The Statistical Blogger

36. Read All Books On My Shelf

2011-09-04T23:02:00.005+01:00

Currently Working On

~~The Colour of Magic – Terry Pratchett~~
~~Making Money – Terry Pratchett~~
~~The Light Fantastic – Terry Pratchett~~
~~Going Postal – Terry Pratchett~~
Monstrous Regiment – Terry Pratchett
The Last Continent – Terry Pratchett
~~Unseen Academicals – Terry Pratchett~~
The Brentford Chainstore Massacre – Robert Rankin
Waiting for Godalming – Robert Rankin
The Trial of Adolf Hitler – Philippe Van Rjdnt
Bored of the Rings – The Harvard Lampoon
~~Wholly Irresponsible Experiments~~
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
Lord Arthur Saville’s Crimes and Other Stories – Oscar Wilde
The Happy Prince and Other Stories – Oscar Wilde
A Woman of No Importance – Oscar Wilde
The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde
Lady Windemire’s Fan – Oscar Wilde
An Ideal Husband – Oscar Wilde
Night Watch – Sergei Lukyanenko
Day Watch – Sergei Lukyanenko
Twilight Watch – Sergei Lukyanenko
Last Watch – Sergei Lukyanenko
How Long Is A Piece Of String – Rob Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham
The Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities – Ian Stewart
Cows in the Maze - Ian Stewart
Nets, Puzzles and Postmen - Higgins
The Moscow Puzzles
The Selfish Genius - Fern Elsdon-Baker
On The Origin of Species - Charles Darwin
Introducing Genetics - Steve Jones, Borin Van Loon
Introducing Evolution - Dylan Evans, Howard Seline
~~Darkly Dreaming Dexter – Jeff Lindsay~~
~~Dexter in the Dark – Jeff Lindsay~~
~~Dearly Devoted Dexter – Jeff Lindsay~~
Dexter by Design – Jeff Lindsay
~~The Complete Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle~~
Alan Moore – Lance Parkin
~~Time Travel for Beginners – Mary and John Gribbin~~
~~The Time Travellers Handbook~~
Heroes : Saving Charlie – Aury Wallington
~~Overtime – Tom Holt~~
Barking – Tom Holt
Tall Stories – Tom Holt
In Your Dreams – Tom Holt
Mightier Than The Sword – Tom Holt
Earth, Air, Fire and Custard – Tom Holt
You Don’t Have to be Evil to Work Here But it Helps – Tom Holt
Blonde Bombshell – Tom Holt
Eldest – Christopher Paolini
Eragon – Christopher Paolini
Brisingr – Christopher Paolini
God : A User’s Guide – Sean Moncrieff
The Salmon of Doubt – Douglas Adams
Heroes : Comics Volume One
Heroes : Comics Volume Two
Star Trek – Alan Dean Foster
His Dark Materials – Phillip Pullman
Dilbert : The Joy of Work – Scott Adams
Dilbert : Bring Me The Head of Willy The Mailboy – Scott Adams
Dilbert : Gives You The Business – Scott Adams
~~Batman : Year One~~
~~Arkham Asylum - Grant Morrison~~
~~Batman R.I.P. - Grant Morrison~~
~~Sandman : The Doll’s House – Neil Gaiman~~
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Wolverine : Logan
Spiderman : New Ways To Die
Sin City 4 : That Yellow Bastard - Frank Miller
Calvin and Hobbes – Bill Watterson
Weirdos From Another Planet – Bill Watterson
Something Under The Bed is Drooling – Bill Watterson
The Revenge of The Baby-Sat – Bill Watterson
Attack of The Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons – Bill Watterson
Scientific Progress Goes “Boink” – Bill Watterson
~~Bad Science – Ben Goldacre~~
A Game of Thrones – G.R.R. Martin
A Clash of Kings – G.R.R. Martin
A Storm of Swords : Steel and Snow – G.R.R Martin
A Storm of Swords : Blood and Gold – G.R.R. Martin
A Feast of Crows – G.R.R. Martin
Paper Towns – John Green
An Abundance of Katherines – John Green
Looking for Alaska – John Green
Will Grayson, Will Grayson – John Green
Let It Snow – John Green
The Dark Tower : The Gunslinger – Stephen King
Unfinished Portrait – Agatha Christie
Third Girl – Agatha Christie
Cat Among The Pigeons – Agatha Christie
The Pale Horse – Agatha Christie
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie
The Sittaford Mystery – Agatha Christie
They Do It With Mirrors – Agatha Christie
Three Act Tragedy – Agatha Christie
Murder in Mesopotamia – Agatha Christie
Death On The Nile – Agatha Christie
The Mirror Crack’d From Side To Side – Agatha Christie
The Murder at The Vicarage – Agatha Christie

14. Complete And Submit Trinity Application For Masters

2011-05-28T22:56:00.002+01:00

Completed on 23 May 2011

Having attended a post graduate fair in January 2011, I decided to make my 3 year "out of education" stint more productive by looking into the possibility of doing a part time masters.

So, after 3 months of research into Masters courses which would be useful in my PhD studies, I came upon two options - M.Sc. in Health Informatics and M.Sc. in Global Health, both of which are in Trinity.

I completed the online application on the 18th of May, and posted off all extra documentation on the 23rd.

And now, to wait.

Update 03 June 2011

Had my interview for Global Health, will hear in a couple of weeks if I have a place.

Update 12 October 2011

Was offered a place 3 weeks ago, accepted and am now happily enjoying the course!

Week 13 / Week 14

2011-04-10T04:54:00.000+01:00

Two more odd weeks, with some productivity. Working on my application for masters, been baking, been working on the community garden, doing some organising at home and had a first appointment about CBT. Unfortunately, also got a bit struck down with illness which hindered things somewhat. But, thus is life. Ce la vie. So on, so on.

Hard to believe 2011 is over 1/4 gone and I've 587 days left for my list! Can't believe I'm not even to the halfway mark yet!

Week 10 / Week 11 / Week 12

2011-03-26T04:41:00.000Z

Been keeping track of my weekly lists by hand lately. All in all been keeping up with GPRO, washing, classes, even caught up with some crocheting! Community garden is getting right up and running, now on the committee. Will get back to posting soon!

Week 8 / Week 9

2011-03-05T18:08:00.002Z

Things have been crazy for a couple of weeks, so no updates.

Week 8

2011-02-22T05:41:00.001Z

YB work
Fill in payment form
Meet N
Meet R
Visit Gardens
Vote
Pick up RA
Pay rent
Pay Phone
Pay CC
Call ESB
Lodge cheques
Chili blog
DB blog
Look up LC course
Print LC info
Crochet 2
Crochet 3
Crochet 4
Crochet 5
Crochet 6
Crochet 7
Crochet 8
Laundry
GPRO Tuesday
GPRO Friday
Other GPRO stuff
Watch The Web Planet
Finish Darkly Dreaming Dexter... seriously!
Read V for Vendetta
Fix sleep pattern
Sponsorship
Write 18 (!) recipes
Follow WW
Weigh in

Week 7 Results

2011-02-20T22:54:00.000Z

~~Pick up missed package~~
~~Ring psych~~
~~Ring MC~~
~~Write to MC re:address~~
~~Get day for RA~~
Pick up RA
~~Check BG~~
Ring ESB
~~Text Landlord~~
~~Check register~~
~~Buy Vortex III ticket~~
Book hotel
~~Lighten hair~~
~~Dye hair~~
~~Upload pictures~~
~~Get sponsorship~~
Write DB blog
~~Go over budget~~
~~Pay rent~~
Pay off some CC
Pay phone
~~Make Soup~~
~~Make Curry~~
Make Pasta Sauce
~~Make Chilli~~
Write 4 Sweet recipes
Write 2 DB recipes
Write 8 Savoury recipes
~~Stick to WW~~
~~Weigh in~~
~~GPRO Tues~~
~~GPRO Fri~~

GPRO links for cars, sponsors and testing
GPRO driver guide
GPRO finance guide
GPRO car guide
GPRO sponsor guide
GPRO calculation guide
GPRO track guide

