Today was a beautiful day, warm and sunny, and tonight was just as nice. They are extending the shopping mall across the road from me, and today they dismantled the giant crane. On the crane was mounted an enormously powerful light, and now that is finally gone! I can finally see the stars somewhat better [...]
Think of a program that asks the user to input some number, and then displays either “odd” or “even” (depending of course on whether the number is odd or even). Human users are a real nuisance when describing programs, so if we want to get rid of the “input a number” part, we are left [...]
The title reflects the fact that I’m really writing this on Thursday morning. Last night I had dinner at Devon valley with a friend. I had only one glass of wine (a very nice Shiraz), but when I got home around 23:00 I was wiped out and went straight to bed, which is quite unusual [...]
Today was largely devoted to a highly illegal activity, at least when May & June are defined as the months for PhD reports and course preparation! Of course, they cannot be devoted exclusively to these activities, but tinkering with websites, for example, is definitely not allowed. So, I spent most of today tinkering with a [...]
Our department is not very large, but we nevertheless do not see each other often. So, on Fridays we have tea and small snacks, and on Monday we eat lunch together. Or at least get together for lunch. Today we were discussing the year projects our honours (4th year) students are doing, or supposed to [...]
There has been a subtle change in my attitude to the work I have to do. I have only just become aware of it. My intention was to drop everything except for my PhD reports and some preparation for send semester courses until I’m finished with both. No website tinkering. (Some essential admin allowed, especially [...]
Today was quite productive. I have started work on the all-important reports and at the moment I think that I might actually finish them off before the end of the month. A couple of “things” might happen and I have two important duties: a journal article review and external moderation for another university, but things [...]
I have tried to figure out why I have such problems with self-discipline. I know I complain about this a lot, but it is a critical aspect of my life (to me). Today I was supposed to not touch research, administration, websites, small programs, or anything else apart from my PhD reports. I have opened [...]