In other news. The teaching semester is over

Our departmental Christmas lunch was yesterday. It was great. I ate loads and loads. Sure felt a little weighty after but it was worth it.  The menu was excellent this time around, I was satisfied and jolly and even wore the silly hat you find in crackers

Although we’re still here until Wednesday afternoon, I can’t wait. It’s been interesting times and I look forward to a less interesting holiday. What I miss the most is the amount of casual reading I have neglected ever since 4th year of university. I hope to catch up over the break, and not deal with work at all. This is a Christmas wish, which I hope Santa is listening too (I’ve ate the cookies and milk =\).

In fact today, I’ve decided to celebrate a little early. Hopefully, going to see Avatar this afternoon. A visual feast I’ve been told by semi reliable sources (the Internet!) I hope it’s worth it, but more importantly I hope the cinema is warm enough so that my arse wont stick to the seat when I try to leave. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back. If my fingers work

Laters

I’m hoping that all my reading will start coming together to and form something that I can call my own. Novelty, is an important factor in PhD research and without it difficult to justify three years of work. I don’t really do a new year’s resolutions  but I think for university it makes more sense, a new session will start, new students will be returning and it’s definitely a milestone for me so this is my list for the new university session in no particular order.

• Don’t just read more. Write more
• Don’t lose motivation when things aren’t going right
• Don’t lose motivation when things have gone right
• Don’t get distracted too much
• Focus more on the problem you have
• Be diligent in your work
• Use the help of others who have had more experience than you
• Look after yourself body and mind
• A rest is good, but don’t waste the day on it
• Have fun

I think that’s pretty much it for now, I’ll be sure to think on these things and try my best.

Thanks for reading

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Ever seen those wacky moves with scientists/engineers/geeks that seem to produce instant result?

The Myth:

24 is my favourite example where encryption is childsplay, and takes less than an hour to break, to the right person and everything works and is so seamless and batteries last an entire day with all their fancy phones that can do GPS take Hi Res images and are instantly compatible with all data formats. It makes me laugh, but I still watch it

The Reality:

Sitting in an office doing research is like sitting in an office it’s not much different than the usual. We read scientific papers full of language and ideas that have been compressed into four sheets of paper trying to figure out what all the extra greek letters are referring to and giving yourself a pat on the back when we finally understand the gist after reading it about 3 times. Fully understanding it can take a week (well for me it can) .

Of course that is only ever one part of it, then trying to figure out if there is anything directly applicable to our research and that we think is worthwhile in pursuing needs careful consideration. In fact sometimes we just sit there hoping for a little inspiration in what we read and that inspiration is what it takes to progress forward to the next … whatever. This can be a very slow process at times, i.e, will take longer than an hour, and that’s why a good supply of coffee is beneficial and some food to keep the brain ticking. Research is a waiting game 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration, and after 3 years or so we hopefully vomit out something that looks remarkably looks good and of course full of greek letters and maths for the next generation of researchers to mull over

P.S. The title doesn’t even make sense now and therefore I dedicate this another rambling post

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There is always one bit of advice I give to people when they think of coming up north to Scotland, and specifically Glasgow and that is to bring an umbrella.

Our city is a strange one, ever heard the song with the lyrics “All four seasons in one day …” this is for sure referring to here. There have been days when there is sun followed by rain, rain followed by snow, snow followed by sun and sun folllowed by hail. You just never know, even at the height of summer rain and sun chase each other and the effect is an overall dullness and a ray of sunlight sometimes seems a marvel after being drenched to the bone.

So if you come up here, please bring an umbrella

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0L2gr2O_Bs

A  few pics, not that I used it anywhere interesting

Using my superpowered brain and a dash of ‘Oh Look At The Big ADVERTS’  … I realised it was an event from Knockhill racing circuit and you can go see what the event was all about.

Of course If I had known about it I would have definetly taken part .. or not as the case may be because no matter how often I dream of driving a metal machine really fast while sounding like the growls of turbo powered grizzly bear, I’d rather not be a danger to myself and everyone around me while my brain scream ‘What The Hell Am I Doing!’ and stick with the safe travel speed of foot power, i.e., at least one foot on the ground at all times and if this conjures up an image of a hopping man, my apologies. Now before I ramble on further I shall call it a night and hopefully dream of my i8910 if it ever gets here

I saw the pictures of when he was young, when he had long hair and looked like a rocker that he indeed was. I heard his band, him playing and his singing at the age of 18. I never knew how much I didn’t know about him. At least he was happy, I tell myself, but, then I think about how much he still could have given.

I dedicate this post to Magnus, a man, a friend, loving and loved. You will never leave my memories

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