28 February 2008
Study and relax
When studying, relaxing is very important. Unfortunately I'm no great relaxer, rather the opposite. In an attempt to do something which would leave me no energy to think about anything other than the present, I went swimming. A colleague was supposed to keep me company during this braving of the elements (an indoor pool with lots of chlorine, yuk!), but she was stuck in a lecture. Hm.
Anyway, since I was already on the doorstep of the pool, armed with bathers and brand new purple goggles, I decided to go ahead. After a struggle with the lockers, I managed to find the 50 meter pool. There were signs at the head of the lanes saying 'slow lap swimming only'. Well, I could do slow, so I got in and started swimming. 50 meters later I was out of breath already, which was quite pathetic, so I decided to do the return 50 meters too. Then someone started, well I can't really call it swimming, moving very very slowly in my lane. Since my swimming is a bit lopsided, I found that disturbing, so I crossed a few lanes until I found an empty one.
Half an hour later I had finished 12 laps and got out of the pool. Made quite a spectacle of myself, because I could only get out halfway, after which I landed on my stomach and rolled onto solid ground. Where I discovered that the sign for this lane said 'high speed lap swimming only'. Oops. After another struggle with the locker, which refused to give my clothes back until the manager told it too, and a shower with my ears pricked up to keep track of my belongings in the change room, I was outside again feeling quite proud. Of what, you might ask? Well, at least I hadn't been thinking about my study for half an hour.
08 February 2008
Writing a scientific paper
What would you expect to be doing if you attend a workshop called 'Writing a scientific paper'? To write! Wrong. Yesterday's workshop with forementioned title comprised solely of ..... (drum roll): reading! Yes. Where I hoped to get tips on how to write, preferably through doing some practical exercises, the main thing was to read other people's articles. And analyse them, concluding most of them are not that good. Which is basically what you spend half to all your time on already as a postgrad researcher. So what's the point? The highlight of my attendance was the person I was sitting next to, who happened to be the officer in charge of the Bureau of Meteorology. Since my beloved is a sucker for the weather (ABC's weatherman Mark Harmody is his hero), I boldly asked if there were possibilities to come and have a look around. To which my neighbour answered 'yeah, sure, give me a call'. When I told the beloved that the weatherman gets all his info from this very bureau, he couldn't sleep last night from excitement. Think a little follow-up email today will be smart. :-)
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