monday
29 november.
more PAD articles. i think i got through 15 or so of them. i can't remember how many - i just know i have 10 left on my desktop to read today (tuesday).
spent the day doing that. well and a trip out through the snow to the post office to mail the GTC my CRB application. I'm bummed i haven't gotten the other CRB application back yet because then this one may not have been necessary. as i fear for the sheer length of time that this process will take. they did take my application fee money from me (hence adding to the issue last week) but clearly this CRB thing will take a long time and they won't process my application until they have the CRB. i guess i don't have high hopes for that getting turned around until spring - i'd really like to be able to get work from it whenever that happens but i'm resigning to the fact that it won't be any time soon.
brittany also won NANOWRIMO last night. i'm proud of her. she's worked really hard and spent a lot of time on that. i gave up on that once i was taking all of my notes and reading all the books and articles i've been winning. BUT if you took the word count i have on my my notes and thinngs, i might be close.
let's check (as i would still technically have today to reach 50,000)...
645 + 9553 + 30000 = 40198
oh and if you added the word count from the article i'm writing (i should really try to finish that draft today too if possible), i'd be even closer. (with counting blog words and the words i did for NANO, i'm there)
i think i can do it -- by the end of today, i will see if i can hit the NANO mark. granted it won't be in relation to a novel, but it'll be in relation to my PHD so that's something...maybe...
guess i'll get on that. back to my articles.........
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
sunday
28 november.
more snow which made the centre super slow. other than the 6 or so birthday parties we had. not that i'm complaining. i liked the slow day. i made party bags, was on the wall, and was supposed to be on the floor for the day. but then, of course, i was moved to reception. i wrapped a ton of presents. i'm quite tired of wrapping presents. i think it's more the fact that they're almost rectangles but not boxes with defined edges than the number of them. because if they had defined edges then it would be much easier. i also am cutting the paper into thirds to wrap whereas others aren't because i hate waste, so i suppose i'm making it a bit more difficult on myself, but you can clearly get 3 out of the space instead of 2 or even 1. so whatever.
i was a bit surprised to find that we still had a ton of cleaning to do at the end of the day because i would have thought they would have gotten further with it before closing time. but i suppose that got me a half hour more of pay. i still need this week's hours sorted out. ugh nightmare.
oh now i remember what happened on friday. i found that i need brittany's share of rent and utilities so that my bank account wouldn't be overdrawn. that was a bad type of exciting. on sunday we updated our power readings. i was hoping for a lower price for gas, but it is winter. and it was just a bit over what i thought. then we paid our council tax which means i have very very little money at the moment. i need monkey bizness to pay me - hopefully this time it works because that happens any day now.
more snow which made the centre super slow. other than the 6 or so birthday parties we had. not that i'm complaining. i liked the slow day. i made party bags, was on the wall, and was supposed to be on the floor for the day. but then, of course, i was moved to reception. i wrapped a ton of presents. i'm quite tired of wrapping presents. i think it's more the fact that they're almost rectangles but not boxes with defined edges than the number of them. because if they had defined edges then it would be much easier. i also am cutting the paper into thirds to wrap whereas others aren't because i hate waste, so i suppose i'm making it a bit more difficult on myself, but you can clearly get 3 out of the space instead of 2 or even 1. so whatever.
i was a bit surprised to find that we still had a ton of cleaning to do at the end of the day because i would have thought they would have gotten further with it before closing time. but i suppose that got me a half hour more of pay. i still need this week's hours sorted out. ugh nightmare.
oh now i remember what happened on friday. i found that i need brittany's share of rent and utilities so that my bank account wouldn't be overdrawn. that was a bad type of exciting. on sunday we updated our power readings. i was hoping for a lower price for gas, but it is winter. and it was just a bit over what i thought. then we paid our council tax which means i have very very little money at the moment. i need monkey bizness to pay me - hopefully this time it works because that happens any day now.
articles
friday
26 november.
articles, so many articles about the PAD model. can't really remember anything about friday. so clearly it wasn't very exciting.
26 november.
articles, so many articles about the PAD model. can't really remember anything about friday. so clearly it wasn't very exciting.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
thanksgiving
thanksgiving was a non-traditional day.
spent the morning doing some reading and then went to a talk at Napier University for a music talk. My RU supervisor David and Ray MacDonald were giving a talk on jazz and improvisation and things.
Walked to Napier's craighouse campus which i found out is up on a craig - wasn't expecting that climb towards the end of the walk. But the buildings were quite old and neat looking from the outside.
the talk was good. From that i walked to tesco, made dinner, and went to Monkey Bizness for the staff meeting. Not as crazy of a meeting as last time, which was their goal. We got split into teams which i think will be an organizational plus if they implement it so that will be interesting.
