Sunday 29 May 2011

Lactose Part 2

I tried..
I promise I did try!
For 4 whole days I had no lactose and I was fine! :D
During the 5th day, I had a piece of (milk) chocolate, I was fine then as well!

The problem though was today (day 7).
I had the impression that greek yoghurt was ok for lactose intolerant people. I actually thought that it helped my stomach.
well.. it doesn't help!

I had pasta; plain pasta, cooked in water with some salt and pepper, and rather than topping it with (halloumi) cheese as I usually do, I decided to stick to the lactose free diet and try yoghurt. as i said, having the impression that it would be fine..
It wasn't fine at all..! It still isn't actually! That's why I am writing this post!


Be careful with yoghurt if you suspect lactose intolerance..

It looks like I have it for real..
I was fine for a whole weak, and now I ve got all the symptoms again..
I did not even manage to finish the portion in my plate, I am so bloated..

Anyway..! I just wanted to update you (and me) on the symptoms, with the hope that I will remember it next time I feel tempted by yoghurt!

The Physicist

 

Friday 27 May 2011

London 2012 Games Maker

I really want to share this :D

I have been invited to an interview for the Sport Operations team!
I applied for this volunteering role as a games maker for London2012 back in October and I only found out today that I have an interview!
It's so exciting!
I could not volunteer for the Athens2004 games as I was not 18 yet (oops!) and couldn't really attend Beijing2008 games as I was still working on my research for my undergrad degree.

I am so excited!
 

The Physicist

 

Lactose

I have been having problems with my stomach for a while now (ok ok I wont describe the symptoms) but it started getting worse during the last 1-2 months.

I've decided to go to a gastroenterologist last week and after I mentioned that my stomach doesn't like milk, and I have been avoiding it for the past 5-6 years, but still have problems eating other types of food, he pointed that out that I am probably lactose intolerant. He concluded that after I could not point out which types of food cause me trouble, other than cheese and cabbage. He said that I probably did not realize my intolerance as lactose is hidden almost everywhere.
I did get a blood test, but it didn't show anything as I hadn't consumed any lactose products that day/day before.

What I have decided to do, is to stay away from lactose for two weeks following this adult elimination diet from 'Lactofree'. If my symptoms do stop during these two weeks, then the doctor is proven right, and I will move on to the second stage, of adding lactose slowly into my daily food intake, until i find my limit. (I might still be able to eat 'normal' milk chocolate! yeiii!)
If my symptoms don't go away, then we will proceed to more tests with my gastroenterologist!

It does sound like a plan doesn't it?

This is day 5 of my lactose free diet and I am already craving chocolate! But I have managed to stay away from it! I did have to eat fruit for lunch the other day, as they only had cheese sandwiches and no-one knew what was in there, but I am holding on!
I have had no symptoms up to now, some bloating came after I ate at an australian restaurant, but probably due to that stress of that day, and the meat that was unfamiliar to my stomach! (kangaroo)!


If you have any intolerances-allergies do share your experience on how you are coping with them!


The Physicist

Friday 20 May 2011

I am in Cyprus!

Hello from the sunny Cyprus!
Don't worry, I'm not on holidays after all the whining for the tone of things I have to do! I'm here on a conference! It's the 3rd international conference on renewable energy sources and energy efficiency!

Yes, the decision was taken last minute, and I was convinced to attend because of the cheap plane tickets! But I have to say that it was worth it! About a 6th of the papers are relevant to my field, but I gained important knowledge! I did attend the rest of the talks as well and learned a lot of interesting facts and figures!
Most importantly I had the opportunity to meet key researchers in the field from Cyprus, Germany and Greece.


On a different note, I have a few problems with the poster..! It was printed but it has a white border around it.. And one of my industrial supervisors doesn't like one of the graphs I have used..! He remembered yesterday :/ I am a bit worried that the specific graph is kind of misleading but I don't have time to change it now..! It will have to remain like that for now, and I will remove it for the next version..!


Anw.. I'm going out for a coffee with my best friend


The Physicist

Thursday 19 May 2011

Γιουνιβέρσιτι ταλκ- Αγαπητέ μελλοντικέ φοιτητή

Είπα να γράψω τούτο το πποστ στα ελληνικά αφού εν πολλό-αφορά τους Εγγλέζους...
Τες τελευταίες μέρες μόνο για εξετάσεις και πανεπιστήμια ακούω.. "πρέπει να γράψω 20/Α για να με πιάσει το Α, Β, Γ πανεπιστήμιο", και "κρίνετε η ζωή μου που τούτο", "μα εννά μου αρέσει τζιαμέ; Ή να πάω στο Δ λαλείς;"

Αγαπητέ μελλοντικέ φοιτητή,
επειδή ως μεγαλύτεροι ΔΕΝ είμαστε πάντα και σοφότεροι, (και κάμνουμε και πολλά ορθογραφικά) πρέπει πρώτα να αποφασίσεις ΕΣΥ τι θέλεις να κάμεις στην ζωή σου.

