The Man with No Time

I've been slacking a bit with my Lost Hemisphere Challenge, but I knew that was going to happen. The end of February and first two-thirds of March were always going to be pretty much a write off owing to the RLSS Speeds, conferences, and organising the BULSCA Champs eating up all of my free time for nearly a month. Then I came home and had to observe for a week! But this week I've been getting back into the swing of it, with some painting progress and my first games with Venethrax!

I recently signed up to be a part of the "Explore Your Universe" science outreach project. Outreach is something that I've been doing a reasonable amount of during my PhD, mostly in the form of the planetarium shows that I've been organising. But I've been considering outreach and science communication as a possible career alternative, and therefore looking for ways to broaden the outreach that I'm getting involved in. The 'Explore Your Universe' logo. I'm really looking forward to getting involved in this exciting project. (Credit: exploreyouruniverse.org) "Explore Your Universe"  is an interesting looking project from the UK Association of Science and Discovery Centres  that is basically a way to encourage research scientists to engage with the public in a friendly setting. The idea is that scientists, like me, sign up to the scheme and are assigned to a specific centre. There will be 'meet an expert' days at which...

Time for a 'music I'm listening to' update. Just like last time, it's prompted by the discovery that two of my favourite bands are releasing new albums. One of those releases is particularly surprising, given that I was under the impression that the band had broken up! I also want to give some more thoughts on a couple of the albums that I briefly reviewed last time around. (Credit: fanpop.com)

Whilst I was away on my epic tour of the UK, a notable event rather snuck up on me. This blog is now 1 year old! Woohoo, 1 year old! (Credit: community.webroot.com) When I started this blog, I was intending to just use it as a diary to note down things that I was getting up to. Then, as normally happens with things I get involved in, it snowballed a little and grew to become something a bit more than that. I started the film reviews and sports reviews, as well as competition reports for lifesaving events, and the originally planned diary style entries. I've really enjoyed it; after my previous experience with Livejournal, I wasn't sure I'd keep it going for long, but I've surprised myself. Partly it's the writing itself. I find it rather cathartic, and it helps me articulate me thoughts on things a little better sometimes. Partly also I think it's that I'm happy to note down posts I want to do, then write and post them when I have time rather t...

The final stop on my whirlwind, action-packed UK tour was the city of Bath. I love the place; it’s a beautiful city, and really nice just to wander around, as I discovered last Easter. This time however I wasn’t there to sight see, but to run the BULSCA Student Lifesaving Championships. Way back at the start of May last year I rashly stood for the role of Championships Coordinator on the BULSCA governing committee. I had no idea what I’d let myself in for to be honest; obviously I’d experienced the Championships several times as a competitor, and had a little experience of organising smaller competitions, but this was another level. I was apprehensive, and it turned out to be both easier and harder, less work and more work, than I was expecting.

After the discussion meeting that I blogged about yesterday, I got on a bus with lots of other scientists and went to Chicheley Hall for the associated satellite meeting. This was titled "Characterising exoplanets: the next decade", and was an invitation only event. There were however some bursaries available to allow early career researchers to attend, which covered the cost of room, board, and transport. Bursaries were supposedly awarded to researchers who were going to be at the forefront of exoplanet research over the coming decade, so I was a little surprised to get one; my supervisor obviously wrote an excellent letter of recommendation! In any case, there ended up being nine bursary students there. Some I'd met, and talked to, at the meeting in London, and they were all very friendly and approachable. We were all pretty excited to be there amongst some of the luminaries of the field, and looking forward to a bit more of an informal meeting, although we weren...

