The ICML Lugano

This was the first time I attended the International Conference in Malignant Lymphoma, ICML for short. It all started in 1981, and over the years, this meeting had evolved into an important event in the Haematology calendar. This meeting was held once every couple of years - it was every three years at the beginning.

The event had definitely blossomed since its inception, and now the Congress Center was struggling to accommodate the crowd which descended to the place from all parts of the world. Being held a week after EHA also meant that most of the speakers and delegates could double up for both meetings. A two-in-one kind of trip. I remembered when I was at EHA in London a couple of years back when some of the the data were embargoed until the Lugano meeting the week after.

The topics were more specific and I was impressed with the discussion they had during case presentation. You couldn't get this kind of exposure at any other meeting. I also found that the interaction was more intimate.

Since the Congress Center was too small to accommodate everybody, marquees were erected around the gardens next to the building where the lectures were beamed live and the pharmaceutical companies erected their booths. That was also where we had our meals and coffee.

Some of the sessions had to be held away from the main congress venue. One such place was actually a movie theatre. It certainly projected the slides well ......

All in all, I learned a lot from the 4 day meeting. A lot of nee information and study were discussed, although the emphasis this year seemed to be on the integration of radiotherapy in thenmanagement of lymphoma. I would like to return here again, but maybe not on the next meet. Maybe every other gathering. And Puan Anita had stated her intentions of tagging along ......

Photos from the conference can be seen here.

A Long Day

I was really exhausted by the time I wrote this entry. I did a quick walk in the village near ny hotel after breakfast, hopped onto the bus to the Congress Hall. Managed to walk across town on the way to the Congress Centre and really had a feel of what Lugano was all about.

I then listened to a few lectures and then followed my colleagues to Fox Town retail outlet which I blogged about earlier.

I then turned back to the Congress Hall for anothed session before taking a late afternoon stroll into town. Did some more shopping before taking the tram up the hill to get to my bus stop before finally heading home.

Luckily we had planned for a quiet dinner back at the hotel. All of us as a group. We could then chill out, do the packing before heading to Milan tomorrow morning after breakfast.

Feeling sticky now after I was sure almost 10 km of walking. My legs were aching and I could do with a long hot shower. Shame that my room didn't come with a bath tub .. ..

Photos from the day walk can be seen here.

Upload Done

It took me a good week or so, but finally the photos from the recent Penang MSH meeting were up. It was just that I had a couple of calls right after the meeting last week, and finding time to sit down and go through the photos was a bit difficult. After the photos were done, then there was a small matter of uploading the the photos onto my server. And that would take bandwidth as each photos was about 1Mb in size. It didn't take that long with the fibre connection at the apartment, but finding time to do so at the apartment was another story.

Once the photos were ported up, then I had to embed than onto the website. And that took me another couple of hours. It wasn't long but finding the time to sit down and do them was the problem.

Anyhow, it was all done. I decided to capture the photos in RAW on the 7D, making colour management through Aperture, less tricky. I was actually pretty happy with the results.

Gurney Down

I was rather disappointed with the current state of Gurney Hotel, the venue for our recent Haematology Meeting. The place had certainly been run down compared to what it was back in 2010, the last time I was there. It needed proper maintenance, or to put in bluntly, it needed proper management. The current crop should hang their collective heads in shame.

In the past, the food was reasonably good, the state of the room were well above average, the jacuzzi in the main bathroom suite was in working order, and the internet actually was of broadband speed.

Now, the food was dreadful, the room was stuffy, and even the air conditioning was not working properly. I had four air-conditioning unit in my apartment, and only one remote was available. My room lacked proper lighting, I couldn't even get any work done. And the internet …… I was sure you could get faster speed in North Korea.

The other thing which actually irked me was the lift. The hotel had almost 30 floors, but with only 3 lifts for the patrons. The less I elaborate the better I thought …..

But the main reason why I was strong in my criticism was the fact that the hotel wasn't not able to cope with the 550 delegates - and 31 pharma booths - for the event, despite claiming that they could easily manage 750. Bold claims, but couldn't deliver ……..

Photos for Later

It had been a fruitful weekend in all honesty. The meeting in Penang was a success, an I get to meet my family up there in Penang as well. Though my time was rather occupied when I was there.

Then and the drive back to reality. The program did not finish until lunch. I hang around for a bit, finally leaving Gurney Hotel at around 2 pm.

I then drove straight to Sungai Petani to pick my Mum. We only started the journey proper at around 3.30.

The drive down was slower than expected although we still reached KL in good time. The traffic was rather heavy, this being a Sunday afternoon, and Anita joined me at my Mum's place shortly after.

I wanted to watch the Arsenal-United match but felt asleep halfway. Tired I guess. As for the photos? It would have to wait. I have taken Monday and Tuesday off anyhow, although I still had to go to the hospital to sort a couple of things out. I'll start going through the photos later on today.