So it turns out that Max and I live and work in the same city.
Cambridge has always struck me as having exactly the right kind of personality for halfbaking, so it occurs to me to wonder if there are any more of us in the region, and whether it might be worth meeting up and sampling some of the local ale some time.
The Eagle springs to mind as an appropriate venue - it's famous for Watson and Crick's discovery of the DNA helix, an idea which must have seemed pretty halfbaked at the time.-- Wrongfellow, Jan 23 2010 so they were pretty pissed when they pinched this lady's work. http://www.sdsc.edu...Women/franklin.html [po, Jan 23 2010] Wrongfellow's ugly mug http://www.whoinven....com/static/fb1.jpgI look a bit like this, most of the time. [Wrongfellow, Feb 08 2010] Cambridge Beer Festival! http://www.cambridgebeerfestival.com/Link and churn. [Wrongfellow, May 11 2013] I drove the deep fat recovery fast food restaurant pick-up route there for a local reconstitution plant for a short while, but now live in Kentucky. Darn. CambridgeHB meet-up. How great. I honestly would love to be there. I'd miss a Morbid Obesity meetup at the Golden Corral Buffet for that any day (unregistered idea).
Hawking grin bun [+].-- Mustardface, Jan 23 2010 I could possibly do this.-- nineteenthly, Jan 23 2010 So that's three of us....any more? I think we need at least a quorum, in case any of us are socially inept and need to seek safety in numbers.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 23 2010 Do you have a date in mind?-- nineteenthly, Jan 23 2010 You could engage in a worthwhile task... like building a replica of that DNA helix on a pub table, using match sticks and different brands of baked beans. When complete this would be displayed on the Halfbakery. Other similar tasks available on request.-- xenzag, Jan 23 2010 I've never been to Cambridge, but as a Londonite who's wondered whether it might be nice to move out to somewhere a bit less urban, while being able to work locally (or at least, be commutable to London) I keep thinking about Cambridge. It might be a good excuse to come and have a look around.-- zen_tom, Jan 23 2010 I've never been to Cambridge, but I'd like to live and work there... If I can find a job there and get an interview in short notice I'll try and coordinate with any Cambridge mini/maxi Halfcon-- Jinbish, Jan 23 2010 I've been to Cambridge, i have friends in Cambridge, at the university and in Addenbrookes. Not everyone i know has messed up their lives as well as i have.-- nineteenthly, Jan 23 2010 //Do you have a date in mind?// No, I was going to come along by myself.
Zen - yay! Come visit. The East Anglian drizzle is at its best in January.
Jinbish - hey, I'll interview you. If you can pretend to be a microfluidicist, I can even get your expenses paid....
Nineteenthly - it's not necessarily true that not being in Cambridge any more means you have messed up your life. Although obviously it's a good indicator.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 23 2010 People used to think i was from Cambridge because i was from a historical place beginning with C - Canterbury. People have ended up at Cambridge. I don't consider living in Leicester to be a sign of failure.
However, as someone who responded to a previous suggestion to meet up, i should probably warn you that you might want to check the gender and more specifically the ages of the people who plan to come. It was of course entirely innocent, but when you think in terms of a middle aged bloke meeting a fourteen year old girl who only knows him from the internet, which is what happened to me and [up on cloud nine] last year, you might want to exercise a little caution before you go ahead, and you may also want a chaperone.-- nineteenthly, Jan 23 2010 // a middle aged bloke meeting a fourteen year old girl who only knows him from the internet//
You say that as if it's....
I reckon we'll all be mammals, which is good enough for me.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 23 2010 In the light of what i've just said, i'm wondering if Reality Checkpoint might be a good place to meet.
And i actually don't think [beanangel] is a mammal for a start, which is not supposed to be an insult so much as a mark of admiration for something which i think is some kind of cyberspace-only AI bot.-- nineteenthly, Jan 23 2010 Which one were you, [19th]?-- pocmloc, Jan 23 2010 I volunteer for gender check duty though I might miss out on networking a bit.-- Mustardface, Jan 23 2010 I'll be in UK from 2 Feb to 16 Feb. I could possibrobably come along if it's during that time.-- imaginality, Jan 23 2010 Feb 14th would be impolitic, but otherwise I'm good for most days. How about the 8th?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 23 2010 The 8th is good for me. I would also like to point out that I am not a fourteen year old girl. I am, however, a mammal.-- Wrongfellow, Jan 24 2010 I'm forty-two, [pocmloc].-- nineteenthly, Jan 24 2010 I am mammalian, male, bipedal, eukaryotic and homeothermic (please look up the last term if you are not sure), and have been for 40-something years, where 'something' is not an integer.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 24 2010 Hey, me too! What an amazing coincidence. Don't tell me you're also deuterostomic?
