Mega Muesli

Now that I am home, I have been having treats for breakfast -- steamed buns and filled coconut rice rolls. This has been the only thing that has prevented me from going into Mega Muesli withdrawal. Mega Muesli is the best muesli in the world. I discovered it at Arjuna Wholefoods early on in my year at Cambridge and quickly graduated from a 1 kg pack, to a 2 kg pack. By mid-year, I was going into the shop for 4 kg packs of Mega Muesli every two months.

Brad was amazed that I bought the 4 kg packs.

"How can you?" he said, shaking his head. "I have to buy 500 g packs. I get one a week and I finish it. I can't control myself. If there was a 4 kg pack in the house, I'd eat it all. Doesn't matter how big the pack is -- I'd eat it in a week."

Damjan visited me in Cambridge every month or so. He generally took a pack of Mega Muesli with him on the 3.5 hour bus trip back to Oxford. During February, Damjan called the day before I was to visit him at Oxford.

"Joan, can you--"

"Bring some muesli?" I interrupted.

"Yes! How did you know?"

"I know what you like, Damo. I already bought it. Guess what it said on the poster board outside Arjuna when today?"

"What?"

"Valentine's Day: Say it with muesli!"

As Damjan began laughing, I added, "I'm saying it with 4 kg, the biggest there is!"

The final time Damjan visited to Cambridge, he came to help me pack to leave for a temporary move to Oxford. We stocked up with one final 4 kg muesli pack. We would have bought another pack but unfortunately, I had too much luggage.

I had talked to mum and dad on the phone about what I needed to bring home to Australia.

"Remember to bring any clothes you don't want to wear anymore," Mum reminded me.

Dad said, "Double check that you have your passport, driver's licence, Aussie mobile phone, and plane ticket."

Mum continued, "Bring your watch too so we can change the batteries. And, well..." Mum hesitated. "No, I guess you can't... bring some muesli?"

"Probably not through quarantine," I said, surprised that mum remembered the muesli from when they visited me in April.

"Ah well." She sounded regretful. "That really was nice muesli. It had a good mix of nuts and fruit and things."

Moving on

Yesterday, I handed in my dissertation. I'm happy with it. The thing I worried most about my research (and all my work at uni and as a consultant) is that I'll write a report that says nothing new or useful, and that it will sit on a shelf somewhere gathering dust. I am, however, happy that I've said something interesting. Enough people have read it that I think that it might even be useful. So I have achieved everything I want from this year.

I said goodbyes. Many of those goodbyes were final. I've never said so many final goodbyes before. It was a strange, sad feeling.

After I gave in my work, Damjan and I packed up my room and much of the house. It took longer than I expected and I was frantic, worried it wouldn't get done before we had to leave Cambridge. There were so many bits and pieces that I forgot I had -- bank statements, chargers, computer warranties, souvenirs... But it all got done and as the taxi pulled up to the bus stop with two giant suitcases, a medium-giant backpack, a small backpack, and a shopping bag, my agitation melted away.

I am now at Damjan's house with a cold but without any worries.

I will write again this week. Bye!

The middle of the end

The beginning of the end was when I tapped out my last paragraph and did a final proof-read.

The middle of the end is now. I printed my work and today, sent it to the binders.

The end of the end is next Friday, when I pick up my hard-bound, gold-crested, no-expense-spared dissertation and hand it in to the department.

Then it will be the beginning of the beginning all over again -- except, thank goodness, for the five weeks of nothing of nothing in between!

Chopping block time

I've just finished my last paragraph of my dissertation. It means that the most difficult thinking is over. I am now up to editing, which essentially involves finding ways to delete a quarter of what I have written. Hopefully, that means the best work remains.

Yay!

Scouting the Lakes

I do lots of fun things. Two weeks ago, I went to the Lake District (my second visit) to look around the town of Ambleside. The next batch of scholars are coming to Cambridge in September and will spend four days kayaking, hiking, and building giant newspaper towers at the Lake District.

Rachel, Tristan, Danielle and I hired a car and made the five hour trip north. We wandered the town, scoping out any pubs that could handle a hundred post-graduate students, visited the home of the 'best gingerbread in the world', put together a treasure hunt, and toured a countryside mansion. We spent the night at Ambleside YHA, which will be hosting the camp in September.

Here is the view ten metres from the front door of the YHA.

Windermere Lake

Sock terror come true

Oh no! I lost a sock!

*cries*

And I've been so careful, checking the machines carefully before I leave. The sock is probably fell out of my laundry bag somewhere between my house and college laundry room. That's a 500 m trek.