Crochet 2
Crochet 3
Crochet 4
Crochet 5
Crochet 6
Crochet 7
Clean bathrooms
Price frame for degree
Read V for Vendetta
Read Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Watch The Web Planet (1-6)
Start LC notes
LC notes PM S1
LC notes PM S2
LC notes old course
~~Enter YB data~~

Week 7

2011-02-15T11:19:00.001Z

Pick up missed package
Ring psych
Ring MC
Write to MC re:address
Get day for RA
Pick up RA
Check BG
Ring ESB
Text Landlord
Check register
Buy Vortex III ticket
Book hotel
Lighten hair
Dye hair
Upload pictures
Get sponsorship
Write DB blog
Go over budget
Pay rent
Pay off some CC
Pay phone
Make Soup
Make Curry
Make Pasta Sauce
Make Chilli
Write 4 Sweet recipes
Write 2 DB recipes
Write 8 Savoury recipes
Stick to WW
Weigh in
GPRO Tues
GPRO Fri

GPRO links for cars, sponsors and testing
GPRO driver guide
GPRO finance guide
GPRO car guide
GPRO sponsor guide
GPRO calculation guide
GPRO track guide

Crochet 2
Crochet 3
Crochet 4
Crochet 5
Crochet 6
Crochet 7
Clean bathrooms
Price frame for degree
Read V for Vendetta
Read Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Watch The Web Planet (1-6)
Start LC notes
LC notes PM S1
LC notes PM S2
LC notes old course
Enter YB data

Week 6 Results

2011-02-14T04:12:00.000Z

~~Ring Dell~~
~~Ring Psych~~
~~Ring Med Card~~
~~Email Maths Dept~~
~~Make list of ingredients for DB~~
Text Landlord
~~Email IY or CISM~~
~~Laundry~~
~~Bins~~
~~Dishwasher~~
Clean apartment
~~Fill in Pay form YB~~
~~Email YB~~
~~Write cover letter BG~~
~~Print letter and PoP BG~~
~~Post BG~~
CV
~~Meet G~~
~~Pick up Meds~~
~~Meet N~~
~~Meet A~~
~~Meet R~~
~~Pick up P60~~
~~Drop in Pay form~~
~~Lodge cheque~~
Watch The Web Planet (1 - 6)
~~CWO info - photocopy bank, work, rent~~
~~See CWO~~
~~Buy ingredients~~
~~Make DB recipes~~
~~Photograph DB recipes~~
LC notes PM S1
LC notes PM S2
LC notes old course
Write 5 savoury recipes
~~Write 5 DB recipes~~
Write 5 sweet recipes
~~Write 1 confection recipe~~
Crochet 2
Crochet 3
Crochet 4
Crochet 5
Crochet 6
~~Ring Med Centre~~
~~Make patchwork outline~~
~~Upload DB photos~~
Write up DB blog
~~Measure for bag~~
~~Measure for frame~~
~~Weigh in~~
~~Stick to WW~~
GPRO links for ~~drivers~~, cars, sponsors, testing and ~~groups~~
GPRO driver guide
GPRO finance guide
GPRO car guide
GPRO sponsor guide
GPRO calculation guide
GPRO track guide
~~GPRO Season 24 plan~~
Finish Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Read V for Vendetta

Week 6 Progress

2011-02-10T01:22:00.000Z

Ring Dell
Ring Psych
Ring Med Card
~~Email Maths Dept~~
~~Make list of ingredients for DB~~
Text Landlord
~~Email IY or CISM~~
~~Laundry~~
~~Bins~~
~~Dishwasher~~
Clean apartment
~~Fill in Pay form YB~~
~~Email YB~~
~~Write cover letter BG~~
~~Print letter and PoP BG~~
~~Post BG~~
CV
~~Meet G~~
~~Pick up Meds~~
~~Meet N~~
~~Meet A~~
~~Meet R~~
~~Pick up P60~~
~~Drop in Pay form~~
~~Lodge cheque~~
Watch The Web Planet (1 - 6)
~~CWO info - photocopy bank, work, rent~~
~~See CWO~~
~~Buy ingredients~~
~~Make DB recipes~~
~~Photograph DB recipes~~
LC notes PM S1
LC notes PM S2
LC notes old course
Write 5 savoury recipes
Write 5 DB recipes
Write 5 sweet recipes
Write 1 confection recipe
Crochet 2
Crochet 3
Crochet 4
Crochet 5
Crochet 6
Ring Med Centre
~~Make patchwork outline~~
Upload DB photos
Write up DB blog
~~Measure for bag~~
~~Measure for frame~~
Weigh in
Stick to WW
GPRO links for drivers, cars, sponsors, testing and groups
GPRO driver guide
GPRO finance guide
GPRO car guide
GPRO sponsor guide
GPRO calculation guide
GPRO track guide
~~GPRO Season 24 plan~~
Finish Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Read V for Vendetta

Week 6

2011-02-07T04:21:00.001Z

Ring Dell
Ring Psych
Ring Med Card
Email Maths Dept
Make list of ingredients for DB
Text Landlord
Email IY or CISM
Laundry
Bins
Dishwasher
Clean apartment
Fill in Pay form YB
Email YB
Write cover letter BG
Print letter and PoP BG
Post BG
CV
Meet G
Pick up Meds
Meet N
Meet A
Meet R
Pick up P60
Drop in Pay form
Lodge cheque
Watch The Web Planet (1 - 6)
CWO info - photocopy bank, work, rent
See CWO
Buy ingredients
Make DB recipes
Photograph DB recipes
LC notes PM S1
LC notes PM S2
LC notes old course
Write 5 savoury recipes
Write 5 DB recipes
Write 5 sweet recipes
Write 1 confection recipe
Crochet 2
Crochet 3
Crochet 4
Crochet 5
Crochet 6
Ring Med Centre
Make patchwork outline
Upload DB photos
Write up DB blog
Measure for bag
Measure for frame
Weigh in
Stick to WW
GPRO links for drivers, cars, sponsors, testing and groups
GPRO driver guide
GPRO finance guide
GPRO car guide
GPRO sponsor guide
GPRO calculation guide
GPRO track guide
GPRO Season 24 plan
Finish Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Read V for Vendetta

Week 5 Results

2011-02-07T01:05:00.000Z

~~Grind~~
Set up next grind
Pick up P60
Drop in pay form
~~GPRO~~ ~~Tues/Fri~~
~~Pay bills~~
Ring about med card
~~Ring about waiting list~~
~~Meet J~~
~~Meet A / Cooking Demo~~
Get stuff together and see CWO
Crochet patches 2 to 5
Write up 12 recipes
~~Do laundry~~
~~Join WW online and follow~~
~~Set up CC online~~
~~Finish reading The Glamour Chase~~
Watch The Web Planet
~~Update book list~~
Make plan for patchwork
~~Begin thinking about trip away~~
~~Get dates for conventions~~
~~Start planning NaNoWriMo 2011~~
Check novel progress
~~Get DB Feb recipe~~ and plan
Photos
Update The List
Plan GPRO Season 24

Week 5

2011-01-31T22:56:00.000Z

Heck of a list this week... need to get on top of things!

