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Entry tags:
busy, if not productive day
What I meant to do today:
1) Go in to Uni to discuss some calculations I've been working on with my advisor.
2) Spend time at Uni looking through the microscope at my samples containing albite to see which ones to analyse next.
3) Finish editing (for grammar) a paper for publication for which I'm the second author, and the only native-English speaker
What I did do today:
Went in to uni, got my computer set up and the many files open that I'd need to show my advisor the pretty pictures/graphs of what I've done with the calculations so that I could get his opinions. Carried the computer down the stairs to discover he wasn't in his office, though he was somewhere about, as his door wasn't locked.
Went back up stairs, thinking to do the microscope work first and try to find him again later, only to hear from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
clovis_t that his graphics card for his computer had died. (The one he got as an under warrantee replacement for the one which died not quite a year ago!) He commented that since we've been saving up for computer upgrades for him for a while, and since his birthday is coming up soon, perhaps it would make sense to get those new components while we were at it. But, of course, in order for him to take the defective card in and pick up everything, I'd need to bring the car home.
Knowing that he was stressed out about not being able to use his computer, back up the hill I went, where he talked me into heading into town with him, so that I could participate in the financial decisions. Two hours later, we came back up the hill, after having spent less than he thought we might in order to buy the various components he wanted to make his computer better than it had been (and indeed, the total damages came to less than we'd saved towards the upgrades!).
Doing the data entry to record the purchases and looking at the records over time, I've decided that my decision to always use notebook computers is a sensible one. Sure, when it is time to upgrade you have to buy everything at once, but in the past three years we've spent more on parts one component here and another there on his computer than we have on purchasing mine outright!
After some lunch I started in on that editing, only to be interrupted not too long later when my apprentice brought the day's mail in. Alas, as I'd feared might be the case, the passport photos I'd purchased at the Uni Shop last week were not considered "close enough" but the US Consulate, and they required that I send them new ones, that measure precisely to their specifications. They also wanted me to send them a postage-paid return envelope so that they could send me my completed passport--apparently the high fees they charge for a new passport don't include postage! Sigh. So back down the hill, withbaronsnorri this time, to get a new set done, this time at a shop which understands the difference in requirements from one country to another. Then off to the post office, and a quick stop at the spice shop, since we were in town.
Home again, and hungry again, I stopped to have some food, and while eating managed to deeply enough into my new book, The Spirit Stone, by Katharine Kerr that I wound up losing two more hours, but I managed to finish the book, which I very much enjoyed. And having finished it, it won't interrupt me tomorrow! (Only the 14th book I've read this year--this being on my final year of funding for my research stuff sure cuts into my reading time, most days!).
I did manage a bit more editing after finishing the book, but paused whenclovis_t sent me a link to a web page--since I was on-line anyway, it must be a good time to check livejournal and see what the people I care about are up to...
So here it is, nine in the evening, and I've barely started on one of today's three tasks, and the other two won't be possible till next time I head down the hill to Uni (and one of them has to be during business hours, or my advisor won't be there!).
Oh well, at least I can still work on the editing! The fortunate thing about having an appetite which turns off in the evening making food unappealing till after I sleep again--there will be no more interruptions to work today because I'm hungry! (Of course,clovis_t and I still need to do our daily yoga, and some exercise would be nice too...)
1) Go in to Uni to discuss some calculations I've been working on with my advisor.
2) Spend time at Uni looking through the microscope at my samples containing albite to see which ones to analyse next.
3) Finish editing (for grammar) a paper for publication for which I'm the second author, and the only native-English speaker
What I did do today:
Went in to uni, got my computer set up and the many files open that I'd need to show my advisor the pretty pictures/graphs of what I've done with the calculations so that I could get his opinions. Carried the computer down the stairs to discover he wasn't in his office, though he was somewhere about, as his door wasn't locked.
Went back up stairs, thinking to do the microscope work first and try to find him again later, only to hear from
clovis_t that his graphics card for his computer had died. (The one he got as an under warrantee replacement for the one which died not quite a year ago!) He commented that since we've been saving up for computer upgrades for him for a while, and since his birthday is coming up soon, perhaps it would make sense to get those new components while we were at it. But, of course, in order for him to take the defective card in and pick up everything, I'd need to bring the car home. Knowing that he was stressed out about not being able to use his computer, back up the hill I went, where he talked me into heading into town with him, so that I could participate in the financial decisions. Two hours later, we came back up the hill, after having spent less than he thought we might in order to buy the various components he wanted to make his computer better than it had been (and indeed, the total damages came to less than we'd saved towards the upgrades!).
Doing the data entry to record the purchases and looking at the records over time, I've decided that my decision to always use notebook computers is a sensible one. Sure, when it is time to upgrade you have to buy everything at once, but in the past three years we've spent more on parts one component here and another there on his computer than we have on purchasing mine outright!
After some lunch I started in on that editing, only to be interrupted not too long later when my apprentice brought the day's mail in. Alas, as I'd feared might be the case, the passport photos I'd purchased at the Uni Shop last week were not considered "close enough" but the US Consulate, and they required that I send them new ones, that measure precisely to their specifications. They also wanted me to send them a postage-paid return envelope so that they could send me my completed passport--apparently the high fees they charge for a new passport don't include postage! Sigh. So back down the hill, with
baronsnorri this time, to get a new set done, this time at a shop which understands the difference in requirements from one country to another. Then off to the post office, and a quick stop at the spice shop, since we were in town.Home again, and hungry again, I stopped to have some food, and while eating managed to deeply enough into my new book, The Spirit Stone, by Katharine Kerr that I wound up losing two more hours, but I managed to finish the book, which I very much enjoyed. And having finished it, it won't interrupt me tomorrow! (Only the 14th book I've read this year--this being on my final year of funding for my research stuff sure cuts into my reading time, most days!).
I did manage a bit more editing after finishing the book, but paused when
clovis_t sent me a link to a web page--since I was on-line anyway, it must be a good time to check livejournal and see what the people I care about are up to...So here it is, nine in the evening, and I've barely started on one of today's three tasks, and the other two won't be possible till next time I head down the hill to Uni (and one of them has to be during business hours, or my advisor won't be there!).
Oh well, at least I can still work on the editing! The fortunate thing about having an appetite which turns off in the evening making food unappealing till after I sleep again--there will be no more interruptions to work today because I'm hungry! (Of course,
clovis_t and I still need to do our daily yoga, and some exercise would be nice too...)