International Congress of Human Genetics – day 1

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Richard Wintle

Palais des Congrès, Montréal
This is where it will all happen… tomorrow.

Well, day “minus one” really, since the thing doesn’t start until tomorrow.

Nevertheless, I have braved the Canadian Nationalized Train Service, and am now, after a long and interesting discussion with a mathematician from Dalhousie University, who (a) happened to be sitting next to me, and (b) knew what C. elegans is, in La Belle Province, specifically the city of Montréal.

Yes, I took the train, for a variety of reasons including convenience, lack of irritating security checks, and delivery to within walking distance of my supposedly very swishy, but really very ordinary, hotel.

Nevertheless, arriving nearly a full day early afforded me the opportunity to exercise my usual hobby of painting pictures with pixels. So here you are:

Rural Western Quebec
This is what rural western Quebec looks like, at speed.

And here is a tractor, panned at a stupidly slow shutter speed with a lens that doesn’t compensate for poor technique:

Tractor and trailers, rural Quebec, October 2011

Tomorrow, I am in a project meeting all morning, followed by an afternoon of the ICHG and a dinner meeting for said project. The rest of the week is a free-for-all of talks, posters, vendor-sponsored events, and all the rest of it. Wish me luck. I’ll be posting updates and photos and whatnot as I can.

About Richard Wintle

I am Canadian by heritage, and a molecular biologist and human geneticist by training. My day job is Assistant Director of a large genome centre, where I do various things along the lines of "keeping the wheels on". In my spare time, I tend to run around with a camera, often chasing horses, race cars, musicians, and occasionally, wildlife.
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7 Responses to International Congress of Human Genetics – day 1

  1. cromercrox says:
    October 11, 2011 at 2:32 pm

    Nice tractor.

  2. Cath@VWXYNot? says:
    October 11, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    I liked the Toronto-Montreal train, although it wasn’t as spectacular as the Toronto-Vancouver route! It’s an extremely civilised way to travel, topped only by boats IMHO.

    Have fun in Montreal – I’m very jealous. I need to go back, and visit Quebec City too.

  3. Jon Moulton says:
    October 11, 2011 at 11:01 pm

    There’s a pub in Lijiang (Yunnan Province, China) called the Sexy Tractor. I sipped tea on the balcony one midday with my family. Nice setting, and they’ve Guinness on tap.

  4. ricardipus says:
    October 15, 2011 at 2:29 pm

    Somehow, I have reminded myself of the album Lik My Trakter, by The Waltons.

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