After Denmark…Now What?

Well, as you already know, I have now stopped working, and therefore am not that busy since I came back from the Denmark trip. However, next Monday I have my masters’ viva, so I should be preparing myself for it. Therefore my time is divided between reading my thesis and relaxing. I had submitted my thesis a few months ago (2.5months or so), and therefore I need to read it all again to make sure I remember what I had written. It is frustrating knowing that I knew all of this stuff, but now a lot has slipped out of my mind. In addition, I am finding a number of mistakes…silly mistakes e.g. an extra word somewhere or a missing word or comma here or there…nothing major, but frustrating nonetheless. Yesterday I therefore went up to Uni to ask a girl who works as a research assistant, and she suggested doing an errata corrige sheet, where I list these small errors to show to the examiners once I go in…will try that and see how it goes.

The plan for the next few days?…Finish reading my thesis…and relax a bit more…WEEEEEEEE

Pixy goes SWIMMING!

Today, after work I rushed back home changed into my swim suit, went to Bernard’s and off we left to Marsascala. It was Pixy d Pixx’s first time swimming in Malta (yesterday I also went swimming at Ghar Lapsi, whilst Bernard and my cousin were diving, however we did not take Pixy with us). Here is a photo of me and Pixy in the sea.

Pixy and Me at Marsascala

I am finding it to be a great thing to be able to go swimming for an hour or so after work. The weather is such that you do not feel like doing anything. So like this you get to cool off, and then arrive home when the sun has gone down and it is not so hot after all 😀 This is the first time in ever I think that I have gone swimming after work since I finished my degree course. The first summer, Bernard was away for 6 weeks on an internship, last year at this time I was going to Uni nearly every day to work on my master’s analysis. So this year it feels great to be able to relax after work :D. Although I believe that once the PhD starts (or even after next week when I visit Dublin), the work starts again 😀

I Can See…

…the wood of my computer desk…and it is breathing a sigh of definite relief…after spending the last couple of years hidden underneath piles of papers/documents and the such (bar a couple of weeks/days here and there where my mum insisted I give a clear out…but not in the past few months for sure), the wood of our computer desk can finally see the light of day. When I am working on an assignment…BSc thesis…MSc thesis…other reports, I tend to keep everything in piles…I do not want to throw away anything and I need everything next to me (even if I know I will never look at them again). Since I have now submitted my masters (YIPPIE!), and today is a feast in Malta, yesterday I placed everything in two piles…things to file etc (around 1%…since most of things I needed to file etc were already filed etc) and things to throw away/use as rough paper. This morning I decided to separate the throw away/rough paper pile and that job is now ready :D.

Hopefully the desk can remain somewhat clean for the next couple of months or so…although it is already picking up papers again…since next Friday I should have a PhD telephone interview, so I have some papers to read up on to prepare myself…wish me the best of luck…I hope all goes well…maybe plans would change again (A) …aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Submission…CHECK!

Yesterday was a day I have been waiting for for the past 2 years or so…I submitted my master’s thesis to University YIPPIE!!…hopefully they will now not take too long to correct it and call me in for my master’s viva (thesis defense) so that I would get my mark…I will hopefully get it over and done with by the end of July, since in August the University is closed so it would not be possible, and on the 1st September I should start working in Germany, so it would not be so easy to come to Malta…well we will see 😀

YIPPIE!!…over and done with

Cec

International Committees et al

Update from this morning’s post…today was certainly a day full of trials and tribulations aaaaaaaaaaaa is the correct feeling.

Bernard did not manage to do it for me because he could not find Photoshop :(…therefore I tried to use every programme I found on my PC…but to no avail…after about an hour of trying my sister popped up on MSN and I said…what the heck let me ask her…she told me that she does have access to Photoshop through her Uni’s remote access…I tried to enter but it was soooooooo slow…so she enlisted her boyfriend (who at the time was still in bed)….and the international committee was set up… After numerous trials (by himself and myself on her Uni’s remote access thingy…because by then I managed to enter…but I had not used Photoshop in ages) he managed to get the right picture…YIPPIE..Phase 1 over…all that remains was that I separate the pages into colour and black and white sheets to make it easier at the printer’s…Or so you think…

Just as I started, the door bell rang. It was a guy from the electricity company. At the moment they are going round houses in Malta to replace the electricity meter reader into smart readers so that they would be able to take the reading without actually visiting the house. My mum said OK. Just as he was going to start I heard a shout…she remembered 1 IMP detail…to replace the meter he has to switch off all electricity. I told him to wait 5 mins and luckily he said OK. Problem averted.

He left and we made our way to the printer’s (about  20 minutes away by car). As soon as we arrived I said…I am sure I never copied the folder with my thesis sections onto the USB stick. But well we where there and told him to try anyway. Unfortunately I was right. So we had to make the trip back home to copy everything onto the USB stick and go back, where we managed to finish everything (I would like to thank them for staying open for a further 15 minutes to finish everything off).

So now I am the happy owner of 3 soft bound copies of my master’s dissertation…next week I will hopefully submit 😀 More updates about the remainder of the weekend later on…me off to bed…good night…Tata

PS: Congrats Michael…your help this morning has resulted in good karma coming back in the form of Denmark’s win….GOOOOOOOO DENMARK!

Happy Sha La La

Finally…my master’s thesis conclusion is Ready. I have finished writing the bulk of my thesis around a month ago. However I have been procrastinating about the last part. I had placed most of what I wanted to put in my conclusion as points, however I never got round to writing them in coherent paragraphs. This week I called my tutor to see where he got to with the first three chapters of my master’s thesis I had sent around a month ago, and he told me to send him everything together.

 (Actually he said something like…oh you sent them to me…sorry I have not gotten around to them…I am quite busy at the moment [it is true…he is not usually that way but lately he is not himself]…and then he was like…where have you gotten with the rest I replied that I am ready…I just need to do some final checks and I could send it to him. although I was waiting for him to send me the first three chapters first…and he was like…Ah…better send everything together and I will try to see them…however not for now etc etc..)

..but that was a necessary kick in the butt…and this morning I woke up and wrote it down…all that’s left is that I:

• Re read it tomorrow, with a fresh outlook
• Send it to mum for proof reading
• Send it to my sister for scientific coherence checking
• Convert the last three chapters (results, discussion, conclusions) from .pdf to .doc
• Re check the .doc document that the conversion is right, and do any necessary changes
• Send it to my tutor
• Wait
• Wait
• Wait…
• ….
• …Wait
• Do any changes he suggests (hopefully not much)
• Submit and wait for Viva examination
• Graduate

Hopefully the Viva exam would not be in September, cos that would probably mean having to come to Malta around 1 week or 2 after going abroad…however we will see.

Happy weekend…long weekend for the Maltese People out there

Cec