Progress

It's been a few days since my last update and for that I apologies.  The past week has been quite busy and I've worked everyday to the tune of 12-14 hours.  The reason I've been spending long days in the lab is to get certain experiments running on the equipment at MSU.  This doesn't have to do with the instruments I've designed, built and programmed, but instead the hardware I came to Montana to use.  While the theory of operation is similar to the equipment in New Zealand, there were enough differences between the two systems to make for a challenging task.  Despite being a bit tired, I've really enjoyed this time as it's been an excellent opportunity to further my knowledge and experience.  It's kind of like learning to swim by being thrown into the deep-end of a pool... it's a bit terrifying and stressful, but if you survive you've grown in new ways.

Up until this afternoon nothing was working or making sense.  After a long session on the machine with one of the local professors, we were able to locate our issue (which looks to be a bug in the instrument software) and figure out a reasonable work around.  This evening I was able to fix up our code and make the measurement I need to make this trip a success.

Now after an intense week in Bozeman (and a few busy weeks before) I am headed to visit my family over a long weekend.  When I return to Bozeman I'll have just over two weeks to continue my work, but with a working pulse sequence I feel more confident that fruitful data will come from this visit.

Distracted

My apologies folks.  I have made it to the USA (two nights ago) and I was fortunate to have all my gear arrive in one piece.  Yesterday I assembled one of the instruments and had to make a couple adjustments on the fly.  The good news is that with a few tweaks the assembly works (or seems to work) as expected and today we were able to mount the device in the NMR system I came to use.  Today I've been working on some programming to get our experiments running.  We are very close to being able to make our first measurements, but there's some issue with the programming.  This could be due to porting the software from another instrument, but I've emailed from some technical support.

Week in advance: 5-11 April

Tomorrow I head off for Montana.  All my gear is packed up and ready for my flights.  Obviously the first task of the week will be to get myself and equipment safely to Bozeman, but after that there are a heap of unknowns.  I'll need to get a number of mechanical parts assembled and working, additionally my electronics will have to be set-up and my code will need to run on brand new (to me) systems.  Where will I find my first hitch or bug, I can't say, but I plan to hit the ground running.  I only have four weeks away and I need to make the most of my trip abroad.  Once my kit is running, there will be a number of experiments on offer which will only strengthen my thesis.  I big push now in the lab will only make it easier to compile my PhD work.

Week in review: 29 March-4 April

My goal this week was to prepare for my trip without exhausting myself (and ideally not work this weekend).  I am pleased to say all my equipment is packed and I am ready for my flight, although it did take me the better part of today to finish my preparations.  I have quite a bit of gear to take with me, so much that I couldn't carry everything down from the lab this evening.  Tomorrow I'll stop my school and grab the last of my kit, but everything is staged and ready to go.   I did take my time heading into work this morning and other than a quick stop in the lab, I'll have all of tomorrow to myself.  I am pleased not to be working until the absolute last minutes; a trend I've been trying to outgrow for years.

Bummer

My goal today was to completely wrap up in the lab prior to leaving next Monday.  Unfortunately, despite being at school for a full day, I still have a few hours of work left; meaning I'll need to head off to work tomorrow.  I was able to assemble a number of circuit boards which I am packing for my trip and I also spent time checking to make sure they operate as expected.  My workspace is a bit messy right now as I am going over all my equipment in advance of the final pack.

The storm?

This morning continued with the same calm as yesterday.  Early in the day I showed one of our visiting Masters students how to set-up the temperature control on the NMR system, I cleaned up my desk/office space, I got some paperwork signed and sorted for a programme I am working on, and I returned my stack of library books.  After lunch, while I was helping a fellow PhD student design a part to be 3D printed, I received my latest round of circuit boards.  I knew that I wouldn't get to soldering the PCBs today, but I wanted to make sure I had all the parts and tools I needed.  This is where things started to get a bit wild.  There was some confusion in our school about a borrowed crimp tool that I needed to make some cable assemblies which launched into an hour plus of searching.  Not only did I need the tool for my wires, it was suggested that I was the last person to borrow the crimper.  Now I take tools and other people's property very seriously (not to mention this particular pair costs almost $800) and I was certain I had returned the set earlier in the year.  Eventually the issue was sorted out and I'll have the equipment I need tomorrow morning, but there was some extra drama from the fact today is the last workday before I leave (tomorrow is a public holiday).  Moving on with the day it was nearly five o'clock and I hadn't heard from the workshop about my parts.  Not wanting to bother the boys while I was certain they were trying to finish off the job, I waited around for any news.  I was getting rather nervous, but right after six, a huge box was delivered with a massive collection of gear.  I was concerned, but in the end our staff came through.  All this excitement was certainly a dramatic end to the week, but I will be very pleased if this is the "storm" before my trip.  Tomorrow I still have to populate my boards and pack up my new kit, but everything is staged in the lab and I've taken care of all jobs that needed input from others; while I can't take the holiday off, I should have everything I need to finalise the logistics for my departure.

Calm

Although I am headed off overseas in 5 days, today was surprisingly calm.  I worked on a new circuit board which I'll have printed after I leave (and maybe forwarded to me while I am away).  In the middle of my work there was a power outage on campus and unfortunately the schematic I was working on at the time was corrupted.  It was a nuisance to lose a couple hours worth of effort, but I was able to quickly reproduce my work.  In the afternoon, I continued to prepare for my trip; carefully laying out equipment to pack and double checking the parts to make sure there are no errors or missing pieces.  I am still waiting for my new PCBs, but I am confident those will find their way to the lab tomorrow.  Also, I expect a pile of parts from the mechanical workshop, which will also need to be prepared for my trip.