Useless day.
I woke up early. Spent the morning doing PH250C. The whole afternoon was spent in mental masturbation as I tried to get over my Ch.5 stumbling block. Afternoon and evening whizzed by as no writing got done.

Its 5am and all I have to show for staying up close to 21 hours is:
1. Introduction to Ch.5
2. Jump over stumbling block.

Will spend the next three hours before I hit the bed on finishing all the figures for Ch.5 and 6.

I also think I have wound myself up so tight about getting this done by Tuesday that my body is experiencing some weird symptoms, i.e. I might be ill without actually being ill.

today, for the first time in my conscious memory (pre-senile dementia affected) , I was unable to finish a chocolate Brownie. I couldn't take more than two small bits of it before I began to feel nauseated and sick. It was my stomach revolting against any thing heavy...

Scary. Can you imagine me not being able to eat sweets and chocolate? I don't think I could live like that - might just be easier to commit suicide and go to Cadbury's heaven.

POA for today

I have a new reader..JM who is going to keep track of me from the land of the Amazon and favelas.

Anyway, didn't do much work yesterday except to write a draft of Ch4. discussion. I think I have it sorted except that I want to make it interesting and have lots of ideas for which I need to find papers that can back it up.

Its noon already and I have achieved a little bit. Finished my PH250C Final exam and subletting my apartment.

To do today:
1. Write Ch4 discussion final
2. Sort out figures of Ch5. (stumbling block needs to be hopped over)
3. Write up results and introduction of Ch5
4. Write up methods chapter (cut and paste mainly from transfer report and journal articles)

Its an all nighter today because tomorrow is packing and socialising day. The last time I moved, I had a wee bit of help from Mother and Little One. Any chance you want to fly out for two days to help me with packing again?

ok..now that I have spent five minutes procrastinating with this post, its back to Adeno/MVA.

The Scriver is back

Hello Thesis well-wishers,
I am back! Just finished writing 2000 words today. Most of it was gibberish that needs to be edited but at least I can edit from a base. I know, the most difficult part has been the first draft. I have found that I am a better editor than a writer. Seems that being a critic is easy, even if its my own stuff.

Anyway, half way through Chapter 5. tomorrow, will finish it although it might take longer than I think because I need to analyse my data a little.
So far so good. Decided to take a break and stop for today.Am now off to do two pieces of overdue homework, make a poster and edit someone else's paper! hah..that's never going to take as long as my 2000 words!

Keep those encouragements and dire warnings coming and read the blog to keep abreast of my progress!

Till tomorrow..

My thoughts on writing

Am off to Au Coquelet, the cafe 20 metres down the road from my place to spend some isolated time writing. I have soooo much writing to do, that I don't even know where to start.

I realise my problem with writing. It usually has to do with not having something fixed in my head. I realise that I can write a lot quickly when I know exactly what it is that I want to write about or my ultimate message and the writing style required of me.

Take for example, this post. There is no particular writing style I need to adhere to except my own. I know exactly what I am writing about which allows me to write these rants in double quick time.

My research proposal on the other hand is taking hours. I know what I want to do roughly. I don't know the exact details and I have no clue about the writing style.
My thesis is a different matter altogether. I don't know what to write about or the manner in which to write it, which basically leaves me thoroughly bored!

Anyway, there are many who read this blog who wish me well by often trying to kick my butt..and I shall repay their well measured shots by finishing this damn writing by the end of May.

Off..now..for coffee, tea and my computer.

reviewing my paper

I just met someone from Oxford! She is starting a PhD in public health and was in Oxford doing International Development at St.Antony. As it turns out we know a couple of people in common.
It was great, we had a long chat about Oxford, Berkeley and managing the change.

Of course, this did mean that my reviewing mind has gone off the boil and it is taking me some time to get back into focus. Surprisingly, I made lots of changes to my paper and realised how badly written it was initially. Terrible. Am doing the discussion right now and hopefully will send it off to ARS,AM over the weekend.

Also, need to come up with ideas for my master's paper - meta-analysis and systematic reviews have to be written. Any ideas - please let me know :)

right, back to work - a cup of tea and I shall be back.

The Sydney Morning Herald Blogs: Entertainment

The Sydney Morning Herald Blogs: Entertainment

This is an incredible story. I love small book shops and small publishers. They give a chance to unknown authors and I love spending time in random small niche bookstores because you can often find the most interesting stuff in them.