Of course, in my case 'something' is not a positive number, which may be where we differ - however it has only one digit to the left of the decimal point.-- Wrongfellow, Jan 24 2010 I took the train from London to Cambridge once, stayed in a good little hotel/house, and went punting on the River Cam. I had such a good time that I did it all over again a week later.
I had hopes of meeting my favorite 'Baker while there, but it didn't work out, much to my regret. Better luck to you all, and best wishes for a good time.-- baconbrain, Jan 24 2010 //8th is good for me//. Steady on, they might hear you. Before you know it, your biological classification will be closer to mineral than mammalian.
[MB]: Micro-fluidics eh? I recently made it to the final interview for a job in nanoscience - with next to 0 specific scientific knowledge. I'm sure I could blag it with some lab-on-a-chip nonsense or some such...-- Jinbish, Jan 24 2010 I hope you realise that aside from being forty-two, i'm also a plasma-based lifeform situated near the south pole of Saturn and only communicate with the Halfbakery using radio signals.-- nineteenthly, Jan 24 2010 Well, aren't we all, in a sense?-- nineteenthly, Jan 24 2010 //I recently made it to the final interview for a job in nanoscience - with next to 0 specific scientific knowledge.//
By bizarre coincidence, I had an application from a nanoscientist who knew bugger all about microfluidics.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 24 2010 //nanoscientist who knew bugger all about microfluidics//Must've been the guy I was next to...(Seriously though - I have a hard enough time convincing folk of my telecoms background, I wouldn't have a snowflake's melting chance in anything microfluidics)-- Jinbish, Jan 24 2010 At the interview you can say one of the reasons you should be hired is that you already possess all of the precision instruments in the microfluidics trade. At that point simply reach into your briefcase real scientific-like, and then very carefully, so as to not damage the highly engineered apparatus, unfold your hand directly under the interviewer's nose. When he claims your hand is empty grab him by his collars and accuse him of inhaling them. Remember to shake him angrily and to beat him about the head and neck shouting insults like oaf, and cretin and other hurtful slogans.
Your office is down the hall.-- rcarty, Jan 24 2010 There still remains the problem of identifying one another once we get there.
To that end, I've posted a link which may be useful.-- Wrongfellow, Feb 08 2010 Ohmygod - it's the 8th, like....today!! I sort of lost track of this one.
Are people flocking at this very moment to Cambridge?
If not, when?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 08 2010 [Maxwell] I totally lost track of this too - 8th Feb already? Where is this year going?-- zen_tom, Feb 08 2010 I think it may be going to hell in a handbasket, whatever that means.
OK - so, if we're going for this, we need a date for lunch in Cambridge.
I propose 1st March, to pick a date at random and give a bit of notice. Anyone in favour?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 08 2010 I could possibly get on board with that. It would involve having enough dosh at the time and cancelling my science sessions, but it could be done i think.-- nineteenthly, Feb 08 2010 Excellent - any other takers?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 08 2010 Heh. Halfbakedness truly abounds.
The 1st is fine for me.-- Wrongfellow, Feb 08 2010 I want to meet you all. This is not fair, I say. We need an international hosting site. Kind of like what the big financial and global warming world leaders have.-- blissmiss, Feb 08 2010 OK so that's three of us, and we can raise a glass to Blissmiss. Any others? Are there Halfbakery Travel Bursaries available?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 08 2010 well and I live near the Fake one!! (cries in my sleeve....) I got a bit excited when I first saw the post...-- xandram, Feb 08 2010 I could do the 1st if you moved it to Ireland...-- wagster, Feb 09 2010 Whereas i'm quite flexible temporally speaking, is a Monday the best day for this? My self-underemployment makes it easy for me to shift things round, but i wouldn't expect it to be so simple for other people.-- nineteenthly, Feb 09 2010 I'm quite liking the idea of a grand day out in the country, the open road, roof-down on a nice sunny day (or if we're talking more of an evening thing, thirstyness might necessitate a train). Have we established when/where/and for how long we're planning to meet up? Also, how many halfbakers can you get in a punt?-- zen_tom, Feb 09 2010 So far, the plan is for the 1st of March during the day. I'm good for lunch/middle-part-of-day, but it could be extended into an evening for those who can make it...-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 09 2010 Yes, [zen-tom], I did read that as "pun". Not knowing what a punt was, my mind naturally defaulted to pun. That and this being the halfbakery and all.-- blissmiss, Feb 09 2010 Sadly, the only punt-based jokes I know are not repeatable in polite conversation - and in this case, there was certainly no pun intended. A Punt being a Cambridge-specific incarnation of the gondola.-- zen_tom, Feb 09 2010 HEY!!!! This is tomorrow!!!!
Anyone still up for this?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 28 2010 Aye! I've got the day off work, too, so any hour is good for me.-- Wrongfellow, Mar 01 2010 Anyone else? Come on guys......
