Archive for April, 2005
April 20, 2005 at 7:40 am · Filed under Social Technology, Sweet Finds
Last.FM is the best thing that has happened to my ears in a while. Online radio for the people, built by the people. You have a profile, you listen to music while working away on your ‘puter, the music gets added to your playlist. You can also listen to profile radio stations online and that music gets added to your playlist as well. Once your playlist is substantial enough, a profile radio station is created from it and those of others with similar listening interests to you. You get stats on what you and other people are listening to. You can add friends, neighbors are added for you. It’s social networking with music. Incredible. I recommend trying right NOW!
April 19, 2005 at 9:55 am · Filed under Computers, Experiences
Oh it was horrible. At the lab on Sunday, wanting to get down to work, get some progress made on the echology project when Waffles died on me. Well, I shouldn’t say died. Waffles coughed, wheezed, sputtered; was to sick to go on. I spent an hour on the phone with the doctors and just referred me to a specialist. Didn’t like that idea, the idea of Waffles being sent away to get better. Could it get better?
Noah had a look. I really like that, felt comfortable because I knew he would be honest with me, tell me what was going wrong and what my option were. I still took it in to FutureShop yesterday to get whatever was wrong fixed. Noah had been right, it was the RAM on the motherboard.
Now I’m without Waffles for a week, maybe even two. I’m trying not to freak out that this is happening and that I need that laptop for echology development. I have what data I could get extracted from the harddrive. I’m crossing my fingers that I can still get the harddrive back untampered. We will see. I’m dreading that day I need to bring out the system restore disk.
This was a lesson. A big lesson. While at FutureShop yesterday, I bought a spindle of 50 blank cds. Backup backup backup. Once a month is not enough.
April 12, 2005 at 9:29 pm · Filed under Random Thoughts
this one is for Jacquie:
When I was little I refused to accept that girl-cheese sandwiches were actually grilled-cheese sandwiches.
How did mom make every single one so perfect. She was feeding 6 including her - maybe she had room to make the practice sandwich. We just never saw that one. All black and crispy on the outside with cheese still cool on the inside.
April 10, 2005 at 12:29 pm · Filed under I am feeling..., Reflection
It’s Sunday morning. I’m back in Vancouver, got back on Friday night. I’m emailing madly. Scheduling madly. Filling up my calendar from now till next vacation (when is that?). Organization is slowly coming back. Hoping that after yoga today I will feel stretched and re-energized oh I’m so looking forward to it.
I’m amused by the amount of responses I’m getting as I fire emails off. Usually the inbox stays quite empty over the weekend. People are out doing other things, not working. Not last night. Not this morning. Half the people I am contacted are sitting somewhere just like me. Reading, processing, responding to their emails. It is comforting. But is this what we do on a Sunday morning? Quite different from my childhood. Much more empty and disjointed.
April 5, 2005 at 4:07 pm · Filed under I am feeling..., Travels, Work
The workshop was yesterday and it was really fun. By the end of the day I was pooped from talking too much. We put together some really interesting things which I will try to link to once they are online.
Today is the first day of CHI sessions. I’ve been to a few already. There were a couple that I really enjoyed and a few sleepers. That’s been my problem today. I htink it’s from not taking classes since last winter - I’m not used to sitting and letting people talk for an hour and a half. I get sooooo drowsy! I went for a 30 minute walk after and even then I couldn’t keep my eyes open on the way back.
Three more presentations today and I’m quite excited about them. After that I will go to the hotel, stretch out my feet, rest for 30 minutes, then head off to the reception.
April 3, 2005 at 10:39 am · Filed under Experiences, Travels
Came down by train yesterday. The ride was long but seemed short, probably because I was able to spend the time getting to know two people I had just met. We got to Portland and I was not even sure if we were in the city. I don’t remember seeing any city around me. It was forest and river and industry and then I went to the washroom and then train station. From the train station you cannot see the city. It was only when we took a bus just a short ways that it suddenly jumped up at us.
I like it here. Things are old, elegant, charming. On the way to the hotel we see many places to shop. I really wish that I had a large shopping fund but no. Though I think that I’ll be able to justify buying a new pair of jeans.
We registered for CHI and I met more people, some from the University of Calgary and most from Dalhousie. We all went for supper at a Greek restaurant (mmm… the baked brie was to die for) and I had a really good time. Everyone is really friendly and I think this week will be quite enjoyable. Two things refreshed me immensely:
1) meeting and talking to women in my field or just other women in general. In Vancouver I spend most of my time around men, I enjoy that, but I like a balance.
2) feeling the energy that is growing inside everybody. Excitement for the week and events to come. Hearing stories about conferences past and feeling confident that things will be fun this time too.
Today is my “day off”. Well, I should read up on my workshop tomorrow, but I am going to head over to a yoga studio for a class right away. I will do some window shopping later and hopefully I will take some pictures. In between that I will read :)
April 1, 2005 at 7:24 am · Filed under Reflection, Work
Yesterday I attended a workshop on “how to get back on track with your thesis”. An industrial psychologist with a pretty impressive resume told us about the four develop levels related to a persons ability and motivation to perform a task. We went through exercises in defining tasks, diagnosing our development level for that task and then we discussed what a person at each level should do to complete the task. It made a lot of sense to me. I could identify with each development level as well as the leadership needed per situation. It was all very practical.
I left feeling that something was missing though. Honestly, there is some part in me that this guy did not help out. In the beginning we all went around and stated our program and what we wanted to get out of this talk. When talking about my situation, I felt tears hot behind my eyes. I don’t know why. Maybe it was frustration, maybe I was getting embarrassed because he didn’t seem to register with what I felt.
I wasn’t speaking in his terms. Most people talked about frustration with supervisor, procrastination, lack of motivation, wanting to just move on. Those happen to me too, but I feel like the real reason I have trouble working on my thesis is fear. Fear that my questions are not right. Fear that I will not do the right thing. Fear that I am all wrong. Fear of committing to a project. Fear of getting bored with it.
Now if I were talking to myself, I would tell myself “Meghan just go do it” because there is no other way for a person to rid of their fear than that. Why does that not happen? Why do I get frustrated when I do set aside time to work? Why can’t I organize ideas in my head and then put them down on paper?
I think there is more to it than what our psychologist talked about yesterday. There are certain emotional and physical blocks to getting the work done and someone can be as organized as they would like to be, but they will have a difficult time surpassing those blocks.
My two thoughts throughout the day were: is he going to give me useful techniques to overcome these blocks? And I think I need to see a counselor. What I would have liked to get from the presentation:
- WHY do people procrastinate?
- HOW can I overcome fear of and frustration with large projects?
- HOW can I monitor and balance my physical energy levels so that I may be at my best 80% of the time?
His presentation was very practical, not emotional at all. I think that a “Self Esteem and Your Thesis” workshop would have worked more wonders for me. Using the term “self esteem” first makes me wince because I don’t like to admit that I am someone who lacks it. Then I realize that it is probably the very root of my problem.
Goes to look for counselor…