I am glad someone is willing to stand up and take a stand against these big monopolising book stores. I must admit I miss Blackwells and have yet to find a bookstore in Berkeley where I can sit with a coffee and spend the day either people watching or my head deep in a fascinating book. I remember finishing (almost) "the Ayrton Senna Story" and getting hooked onto the Philip Pullman Lyra Trilogy in Blackwells. I also remember studying for my PLAB exam in Blackwells every Sunday while sipping a coffee,tea and polishing off some lovely chocolate cake. I cannot imagine the day when we no longer have bookstores and amazon or internet book buying takes over, I suspect my weekends will be spent shriveled up in front of a computer instead of enjoying a refreshing cup of tea in a bookshop.

Can you imagine Bombay without Fountain pavement book sellers? or Delhi without Daryaganj? or London without Charring Cross?
Thank you Mr. Rakusin

Scrivening Day 30

The last few days since arriving has been spent getting used to the 40 degrees heat wave in Delhi. I have spent four years without experiencing anything close to that temperature and it is beginning to tell. Cannot wait for the rains to come. Today is much cooler and it does look like we are going to be treated to some showers.

Anyway, I have lost half of the week in adjusting to jet lag,Delhi and catching up with old friends. The new kid on the block, Vedanth, is the cutest bundle of baby fat I have seen for a long time. He seems unperturbed by strangers,cries very rarely(unless GA or I laugh maniacally) and smiles a adorable toothless grin. I have decided that I shall take him to SF with me. Met MS,GA and D over the last couple of days, so my social life is now complete and will cease to exist. Next week is going to be busy anyway with trips to Kolkotta and the "little One" visiting so must work over the next few days.

Off to Nai Sadak tomorrow to get USMLE CS book which I have yet to start studying for..eeks.. and must finish Chapter 3/4 by Sunday. Hate writing....

Scrivening Day 13

I apologise to loyal followers of my monotonous life for a lack of recent updates. This is because I have not worked that much since my last post. Social mingling and last-time dinners have occupied my long weekend until today.
Today has been spent polishing my paper before dispatch to AVSH. I have just spent the last 7 continuous hours manipulating figures and pictures on Adobe photoshop. It has been without parallel the most uninteresting activity I have undertaken for some time.
Have added a couple more figures to my paper and need to spend a little bit of time writing that up tonight. Tomorrow necessitates a lab trip, half day doing my last ELISPOT and the other half searching for parasites in thousands of blood films.

Wednesday- mother arrives and I can look forward to a decent meal without having to venture out or making house-calls in Headington. My brain is too fried and dead to write anything more interesting and I am watching Anaconda(yes,the J Lo movie) like a true zombie.

Scrivening Day 9

Having received critical emails from SG like"Put page numbers" in a rather exasperated tone and an even scarier "I cant send you the corrections in an email. I need to talk to you about it", my mood has slowly been deflated through the day. However, I think I have possibly figured out my next paper and only need to find the data to fit the figures. I sort of know what I want to write but have to critically analyse the data to allow me to write the paper.

Hopefully, my written paper forms Ch.3 and 6 of thesis and this second paper should cover Ch.4,5,7 and half of 8. So, I reckon if I can get this done then my thesis is half way there. The main difficulty in any paper is to get the figures just right. Having spent so much time writing, I sometimes look at words and wonder how they came about.

For example, the word "also", almost looks like a random mix of four letters. Etymology: [Middle English, from Old English ealsw : eall, all; see al-³ in Indo-European roots + sw , so; see so¹.] I sometimes forget how to spell words when I am in a fugue like state and "also" is one of those words which I often stare at wondering...

Another good example is "figure". Break it up fig + ure doesn't really make sense. fi+gu+re doesn't make sense. I was incessantly writing the word today and suddenly it appeared rather odd. So, I tried to look for its roots. It turns out that it is not a very old word. It comes from the Latin meaning shape or form and its other meanings like figurehead come from sailing terminology for figure on the bow of a ship. Interestingly, its scientific use as I seem to be using it often, is a Latin translation of the Greek word "skhema".

My google home page has a word a day from Merriam Webster dictionary and Dictionary.com. Merriam Webster usually has interesting, less commonly used words and gives a etymological history of the word while Dictionary.com seems to be educating those among us who have not done Barron's GRE word list.I still have to check out Wiktionary and the Free Online Dictionary which seem much better sources to improve my vocabulary and satisfy my curiosity.

What I find most annoying in my quest for arcane and antiquated vocabulary is a good online thesaurus. If anyone finds one other than the difficult Roget's online Thesaurus,let me know.

