Journal Entries
Working 9 till 5 ...
Posted Jun 10, 2009
Well, I never thought I'd say this any time soon, but I'm now with a job. 
After a tip-off from my doctorate supervisor, I applied for a job as a Computational Scientist at Daresbury Laboratory (near Warrington) and got interviewed near the end of March. I didn't feel particularly confident about my chances afterwards, even after being told I was more than qualified for the job and considered as a reserve candidate. However, about 6 weeks ago I got a phone call from the guy who led my interview saying their first choice had declined and would I be interested? No prizes for guessing what I said. 
Anyway, it's not *quite* a 9 till 5 ... add an extra half hour a day and that's more accurate. However, it's still pretty good ... I'm responsible for writing program code to model things at scales between the sizes of clumps of atoms and visible blobs of fluid (i.e. the mesoscale), which isn't too far removed from what I did for my doctorate. I have had to do a bit of reading up on the modelling method they're particularly interested in, but it sounds rather interesting as it seems to be able to model lots of complicated behaviour with some fairly simple rules.
Anyway, most importantly I'm now earning proper money ... which is a relief to me, as I spotted that my bank account had as little as £60 in it last month (before I got my first salary payment). 
It should also benefit a couple of charities I'm involved with (including the Esperanto Association of Britain - who I need to contact ASAP - and a symphony orchestra I play for) as I am now eligible for Gift Aid since I now pay income tax. It also means I can now afford to go on dates, should the opportunity arise. 
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Latest reply: Jun 10, 2009
The doctor is in!
Posted Jul 19, 2008
Yesterday, I had my viva voce (or thesis defence) for my doctorate ... and I'm delighted to report that after about 140 minutes of questions, I've actually passed! I've got 28 days to make some minor corrections to my thesis, but it means I will definitely be a doctor once I've resubmitted. So apart from finding a job afterwards (which could include a postdoc), I'll need to get some contact details changed.
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Latest reply: Jul 19, 2008
It is now!
Posted May 30, 2008
I said in my last Journal Entry that I hadn't finished my thesis ... well, yesterday I *finally* submitted my thesis to the faculty office - so it's done! I suspect it'll be a couple of months before my viva comes along, but in the meantime I've got a presentation at a conference in Amsterdam coming up in a couple of weeks' time, as well as preparing my CV and applying for jobs. Though now I can start to relax a bit more ...
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Latest reply: May 30, 2008
Thesis written? Not quite ...
Posted Apr 1, 2008
Right ... time for another (overdue) update on things.
Love life: yet again I'm single, although this was after seven and a half months with Adam (a record for me!). While we were (and still are) fond of each other, there wasn't a huge amount we had in common and the passion between us cooled ... so potentially we could have been at each others' throats if we'd stayed together for very much longer. Anyway, we decided to call it quits and remain friends ... which is better than how some relationships have ended in the past. So now I'm single and looking - not too hard, though, for reasons which will become clear.
I said in a previous journal entry that I had until the end of March this year to finish my research ... which was true, but I didn't realise until recently that I actually had more time to finish writing-up the thesis. So while all of my research calculations have now been completed (after little problems here and there meaning I had to redo them a couple of times), I've still got a few chapters left to write. However, it shouldn't take me very long before I'm ready to submit the thesis and get through the viva to become a doctor at long last. I'm also working on a journal paper about the work and getting ready for a conference in Amsterdam in the middle of June ... so things are getting both busy and exciting.
Since I've moved back to my mum's place, I've taken on more music work to earn extra bits of money ... mostly around Oldham or Rochdale, so it means quite a drive each way to do it. However, I'm still playing for pleasure in various orchestras - including one in Middlewich which my sister has started playing at (as she's taken up playing her violin again), which is a lot nearer to home. Meanwhile, a highlight in Oldham was a fairy-tale concert - which included Ravel's Mother Goose Suite (and a very high solo for me) and Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet suite. I'm also string quartetting now, though apart from a fund-raiser for Oldham Symphony Orchestra we don't really have any gigs lined up.
Esperanto-wise: I've done more cataloguing in the Butler Library and I'm getting close to finishing my task (at long last!). While my article did get published in La Brita Esperantisto, I didn't get an avalanche of complaints - and it seems our "spycatcher" hasn't caught on that I don't agree with him, as he's named me as a "good Esperantist" (i.e. one who asks awkward questions). 
