Secret Santa

I know I owe you a post about my olympics experience, I am working on it..! 


In the meantime, I've decided to take part in a blogger Secret Santa game. 

I've chosen a few different small gifts for this blogger, and I think every one will bring you closer to his/her identity. 


Let me start my present giving with the gift of knowledge; using my previous experience with water simulations, I want to introduce you dear blogger to the concept of wetting!  Wetting in general terms, is the way the water droplets behave according to the relationship they have with the material they are resting on. Water is 'happy' to stay longer on water absorbent surfaces, but it will run off quicker from water repellent surfaces.

I wont try to explain the science of bonds, there are better scientists-bloggers out there to explain it all; you can click here for more information. I am not sure if prasinada has explained this in one of her previous science for all posts as well.



Now I have not done an excessive search, but I think these will be prove to be the most helpful apps for you my dear blogger in your new career. Hopefully they will get you off the ground with sketching, and you wont need to get your hands dirty with pencils and sketching boards!



My next gift is 2 for 1. I have specifically chosen this map for you, which shows the real location of all underground stations, and not their 'printed' location. This will help you when walking around london, as you will be able to judge whether stations are actually in walking distance or not. Combined together with this treasure hunt, they will help you find your lost love for London. I've been on this treasure hunt myself, and I have to tell you that it's worth the £15. I've seen/noticed things in London I didn't even know existed! 



My last, but not least present to you dear, is this:

Hopefully you can explain it's use to the rest of my readers. It took me some time to find a vintage version; this one was actually sold about a year ago, otherwise I would have bought it!


I hope you have a lovely time in Cyprus, 
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your loved ones :)



The Physicist



PS.  in=2.54

How many times can you hit rock bottom in a year?

I am trying to avoid a count of all the times I felt pretty lousy in the past year and move on with my first post in almost a year.

Yes I have been down lately and that's why I have not been writing. I am trying to climb upwards though, so hopefully, you will be hearing from me soon..!

I am planning some posts around my Olympics Games Maker experience, and my involvement in a new professional group, called the CIBSE Young Energy Performance Group (YEPG).

Stairway to confidence! 

Οι φυσικοί και το σχήμα του κότσου-αλογοουράς

Όχι φίλε αναγνώστη, δεν αναφέρουμε σε κάποια ιστορία για μωρά, αν και η Ραπουνζέλ έχει κάποια σχέση! 

Φαίνεται ότι οι φελλοου φυσικοί περνούν μια άλφα κρίση.  Tρίτης ηλικίας, οικονομική, φύλου, ένιξερω τι ακριβώς, αλλά εκαταφέραν να με εκπλήξουν πάλε!! 

Λοιπόν οι φίλοι στο Cambridge και την Unilever αποφασίσαν να δημιουργήσουν εξισώσεις για να περιγράψουν τη διανομή των τριχών σε μια αλογοουρά. 

Φωτογραφία από: http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v108/i7/e078101

Εν εκατάλαβα γιατί ακόμα, αλλά προσπαθούν να βρούν ένα σχήμα-εξίσωση το οποίο περιγράφει την αλογοουρά! Εν μπορώ να πω, εν ενδιαφέρων το πέιπερ τους, και θα ήθελα να καταλάβω γιατί κάμνουν τούτη τη δουλειά. Εν γίνεται να εν απλά που περιέργεια! 

Το πέιπερ μπορείτε να το δείτε εδώ αν έχετε πρόσβαση σε journals, αλλιώς μπορείτε να διαβάσετε μια πιο απλή περιγραφή εδώ και μια πιο περιπλοκή εδώ!! 

Τα φιλιά μου! 

The Physicist

My -possibly cheeky- plan

No this is not another pathetic post :)

As I (hope I) mentioned sometime around Christmas, I was feeling quite unsure about the direction of my project. As a foreigner in the UK, there were times that I was doubting my English communication skills. I still am to tell you the truth, as I am not sure if it is my understanding that's 'faulty' or if my project aim and objectives can have various definitions.

I have the feeling that each one of my four supervisors has a different impression, and a different image in his head (yes they are all male) about the final product of my research. I probably have a fifth view on how things will look like 2.5 years from now!

So I have decided to take action!
I an planning to use all the 'core skills & tools' that my company is offering me, to restructure my project.
There is a document called the 'project brief' and as its name suggests, it is a brief document describing a project. It comprises of sub-sections such as the description of the project, 'problem statements', as well as goal statements; that talk more specifically about what problem the project is going to solve, and what the outcomes will be. It can be as specific as you want, including % savings, and what areas are in and out of scope.

I have filled in one of these project briefs before, about one of my shorter projects, but I have decided to complete one for the whole of my project.
This proved to be quite challenging, as I do not feel that my aim and objectives are specific enough, therefore I came up with a plan!

Next week I have a meeting with all my supervisors in one room. I do not want them to start arguing about what I should and should not be doing, it is MY project anyway! Rather than me deciding what I want to do and just presenting it to them, my plan is to guide them to first of all express their opinion, but ultimately agreeing on my version. It is not cheeky, I am no Derren Brown, but I think it will work!

So what have I done? I have created a list of matching problem & goal statements that are relevant to my project. Some of which are the ideas of my academic supervisors on what I should be working on. Some are what my company wants me to work on. Some are very relevant, and very rewarding, some are irrelevant, and are there to create discussion. Of course the list includes the ones I want to work on.

The list was sent to all my supervisors, with an extra column on the right hand side for them to rag the statements in a priority order (1-10). What I am expecting? I am expecting to see 1s and 10s for the same statements from different people. I am expecting to see 5s next to statements that are not really beneficial, and further down the line, and I hope that I see some 2s and 3s next to the ones that are most interesting to me! They should be sending their lists to me, before the meeting..


Lets see how it goes next week!!



The Physicist

This is London Calling

Ναι ναι, ξέρω το ότι έχουμε ακόμα καιρό για την Γιουροβίζιον, αλλά εγώ σαν κλασσική Κυπραία που σέβετε τον εαυτό της εθθυμήθηκα την τωρά!

Ένιγουεϊ! Έμεινα σπίτι σήμερα γιατί είμαι λίο γριππωμένη εβαρκούμουν να πάω γραφείο  και αφού είναι επιτέλους μια ηλιόλουστη μέρα στο Λονδίνο, είπα σας βάλω λλίες φωτογραφίες να απολαύσετε την θέα! not the perfect quality, γιατί εβαρκούμουν να έβρω την Canon, αλλά μια χαρά εν η κάμερα του 4s!

Πολλά πολλά φιλιά,

The Physicist

Secret Santa - Revisited

A fellow blogger organised a secret santa game between some of the cypriot and greek bloggers. It was an excellent idea, congrats prasinada!

Being so unorganised, I forgot to send an email, and therefore didn't take part in the game, but I read most of their present-posts anyway! I have to admit I felt a bit lonely reading all their posts and presents they thought/created/made for each other.

But as Invictus says, "Worry not myfriend"
Santa thought about me as well. Even if my mum didn't find the laptop bag I wanted, and my boyfriend was broke, santa still gave me a present :)

and it arrived right one time (English Santa you see)

I have finally received my acceptance email for the Olympic Games :D

I am officially a games maker for London 2012!

http://www.london2012.com/volunteer

That's all for now..
I ll try to be back soon with some more news and goals for the new year! (one of which is to write here more often ;) )


The Physicist