Scrivening Day 9

Just finished draft of paper and have sent it to ARS,SG and AM for corrections. Hopefully, by next week to AVSH. Now, to get back to analysing data.

Day 8 was a six hour working day. Spent till 2pm working and then played a cricket match at the Magdalen ground. DT scored a lovely 120 with Aussie NL playing a solid supporting innings of 50 odd. Amazing partnership of 187 which is probably the highest for any wicket at Linacre but also for any wicket against Magdalen.

My meager contribution was a 10 run - 5 ball slog of the penultimate over. What frightened me was how unfit I was. After taking a brace of couples, I was gasping for breath and got out to a rank bad ball simply because I had no intention of running.
Must remind myself to write a post about English chat on a cricket field. The two best you tube videos on sledging are both from wicketkeepers. Shall post them soon.

Scrivening Day 8

Follow this link to learn the meaning of a scrivener. Day 7 was a washout because I went to the lab, met ARS and then came back home dog tired. So, have been bad boy and didn't do much work yesterday.
Shall update about today in another few hours.

Scrivening Day 6

Have finished my discussion and almost all the writing and referencing for my paper. Am off to the lab to attend LA's lab talk. Its probably the last time that I shall attend one of her lab talks...and I do feel terribly sad about that. I love her lab talks because usually its something reasonably technical and useful unlike most of mine which are hypothesis based and therefore of no practical use.

POA for today - 1. Dont follow RM's chocolate rewarding rules (Mother seems scared that I shall begin to resemble a Smarties). However, do follow the reward system..sounds like a good plan. It obviously worked for RM so should work for me.

2. Lab - immunise,run errands and then finish figures in the evening and send paper to SG,AVSH and ARS.

3. Night - ?visit the "little terror" in headington and then back to lab to try and sort out next paper.

I am finding it very hard to think of my next paper because it is not really very positive data. I dont really know what to do about that? The general maxim in science publishing is never publish a negative result unless it refutes someone else's positive result. In fact, that is why science funding is so poorly managed. Invariably, a group is replicating unpublished negative findings done over three or four years ago by someone across the world from them. Lack of information of negative results leads to duplicate funding for previously failed projects. Of course, it is quite possible that different groups interpret negative results in different ways and sometimes groups often find alternative and successful directions from the same negative results. In any case, you do lose time and money if you spend a year getting results that have already been arrived at elsewhere.

In my case, I am a bit stuck and need to think of a way out of the problem. I might have to chat with people to get a better idea about how to present the data - which is my other area of disgruntlement in science publishing. Perhaps another rant on another day.

Scrivening Day 4

Went to sleep early yesterday and woke up late again today. I seem to be getting tired quite easily recently. Perhaps its the fact that my laziness enforces a diet of fruit,tomatoes,toast and honey with copious amounts of caffeine.

Anyway, was not able to finish introduction yesterday, so will finish article today. I might have to go into the lab tomorrow to apply some finishing touches to the figures, but otherwise want it all done by tonight.

I did spend an inordinate amount of time blog surfing yesterday. Its quite revealing what the internet supports. Apart from the not so uncommon solicitous bloggers, what surprised me were the number of Asian and Spanish bloggers. This is one blog which I know some readers of my blog will find interesting.

Being a lab rat, I have always wondered how life would be to spend the whole day in front of a computer answering emails within seconds of receiving it,internet surfing and obsessively checking BBC news. I now know. My breaks from writing usually entail me doing one of these three activities and sometimes I find myself spending more time reading about why Paris Hilton should not be jailed or whether Supernaturals is going to be aired again rather than adenovirus immunology.

Its about 11am and I am ready to start my writing day.

Scrivening Day 3

My new Thesis writing log. Day 3 began by waking up later than planned. Trip to lab was cancelled and the computer started.
Caffeine infusion brewed and position at table was taken up. One and a half hours later, nothing much was written but emails were sent.

The plan for the day was to finish the paper I am working on. I had a little bit of the results and M&M section to complete. After which I was to do the Discussion.
So far, I have completed the results section and am halfway through the Discussion. Had to go out into the park with coffee and three papers to think about my discussion plan. I noticed that it really helps if you can think of a structure to write or find some place to copy it from. I find that good papers are those with very good structure. I am using my second author paper as structure, which surely can only be classified as flattery and not plagiarism.

Should have the discussion down in another two hours or so after which jog in park. Then introduction followed by the difficult bit. References I need and then modify my discussion and results. Hopefully, by the end of the day I should have first draft of the whole thing done.

Tomorrow will be figure perfecting day and then writing the same results up for thesis.