So this is my first post since getting to Leamington Spa. No I haven't tried the waters yet. So the last week has been a mixture of fun and games. First up was moving. A 21 hour marathon of fun. Rob, my sister's boyfriend, helped us move in the van they hired for us. Two trips back and forth from Manchester and plenty of loading and unloading in the rain. Oh and did I say I fucking hate the taxi drivers who parked right outside the old flat making it even more of a hassle loading up the second time. The fun and excitement of getting to leamington was soon replaced by fatigue and some madness (Sam getting spaced out by the neon road signs).
Of course to make matters better.... err worse.... was that we had a leak in the flat in the main bedroom because the pressure was too high in the boiler and the piping in the walls in the bedroom popped. Joy. Oh and how much fun is it to get the landline connected to a brand new flat?? Not very and also very expensive. Ergo yesterday we got mobile broadband and in the deal a brand new laptop. The up side of this?? We can take the internet on holiday with us!! It also means we have no sky now... but I think that it has made us realise that we really only need freeview. I mean do we need 100+ channels of shite we never watch.
Today has been sort of my first real day at work. Rob Deeth, my new supervisor, it very laid back compared to Paul Popelier. This can be both a blessing and a curse. On the upside my previous knowledge of machine learning and of course my links to the Popelier group are already being brought into play. My new work will focus on the modelling of Copper complexes in proteins. I think from I have learnt so far that copper is important for understanding prion diseases.
Leamington we are finding is quite a pretty, sunny, clean, pigeon-less, town. It has many nice restaurants and cafes and it is pleasant not to have morons walking into us while we go down the street. The university of Warwick is likewise very nice and has it's own cinema and theater. It's very green fields and is a short journey on the bus away. This has allowed me to once more enjoy reading books while on the bus.
Otherwise that's about it. Right now just trying find out whats on, getting together a roleplay group and of course getting married in a months time!
Well I think that is all.
Thursday 22 January 2009
Thursday 15 January 2009
I'm not a monkey! I'm a man! A monkey... man!
So today was the last day. Infinity welcomes careful drivers.
10:30 am - Print colour pages and put them into the thesis
12:00 pm - Take the thesis for binding - cringe as you spot three errors straight off. Damn you Word for your fucking 'intelligent' formatting! Fuck you and die. You made me look like a monkey! A monkey-man... with fists!!!
13:00 pm - Hand in thesis. It's done. Oh look. I got it handed in during the first few 6 months of the writing up period so I get a £150 refund on the fees. Wooo hoo!
14:00 pm - go to bank and talk loan/borrowing type stuff.
14:45 pm - sister calls me and worries me by saying there might be a problem with moving tomorrow
15:00 pm - begin clearing desk, backing up files
16:00 pm - see supervisor and hand him a copy of the thesis. He's happy so I get to leave on good terms. This is a bonus for the future.
15:20 pm - leave the MIB with a box with my things from my desk. PhD is over. Now for the big league.
Yeah that was my day in a nut shell. Tonight I stop being in immediate email/LJ/Facebook/internetz contact. Tomorrow we are moving. Things have hopefully been sorted out with regards to the van and so forth. We have lots of boxes and I hope enough space in the van. It may mean a few things get left behind to be picked up on the Saturday. It's been weird today. I now leave confident that the guys in the Popelier group (now no longer my group) are able to continue with the work that I began. I am really confident that in the next year there should be some really impressive advances and it's nice to know I'm welcome to go back when I want to help/advise on the work.
Now I have to get my head round a new bit of chemistry and use tools which compared to those which I have developed are quite out dated but then again thats how it rolls.
Right now all the rooms in the flat are a mess. There are little bits lying about that need to be boxed away. But otherwise we are almost there. I'm gonna work my ass off now tonight and put the rest away and start cleaning bits out. My brain feels a bit like swiss cheese. Full of holes where it has been ransacked for knowledge.
But tonight that all doesn't matter. In front of me is my thesis. Finished. Done. Next to me is my bride to be, and ahead of me is the lands of Leamington Spa (where we might just take the waters... just like in Dune), the Castle of Warwick and the Coventry of ... of... Lady Godiva.... hmmmm!
The thing I realised is that everytime you go up the education ladder you feel like you back at the bottom. Your previous achievements mean little. But now it's different. My achievements mean a lot. My papers, my work, my thesis, the lot. It marks me out as something different to the rest of my peers. It's what got me my new job. Hell apparently I even take with me a reputation thanks to what Popelier has told Rob.
That's it then. This is the soon to be Dr Ether siging off from the Guild station (Market Buildings) and awaiting a new up link at the Magic Lantern Shop (Lantern Court) or Le Chateau d'Handley.
I am sure I will see you all again some time soon.
10:30 am - Print colour pages and put them into the thesis
12:00 pm - Take the thesis for binding - cringe as you spot three errors straight off. Damn you Word for your fucking 'intelligent' formatting! Fuck you and die. You made me look like a monkey! A monkey-man... with fists!!!
13:00 pm - Hand in thesis. It's done. Oh look. I got it handed in during the first few 6 months of the writing up period so I get a £150 refund on the fees. Wooo hoo!
14:00 pm - go to bank and talk loan/borrowing type stuff.
14:45 pm - sister calls me and worries me by saying there might be a problem with moving tomorrow
15:00 pm - begin clearing desk, backing up files
16:00 pm - see supervisor and hand him a copy of the thesis. He's happy so I get to leave on good terms. This is a bonus for the future.
15:20 pm - leave the MIB with a box with my things from my desk. PhD is over. Now for the big league.
