seminar

There has been a delay in the weekly blog update due to the seminar we gave on Tuesday. It was my first time giving a presentation on research, and it was quite nerve-wracking, initially, indeed. I basically spend extra time the past week trying to get results to present and preparing my slides. After rereading the material and re-familiarizing myself with the background behind my project, I felt ready to talk in detail about my research. It had been so long since I had thought about the actual background of the cardiac model, since I've basically just working on the computer program behind it. We got to the Clayton campus about an hour before the start, and each of us paced around trying to get some last minute practice in.
And then, it started..
And despite all the fretting, it was over, all too fast. We all did well, and David said he was proud of us. I think I saw some nodding heads in the audience, though no worries because we talked mostly about the biology behind the projects, and they are all computer people. :P I guess I don't realize how boring I end up sounding when talking about technical things.
We had a little surprise. One of the founders of Cal-IT2, Dr. Larry Smarr just happened to be in Melbourne at the time, and he dropped by for our seminar - no pressure, right?
Speaking of important people, we attended a seminar by Prof. Peter Hunter from the University of Auckland last week. In short, he worked with Dr. McCulloch (PI of the Cardiac Mechanics Research Group at UCSD where Anushka works and I am working with Anushka) and was basically his "mentor." He gave an impressive talk on cardiac modeling as well as the progress people have made in modeling different organs, in general. It's part of the Physiome project, which is a worldwide effort to better understand human physiology. It was really interesting. Afterwards, David organized a time for us to talk with him since so many of us are working on cardiac modeling.

We also had another visitor from the states - Dr. Rich McMullen from Indiana University. It actually got to be a bit strange, listening to an American accent. I think my ears are now accustomed to the softer Australian accent. Anyway, Rich gave a presentation on Middleware yesterday, which was quite interesting, because he connected it to social computing interfaces, such as Facebook and MySpace and the like.

More so than ever now, I am amazed by the power of computers and how much they can do, how well they link people together. I am also amazed and in awe at how much knowledge these people I have met in the past week have, and how much they have accomplished in their lives, in their respective fields of interest. They are all so intelligent and have contributed so much to the scientific world.

But now onto other things. The Claremont was pretty busy last week with three high school groups present. One night, Liz and I were just sitting in the dining area talking about what to do, and pulled out a map of Tasmania. One of the high school groups was actually from Tasmania, and a couple of the students told us all about it. I got all excited. But too bad - another time, another trip. They went to the zoo one day though, and brought us back this postcard.
We returned to the Queen Vic Market, once again, on Saturday to do some actual shopping, and since we were in the area, decided to visit the Flagstaff Gardens which is right next to it. Once again, I have to point out, random large patches of park in the City - I love it. This one though, did not seem nearly as large as "our" park where we go running on occasion, but it was nice all the same.
Where's the sun?
Anyway, here's an interesting little tidbit about this park and the Queen Vic Market. Flagstaff Gardens was actually the oldest park in Melbourne, but before that, the land used to be Melbourne's largest cemetery where the first deaths in the Victoria were buried. Parts of the cemetery wall can still be seen while walking in the Market and around the area, and there are still some 9000 corpses buried in the ground!

And on to more eerie-ish things, on our way to the Italian precinct, we stopped by the Melbourne Gaols. I guess this area used to be the jail courtyard.
So we walked to the Italian precinct on Lygon Street, and voila! - it was this whole part of the city that we had not been to yet. So many cute restaurants, cafes, stores, and people.
We stopped for dinner at one of the places and sat outside by the street (under heating lamps of course). Basically it felt a little like Italy with all the outdoor seating and the atmosphere just made you feel so at home. (:
Before leaving the City that night, though, we found a real salsa band playing in Federation Square.
And this is Fed Square decorated with a Latin theme. I love how there's always live music - even outdoors in the rain.
At night we headed over to Fitzroy Street in St. Kilda with our German friends to check out a couple pubs. We actually go out with them quite a bit, and one night we went to an outdoor pub by the Yarra, it was really nice and not too cold at all since we sat under the heaters.
Anyway on Saturday, we had quite an experience coming back though. In out attempt to catch the last tram back to South Yarra, we actually got on the wrong one, found out that the tram doors are not too kind, left some people behind until it was just me and Michelle, walked a long ways down Chapel Street, but all ended up safe and sound at home.
So on Sunday before heading into the office to work on our presentations, we walked around the City.
I can't believe we've been here for two months, and have not ventured into these cute little places. It seems that much of Melbourne is hidden down dodgy alleys and the like. I was reading the Age one day (the Australian newspaper) and stumbled upon an article that talked about Melbourne's hidden secrets, such as stores on top of seemingly abandoned buildings, cafe's hidden in dark alleys, etc.
We've walked by this place soo many times without going inside.
Then Michelle and I headed to St. Kilda for the St. Esplanade crafts fair where we met up with Liz. It was a beautiful day, quite like San Diego. I really wish it were summer here, but it was nice, just the same.
There were so many vendors selling their crafts. Everything was so unique, and after much thought, I settled on a pair of earrings and had some trouble coming up with souvenirs, so I guess we'll just have to make another trip next weekend! :P
There's still so much stuff I would like to do in Melbourne, and there's not enough time! We've made a list of things to do, and we're coming up with a list for New Zealand, and it's all coming to and end too fast. On a slightly sad note, the Sydney Opera House will not be available to the public for most of the time we are in Sydney due to this Australian leaders conference that will be held in Sydney.