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Things and stuff
27 July 2008 20:11First thing, a question: could anyone provide a ballpark figure of approximately how much it would cost to have a bronze pendant made in a custom design? I've got a vague idea of an accessory to my wizard robes which would be a bronze medallion about the size of a £2 coin, only thinner, with some kind of engraved icons, and am wondering if this is something I could get for £20, or whether we're talking £200.
Next point: watching DVDs all day is a bad idea and makes you moody. I discovered this yesterday because I refuse to return DVDs to Blockbuster unwatched, but I had 2 DVDs still to go and only an afternoon left to watch them in. Still, it was worth it, as the DVDs in question were Rent and The Motorcycle Diaries, so good films.
Today I had grand plans involving going to the lab and sorting out the bees for tomorrow. Unfortunately this didn't happen, as I started to turn all dizzy around 1pm, went to library in the hope that a bit of a walk and some fresh air would help, was really quite wobbly by the time I got home, and decided I was, bizarrely, in the early stages of heatstroke. Despite the fact that I'd slept through the whole morning and hadn't been out in the sun really at all, as the walk to the library wasn't particularly sunny, and the fact that it was only about 28 degrees, which is hot but hardly dangerously hot, this would seem to be the problem - I had a cool shower, took it easy, forcibly hydrated myself and abandoned ideas of going to the lab since bees + Eni who can't stand up straight are probably a bad combination. In any case, I think I caught it in time, as I never got more than the vaguest trace of a headache and a tiny twinge of nausea. I'm now still feeling a teeny bit washed out, but generally good.
I watched The Making of Me with John Barrowman. This provided me with intense delight but also much envy. At one point he pops over to meet with one of our department's psychologists, squeeeeeeeeeee! Next time I see said psychologist, I am going to pout at him, however, as he got to hug John Barrowman and I didn't. Clearly I am in the wrong field and should start working on the psychology of gay men.
Amusingly, another of the psychologists he met was one of the candidates our department recently interviewed for a lectureship. This made me laugh a lot from the moment they started describing the research, as it sounded strangely familiar, and the video clips were ones I recognised instantly. So when they moved on to the experiments, I started to titter more and more as John was freaking out at the thingy that had to go around his ding-dong, especially as he didn't have to hear how they do the equivalent experiment on women...
In any case, it was an interesting documentary in general, but more so because it had John and possibly my #1 favourite psychologist.
I had my 2-year panel meeting this week. Yup, I've been plodding through this PhD for 2 years already, don't know how that happened as I'm still not convinced I've really done any research... They approved my upgrade1 very quickly and painlessly, and the meeting overally was very positive. They somewhat criticised my recently submitted paper, but not unfairly, but it has made me aware that the referees are very likely to lay into it viciously and will probably reject it. But hey, such is life. PhDs are for learning...
And in the interests of learning, my second supervisor is going to teach me tree-building, wheeeee! (Evolutionary relationships with DNA sequences stuff.)
1For those who haven't dabbled in the British system, typically, a "PhD student" is initially registered as an "MPhil2 student", and they're only upgraded to a full PhD student after somehow satisfying a panel that they're capable of producing a publishable, original contribution to knowledge in their field. So although to all intents and purposes I've been a PhD student since autumn 2006, on paper I've been registered as an MPhil student, but that has now changed. Hurrah.
2An MPhil course being ~2 years rather than 3-4, involving a shorter thesis, slightly more wiggle-room in the requirements, and lack of "Dr" title to put in front of your name.
Next point: watching DVDs all day is a bad idea and makes you moody. I discovered this yesterday because I refuse to return DVDs to Blockbuster unwatched, but I had 2 DVDs still to go and only an afternoon left to watch them in. Still, it was worth it, as the DVDs in question were Rent and The Motorcycle Diaries, so good films.
Today I had grand plans involving going to the lab and sorting out the bees for tomorrow. Unfortunately this didn't happen, as I started to turn all dizzy around 1pm, went to library in the hope that a bit of a walk and some fresh air would help, was really quite wobbly by the time I got home, and decided I was, bizarrely, in the early stages of heatstroke. Despite the fact that I'd slept through the whole morning and hadn't been out in the sun really at all, as the walk to the library wasn't particularly sunny, and the fact that it was only about 28 degrees, which is hot but hardly dangerously hot, this would seem to be the problem - I had a cool shower, took it easy, forcibly hydrated myself and abandoned ideas of going to the lab since bees + Eni who can't stand up straight are probably a bad combination. In any case, I think I caught it in time, as I never got more than the vaguest trace of a headache and a tiny twinge of nausea. I'm now still feeling a teeny bit washed out, but generally good.
I watched The Making of Me with John Barrowman. This provided me with intense delight but also much envy. At one point he pops over to meet with one of our department's psychologists, squeeeeeeeeeee! Next time I see said psychologist, I am going to pout at him, however, as he got to hug John Barrowman and I didn't. Clearly I am in the wrong field and should start working on the psychology of gay men.
Amusingly, another of the psychologists he met was one of the candidates our department recently interviewed for a lectureship. This made me laugh a lot from the moment they started describing the research, as it sounded strangely familiar, and the video clips were ones I recognised instantly. So when they moved on to the experiments, I started to titter more and more as John was freaking out at the thingy that had to go around his ding-dong, especially as he didn't have to hear how they do the equivalent experiment on women...
In any case, it was an interesting documentary in general, but more so because it had John and possibly my #1 favourite psychologist.
I had my 2-year panel meeting this week. Yup, I've been plodding through this PhD for 2 years already, don't know how that happened as I'm still not convinced I've really done any research... They approved my upgrade1 very quickly and painlessly, and the meeting overally was very positive. They somewhat criticised my recently submitted paper, but not unfairly, but it has made me aware that the referees are very likely to lay into it viciously and will probably reject it. But hey, such is life. PhDs are for learning...
And in the interests of learning, my second supervisor is going to teach me tree-building, wheeeee! (Evolutionary relationships with DNA sequences stuff.)
1For those who haven't dabbled in the British system, typically, a "PhD student" is initially registered as an "MPhil2 student", and they're only upgraded to a full PhD student after somehow satisfying a panel that they're capable of producing a publishable, original contribution to knowledge in their field. So although to all intents and purposes I've been a PhD student since autumn 2006, on paper I've been registered as an MPhil student, but that has now changed. Hurrah.
2An MPhil course being ~2 years rather than 3-4, involving a shorter thesis, slightly more wiggle-room in the requirements, and lack of "Dr" title to put in front of your name.