Grind
Set up next grind
Pick up P60
Drop in pay form
GPRO Tues/Fri
Pay bills
Ring about med card
Ring about waiting list
Meet J
Meet A / Cooking Demo
Get stuff together and see CWO
Crochet patches 2 to 5
Write up 12 recipes
Do laundry
Join WW online and follow
Set up CC online
Finish reading The Glamour Chase
Watch The Web Planet
Update book list
Make plan for patchwork
Begin thinking about trip away
Get dates for conventions
Start planning NaNoWriMo 2011
Check novel progress
Get DB Feb recipe and plan
Photos
Update The List
Plan GPRO Season 24

Week 4 Results

2011-01-30T20:31:00.000Z

~~Go back to Weight Watchers classes~~
~~Pick out photos for baking blog~~
~~Write up and post DB challenge~~
Write 8 recipe cards
~~Book and go to hair appointment~~
~~Book and go to doc appointment~~
~~Take in balcony lights~~
Replace bulbs
Measure degree and price frame
Sort photos for album and wall
~~Ring psych~~
Clean apartment for party
~~Put on 2 washes~~
~~Dry 2 washes~~
Put away all clean laundry
Print, fill in and drop in payment form
~~Usual GPRO Tues/Fri for me, and for team mate~~
~~Full detailed plan for party~~
~~Party~~ CANX
~~Grind~~ CANX
~~Check up about RA~~
Check up about MC
~~Hang noticeboard~~
Crochet patches 2, 3 and 4
~~Catalogue MTG cards~~
Catalogue YGO cards
Take pics of MTG and YGO cards
Sell cards on eBay

Week 4 Progress

2011-01-28T14:48:00.000Z

~~Go back to Weight Watchers classes~~
~~Pick out photos for baking blog~~
~~Write up and post DB challenge~~
Write 8 recipe cards
~~Book and go to hair appointment~~
~~Book and go to doc appointment~~
~~Take in balcony lights~~
Replace bulbs
Measure degree and price frame
Sort photos for album and wall
~~Ring psych~~
Clean apartment for party
~~Put on 2 washes~~
~~Dry 2 washes~~
Put away all clean laundry
Print, fill in and drop in payment form
~~Usual GPRO Tues/Fri for me, and for team mate~~
~~Full detailed plan for party~~
~~Party~~ CANX
Grind
~~Check up about RA~~
Check up about MC
Hang noticeboard
Crochet patches 2, 3 and 4
~~Catalogue MTG cards~~
Catalogue YGO cards
Take pics of MTG and YGO cards
Sell cards on eBay

Week 4

2011-01-24T21:54:00.001Z

An extremely long list this week, but I'll make a good go at it!

Go back to Weight Watchers classes
Pick out photos for baking blog
Write up and post DB challenge
Write 8 recipe cards
Book and go to hair appointment
Book and go to doc appointment
Take in balcony lights
Replace bulbs
Measure degree and price frame
Sort photos for album and wall
Ring psych
Clean apartment for party
Put on 2 washes
Dry 2 washes
Put away all clean laundry
Print, fill in and drop in payment form
Usual GPRO Tues/Fri for me, and for team mate
Full detailed plan for party
Party
Grind
Check up about RA
Check up about MC
Hang noticeboard
Crochet patches 2, 3 and 4
Catalogue MTG cards
Catalogue YGO cards
Take pics of MTG and YGO cards
Sell cards on eBay

Week 3 Results

2011-01-24T03:58:00.000Z

The results of another sickness-filled week... a pathetic attempt at completion...

Make appointment with hairdressers
~~Drop paperwork in to uni~~
~~Meet N for tea and catch up~~
~~Meet A to give cake(s)~~
Fill in payment form
Sort photos for baking blog
~~Get phone numbers for 2 people~~
Buy a bin
Crochet patches 2 and 3
~~Record weight~~, ~~stick to diet and exercise~~
~~Meet R in town~~
Hang up noticeboard
~~Plan food for party~~
Write up baking blog
Ring re: P60 and payslip
Ring re: position on waiting list
Take in lights from balcony
~~GPRO Race 12~~
~~GPRO Race 13~~
Price frame for degree
Finish Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Write up 4 recipes
Update Who lists
Print Who lists
Start on photos for album and frames
Read The Glamour Chase
~~Meet C in town~~
Price shelves / storage
~~Work on budget~~
Get lightbulbs
~~Watch The Romans~~

Week 3 Progress

2011-01-19T23:33:00.000Z

Make appointment with hairdressers
~~Drop paperwork in to uni~~
~~Meet N for tea and catch up~~
~~Meet A to give cake(s)~~
Fill in payment form
Sort photos for baking blog
~~Get phone numbers for 2 people~~
Buy a bin
Crochet patches 2 and 3
~~Record weight~~, stick to diet and exercise
~~Meet R in town~~
Hang up noticeboard
~~Plan food for party~~
Write up baking blog
Ring re: P60 and payslip
Ring re: position on waiting list
Take in lights from balcony
~~GPRO Race 12~~
~~GPRO Race 13~~
Price frame for degree
Finish Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Write up 4 recipes
Update Who lists
Print Who lists
Start on photos for album and frames
Read The Glamour Chase
Meet C in town
Price shelves / storage
Work on budget
Get lightbulbs
Watch The Romans

Week 3

2011-01-17T08:50:00.000Z

New week, new list...

Make appointment with hairdressers
Drop paperwork in to uni
Meet N for tea and catch up
Meet A to give cake(s)
Fill in payment form
Sort photos for baking blog
Get phone numbers for 2 people
Buy a bin
Crochet patches 2 and 3
Record weight, stick to diet and exercise
Meet R in town
Hang up noticeboard
Plan food for party
Write up baking blog
Ring re: P60 and payslip
Ring re: position on waiting list
Take in lights from balcony
GPRO Race 12
GPRO Race 13
Price frame for degree
Finish Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Write up 4 recipes
Update Who lists
Print Who lists
Start on photos for album and frames
Read The Glamour Chase
Meet C in town
Price shelves / storage
Work on budget
Get lightbulbs
Watch The Romans

Week 2 Results

2011-01-16T21:25:00.000Z

Finish reading Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Read The Glamour Chase
~~Complete January 2011 Daring Bakers challenge~~
~~Post medical card form~~
~~Go to Garda station for form~~
~~Post form for register~~
~~Post living alone allowance form~~
~~Pick up medication~~
~~Get landlord signature on form~~
~~Visit CWO about Rent Allowance~~
~~Qualify and Race in 2 GPRO races :-~~ ~~Race 10 and Race 11~~
~~Keep GPRO team site updated :-~~ ~~for Race 10 and for Race 11~~
~~Record weight at start of week~~, ~~stick to diet and exercise~~
~~Book 2 cooking classes/demos~~
Write 500 words on novel
Crochet patch 2
~~Write up 4 more recipes~~
Update Who lists with recent releases
Print Who lists
Watch The Romans

Week 2 Progress - Again

2011-01-13T22:33:00.000Z

Finish reading Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Read The Glamour Chase
~~Complete January 2011 Daring Bakers challenge~~
~~Post medical card form~~
~~Go to Garda station for form~~
~~Post form for register~~
~~Post living alone allowance form~~
~~Pick up medication~~
~~Get landlord signature on form~~
~~Visit CWO about Rent Allowance~~
Qualify and Race in 2 GPRO races :- ~~Race 10~~ and Race 11
Keep GPRO team site updated :- ~~for Race 10~~ and for Race 11
~~Record weight at start of week~~, stick to diet and exercise
~~Book 2 cooking classes/demos~~
Write 500 words on novel
Crochet patch 2
~~Write up 4 more recipes~~
Update Who lists with recent releases
Print Who lists
Watch The Romans

Week 2 Progress

2011-01-11T22:57:00.000Z

Finish reading Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Read The Glamour Chase
Complete January 2011 Daring Bakers challenge
~~Post medical card form~~
~~Go to Garda station for form~~
~~Post form for register~~
~~Post living alone allowance form~~
~~Pick up medication~~
~~Get landlord signature on form~~
Visit CWO about Rent Allowance
Qualify and Race in 2 GPRO races :- ~~Race 10~~ and Race 11
Keep GPRO team site updated :- ~~for Race 10~~ and for Race 11
~~Record weight at start of week~~, stick to diet and exercise
Book 2 cooking classes/demos
Write 500 words on novel
Crochet patch 2
Write up 4 more recipes
Update Who lists with recent releases
Print Who lists
Watch The Romans

Week 2

2011-01-09T22:24:00.000Z

Finish reading Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Read The Glamour Chase
Complete January 2011 Daring Bakers challenge
Post medical card form
Go to Garda station for form
Post form for register
Post living alone allowance form
Pick up medication
Get landlord signature on form
Visit CWO about Rent Allowance
Qualify and Race in 2 GPRO races
Keep GPRO team site updated
Record weight at start of week, stick to diet and exercise
Book 2 cooking classes/demos
Write 500 words on novel
Crochet patch 2
Write up 4 more recipes
Update Who lists with recent releases
Print Who lists
Watch The Romans

Seems like a longer list than last weeks, but a lot of little things that will be done quite quickly, some leftovers from last week, in fact might have underestimated this week. We shall see.

