Reverse technology

This is a weird, ‘inversive’ though almost, but I’m going to try and explain it anyway. Ok, so I’ve just started doing my Masters degree, and nobody is quite sure yet what exactly I’m supposed to do in terms of experiments. There have been lots and lots of ideas, but if I were to carry them all out I would be at this university at about seven more years – and hopefully they would give me a doctorate for my effort. Anyway, so currently I have no samples and no course of action, so I’m just busy reading and reading and reading some more (and writing up things for meetings, and having meetings). This whole reading thing is creating a lot of paper though; because I print everything I read, for archival reasons and because I’m not really comfortable with reading from a computer screen. Why, you may ask? Well, because computer screens tire my eyes very quickly, the dimensions are all wrong (I happen to have a large-ish computer screen but it’s still not quite A4 length) and I like tagging, marking, writing on and holding my research (I have a complicated system, this is big for me).This whole paper thing has become a bit of a mission though, because I work a several locations (my home, my library, two academic departments that are rather far apart) and I’ve gotten a bit annoyed with having to lug so much paper around. An then I have this thought about how cool it could be if you could just compress paper into something small and then decompress it when you need it. I thought about it for a minute, a realised, duh, that is what having Adobe files on a flashdisk is all about, and I felt really lame.

But it still wouldn’t quite be paper, though.

(And yes, I can’t wait for the day when we actually have this kind of technology going around.)

What should my next blog post be about?

I’ve actually had too many ideas for a next blog post to actually settle on one (and writing several seems like too much work), so I would like to propose a poll. I shall list several ideas I had, and should I get a positive response regarding one of these topics, I may (or may not) write this blogpost. Here goes:

1) Annoyances with undergrads (general)

2 ) Annoyances with undergrads (slow-moving, traffic jamming)

3) Renting two bad movies on Saturday night

4) My new copy of Nylon Magazine

5) Mounting excitement for Cokefest

6) My deadline that has moved to today

Please vote now to avoid disappointment!

Just another cliche to add to the ones already prevalent on this day

Aww…Valentine’s day! How awesome! Cute couples everywhere, people walking around with flowers, people dressed to match the day… it all makes me want to vomit! Seriously, I thought that having a wonderful somebody to celebrate this not-so-wonderful day would somehow change my sentiment about it… It didn’t. I still think it’s lame and commercial and superficial (and that it often causes unnecessary trouble between  people due to unmet expectations). So lame, in fact, that I’m actually ignoring it in a way, trying not to mention it unless it is mentioned first. As I’m trying to actually ignore this day, I seriously tried not to wear red or pink or hearts or anything like that today. I failed. I failed because I was in a bit of a rush this morning and I just wanted to wear something that made me feel comfortable and good and like myself. Because I dress like it’s Valentine’s day every day; I’m always wearing something red (or pink) or some sort of heart accessory. (My red shoes are a current favourite). Not really for of any reason except that i like it… but maybe it’s connected to that intrinsic belief that it should  be Valentine’s day every single day.

Learning about the Unscrambler

Ok, so here’s the thing. I’m a Masters student now. A just-started-dont-really-know-what-to-do-with-myself sort of masters student. I am just starting to learn how to make wine, half on-the side, half as part of my research. (I will also be joining the wine society today; also as part of my research.) Anyway, I’m actually just a little bit bored and unmotivated, as sitting around and reading scientific article is not a lot of fun. This is why I’ve been almost looking forward to the Statistics course on Multivariate Analysis that I’ve been doing yesterday and today. It’s something to do!

As this course is organised by the Food Science department, we’ve been garunteed of good food, and this has been the case. But learning to use the Unscrambler? A bit of a nightmare. I think part of the nightmare is a result of the fact that I don’t have a statistics degree like most of the other people doing the course, which means that even though I almost understand what the lecturer is saying, I never truly understand. And trying to understand makes your head tired, sore, and like a whole bunch of fluff by the end of the day.(I actually had trouble putting together coherent sentences by the end of the day.)

I have a whole day of this ahead of me today. And my flatmate is going shopping.

Things I love/hate about my student car

Things I love about my car:

1) It’s red

2) It used to belong to my cool grandmother

3) It can actually drive kinda fast

4) It gets me from place to place

5) Its quite light on petrol

6) It’s almost the same age as me

7) The lack of power steering trains my upper arms

It has a really big boot

9)  It can pull away in second (and even sometimes third) gear

10) It reminds me of so many awesome times at different stages in my life

11) It treats you well if you treat it well

Things I hate about my car: 

1) It doesn’t have air conditioning

2) It doesn’t have a radio

3) It doesn’t have central locking

4) It doesn’t have power steering

5) It still needs petrol to make it go from place to place

6) It loses license plates really easily

7) It’s almost the same age as me

The seats are supposed to flatten completely but it doesn’t really work anymore

9) It makes a REALLY funny noise when it’s hot and bothered (very embarrassing in traffic)

10) There something wrong with the paint on the bonnet

11) It struggles to start in winter, especially if you don’t know how to work the manual choke properly