Week in advance: 30 November-6 December

This week I need to start thinking about more than just the few days ahead and start looking a month or so in advance.  Coming up the university will be closed for two weeks around Christmas, which will probably mean I loose access to the lab.  Seeing as  have plenty of work to do, I need to make sure I am able to continue my work at home.  Meaning I should focus on experiments over the next couple weeks and do serious writing and analysis over the shut-down.

Also, as I mentioned yesterday, plans are starting to come together for me to visit a lab overseas.  To keep this idea alive I need to work out the details now so that there's enough time beforehand to order parts/material and fabricate any equipment.

Week in review: 23-29 November

I noticed this week an interesting detail regarding the number of posts I've made and the amount of time left on the countdown timer.  Just under 130 posts with around 250 days left... it's not precise, but it tells me that I am about a third of the way through my final year.  This made me thing about what I've accomplished in this time, which was perfect as I needed to complete a six month report on my progress.

In the past few months, my work has come a long way.  Two independent devices built and operational.  With my colleagues, I've contributed to to patent applications based on this work and present talks at a meeting in Auckland and a workshop in Germany.  Additionally, I've worked on other publications from experiments prior to my PhD.  It's been a productive time and what's more is I have momentum to carry me over into the next year.  This week I continued to collect data which will be key for my thesis and at least one journal contribution.  I am also have other work waiting to be written up for a journal.  Both of which I plan to dive into (start, no promises on completing) during the upcoming holidays.  I have also begun work on hardware to take to a lab overseas.  This work will also play a key part of my thesis.  Additionally, I have a talk at an international conference next February.

I've continued to make progress in the lab this week, but I've also spent time taking stock of what I've done the past few months.  Based on my track record so far during this "final" year, I am moving confidently towards my deadline.

Early start

After being away from the lab the past couple days, I wanted to get an early jump on my work.  I headed in a bit before my usual start time and took care of a six monthly report (that was due by the end of the month).  The rest of the day I spent most of my time preparing material, parts and design for the next iteration of hardware I am going to build.  Also, I had a quick sit down with my supervisor to look at some data I collected at the beginning of the week and I ran some analysis scripts on other measurements I made a few days ago (which will contribute to one of my manuscripts I am working on).

Another day off

I guess the title says it all...

I am headed back in to work tomorrow which means I'll be playing catch up.   It's the dark side off time off, but I'll take things one job at a tine.

Day off

Rating today (it got a 4) was probably the easy job ever.  See I took the day off to spend time with my wife who recently returned from a conference overseas.  Although the plan is to take off tomorrow as well so I guess I'll have just as easy of a time then.

Check the clock

Based on my experiences today (and many other days) I wanted to share a phenomenon common to the postgraduate experience.  That's the concept of time dilation.  Now as a physicist I could try to be clever here and tie an analogy to a particular aspect of relativity, but I'll spare you the artistic and clever prose.  The point I do want to make is how quickly a day goes by.  I was in the lab for over 12 hours today, and yet it doesn't feel like it!  Now this is where you assume I'll brag about how much I love my work, but that's not my message either.  The point is that even the smallest of jobs take heaps of time.  If I were to set my watch (which I don't wear because I work around huge magnets) based on the time it took me to get things done in the lab, I'd be shopping for Christmas 2011.

To some the deliberate and methodical pace of a PhD might be exhausting, but the reality is producing a thesis is a protracted process.  As such, on the time scale of hours or a day it's difficult if not impossible to see any progress.

Again, today's post was only to share my experience, not complain about any specifics.  For now, I am happy with the progress I am making, one step at a time.

Restraint

This morning I worked on a couple experiments in the lab.  Collecting data from one instrument while troubleshooting methods with another.  Unfortunately I had to cut my work short as I had a meeting early in the afternoon.  Also, I did volunteer this evening after I finished on campus, which made the work day feel very short.

I don't know if it's my excitement and enthusiasm from the start of the week or a a feeling I didn't do enough work or maybe a sense of urgency, but when I got home from volunteer I had to fight off a desire to go into school.  Now suppressing an instinct to work sounds ridiculous, but it was after 8pm.  With the walk up the hill to school and such, I would have arrived pretty late.  Sure I could get in a couple hours, but where would that leave me for tomorrow?  Thus I held back (this is what I worked on last week) and I hope to carry over my energy to tomorrow and have a great day in the lab.