After the meeting a bunch of people went to the pub. So that was - i guess - our thanksgiving meal. 2 pints of guinness and some nachos aren't quite turkey and the rest of it, but that's how it goes.
spent the morning doing some reading and then went to a talk at Napier University for a music talk. My RU supervisor David and Ray MacDonald were giving a talk on jazz and improvisation and things.
Walked to Napier's craighouse campus which i found out is up on a craig - wasn't expecting that climb towards the end of the walk. But the buildings were quite old and neat looking from the outside.
the talk was good. From that i walked to tesco, made dinner, and went to Monkey Bizness for the staff meeting. Not as crazy of a meeting as last time, which was their goal. We got split into teams which i think will be an organizational plus if they implement it so that will be interesting.
After the meeting a bunch of people went to the pub. So that was - i guess - our thanksgiving meal. 2 pints of guinness and some nachos aren't quite turkey and the rest of it, but that's how it goes.
visa
wednesday
24 november.
had an appointment with the international student advisor today.
still working on my visa app.
apparently they just changed the application. although it's not really changed, they just felt like changing 1 or 2 little boxes or something. but that's cool, i'll just re-fill out the form. waste of time.
and of course it can't be sorted yet, but i feel like i'm moving forward with it.
i have my CAS letter.
i have the correct new application.
and i found out what i had to fill in for the maintenance section. and that was a more pleasant answer than i had expected.
and i have another appointment. (it looks like it'll take another one after that, but then maybe i'll be set. you really can't accomplish any form type things in one or two go's, i can't quite be non-american about these things yet. i still expect that with meetings and people saying they'll do things that i'll make progress. silly me.)
24 november.
had an appointment with the international student advisor today.
still working on my visa app.
apparently they just changed the application. although it's not really changed, they just felt like changing 1 or 2 little boxes or something. but that's cool, i'll just re-fill out the form. waste of time.
and of course it can't be sorted yet, but i feel like i'm moving forward with it.
i have my CAS letter.
i have the correct new application.
and i found out what i had to fill in for the maintenance section. and that was a more pleasant answer than i had expected.
and i have another appointment. (it looks like it'll take another one after that, but then maybe i'll be set. you really can't accomplish any form type things in one or two go's, i can't quite be non-american about these things yet. i still expect that with meetings and people saying they'll do things that i'll make progress. silly me.)
computer in office
tuesday
23 november.
so i've been staking claim on a desk that faces the window (side note - the sky while setting extremely early these days has been really pretty to watch), but the computer at that space does not have the university-wide login. it was specifically someone's workspace computer.
so i asked adrian who i'd have to talk to about switching computers around. he suggested i just move the thing myself. so i figured i would, but not when all the other (somewhat anti-social) people were in there working. so i went before class yesterday at 9 am to accomplish this task.
and i thought, perfect, there are no other students. so first i tried one computer and discovered it was someone else's somehow personalized login computer. so i took the tower i knew was working that i had been sitting at. that worked at my window space but i had to bring all the attachments since the brand was different. so while hooking the cords up, i was stopped by some woman from the department. who, without identifying herself, or asking about why i might need a computer or desk space, asked me what i was doing to the computer that was sitting at that space unused. everyone's so concerned. it's password locked. i can't use it. clearly i'm not going to erase or damage whoever's stuff is sitting on it. the computer is still there. i just need one that functions so that i can work on my degree. i think that's perfectly reasonable. i wasn't going to reattach and leave that one plugged in, but it now is. it's there. sitting in my space. just waiting.
ridiculous.
but at least now i have a working computer - maybe it'll become mine or something somehow - at a window space. and some books. so there's my space. hopefully it will stay that way.
23 november.
so i've been staking claim on a desk that faces the window (side note - the sky while setting extremely early these days has been really pretty to watch), but the computer at that space does not have the university-wide login. it was specifically someone's workspace computer.
so i asked adrian who i'd have to talk to about switching computers around. he suggested i just move the thing myself. so i figured i would, but not when all the other (somewhat anti-social) people were in there working. so i went before class yesterday at 9 am to accomplish this task.
and i thought, perfect, there are no other students. so first i tried one computer and discovered it was someone else's somehow personalized login computer. so i took the tower i knew was working that i had been sitting at. that worked at my window space but i had to bring all the attachments since the brand was different. so while hooking the cords up, i was stopped by some woman from the department. who, without identifying herself, or asking about why i might need a computer or desk space, asked me what i was doing to the computer that was sitting at that space unused. everyone's so concerned. it's password locked. i can't use it. clearly i'm not going to erase or damage whoever's stuff is sitting on it. the computer is still there. i just need one that functions so that i can work on my degree. i think that's perfectly reasonable. i wasn't going to reattach and leave that one plugged in, but it now is. it's there. sitting in my space. just waiting.
