ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

My chuffing word has this week stressed me out. The commissioning of the new computers has been a mixed blessing. Ever one to embrace new technology, I've leapt onto the machine, requiring swift development of generalised byte-swapping / hdf5-to-binary type software. Trouble is, the new machine's HDF5 libraries are somehow corrupt, meaning that GADGET won't restart from HDF5 files, which is a problem when your simulations crash. As they often do.

No worry you say? Just restart from the....*restart* files! Yeah, I would if I hadn't deleted them (for no god reason other than directory tidiness) this morning. Rob, you've just written hdf5-to-binary software; convert a snapshot into binary and go from there! OK, so I did that (feeling duly smug), and off it went, happily.

Except get this: the lack of an hdf5 extention on my initial conditions lead GADGET to think it should start them snapshot numbering again from 000. Thus massacring the existing snapshots - it got as for as z=26 before I realised and killed it. Not to worry too much - these should be identical to the non-photoheated run until z=11 when I turn on the UV, so I can copy those over and rename them. Just have to rename a trillion files when (if) this current run completes.

In other issues, while waiting for the simulations today, I revisited my GADGET "observation maker" software, as the Caltech boys reckoned they'd found strong radial motions. Confused by this, I took a look at realised I'd forgotten to incline the velocities as well as the particle positions. OOPS. Just made myself look an utter dick in front of my collaborators....nice move. Another 3 hours wasted in fixing the problem, testing the solution to death, and writing grovelling emails to my betters across the pond.

I really need a pint now, except I've found I suddenly can't get into my jeans anymore. I've going home now, to put on some shorts and give myself a coronary somewhere along the river bank. That's if the chav kids along there don't stone me to death first. Happy weekend everybody.