Archive for August, 2006
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By Nana | August 31, 2006 | Topics: PhD | 5 Comments »
Give Me Wind.
I wish I got some more wind to reach my * intermediate* final destination …approaching … approaching …
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa, I miss sailing, badly.
By Nana | August 30, 2006 | Topics: PhD | No Comments »
Wedding Or PhD? What’s More Important?
No, no, no … this is certainly not my latest dilemma … but today one of my cousins is getting married. I was, of course, invited. And I had to decline the invitation. My mom understood (the bride is the daughter of her sister). But her mom called me and I sensed a whiff of disappointment in her voice.
I totally understand, her only daughter is getting married and she would like to share this with the world. But, on the other hand, my mother’s only daughter is just a blink away from what can be perceived as quite exciting moment as well - finishing PhD. From my currently extremely selfish position, which I learned to develop through this period of writing and self-centrism as, in my tentative conclusion, the only way to finish, my handing in is just as much important as getting married (*at the moment* I have to emphasise, one day, *of course* I want that as well, lol).
Well, so today, I am not gonna go and support my cousin getting married, although I wish her all the best. Instead, I am gonna be sitting here, fine-tuning Chapter 6 to be sent to proofreading.
After all, finishing a PhD is still more or less one-time-occurrence;)))
By Nana | August 26, 2006 | Topics: Familiy | 9 Comments »
Back on Track
No, yesterday’s post was not a trick, but I just can’t leave Con Brio alone, especially when I am finishing the day the way that I am today - con brio indeed. The day started with a run and a clear outline of the tasks I needed to perform. I must admit, these few last days (or rather two weeks) were somehow scary as I did not make any move towards *the* goal. Today, however, was a different story. I worked extremely well, finished the Chapter 4 as planed, and sending it to proof-reading.
Many thanks go to David, who is dealing with my these-days-quite-messy thoughts and turning the mess into a constructive output with giving me comments on some crucial points. Merci beaucoup! When I decide to do a PhD in anthropology, I will be certainly queuing for his supervision;) .
.
;))
By Nana | August 23, 2006 | Topics: PhD | 2 Comments »
Con Brio Out of Service
Dear readers/non-readers/potential readers/ex readers,
Con Brio will be out of new content for the next 10 days (approximately until Septermebr (September even*) 4th) for obvious reasons;)
******************************
P.s. Yesterday I finally got to know a bit one of my neighbours. A very nice and sweet person:).
By Nana | August 22, 2006 | Topics: Personal | 2 Comments »
Budapest Devastated
At 21.26 David sent me the first text:
“I went to see fireworks. Cataclysmic storm and huge collective panic. Am fine but literally drenched.”
At 21.48
“And I have flooding in my flat, 4th floor”.
As I am working I did not respond till this point, but this got me intrigued. I finally wrote back: “What happened? I don’t get it”.
“Huge storm, city is like devastated. Check net.”
Then I found out there was, in the midst of fireworks, a huge storm, wind was playing with people as if they were made out of paper. Two people have already been found dead and many are injured, city is completely under the water, like under siege. People are crying all over.
Hm, David just found out he will be soon moving back to Brussels as he got the position at ULB. That was some farewell!
By Nana | August 20, 2006 | Topics: General | No Comments »
World Domination is Proceeding As Planned.
If you have a spare minute and are interested in the privacy issues, read this.
I find this bit particularly amusing:
“ … However, there are things that we know that they *are* doing. One of them is relevant to this particular case. That is work on cracking the passphrases that people use to protect their keys. The cryptography we’re using is itself uncrackable, but about 2/3 of the people in the world use a password (not even a passphrase) that directly relates to a pet or loved one. The order of frequency seems to be pets (living or dead), then children, then ex-loves. We know that at least one government has a password cracker that is based upon building a psychometric model of person who owns the key and constructing passphrases on that model. If you’re a Hollywood private eye and they seize your computer and find on it that you’re a basketball fan from your browser cache, then “Lak3rz 4 Teh w1n!” is actually a very bad passphrase. Don’t blame me when they find it in about two minutes…”
I am very bad at passwords as well. I have the same password for ages for almost every imaginable thing. Ok, at least it’s not Brix or some ex-love, but indeed refers to someone who died. I often thought of changing it but the again, it seems too much of a hassle. Plus I am sure I am not even faintly that interesting as to provoke someone to crack my psw;)).
What a naïveté, huh!
Inspiration: Matthai @#slo-tech
By Nana | August 20, 2006 | Topics: Tech | 3 Comments »
;)
Cliché, but chocolate just saved my nite;) I was fiddling with some data set, trying to import it from PHP surveyor to SPSS, but some scripts went wrong so I needed to do it via excel. The procedure is usually very easy but this survey was massive and perfect to make troubles;) I tried once, and ended up with all labels and values and other entries completely mixed up. Second time, again. Third time, again. Went for a break, said some of very nasty words, went back … tried again … still nothing. Then went home, took some chocolate, had a piece (well, actually the whole one), got back and: voila! It works;))
Skrat, thanks a lot for your patience this afternoon;)
Now I can go and get some sleep;)
By Nana | August 19, 2006 | Topics: Ljubljana Summer School | No Comments »
Farewell Reception
Apparently, our first summer school is running out. I will miss some people, especially the Belgian team. Was great to have almost all my LLN department here.
By Nana | August 16, 2006 | Topics: Ljubljana Summer School, Personal, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Those Were the Days
When I wrote 1000 words a day. Not so long ago. I know I am getting awfully boring and incredible annoying with my whining but what the heck, it is my blog and I can write what I want;) Not that I want to be ignorant of the readers, but I am sure people understand. And now, I *NEED* to whine;).
I am still in a very odd mood. I want to work, I can’t concentrate. Too much going on around me, which makes me being on high alert all the time. I am crossing my own nerves already. Thanks, Sabina, to listening to me, not an easy job I must admit;).
Yesterday, one of my colleague from uni read Chapter 4 (cos it’s related to her topic of expertise) and she gave me some great feedback. She said it is very well written and she only had some minor comments. Oh, this was nice to hear!
During the writing up, I kept some sort of stat diary, with number of words written and the timeline of when they were written. I am afraid to open that file and to realise that I did not make an entry already since Saturday the 5th. That’s exactly 10 days ago. 10000 words went down the drain. It gives me shiver only to think of it.
But today, well today … or better tomorrow, I will go back to my … hm, there are plenty of names I could call it: my baby (as there indeed a metaphor of giving birth could apply), mon cherie (as it makes me being passionate about it, feeling happy and satisfied, gives me edge, and I am loving it … well, most of the time), my opponent (cos I would like to throw it all away, get rid of it, never come closer again), my protector (as I can always hide behind it, always keep it close to me), my companion (as it travels with me and gives me reasons to travel).
Time to go to bed.I am way over my bed time!
By Nana | August 15, 2006 | Topics: Personal, PhD | 3 Comments »
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