ridiculous.
but at least now i have a working computer - maybe it'll become mine or something somehow - at a window space. and some books. so there's my space. hopefully it will stay that way.
cycling
22, 23, 24 november.
it's been a good 3 days in the gym.
a total of about 61 km on the bike. i got an email the other day announcing next august's marathon in the south of england. i'm hoping to skate that marathon. have found 16 week plans for training. thinking i'll attempt them - figure if i start the first week of january, i can do 2 16week training cycles (at the intermediate level, an easier and then a harder one).
involves long distances, short distances, flexibility, weights, and cross training. it's ambitious, but i think if i schedule the activities at the gym to make use of both the cv machines and the classes, i can do it. well that and counting biking as skating too.
it excites me to try to do actually.
it's been a good 3 days in the gym.
a total of about 61 km on the bike. i got an email the other day announcing next august's marathon in the south of england. i'm hoping to skate that marathon. have found 16 week plans for training. thinking i'll attempt them - figure if i start the first week of january, i can do 2 16week training cycles (at the intermediate level, an easier and then a harder one).
involves long distances, short distances, flexibility, weights, and cross training. it's ambitious, but i think if i schedule the activities at the gym to make use of both the cv machines and the classes, i can do it. well that and counting biking as skating too.
it excites me to try to do actually.
thwarted by a sitar player...among other things
sunday night.
pub outing and night of boring adventure.
yes, boring adventure. seems like an odd description, but let me explain
[more to come for this post]
pub outing and night of boring adventure.
yes, boring adventure. seems like an odd description, but let me explain
[more to come for this post]
royal mile tour
sunday
21 november.
jane-marie invited me to join her on a free walking tour on the royal mile. i had only heard a few of the stories, and it was good to hear about the history in any case. sadly it was kind of raining and getting colder, but it was a nice activity.
21 november.
jane-marie invited me to join her on a free walking tour on the royal mile. i had only heard a few of the stories, and it was good to hear about the history in any case. sadly it was kind of raining and getting colder, but it was a nice activity.
10.5 hour shift
saturday.
20 november.
that's a long day.
it was great talking with autumn on thursday night. told her about work and she posed a great question: 'but is it better than capcs?'
that's a perspective to take.
but still. 10.5 hours. ouch. but at least it got me to exactly 20 for the week.
20 november.
that's a long day.
it was great talking with autumn on thursday night. told her about work and she posed a great question: 'but is it better than capcs?'
that's a perspective to take.
but still. 10.5 hours. ouch. but at least it got me to exactly 20 for the week.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
P.A.D. model and the future
thursday
18 november
a full day on campus (with a trip to the post office beforehand).
studied in the postgrad room before my meeting with adrian.
it was nice to meet with adrian. we didn't meet last week and he didn't lecture this week so it's been awhile.
it really is pretty awesome to get to work one-to-one with him=makes this degree worth it.
we discussed my take on the Mehrabian and Russell 1974 etc text. it's a pretty interesting concept.
i'm going to integrate the P.A.D. model into what i've been planning to look at in relation to playlists.
so now i am charged with re-working what i've already turned into the ethics board, re-conceptualizing the basis for my research, and hypotheses to go along with it.
by reading this text, it may fundamentally alter my research pathway. we'll see - i have a lot of work to do now as a result of our meeting (but that's a good thing...)
then i had lunch with jane-marie. i decided i'd invite her to lunch to have some more social interaction - phd = lonely.
we just went to the cafeteria in the main building before going back to do more work in the office. but it was nice to have lunch with her.
after some more work in the office which involved me altering my dissertation to turn it into a journal article (especially annoying since i had done some work on it in the morning which somehow magically disappeared into the computer void). it's about half done. i have to say - deleting and adapting dissertation text is about 57 times easier than writing the thing in the first place.
after that, i went to the gym and biked for an hour. 20.5 km. that was great too. success for the day.
18 november
a full day on campus (with a trip to the post office beforehand).
studied in the postgrad room before my meeting with adrian.
it was nice to meet with adrian. we didn't meet last week and he didn't lecture this week so it's been awhile.
it really is pretty awesome to get to work one-to-one with him=makes this degree worth it.
we discussed my take on the Mehrabian and Russell 1974 etc text. it's a pretty interesting concept.
i'm going to integrate the P.A.D. model into what i've been planning to look at in relation to playlists.
so now i am charged with re-working what i've already turned into the ethics board, re-conceptualizing the basis for my research, and hypotheses to go along with it.
by reading this text, it may fundamentally alter my research pathway. we'll see - i have a lot of work to do now as a result of our meeting (but that's a good thing...)
