21 weeks

[kareina]

21 weeks ago today my boxes of stuff were picked up by the moving company. They told me that it would take 10 to 12 weeks to get them to Milan. Last week their UK counterpart told me that I should get them on Wednesday of this week.

21 weeks ago tomorrow I printed my thesis and left it with my advisor to be bound and submitted. Today my advisor tells me he's surprised that I've not yet heard back from the examiners, that it has been a few weeks since their report was turned in. He also told me that he's not permitted to give me any details till I see the report for myself. He later checked with the department head, who says that he filed his report on 29 Oct, so I should get official word soon.

21 weeks ago Wednesday I boarded a plane for my brief holiday between being a PhD student and starting the life of a post-doc.

17 weeks ago Wednesday I arrived in Milan.

since then I've:

* dealt with a ton of paperwork required when one re-locates to Italy

* found a place to live, across the street from my office, and acquired what I hope will be sufficent shelves to store my stuff when it arrives

* done *lots* of reading on the things I need to know to run experiments

* ran two experiments and have a third ready to start

* had one microprobe session to analyse the results of the experiment, and have the next one scheduled

* started learning to use the program mathmaticia to process the data generated by the microprobe

* attended a conference in Scotland

* had an abstract accepted to present a poster at a major conference in San Francisco in December (and received a travel grant to attend said conference)

* organized a regular SCA dance practice, attended Drachenwald Crown tournament, and made new friends locally who either have been or are interested in being part of the SCA

* made myself a nice linen skirt, a decent wool tunic (and started embroidering it), am making good progress on a nice silk/wool blend tunic, taken in a couple of shirts and a dress to make them fit better

* Enrolled in an Italian Language course, and had mostly kept on top of the homework, even if I've had to miss a couple of lessons due to work

* done one draft of a paper for publication from my research, and discovered that it needs major revision, and some additional modelling

* started trying to learn the additional skills I'll need to accomplish that modeling

* edited for grammar one paper written by a colleague in India, and did some work on figures for that paper and for another for which I'm a co-author

* shared information on things I'm learning on my geology blog

* continued to maintain my daily yoga, and most-days walking or dancing for exercise

* learned where to purchase the things I need to maintain the healthy diet I enjoy

* made it to the Alps three times for minor adventures

* hosted a couple of old friends, and some new friends (met through couch surfing)

* helped friends with their costuming

* attended a couple of BBQs and a couple of parties

* managed to read a few books for fun

Yet, for all that, I still feel like I'm behind and there is so much more to do! Before I fly out for that conference and my Alaska holiday in December I need to:

* run one more experiment

* process all of the data from the experiments and create a beautiful poster full of exciting information obtained there from

* do whatever the examiner's report says needs to happen to complete my degree

* unpack my boxes and put everything away

* finish the winter coat I started ages ago, and shipped in a "close to done state" so that I'll have something to wear when I go to Alaska

* build a spice cabinet so I'll have some place to put my spice jars

* keep doing my Italian homework and attending class

* take in my bileaut to fit so that I can bring it to wear at 12th night, decide what sewing project to take with me when I travel, and make certain it is ready for stitching without scissors on the flight

* try to find time to do the modelling I want to do for that paper, and see if I can actually write the paper, or, perhaps, start writing the other one we discussed doing.

Comments

[hersir.livejournal.com]

I just have to ask.....

Do you ever sleep? :D

[kareina.livejournal.com]

According to the log I keep of how I spend my time, I have been getting between 45 and 60 hours of sleep a week since the record started (May of '08). These numbers take all the hours for a given calendar month, divide by the number of hours in the month, and multiply by 7 days in a week. I think that the low point, during the final two weeks of my thesis, was actually considerably lower than 45 hours of sleep a week, but after I turned it in and got on the plane I managed to catch up enough sleep for the second half of the month that it brought the total up to an almost reasonable number (but it is still a very noticeable dip in the trend of the graph!)



(No, no I can't help answering flip questions seriously, is it a failing? ;-)

[hersir.livejournal.com]

No, it's always good to be exact.

It's the compulsive record keeping that'll do you in.... :D

[kareina.livejournal.com]

But the graphs are so much fun!

[wortschmiedin.livejournal.com]

didn't you comment of the weird congruency in our lives right now? Today is my 21 days ago The movers picked everything up
Tomorrow my *in between* time starts ;)
Hope all comes through as you wish

[kareina.livejournal.com]

It is kind of fascinating just how balanced the patterns of our lives are. I wonder how long we will stay in sync/opposition like this? Good luck with everything! May your shippers get things there in a timely, undamaged, fashion! May you love your time over there and make many good friends. Fortunately, with the SCA it is easy to find people with whom you'd want to be friends...