Trip to Durham

Yaaa, I’m back! It’s good to be back in Bath. I arrived back from Durham last night. The train journey from Bath to Durham took nearly 5 hours - really long! And we had a few delays too… *sigh*

But I had fun in Durham. I was there to attend and give a talk in a Statistics & Probability postgraduates’ conference RSC 2007, which was organized by the postgrads from Durham University; there were over 150 postgrads attending it! So it was quite good for meeting people and socializing. *grins* In fact, I met a few people who are researching in the same area as me. I also met a few fellow Malaysians! Networking, anyone?

Anyway, my talk was actually one of the first talks in the first day. I think I talked a bit too fast (as I usually did when nervous), but some people commented that it was quite good, so I felt really pleased and happy. And it’s good to have it out of the way early, as then I could enjoy the rest of the conference in peace. *grins* I managed to occupy myself after that by going to a lot of talks. There were 4 parallel sessions going on at one time and each session had 4 speakers; there were 6 sessions altogether in 2 days. So yeah, there were a lot.

Apart from all the work (attending talks that is *grins*), we had some entertainment too. On the first night there was supposed to be a Pub Quiz, but since I’m quite bad at English history and general info, I decided to join a group of students from Sheffield who was playing Uno! It was more fun too. *grins* The second night was more interesting; I went on a river cruise. Ooooh! Well, the river view was nice, and some company even gave out coupons for free drinks, but the music was a bit too loud, and I can’t really stand the smell of beer. To avoid the loud noise, I had to stand in the open upper deck, but there was a BBQ going on (free food! Not that I can eat it), so there was a lot of smoke, and it was a cold night! But talking to various people was nice; I think that’s the point. *grins*

On the last night there were the sponsor’s reception, the conference dinner and Ceilidh (Scottish dance). These were held at Durham Castle, which is actually being used as one of Durham University’s colleges. Actually, in last year’s RSC 2006 they had Ceilidh too; I thought it was because it was held in Scotland. But they had it this year too. Oh well, it’s still exciting to watch. *grins*

Anyway, we also managed to talk a walk around Durham City. It’s a very nice and very old city, with history going back a thousand years. The main attractions are the Cathedral and Castle, which were built around the 11th century; they look very nice. Durham City is interlinked with Durham University, which was founded in the 19th century, and the departments and colleges are scattered all over the city. The city is nice too; we had a lovely walk around town and along the river.

All in all, I had a good time.

P/S: Some photos of the trip can be found in my photo album.

Life as usual…

It’s life as usual for me: work, work, and more work. All I do is research (and sometimes go to classes/talks), and nothing much is happening. In other words: I’m dead bored. And even though next week the Easter vacation is starting, that’s just for undergrads; I still have to do work! Especially since I have a few meetings already scheduled with my supervisor. Oh, woe is me…. *pouts*

However, all is not lost. At least I have a trip to look forward to next week, albeit I’m going there to give a talk in a conference. My friend Mark calls a trip like that "a working holiday". But hey, something is better than nothing. Beggars can’t be choosers. And in the months to come, there are going to be more workshops and stuff to look forward to. Maybe (hopefully) it’s going to be an interesting (or at least, not too boring) summer. A toast to that! *grins*

- Thinking (?) hard?

More articles

Yeah, yeah, despite (or because of) my usual, normal, boring, routine life (and work), I managed to find time to read more interesting articles anyway:

Copier + Hard Drive: A Dangerous Combination - argh! I didn’t know about this at all! How can I not know about this? Well, I guess (or hope) that most photocopy machines that are used as a side business in Malaysia (in photo shops, etc) are not that advance… But better safe than sorry right? Better keep a lookout!

The Five Steps to Getting a Raise - I seem to read a lot of work-related stuff lately, but hey, they’re quite interesting. And useful too. *grins*

Group Getaways Spread the Love — and the Cost - any girls interested in going for a holiday in a group? Do contact me okay! *grins*

- … Yeah, what she said.

Articles

I’ve read a few interesting articles these past few days:

Following Your Dreams - it’s good to get advice if you feel like a career change. This article gives a few tips to ease any transition, and they’re quite good (and logical *grins*).

Borrowing from Parents Isn’t Risk-Free - this article really got me thinking. A lot. About lots of stuff.

Weekend Project: Clean Up Your PC (Physically, I Mean) - I’m one of those guilty of not cleaning my computer much (if at all *sheepish grin*), so I just felt like I had to read the article, and spread the love around! *grins*

- Sarcastic much?