But I've started to care less, particularly as pretty much everyone who counts knows I don't agree with him - plus I'm planning to make a placard with "Mi estas malbona Esperantisto" on it for photo ops.
Anyway, less is more, so I'll end it there.
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Latest reply: Apr 1, 2008
And what about Esperanto?
Posted Aug 8, 2007
Well, the past few months have also been quite busy as far as stuff related to Esperanto is concerned.
I've been the treasurer of JEB ever since it had been 'revived' in 2003, mainly because there was no other fool around to volunteer to do it! I'd opened a bank account for JEB with NatWest that year and after about a year's reasonable level of activity, there was a period of about 18 months when JEB didn't seem to do very much - not necessarily any single person's fault, but the key people needed to keep JEB running had been far too occupied to actually do that (due to work or university or somesuch). In the meantime, sadly NatWest had decided to introduce a Maintenance Charge to our account - which meant we had to pay a fee for the privilege of just having an account with them.
However, in late 2005/early 2006 a group of young Esperanto speakers who were younger than the then-committee decided to try and revive it - initially by trying to take JEB over, but then an accord was reached where both "sections" would work together. In spite of minor incidents (mainly involving a certain ginger Scouser who was originally involved in the "takeover"), this seems to have worked so far. So when we had our AGM in 2006, my major task was to get our bank account moved to a bank that didn't charge each month - I'd selected the Co-operative Bank, so I'd brought the application form with me for people to sign and fill in. However, getting everything together for the application was virtually impossible - particularly since one of the prospective signatories was not especially forthcoming with proofs of ID or address. So after about six months of trying, I decided to start over and choose a different set of Committee Members to become signatories. However, even with these people it was still very difficult to get all the relevant documents together ... although I finally managed to hand the application in by mid-January. That wasn't the end of my problems, though - understandably the Co-op wanted more information, but again it took a while to get things like personal bank statements together.
So while I'd managed to get those things together and posted before the next AGM in May this year, the account still wasn't open ... because of that, I got a lot of flak from the Ginger Ninja because he felt I hadn't done enough to sort out the bank accounts. He tried to make my re-election as Treasurer dependent on my getting the accounts sorted within a couple of months after the AGM, which I felt was unfair given that I'd felt that I'd done my best to sort things out and that the delay was due to other people not getting documents to me quickly enough. Fortunately, everyone else at the AGM seemed to be confident enough in my ability to deliver and decided to vote down his time limit. As it happened, the new account was opened and the old one closed within the time limit he wanted to impose, so I can now say 
to him! Now it's just a question of getting the printing and delivery costs for our magazine (Saluton!) covered ... there are various options, although perhaps finding some way to reduce printing costs would be helpful.
Apart from JEB stuff, I've also been continuing with my cataloguing task at the Butler Library. While I've not been able to get there especially often, I have still made some progress over the past 9 months or so ... some 550 extra books have gone into the catalogue and I'm hoping to get even more than that in over the next month. I'm sort of aiming to get the task finished before or when I submit my thesis, and while there's still a way to go, the end is in sight now.
I've also been asked to write an article for La Brita Esperantisto on the last British Congress of Esperanto in Letchworth, which was held in May this year (and where JEB had its AGM). Sounds good? Well, unfortunately, the event itself wasn't an especially happy occasion - mainly because one of its organisers has had major issues with the Esperanto Association of Britain (EAB) and its Management Committee in particular. However, the stuff this guy's coming out with is unbelievable - he actually believes that (1) when EAB's headquarters moved from London to near Stoke-on-Trent, one of the current ManCom gained financially from the move (possibly illegally), and (2) there are a number of member of EAB's Management Committee that are also moles for MI5 with the aim of discrediting the Esperanto movement in Britain. 
How this guy has been behaving, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he's actually caused much more damage to the cause of Esperanto than the people he's accused of doing just that. 
I won't go into the whole history about him here, mainly because it is complicated and also rather pointless, but he has become impossible to work with and does not take criticism about himself or his actions at all well ... so I'm guessing my forthcoming article in the magazine will make him think I'm working for MI5. Ah well ...
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Latest reply: Aug 8, 2007
Mikeo the gregarious
Researcher U201990
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