then i had lunch with jane-marie. i decided i'd invite her to lunch to have some more social interaction - phd = lonely.
we just went to the cafeteria in the main building before going back to do more work in the office. but it was nice to have lunch with her.
after some more work in the office which involved me altering my dissertation to turn it into a journal article (especially annoying since i had done some work on it in the morning which somehow magically disappeared into the computer void). it's about half done. i have to say - deleting and adapting dissertation text is about 57 times easier than writing the thing in the first place.
after that, i went to the gym and biked for an hour. 20.5 km. that was great too. success for the day.
wednesday
17 november.
finally got my whole application to the GTC organized prior to my shift.
went to work 11-5.
was on reception for almost the entire time.
and it got super crazy busy with people in the queue and a birthday party and the phone and all, but i got through that.
(although i also learned how to do a void since i did make a mistake for the first time on the till.)
then came home to finish reading the Mehrabian and Russell book from 1974. gotta say the first half of the book was more enjoyable. but we'll see, i have to go over it all again. (kinda weird to be using a psych text from 1974 when my entire dissertation was based on work done no earlier than 1999.)
finally got my whole application to the GTC organized prior to my shift.
went to work 11-5.
was on reception for almost the entire time.
and it got super crazy busy with people in the queue and a birthday party and the phone and all, but i got through that.
(although i also learned how to do a void since i did make a mistake for the first time on the till.)
then came home to finish reading the Mehrabian and Russell book from 1974. gotta say the first half of the book was more enjoyable. but we'll see, i have to go over it all again. (kinda weird to be using a psych text from 1974 when my entire dissertation was based on work done no earlier than 1999.)
weekend of work
saturday
13 november
12-Close shift.
Loong day.
Went to the pub with co-workers after.
sunday
14 november
9 - Close shift.
even looonger day.
especially with the staff meeting and extended cleaning at the end.
staff meeting became this crazy meeting that i didn't expect. apparently i am not aware of the cliques and politics underlying the management and staff procedures underlying the entire monkey bizness situation. at any rate, it was pretty interesting.
and meant i worked for 11.5 hours. that's craziness.
13 november
12-Close shift.
Loong day.
Went to the pub with co-workers after.
sunday
14 november
9 - Close shift.
even looonger day.
especially with the staff meeting and extended cleaning at the end.
staff meeting became this crazy meeting that i didn't expect. apparently i am not aware of the cliques and politics underlying the management and staff procedures underlying the entire monkey bizness situation. at any rate, it was pretty interesting.
and meant i worked for 11.5 hours. that's craziness.
Friday, November 12, 2010
reading
so much reading. i can't continually focus on it ALL day. but i'm trying. finished one book last night, and another today, and about to start the next. so i guess i am making some progress.
however, i'm also sneezing a lot. newer cold symptom. and it's sunny yet raining off and on.
however, i'm also sneezing a lot. newer cold symptom. and it's sunny yet raining off and on.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
flights booked
booked flights to get home and back to edinburgh for the christmas holiday. which is great. still gotta get down to london, but i should be able to do that.
took a lot of time to research flights, though i'm glad that it's now set. (and it'll get me off the one-off cycle, since i got a one-way ticket back.)
took a lot of time to research flights, though i'm glad that it's now set. (and it'll get me off the one-off cycle, since i got a one-way ticket back.)
inverkeithing
11 november
thursday.
today i went to inverkeithing. took the train from haymarket there.
which was exciting for the following reasons:
- i left edinburgh (wasn't far, but was in fife)
- i saw two rainbows while on the train out the window in the countryside
- i went over a bridge which had some cool scenery
inverkeithing (from my short walk from the train station to civic centre) seemed like a tiny itty bitty sea town. i'm not too sure how correct that was, but it had an awesome view from the back of the civic centre.
why i went there is not because i randomly came across inverkeithing. i had a meeting there for tutor doctors. i haven't been offered a person to tutor yet, but i thought i'd go to their meeting. it was fine. although there were only like 6 other tutors there. and really the time was spent brainstorming how to deal with 2 tutors' problems. points to me though, because i totally had quality ideas to help them. it's kind of nice to know that i can still teacher problem solve. there was another american there who taught/ was from mississippi.
took the train back from the meeting a bit past four. positive was that i rode the train with the teacher from mississippi who's here for his masters, but sadness because it was getting darker and darker as we came into the city.
anyway, that's exciting that i went somewhere else. i'd like to go other places of course, but i need to be spending even more time reading and whatnot for school. and make money. boo. but the rainbow was cool. i couldn't turn enough in my seat to see both ends but i could clearly see the full color range and it was pretty strong coloring near the bottom.
thursday.
today i went to inverkeithing. took the train from haymarket there.
