Epiphany
Another week...
I'm not feeling very inspired today, I feel focused though and thats good I think :) I am really looking forward to the Christmas break, maybe I'll go driving up through northern NSW- its beautiful there and the wheather will be better than in Melbourne- its been a rotten Spring.
Last week Lito sent me a link to
Piled Higher & Deeper comic strip, which I find pretty cute. The site is mainly skewed to young US grad students, but there are some truths about postgrad study that cross all ages and all nations, like the cartoon about
weekly output. I found the site really comforting last week.
I had dinner at
Churches last Thursday for a
BPW meeting. I invited Johann to come with me and we had a lovely night -we both promised to ring Denise cos we miss her (I think I had better organise some Christmas drinks at my place some time soon). I also met a few more interesting women there. I'm really looking forward to the next meeting- actually we have a dinner planned for this Wednesday, but it's more of a planning dinner than a social event.
Last week was the week for medical appointments. I ended up seeing my optometrist, GP and dentist. I have to say, the dentist was the worst by far - they are financial and literal pains in the behind.
Mavis housewarming on Saturday night was fun, we ended up watching the soccer and eating all night. Nina really enjoyed herself because Mel brought her puppy over, so she was in doggy heaven.
Work progress has been slow but I am getting closer to where I want to be. I finished reviewing the article I was assigned, which was very rewarding. I also got some good solid feedback on my research proposal. The article is coming along too, hopefully I'll finish it today or tomorrow. I suppose I should show my supervisor before I submit it anywhere, though I am not really sure of the protocol here. I've also started work on my presentation in preparation for March next year as my supervisor's have targetted a couple of conferences for me.
My web page needs work too... I'll try and get to that tonight...
Chris started work today
Chris started work today, hope it goes well for him :)
Nina and I went to the beach for the first time this Spring on Friday and Saturday, just for a couple of hours late in the afternoon, but it was delicious. The water was freezing on Friday but by Saturday afternoon it was lovely.
I also met Alvin who is visiting Mavis for a week (works in Dubai). He is Mavis' boyfriend and caught up with them and Eugenie at
Brunetti's for coffee and dessert on Saturday night (yum yum) after going out for a pizza dinner with Sandy and Nina and working like a demon on the housework all day. It was a crazy, hectic week end and I'm tired today although I didn't really do much; well actually now I think about it, I did, but most of what I did was pretty ho hum, shopping and cleaning and cooking and stuff. Caught up with Ollie briefly yesterday, he is on his way to the US and expects to be back in Melbourne just before Christmas.
Last week was full of meetings, some of which I found a bit confusing. I discussed my research proposal at an
mWard meeting on Friday and got heaps of feedback, although I think only one or two people there actually heard what I was saying. One person was more intent on telling me what they would do if they were conducting the research and to be frank, their feedback was a bit limited. I had a pretty decent meeting with my supervisor beforehand though, so that's positive.
Today I am supposed to be reviewing an article for a journal and I am having heaps of trouble getting up the energy to do it. To be fair though, I'm not feeling the best at the moment and so I wonder if I'm lacking a bit of energy as a result... ewww.. coffee will help motivate me...
A quiet, but enjoyable, week end.
Went to see
Matrix Revlolutions on Friday and on balance I really enjoyed it, especially the
Dragonball Z special effects. Later on I went shopping and bought the new
Robert Rankin novel and 2 pairs of open toed shoes for wearing to work during summer and then had dinner at Chadstone at one for the cafes near
Borders (which is where I bought the book of course).
I did a pretty full on work out at
gym on Saturday and ran into Christian and James, which was good. There is something very companiable about knowing a few people at gym and the new Rankin novel made some of the aerobic stuff go much faster- dont know why I enjoy reading on those machines, maybe its to do with distracting myself from the pain of the work out? When I got home, I went full on into spring cleaning mode and then in the afternoon went for a ride and BBQ dinner at
Jell's Park with Sandy and Nina. There was a work out space there and I really impressed Nina by doing 2 chin ups without any apparent effort, so the wieght training is obviously having impact.
I'm so happy, I have finally finished a reasonable draft of the research proposal for my PhD and my Supervisors are organising some meetings with some pretty high profile people to get feedback. The journal article I am drafting is coming along nicely and another article I have been working on with others will be ready for editing again next week.
Alos, a friend has introduced me to what loks like being a useful tool for writing my thesis. It's called
LaTex and it looks a bit full on for now, but Lito has offered to help out, which is good :)
I came across a fascinating article on applying information security governance today - what a find, good ones are so hard to come by. I forwarded copies of it to Walter in New York and my industry partners. I've been so well organised so far today, reading minutes and the ARC proposal and organising my schedule.
I was updating this while I ate my lunch and I've finished now - back to work I guess.... I MUST update my website soon; tonight if I can...
How much is enough?
I think I don't work hard enough sometimes.. but then I wonder what counts as work really... Last week I worked a pretty full on day on for the first few days, but then on Thursday I went to a pervasive computing seminar looking at research options that lasted the entire day. It was really interesting and I learned a great deal about other research, but ought I to have gone there all day instead of working on my own stuff?
On Wednesday night I spent hours working through my readers comments on 3 research proposals for the
SCERCH meeting next week- should I be doing this? On the one hand it's really interesting stuff and makes a contribution to the University community. Also, I've been asked to give a seminar to the
School of Computer Software Engineering as a result of the seminar and I'm learning heaps about research design from being involved in SCERCH. I am not simply a brain on a stick, I need to mix with other people on a regular basis. I never understood how social a creature I was until I started the PhD.
On the
APF mailing list someone has posted information about the
NSW's EHR and asked for someone to follow up on some privacy isssues. I feel I should volunteer but I know it will take me away from other stuff I'm working on.
It boils down to I the fact that I'm still not certain how much is enough work I guess. I also wonder how useful all of this introspection is, maybe I should just go with the flow?
It's an absolutely beautiful day today for the first time in weeks and it's also a public holiday (
Melbourne Cup Day) so everything is very quiet on campus. I'm the only person on this floor in my building. Actually, I have the most delicious view from my window. I can see the entire bay, I'll bet not many students have an office with such a gorgeous view... I might photograph it some time and try and upload a pic here.
I finished a draft of my research proposal yesterday and now I am working on chapter 1 of my thesis to try and get it published in a journal. My supervisor has asked me to give a seminar to
the School of Network Computing at some stage, I think I'll edit my lit review powerpoint for that. My other supervisor is working on the ethics article we wrote, so we should be in a position to submit it by December. I suppose everything is progressing and thats the main thing I ought to remind myself of when I indulge in feeling a bit blue :P
I think I will focus on the sunny day, the invite I got to a friend's housewarming party, plans to see
Matrix Revolutions this week and on continuing to work on the chapter 1 article.
I'll go to gym this afternoon and maybe go out for dinner tonight, perhaps to Southbank?