Week in advance: 23-29 November

This week my focus is to work on the remaining experiments still needed for one of my upcoming publications.  Realistically, I know I won't finish these experiments this week, which also means I won't meet my November deadline for a completed draft.  Fair enough I suppose, things also take longer than you'd expect (or at least they do for me).

Tomorrow afternoon I have a meeting which means I won't be able to volunteer and I'll have to spend time in the morning preparing.  Also, my wife is coming back to New Zealand on Wednesday morning and I am planning to take a couple days off once she returns.  That doesn't give me much time this week, but I plan to make the most of it.

Week in review: 16-22 October

Being alone (at home) this week, I knew I would need to leverage a certain amount of moderation to make sure I didn't burn myself out the first day.  Also, this week that I found two rather difficult in the lab challenges, which captured my attention.  Together the confluence of these situations could have made for endless work and while I did have a number of long day I can happily report I survived.  And not just that, but I didn't allow myself to be entirely consumed by work and I was able to balance time in the lab and at home.

I am pleased with the progress I made this week setting up experiments and collecting data.  I enjoyed the extra time I spent at school, but I also demonstrated, for myself, that I do have self control and restraint when it comes to work.

Doors

Well there's an old saying about doors... you know when one closes another opens up.  Turns out there's some truth to this idea, especially when it comes to research.  The past couple days I've talked about the difficult in getting some of my hardware to work with an older operating system on one of our lab computers.  Yesterday I admitted that continuing my course of action was not a reasonable use of my time, however, I didn't want to just revert to a previous (sub-par) strategy.  A post-doc in our lab throughout a couple alternative ideas which I looked into today.  After a morning looking at my options, I am very please with a brand new approach which not only solves my problem it enriches my work.  Not only did a new door open, but it's a bigger, shinier, more versatile door!  I spent time today working on a proof of concept and having seen the viability in the plan I shelved that work for now to spend time on my second challenge from the week.  I am pleased to report I also have movement on this front, with my program now compiling and acquiring data as expected.  Now I need to verify the data collected is what you would expect and hopefully make a measurement for one of my articles I am hoping to finish soon.

One down

I spent another half day on one of the two challenges I mentioned yesterday.  While I wasn't able to get the result I wanted, I have come to the conclusion that (within a reasonable amount of effort) it not possible to accomplish what I want.  Specifically, I am dealing with software (a kernel) that is too out of date to take advantage of modern electronics.  While this will eventually lead to different ideas to solve my problem, for now I am falling back to a previous, albeit less optimal, approach.  At end of the day I worked on my other programming problem and while the issue is still unresolved, I am continuing to learn through the process.

Standstill

After a long day I finally had to admit defeat and retreat.  I have two challenges at work and I can't seem to make much progress on either front.  While it's certainly frustrating, I am fine with the process.  My only hope is that I am learning something, not just spamming random solutions in the hope of success.  At this point, I am buried a little too deep in the process to make a call on this, but I'll keep you up to date.

A bit too much

Today was a great day working on some programming.  My goal is to run a new type of experiment, which requires a sequence unlike anything we've used in the lab before.  In the process I am learning a great deal (and enjoying myself), but it's a time consuming process.  I have to admit that I probably stayed at work a bit longer than I should have, especially considering my goal for the week.

Moderation

This week I am working on my personal disciple, specifically on pacing my work efforts.  With volunteering on Monday afternoons, you'd think that today would be a gimme and I'd take a pass on moderating my expectations.  However, the best lessons are sometimes learned in the most unexpected places.  Allow me to explain...

I never go into detail about my volunteering as I treat this as part of my home life and I want to keep the blog focused on the student aspects of my life.  In short, I work the afternoon/evening at the local SPCA in the dog area.  As it turned out today, a number of fellow volunteers called out and I was solo for most of my shift.  This makes for a busy time, but it's not an impossible job.  Usually I work until 7pm, but as I would have been alone, I planned not to stay late.  Instead the canine staffer and I worked to close-up shop around 5pm.  In our push to quickly finish the daily chores, I realised I wouldn't have time to do all my usual jobs.  Of course we completed all the necessities, but I was limited to these bare essentials.  Despite my frustration, by the situation, I was forced to accept moderation.  Now this wasn't my personal choice, so I still need to work on this aspect of self disciple, however, I did experience a situation where I had to confront my limits and do the best I could with my available resources (namely time).  Sounds like a good lesson for a PhD student!

