Knowledge is power!

"The more we know, the more we don't know, can confidence really help?"

I went to the office today. It's Easter Holiday Monday and it was quiet, but I met MT and we had a chat. I would consider our chats to be one of the more important chats that I had with anyone in the academia.

I don't aim to be like anyone, not even MT, but MT has some good quality and attitude in him that made him a good role model for the junior people to follow. We had a chat about research, regarding a published paper I showed him last week to ask him about the potential further research area that can be developed from my published work. He had some criticisms about my paper and he was honest about it. He was also encouraging and I find the discussion with him very morale and esteem uplifting and they are all very important to me, because of his experience and expertise.

MT is also pragmatic, as he advised me of the need to do the RIGHT thing as we are all facing the "institutional constraints" to produce research paper and therefore the CHOICE of the area is important. As a serious research himself (and I believe I am one too!), he definitely see the TRUTH underlying each research, such as the level and margin of contributions of each piece of published research. He suggested me to keep doing what I am doing and be aware of the more "revolutionary" issue that he told me about, which I am sure I will.

The chat with MT further reinforced my decision to want to "do something" in the academia. I don't want to turn my head back twenty years later to know that, all that I did in that twenty years for published research work is just to satisfy the institution's needs to produce research papers, and not taking care too much about the extent of my research's contributions to NEW knowledge. And that's VERY sad.

In fact, the more one knows, the more one don't know, how can one be just satisfied to go by the "empirically convenient" means to do research, and totally ignore the fact that we are in a business of building new knowledge. The next phase in my academic career will be an exciting journey and perhaps going to be a lot more challenging than I thought, but the good discussion with MT today already inspired, encouraged and more importantly, motivated me.

The truth about Relaxation

"Everything has to be "complete", that includes relaxation......"

There is something new to learn everyday, that way, you never get tired living another day as you look forward to experience another new interesting event. I learned something that many knew already today. I learned about "relaxation". Let me share with you.

1) "Relaxation" is planned - I would not go London to see friends at very short notice for the sake of relaxing, that is too much of a shock, both for me and my friend.

2) "Relaxation" is doing different things at the usual time schedule - I was normally preparing lecture slides on the Sunday evening. We have no lecture next week, so thinking of this, we are not pressing for time, we can engage in different activities for relaxing on the Sunday evening.

3) "Relaxation" is about being focused - relaxation should not end up making one feel bored and that time has wasted "doing nothing" or "nothing much". Following from 1) above, if planned properly, it is not hard to find things to do when relaxing, it might be as easy as reading a book, going for a shop, getting out and about, etc.

4) "Relaxation" is another "learning" experience - whatever you do when you relax, it should make you feel you are gaining something from it, learning something from it, that way the whole relaxation experience should be considered complete and should get you ready to the next task and I am now ready for work tomorrow, to execute the lists drawn up shown in yesterday's post. :D

The remains of my Easter holidays

"Time flies, but you are the pilot..."

As I began counting the remaining of my Easter holidays, I find there are actually only 3 weeks left. Time will definitely pass before you realise it. This week has been a mixture of work and pleasures, conference, blogging, etc. It's time to get "serious work" done. This reminded me it's also time to pick myself up and to be "productive again".

The followings are the things I should get done soon.
1) Set last tutorial questions/answers for CF
2) Exam questions and answers
3) Sent email to conference attendants
4) Submit my claims
5) Credit cards bills
6) Call collaborator to come here for a presentation
7) Fix a time to meet BB for lunch/discussing research
8) Do a WP for the paper JL/I just sent out
9) Discuss with JL on further research
10) Conduct own research
11) Get train ticket for placement visit in May

Some of the above are more urgent than others, and have deadlines. I am trying to get the exam/tutorials stuff off the lists as soon as possible and then do the rest. I also promise WB to give a seminar end April/early May, so need to get that sorted too. I wanted to take things slower than normal because it is the holiday, I mean now that I have no urgency to do my slides for the usual Tuesday CF lecture, it should be fine, but then there is always "something" I want to get it done.

I am also thinking if I should go in office tomorrow, so that I can get some stuff done soon, like claiming for expenses, etc, just so that I will have more time for other items on the list coming next week. I don't know how to take things one at a time now, though this is what I sometimes told my students to do. All that I know is finished my tasks before time and having enough time for later is a "good feeling". You "work hard now and enjoy later" - a very "Chinese way" of thinking, :D

I can't "wear my skin", but my blog can!

