this week

23 sunday
went to the gym, did some work at the hub. nothing exciting

25 tuesday
-had a supervisory meeting.  discussed some of what the results of the CLOUD study might mean, discussed how to go about some analysis for the FTP project, and sadly didn't have enough time to review the ESM study.  so lots of work proposed to do in turn.

sat with a group of hubsters and had a nice chat towards the end of the day.  tried to figure out what sort of meal we should have following juliana's candidacy next week which made most of us hungry.  a lot of time spent discussing the possibility of italian or mexican/ burritos.  the burritos talk was enough of a chat that we ended up going out to have burritos at a place in leederville.  i hadn't been to that area, and there's lots of restaurants and bars in a nice grouping so it looks like a place to go back to.  and the burritos were good.  so that was a win.  plus randomly ashley and i somehow got to talking about driving and she offered to take me to the dmv equivalent to get a license.

26 wednesday
so ashley and i ventured out to the nearest dmv place.  unsure of whether they would just accept that i had a us license and give me an australian one or if i'd have to do some sort of testing, we were pleasantly surprised that they would transfer mine (providing i had a ton of identification - which i did). and we were able to take care of it with enough time for her to get back and go do her research.  so that was an awesome achievement.  now bouncers won't be able to say anything, joel can teach me possibly to drive a manual car, and perhaps then a car in the future. we'll see.

i spent the rest of my time at the hub marking assignments.  randomly was able to pick up a bit of marking (grading) that another student wasn't able to do.  so i had 28 assignments to grade.  and i managed to get through them quicker than the alloted time.  so that's awesome.  got them all done on wednesday - think it helped that i didn't do one at a time but one question across all of them.   all about the efficiency.

went to the gym.


27 thursday
had a meeting about a research project adrian and two other professors are doing.  2 others and myself are going to work on it as research assistants (RA).  so that's work to pay me.  which is awesome because it being one of adrian's projects, it's at least semi-related (at least broadly in the music psychology subject) to my work, or rather i'm familiar with the project completely AND i will get paid to work on it.  so that was the first meeting, but it had to be a lot because the data collection has to get done in the next two weeks - so it's moving pretty quickly.
and luckily i was able to get five minutes of adrian's time to discuss an issue i quickly found when trying to accomplish my own work as set from tuesday's meeting.

went to the gym.


28 friday
had to turn in some paperwork for my TA and RA work.
chatted with adrian about the RA projects and did some work for that.
then spent time running analyses on my FTP project - getting a bit frustrated with it all.
went to the gym.

watched a random old movie on tv... can't remember right now what it was - but they certainly show odd old movies (like the bodyguard the other week).

29 saturday
walked all about going to the grceryt store and to the library (decided against the gym) and back.
and then to the bus stop and then to other bus stops on my way to juliana's and bea's.
it was the grand finals of footy (australian football - not to be confused with football/soccer or american football).  so a group of us watched that.  and joel (the only australian and person who actually really really cared about the match) was gracious enough to explain it (well) to me/us.  so we ate lots of snacks and had a nice time.
hung out for awhile after the match with them and had a relaxing saturday afternoon. even had bea check out my foot.  she did some sort of manipulation which was great, although it didn't last for today.

30 sunday (today)
went to the body balance class at the gym.
and have spent the afternoon/ early evening trying to get some work done while watching some tv at the hub.
have seen both juliana and joel come and go and now i'm headed home.

found 'cubecraft' online last week and have made the ninja turtles, moss, and the tardis (on friday) and going to maybe make some of the princess bride characters tonight maybe... also i'm hungry.

fotos

photos - 21 july - 9 august 2012 - are updated and linked into the blogs
reviewing might be easier via the photo host page, but anyway, that's my fairshare of catching up for the day

shoe search

22 september 2012

today.

went with juliana this morning on an adventure to harbourtown (a mall near downtown perth) in search of shoes.  

see this past monday, i got caught in bad rain walking home.  again, i must protest that campus and the neighborhood are somehow in two different weather zones.  but anyway, bad torrential rain and such that was flooding the ground and so my shoes were completely soaked through.  and being the only pair of trainers i have here, this posed a problem for most of the week.

