SPIE's publication department is going to launch an eBook website. SPIE press books will be available in the SPIE digital library, joining conference proceedings and journals. Before this website can be launched, every eBook needs to be checked, as formatting and content of the landing pages on the website might be incorrect. This quality control, also just QC, has taken up most of my time this week, but I have also prepared sample files of eBook information for potential Canadian buyers. We got the chance to meet with SPIE's representative of the European office located in Wales, during dinner with SPIE's CEO Eugene Arthurs and his wife. I have just started a new project, which, finally is film related. SPIE had its biggest conference called Optics and Photonics in San Diego last week. A lot of footage was filmed inside and outside Palomar Observatory with its 200 inch Hale telescope. The observatory has commissioned several new instruments that both use the adaptive optics system and instruments that do not require the adaptive optics system. I will be using the material to make a 5min long documentary. I cannot believe that we only have another two weeks left until we return to Scotland. The countdown begins.

Our last weekend was simply crazy, as we went to Las Vegas. Bellingham seems very remote, but there are direct flights from Bellingham to almost every major holiday destination on the West coast. The flight there was already amazing. The desert and mountains we saw from the plane were unbelievable. Las Vegas seems even more unreal when you think about how it is built in the middle of the desert. You lose sense of time and space in Las Vegas, as there are no clocks inside the casinos. You feel like you're in a different world altogether and the weekend went by very quickly. And yes- we did gamble. We played blackjack and yes- we did make some money, but details shall remain secret because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?! J