Last day at CERN

I'm in the midst of my last day at CERN. I'm about to leave the office to turn in my badge, keys, get the final signatures and have lunch one last time with my office mates.

Leaving CERN isn't easy, though it is a decision I made and a decision I'm happy with. Sad as I am to leave Geneva, I can't wait to be back in California, back with old friends and back in school.

While I'm clearly not the most dedicated blogger, I'll try to keep this alive, as I can, sharing new tid bits as I come across them. If it is CERN-news that you're after, let me share this amazing little link (CERNlove.org) that someone sent to me the other day. Items discussed? The peculiar signs in the toilets, our decaying buildings, the coffee machines and other hundred other niceties.

It is an amazing place here, someone someday will need to write a cultural history of the place. They would have plenty of material. I was speaking to someone the other day about the different cultures of the Physics and IT Departments. Within those groups, each division -- for example each experiment -- has a unique feel. Dividing things further, each subdetector has its own team and culture. Rivalries (friendly, or at least touted to be) are rife. As long as no one takes themselves overly seriously, it is all a lot of fun. (Physicists?? overly serious?? Never!)

Speaking of which, apparently it is a very serious matter if you do not take care of all of the administrational minutiae of leaving this place, so I'd better head out.