Settling back in

Today I worked on a couple programming jobs that I took note of during my last batch of experiments.  As I mentioned yesterday, it's been nice to ease back into school this week with small jobs that help to remind me how to get things done.  Even after only a couple weeks of holiday I needed a reminder on keyboard shortcuts, work flow, directory structure on the computer, etc.  Now I haven't outright forgotten anything, I am just not as fluid as I am after weeks or months of concentration.

The software I patched today will make future experiments (specifically hardware controls) more user friendly.

To the point

Today was a straightforward day where I focused on two small electronics projects that I've been meaning to look for at few months.  This is perfect work for the first week back, giving me an opportunity to shake off the cobwebs and relearn my tools and redevelop efficient workflow habits.  I will admit that I could easy allow myself to be sidetracked by these jobs, but I will stick with my allotted time and will be ready to move on to other work next week.

The latest punchlist

I've started to build my latest to do list and there are many small items.  These come from all the bits and pieces I ignored when running experiments before the break.  All the little bugs and improvements that you note in the moment are beginning to overwhelm.  I spoke with my supervisor today briefly regarding my work plans in the near future and his comment was to not let these little things become too large of a distraction.  He makes the point that there are always further refinements that can be made, but at some point we need to draw the line.  Moving forward he suggested I give myself a set amount to time for these jobs and once the time is used up, move on.  I like this plan, but I also think I can sneak in a little bit of this work in the future during quiet moments between more important tasks.  For the remainder of this week, I am going to try and tackle as many of these odd jobs as possible, with the plan of jumping onto more significant sized projects from the start of next week.  This will also give me time to further collect my thoughts and organise a work schedule.

Outreach

Today was the second day of hosting students in the lab.  As a research group we continued to show aspects of our research with a couple small activities for the students along the way.  Activities such as these are always exciting because of the opportunity to share our passion and excitement for our work.  However, they are also extremely challenging as we need to eloquently convey complex ideas to a new audience.  Additionally, there's always some great questions that can catch you off guard.  Tomorrow I will return to my "regular" work, but I have a feeling I will be haunted from a few days by the challenge of effectively sharing my work with others.  I know I can't afford the time, but I'd love to take a side track for a week or three and come up with a few animations, demonstrations and interactive simulations to punch up my outreach demonstrating and tutorial skills.  Well for now, these ideas get documented on the "wish list" and I care on with my other jobs.

Visitors

As I mentioned yesterday, today our lab hosted a half dozen high school students.  Throughout the day the students rotated between the three current PhD students to learn about our current work and to try their hand at some experimental physics.  Today I focused on hardware development explaining why as a scientist one would want/need to make their own instrument, followed by a brief introduction to computer animated design where the students created a number of parts to be 3d printed.  In theory we'll loaded the 3d parts into a flow cell tomorrow and image the velocity field of water moving through the device.  Unfortunately, most folks around Wellington are not back at work and I am having trouble find a back-up 3d printer as our original plans have fallen through.  In the worst case, we use some test pieces I made before the break, which are similar to what the students worked on today.

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Week in advance: 4-10 January

Welcome back and here we go...  another year begins and the journey to thesis submission continues.  Over the past two weeks I've had an extremely restful holiday and despite the good intentions I did no work.  Now I struggle with this mentally, but what's done is done.  I think there's some good in taking time away from my research so that now I can head back to school recharged and be ready to move forward.

Starting back on Monday morning is usually a challenge as there's a backlog of tasks and to dos.  I worry tomorrow will be an abnormally difficult day, as the university been closed for so long.  Additionally, out lab will have 7 high school students visiting Monday and Tuesday to experience a research environment.  Everyone in the lab (students and supervisor) are planning to give our near full attention to these young scientists and while I look forward to sharing my love for the laboratory this will only compound an already busy schedule.

With the first two days of the week dedicated to our guests, I hope that by Wednesday I sort out my to do list.  I have plenty of manuscripts to draft/review, a talk to prepare for a conference next month, hardware to design and experiments to run.  I am looking forward to all of these jobs, but I can't help but think about my time left.  Organisation will be key over the next seven months and I look forward to sorting this out and jumping onto the priority jobs this week.