Wednesday, December 10, 2014

December distractions

by Keely Blanch

One of the perils of writing for a blog is that life can get busy, and suddenly it's the day before the scheduled post and you have to produce something, anything! 

In some ways, I guess that makes a blog a bit like a thesis: it seems to be all about the writing, there are deadlines that sneak up on you, much coffee is drunk along the way, and some days you can feel that nobody is ever going to read it. And just like the thesis, blog writing can be difficult when the sun is shining and you just want to be outside enjoying a glorious summer (- those reading from Dunedin are probably laughing on the floor right about now). Yes, I've resorted to writing about the weather.... that's one thing that hasn't gone in my thesis!
 
It's almost Christmas break. Decorations have been up in the shops for weeks, even months! The Santa parade in Dunedin has been and gone on yet another chilly Dunedin Sunday. The campus appears deserted (although maybe that's due to the weather). Without the bustle of the numerous undergrads the place can seem a bit lonely and sad (although it is much easier to get parking!). Meanwhile, postgrads around the campus are frantically trying to finish chapters and meet deadlines before the campus closes over the break, staff are grabbing the chance to work on their own research, and preparations are underway for Summer School and other courses to start in early January.

Up in the Tower, the postgrads at College are both home and away. Some have grabbed the chance to take holidays early, some have headed home to work, some have headed off to collect data (look out for Tracy's Tales from Cambodia coming next year), and the rest of us are huddled in offices over keyboards working on ethics applications and chapters. 

It's not all work and no play up here though. In our breaks, we've been pondering the important questions - who invented cheese rolls?* will it be sunny over Christmas?** What should we have for Christmas dinner?*** What is that breed of bird we can see by the Leith?**** Will I have time to watch the entire season 8 of Dr Who over Christmas?***** (for answers to these life-changing questions, see below).

 The internet also provides some extra distraction from thesis (and blog post) writing. If you're not on Twitter, do consider joining as it is a great way to stalk keep track of researchers and other PhDs in your field. It also throws up interesting gems, such as this seasonal suggestion for your (old) thesis drafts - 



Search the #AcademicXmas or #CampusChristmas tags on Twitter and you can admire festive cheer from academics around the world. 

Got a few books lying around? How about trying this -


or if you don't want to sacrifice that many books and you think the library might get antsy if you use theirs -

 So why not join Twitter and share your Christmas cheer.  Perhaps the wonderful people at Otago GRS (@OtagoGRS) could share a few of our campus' efforts on their twitter feed?

The last post for the year wll be a little early because of Christmas, so keep an eye out and have fun decorating! 

Now where are those old drafts.....

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Because I know you really want to know...
* Who invented cheese rolls? No idea, but there's a history available at the fount of all knowledge, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_roll
** Will it be sunny over Christmas? This depends entirely on the answer to the next question....
*** What should we have for Christmas dinner? This decision is known to have a strong influence upon local weather conditions for our household - this year we are having roast chicken thus necessitating the oven heating up the house for a prolonged period. Ergo, the  weather is bound to be hot and sunny and contribute to making the house unbearably hot. You're welcome. 
**** The bird was a white-faced blue heron
***** Are you kidding? It's Dr Who! I shall make time.
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