Week in advance: 16-22 November

In a way it's busy as normal this week...

Q: What do I want to do?
A: Get work done!

Really how different is this from other weeks?  I am still working on my data for publications and trying to herd along a dozen or so loose ideas.  The trick this week will be the fact that I am on my own.  No, not in the lab, but at home.  Now what does that matter?  Most people might not be aware, but I struggle to admit my limits.  Look at the last couple nights (Friday and Saturday), the first nights on my own in Wellington, and I was at work until nearly 11pm on both occasions.  Now a healthy dose of work is good, but the issue turns out to be the next day.  I can work until early in the morning, but then my next day is destroyed and quickly things go off the rails and quickly my best of intentions lead to my demise.  As a PhD student, it is essential to pace yourself and not burn out.

Week in review: 9-15 November

It's been an interesting week with some serious fits and starts.  Between volunteering Monday morning, taking Thursday off, hanging out at the airport on Friday afternoon and a range of other meetings I have had plenty of time away from the lab.  Working late last night and today I've tried to catch-up regarding the quantity of hours worked.  However, I've noticed that when your schedule is fragmented, it's difficult to recover the quality of work.  I wasn't prepared for these ups and downs and as such I didn't plan appropriately.

Queuing

Today was a busy day with a variety of activity.  My morning started with showing another students how to use a new software package (SOLIDWORKS).  Afterwards I attended the first session of a joint Massey University and Vic chemistry seminar as one of collaborators from Massey was giving a talk.  Next I left campus to take my wife to airport.  Later in the evening I returned to the lab and worked on some much needed programming.  Specifically tonight I was working on speeding up a data transfer between the memory card on one of my instruments to a desktop computer.  I am extremely pleased with the results and now I can exchange files at a fraction of the previous transfer speed.  I also prepared a sample to run measurements on this weekend.  Nearing my work limit for the day, I've been thinking about compiling a list of all the small tasks I've haven't had a chance to work on the past couple months.  With my wife out of town, I figure I'll spend most of my "off" time catching up on these jobs. 

And don't worry... I haven't forgotten about my writing goals.  I am working to finish my data collection and anaylsis.  Ultimately inching my way towards a complete draft.

Pass

Today I took the day off so that I could send time with my wife before she heads overseas for a conference.  I'll make up the work when she's away.

Still learning

This morning I started my day with a trip to the dentist and then headed into work.  In the lab I pushed on with learning a new programming environment, but have only started to scratch the surface.  In the afternoon I attended a meeting between the PGSA and members of the University.  Afterwards, I went back to work, running experiments and analysing data.

New syntax

Today I continued with my work in the lab, but ended up working on some new programming.  The code is actually in C, but I've never used these libraries or syntax; thus a new challenge.

One thing at a time

Today I started by re-assembling part of our NMR system after troubleshooting a constant temperature bath.  Having (or at least thinking) the problem with the cooling system was solved, I went on to my latest simulations and also prepared a sample to run experiments.  After lunch I caught up with the supervisor to give his a heads up on some of my progress and to discuss what's been on my mind the last few days.  Again I seem to have found another thesis project, hummm how much time do I have left? 

[looks to the right ->]

I finished up my day at my volunteer gig off campus.

Week in advance: 9-15 November

Last week I wanted to focus on preparing a paper for submission (with everything that entails: data collection, analysis and writing).  Actually that's my goal for the month, so this week I'll keep to the same plan.

I went into the lab yesterday and today to keep working on some new simulations that will help to understand our experimental set-up for certain experiments.  While I've found a rich subject to explore in the future, I also see this is too big of a concept to include with the current paper.  Thus this week, I'll get back to the core story of my manuscript and keep working towards a draft for circulation.

Week in review: 2-8 November

As far as actual writing is concerned, this week there was none.  At least not any writing related to journal articles.  However, I continued collecting and analysing data for publication in the near future.  Additionally, I've found some interested results from "simple" experiments and I am keen to follow through with understanding the implications of these results.  Yes there is a certain amount of "distraction" implied, but it's different from my typical sidetracks with designing or building some new device for in the lab.  As such I am flexing "muscles" and challenging myself in new ways.

Ponder

Today I spent time looking at and thinking about some of the data I collected this week.  For the most part, the tests this week were not meant to be ground breaking, but were carried out to understand the conditions of our experimental set-up.  After reviewing the same data again and again, I was struck by the consequences of the results.