I think a duet is a bit of a small and intimate gathering....I figure we need a trio at least. Zen? 19thly? The clock's a ticking...-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 01 2010 Looks like this is a bit of a non-starter?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 01 2010 Sorry Max - I was all geared up and then work went mentalist at the last minute (well Friday) scuppering my plans for a day off - rubbish excuse I know, but I really can't make it today.-- zen_tom, Mar 01 2010 Similar problem here. I had to harrangue the Inland Revenue and have two science sessions this afternoon. Sorry. Getting away from Leicester at all is difficult.-- nineteenthly, Mar 01 2010 No problem. Shall we iterate towards another day? April 1st seems bizarrely appropriate...-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 01 2010 From my experience, it is really difficult to do this unless you're in a fairly big city. Up here it's fairly spread out by English standards and the communications between Cambridge not via London aren't too good. Sorry if it hasn't worked out but we should have another go. Weekends are best for me and i've got friends in Cambridge, so i'm motivated to go there anyway.
Seriously, please do try it again. I want to meet you.-- nineteenthly, Mar 01 2010 Mm, maybe. Never could get the hang of that day of the week, but it's a possibility. Out of term time, is it?-- nineteenthly, Mar 01 2010 It's a lovely day, so I'm off for a walk in the sun.
I think I'll head over towards the Addenbrooke's complex, and wave a forlorn "Hi Max!" at the first sight of the chimneys, making for the most halfbaked meetup imaginable.-- Wrongfellow, Mar 01 2010 I have a non-online friend at Addenbrooke's.-- nineteenthly, Mar 01 2010 It's a small world, unless someone asks you to tile it.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 01 2010 Colony fail-- sneakythumbs, Mar 05 2010 Well, that's the French plan [MB], isn't it? Presumably they think the planet is flat, given their choice of tile shape.-- nineteenthly, Mar 05 2010 <crank alert!> Boy!, that is brave, 19thly! </ca> Please reconsider posting your neighbour's number like that!-- gnomethang, Mar 31 2010 I know, but really, who's going to be reading this? I'm deleting it in half an hour. Incidentally, it doesn't imply that this house is empty tomorrow.-- nineteenthly, Mar 31 2010 I'll ring you sometime soon!-- po, Mar 31 2010 That'd be nice, [po].-- nineteenthly, Mar 31 2010 Hey all. Due to some unexpected circumstances, I won't make it. Would be nice to meet [Wrongfellow], zen-tom and the rest, but sadly not.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 31 2010 Unless someone says they're definitely going in the next hour or so, i won't be either because i can't justify the cost of the train ticket otherwise.
However, all is not lost because i did at least get a 'phone call from [UnaBubba] out of this.-- nineteenthly, Apr 01 2010 I'm busy all day and evening - so this is looking like a non-starter and if I were you I'd probably save the money.
Continuing with the established trend, shall we say 1st May?-- Wrongfellow, Apr 01 2010 OK, I'm willing to get interested in the 1st May - an auspicious date, on this, the most longest-to-arrange meetup ever - plus, 1st May is a Saturday, and it's more likely to be a nice day in Seasonal terms (although today, against the odds, seems quite reasonable - lovely blue sky this morning)
ha [nineteenthly]! I hope you said hi from all of us.-- zen_tom, Apr 01 2010 Yes, for once i think that's actually doable. Weekends have surely got to be easier.
OK then, place and time of day? I'm keen on Reality Checkpoint in Parker's Piece, because it seems oddly appropriate. Midday? Would you like me to enquire after pubs?-- nineteenthly, Apr 01 2010 You can do what you like after the pub, but I'll probably just go home.-- Wrongfellow, Apr 02 2010 I must remind myself to think in English sometimes.-- nineteenthly, Apr 02 2010 Just some advance notice to say I'm not going to make it. We came out to Las Vegas for a friend's wedding and got volcanoes. The next available flight home isn't till the 4th. thankfully, we're clear of Vegas (nasty, nasty place) and are planning a bit of a road trip from our new impromptu home in Desert Hot Springs. Maybe head north to Yosemete, then west to SF, before heading south to LA to pick up our flight. Any suggestions on what to check out on the way from USAians?-- zen_tom, Apr 20 2010 Hmmm...2 weeks in California? You could spend a big part of that just in Los Angeles and not really have "seen it", [ZT]. Why don't you contact me through Multiply...I think you've got that address, and I would be happy to make some recommendations to fit your budget, party size and ages, personal interests, means of travel and timing limitations.-- jurist, Apr 20 2010 Hmm.
<looks at date>-- Wrongfellow, May 01 2010 Sorry, i'm engaging in the door-knocking mentioned elsewhere. Not now feasible i'm afraid: thought i'd told everyone. Sorry if i didn't.-- nineteenthly, May 01 2010 random, halfbakery