Like many large science organizations IODP has its own special ways of doing things and naming cores and samples and today we began the process of learning how to do that so that the rest of the cruise will go nice and smoothly. It felt like much of our day was spent sitting in the conference room listening to a series of talks about all the work that we would soon have to do and being told about our responsibilities as scientists and shipmates and what we should be doing at various stages both during the expedition and for what is clearly going to be for many years after that. People were also excited to get connected to the Internet and to be able to start checking their email so that we can have some type of contact with our friends and family on the shore during the time at sea. This tsunami of information was a little bit overwhelming after little bit so that I had to beat a retreat and go and reacquaint myself with the espresso coffee machine on the bridge deck which I suspect is going to be a major feature in shipboard life over the next few weeks. We will be in Colombo for a few days yet and tomorrow they’ll be another set of meetings. After all this meeting even describing core will seem like a vacation