not because of it being cold, as i wore flipflops and that was fine.  but in terms of just not having another pair of trainers and not going to the gym until the shoes were dried out.

in any case, it added a sense of urgency to my search for shoes (which had previously been entertaining the idea of buying them online but again finding that most likely that would involve buying them from the US).  

so today we walked in and around the mall going in every store that had shoes.  i could have bought fila running shoes - those were probably the cheapest. but since mom found asics to send me, i didn't really want a pair of chunky running shoes.  i wanted a pair of everyday street shoes.  (think my puma shoes of the past).  and we didn't find any.  in fact most stores had heels or sandals for womens shoes.  very discriminated against in my search today.  or i could have bought 'on sale' nike/adidas/asics for still 150 -175- 200 dollars.  i definitely don't consider that 'on sale'. 

so after striking out at the mall, we went through target. which had some fake keds/chucks/converse like shoes.  i didn't want white ones but there were blue ones that i eventually found that were also on sale for the 'deal of the day' which truly was the deal of the day as they were kids size ones that actually fit me and ended up being only 14 dollars.  so while they're not awesome or anything, they'll do.

and then we had some discount shopping adventures and burritos for lunch.  it was a really nice day.

didn't get adrian's message about going to the park so i missed that this afternoon sadly but did make it to the gym and have now been blogging.  so that's nice.  sadly i don't have a plan for this evening but i guess i'll probably just watch a movie or something at home.  i fell asleep real early last night but then woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep so i may fall asleep early again tonight.  wish adrian's invite would have been for tomorrow, but i guess i can't do anything about that.

on a completely unrelated note, i've been making bbq chicken pizzas for my dinner this week and those have been really tasty. also i made chocolate cake last friday night (while watching the bodyguard because it was on tv - so i've now seen that randomly in india and australia without trying) which was decent for being from the reject shop.

threadless

my tshirts from threadless came this week which was exciting.  so yay for those making it here to me from chicago.

i wore one this week that has an image of the united states with the states designated by their names written to confine the space.

anyway, it proved very useful throughout the day's conversations.  definitely a good choice.

strawberry waffles

18 september 2012

tuesday was a double celebration.

ashley finished her set of psych sessions with a client and wanted to celebrate with ciders and going to mcdonalds (makkers) and it was lydia's birthday.  so we went to mcdonalds (which seemed random, but was fun) and then went and had waffles.

ashley (another american, from tx) and i shared a waffle and had the strawberry syrup.  which was a poor choice.  and apparently was known to be avoided at all costs as a general australian rule about strawberry flavoured things.  we didn't know.  but now we do.  so there's a lesson learned.  no strawberry topping.

it was half price waffle day so that made it slightly better.  an enjoyable evening out with the phd folks though regardless with lots of laughs.

pasar malam

21 september 2012

last night was pasar malam (malaysian night market) on campus.  the weather was terrible all day so there was a question of whether it would happen.  but it did on a smaller scale.  anyway, there was lots of different asian food to choose from (or a corn dog i guess), but i had a masala dosa.  dosa being one of the two delicious south indian breakfast foods that we had while with max in india.  mmm dosa.  it was good.

3mt

21 september 2012

so apparently there's a competition called '3 minute thesis' in which you have 3 minutes and only one powerpoint slide to explain your thesis.

petra, a psych phd student was one of the finalists for Curtin's level of competition so yesterday the rest of us went to support her doing that.

she didn't end up winning (the winner goes on to compete against all the other universities in australia), she did get the 'people's choice award' which still gave her a little bit of money.  it was between her and the guy who did win in my opinion.

apparently there's also a 'dance your phd' competition in which you explain your topic through interpretive dance.  the prize for that one is much better - article in science and a trip to a TED conference.

i had no idea these competitions existed.

skates

i ordered a pair of inline skates this week.

ordered them from inline warehouse from california.  can't believe that they're cheaper buying them from the states than from the other side of australia. by a lot.  even with the shipping.

anyway, i'm excited to get them.

http://www.inlinewarehouse.com/K2_Alexis_Inline_Skates_Womens_2012/descpage-I12006.html

job

saw this job advertised online, too bad i'm not done with my phd...

