Today I presented my research in the lab to the parents of the first year students. Talking for 15 minutes straight without slides and to a non-technical audience appeared to me a rather difficult task, but it turned out to…
On Tuesday I am giving a presentation. That is not breaking news at all, except for the fact that I just have to go and talk for 15 minutes without slides to a non-technical audience. Here's how I prepared for…
Last month, I presented a paper at the ASCE Structures Congress 2011. The full paper is published in the conference proceedings, as well as online in the ASCE library. The abstract of the paper is: When assessing the capacity of…
Keukenhof might be one of the largest tourist attractions in the Netherlands.Sure, it is packed with tourists.Sure, it is overly busy.Sure, it might be pricey.But... it is stunning.The Keukenhof features the outside tulip gardens. These are of the finest gardens…
Admittedly, I've not been regularly practicing the breathing and meditation exercises lately. I've noticed that whenever I'm stressed out and should get enough rest and sharpen my brain, I slack off, talk on the phone to rant about whatever is…
I just finished reading yet another book about PhD research, and I really enjoyed reading this book. After reading around the internet tons of valuable information contained in blogs and reading a few books about doctoral education, I have the…
Last Thursday was one of those horrible days again in which the fear gremlin was on my shoulder and made me procrastinate. (I forgot in which blog I read about gremlins sitting on your shoulder and whispering in your ear…
I'm getting ready for this spring's round of conferences (only two, I still need time for research of course) and I was thinking about the time a conference "really" takes. So, while I was in the gym today, I listed…
In roughly two weeks I'm leaving for a conference, and then a holiday, and suddenly it seems as if I'm overloaded with work with so many tasks waiting to be finished before I can leave with a peaceful mind.At a…
One of my resolutions for 2011 was to start meditating and practicing mindfulness. Soon, one quarter of 2011 will be gone already (time flies!) and so I thought it was time for an update on my trials.FactsThe first 1,5 months…
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