Epiphany
I think I've found my animal spirit - Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) from
Finding Nemo... The movie was ok, I got a few laughs and the animation was pretty good in a couple of places.
Went book/music/film shopping last night; it was fun and I came home with the
24 Hour Party People movie, which I've wanted ever since I saw it at the Kino, and a Pat Califia novel I've never been able to find before.
Rotten wheather today, might nick out and see
Terminator 3 this afternoon since I'm feeling a bit restless. I have been feeling off colour all week, maybe I am fighting off a virus?
This week I should finish editing the lit review and start on the appendices. I have meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, also training for the Ethics comiittee on Thursday, which should be interesting. By the end of the week I want to be putting my research question together in the way I discussed with my supervisors and start constructing the first chapters of my thesis.
Tomorrow is the first day of Spring, roll on Summer.
I've worked pretty hard this week catching up with people I met at the conference in Sydney. I'm glad I made the effort now though, as I've been invited to attend and possibly present at an Informatics seminar group that meet every couple of months.
I've also managed to update and send off some information that I had promised various people. There 's already been a response which is forcing me to hone my skills in a couple of areas.
An ongoing conversation with my contact in New York is becoming pretty challenging; but I get the benefit of his criticisms of my work. I'm also regularly corresponding with a range of talented people from within Victoria and internationally which is stimulating to say the least... sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed by it all.
My lit review is looking so much better for the work I've put into it and is begininng to look like a pretty decent document. I'm thinking of giving to my supervisor for comment and then possibly submitting parts of it for publication after integrating it into my recent presentation. I'm also supposed to be giving a seminar for the School of Network Computing.
I still havent organised my information in a way that satisfies my work style- maybe I'll talk to someone about it since I'm beginning to feel a little tense about everything again. I suppose its all a cycle that I'll eventually grow into.
This week has been a bit of a blur. My meetings went well, especially the one with my supervisor. We are working through a topic for my research that takes into account a whole range of influences. Over the next week or so I will update my lit review and then start work on fleshing out my research question.
Had a rotten week family-wise though I think in the end everything will be ok. My daughter is making some pretty dramatic changes in her life and I am scared she will end up hurt. In the end though, it's her life and I have stand aside while she learns from her own decisions. This is pretty hard for me to do, but I'm adjusting.
Yesterday was the most fun I've had in ages. I went to lunch with some friends to Ondine in the city and then we floated around for the rest of that day. We looked at a couple of shops, but mainly drank in a couple of really nice wine bars. The food was delicious and the company was great. I love days out like this and especially love my monthly lunches with the girls.
I've just returned from a cycle in Jells Park - it was so relaxing and I really enjoy the water birds there.
Started editing my lit review. This is going to be a bigger job than I thought, but the results of the changes improve it out of sight.
I finally saw the hard copy of my first peer reviewed article in publication and got a real kick out of it. I might try and get a hard copy for myself; one of my supervisor's is the formal contact and so she has our copy of the journal. She is in Italy at the moment, so I can't ask her about it.
I think I had better set up a system for storing all of the press coverage and other relevant material, like this article, in case I ever need them in the future or for my reviews.
Meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the system architecture topic for my research.
Got through heaps yesterday, answered all my email from last week and sorted through my journals. I emailed the Danish research group and received a reply this morning with a couple of interesting links attached.
I also talked to my supervisor and arranged a meeting to hone in on a research topic. I outlined all of the options and he seems really happy to work through them with me so that means I'll have a sharper focus soon I guess.
Plus I went through my lit review and noted where I needed to make amendments.
I worked really hard all day but I still feel like I am only making limited progress.
I had a wonderful afternoon riding around the Botanical Gardens, though it was a typical Melbourne wintery day and freezing cold.
There was a young girl giving what looked like an inpromptu concert to her parents at the Sydney Myer Music Bowl. I don't know the name of the aria, but it was beautiful and I really enjoyed her performance.
Got such a full week coming up because I'll be editing my literature review in view of the updated information I got from the conference last week. I also need to email a few people I met to say hello and send a couple of them some work I have been doing on 802.11i stuff.
Also I have an afternoon of meetings on Tuesday, most of which are pretty dull, although there's one to welcome a new PhD student, which will be pretty important. Thursday is a networking meeting at one of the hospitals and on Friday morning I have another meeting with an IT project leader from a government department to explore research options.
I found some researchers based in Denmark who have the same focus as our research group, so I had better get in touch with them too... maybe there will be some opportunities for collaboration?
The wheather is rotten today so I'm glad I went for a cycle yesterday. Maybe I'll go to the movies later on if it doesn't clear up, although I'd prefer to head to the city for a ride around the Botanical gardens with Nina and Sandy. I hope it doesn't rain, hate seeing the rain from my window while I work, everything looks grey and bleak.
Time to start work now I think, but first, another cup of coffee :)
Amazing how much more positive I am right now, had a great arvo and evening with a mate, good music and a bottle of champagne.
Its interesting how my attitude to stuff changes things, leaves me open to good stuff... I feel more focussed and less anxious about how much work I am doing (though I still wonder how much is enough). I can see opportunites today, mostly in the final choice of subject for my thesis.
The research can go 3 ways and all of them are good. One involves security cultures, another concerns integrating system architectural standards and the last one really focuses on the combined effects of government programs, legislation, IT innovation and information system standards.
I've just returned from an international conference, my first as a research student and it was incredibly useful. It synthesised lots of the stuff I have been reading, really brought it to life too. I am still processing all of my experiences there... for once I actually talked to people at a conference. I'm glad I did, as I've met some really generous and supportive people as a result.
This is my new blog, a place where I can unload how I feel about stuff and maybe articulate how confusing I find aspects of being a research student.
I feel pretty naive right now, and a bit overwhelmed and don't really understand the implications of all the work I am doing or being asked to do.
