Splurge...

... I succumbed, I now own MBT shoes... the ones I muttered about before but in brown. I adore them, they seem so strange to walk in... like walking on a pair of rocking chair rockers.

The rocking is the wierd thing, everytime I stand still and allow myself to roll onto my heels, I have to waggle my arms to stay upright. On the plus side, if I stand still and hold onto the other half's arm, he can rock me back and forth.

Masai and Musings

After suffering pain in both knees, one as the result of a temporarily dislocated (it popped back in straight away) kneecap and an unfortunate slide down a wee hill, I'm wondering whether to invest in a pair of these.

They are ruinously expensive, especially on my low income (read practically non-existent)... but they are meant to help.

There is a shop nearby which fits and sells them, and I'm wondering whether to just bite the bullet and go and try them. Even better, they have a cuter style which I rather like (though you can guarantee they won't have my size)...

Now I just have to decide... (and I haven't bought shoes for ages...)

Normal Service will be Resumed Shortly...

Whilst I'm not a computer science grad... I can sympathise with the cartoon...

It is strange being in the scenario where I'm in a position to to apply for stuff, knowing that I can fulfill the criteria. The next thing to work out is how to get them to reply to me. But these things take time.

To be honest, I had expected life post-PhD (Viva, whenever it may be, excepted) to be a little calmer. I didn't think I would be that busy. The sheer amount of marking (which is larger given events happening with the other TAs on the course), so that is eating up a lot of time. And I haven't even started on the worksheets from the last stage of the course... urgh. But it pays and money is always welcome.

The better news is that the April conference went well. They want the paper for an article in the proceedings (to be published next year), and the proceedings from last year are nearly published.. the cover looks really slick and I'm looking forward to seeing it in print. The article from that one went down really well with the editors, so that cheered me up.

Once I get that darn marking and the article out of the way, things will calm down. Plus I get to be in Athens for a while which will be great, plus the other half will be there with me for the first time - which I will really enjoy. After that the next commitment is a dig in June, I was there last year and had fun, so it will be good to be back.

Silence... part 2

I'm not sure why but I just don't have the urge to blog at the moment... it seems strange but I'm in a strange state of mind and have been since I submitted... I'm sure it will pass but until then... ssh!

Silence...

So I haven't been posting much lately, I don't know why, I think its all part of finishing up. My brain has shut down on so many levels, which is not necessarily a good thing, it just needs a rest. The trick now is getting it started up again...

Anyway, I saw this recent cartoon from PhD Comics and realised that my University fits in very well with one of the categories, as did my Undergraduate institution:

My Undergraduate University was a red brick, the current one is more along the lines of Gothic (for the main building at least)... unfortunately the section of the University I'm in is more Neo-Penal... on the plus side they removed the asbestos a couple of years ago...

What do you do?

What is it that you do when you've submitted? I handed in last tuesday and have spent a week in what can only be described as a daze... meandering around not really doing anything. I have been out and about, down to the seaside to a proper old-fashioned sweet shop and a trip to a nearby castle. And I've been somewhat more domestic, the freezer is restocked (all home-made) and the bathroom scrubbed from top-to-bottom. But the wierd thing is not actively working on academic stuff.

Thankfully, (or maybe not) I have marking to do and a conference paper/article to prepare which I'm actually looking forward too... who'd have thought it... I want to keep working...

Done!

Its done, my PhD thesis is in, just got the viva to go and I'm one graduation away from getting my doctorate...

Busy Busy Busy Part 2

And it really has been, hence the blog silence this last week. There are a few things to catch up on... so here goes:

Conference

The conference last weekend went really well, I got quizzed after my paper by some high profile people in the field, who had taken notes throughout my session, and continued to do so while I was trying to eat lunch and explain some of my points in greater detail.

I also got a good look around Cambridge. I saw pretty much the ugliest church I've ever seen. I also got look in the Fitzwilliam Museum, some cool stuff but it has this really strange mix of up-to-date and more antiquarian displays. The Near Eastern (all Babylonian, Assyrian etc) but very little Achaemenid or later material. The Greek pottery was very good, displayed well (you seen both sides of most vases) but was very old fashioned. I guess I was a little surprised but it was good see. Disappointingly I couldn't find any books in the museum shop (or any second book shops while I was there). I did go to the CUP bookshop but everything is so expensive!

The weird thing I saw, of all things, were the hand dryers in the washrooms at John Lewis. Apparently Dyson do hand dryers now. They were very odd, efficient, but odd. Kind of like sticking your hand into a food disposal unit.

Persia
I had my last class on wednesday and while I'm glad that its all done (I have enough other stuff to get on with) it has been an interesting (and steep) learning curve.

The class, as a group, have been good - they ask questions, they want to share opinions, pictures, thoughts - we rounded off the last class with a half hour discussion on points that they found interesting throughout the course which seemed to go down a lot better than I had been expecting.

More interestingly, after the first couple of classes they seemed to accept that I did know what I was talking about. Teaching groups of totally mature students when you are only in your mid-twenties is difficult. Especially as they can (and have, in my previous experience) be very dismissive of younger lecturers.

In terms of benefits to me, I learnt how to deal with on the spot questions better (in other words, when they reach the end of the question - I can still remember it), as well as learning how to prep 2 hour lectures in a short as time as possible.

Essays
My second year classics group unfortunately, although thankfully they aren't due for another couple of weeks. I feel better about not doing anything with them as the notes for marking only came through a few days ago... despite the fact that these were handed in about 2 weeks ago.

Zoom Zoom!
Hurrah, the F1 season is back on. The race last weekend at Melbourne was dramatic, and the qualifying today was cool, some interesting events (notably the blocking of Heidfeld by the Maclarens whilst he was on his hot lap & the subsequent punishment of the Maclarens)... so I'm looking forward to a good race tomorrow morning... not sure if I'll be up at 6am to watch up - but that is what video recorders are for!

Thankfully I'm on easter break now, so I have plenty of time to get on with things... speaking of which I should probably get back to work... (aka watching CSI New York)....