http://getajobgram.com/post/30563537831/qut

manna

16 september 2012

last sunday, i helped a group prepare dinner for the homeless in perth.  with two fellow phd students and a bunch of others, we prepared a meal and then served it as a part of http://www.mannainc.com.au/.

it was a really great way to spend sunday afternoon.  lots of fun.

i chopped lots of potatoes for mashed potatoes, made a fritada and helped with other stuff.

this group does the meal prep once a month, and i'd like to help again.

jeanine's candidacy

12 september 2012

went with the other students to support jeanine doing her candidacy presentation.  (it's the process they're making me go through even though i already started my research.)  she did a fantastic job.  and the professors' questions weren't bad for her at all.

only downside was that we went to the student tavern to have a celebratory drink following and the bouncer didn't allow me in.  while i had my american license, we had a debate regarding it's legality.  apparently it's not a legal document.  i could understand him not letting me in if i hadn't had any id on me.  but not having my passport seemed a bit ridiculous.

google hangout

14 september 2012

two fridays ago, i got to the hub early to have a group video chat with campos, beers, and grumm.

it was fantastic.

way to go google hangout - all 4 of us were on the screen and could all chat with each other at the same time.

plus you can 'wear' fun accessories so i had a pirate hat on which moved with your movements.

and it was amazing to catch up with everyone together.  really really good.  hopefully we'll be able to do it again next month as proposed.

a really really fun way to start the day too.

random thursday dinner

13 september 2012

went to dinner with lydia, juliana, and bea two thursdays ago.  was about to leave the hub and instead we decided to grab a cheap japanese dinner (i had teriyaki chicken).  it was nice to spontaneously go to dinner with friends.

living at the hub

have decided that it's almost possible to live at the hub.  there's the kitchen with a fridge, toaster, and microwave for food.  and a bathroom with a shower.  and there are couches. so it all sounded like a good way to escape rent.

only downside i've thought of so far is laundry.  but otherwise, i think it'd be doable.

also i think one student actually is...

treme

2 weekends ago i watched the first season of treme, an hbo series that is set in new orleans post katrina regarding the music community.  it was fantastic.  lots of great music.  i'd really like to see season two, but the library only has season one.

sarah's birthday

08 september 2012

went to dinner with fellow phd students at a place where they serve your meat still cooking on a hot slab in front of you. i had lamb.  and a really delicious chocolate cake desert.

we then went to sarah's house for a birthday gathering.  her friends made her two awesome unicorn shaped cakes that were delicious.  i also had a typical australian kid party weird treat.  it's buttered bread with hundreds and thousands (sprinkles) on it.  strange.

but a good evening for sure.

hMR

in the frustrating data analysis phase, i have now learned how to do hierarchical multiple regression analyses.

i'm very glad that i was able to have some of the other hub students help me out because they were able to show me what to do (which was far more helpful than just a stats book).

mtgs

had a frustrating week at uni two weeks ago with meetings that didn't really move me forward with work. basically had me start over with data analysis and things and then still confusion about my giant ESM paper and how to split it into possible articles for publication.

it's better now, although i wasn't able to have a supervisor meeting this week, but it was extremely frustrating.

backpack

another sign that perth is clearly a suburban-drive-your-car place is that within a week i had two comments about me wearing my backpack.

first while packing my groceries in my backpack - apparently it looked like i was going on a long journey...or something.

second, i was putting my notebook and book in my backpack to walk across campus for a meeting and got another odd comment.

clearly, the fact that i carry things around is weird.  oh well.

catch up

australians like to use 'catch up' and it's definitely appropriate as i haven't blogged in longer than i thought.  ...

gym appraisal

had my gym appraisal meeting yesterday (tuesday, 4 september) which went really well. i think the trainer guy, john, was a bit surprised that i came in with an actual goal as a female and not just a generic comment about wanting to use the gym.  as in i had a specific idea of what i wanted to get a plan set for and that i wanted to use weights.  so we talked about a training plan and then he showed me a bunch of exercises to do.  we decided that i would have an 'a' and 'b' day so that i could switch off, but unfortunately we didn't get through all of the exercises.  so i will have to have someone show me a bunch of them.