After my visit to the RLSS Speeds , the next stop on my whirlwind tour of the UK took me to London for a two day conference at the Royal Society. Titled "Characterising exoplanets: detection, formation, interiors, atmospheres and habitability", it promised to be an interesting look at some of the aspects of exoplanetary research that I'm not so in touch with or involved in. It was also the first conference that I'd attended since my visit to the SUPA Cormack Astronomy Meeting in November 2012. Ah, the Royal Society. Such a storied institution, and they've got impressive facilities too. (Credit: David Brown)

The first part of my road trip around the UK took me to Sheffield for the RLSS National Speed Championships. This was actually my second trip to the Speeds; in my second year at St Andrews myself and a friend travelled down to compete. That trip wasn't a particularly great experience for me, as I had my backpack stolen, with phone, laptop, watch, etc. The competing had been fun though. However, that wasn't the purpose of my second appearance, This time I was there to shadow the competition organiser, with the aim of picking up some hints and tips for the BULSCA Champs the following weekend. (Credit: The RLSS)

Just a quick update today. I got back from my rather hectic 11 days  from St Andrews to find a rather nice surprise waiting for me.  I’d had only one piece of meaningful post, but it was quite an important one – my official Card of Authority from the RLSS! My RLSS card of authority. I can now officially train and assess the Survive and Save award scheme. (Credit: David Brown) This is the official recognition of my “Lifesaving Instructor” status, which I’ve been working towards since September. I’ve been teaching Survive and Save at the club here for a while now, which was fine because the club knew I was competent, but this card means that I’m officially recognised. Now I can teach the Survive and Save course at any lifesaving club in the UK, without supervision. I’m slightly surprised actually. Given the usual speed of the RLSS bureaucracy, I was expecting it to take much longer to come through; we only sent off the final paperwork a week or so before...

I've finally made it back to my parents after the most hectic 10 days that I've experienced in a long time.  Since leaving St Andrews a week ago on Friday I've Drive to Sheffield Helped out at 2 days of the RLSS National Speed Championships Driven to my parents Had a two day conference at the Royal Society in London Had a two day discussion meeting at Chicheley Hall Driven to Bath Panicked at the last minute preparations for the BULSCA Student Championships Overseen 2 days of the BULSCA Student Championships Driven back to my parents I'm not even home yet - I'm driving back up to St Andrews tomorrow. I intend to take my time over it! I've not had time to blog about my experiences as I go along, but I'll be posting about all of the things I've been doing over the coming week. But first, I need sleep. Lots, and lots of sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Not much to report this week I’m afraid as far as the 6 nations goes. I was busy at the RLSS Speeds all weekend, so didn’t get to watch any of the games. The highlight reels on the BBC website(link) didn’t throw up anything noteworthy either, other than a tied game between Ireland and France. It’s not often you see that in rugby. I’m not confident about next weekend either. I’m likely to be running around like a mad thing at the BULSCA Championships, and despite joking about getting a big screen on poolside I think I’ll be missing those matches as well. Busy, busy, busy. (Credit: lifehacker.com)

Later today the blog will be going quiet for a bit, as I'm about to embark on a road trip around the UK. The next 11 days will see me drive up and down the country travelling from event to event. I'm starting off in Sheffield at the RLSS Speeds Championships this coming weekend. Two days of the fastest lifesavers competing to be best in the UK. It should be fun, but I'm not competing; I'm going down to shadow the organisers and get some last minute help and tips for my own competition. After that I'm going down to London for a two day conference at the Royal Society, before heading to Chicheley Hall (near Milton Keynes) for the associated discussion meeting. I'm particularly looking forward to the latter, as it should be a different atmosphere to a normal conference. I'm expecting a much less formal structure, which will be a nice change. While I'm at both conferences I'll be poking around to see who's got postdoc positions opening up so...

I mentioned in my previous post that my trip to see “the Woman in Black” was somewhat spoilt by an unfortunate incident. I wanted to put down some thoughts on that incident, as it left me rather embarrassed, and really forced me to think about some tricky issues.

This weekend I’ve once again been down in London visiting my girlfriend. We’ve been talking about going to see a show for ages, and this time we actually stuck to one of our resolutions, seeing not just one, but two shows in one day. Ah, London town. (Credit: visitlondon.com)