My poor sock, lost in the wilderness of Cambridge.

This is a test message

I am the technology officer for the student council of our scholarship group. This week, I've been trying to figure out why an email list I set up for the 111 incoming scholars wasn't working. Today, I finally fixed it and sent this message to check.

From: Joan <joan@domain.com>
Date: 03-Aug-2007 13:54
Subject: This is a test message
To: scholars2007@domain.com

Hello new scholars,

Just testing out the scholars mailing list. Here is some non-vital information for you.

It is a beautifully sunny day in Cambridge today. East Anglia (the region where Cambridge is) has the lowest rainfall in the UK, so you will avoid the drizzly weather that UK is known for, to some extent.

Our good friends at Oxford were flooded this year, as was much of southern UK. Someone told me that Cambridge does not flood because we are obviously the 'higher institution'.

Best wishes,
Joan

--
Technology Officer 2006/07


Lockdown!

One month to go! One month to go!

I did something useful today. I went into 'internet lockdown', yes sireee... I sat in my room with its super fast internet connection and its handy dandy internet cable plug thing and I UNPLUGGED MYSELF! I didn't check my email for six hours! ooooooooooooo..... And I'm gonna do it again tomorrow!

I learned something interesting about flights and market segmentation yesterday. I talked to a travel agent about flight prices. I knew that somehow if you booked early enough, you got cheaper tickets. How does that work? Does the airline go, 'Okay, a month before take-off, all the prices go up! Suckers, those people who don't book early!'

In fact, the rules that govern the system are different, even if they appear to have the same effect. What the airline does is release all its seats at different prices. I don't mean that seat B2 is more expensive than AK5, no. What they do is, 'Okay, a hundred seats will be on sale for £400, a hundred will go for £450, another hundred for £600...'

So, yes, your chance of getting a cheap flight does improve if you get in early but the availability of the cheap fare also depends on demand. I mean, how many people would be the same seat for £450 if they can get it for £400?

So the question remains: Why do airlines do this? Is it to capture the poor-but-organised segment of the market (like concession fares for movies)? Is it to encourage people to book early? Is it to entice travellers if the market demand is low? Is it to make money from desperate or disorganised people who book two weeks before the flight?

It is an interesting and clever business model...

The supervision system when it works

An important part of doing research is, of course, working with your supervisor. I've had three or four meetings with Dr F during my research. He talks me through developing ideas, reviews my work quickly, and is encouraging.

Before he went on two weeks leave, I met Dr F to talk about a very rough draft I had emailed him three days before. He was satisfied with my progress but recommended I extend myself by building a formal systems framework around my project.

I felt a bit anxious that I had to do so much work in the last few weeks of my course but I felt like I should try out his suggestion.

I spent a whole day doodling a systems map and staring thoughtfully at the computer. My eyebrows were furrowed for three days. Tonight, finally, I came up with something exciting, even useful! I am so pleased. I think this will make my dissertation much better.

Thank you, supervisor!

Locating barriers to the adoption of energy efficiency in houses by developers

Birthday island

Last week, three of my classmates had their birthdays and booked out Darwin College's island for a celebration BBQ. That's right, Darwin College has an island in the River Cam. Here is a picture from that day, with kind permission from two good friends.

On the left is Jen. She's from the US and had just had a haircut from Letty, who you'll remember from earlier this month. It's a beautiful haircut, no? Jen says that she donates her hair to Locks of Love each year. Being away from the US, she will have to post her snippets to them this year.

On the right is Cobi, from Adelaide and therefore my neighbour in a global sense. You might know her writing from here and here. And here. She is a science journalist and has taught me the unnecessariness of the word 'locate'. Cobi is a charming young lady with job and research offers coming out of her ears.


While partying on Darwin Island, someone pointed out a small bridge going downstream.

'There's another island there,' he said. 'That's the illicit sex island.'

Of course, the first thing I wondered was if it was an 'illicit sex' island or an illicit 'sex island'. Then I wondered if there was a difference.

Frightened and inspired

Emerging from solitary weeks of writing, today I went to the first of three days of our dissertation conference. The thirty-six members of the class are presenting their research to date. Presentations are followed by questions.

I am frightened and inspired at the same time. I'm frightened because of the impressive amount of rigour in other people's study design. I feel like a fraud in comparison. Somehow, I must persuade others that my results are valid and reliable.

I am also inspired by how interesting and useful people's research is. For eight hours today, my brain was filled with non-Joan-shaped thoughts and that gave me ideas for my own work. I went home, eager to tweak my presentation, looking forward to my turn to present on Wednesday.