i didn't figure i'd actually want to have regular scheduled training sessions with a person, but he was so competent that i'd maybe consider it.  not as a weekly thing, but i don't think i get another free one for like 4 months, so maybe one or two before that.  i don't know. we'll see how this plan goes.  he has to re-write it from his scribbled notes so hopefully i'll be able to follow and remember what to do.

swan river

sunday, 2 september

went to the gym on sunday for a body balance class (i clearly need to work on my balance and core) and then took the bus to the victoria park bus transfer station.  from there i walked along the river because it was a really nice day all the way along to south perth and to the coast where the windmill is by the freeway.  it was a really nice walk.  it is nicely paved, and would be even more enjoyable on skates/a bike.

after looking at the windmill quick, i noticed that there was a bus stop there which would take me across the freeway to a big bus transfer point.  and since i didn't quite feel like just retracing my steps back, i decided to take the bus into the city and have a bit of a new bus adventure.  so i found my transfer and had missed it by about two minutes so i had to wait for a long time, since it was sunday.  but that was fine.  i contemplated walking through downtown but then just decided to wait and then get off the bus in victoria park before reaching home by the grocery store.  so i went to that grocery store which i hadn't been to and then got the bus back home.  a really nice day and a successful adventure.

PHOTOS: http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/river-walk.html

library dvds

i got really excited just to sit and watch some 'deadwood' episodes last night since the library had the complete 1st and 2nd series available.  figured that'd be a good drawn out story i could watch.   only the set for the first season aren't region 4 (australia).   they're region 1 (us) so now that my dvd drive is set to australia, i actually can't watch.  which is frustrating.  and the other movie i checked out didn't work either.

so i got some new ones today (and hopefully they'll all be region 4 and function).

the gym

after getting myself a two dollar (reject shop) hand towel yesterday, i was able to go to the gym with it.

so i went to the gym yesterday and today. yesterday i went on the elliptical for 45 minutes and then the bike for about 15.  felt great to go back to the gym.  and i was there from like 615-715 on a friday night and was shocked at the amount of people also there.  i mean it wasn't packed, but i wouldn't have figured on a friday night that i'd really see anyone else there.

 

and did a 'body balance' class today (which let me say was incredibly hard for me - so that's going to be a challenge) but i felt good getting back to exercising.  and i went on the elliptical for a bit following the class.

 

i'm glad to be able to exercise at a gym again.  my foot's still not 100% but it only really had an impact on  a few of the stretching/yoga positions. 

 

i have an 'appraisal' appointment on tuesday so hopefully i can get some sort of basic weights plan in action too (still need to find an inline marathon that i could possibly train for and then get to (and get skates) but i really want to have a purposed plan besides just going on the elliptical).

myself from may

i spent friday morning (after walking all the way to the shops, across campus and to the hub) trying to sort through what i did last may in relation to the data from my 'CLOUD' study. 

that was fun.  i realized i had a few different computer documents (but not all in the same place) and had to re-orientate myself with the data on hand.  and analyses i ran.  but once i figured out what i had and what i had done, i got myself in a better place to move forward.

and then in the afternoon, i started preparing the data SPSS files for my 'FTP' and 'SNS' studies.  There were a whole bunch of variables to recode and compute and things, so i've spent some time today on it as well, but i seem to have gotten them to a place where on tuesday with my supervisory meeting, we can discuss how to go about analysis for the 3 studies.

which will be excellent (and create a road map for how to spend a week or two).

italian dinner

a group of 10 phd students went to an italian meal thursday night (30 august).

the place actually wasn't too far away and i'd been by it on the bus.  it was really good and a whole lot of fun to go out to dinner with a group of people.

i shared two plates of pasta with emily so we even got to have two delicious meals (carbonara and vodka sauces).  and it was byob wine, so that wasn't terribly expensive to have either. 

we had some gelato after -which i have to say was far more delicious than - and a bigger serving for the same relative price that i paid for - the 'eh' ice cream of last weekend.  i was pretty full but managed to finish my gelato (although i probably shouldn't have even gotten it...but it was good.)  although unlike in miami where you could order 1 scoop and get 2 flavours, here you'd have to get 2 scoops to get the 2 flavours.

anyway, it was a really nice evening.  and we threw out mexican as possibly a next meal out.  and decided we want to have a hub halloween and a meal for thanksgiving.  so hopefully these types of things will be more frequent.