Week 1 Results

2011-01-09T22:05:00.000Z

And the results for this week are...

Write another 2k words on novel
~~First crochet patch for throw~~
First patchwork patch for quilt
Watch next Hartnell story
Bake January 2011 DB recipe
Finish first Dexter novel ~~and the Who novel~~ I'm reading
~~Write up a few of my recipes for the recipe box~~
Paint a Warhammer figure
~~Wrap rest of caramels~~
Make more chocolates
~~Complete~~ and send off medical card form *
Go see CWO with rent allowance form *
~~Qualify and race in next~~ ~~2 race on GPRO~~
Check up lists on Who dvds, books, etc
~~Print 4th Doctor Scarf pattern~~
Book cooking demonstrations / classes 1 2 3
~~Start proper budget~~

Week 1 Progress - Again

2011-01-07T18:15:00.001Z

Write another 2k words on novel
First crochet patch for throw
First patchwork patch for quilt
Watch next Hartnell story
Bake January 2011 DB recipe
Finish first Dexter novel ~~and the Who novel~~ I'm reading
~~Write up a few of my recipes for the recipe box~~
Paint a Warhammer figure
~~Wrap rest of caramels~~
Make more chocolates
~~Complete~~ and send off medical card form *
Go see CWO with rent allowance form *
~~Qualify and race in next~~ ~~2 race on GPRO~~
Check up lists on Who dvds, books, etc
~~Print 4th Doctor Scarf pattern~~
Book cooking demonstrations / classes 1 2 3
~~Start proper budge~~

Week 1 Progress

2011-01-05T18:00:00.001Z

Write another 2k words on novel
First crochet patch for throw
First patchwork patch for quilt
Watch next Hartnell story
Bake January 2011 DB recipe
Finish first Dexter novel and the Who novel I'm reading
~~Write up a few of my recipes for the recipe box~~
Paint a Warhammer figure
~~Wrap rest of caramels~~
Make more chocolates
~~Complete~~ and send off medical card form
Go see CWO with rent allowance form
Qualify and race in next 2 race on GPRO
Check up lists on Who dvds, books, etc
Print 4th Doctor Scarf pattern
Book cooking demonstrations / classes
~~Start proper budget~~

2011 - Week 1

2011-01-03T19:44:00.001Z

Plan for Week 1 of 2011 -

Write another 2k words on novel
First crochet patch for throw
First patchwork patch for quilt
Watch next Hartnell story
Bake January 2011 DB recipe
Finish first Dexter novel and the Who novel I'm reading
Write up a few of my recipes for the recipe box
Paint a Warhammer figure
Wrap rest of caramels
Make more chocolates
Complete and send off medical card form
Go see CWO with rent allowance form
Qualify and race in next 2 races on GPRO
Check up lists on Who dvds, books, etc
Print 4th Doctor Scarf pattern
Book cooking demonstrations / classes
Start proper budget

It's a big plan, and incorporates many things on The List, but there's 7 days to complete this mini list, which will give me an overview of how much I can or cannot achieve in a week.

Updates

2010-10-19T20:10:00.001+01:00

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!

08. Complete and Submit Trinity Application for PhD

2010-09-17T19:07:00.002+01:00

Currently working on :
Step 1 : Print out application form, check when I need to apply by, and what I need to send
Step 2 : Make a list of what needs to be done and by when
Step 3 : Contact anyone that I need information / references from
Step 4 : Gather anything needed for submission
Step 5 : Complete forms
Step 6 : Submit
Well this task is on hold until 2011/12 at least. :)

Update : 28 May 2011

Since I've decided to do a 2 year, part time Masters before beginning the PhD, this task won't be done until late 2012 / early 2013 and may not make it to be done within the time limit :)

02. Get funding for PhD

2010-09-17T18:58:00.002+01:00

1. Apply to IRCSET – denied!
2. Apply to Westmeath Co Co – denied!
So initial applications have been a bust, looks like 2010/11 will be spent searching for funding options!

Update : 28 May 2011

As with 08, this task may not get completed in time for the end date of the list, since I'll be taking on a 2 year Masters!

01. Graduate from NUI Maynooth

2010-09-17T18:47:00.001+01:00

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!

12. Apply for Grant with WCC for PhD

2010-09-17T18:35:00.001+01:00

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!

06. Complete ECDL

2010-09-17T18:23:00.001+01:00

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!

My BFF is Quarter of a Century

2010-09-17T18:09:00.001+01:00

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

03. Achieve First Class Honours in Undergraduate Degree

2010-03-09T21:07:00.001Z

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%

Statistics :

67.7% 2nd Class Honours Grade 1

Applied Mathematics :

75.5% 1st Class Honours

Overall Degree Mark :

71.6% 1st Class Honours

71. Set Date for Starting CBT

2010-02-19T21:56:00.001Z

Currently working on :
February 9th 2010
Will be on waiting list until summer, after a discussion with psychiatrist. This was my decision as I do not wish for this to affect my studies.
September 17th 2010
After moving house, starting with a new psychiatrist in a month, will have to discuss this with them.
May 28th 2011
Started in April after a long wait, attending roughly once a forthnight.

40. Get to Elite in GPRO

2010-02-19T21:55:00.002Z

Currently working on :

Season 18 : Jan / Feb 2010 : Amateur
Retained with 2 points and just over $3 million, car not in a great state. Pretty happy with current driver, will be better with lots of training.

Season 19 : Mar / Apr / May 2010 : Amateur
Starting season on 11th March 2010. Finished 30th with no points and was relegated.

Season 20 : May / June / July 2010 : Rookie
Too busy with exams to do any real work on the game, finished 3rd in group with 61 points, but made sure I was in debt as I was not in a good state to promote.

Season 21 : July / Aug / Sept 2010 : Rookie
Lost driver from previous season, planning to train up new one. However, no real time to play and so just made sure to qualify for every race to ensure enough money next season.

Season 22 : Sept / Oct / Nov 2010 : Rookie
Most of the season spent training new driver and testing.

Season 23 : Nov / Dec / Jan 2010/11 : Rookie
Promoted with * points and $ million in the bank, looking forward to rocking up Amateur.

Season 24 : Jan / Feb / Mar 2011 : Amateur
Back up to Amateur, retained with * points and about $? million, car in pretty good nick. Still training driver and expecting 2 more seasons at least in Amateur.

Season 25 : Apr / May / June 2011 : Amateur
My second season in Amateur 44.

35. Learn to Crochet / 41. Complete Art of Crochet

2010-02-19T21:54:00.001Z

Currently working on:
Mid January 2010
First issue of Art of Crochet. Learned how to make a foundation chain, and the slip stitch

Valentines Weekend 2010
Learned how to double stitch

08 March 2010
Queried why have not received any further issues

19 March 2010
Received the following email…
Subscriber *********
Thank you for your correspondence.
Please note that we did experience a stock shortage with regards to issues 2 and 3. The stock has arrived in and was allocated to be dispatched on or around 20 March 2010 and can take anything up to 28 days for delivery if you do not have this by the 20^th of April please contact us to look further in to this matter.
Please find my sincere apologies for this delay. We thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require further assistance.

17 September 2010
Have now received 27 issues of Art of Crochet, and have yet to actually crochet anything! The collection now consists of 2 binders with magazines, a magazine rack, loads of yarn, several hooks, a yarn bag and a hook bag. :)

28 May 2011
Up to 60-ish magazines and have actually made 6 of the quilt patches!

34. Learn to Knit

2010-02-19T21:53:00.002Z

Currently working on:
Mid January :
Nana showed me how to cast on, and how to knit. She also explained some of the stitches, and how basically they are all made up of various combinations of knit and purl.
Learned how to purl from Youtube.

Update : 28 May 2011
Subscribed to Art of Knitting magazine, but have not received any yet.