which was exciting for the following reasons:
- i left edinburgh (wasn't far, but was in fife)
- i saw two rainbows while on the train out the window in the countryside
- i went over a bridge which had some cool scenery
inverkeithing (from my short walk from the train station to civic centre) seemed like a tiny itty bitty sea town. i'm not too sure how correct that was, but it had an awesome view from the back of the civic centre.
why i went there is not because i randomly came across inverkeithing. i had a meeting there for tutor doctors. i haven't been offered a person to tutor yet, but i thought i'd go to their meeting. it was fine. although there were only like 6 other tutors there. and really the time was spent brainstorming how to deal with 2 tutors' problems. points to me though, because i totally had quality ideas to help them. it's kind of nice to know that i can still teacher problem solve. there was another american there who taught/ was from mississippi.
took the train back from the meeting a bit past four. positive was that i rode the train with the teacher from mississippi who's here for his masters, but sadness because it was getting darker and darker as we came into the city.
anyway, that's exciting that i went somewhere else. i'd like to go other places of course, but i need to be spending even more time reading and whatnot for school. and make money. boo. but the rainbow was cool. i couldn't turn enough in my seat to see both ends but i could clearly see the full color range and it was pretty strong coloring near the bottom.
10 nov
wednesday.
went to school and sat in the office reading.
then i went and met with my international student advisor about my visa.
working on getting that sorted.
then i went to the gym. which was great. although my back inbetween my shoulderblades is sore. i blame the bike for the fact that i'm not tall so that my arms don't approach the handlebars at the same angle as someone taller who is sitting taller.
then i went back to the office for more reading.
then i went to trashclang practice.
--our final rehearsal before the performance on tuesday, which will be iffy as far as i think we're prepared...
then i had a good frozen pizza that took too long to cook.
went to school and sat in the office reading.
then i went and met with my international student advisor about my visa.
working on getting that sorted.
then i went to the gym. which was great. although my back inbetween my shoulderblades is sore. i blame the bike for the fact that i'm not tall so that my arms don't approach the handlebars at the same angle as someone taller who is sitting taller.
then i went back to the office for more reading.
then i went to trashclang practice.
--our final rehearsal before the performance on tuesday, which will be iffy as far as i think we're prepared...
then i had a good frozen pizza that took too long to cook.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
post doc symposium
so phd students were invited to go to the post doc symposium today. so i figured i'd go and see how that was. well they fed me a good lunch which is key. and i later had an interesting blackcurrent/vanilla cup of tea.
but i was a bit disappointed in the talk content. but i guess i'm still glad i went to see what it was about. although i still feel worse with the cold and that did take up hours of my day that i should have been reading i suppose. i'll have to read a lot tomorrow. that's the plan. that and go to the international student office and to trashclang.
but i was a bit disappointed in the talk content. but i guess i'm still glad i went to see what it was about. although i still feel worse with the cold and that did take up hours of my day that i should have been reading i suppose. i'll have to read a lot tomorrow. that's the plan. that and go to the international student office and to trashclang.
gym today
09 november
tuesday.
i love that i can access the internet at the gym. love it. not that i really want to type emails one little letter at a time, but i can read them. i can find things online. and i can watch things that i can find on youtube - which will translate into movies and maybe tv shows. this is exciting.
or today, i calculated some miles to kilometers conversions to reference.
and i'm super happy that i biked 16.62 km in an hour. awesome. and i'm not feeling great. developed a cold yesterday. which sucks.
tuesday.
i love that i can access the internet at the gym. love it. not that i really want to type emails one little letter at a time, but i can read them. i can find things online. and i can watch things that i can find on youtube - which will translate into movies and maybe tv shows. this is exciting.
or today, i calculated some miles to kilometers conversions to reference.
and i'm super happy that i biked 16.62 km in an hour. awesome. and i'm not feeling great. developed a cold yesterday. which sucks.
saturday
on saturday i had to work, but people at work were having a party afterwards, of which i was invited. so brittany and i went over to 3 of my co-workers who just moved into a flat together's place and then we went out to a club called medina.
it was a lot of fun to hang out. and had the opportunity to try 'drinking scotland.'
scotland in drink form is apparently buckfast. in a sense, for the neds (read chavs for those of you familiar with the english term)
buckfast (because i know you all are wondering) is a tonic wine originally made by benedictine monks that has a super high caffeine content.