Yeah that was my day in a nut shell. Tonight I stop being in immediate email/LJ/Facebook/internetz contact. Tomorrow we are moving. Things have hopefully been sorted out with regards to the van and so forth. We have lots of boxes and I hope enough space in the van. It may mean a few things get left behind to be picked up on the Saturday. It's been weird today. I now leave confident that the guys in the Popelier group (now no longer my group) are able to continue with the work that I began. I am really confident that in the next year there should be some really impressive advances and it's nice to know I'm welcome to go back when I want to help/advise on the work.
Now I have to get my head round a new bit of chemistry and use tools which compared to those which I have developed are quite out dated but then again thats how it rolls.
Right now all the rooms in the flat are a mess. There are little bits lying about that need to be boxed away. But otherwise we are almost there. I'm gonna work my ass off now tonight and put the rest away and start cleaning bits out. My brain feels a bit like swiss cheese. Full of holes where it has been ransacked for knowledge.
But tonight that all doesn't matter. In front of me is my thesis. Finished. Done. Next to me is my bride to be, and ahead of me is the lands of Leamington Spa (where we might just take the waters... just like in Dune), the Castle of Warwick and the Coventry of ... of... Lady Godiva.... hmmmm!
The thing I realised is that everytime you go up the education ladder you feel like you back at the bottom. Your previous achievements mean little. But now it's different. My achievements mean a lot. My papers, my work, my thesis, the lot. It marks me out as something different to the rest of my peers. It's what got me my new job. Hell apparently I even take with me a reputation thanks to what Popelier has told Rob.
That's it then. This is the soon to be Dr Ether siging off from the Guild station (Market Buildings) and awaiting a new up link at the Magic Lantern Shop (Lantern Court) or Le Chateau d'Handley.
I am sure I will see you all again some time soon.
Thursday 8 January 2009
Oh... now I get it!!!
A nice and concise summary of LOST. It's all so clear now. My life feels so complete.
more the engrish!
Tuesday 6 January 2009
So the fun continues
So where are things right now?
Xmas was spent with glittersavvy at home. We exchanged presents. Sam had got me an amusing book on being a modern gentleman while I had got Sam a a pair of earrings from Azendi to go with her necklace. The rest of the day was general monging out in front of the box eating posh chocolates. I had also got from glittersavvy's mother a copy of the new version of Changeling, which I am only now just delving into and looking forward to running in the future. At least I only need to get the Hunter core book and I have the whole lot allowing me to run what I like and do epic crossover games.
The next day was of course the sales and glittersavvy picked up a nice new dress while I found some new silver trousers in H&M and some new tops from Nike (yes that is right, Nike). Later that evening we went round to her mum's and had xmas dinner and opened even more presents from her aunts. It was kinda weird to be getting presents from soon to be relatives that I have only met a few times. One was a book that went with the DVD series about Venice which we have, another was a journal that I have now started to write in as I feel it is appropriate to keep one now that my life in a new phase.
More recently we hd new year at home, with trashkitty joining us for the whimper of a bang that was new year. And of course the next day, considering the boredom that would have been, we all made are way across the road to the cinema to watch The Spirit. Amusing, unexpected, tongue in cheek, hilarity, and just wacky fights. All decent and well done and it was a nice film that just didn't take itself seriously.
So now we are two weeks from the expected move. I have to submit my thesis (very last corrections and things to be done) and of course a hell of a lot of documentation to be done so the guys in the group can continue after I am gone. The party is this Friday and it not only celebrates getting the new job, leaving my birthday, but also the forthcoming wedding in Venice. This year has just sped by. It's been hard, really hard at times, but worth it. But I am glad now to see the back of 2008.
No now we only have the fun with the estate agents. Bastards is all I will say. But fuck it, I've made it. This time in two months I will be in a new town, new flat, married and in new job. But, as Quark would say;
The more things change... the more they stay the same.
Xmas was spent with glittersavvy at home. We exchanged presents. Sam had got me an amusing book on being a modern gentleman while I had got Sam a a pair of earrings from Azendi to go with her necklace. The rest of the day was general monging out in front of the box eating posh chocolates. I had also got from glittersavvy's mother a copy of the new version of Changeling, which I am only now just delving into and looking forward to running in the future. At least I only need to get the Hunter core book and I have the whole lot allowing me to run what I like and do epic crossover games.
The next day was of course the sales and glittersavvy picked up a nice new dress while I found some new silver trousers in H&M and some new tops from Nike (yes that is right, Nike). Later that evening we went round to her mum's and had xmas dinner and opened even more presents from her aunts. It was kinda weird to be getting presents from soon to be relatives that I have only met a few times. One was a book that went with the DVD series about Venice which we have, another was a journal that I have now started to write in as I feel it is appropriate to keep one now that my life in a new phase.
More recently we hd new year at home, with trashkitty joining us for the whimper of a bang that was new year. And of course the next day, considering the boredom that would have been, we all made are way across the road to the cinema to watch The Spirit. Amusing, unexpected, tongue in cheek, hilarity, and just wacky fights. All decent and well done and it was a nice film that just didn't take itself seriously.
So now we are two weeks from the expected move. I have to submit my thesis (very last corrections and things to be done) and of course a hell of a lot of documentation to be done so the guys in the group can continue after I am gone. The party is this Friday and it not only celebrates getting the new job, leaving my birthday, but also the forthcoming wedding in Venice. This year has just sped by. It's been hard, really hard at times, but worth it. But I am glad now to see the back of 2008.
No now we only have the fun with the estate agents. Bastards is all I will say. But fuck it, I've made it. This time in two months I will be in a new town, new flat, married and in new job. But, as Quark would say;
The more things change... the more they stay the same.
Saturday 3 January 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)