my own room, sort of

Went in this morning for the Scientists in Schools Seminar, which was actually rather fun. I also managed to accomplish a bit of uni work during the seminar--I'd brought my computer with me, so while listening I was able to open up the CorelDraw files for some of my pages of figures, delete the "Excel chart objects" and replace them with "pictures" of the chart, copied from excel by virtue of holding down the shift key before selecting the edit drop-down menu. This *drastically* reduces the file size of those CorelDraw files, and I much happier thereby. This was a perfect task for during the seminar as the Corel files took ages to open, but I had something else to do whilst waiting (by "ages, I mean more than five minutes, literally), and, once they were open the task of deleting and re-pasting took no thought/effort, so I could continue to participate. I think I like the teacher, from Margate Primary, to whom I've been assigned. One of the things we did today was a science activity--the brought in three bags of very different type of cat litter, broke us into small groups, and told us to determine which was "best". He and I talked about it for a few seconds, agreed that "best" would mean "doesn't stink if a cat uses it", realized that they didn't provide us a cat, but they had provided coffee and tea with lunch. So I grabbed the used tea bags, stuck them in a cup, poured coffee over them, and we spent the next 10 minutes or so adding a spoonful of the strong-smelling liquid to the three bowls of litter, smelling them after each addition. There is nothing like an afternoon spent smelling cat litter for a bonding experiance! Odddy enough, while the home-brand stuff (a clay-based product) smelled of coffee at the first spoonful, the other two didn't smell like coffee after 45 spoonfuls! One of them expanded to twice its starting volume, so we pronounced it as "best" as it not only doesn't stink, but one could use less of it to absorb the same quantity of liquid. I'm not certain what standards the other groups used, but we were pleased with our results.

After I got home clovis_t and I re-arranged furniture. He now has his desk, computers, bookshelves, etc. in the middle room (which has been a sewing room with a single guest bed in it), and I now have a bit more room in this room--though not as much as you might think, because his mum's sewing machine is now set up in here. It will be in use over Easter when his sister is home, because they are going to make her a ball gown for some upcoming event she's got. So I'll have a bit of company while I'm working and they stitch. But this is the larger room, so it makes sense to move the sewing in here if he's using that room.

It is now midnight, and I've only just gotten my room put back together (it was necessary to move everything to accomplish the transition!), so it is time for yoga, my 1000 words of geologic literature, and sleep! tomorrow I get to crush rocks for fun and profit, and then enjoy my more spacious room to try to make some serious thesis progress. Wish me luck that I have energy left for real work after working for pay...

my own room, sort of

Went in this morning for the Scientists in Schools Seminar, which was actually rather fun. I also managed to accomplish a bit of uni work during the seminar--I'd brought my computer with me, so while listening I was able to open up the CorelDraw files for some of my pages of figures, delete the "Excel chart objects" and replace them with "pictures" of the chart, copied from excel by virtue of holding down the shift key before selecting the edit drop-down menu. This *drastically* reduces the file size of those CorelDraw files, and I much happier thereby. This was a perfect task for during the seminar as the Corel files took ages to open, but I had something else to do whilst waiting (by "ages, I mean more than five minutes, literally), and, once they were open the task of deleting and re-pasting took no thought/effort, so I could continue to participate. I think I like the teacher, from Margate Primary, to whom I've been assigned. One of the things we did today was a science activity--the brought in three bags of very different type of cat litter, broke us into small groups, and told us to determine which was "best". He and I talked about it for a few seconds, agreed that "best" would mean "doesn't stink if a cat uses it", realized that they didn't provide us a cat, but they had provided coffee and tea with lunch. So I grabbed the used tea bags, stuck them in a cup, poured coffee over them, and we spent the next 10 minutes or so adding a spoonful of the strong-smelling liquid to the three bowls of litter, smelling them after each addition. There is nothing like an afternoon spent smelling cat litter for a bonding experiance! Odddy enough, while the home-brand stuff (a clay-based product) smelled of coffee at the first spoonful, the other two didn't smell like coffee after 45 spoonfuls! One of them expanded to twice its starting volume, so we pronounced it as "best" as it not only doesn't stink, but one could use less of it to absorb the same quantity of liquid. I'm not certain what standards the other groups used, but we were pleased with our results.

After I got home clovis_t and I re-arranged furniture. He now has his desk, computers, bookshelves, etc. in the middle room (which has been a sewing room with a single guest bed in it), and I now have a bit more room in this room--though not as much as you might think, because his mum's sewing machine is now set up in here. It will be in use over Easter when his sister is home, because they are going to make her a ball gown for some upcoming event she's got. So I'll have a bit of company while I'm working and they stitch. But this is the larger room, so it makes sense to move the sewing in here if he's using that room.

It is now midnight, and I've only just gotten my room put back together (it was necessary to move everything to accomplish the transition!), so it is time for yoga, my 1000 words of geologic literature, and sleep! tomorrow I get to crush rocks for fun and profit, and then enjoy my more spacious room to try to make some serious thesis progress. Wish me luck that I have energy left for real work after working for pay...