What did I do in Toronto last week?

I continued my sabbatical year travel and visited Huaxiong Huang at York University. We arranged the visit to pick up a project we have had on the back burner for a number of years. This is a project I code named "Easy Bake" and involved the analysis and computation of models of two phase flow in porous media with phase change. Huaxiong and some others had looked at such models in the context of bread baking. I had looked at similar models in fuel cell applications. We wanted to better understand the mathematical structure of the solutions of such equations using simple models and specifically to investigate the relationship between models that have a condensation and evaporation rate and those that assume the vapour is exactly at saturation when there is liquid water present. One of the interesting features of the model is a free boundary that is present between regions that are all vapour and ones where there is both liquid water and vapour (a so-called two-phase zone). These boundaries move, but there is no explicit expression for the interface velocity like for Stefan problems of solidification. Rather, the interface moves with velocity implicitly determined to match an additional interface condition. We are not aware of any general theory to cover problems with this kind of structure.

Huaxiong arranged accommodation on campus for me in a furnished room with a kitchen (#306 in the Passy 2 building). This is typical of the places I have visited so far this year and I enjoy that kind of set-up rather than a hotel room. I didn't stay long enough to get a real feel for the place, but it was well laid out. It was quite spacious, split-level with a balcony. There was local shopping at the Food Cents at 45 Four Winds Dr. Overall a nice stay. I would happily have a longer stay in Toronto. My wife and I had lived there in the early 90s and have some friends there still (I had dinner with some in Hamilton while I was there). We lived near College and Dufferin. There was a great bar nearby on College that had breakfast pizzas. I went back there just a few years ago and it was still open but didn't have a chance to look it up this trip.

No trip would be complete without trying the locally available cider. At the local liquor store I found the following two new ones (new to me). The Blackthorn on the left is typical English cider similar to Strongbow. The Swedish Rekorderlig is a pear cider with berry flavour. Somehow it was reminiscent of cough syrup, but worked as a nice drink nontheless. I would definitely try it again.

Someone recently told me that my blog was boring. What encourages me is that anyone has read it at all! Next post: my obsession with scrap wood carpentry. 

White Spot at SFU

I am back in Vancouver between sabbatical travel. I have an office up at Simon Fraser University (across town in Vancouver from UBC) that my buddies here set up for me. I am in IRMACS which is really a nice environment. I have spent a lot of time up at SFU over the years. My last two sabbaticals (in 2004 and 1997) were mostly spent up here. This was when the kids were too young for me to be away for long. SFU has three main things going for it:

1. A world famous pipe (that's bagpipe) band. Check them out here. I have their CD from a few years ago when they were world champions - brilliant. They might still be world champions, I don't know. 
2. A great applied and computational mathematics group. 
3. A White Spot outlet

So what is White Spot? It is a family restaurant chain, you can see details here. My father used to take me there when I was a kid on weekends after my parents split up. We would go to the one in West Vancouver (at Park Royal) and have car service. I think the food there is generally better than the average family restaurant, but the main reason I love to go to the White Spot is those childhood memories. 

White Spot has an affiliated burger stand franchise called Triple-O's. This is what they have here at SFU and at Chevron gas stations throughout the province as well as on the BC Ferries. At UBC last year, they opened a White Spot restaurant right next to my office! I think this was the happiest year of my career at UBC. I understand that it was "downgraded" to a Triple-O outlet this year. I haven't been to this new version yet, but I can't believe I will enjoy it as much as the one here at SFU, which has all those good memories. I went for lunch there today and the only thing missing was Keith Promislow "sharing" my fries.