So although it seems like I miss a month or two, here and there, I have been updating The List and various items as I go, usually in the Working On area :)
Have finished up some major work, and don’t intend on taking on any more until at least after Xmas, if at all, so should have a lot more time to work on things for the next few months!
Having started university in 2002, I was starting to think I would never get through it all!
02/03 First year – I did Maths, Chemistry, Experimental Physics and Mathematical Physics. I’d covered pretty much everything in Leaving Cert, so got through that year fine.
03/04 Second year – Dropped Mathematical Physics, continued with Maths, Chemistry and Experimental Physics. Did very well in Maths, not too bad in Physics, and scrapped through Chemistry.
04/05 Third year [1] – Dropped Experimental Physics and Chemistry, and took up Pure Mathematics and Statistics in the Maths stream. Did good in Statistics, but got totally lost in Pure Maths with about a million theorems.
05/06 Third year [2] – Repeated changing from Pure Maths to Applied Maths, and scrapped my way through the year.
06/07 Fourth year [1] – Got diagnosed with depression and agoraphobia that year and ended up not sitting any exams.
07/08 Fourth year [2] – Only completed January exams this year, with a breakdown at the start of the second semester leading to dropping out. Did very well in Applied Maths exams, but failed Statistics.
08/09 Year off after much thinking
09/10 Fourth year [3] – Sat Statistics only in Semester 1 with good results. In Semester 2 things got a bit tough, but managed to achieve good grades in Applied Maths exams. Repeated Statistics exams in August and finally got them all done!
Graduating in October 2010 with a 1st Class Honours degree!
Downloaded application form – June 2010
Gather necessary forms – partially completed August 2010, but wrote letter explaining why there were some missing forms and why (results not out yet etc!)
Apply – application sent in on 30 August 2010.
Rang them on the 15 September 2010, informed that because of a rule regarding changing status from non-mature dependent to mature independent needing a 3 year break between undergrad and postgrad, my application was rejected.
Due to complications, it’s not possible to apply elsewhere, and so PhD is now on hold until I can find an alternative funding source!
Part 1 : Register and Buy Skills Card
Completed 20:00 Tuesday 08 June 2010
About a month after getting the card, there were finally some exam times put up on the website, and so I booked them all.
Part 2 : Complete each module
I decided to just get them all out of the way as quickly as I could, and managed to get through them all over the space of 8 days!
21 July 2010 – Powerpoint – 97%
22 July 2010 – Word – 88%
26 July 2010 – Basic ICT – 94%
26 July 2010 – Windows XP – 97%
27 July 2010 – Excel – 97%
28 July 2010 – IE 8 / Outlook – 97%
29 July 2010 – Access – 91%
Considering I started to study the modules on the 18th of July, I think I did pretty well!
Go me!
Well, my BFF hit the big 25 this week. And I, for reasons known only to the leprechauns in my head, decided to bake her the most ambitious cake I have ever attempted! You can see the full glory of how it was made starting here http://statisticalbaking.blogspot.com/2010/09/over-ambitions-part-1-of-5.html
I had made her a small, pink cake last year, which was, to say the least, the most sad looking little cake ever, despite the fact that it tasted alright. I needed to step up my game, big time.
But, I thought, if I can make macaroons, then dammit I can make a bloody awesome cake! I spent most of the week planning and designing, and teasing my BFF with speculative secrets and suspense. I wanted this cake to be her all over, to speak volumes about her, and to be instantly recognisable as hers.
One thing I am eternally grateful for is 24 hour Tesco [other supermarkets are available]. They pretty much had everything I could have needed, with the exception of cake board, but I guess that was hoping too much!
There was, of course, the issue of trying to get the cake in to the restaurant, which I solved with bribery and more cake, and thanks to a willing friend with personal transport. Dublin Bus is not ideal for carrying a cake on, nor is walking half way across Dublin city! Bustling crowds are not a safe place for cake.
Of course, it was also lashing rain on the day when I arrived, but was so grateful to be dropped just a couple of steps from the door! When I got inside, thankfully the hostess was right inside the door, and I left the cake with them, with instructions to bring the cake with dessert. Then made my way to the back of the restaurant to the party. Despite the fact that I arrived a few mins late, my BFF wasn’t there, so I really had nothing to worry about!
The meal was wonderful, most of the guests knew nothing about the cake at all until we were pondering over dessert, but it went down a storm! The birthday girl was really happy, and, for reasons unknown, I got a round of applause!
Read all about how it was made on my cooking blog!
Part 1 : http://statisticalbaking.blogspot.com/2010/09/over-ambitions-part-1-of-5.html
Part 2 : http://statisticalbaking.blogspot.com/2010/09/rolling-rolling-rolling-fondant-part-2.html
Part 3 : http://statisticalbaking.blogspot.com/2010/09/bake-thon-part-3-of-5.html
Part 4 : http://statisticalbaking.blogspot.com/2010/09/fudge-tastic-part-4-of-5.html
Part 5 : http://statisticalbaking.blogspot.com/2010/09/cake-to-remember-part-5-of-5.html
Semester 1 :
MT412 Graph Theory – 81%
MT461 Probability – 81%
MT463 Linear Models 1 – 85%
MT465 Applied Probability – 68%
MT471 Introduction to C Programming for Mathematicians – 75%
MT481 Mathematical Biology – 77%
Semester 2 :
MT366 Statistical Computing with R – 78%
MT432 Analysis 1 – 79%
MT462 Statistical Inference – 35%
MT464 Linear Models 2 – 67%
MT466 Categorical Data Analysis – 70%
MT472 Numerical Analysis – 63%
Since I was out of lectures, this was a tough one to complete. However, for each module I missed only 1 assignment, and managed to achieve highly in all of the ones I completed.
I was happy that I almost completed this task, given how I was throughout the semester :)
Part 1 : Ordering and arrival
Completed 25th February 2010
Ordered my spanking new laptop on the 11th of February, through Dell.ie.
Order was confirmed on the 17th, invoiced on the 23rd and arrived on the 25th.
Part 2 : Personalization
Completed 27th February 2010
Spent the last few days Who-ifying it! Icons, sounds, cursors, screensaver, desktop background.
Programs were the next step – AVG, Firefox, Thunderbird, R, Dev c++, Open Office, VLC. Firefox add-ons.
Love Windows 7 and it’s features. Snapping, shaking, show desktop. Gadgets. Dell dock. My Blog.
Part 3 : Transferring data
Currently working on
Transfer of files was the longest process.
Update : 17th September 2010
Still working on file transfers, not quite there yet!
Update : 19th October 2010
Have transferred over my music and photos, finally! Still more to go, but all the major files have been transferred.
Completed 00:30 10 February 2010
After about a month of stressing over making my personal statement perfect, and finishing off my project proposal, not to mention the several hours trying to get information from the Records Office about class rankings, finally submitted the forms after midnight on the day it was due! Thankfully it went into before any potential system crashes. Also managed to find myself a couple of good referees :)
Completed 14:30 24 February 2010
One referee was fantabulous and filled in their part a couple of days after they were notified. However, the other two left it right up to the last minute and caused me much paranoia and panic in the last two days. But now it’s all done and done, and just need to wait for the results :D
Completed May 2010
Afraid I was completely unsuccessful in this. I scored 69 out of a possible 100, the minimum mark needed was 80!
