It's official!

Yesterday at the end of the day I finally was made an official Associate of the university, with a proper pass. Today I even got the pass to open the necessary doors for me. Moreover, the pass opened the way to get a membership at the Sport Village, at Associate fee. Being a member of such a prestigious facility is, however, something to tbe taken very seriously, and only after an introductory tour tomorrow at which I will be explained the proper Health and Safety regulations will I be entitled to the Black Wristband which opens the doors over there.

I did have a taste of what is awaiting me by going to a spinning class at lunchtime. They have a fixed setup, none of your carting the bikes in and out, and though today there were only about 10 people attending I was told that you have to sign up for the classes in time. Fortunately my agenda is very empty so I don't have to worry about the starting times, which are indeed different every day (no kidding). Next time I will also try to remember that it is not such a brilliant idea to take a full bottle of water with me on the way there, unless it is absolutely tight :-/

Of course all of the above is actually irrelevant for my real purpose of getting acquainted with the research they do over here. Towards which I made a reasonable start today by going through some chapters of the Epsilon book and some of the online demos they have. Very nice work, I wonder who found the time to set all of that up!

Tonight I have been invited to a goodbye dinner of  Kenneth Johnson, a research associate who will be leaving for Auckland (New Zealand) a week from now. That's a different kettle of tea! (I understood "Oakland" when he said this first, a remark I then made about the States met with a puzzled stare.) In any case this will allow me to get to know the group members a bit better, and who knows also York. A report will follow, dear readers.