Science Museum

Since the science museum started following my tweets on twitter (you can follow me here) I will take this opportunity to talk about my experiences there.

'Science museum' sounds like a very geeky place to visit. Even though I was studying for my degree at that time, I still thought it was very geeky to visit. Situations brought it, and I was in the area visiting friends at Imperial so we decided visiting, it was free, there were no queues outside, so we thought: 'Why not?'

As soon as you enter the museum, trust me, your breath is taken away. I am not sure if its the height of the interior of the building, or the size of the first exhibits that take your breath away, but something surely does.

Walking through the museum, you will definitely find stuff that you were not aware of, interesting facts and statistics pop up in every corner, ready to amaze you. That museum contains information on everything from the first computer to the latest statistics in genetics.

No matter how long you are willing to spend in it, you will never to manage to see all of the exhibits in one day. Of course if you have children with you, teenagers as well, they will soon find the dedicated game area for their interests and you never know, you might actually enjoy playing with them! I sure did! The breadth of games and activities ranges from general knowledge -trivial-pursuit-type of games to bridge building.

I ve only been in the UK for 5 years now, I ve visited the science museum 5 times already, and I am more than willing to go back for more. I grab every opportunity to take friends that visit the UK as tourists and spend a few hours there with them! I once took a teacher-friend-of-a-friend to the museum, he wanted to see how such a museum can be interesting for the young children of his class. He said that something like this is definitely missing from the area that he is teaching in, his students would enjoy themselves if they had the opportunity to visit.

The science museum provides you scientific knowledge, but it does it in such an intriguing way that every time I find myself writing notes on my phone, so that I can google things when I get home.

I just wanted to share a thumbs up and a big thank you to the team that conceived and created such an amazing museum!!

The Physicist

why is ti easier to study at night?

Maybe 'easier' is not the right word, but why is it that I cannot concentrate during day time, but I can at night time?

Is it because I feel that the day is running away and I am trying to write as much as I can so that I dont feel that the day has gone by unnoticed? 

I am always more inspired at night.. I am more tired, and a bit more relaxed I suppose. 

I get to realize that the day is almost gone, so whatever I do is a bonus..

I really dont know! 

Any psychologists out there to enlighten me?

The Physicist

How to clean/descale your kettle without using chemicals

1. Buy the cheapest vinegar you can find
2. Pour some vinegar in your kettle, make sure it covers the bottom
3. Top up with water, until the minimum mark
4. Heat the mixture
5. Most of the salt should be gone by now
6. Shake lightly, just so that the mixture has a chance to clean the walls of the kettle
7. If the kettle is not clean by now, you have used too little vinegar, REPEAT with more vinegar (aim for approx 300ml)
8. Your kettle should be clean as new now :)
9. Pour out the mixture, fill it with water and warm it once more, just to remove the smell!
10. Please comment with your results!



The Physicist

10 steps to a more productive weekend

1. No matter how tired you are, get out of bed as soon as you wake up
2. Put some cold water on your face.
3. Put the kettle on
4. Change into comfortable clothes, dont stay in your pijamas
5. Make yourself a quick breakfast that you can eat while reading the news
6. Read the news, check your facebook, twitter or your blog
7. Before you even finish your breakfast, switch to 'work' mode
8. Start working on your task for the day
9. Continue working for the next couple of hours
10. You have earned a break, enjoy!

Happy New Year!

I suppose everyone is back to their normal routine already, I am due back to the office on Monday!

I just wante to say how I feel about this new year, compared to the old one...

This time last year, I was just starting on a new beginning, an uncertain beginning, a necessary beginning, a not fullfilling one. I had been trying for the previous few months to work in the UK, but the salary was not covering my basic expences, so I had to leave everything behind, go back to Cyprus, and try to make something usefull for the remainder of the scholar year.

I started my own 'business'. It wasn't really a business, I was skilled, I already had my Physics degree, but I was jobless, so I started teaching Physics and Mathematics to high school students. I have to say that I was lucky.. my friends and family supported me, and urged me to keep going, when at the beginning of February I only had 2 students and was not earning much. I kept going, my students had their first tests at school, not very promising marks. Then my other half reminded me that we had won a ticket to anywhere in the world we wanted, and we had to claim it before the end of that April (2010). I called Lufthansa (the company from which we had won the ticket, I will tell you that story at another time), booked the ticket for the last day before it expired, and gained a new strength..
I had a goal now... My life had a new meaning. Suddently, my students started getting better grades, I was more organised, more focussed, and was delivering the material in a better way, now that I had a month of experience. I got a morning job, so that I could top up my finances, and started saving money for that trip of a lifetime.. its not very often that people dream to travel somewhere, and get a free ticket to wherever they want.. I just had to save as much money as possible, so that we could enjoy our holiday!
End of April I find my self in NY, having booked an expensive hotel, enjoying my holidays.
At the same time, I had already approached a couple of universities for a PhD degree, and was working on my application form, on my proposal. Once more, I had a new goal to work towards to. I spend the next few months after the trip to NY completing applications, and talking to universities about what I wanted to do.
Mid-august to september, I already had a place at a university, attached to a studentship and was waiting for another one. I was accepted by UCL but I had to decline because the offer from Loughborough, along with the subject and the title was a lot better.
You probably know that since the first of October I have been working towards an EngD; with a task to analyse and forecast the energy consumption of a retailer, in the UK.

Therefore, this year finds me in a very good position. I have to admit that I am very happy to hold this position... I get to do what I like to do, its challenging, I am not very good with statistics, or programming, but I am working towards it. I ve got a lot of deadlines at the University, I have things to do for the office, I still haven't met all the people that work on the same floor with me. But I enjoy it!

I am happy, and I just have to say Thank you to carma. To all the people that put me down, and made me stronger, to all the people who helped me when I was down, to all the people who believed in me, and gave me this opportunity.

This might be the secret... find a goal, keep thinking about it, keep working towards it, and you will achieve it, even if you dont achieve it, you will probably find something better along the way.. its not Ithaca that matters, but its the road to Ithaca that is the most important thing.


Dream high, aim high and you will succeed

The Physicist