Trip to Windsor and Eton

Yesterday I went on a trip to Windsor and Eton, which was organized by the Resident Tutors group. Actually, both these towns are quite near London, and the bus ride took about 2 hours. Anyway, you might ask, why visit Windsor and Eton? Well, Windsor is well-known for Windsor Castle, and Eton for, of course, Eton College.

"Windsor Castle is one of three official residences of The Queen and has been home to the Sovereign for over 900 years. The Castle is the largest inhabited castle in the world and the oldest in continuous occupation."

Nice. Windsor Castle is really massive. And of course, looks really old. It’s a pity you can’t take any pictures inside… Apart from the castle, I also visited parts of the town center. Which looked similar to any other English town. *grins* But it’s still nice to take a walk around.

"Eton College was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI to provide free education for 70 poor scholars who would then go on to further their education at King’s College, Cambridge."

Interesting to note that now it has become one of the most exclusive schools in the world. Which was why I couldn’t get inside the college, and had to contend myself with walking around the town center. The town has a large amount of buildings in red - love red bricks much? Must be a theme or something.

As both towns are not that big, I finished exploring quite early and spent quite awhile taking a long walk along the River Thames (and sitting on a bench beside it *grins*), which was really nice as yesterday was (unusually) sunny. There were a lot of people feeding the ducks and all - made me wish I had a spare bread or two. *grins*

All in all, a nice break from my routine life.

P/S: I’ve put all the photos in my photo album. Do have a look too!

Working related stuff

Although I’m currently studying and doing research, I’m also interested in working related stuff. While surfing the Internet (which I do rather regularly *sheepish smile*), I came across some rather interesting articles related to working.

One of the articles is interesting and funny at the same time; it’s says that meetings make you stupid, and in fact, "Meetings are worthless and, in fact, are counterproductive." Furthermore, "Of course, some meetings are necessary as a means of getting information out to a large number of people at once, but when it comes to brainstorming and creativity, you might be better off letting people work alone." Isn’t that food for thought? I particularly like the last sentence: "Feel free to email this to your boss right away." *grins*

On the other hand, the other article gives tips for surviving challenging supervisors, i.e. how to deal with the bad boss blues. It lists the common types of managers and tips for working with each of them (also called ‘your coping strategy‘ *grins*). Types of managers range from "the box of chocolates" (!) to "the best friend" (which sometimes is NOT a good thing). Of course, I feel that this article can be applied to deal with anyone who has power over you… *winks*

- Kyouya would be a really scary boss *shudders*… But he’s so handsome! *grins*

Celebrity (continued)

Referring to my previous post, I got more great news people: my officemate SG also won a gold medal for Britain in a relay event on Sunday! Woohooo! GOLD medal, people! What a thing to write in your CV - "Oh yeah, in addition to my PhD in Mathematics, I also got a gold medal in the European Indoor Championships." *grins* I have to say, SG’s really worth his weight in gold… (pun intended *snickers*)

Anyway, he came home to Bath last night, and even came in to the office this afternoon. And he brought his medal along! So that he can share the moment with us of course… *winks* Then we all had a chance to see (and touch) it, and I even put it around my neck! *grins* Well, this is probably the one and only chance that I have to do that, right? *grins again*

By the way, the news about (and photos of) SG (and the rest of the team) winning golds in the relay event is splashed all over the place. Talk about being a celebrity…

- SG’s medal… Shiny, isn’t it? *grins*

Celebrity

You know, it’s just strange to see someone you know on TV, especially if he’s your officemate! And you see him in the office nearly everyday too…

My officemate SG is an athlete, and he’s been getting quite a lot of coverage lately on the BBC channel (when they’re covering some athletic events). He’s even representing Great Britain in a couple of events in the European Athletics Indoor Championships, which is currently running in Birmingham, UK, from today to Sunday. He managed to qualify for the semi-finals in one of the events too! (Congrats SG!) Well, since I’ve never actually seen him on TV, I decided to go to a friend’s house with a few others so I could actually watch him run live. *grins* He didn’t qualify for the finals, which is a pity, but I did get to see his face (and see him run) up close on TV… Which felt a bit strange and all. Especially when after the race, someone actually asked him for an autograph! (I could see it on TV) Wow, my officemate is a celebrity now! *big grin* How surreal. Maybe I should get an autograph now too, just in case? *winks*

- Still, congrats SG for making it to the semis! You know, I really admire him for being able to train in athletics so seriously and do his PhD at the same time. Really amazing…