[go here for some more buckfast joy]
in fact today in the metro paper i was reading how they want to ban it because of it's ridiculous caffeine-ness. but anyway, i guess now i can say that i've tried drinking scotland.
medina was cool. good dj which is important. and gareth (from work) knows somebody which means half price entry (yes, normally i rebel against paying anything, but i'll handle two pounds fifty entrance) and a table.
and i have to say that since we took the bus to nikki/kal/amanda's place and a cab from their place to the club, i am pretty impressed that i was able to orientate myself upon exiting the club by recognizing the name of the perpendicular street to know exactly where in the city (AND walking distance home) we were. awesome.
it was a lot of fun to hang out. and had the opportunity to try 'drinking scotland.'
scotland in drink form is apparently buckfast. in a sense, for the neds (read chavs for those of you familiar with the english term)
buckfast (because i know you all are wondering) is a tonic wine originally made by benedictine monks that has a super high caffeine content.
[go here for some more buckfast joy]
in fact today in the metro paper i was reading how they want to ban it because of it's ridiculous caffeine-ness. but anyway, i guess now i can say that i've tried drinking scotland.
medina was cool. good dj which is important. and gareth (from work) knows somebody which means half price entry (yes, normally i rebel against paying anything, but i'll handle two pounds fifty entrance) and a table.
and i have to say that since we took the bus to nikki/kal/amanda's place and a cab from their place to the club, i am pretty impressed that i was able to orientate myself upon exiting the club by recognizing the name of the perpendicular street to know exactly where in the city (AND walking distance home) we were. awesome.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
guy fawkes
05 november
friday.
i was super bummed to have to work 7 hours yesterday til closing because i would be missing fireworks for guy fawkes night .
It was raining pretty hard though and i tried to ask the locals whether they go about rescheduling the fireworks or what happens. My co-workers didn't really offer any information. A few local communities are setting fireworks off this evening (i equate it to different neighborhoods at the fourth of july doing the same thing), but again i have to work until closing so i won't be able to go.
I'm disappointed. I love fireworks. And the ones last year were awesome. It's all what we'd consider the finale for the whole thing with music.
friday.
i was super bummed to have to work 7 hours yesterday til closing because i would be missing fireworks for guy fawkes night .
Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...
It was raining pretty hard though and i tried to ask the locals whether they go about rescheduling the fireworks or what happens. My co-workers didn't really offer any information. A few local communities are setting fireworks off this evening (i equate it to different neighborhoods at the fourth of july doing the same thing), but again i have to work until closing so i won't be able to go.
I'm disappointed. I love fireworks. And the ones last year were awesome. It's all what we'd consider the finale for the whole thing with music.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
lunch and gym
met two other phd students for lunch today. glad to have met them. one from england and one from georgia. that's exciting.
i also got a key to the student office room - a bit of a hefty deposit (25 pounds, and definitely not 5 as adrian thought). so i spent an hour and a half or so in there before going to the gym. not going to lie, my stay was prolonged by the crazy downpouring rain outside. been rainy alll day.
i did go to the gym though. the 'cv zone' is nice. what's even greater is that my ipod connects to the university's wireless. and if i wanted, i can connect it (or anything usb) to a power dock on most of the machines. i could also track my training via usb program, but i think i'll try to stick with dailymile for that tracking. (i'm gizmoteaches if you're also a dailymiler...which reminds me that mine is not up-to-date.)
the gym sadly does not have a pool. but it does have some classes. so hopefully i'll be able to find something. the weights are in a different area which is a bit more intimidating, but i'll see how i get on with the cardio first i suppose. and there are showers and lockers, which for today was fantastic (although i did get informed that our shower was fixed today - excellent).
anyway, i'm super excited to return to being able to go to a gym. hopefully that it's on campus will not deter me from going; hoping it will motivate me to both go to campus for both the office and gym (and library when needed).
i also got a key to the student office room - a bit of a hefty deposit (25 pounds, and definitely not 5 as adrian thought). so i spent an hour and a half or so in there before going to the gym. not going to lie, my stay was prolonged by the crazy downpouring rain outside. been rainy alll day.
i did go to the gym though. the 'cv zone' is nice. what's even greater is that my ipod connects to the university's wireless. and if i wanted, i can connect it (or anything usb) to a power dock on most of the machines. i could also track my training via usb program, but i think i'll try to stick with dailymile for that tracking. (i'm gizmoteaches if you're also a dailymiler...which reminds me that mine is not up-to-date.)
the gym sadly does not have a pool. but it does have some classes. so hopefully i'll be able to find something. the weights are in a different area which is a bit more intimidating, but i'll see how i get on with the cardio first i suppose. and there are showers and lockers, which for today was fantastic (although i did get informed that our shower was fixed today - excellent).
anyway, i'm super excited to return to being able to go to a gym. hopefully that it's on campus will not deter me from going; hoping it will motivate me to both go to campus for both the office and gym (and library when needed).
random viral video
the 'people are awesome' video came up as a top viral video this morning. intrigued by the title, i started watching it.
essentially it's a mashup of cool athletic tricks.
the guy on the bike at 3:12 is on my street in edinburgh. i was just making copies at that copy stop yesterday. i found it interesting that i recognized a place in the video anyway.
essentially it's a mashup of cool athletic tricks.
the guy on the bike at 3:12 is on my street in edinburgh. i was just making copies at that copy stop yesterday. i found it interesting that i recognized a place in the video anyway.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
unos fotos
backpost update--
photos uploaded and added to posts regarding 14-31 ocotber.
disfrutelos!
