December 6 – Make.What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?Thinking about this question, I realized I have "made" a…
December 5 – Let Go.What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?(Author: Alice Bradley)I let go of clutterI am a giant pack-rat, and one of my challenges for last year was to let go of clutter, both…
December 4 – Wonder.How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?(Author: Jeffrey Davis)Thinking about this question, I realize that wondering is an essential part of my life, in many different ways.I wonder about research questions.Thinking…
December 3 – Moment.Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).(Author: Ali Edwards)My walk around the Laguna de Limpiopungo Only a very few times in my life I…
December 2 - Writing.What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?(Author: Leo Babauta)I write, and then I wait for the input of my supervisors.I usually write a draft (conference) paper…
I have just discovered reverb10. Even though I am a few days too late to start in time with this challenge, I decided I would like to give it a go. I might not be able to keep up with…
Time to reflect on yesterday's presentation....Something interesting happened during my presentation, which tells me a lot about myself. Even though I was well prepared and put a lot of effort into making drawings for my presentation as well as stating…
Tomorrow I will be presenting again at the same symposium where I had my first presentation about my research one year ago. Last year, my presentation wasn't bad, but there was a lot of room for improvement. I've corrected some…
When you are in a PhD program like mine, in which virtually no course work is involved and you are supposed to spend 40 hours a week in your little room with your stack of papers and a computer, you…
The past year, I've been conducting an enormous amount of large-scale experiments (my funder is quite generous). Tomorrow I'll have finished large-scale test number 98, and I will have tested 14 slabs (half-scale slab bridges) and 9 wide beams/slab strips.…
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