Ξέρω ότι δεν είναι και η πιο εύκολη απόφαση που έχεις να πάρεις, αλλά γιου χάβ ττου...
Και πλις, μην ακολουθήσεις τον δρόμο των προηγούμενων.. είμαι καλός στα: μαθηματικά/φυσική/αρχαία/αγγλικά whatever γιαυτό θα σπουδάσω μαθηματικά/φυσική/αρχαία/αγγλικά whatever.

ΟΚ μπορεί όντως τζίνο να θέλεις να κάμεις, αν το έψαξες και είσαι σίουρος, go on :) αν όι όμως, do yourself a favour, η σελίδα της ucas γιαυτό είναι εδώ www.ucas.com. Αλλά μεν μείνεις μόνο τζιαμέ!

Ξέρεις ένα περίπου τι θέλεις; ψάξε το, τι άλλο μπορείς να σπουδάσεις που περιέχει τα μαθηματικά/φυσική/αρχαία/αγγλικά whatever που σου αρέσκει, αλλά εννεν σκέττα μαθηματικά/φυσική/αρχαία/αγγλικά whatever;
Δε τα μαθήματα που προσφέρουν στο κάθε έτος, αρέσκει σου η ιδέα; εν τζίνο που επερίμενες; εννα βαρεθείς; ενθουσιάστικες πιλέ;;

(για παράδειγμα εγώ ήρτα αγγλία με την ιδέα ότι φυσική εν ότι είπε ο newton, σε πιο εξελιγμένη μορφή.. τραστ με, για το Νεύτονα άκουσα ότι άκουσα το πρώτο έτος, μετά... άστα)


Μετά που θα αποφασίσεις πάνω κάτω τι θα ήθελες να σπουδάσεις, είναι καιρός να σκεφτείς και το πανεπιστήμιο/ χώρα που θα το σπουδάσεις.

Ως τωρά λογικά, αφού πλέον εγίνετε φίλοι με την ucas θα πρέπει να εφίλεψες και λίο με κάποια πανεπιστήμια. Κάποια επειδή φκάλλουν μάτι ότι εν τα καλλύτερα στον κλάδο που επέλεξες, κάποια επειδή απλά έτσι..

(ασπούμε εγώ έθελα να γράφει ότι έσιει μαθήματα καράτε, αν δεν ίσιε, εν άννοια την σελίδα)


τέλοσπαντον, τα πανεπιστήμια στην Αγγλία εν 2-3 ειδών..

(όπως καταλαβαίνεις αγαπητέ reader εν αγγλία που εσπούδασα/ σπουδάζω σο εν θα μιλήσω για άλλες χώρες. )


εν τα πανεπιστήμια που εν σε μεγαλουπόλεις, πχ λονδίνο, που δεν έχουν κάμπους, και μπορεί να θέλεις και μισή ώρα να πάεις μάθημα το πρωί,
εν τα πανεπιστήμια campus που εν ούλλα πολλά κοντά σου, και χωρίζουνται στα πανεπιστήμια που εν σε μεγάλες πόλεις, και εχτός του κάμπους έσιει και τίποτε άλλο να κάμεις, και μετά εν τζίνα με το κάμπους που έν έχουν και πολλά άλλα πράματα εχτός που μια μικρή πόλη, με καμία tesco/sainsburys και μικρά pubs.


Η επόμενη απόφαση που πρέπει να πάρεις ως μελλοντικός φοιτητής είναι το πόσες ώρες θέλεις να διαβάζεις την μέρα. Τωρά αν έσιεις IQ πάνω που 140 όπου θέλεις πίεννε, εν νομίζω να δυσκολευτείς :)

Αν δεν έσιεις, και θέλεις να πάεις σε πάρα πολλά καλό πανεπιστήμιο, πρέπει να το πάρεις απόφαση ότι εννά διαβάζεις 2-3 ώρες την μέρα at least εχτός που τα lectures.

Αν διαλέξεις ένα κλάδο που έσιει λλίες ώρες μάθημα, καλώς, αν όι.. (έθελες μου φυσικές και πελλάρες) ετοιμάστου και για αρκετές άγρυπνες νύχτες!