(and i'm proud of being able to add the code for the nanowrimo widget, so i'll point out that i added that today too, and that'll hopefully reflect my active participation via word count over on the right hand side of the blog screen)
photos uploaded and added to posts regarding 14-31 ocotber.
disfrutelos!
(and i'm proud of being able to add the code for the nanowrimo widget, so i'll point out that i added that today too, and that'll hopefully reflect my active participation via word count over on the right hand side of the blog screen)
tuition paid
in furthering my official student status, i paid my (ridiculous international student) tuition fee today. there goes the bank account. but at least that's taken care of. also i registered with the campus health centre for the NHS. yay for possible health care.
and i registered at the gym since i'm a student now. and i did that for a year (read there goes even more money but the possibility of being in better shape).
i then wrote three university related emails to accomplish even more, so i really feel like i accomplished tasks today. like i'm on top of things.
i also wrote more for nanowrimo.
next up, finishing up my ethics and pilot forms to email those off.
and i registered at the gym since i'm a student now. and i did that for a year (read there goes even more money but the possibility of being in better shape).
i then wrote three university related emails to accomplish even more, so i really feel like i accomplished tasks today. like i'm on top of things.
i also wrote more for nanowrimo.
next up, finishing up my ethics and pilot forms to email those off.
flight
super excited in that alison was able to call and confirm my december flight.
when i had changed the date of the flight on 30 june they were to send me an email confirmation. i did receive an email for this confirmation, but it was blank. so that made me wonder if it was really confirmed and using the code for some reason did not really work on the website.
but anyway, in exciting news it is correct. so i have a flight on the 19th of december to go from heathrow to dulles. it's just all the other bits of that trip that now need to be finalized. as in getting from here to london, from dulles/dc to milwaukee, and then getting back to edinburgh at some point via somehow. so...that's the next task.
when i had changed the date of the flight on 30 june they were to send me an email confirmation. i did receive an email for this confirmation, but it was blank. so that made me wonder if it was really confirmed and using the code for some reason did not really work on the website.
but anyway, in exciting news it is correct. so i have a flight on the 19th of december to go from heathrow to dulles. it's just all the other bits of that trip that now need to be finalized. as in getting from here to london, from dulles/dc to milwaukee, and then getting back to edinburgh at some point via somehow. so...that's the next task.
a welcome in song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB3NPNM4xgo&sns=em
sadly, it's advertisement for a company.
positively, it's a cool flash mob music thing at heathrow.
i'd like to do something like that.
...and credit goes to brandi for sending me the link. (she beat me discovering it as a viral hit on casttv.com)
sadly, it's advertisement for a company.
positively, it's a cool flash mob music thing at heathrow.
i'd like to do something like that.
...and credit goes to brandi for sending me the link. (she beat me discovering it as a viral hit on casttv.com)
Monday, November 1, 2010
today's post
today's post brought a positive letter/transcript from roehampton university.
the letter formally told me that as a result of the 20 october board, i have been recommended to receive my degree.
sweet. that's right. i've formally achieved my MA Applied Music Psychology.
and i earned a DISTINCTION.
that, in the world of UK grading, makes me super happy/ excited/ proud of my achievement.
the letter formally told me that as a result of the 20 october board, i have been recommended to receive my degree.
sweet. that's right. i've formally achieved my MA Applied Music Psychology.
and i earned a DISTINCTION.
that, in the world of UK grading, makes me super happy/ excited/ proud of my achievement.
nanowrimo
monday
01 november.
today marks day number one of NANOWRIMO (national novel writing month). an insane undertaking for those who are not familiar with it: the premise being that you write 50,000 words of a novel during the month of november.
i hadn't heard of this venture until brittany mentioned it was one of her life goals awhile back. sounding like an interesting thing to support doing, she encouraged me to partake as well. she's been planning her novel for a bit while job searching (sidenote: yay, today she officially was offered a job) this past month. we even tried to go to some of the events, but that hasn't quite worked out yet (we'll try going this week maybe). anywho, so i've decided that my participation in this nanowrimo business if i were to write would to be to do something related to my experience teaching.
enough people along the way talk about writing about the specialness that was, so i thought maybe. while not fully the idea behind NANOWRIMO (it's not really a memoir/biography/recollection kind of thing), they also express that if a participant feels like what they're writing is a novel, then they too will consider it a novel. i think the broader point is to be writing...with that insane goal of hitting 50,000 words in 30 days.