"Life can be complicated, having a cute blog doesn't have to be"

It's the Easter Friday and it is wet. I had a quiet day spending at home mostly. Today I mainly search the web for "new skins" - it's the skins for my blog. That is how I spent my day. One of the rare days that I didn't do anything about work, how amazing! I enjoyed writing blogs so far, but get bored with the design and the background theme. I am looking for something new and have few considerations when thinking any changes.

1) It has to be pleasant to the eyes - When people read my blog, I don't want them to be too "shocked" by the design, "too heavy looking", "too futuristic" or "too dark".

2) It has to be suitable for my theme - I named my blog "zen breather". In a simplest way, it means a form of thinking "properly" and "sequentially". I might not get RIGHT by my definition, but it is just the way I believe to be CORRECT WAY OF THINKING because it works for me and relate appropriately to ZEN THINKING. A suitable theme is something more of a lighted shade of colour. Zen needs not be nature, waterfall, Japanese, etc, it has to have a shade of light green, not sure if it is because I like green, :D

3) I must know how to do it - I adore some fairly cool designs of skins, but they were too complex for me. In the end, I discovered that it doesn't have to be too complicated for a change, some blog background themes required very few amendments to the html codes and it is easy to do. I tried out some to see if it works on my boring blogspot theme.

I have good fun trying out all sorts of skins and background. You never have a perfect one. I really like the header of my blog, it is after all provided by blogspot and now I am getting a bit bored, perhaps it is time to look for new inspirations. I am still enjoying the blog writing experience. I didn't feel I am all too geeky because I spent loads of time in front of the PC/laptop, which, fairly enough about 8 hours in total everyday. I find my life integrating nicely with those spent in the cyber-world and those in the real world. In the 21st century today, I am leading a very "normal" life. :D

Interestingly, I saw this site about this guy decided to stop writing blogs after having 2000 entries. His ego must get a boost after comments come flooding in from his supposedly regular readers. I can be sure I will still stick to blog writing for as long as possible. I think it is about the expectation and whether you can stick to the habit of doing so with some discipline, just like brushing your teeth everyday and night. Blogging is ABOUT YOU, the nice side, the ugly side, other people don't have to like or accept it, that includes the design and the theme. I like to thank my friends reading the blogs and leaving comments, it should be an experience that "help you to grow" and becoming better, just like the way your life operates, if not how can one ever find a reason to live, you tell me! :D

7 tips to get the most out of a conference

"I am afraid venue alone is not enough to make a conference a success."

Today is the last day at the conference. Having experienced some "food fest" shocks yesterday didn't stop me to take a step back and think, the following are few tips I think will help you get the most out of any academic conference you are attending.


1) Attend the presentations selectively - One is motivated more by the popularity of the speaker than the relevance of the topics before deciding which parallel session to attend. Experienced researchers tend to be better speaker. They are clearer and can communicate better, but it also benefits attending talks of topics relevant to you, this helps either enhancing your knowledge or allow you to contribute productively to the speaker

2) Listen attentively - I am normally too lazy or busy to go through the papers in advance and therefore not able to get an idea of the papers. Therefore the more I need to listen attentively. The presentations and the slides may not be the best or well organised, but there are always the main points, so pick that up and see what the presenter got to say and if you can beneift or able to contribute constructively.

3) Think about the speaker sympathetically - Sometimes the speaker may not be as experienced, like e.g., a PhD student presenting for the first time, and they may be nervous. We need to be able to bear some imperfections.

4) Ask questions appropriately - Following from 3) if later we have questions to ask the speaker, we ought to be as appropriate as possible. In any case, ask appropriately is quite important because it shows whether you are asking to show you are an expert or asking to show that you are giving good inputs to the speakers to help him/her improve on his/her paper.

5) Speak slowly and clearly - Apart from 4) it is very important to ask the question to the speaker clearly and slowly so that not only the speaker but others attending the talk know you are asking. this will benefit most of the people. It goes to apply if you are the one presenting the paper that you must be clear and speak slowly too, though other factors like good presentation slides are also important if you are presenting, but these are not covered on this blog post.

6) Share your opinions honestly - Normally one gains from the experience of other people and a conference is a channel to allow one to learn that from other people. It does requires one to be honest about one's experience in order to help others see the insights. I had a couple of chats with early stage PhD student and PhD student completed their viva and ready to write their chapters into Journal articles. Both stages are different and I had been through them and I am just happy to talk about to some who like to hear and who will find it helpful.

7) Eat lightly - It is important to eat lightly though one may not be strong enough to resist the temptation of the richness of choices and varieties of food available during the conference. But remember if you are too full you only end up having lower concentration than normal and especially if you are giving talks or attending talks sessions immediately or shortly after the meal. It is likely to affect you badly