supermarket, home, cooking and reading in good company!
Many small things
Day spent on updating and complementing my bibtex. There will be daily complements to it until I have all my old references "bibtexed". The updates are for the new paper. Lots of specific reading on intragroup/cluster components to improve the introduction.
Registration for the SPP meeting in october. I'll arrive in the morning of the 8th from Brazil and gotta be there in the evening of the 9th, hope I can rest a bit :-)
And concluding that nothing extra can be done in one of our clusters. Than comes the last one!
Out of the institute arranging things to get my german driver's license and searching for the "Cosmicomics" from Italo Calvino. Read it once, while ago, and gotta read it again :-)
WFPC2 + doctor
Part of the day finding out why the graphics tasks aren't working in IDLDE. Checked with some colleagues and they are having the same problem. Hope the system manager in charge of IDL can solve it.
Part of the day wasted trying to figure out the WFPC2 formats ... finally managed, just not sure it was useful!
The first part of the day was spent at the doctor, just to do a "month exam" and confirm that WE ARE HAVING A BOY! That's the big news of the day! And the reason why we were looking for a new flat, and stuff ... so Mr. Matheus Queiroz da Rocha will be arriving end of january beginning of february!
Late from yesterday (again and again ...)
Left quite in a rush and couldn't post yesterday.
Day spent on noticing that the graphics things like ATV or IPLOT in IDLDE don't work, all colapses, but it work in IDL (terminal mode). No idea why ...
Trying some surface photometry on identified IGL components and testing profile shapes, in the spirit published by Krick and Bernstein (2007) where they fit the ICL with a Hubble-Reynolds profile. Still preliminary, but this one is not giving a good result.
Also checking the cluster photometry with WFPC2 images, not covering the whole field, but ... it's gotta be enough!
Short day
A short day! Rainy, woke up late, tired from the trip to Bonn ...
Did what I proposed to do. Searched and downloaded the archive images I needed. Checked the opened points and values of the already written part of the paper.
About the flat in Bonn, I was forced to option 3 of yesterday. The two flats were already gone yesterday and this morning. A few flats for too many people, the landlord can choose, and since I wanted it to october and not september ... they found someone to september ...back to stage 0.
Now, weekend ...
Back from Bonn
So! Back from Bonn!
Three main activities:
1- Look for a flat. That went quite bad! I was really expecting more and better options. Only managed to see 4 flats and at the end got three options:
a) One flat, like three blocks away from the institute, small, may have some furniture in it, if the owner agrees on putting some. Problem, the person that lives there already warned me that the neighbours are annoyingly noisy ... like turning the TV very loud at 5 AM ... a little noise don't affect me, I'm noisy myself, but if you wake me at that time you've got yourself a furious enemy ...
b) One furnitured flat, like one block away from the institute, in a bigger "students building". This one is more expencive than I was initially willing to pay, but apartments in Bonn are more expencive then in Goettingen ... the other problem is that the owner will prefer to rent for september and I want it for october and no way I can get something for september ...
c) None of the options and re-start the process in 2 or 3 weeks, eventually broadening the search area ... I don't like that option because in the first two weeks of september I'll be taking care of moving to the new flat here in Goettingen and paiting and giving my old one back, and in the second half of it I'll be in Brazil, and I need to have a place in Bonn when I come back!
Complicated, but I'll have a solution tomorrow!
Second part of the trip was getting to know the new colleagues and the institute structure. That went pretty well and I liked it!
Third part of the trip was some work and I managed to write something like 50% of a paper that I should have writen a while ago! Now just have to finish it!
Friday back to work! I have to search for some archive images and to put some number I didn't have during the trip in the already writen part of the paper.
Yet another non science day ...
Yep! No science today also! The whole day checking the internet and calling to arrange visits to flats in Bonn ... not very successful but got a couple to see tomorrow and thursday ... let's see what I see ...
Trying to solve some problems in the town, but that was not successful at all! But I've already got the tickets to fly home ...
Rushy monday
Basically no science today (shame on me), the only science of the day was checking some deadlines and checking if all the work I did on friday was ok (it was).
The day was spent arranging a trip to Bonn to check some ideas and see some apartments (yes, I'll be partially living in Bonn the next 1.5 years - at least, life is never easy). Also finding apartments to visit, not calling them today, only tomorrow, because today the whole day was spent reading (and of course translating, actually my friend Stefan translated it) the contract of the new flat!
Day is over, I'm tired and this week will be a hell in terms of doing things "off-science"!
Long week ...
End of a long week!
New flat found! Some other urgent stuff solved!
Today, solving the last of those urgent problems.
One more group "down" using SDSS photometry. Two to go!
Also checking bibliography about some topics, checking some issues about downloading the whole SDSS DR6. Now in the phase of determining exactly which parameters are necessary and establishing constraints to reduce the number of objects. That start to be discussed next week.
Next week also searching for a small place in Bonn where I'm gonna spend part of my time in the next 1.5 years. I'll become the "roadman" ... tsc tsc tsc :-)
Now it's late! Going home ...
Bank day ...
So, Phase II accepted, good, one thing less to think about.
We have 4 clusters with somehow poor archive images. 1 was solved by our friends Kodama and Tanaka, second is in SDSS, working on that today, two will need extra archive images already located.
Got a reply about downloading the whole DR6 for my project, a bit more complicated than previously thought ... 140 million galaxies in 2 Tb of data require some "croping" to be humanly useful :-)
Part of the day spent solving bank problems ... almost done with it!
Tomorrow I'll finish my photometry.
SDSS and Phase II back ...
So, part of the time was spent browsing SDSS website. I wanna download the whole photometric galaxies catalogue of DR6 to search for some structures. Would like to have it in CSV and SQL format. Couldn't find a way of doing it, since the webform is presenting problems when you exclude the point sources and I also it maybe too heavy for the server to deal with (when you put no pointing constraint and a good part of the parameters).
Of course I still have to figure out how to deal with the catalogue and do what I wanna do, but first I wanna see how the catalogue looks like and the format possibilities to decide the best approach.
Also the Phase II to ESO came back with some suggestions to increase flexibility. After checks and checks got to a new configuration inside the suggestion and checked it in again ... let's see how it ends.
The "searching for a flat" novel has got an end. Last friday we saw a very nice flat, applied to it, and today the administration company called to say that the landlord want us there. Good! Tomorrow we'll receive the contract and no more searching calling for this flat. Now I have to find a room in Bonn ... long story!
It's sunny and warm out there for the first time in weeks ... I'm going for a ride!
