IIHF World Championship ’09

The World Championships in hockey are about to begin … exactly seven days left!
This is the perfect time to take part in another one of my online betting games.
In the recently refurbished and renamed section “Honour & Glory” you can now try to gain both.
I added some new statistics and features to the system …

LHC Status and Plans

Many have asked me about the status and the restart of the LHC since I am back at CERN.
So to wrap it up a little … the official CERN statement [press release] is still, that we foresee to have first beams in the LHC at the end of September this year, with collisions following in late October!
As far as ATLAS is concerned we will have most parts of the machine up and running already starting this month for commissioning and cosmic data taking …

Thanks to all who remembered …

Thanks for all the good wishes and such things …
Even though I am not in Berlin these days, there will of course be a party! Most likely I will make up for it in July, maybe August!
For those in and around Geneva, there might be one next weekend … details will follow.
Those who forgot, will have their chance to compensate by bringing large and expensive gifts ;)

Hiking in the snow

It’s been two nice days of hiking in the Jura and the Alpes … we almost made it to Reculet near Thoiry (Jura mountains) and all the way up to La Laitemaire (Alpes) … in both cases the snow was our biggest enemy. For the latter tour we couldn’t even find the track on the way down … and due to the loose hip-high snow we ended up sliding down snowfields, crossing avalanche fields and walking in ankle deep mud … hmm!
Nice experience and definitely a good test for our new shoes ;)
The picture is from the Reculet Thoiry hike (one of the nice parts without snow).

Home sweet home!

Looks like I found a place to stay for the rest of my three months at CERN today.
A place in Thoiry shared with the owner of the house.
And I can see the top of Europe, the Mt. Blanc, and the lake from my window … ahh!