so i wrote like 1,500 this morning before being called in to help out at work. brittany wrote like 1800 today which is great since she did the math to discover that breaking down 50000 into 30 days is 1667 or something like that. that's a lot. dissertationing was to hit 20000 and not necessarily in only one month. but dissertationing was not making up a story - although mine's not fiction - so we'll see. school's gonna win out, so we'll see. (i suppose this here blog could get attention to reach 50000 but that's different. hmm. i'll have to rethink my method of participation...
halloween birthday
sunday
31 october
went for indian for brittany's birthday.
multiple indian options on our street, so the deciding factor was the life size tiger in the window. (see photo)
it was delicious.
we also had halloween birthday cake. mmm delicious.
31 october
went for indian for brittany's birthday.
multiple indian options on our street, so the deciding factor was the life size tiger in the window. (see photo)
it was delicious.
we also had halloween birthday cake. mmm delicious.
pumpkin carving
saturday
30 october
i discovered i'm a bit of an elitist. sad. didn't think i was. but here's the one instance i will be an elitist. i will not carve a pumpkin in the future without one of those little pumpkin carving knives (preferably with the double sided action). because i found that using regular knives was hard, obnoxious, and you can't get good details or curved lines really. so anyway, i'll own up to being a pumpkin carving elitist.
give me the little orange pumpkin knife.
so i attempted to carve a skull with eyepatch and crossbones. about two knife motions in, the 'eye patch string' was sliced off unintentionally because apparently the knife couldn't handle that. boo. and those bones were a bit tricky. i did manage to add headphones and an mp3 player for him with carving off the skin but not all the way through (didn't think that was going to be easy, but it was alright).
also had to break off a piece of a chopstick (yeah, no toothpicks around) to support his eye patch, eye socket, and nose which were okay but shortlived. chopsticks are also way thicker than toothpicks. i might add those to my elitist demands.
sadly we also realized that we didn't have tealight candles to light our pumpkins. however i took the two birthday candles i still had after brittany blew them out from her cake and stuck one in each pumpkin. so we at least got to see them lit up for the life span of a birthday candle. oh also we discovered we didnt have a lighter so those were lit using the gas stove. awesome improvisation throughout this whole process.
we did, though, achieve making some pretty tasty pumpkin seeds. in fact i may eat some now.
30 october photos:
31 october lit by birthday candles pumpkin photos:
30 october
i discovered i'm a bit of an elitist. sad. didn't think i was. but here's the one instance i will be an elitist. i will not carve a pumpkin in the future without one of those little pumpkin carving knives (preferably with the double sided action). because i found that using regular knives was hard, obnoxious, and you can't get good details or curved lines really. so anyway, i'll own up to being a pumpkin carving elitist.
give me the little orange pumpkin knife.
so i attempted to carve a skull with eyepatch and crossbones. about two knife motions in, the 'eye patch string' was sliced off unintentionally because apparently the knife couldn't handle that. boo. and those bones were a bit tricky. i did manage to add headphones and an mp3 player for him with carving off the skin but not all the way through (didn't think that was going to be easy, but it was alright).
also had to break off a piece of a chopstick (yeah, no toothpicks around) to support his eye patch, eye socket, and nose which were okay but shortlived. chopsticks are also way thicker than toothpicks. i might add those to my elitist demands.
sadly we also realized that we didn't have tealight candles to light our pumpkins. however i took the two birthday candles i still had after brittany blew them out from her cake and stuck one in each pumpkin. so we at least got to see them lit up for the life span of a birthday candle. oh also we discovered we didnt have a lighter so those were lit using the gas stove. awesome improvisation throughout this whole process.
we did, though, achieve making some pretty tasty pumpkin seeds. in fact i may eat some now.
30 october photos:
31 october lit by birthday candles pumpkin photos:
dr jekyll and mr hyde
saturday
30 october
brittany and i went to see dr jekyll and mr hyde at usher hall. it was pretty sweet - they showed the 1920 film on a giant screen with a dude playing the organ music for it live. can't say i've ever seen a silent film like that, so that was neat. the organ music background was really cool in conjunction with the film. it's also super interesting to think about how much you don't need to follow the film. sure, there's some overacting dramatization, but really you don't need much in the way of dialogue throughout.
30 october
brittany and i went to see dr jekyll and mr hyde at usher hall. it was pretty sweet - they showed the 1920 film on a giant screen with a dude playing the organ music for it live. can't say i've ever seen a silent film like that, so that was neat. the organ music background was really cool in conjunction with the film. it's also super interesting to think about how much you don't need to follow the film. sure, there's some overacting dramatization, but really you don't need much in the way of dialogue throughout.
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