Before I started this course, I knew two things about research: that it often a lonely occupation, and that it is a hard slog. I was warned about this and I have experienced it to be true. I also knew that good research practice includes collaborating with people and sharing ideas to ward off loneliness and stagnation, and that the best way to slog through research is to work nine to five, even in the most uninspired times.

Despite forewarning, I did not follow these two guides and it has been to my detriment. Because I didn't have the willpower to hack through the lows, I feel the pressure now. Because I am under pressure, I feel like I can't spend the time to talk to people and socialise. Because I don't talk to people and socialise, I am unproductive and low.

Maybe this conference, enforced interaction, is what I need to break the cycle.

Treading water

I feel like I'm treading water. I have six weeks to get to the end of the pool but I feel like I'm not progressing. I am sick of it. So uninspired.

I have to present my findings on Wednesday. It's a twenty minute presentation. I'm sick of thinking about this topic. I want to think about something different. I don't want to read my own writing anymore.

AAAARGH. BUT I HAVE TO. I HAVE TO KEEP GOING.

Waaaaah....

Eight computers, unhungry again, and unproductive

On the weekend, I spent 6.5 hours cutting open dozens of cardboard boxes, pulling out eight sets of computer towers, monitors, keyboard, mouses, software, assembling them, crawling under computer desks to wire them up, plug them in, untangle them, rewire, uninstalling trial software, installing indispensable freeware, installing Microsoft office, setting up a wireless network, printer network, riding to electronics stores to buy more power boards, setting up administrator and user accounts, setting defaults for printing, security, software updates, registering software, flattening cardboard boxes, piling them into a mountain of tired cardboard.

Today I posted a box of software back to the computer store, was on the phone with tech support to troubleshoot a dead DVD-RW drive on one of the new computers (turned out the computer assembler didn't plug the power into the drive), picked up two new toner cartridges and installed them, posted instructions for accessing the wireless network on the wall, updated security settings on the computers, and helped someone with the wireless settings on their laptop.

Exhaustion.

In the past week, I have lost my appetite. I eat breakfast and lunch as normal. By the time dinner comes around, I prod my stomach and am still unhungry. I've skipped dinner about four times in the past week.

If you're not hungry, is it better to eat something as scheduled or not eat?

I haven't changed my level of activity. I ran around doing the computer stuff on Saturday, biked four miles and walked the same on Sunday, ran around carrying boxes today.

Besides puzzlement about my lack of appetite, I'm worried about all the food in the fridge. I bought enough groceries to feed normal Joan appetite. Now there's too much food. Lack of eating led to three of my potatoes turning green and white and fluffy.

I ended up cooking a big pot of vegetable curry to stop any further deterioration. That was on Thursday last week. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep the curry.

I wasn't hungry today but I ate dinner anyway. I hate wasting food.

I've decided not to buy any food this week and live on the dried foods in my cupboard, plus 10 eggs. I might buy some milk and a bit of fruit too.

Maybe I've been eating too much all my life. For each meal, I would typically eat one or two sandwiches worth of food mass (I rarely eat sandwiches but you get an idea of the serving size). It will be hard to change my concept of 'meal' to something smaller.

I haven't been productive at all for the past three weeks. It bothers me. Mostly, it's my own fault. I get tired and instead of working through it or walking it off, I sleep or read or go on the internet. Like now.

Walk through my day

Yesterday was a fun day. I wrote some sub-sub-sections of my dissertation in the morning. In the afternoon, my college held its annual garden party, so I sat in the sunshine while eating and drinking with friends. I left the party to meet a classmate for coffee. We then walked to to a local architectural practice because the director had agreed to be interviewed for our research. After the interview, I walked home, changed, then went to Parker's Piece for our weekly class football game. I left the game early to go to a meeting; I'm helping to organise the orientation camp for the next batch of 100 students on my scholarship. The meeting ran over time, so I was late for The Round Ceilidh at Emmanuel College. I danced English folk dances with a libraryful of people until 10:30 PM. Then I walked home.

Grocery pie

This chart is based on what I spent on my last three weeks of grocery shopping. I spend £15-20 a week on groceries. I suspect that I am fruit-and-vegetable heavy and bakery light.

By the way, it was not my idea to put two decimal places on those percentages. Of course I can't state my grocery proportions to four significant figures of accuracy. OpenOffice did that automatically and I couldn't figure out how to change it. I don't know if it's because OpenOffice Calc is not user friendly or if I'm crippled by Microsoft Excel brain.

Didn't know I was looking for love until I fondue

I cannot think of the word 'fondue' without singing the Everything but the Girl's song 'I didn't know I was looking for love' ...until I found you.