Τωρά αν εσύ ρε φίλε μου, θέλεις να πιάσεις ένα πτυχίο για να το πιάσεις, και εν θα δεί κανένας που εσπούδασες γιατί εν θα έχει και πολλούς του κλάδου σου, ή γιατί γυρέφκουν τους με το κουταλούι.. ή γιατί έσιει εταιρία ο παπάς σου, είτε γιατί εννά κάμεις και δεύτερο πτυχίο/μάστερ.
Τότε φίλε μου, διάλεξε ένα καλό πανεπιστήμιο, που εννα σου διδάξει πράματα, αλλά εν θα σου φκάλει τον κόλο σου (με το συμπάθιο δηλαδή).

Το να αχχώνεσε για το αν θα πιάσεις Α ή Β έν θα σε βοηθήσει σε τίποτε απολύτος, το πολλή πολλή να σε φέρει πιο κοντά στο Β γιατί εν θα διαβάσεις που το άχος. Σο διάλεξε κάτι που εν στα δικά σου μέτρα, και στα δικά σου μόνο.. 

μεν ακούσεις του γειτόνου, που ξέρει μόνο το LSE (και εσύ εννα σπουδάσεις design που εν κολλά), ή της μαρικκούς που θέλει να μείνεις κύπρο γιατί εν πιο φτήνα να πάεις κολλέγιο (What??).

Αγαπητέ μελλοντικέ φοιτητή

κάμε το HW σου, κάμε την επανάληψη σου, και είτε πιάσεις Α είτε Β είτε C είτε U, ο κόσμος δεν χάθηκε..


κάτι έχει ετοιμάσει και για σένα η μοίρα/θεός/κάρμα/ όπου πιστεύκει ο καθένας.

take it easy..



και αν θέλεις και ενα τουρ της Αγγλίας/Ελλάδας/Αμερικής/whatever πριν αποφασίσεις, go for it :)



The Cypriot Physicist

Thursday 12 May 2011

#Vitae11

or What's up Doc?


I was not able to attend 'What's up Doc?' live, but I was able to follow it on Twitter. Have I told you how much I like twitter lately?


For people who don't know what Vitae is, please visit their website.


Let me continue from my previous post...
So my abstract has been accepted, and I have been invited to produce a draft poster and paper for the beginning of June. My paper will probably be called: 'Energy Consumption Prediction Models for the Retail Sector' and I am now thinking of how to structure it. 


Some part of it will come from my literature review, where I introduced the subject of my research, and commented on the work of key authors in my field. So I have spend the whole day yesterday reading my literature review, editing were needed and changing the reference style. CIBSE would like us to use the Vancouver style which is a numerical type of referencing, closer to what I was used to while an undergraduate, compared to the style that the department of Civil and Building Engineering at Loughborough is using. I still find it difficult to remove text that I have written, but I will have to, as my literature review is mainly made up of authors outside my field, whose mathematical and computer ideas I would like to use for my work. 
The other part needs to be work that I have undertaken, and a discussion of the various techniques, models and benchmarking methods currently available. 


As you can imagine this has scr*wed up my gannt chart, and my schedule in general. BUT i would rather get a low mark at a coursework (which wont really matter for my final degree) and write a good article


Any ideas/suggestions/tools for writing a conference paper/poster are welcome! 


The Physicist 

Tuesday 10 May 2011

Remember that CIBSE abstract I wrote in two days?

I definitely do! 
and it did make an impression as we got accepted to present our paper as a poster during the CIBSE National Symposium in September! after it gets through the peer review of course!

I am so excited and stressed at the same time... It's a very weird feeling!

I am about to get published, therefore the excitement, but I need to produce a perfect paper in order to do so, therefore the stress.

Following my company's training courses, and the 'emotional cycle of change' I know I am at the partly informed- Pessimistic stage, feeling that I do not have enough time to do everything.

BUT I am determined to write a very good paper, even if that means that I do not finish my assignments for June.

I need this, I need to prove to myself that I am worth being here, that it's not because of the lack of candidates, or because of luck that I am into this position...


I know it's a short post, but I just wanted to share my excitement..!


Please do keep your fingers crossed for my paper :)

The excited Physicist

Monday 2 May 2011

6÷2(1+2)

So how would YOU solve this?

It's a debate that's been going on on tumblr, facebook and twitter for the past few days, and I am wondering how people from different disciplines would go about this problem.
It seems very simple at first, complicated on the second look, but after some thoughts, it might even be simpler than it looks.

Please explain your reasoning as well..
I will present my thoughts next time I log in.

Happy 'thinking'

The Physicist