11. Complete all Assignments in Each Module

2010-02-19T21:51:00.000Z

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 :)

04. Attend 90% of Lectures in Semester 2 (2010)

2010-02-19T21:50:00.002Z

Completed, but failed
Week 1 : 12/12
Week 2 : 13/13
Week 3 : 9/12
Week 4 : 0/14, 2 canx
Week 5 : 3/8 , 5 canx
Week 6 : 0/15, 1 canx
Week 7 : 0/9 so far, 5 to go this week
Week 8 : None
Week 9 : None
Week 10 : None
Week 11 : None
Week 12 : None
11th March update:
It’s now the end of week 6. From the look of it, it’ll be impossible to achieve this goal. However, I will continue to try to make it lectures :)

17th September update:
Well, the year ended and I didn’t manage to get back into lectures. This was a total failure! However, I did manage to get notes photocopied and kept up with almost all assignments.

91. Buy New Laptop

2010-02-19T21:48:00.000Z

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.

7. Submit IRCSET application

2010-02-19T21:47:00.000Z

Part 1 : Submit my forms

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 :)

Part 2 : Ensure supervisor and referees submit forms

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

Part 3 : The Results

Completed May 2010

Afraid I was completely unsuccessful in this. I scored 69 out of a possible 100, the minimum mark needed was 80!

The List

2010-02-19T16:40:00.002Z

Finish Date : 16th November 2012

College :

01. Graduate from NUI Maynooth - Complete
02. Get funding for PhD – Unachievable
03. Achieve first class honours in undergraduate degree - Complete
04. Attend 90% of lectures in semester 2 (2010) - Complete
05. Join at least one society or club in Trinity
06. Complete ECDL - Complete
07. Submit IRCSET application – Complete
08. Complete and submit Trinity application for PhD – Unachievable
09. Attend an International Conference
10. Present at a major Conference
11. Complete all assignments for each module (2010) - Complete
12. Apply for grant with W.C.C. for PhD - Complete
13. Take some short courses or OU modules or masters – Complete
14. Complete and submit applications for 13 – Complete
15. Start local grinds business – Complete

Travel :

16. Go away for at least a weekend with my BFF
17. Go away for at least a weekend with Nana
18. Attend San Diego Comic Con – Unachievable
19. Visit Amsterdam
20. Visit Stonehenge
21. Visit Cardiff
22. Visit Niagara Falls
23. Visit Pompeii
24. Visit The Colosseum
25. Visit The Leaning Tower of Pisa
26. Visit The Lourve
27. Visit Eiffel Tower
28. Travel on the Orient Express
29. Visit London

Hobbies :

31.
32.
33. Make Messenger bag – In Progress
34. Learn to knit – In Progress
35. Learn to crochet – In Progress
36. Read all books on my shelf - In Progress
37. Raise cold water fishes
38. Put together and paint Warhammer figures – In Progress
39. Make patchwork quilt
40. Get to Elite in GPRO – In Progress
41. Complete Art of Crochet quilt – In Progress
42. Win NaNoWriMo – In Progress (not blogged)
43. Complete Art of Knitting quilt

Whovian :

30. Attend Vortex IV
44. Attend Vortex II – Complete (not blogged)
45. Attend Chicago TARDIS
46. Attend Galifrey One
47. Finish Who DVD Collection (including Torchwood and SJA) – In Progress
48. Watch all Who DVDs (including Torchwood and SJA) – In Progress
49. Complete Classic Who Book Collection – In Progress
50. Complete Who Short Trips Collection – In Progress
51. Complete other Who Book Collection – In Progress
52. Read all Who Books (including Torchwood and SJA) – In Progress
53. Complete Who Audio Book Collection – In Progress
54. Listen to all Who Audio Books – In Progress
55. Review each Who story as watched / read / listened – In Progress
56. Make TARDIS Christmas tree topper
57. Knit 4th Doctor scarf – In Progress
58. Attend Vortex III – Complete
59. Paint Who Russian Dolls – In Progress
60. Paint Who room door as TARDIS door – In Progress

Food :

61. Take a cooking class – Complete
62. Eat at a 1 Michelin star restaurant
63. Eat at a 2 Michelin star restaurant
64. Eat at a 3 Michelin star restaurant
65. Fill recipe box – In Progress
66. Learn how to photograph food well - In Progress
67. Catch up on old Daring Bakers challenges
68. Return to Daring Bakers and complete monthly challenges – In Progress
69. Sell baked goods at least once at a farmers market
70. Subscribe to Baked and Delicious, bake from each issue – In Progress

Health :

71. Set date for starting Cognitive Behaviour Therapy – Complete
72. Return to Weight Watchers - In Progress
73. Lose 1.5lb per week until hit goal weight - In Progress
74. Take up a sport or dance class
75. Return to swimming weekly
76. Get to open all size boxes (20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10) – In Progress
77. Track eating for two weeks to see issues – Complete (not blogged)
78. Maintain goal weight
79. Follow Dialectical Behaviour Therapy programme
80. Maintain healthy sleeping pattern

Social :

81. See each friend at least once a month – In Progress
82. Visit Nana at least once every 2 months – In Progress
83. Pick photos for album
84. Pick photos for wall hanging frame
85. Raise money for a charity – Complete
86. Get involved in community garden – Complete
87. Finish community garden website – In Progress

General :

88. Apply for rent allowance – Complete
89. Apply for medical card – Complete
90. Apply for household benefits and fuel allowance – Complete / Complete
91. Buy new laptop – Complete
92. Make a budget – In Progress
93. Start a savings plan in Post Office
94. Paint and decorate apartment – In Progress
95. Build DVD and Book Shelving
96. Build desk/work area
97. Build unit for fish/crafts/academic books
98. Change kitchen cabinet doors
99.
100. Make another 101 things in 1001 days list for when this one finishes
101. Blog at least once a forthnight – In Progress

101 Things in 1001 Days

2010-02-19T16:34:00.000Z

Well, it's official, I've been inspired, by my bestest buddy, http://queevs.tumblr.com/ , who was brought on to the idea by a friend of hers, and I hope I inspire one person to also try this.

The idea comes from http://dayzeroproject.com/ , and is that you make a list of 101 things you'd like to achieve for yourself, doesn't have to be crazy or drastic, can be as simple as you like, and you try to get it done within 1001 days (that's 2 years, 38 weeks and 5 days!). But, this is not, as I've been reminded just today, a make it or break it situation. You're free to play around with things, change the unachievable, work with what you have. :)

My list will follow in the next post, categorised nicely, where it can be edited regularly :D

I'm excited.

Expected finish date : Friday, November 16, 2012

Day 5 : Endings and Fish

2009-07-11T18:40:00.000+01:00

What an ending. I must say, this entire season has been spectacular. The writing was magnificent, the acting was perfection and the execution of the whole show was amazing.

I was so sad and shocked to see Jack leave, what does this mean for the future of Torchwood? Esp with the dramatic loss of Ianto, who was the backbone of the entire operation if you ask me, and with Gwen being so heavily pregnant. Although I would love to see an entirely new cast, but headed up by Jack of course.

Overall, the rating were great, esp for a show that was run over a week in the summer. It's not being show in the US until the 20th, and I imagine it'll go down just as well there.

In other news, I've finally filled my fish tank in preparation for the new comers, will have Queevs and Derek the goldfish next week, and if they survive, some other fishes. Maybe a big fish, maybe a small fish. Time will tell.

Day 4 : Death and Revelations

2009-07-10T13:10:00.000+01:00

Ianto... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Pic from bbc.co.uk/torchwood

Days 2 and 3... and a Birthday Bash

2009-07-09T19:10:00.000+01:00

Queevs, Ois and Rodge came over last night for dinner, a trip to Mantra (the newest club in Maynooth) and a birthday celebration. :) Here's the menu for the night -

Starter :

This was a twice baked potato with bacon and cheese :) First time making it and it went down really well. Simple but effective. I laid out some salad too, but apparently my friends do not eat rabbit food.

Main :

We had some chicken curry and some egg fried rice, the curry was runnier than I was happy with, and I forgot to put the scallions in the the fried rice, but people seemed to enjoy it regardless, so let's pretend everything was fine :D There was also some stir fried vegetables. There were many "mmm"s and comments of deliciousness, so clearly they couldn't taste the arsenic I laced it with LOL.

Cake!

The cake is a Victoria Sponge a la Nigella Lawson, with pink colouring for the princess herself. It's in 3 layers, with melted chocolate spread on each layer, with sliced strawberries and fresh cream. Oddly the cake took the least amount of time to make. And I was quite happy when the pinkness didn't disappear after baking.

