Today went like this:

0:00: Return from short hike to The Old Wallows, a beach south of Davis where a dozen or so male Elephant Seals have come to do their thing. According to the Seal Conservation Society's webpage (www.pinnipeds.org), "their thing" involves diving to depths of 300-600 m for average periods of 20-22 minutes; making migratory trips of up to 2000 km each way every year; and growing to an average 2.2 tonnes (for a male; but they have been also known to reach 4 tonnes). To this impressive list I can now authoritatively add: they can also burp continuously through their noses for several minutes at a time, and they have muscular nostrils that they can flex individually in some sort of nasal calisthenics routine. Oh - and when they sneeze, two large jets of water vapour shoot out of their noses like dragons. They have cute faces with mouths that curve half-way around their heads - they look a bit like puppy-dogs... if the puppy dogs were cross-bred with strangely massive slugs.

09:00: Wake up to Peter pounding on the donga door, yelling, "Get up! Get up! They've just told us we've got a chopper flight to the plateau to deploy the magnetometer in one hour!

09:25: Burst into the SAS building fully clothed and packed and ready to go, to hear that the flight was cancelled five minutes ago.

09:30: Go and have a late brekky.

10:00: Get stuck into work, which involves spending an hour walking around in the Magnetic Quiet Zone, in the freezing cold, carrying a huge bar magnet. This is to redo a part of a calibration that was showing strange readings. I have just checked the data and the readings are still strange. Perhaps I have discovered a new phenomenon of the ilk of the magnetic monopole. How fitting: 100 years since Einstein's famous trilogy of papers. Or else something in the apparatus is playing up.

16:00: Start setting up the SAS Building for Friday Afternoon Science Drinks - it's our turn to host it this week. Joe has filled up the water cooler with Gin & Tonic. I put up a big banner saying '2005: A SAS ODYSSEY'. Klucky set up the laptops to stream live footage of the Titan Moon Landing Probe. We put the beer outside to chill. Cheese and bikkies and chips and cocktails are everywhere. It's looking good.

17:00: Estimated time of start of Friday Avo Drinks

18:00: Estimated time of departure for me, Peter and the Doc to leave for our three-day hike thru the Vestfolds via Brookes' Hut and Watts Hut. Despite taking it easy on the G&Ts, we won't be walking in straight lines: 60-knot gusts are forecast for the weekend.

previous Friday Science Drinks - hosted by Biology