Later on in the day, when I was speaking with my wife and talking about life as a PhD student, I mentioned this story.  The excitement of research is that you can be treading a path, comfortably and confidently, when you come across something seemingly minor which ultimately opens up a whole new world.

Now the analysis from my work this week didn't give me any answers, it's just a bunch of numbers, but it lead my mind to consider a situation that previously I hadn't pictured.  In this way I think science (and the process of doing science) is fascinating, that the human brain has the capacity to interpret foreign concepts once confronted with information from physically processes.  It's the combination of theoretical and experimental work, the balance of brain and brawn.

A bit more challenging

Today I continued my work from yesterday and have pretty much the same story to tell.  Only now my computer work is a touch more challenging after knocking out the "easy" problems earlier in the week.  My morning and part of the afternoon was spent setting up some analysis scripts to analyse my recently collected data.  I am very happy to have kept at the programming today as the analysis routine was extremely efficient and made it very convenient for examining my data.

Ditto

Today I carried on from yesterday... I was able to run the experiments I designed and prepared yesterday.  Additionally, I worked on a shared instrument outside of our lab and continued setting up my work computer.

Deeper understanding

This morning I continued with setting up a fresh OS install on my lab desktop.  Yesterday I mentioned there were no major glitches and so far my statement holds.  However, to get all the tricks and shortcuts I had accumulated over two and a half years into my new system it took some research online.  Luckily I already knew what I wanted to do and I had a vague idea how, but I need a few hours to work out the details.  In the end I am becoming more comfortable in a Linux environment and am pleased I have a better understanding of how to utilise my OS.  In the afternoon I worked on programming and setting up a series of experiments.  I wasn't to the point of collecting data, but that should come tomorrow.

One more tick

Today I had an important meeting for the PGSA.  In the end the great news is that I have one more tick on my master list of work.  I spent the day preparing for the meeting, which took place 2-4 pm.  This didn't leave me much time in the lab, but I did work a couple hours on updating the OS on my desktop computer.  I upgraded to the latest long term support (LTS) version (14.04) of Ubuntu (a Linux desktop environment).  I was running a previous LTS from 2012, which should have seen me through the end of my PhD, but my thinking was to shake my computer now and expose any weak points as to avoid a crisis in the coming months.  So far everything checks out.

Week in advance: 2-8 November

Continuing my thoughts from last week, I want to step up my productivity at work.  Balancing work and personal commitments takes time and I can't just assume that I can spend extra time at school.  I can admit there's only so much I can accomplish over the next few months, but I want to make sure I don't waste any valuable time in the lab.

This week I have a mixture of chores, including instrument time, running experiments in the lab, a couple PGSA meetings and everything else... Tomorrow I'll focus mainly on preparing for a meeting in the afternoon (one of my PGSA obligations), but I'll also map out my week and if possible get to work on collecting my next round of data.

My goal for the month is to have a draft to circulate to co-authors with the hope of submitting maybe before the end of the year.

Week in review: 26 October-1 November

This week I wanted to focus on writing, particularly focusing on preparing an article draft for submission.  I did work on this manuscript and I also worked on the required figures and gathering necessary data to be included in the paper.  Additionally I worked on some "side projects" and even took a day off.  Humm, sounds like I've had a well rounded week.  Fair enough, progress has been made, but I am not happy with the current pace.  Outside of work (and nearly outside the bounds of this blog) I've been trying to live a more "rounded" life, you know the eating, resting, exercising kind of stuff.  Well it turns out these things take up quite a bit of time and can really cut into a long workday.  In this case I need to up my intensity when I am at work.  Time is ticking away and I have projects I want to do.  With writing a thesis and a few journal articles, there's not much time left for anything else.  I need to make the most out of the time I do have left.

On another note, today's post marks the 100th entry so far into this blog.  An accomplishment based upon my journalling endeavours in the past.  I won't try to say anything profound or insightful, other than to say I've enjoyed the process of chronicling my work and I do think it's been a useful exercise to organise my thoughts and focus on my priorities.

Guilt

Other than the odd email and a quick trip into the lab to pick up some papers, I didn't do any work today. 

While time off is suppose to be a good thing, all it seems to do is give me guilt and stress.  I am constantly thinking about work and today was no exception, however, as I wasn't at school I was plagued with the thought I should be at my desk.  In the end I question how beneficial "time off" really is and maybe it's best to stick to a regular schedule.