highly intellectual day

right, lemme make this clear at the outset before i go any further. i am NOT a geek, nerd, muggu, chop, dexter-type of person.. and those who know me well will vouch for that too. so if in the following few lines you get the distinct feeling i am turning into one of the above-mentioned, please dispel any such thoughts as soon as they pop up in your head, like the googlebar does to internet explorer popups (i use mozilla firefox these days!)

like the prodigal son of biblical times i returned to the fold of the lab today after a sabbatical of a week or so. and like that other prodigal idiot, i too was welcomed with open arms, and piles of germanium prisms that require things to be done to them. for those really really interested, i am gonna drop a few catchwords here, make whatever sense you want of them: germanium prisms, infra-red spectrosocpy, glow-discharge treatment, octo-decyl silane, nyebar type Q, hydrophilicity, capillary pull, distilled water, detergent wash, thermal imaging, wavelet absorbance.. if you actually managed to use most of these in one sentence, please leave that sentence here as a comment, so that i can use it in my next progress report. there are numerous attractive prizes on offer too, so set your grey matter to it!!

i think i tweaked my back yesterday playing cricket or something.. i have been in sheer agony at times since then.. the painkillers and spray i'm using are just kicking in.. aargh!! its actually much more comfy to stand than sit!

we have been having some simply glorious weather the last few days! it's quite amazing, cos we were quite sure that summer was over! plans are underway to enjoy the last few days as much as possible - since thursday is a jewish holiday (yom kippur), we're planning to have a last blast on the grill on wednesday evening. if you know us consider yourself invited - of course, admission fee is in kind (either alcohol or meat!!)

finally a quick note to smi - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! hope you have the most awesome day, and a great year ahead! :-))