After cake, and some amount of alcohol, we hopped into a taxi and headed down to Mantra, which just opened up in Maynooth last weekend. First impressions - impressed. It had that "new" smell. No stale beer smell, no vomit stench, no sticky floors. A very new experiance for Maynooth, I must say, and a HUGE step up from the old LA. Drink was reasonably priced, not cheap, but not any more expensive than anywhere else. Pity it was a mid week night though, so the club was closed, but the bar was very awesome. Some snazzy features include a cocktail bar, a 24ft waterfall (which was turned off :( ) and tables with beer taps! I foresee future visits :)

Breakfast :

Well, unfortunately Ois missed out big time on this delish fry up, since he had to head off to work in the am. Although, since most of it was done on the handy dandy George Foreman grill, it was hardly any work. Except the eggs. And too much oil. And splattering myself slightly with hot oil. Smart, real smart. I now have various blotches so I can remember this day for a few weeks. :D

Torchwood : Day 2 :

More twists, and more excitement as Torchwood's latest season continued. They blew up Jack, and of course he didn't die... then they trapped him in concrete, only to be saved by the dashing Ianto with a digger! Didn't see it coming and was so impressed :) Plus naked Jack is always fun.

Day 3 :

Well only got to see this episode this morning, since I was out last night. (I hope it's appreciated that I missed an episode for the princess!) I'm really enjoying how the story is playing out, and that it's just the one long story, as opposed to 8 - 9 put together in 45 - 90 min slots. Maybe my expectations are too high for the next two nights though, and perhaps I'm very odd, but I would prefer not to see the 456... I like the hiding, I like the not knowing, I like the mystery, and I don't think it will add anything to the story by showing them. It's enough to know the few things about them that we do.

Last two pictures from bbc.co.uk/torchwood

Day 1 and Freedom... Spoilers within...

2009-07-07T18:44:00.000+01:00

So, after some nastiness between themselves, my summer housemates are gone, leaving me in peace for 2 months :D

Tomorrow, is a b'day bash for Queevs, so working on that...

And last night, the first installment of the latest Torchwood season (Children of Earth)... Wow. Just wow. I was so impressed...

I was shocked to see some of Jacks family, I'm hoping it goes deeper into it tonight. I knew Iantos family would be shown, since he mentioned it at Vortex back in May. :D And Gwen being preggers... did NOT see that coming... oh Gwen, were you not careful!

There's already been a couple of bizarre twists and I'm loving it, cannot wait for tonights, in a mere 2 hours and 12 minutes... :D

Life and the Who-niverse

2009-06-29T16:52:00.000+01:00

Life in general has been pretty hectic lately, but it's calming down now. I finally unpacked after my trip to Vortex in Belfast (yes, yes, I know it was almost 2 months ago), so I have a big box full of books, comics and dvds to get through. :)

I'm almost finished my nu-Who marathon. Tonight I'll be watching Midnight with commentary, then on to the final disc of season 4 :) I'll have watched it all before Torchwood : Children of Earth kicks off next Monday. Absolutely cannot wait to see what this season brings, with a prime time spot on BBC 1 for a whole week. I have no doubt it will be amazing. Housemates have been warned not to so much as breath during it, on pain of death.

I've started to paint again. It's so good having the time for it again :)

This is my Dragon Ogre Shaggoth, so I originally started to paint in early 2008, possibly even as far back as late 2007. But he is finally finished, and now sits in glory on the mantelpiece along side these two guys....

Excuse the dates on them, they were in fact taken in mid 2008. The top one is an Ogre standard, the lower one is Khazarak the One Eye.

My next project is a dragon with an elf on his back :) My intentions are for a yellow/orange/red scheme.

For now, dinner bekons. More posting next week as Torchwood is shown :D

Goals and Collections

2009-05-14T19:29:00.000+01:00

Hit my first 5% weight loss goal this week :D So happy, though still not doing the WW program to it's full extent, like not getting enough water, not doing enough exercise (or any for that matter). But to reward myself for hitting this goal, I've ordered some classic Who dvds, which I can hardly wait to watch.

I've decided that since my Dr Who book collection is nearing completion, I would start collecting the classic DVDs. My first step is to get caught up with the 70 odd releases. The order has been determined by price and offers, starting by buying the cheapest ones and the ones that are on extra special offer. However I'm not going to start watching them until I have them in order (ie going to watch Hartnell before I watch any of the others).

In the mean time, I'm re-watching NuWho. It started with the re-watching of Torchwood, and then with commentries. Although I then discovered that the season 2 box set has no commentries! I was pretty disappointed, especially since this is the better of the two seasons. I finished Ecclestons Who a few weeks ago, and was annoyed to find that he didn't participate in any of the commentries, but then as a man who was never a Who fan I don't know why I expected him to. Barrowman and Piper however gave great insights on their commentries. I'm currently in the middle of Tennants first season. The man has skills, and is very involved with the commentries which is great. I can't wait to rewatch the finale so I can see Rose's demise, she's one of my least favourite characters.

For now, soup making bekons.

Weight Loss and Fanaticism

2009-05-03T21:09:00.000+01:00

Last week went pretty well (back at WW), lost a pound and a half, bringing my total loss up to 1 stone! Finally, it's gathering momentum.

So, to the real news. Yesterday saw Ireland's largest Doctor Who convention, Vortex, run by UT Events. I volunteered to be a steward, which just meant standing at a door for a couple of hours. I met a few very nice people, one of whom was from Dublin, and also going to the same Uni as me! Small world...

Anyways, my camera was kaputt for the first part of the day, so I missed out on photographing some of the awesome items on display, including three Daleks (black, red and bling-bling), K-9, Casandra from The End of The World and New Earth, Davros' head, a nuWho Cyberman head, an Empty Child costume and the stage had been turned into a mini TARDIS interior.

The one display I did manage to get a picture of was the TARDIS which the event organisers built. It was perfectly to scale, and looked magnificent. The whole display was surreal for me, it felt wierd being in the same room as these wonderful things.

Walking around throughout the day was an Ood from The Impossible Planet, The Satan Pit and Planet of the Ood, a Clockwork Droid from The Girl In The Fireplace and the Black Dalek. The cotumes were amazing, and those dressed up happily obliged every photo opportunity.

The only store at the event was Doctor Who Gear dot com, who supplied a varied array of Doctor Who goodies, from books to toys, posters to t-shirts. I picke up quite a few things, mostly books, and a few little presents.

The event itself was well planned, and came together very efficently, perhaps a little more could have been squeezed into the day, as some parts went a little quicker than expected.

First on the schedule were Q&A with the guests, who were Paul Marc Davis- [The Trickster (Sarah Jane Adventures), Cheiftan of the FutureKind (Utopia, Doctor Who), Cowled Leader (Exit Wounds, Torchwood)], Chipo Chung- [Chantho (Utopia, Doctor Who) , Fortune Teller (Turn Left, Doctor Who)] and Gareth David-Llyod- [Ianto Jones (Torchwood)].

Paul and Chipo came out together, and had great banter between them. They discussed what it was like working on the shows, about the make-up/prostetics (Paul as The Trickster and Chipo as Chantho), about trying to choose between getting next weeks lotto numbers or meeting Jesus if they had a TARDIS trip and general Doctor Who questions about cast members. We even had the treat of a duet between the pair, of the Doctor Who Theme, they even managed to get the audience involved!

Gareth David-Llyod was a great presence, he kept a tight lid on the upcoming Torchwood: Children of Earth, but did reveal that we would find out much more about Ianto's past, such as meeting his family, and discovering the reasons he tore apart from them. There were a lot of questions from young children, whom I doubt ever saw an episode of Torchwood, and were curious about the whole show. Again, there were stock questions such as favourite alien/Doctor/companion, where would he go in the TARDIS etc etc.

Also at the event was PJ Holden, comic book artist on 2000AD and Judge Dread. He was a very nice man, and an amazing artist, I got two sketches from him, of The Trickster (who he had never even seen before, and considering that, the sketch was amazing) and of Chantho. My intention was to then get them signed by Paul and Chipo. The sketches are intended as a pair, with Chantho looking at The Trickster in a very fearful way.

