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.…
Today, I attended a workshop on Online Networking and Social Media by Floor Drees at the PhD Event 2010. One of the most striking observations was the reluctance of young academics to social media. I was surprised to see that…
Today, I was reading an article on an online newssite. The article was about a company that offers training courses to demotivated and burnt out employees. I thought that sounded interesting (I enjoy reading about personal leadership and development), and…
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