Monday, January 29, 2007
Nothing much has been happening in my life since the New Year.
In terms of research, a good analogy of my current position is that basically I'm in the valley between two huge mountains. I've just scaled the first mountain, which is the mountain of experimental research; and now I'm about to climb the second mountain to reach my final destination, and that mountain is consolidating the research, publishing the results as well as the writing of my Ph.D. thesis.
To me right now, it's a scarily daunting task. It's like looking up at the peak and there seems to be no end to the journey. And I think that it is the wrong way to look at the mission. I have to break it down, the journey contains a mid-way station, and there are probably a few more stops in the middle as well. And that's what I plan to do.
In the mean time, I have also confirmed my attendance at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2007 in Italy (ICRA'07). The paper has been accepted so that means a month-long trip to Europe, with a short stop-over in Malaysia for a few days in early April. The conference is in Rome, starting one day after Easter Sunday, and I hope to catch a glimpse of Easter in the Vatican and Rome on that day. My trip includes a lab visit in Pisa, vacation in Rome, Florence and Venice. We may travel northeast to Paris, before visiting my brother in London and then flying home to Australia. I'm looking forward to it.
I've also started preparing my own lunches and cooking more dinners at home. These days my lunch will either be sandwiches with cheese and ham or salami, and maybe some green sandwich veges, or intentional leftovers from the previous dinner. Now that I'm not working and only getting a $500 per week stipend, I aim to save up more money for the Italy trip. I don't think I'll be able to save much, since the rent already takes up 40% of my stipend, but I hope to not use any of the money I've got in the bank for day-to-day expenses.
And believe me, I'm not a bad cook myself. I can refer several, in fact more than 10, who agrees. I hope.
Till next time!
In terms of research, a good analogy of my current position is that basically I'm in the valley between two huge mountains. I've just scaled the first mountain, which is the mountain of experimental research; and now I'm about to climb the second mountain to reach my final destination, and that mountain is consolidating the research, publishing the results as well as the writing of my Ph.D. thesis.
To me right now, it's a scarily daunting task. It's like looking up at the peak and there seems to be no end to the journey. And I think that it is the wrong way to look at the mission. I have to break it down, the journey contains a mid-way station, and there are probably a few more stops in the middle as well. And that's what I plan to do.
In the mean time, I have also confirmed my attendance at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2007 in Italy (ICRA'07). The paper has been accepted so that means a month-long trip to Europe, with a short stop-over in Malaysia for a few days in early April. The conference is in Rome, starting one day after Easter Sunday, and I hope to catch a glimpse of Easter in the Vatican and Rome on that day. My trip includes a lab visit in Pisa, vacation in Rome, Florence and Venice. We may travel northeast to Paris, before visiting my brother in London and then flying home to Australia. I'm looking forward to it.
I've also started preparing my own lunches and cooking more dinners at home. These days my lunch will either be sandwiches with cheese and ham or salami, and maybe some green sandwich veges, or intentional leftovers from the previous dinner. Now that I'm not working and only getting a $500 per week stipend, I aim to save up more money for the Italy trip. I don't think I'll be able to save much, since the rent already takes up 40% of my stipend, but I hope to not use any of the money I've got in the bank for day-to-day expenses.
And believe me, I'm not a bad cook myself. I can refer several, in fact more than 10, who agrees. I hope.
Till next time!
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