Next on the schedule was the photo session, I regret now not purchasing a group photo with all the guests, as they were very nice people, but I did get one with Gareth/Ianto... In fact, I was first in line lol.

There was a short intermission for lunch, before Ianto's Coffee Club and the first game of Doctor Who themed Weakest Link started up.

The Coffee Club was an amazing treat. There were 4 tables of 9, and the guests moved from table to table in 10 minute slots. And while it was a great laugh chatting with them all, the time was so short. All three actors commented that they had just started having fun when they had to move. We discussed bras, long hair and bad movies with Paul, silly voices and shiny tops with Chipo and drinking brains, welsh curses and how toned down he'd been at the Q&A with Gareth. It was refreshing to meet these guys out of the Who-niverse context, and as real, down to earth people.

With being at the Coffee Club, I missed the first Weakest Link.

And then came my downfall of the day, which sucked up all my monies, the charity auction. The only plus side is that all the money I paid has gone to a great charity, The Northern Ireland Children's Hospice. After a little bidding, I won two signed books. A new series adventure with Martha and Tennants Doctor, Snowglobe 7, signed by Mike Tucker, and a Torchwood book, Twilight Streets, signed by Gary Russell.

The third item I bid on was a big one... An old style Cyberman head, signed by Colin Baker, the 6th Doctor (and my favourite old series Doctor). The bidding began at £100, and then the fierce battle began, I knew I could go to £300 and no higher, and fortunately I was on the even. Thankfully, the bidding ended at £300, and I sighed relief. I got talking to the guy I bid against later in the day, and he had also given himself a budget of £300. I got lucky.

With another brief interlude, came the Autograph session. With Ianto on the cover it seemed only right to get Gareth's autograph on my newly aquired Torchwood book, and I asked Chipo and Paul to sign the skethes from PJ Holden, which they were happy to do.

The convention closed down for dinner soon after the autograph session, which ended early. This gave me a chance to move all my purchases to the hotel room and have some dinner.

On return, there was another game of Weakest Link, which I got chosen to play in (it was pulled from raffle tickets). I was the 4th person knocked out, and for good reason, my knowledge was not as good as some of the other players, including a boy who didn't miss a single question through the whole game.

The fancy dress competition was mostly kids, and some of them were so cute, while others were very creative, including a very realistic (if a bit short) Dalek, and a TARDIS.

And with that, and a short closing ceremony (thank yous etc), that was it. Well, a disco ensued, but I didn't stay.

All in all, a great day, had such a fun time, met some very nice people and picked up plenty of great items.

The only downside was that it was a one day event, that the Coffee Club was so short and that there was only one vendor who didn't have any DVDs and a relatively small section of books.

Dieting and Baking, a lethal mix

2009-04-24T15:27:00.000+01:00

This week I went back to Weight Watchers, possibly a foolish move on my part, since I had some baking to do this week for Daring Bakers. It's been over 3 months since my last meeting, what with the NY trip and just generally not getting up early enough on a Wednesday morning. Anyways, I somehow (and don't ask me how, because I really don't know) managed to lose 10lb (or just over 4.5kg for you metric-savvys) in those months. I knew I'd lost a little, but I wasn't expecting it to be such a drastic drop. I'm just 3lb away from my first 5% goal (going by the start weight of 2009), and have lost a full stone since beginning originally :D

Also this week I've been doing this months Daring Bakers challenge but no, I can't tell you what it is :P. I can, however, tell you that I ended up baking 48 mini treats, over two days, in 8 flavours, and I can't let myself eat any because a) the points are probably astromical for such a small thing and b) I don't want to have to try to work out the points. So, for that end, I decided to bring them to work and unload them on my workmates. This morning I wrapped one of each flavour together in a bundle (5 bundles in all), sent one up to the Maths Dept, one for each of my 3 workmates in today to take home, and one for them to munch on during coffee breaks. I hadn't even tasted any of them myself, but they went down a storm. All three of my workmates told me I'd make a fortune selling them, and got an email saying that they went down great with the Maths Dept and that I have an alternate career option as a caterer. I was so flattered :) I think I've spent most of the day blushing :)

You may be thinking, wait... 5 bundles of 8... that's only 40... Emma, you said you made 48... Well, indeed, I needed to keep 8 back for decorating for posting at the end of the month on the flip side. :)

Tutorials are finishing up next week, so expect a post on this semesters average results, which I can already see are waaaay up from my earlier post. :)

A Paddy's Day Rant

2009-03-17T19:10:00.000Z

So I'm doing my usual daily rounds of the interwebs, which includes a site called tastespotting.com, it's like a big gallery of recipes, great, and I notice sooo many for Paddy's day, or at least claiming to be, I mean since when did adding Guinness or something green make a recipe Irish?! I'm outraged.

Also, what's the big fascination with corned beef?! As a typical Irish person, I've never eaten the stuff in my life... Seriously. Cabbage and Ham, yes, Cabbage and Corned Beef, eh, no, what fucking Ireland do you think exists, one that has actual leprechauns and pots of gold?!

I mean soda bread, yes, that's Irish. Irish stew, yes, but it's not Irish stew if you make it with beef, you moron, then it's just beef stew, and then you think adding a can of Guinness makes it Irish, who the fuck puts Guinness in stew?! No sane Irish man or woman would waste good stout in a stew! And Shepard's Pie, don't even get me started, for one it's a British dish, for two you can't make things "Irish" by adding alcohol, for three you made it with beef and it's therefore Cottage Pie NOT Shepard's Pie...

As for this - ["Irish" for a day, corned beef on rye.], there are so many things wrong with that sentence, not to mention the picture, where's it's covered in that "traditional Irish ingredient" - mustard...

And then there are those who abbreviate incorrectly to St Patty's Day... eh, who?!

Sigh. Bloody Americans, it's bad enough they all claim Irish heritage, but then they have to stomp all over our day with misconceptions and ignorance.

The Joys Of Tutoring - Or Rising Failure Levels

2009-03-02T18:35:00.000Z

Sigh.

Having just finished a batch of assignment correcting, with what seemed to be an unusually high bunch of failures, I decided to check out if it really was a higher set of failures.

Unfortunately I have no basis for comparison... Yet. I can't consider this week to be my baseline, since the assignment seemed to be beyond the grasp of a considerable number of students, so I am planning to use next weeks assignment as a baseline, as if I recall correctly this is one of the easier assignments of the year.

What I've discovered so far :

Of my 101 students, only 55 actually handed up the latest assignment. I have no way of determining which students do not take the course the question, but I will endeavor to find out.

I have 4 classes, one of which is based in Arts, the other three are in the Science discipline. The Arts and Science course is the same, however they do have different lecturers. I will make a comparison here.

Of the 55 assignments which I had to hand to correct, 24 failed, that is achieved a mark below 40%.

The analysis :

Well, it's only a basic analysis as yet, but here's the figures :

Class : Failure / Total Handed in , Failure + Not handed in / Total class size

Arts : 8 / 19 , 11 / 22
Sci 1 : 7 / 11 , 26 / 30
Sci 2 : 4 / 12 , 16 / 24
Sci 3 : 5 / 13 , 17 / 25

All : 24 / 55 , 70 / 101

What it means :

Well, nothing as of yet. I intend to continue looking at the failure rates for the rest of the semester, Arts having 5 more assignments and Science having 3. Hopefully in a few short weeks, I'll be able to see what this means, if in fact it means anything at all.

Lombardi's - A review

2009-03-01T18:27:00.000Z

During my NY trip, I decided to pop along to Lombardi's one lunch time, to see what all the fuss was about.

The atmosphere :

The restaurant is warm and inviting, the staff were friendly, but all this is to be expected from any run-of-the-mill restaurant in this day and age. But I digress, it was nice at first glance.

I was seated at a small table directly in front of this wall :

On the wall were many awards and accolades, I was excited.

The menu :

The menu is simple, with few choices, as would be expected from a restaurant with such highly acclaimed food. The choice of pizza toppings were basic, nothing spectacular. The only exceptional seeming item on the menu was the seafood pizza, unfortunately I'm not a seafood fan.

