Week in review: 31 May-6 June

Today was another work day... as I am trying to keep on top of my to do list.  I've certainly made progress this week and I think I am about where I would expect to be, meaning my planning went much better this week.  I am still excited by my work, but I am getting a little nervous about my upcoming trip.  I am in good shape, with my parts back from the mechanical workshop, but I am still waiting on a PCB which should have been delivered this past Thursday/Friday.  I need the board to solder the components and test the final product before leaving next week and I am hopeful this can still happen.  Of course a work around or alternative could be found, but this PCB is the last piece of electronics I'll build for my PhD research and in a way it's a bit symbolic of the culmination of my work.  Regardless, I'll deal with the cards I am handed so stay tuned next week.

Tired, sick?

It was a great day and my work is progressing, but I worry I might be getting sick.  Not much else to say at the moment.  Time for rest and hopefully I'll be able to carry on tomorrow.

Code

Today was a solid day of programming as I worked to up date my user interface software.  I am making solid progress and hope to finish up in the next day or so.  I also received my latest batch of parts back from the machine shop.  Not much else to say.  Still making progress, still moving forward.

Positive energy

I am feeling a certain buzz from today as I continue to make progress at school.  First up, I've finished updating a crucial section of the hardware documentation, next I wrapped up helping another student prepare for his upcoming defense, I've moved on to a new programming task and overall I feel very positive about my current situation.

Things are coming together nicely for my trip overseas and I can see how I'll be able to wrap up my lab work over the next month.  Exciting times!

How many days?

Back to work this morning... to start my day I took care of the backlog of emails, paperwork and arrangements for my conference trip in August.  Later in the day I spent time preparing bits and pieces for my trip later this month (making cables, 3d printing parts, etc).  I also spent a touch of time adding to my documentation files.  I ended the day helping another student who is finishing their work in advance of his PhD exam next week.

Looking at the calendar, I have just over 10 days before I head off overseas again.  Things are looking good, but the days are flying.  I think it'll be a long weekend in the lab, but we'll see how things work out.

Day away

With school closed due to a public holiday, I took the day off.  Back to work tomorrow...

Week in advance: 31 May-6 June

Continuing on from yesterday's "cliff-hanger" of a post where I purposed two options, I've decided on a third choice.  I will continue with my writing/documentation of my hardware and software, but I'll also continue to use and test my instruments and programming.  In two weeks when I head overseas again not only do I want others to know how to use these devices (i.e. have a proper user's manual), but I also want the hardware to work.  The next two weeks and my time in Montana will most likely be the end of experimental work portion of my PhD.  This notion works well with my expectation to submit my thesis at the end of September.  However, I need to shake out any new or remaining bugs so that my time abroad can go smoothly.

In the coming week I will simultaneous tackle small pieces of the help documents while setting up and running tests with the actual hardware.