I'm a fan of the chocolate version, and luckily for me, Anna decided that chocolate fondue would be the centrepiece for our girls' night in.

In a typical engineering course, you might get about 15% of students being female. Our engineering for sustainable development class is blessed with 33% women, and with the partners of men in the class, we could have up to seventeen women at our social events.

After extensive and sensitive consultation, Anna determined that it would not be politically incorrect to have a girls' night in. Sorry guys, you're not invited. Monday was the night (the beginning of May Week) and it was a decadant night of mojitos, corn chips, summer fruits and chocolate fondue, ice cream, jelly, buttered popcorn, chick flicks and natter about childbirth, women in science and business, the cultural role of women around the world, and... our dissertations. (There is no escape.)

The gorgeous women of the engineering for sustainable development community.

Anna and I went to the Video Emporium to hire chick flicks. Not knowing people's precise tastes and moods, we covered all the ground and rented Like water like chocolate (foreign language weepie), Erin Brockovich (girl power + environmentalism), and My big fat Greek wedding (funny and supposedly pointpointingly accurate).

Dissertation milestone -- Woot!

My last post gives people the illusion that I'm organised for this dissertation. What you haven't seen are the previous versions of the Gantt chart, from which you would have realised that over time I have moved the red block representing the first milestone from March 26 to May 28 to June 4.

So, did I hand it in the week starting June 4? Of course not. I just emailed it off then, three days late.

But like the honest consultant that I am, I kept the supervisor up-to-date with my setbacks. Upfrontness is my best policy.

I'm pleased it's in. I now have a month to write the next three sections. They're the chunkiest and most important sections but I think I've gotten the hang of this now.

Running from the grey front

Runs on the formal hall board

Formal halls are a highlight of the Oxford or Cambridge University experience. Each college has formal halls once, twice, or even three times a week. You get a three course meal for anything between £3 to £16 (A$7.50-40), and it often includes sherry, port, wine, coffee, tea, chocolates and fruit. Cambridge has 31 colleges. By the end of my year here, I will have been to formal hall for at least eleven of them.

Formal halls attended or soon to attend

• New Hall
  
• Hughes Hall
  
• St John's
  
• Clare Hall
  
• St Catherine's
  
• Newnham
  
• Wolfson
  
• Sidney Sussex
  
• Darwin
  
• Churchill
  
• Emmanuel

Formal halls regretfully declined because of other commitments

• St Edmund's (missed out three times!)
  
• Trinity Hall
  
• Downing

Lunched at

• Darwin
  
• Peterhouse
  
• Hughes Hall
  
• St Edmund's

Playing blocs

When I got to Parker's Piece* for our class football game, Anna and Chris were already there. Bettina soon joined us, and in fifteen minutes, there were ten of us.

'Ten! Perfect! We can have two teams of five.'

'How do we split it? Boys against girls?'

There was a short and lively discussion about the fairness of this arrangement, and how embarrassing it would be when the girls won.

'I know! Let's do Kyoto and non-Kyoto!' someone eventually exclaimed.

'Huh? Oh, you mean...? Would that work? It does!'

And so it was, that the five people from the UK, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, and Ireland (countries supporting the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to curb the world's greenhouse gas emissions) played off against the five recalcitrant Aussies and Americans.

'Okay, guys,' said Chris. Chris is from Seattle and is obviously evil. 'Remember, we don't like Kyoto so we can play dirty.'

'Nation's right to pollute!' hollered Ian, a stubborn Australian from Adelaide, as he charged after the ball.

'Voluntary emissions targets!' I yelped, running to the other half of the field in my ignorant and conservative manner.

After fifteen minutes of vicious football, Don arrived.

'Hi guys, sorry I'm late,' he said. 'Whose team am I on?'

'Are you for Kyoto or against Kyoto?'

Without batting an eyelid, Don said, 'Well, Canada's on the fence for this one. But recently, it's been rumbling against mandatory targets...'

'Traitor!' someone cried.

'You're with us, then!' I said, triumphantly.

With six versus five, the global tide soon turned against the Kyoto Protocol. A passerby from Kenya was invited to join the pro-Kyoto side and soon, the game was back on the knife edge.

Who won?

Don't know. We lost track of the score.



* Parker's Piece is a historic place, famous for being the birthplace of modern football (or soccer). There is a plaque on the ground which reads:

"Here on Parker's Piece, in the 1800s, students established a common set of simple football rules emphasising skill above force, which forbade catching the ball and 'hacking'. These 'Cambridge Rules' became the defining influence on the 1863 Football Association rules."

Source: BBC (2006)