The food :

I ordered a raspberry seltzer soda, and this was the least disappointing part of my meal. It had a good raspberry tang, and the cream added a little pizzazz, but it was just a drink...

I decided on bruschetta to start, expecting something amazing. The tomatoes were piled high, a little too high in fact as it led to soggy bread underneath. It lacked that something special that I was expecting, but I held my breath for the main, since pizza was what they were famous for. "Best pizza in New York"...

I ordered my pizza with a topping of mushrooms and homemade meatballs. It was spectacular in only one respect - it was spectacularly disappointing. It looked like any pizza from any average pizzeria, it was far from the "best". In fact, I'd go so far as to say I've had better pizza from Irish takeaways. The meatballs lacked any excitement, and left a tangy, unpleasant aftertaste in the mouth. The mushrooms were tasty, as was the mozzarella, but even the base sauce was unimpressive. The crust was thin, yes, crispy, yes, tasteful - oh hell no. It was, by far, the most boring and underwhelming pizza I've ever had, with the possible exception of frozen pizza, and I've had quite a few pizzas...

The final thought :

I definitely would not return to Lombardi's, and I certainly won't be recommending it to anyone. As pizza places go, the only reason I can see for it being the "Best in New York City" is if every other pizzeria is utter crap.

No Muppets In Manhatten

2009-01-29T04:09:00.000Z

I was rudely woken at 6am local by a text from Sylvia, as I'd missed an appointment yesterday.

Sleep was broken from then until about 8am when we decided to get up. Had breakfast about 8.30am, discovered that 5th ave is only 7 blocks away!

Saw a mouse... a friend to share the apartment with.

Went outside... it was snow everywhere! And within minutes our feet were soaked from stepping in puddles that were a hell of a lot deeper than they seemed. :)

Decided we best get the bus since a 7 block walk with numerous puddles and Jia's Uggs would not be a pleasant experience.

So, hopping on the bus we discovered that 1 dollar notes were no good, we needed change or a Metro card, thankfully a nice woman who was getting on after us paid for us with her card and we gave her some notes. She then was very helpful in letting us know where to get off for our first proper day in NY - 5th Avenue!!!

Our first stop – FAO Schwarz, the biggest toy store I have ever been to! And I intend on returning before our trip is over! The ground floor is packed to the hilt with stuffed animals, a huge sweet shop, and the Make Your Own Muppet area! Something I didn't do today, but plan on doing before we leave if they get more Muppets in! Down in the basement floor are the pre-school toys, so we gave that a miss. On the maze that is the top floor lives the infamous Giant Piano, which again we didn't get around to, even though I spent 6 hours in the store, as well as a make your own Barbie and make your own doll sections. After an hour of looking around I discovered my favourite section by far - the “Make” area. We decided that Jia would go off shopping in the likes of Louis Vitton and Chanel while I got to work, and that we would meet 2 and a half hours later for lunch. Alas it was not to be, for when someone mentioned it was 4pm, I had well missed the 1.30pm deadline. :D So what kept me, well, they had a range of ceramic odds and ends, from plates, bowls and mugs, to picture frames, boxes and animals. What's so special about that? You get to paint them yourself, then have them glazed and fired and shipped on to you! I choose 6 pieces, a plate, a bowl, a mug, a duck savings box and two picture frames. Pictures will follow when they arrive sometime next week :D

Next stop for me – The Disney Store, 3 floors of the Magical Kingdom that is Disney. I spent the guts of an hour just looking around and picked up a few nice items. One shop assistant commented on how nice a bag I had, I was puzzled until I remembered it was a Tigger bag that I picked up in the Disney store in Birmingham late last year.

By then it was after 5pm, I was starving and tired, and my feet were soaking, so we headed off to the bus stop (I say headed off to, I mean wandered aimlessly for an hour before actually finding the stop), but the fun didn't end there, we got on the bus on the wrong side of the street and added an hour to our trip home!!!

But I digress, we got back in the end.

Not long after we arrived, the housekeeper came in to show some guys around the other room in our apartment, and we got to complain (but in a polite way :)) about the mouse, about the lack of internet and about the non working tv. She pointed out the computer in the room she had shown the boys and said we were welcome to use it, she would leave the door unlocked, just not to sleep in the beds. The tv in there works too, so we have pretty much all the hiccups sorted :D

And now, it is after 11pm local, after 4am at home, I am sleepy, and so I bid you a good night.

In a New York State of Mind

2009-01-29T01:36:00.000Z

5:00am ... “Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never go-”

5:10am... “Never gonna give you up, ne-”

5:20am... “Never go-”

And there I am, still in a haze of sleep, trying to remind myself to tie the ribbons on the cases so I can identify them easily.

5:40am... Is that the damn taxi already?!

Hiccup 1 – Taxi was 15 minutes early, cutting out any breakfast plans!

5:48am... “we're outside... okay... yeah... okay”
“She'll be 5 minutes :D”

We arrived in the airport about half 6, checked for the check in gate, and we were off to a great start.

Hiccup 2 – The lady behind the desk hands me a green visa waiver form. Wait, what?! Didn't I fill this out online already?! Paranoid Yanks...

Breakfast courtesy of McDs, and off through security in Dublin Airport. A mess of inefficiency as usual. But we stumbled through uneventfully.

Border control went fine, fingerprinting (no crime spree for me I'm afraid!), and a smile for the camera.

Boarded the plane about 8:15am, plenty of time to get everyone seated for the take off.

Little touch screen in the head of the seat in front, and to my delight an episode of Dr Who. I also watched Big Bang Theory, some of How I Met Your Mother, played a trivia quiz (and won twice!), played a few other games, watched the majority of Hellboy.

Meal was ok – bread roll, jam, butter, cheese, crackers, fruit cup (which hit the spot quite well), some chicken thing that I didn't even open, a choc bar, the most rank orange juice I've ever tasted and a complimentary diet coke. Second round was a pizza with pesto (I ate my way around the pesto as much as humanly possible), some water and a biscuit.

By the end of the 7 hours my ass was numb and I was exhausted (from what, I don't know!)

Bags came through without mishap, and sailed through customs. Awaiting all the arrivals were some “express bus” tauts, and we decided what the hell. So we got dragged up to the airport car park (serious alarm bells ringing at this stage) along with an older English woman. And the guy stops at a stretch limo! I thought all my xmass had come at once! Sure enough bags were shoved in and we were informed that another 2 passengers were on the way... However they did not appear and so we were moved to a smaller cab, and away we went.

The pleasant Brit was over for a wedding, and for some reason the taxi driver took an immense dislike to her. But I digress, we dropped her off first, and over the Queensboro Bridge! We had quite an animated chat with the driver on the way, including a brief phone encounter with his Irish girlfriend! And soon we were at the door to the hostel/apartment. Of course not before the driver bumped his price from $19 to $21 each lol. He did however give us a true New Yorker experience of Jay walking, thank you Mark the Jamacian New Yorker driver.

So after 10 minutes of ringing the various bells to the apartment building we finally got let in... and so to many more hiccups.

Hiccup 3 – I specifically booked a ground floor apartment having read that the building had no lift, and knowing we both planned on bringing luggage. Alas nay, we are situated on the 4th floor (that's the 3rd floor for those of us with a normal sense of flooring).

Hiccup 4 – The wireless Internet connection that connects for 2 seconds, then disconnects, reconnects, disconnects, reconnects, quicker than I can type this! Even the wired one does it... Not as promised I'm afraid!

Hiccup 5 – The promised tv with satellite channels, again not so, apparently the tv has no signal! Goddamit.

But, despite all that it's quite a nice room, simple, but nice. And for the moment at least we have a little kitchen and a bathroom to ourselves. With any luck it'll remain that way.

It's now... 10:41pm home time, 5:41pm local time, and I'm starving!

Granny called rather unexpectedly, to wish me a late happy birthday, and was mightly surprised to hear I was in New York.

Had the most wonderful shower here, so it went back up one on the scale of hiccupness.

Went to the supermarket, just 2 blocks away, bought some basics as we've decided we're going to cook breakfast and dinner here, to save on moneys, and have lunch out most days.