Diary: Another sociable long weekend

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Lots of visitors this week, which was very lovely.

lethargic_man came up on Thursday evening, and we had a quiet couple of days together. Knowing that doseybat and compilerbitch were coming up at the weekend took off the pressure to 'do something' exciting, cos we reckoned their visit would be quite exciting enough! But very lovely just spending time together.

We did manage to make it to the Verdant Works, a museum of local history and of the jute trade that made Dundee rich in the 19^th century, in particular. It's a very interesting museum, mainly because they have 1/2 scale working machines (originally used to train engineers). There's something I find a bit fascinating about watching mass production machines. Just generally the attention to detail is impressive, and they've made a lot of effort to pitch it at several levels at once.

Then to RB's for shabbat lunch, which was very fun. EZ was also around, and the two of them had done a really excellent job. lethargic_man was about to stop himself from expressing an opinion about Israeli politics, but he realized that we were all going to be civilized about it. I like having friends in J-soc who are capable of holding strong views without being personally aggressive.

It was really, really wonderful to host compilerbitch and doseybat for a couple of days. They are both such lovely people, and brilliant at conversation, and really I couldn't be more delighted that they came all the way to Dundee to see me.

I was especially pleased to get to spend some extended time with compilerbitch. I liked her instantly when doseybat first introduced us, and continued to enjoy chatting to her on LJ, but this weekend has given me the chance to confirm what I suspected, that she's a kindred spirit and generally a wonderful and fascinating person. Even without all the other reasons to like her, she totally won my heart by applying control theory to cell biology. We had such a constructive discussion, and not only because she reawoke an old obsession of mine.

Again, we didn't go wild trying to do stuff; both the girls made it clear that they'd mainly come to Dundee to talk to me, rather than to be tourists. I did drag everyone to the top of the volcano to see a view quite a lot like this. I didn't realize that the climb was going to be so hard on compilerbitch, so I felt a bit bad about that. But Dundee is so pretty (and it was a lovely sunny winter morning, too!)

So it was wonderful, and well worth the sleep-deprivation due to conversations being too interesting! Neither of the girls has got round to posting about the trip yet, but they mention it in various comment threads.

Comments

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Jute trade made Dundee rich?

You learn something new every day... & ;-)

And thanks for that view-- aw, Scotland. I'm so pathetic for not having traveled more of Britain when living there...

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for the weekend -- it was wonderful. And don't worry about the mountaineering either. It didn't kill me, and the view was certainly well worth it.

My highlight of the weekend was certainly the biology chat. It was amazing to actually put to use some of the ideas that have been bugging me for years. The synchronicity with the stuff I've been reading on dual rail signalling in asynchronous digital circuits is a bit strange, but the more I think about it the more it seems to make sense. Have you thought moru about it? I mentioned it to my PhD supervisor today. It turns out that he is another kindred spirit, convinced that cells can be reasoned about as computational systems, and is keen os maybe semi-officially doing a bit more with the gene dependency idea.

Anyway, thanks again. It was brilliant!

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Jute trade made Dundee rich? You learn something new every day... & ;-)
Sure. I know it's really middle-aged to get interested in local history, but Dundee has a really interesting past.

And thanks for that view-- aw, Scotland.
I know, I'm so lucky I ended up here. I think Dundee is really pretty; the photo I linked to shows it quite well, I think. And it's really underrated; most people aren't even aware there is anything between Edinburgh and the Highlands.

I'm so pathetic for not having traveled more of Britain when living there...
Well, you're always welcome to come and visit if you do make it to Britain again.

[liv]

Thank you so much for the weekend -- it was wonderful
Aww! I'm so glad you had a good time, cos I enjoyed myself immensely! Thanks so much for making the effort to come here.

And don't worry about the mountaineering either. It didn't kill me, and the view was certainly well worth it.
Well, ok, thanks for reassuring me.

My highlight of the weekend was certainly the biology chat.
And mine, absolutely. I'm still completely buzzing about that. Woo!