Travelling

Travelling is so good. I enjoy it generally. However travelling to work is another matter. I have to drive 40 mils each way. On good days when the sun is shinning the drive is a good experience. The countryside roads are small ut with not much traffice. Either I can have the windows down with cool breeze rushing past or have my AC on. I usually opt fo the AC as the hay fever season is on the same time as good weather! Driving through tunnels made by the trees meeting up in an arch i a cool experience when the sun is otherwise blazing hot. Yes it does that sometimes in the UK too.

But in winter, rainy and dark times the driving is tedious. The headlights glaring into your eyes, narrow roads and drizzle with the car in front of you chucking up spray making it harder to see. By the time the journey ends I have a hadache and sore eyes. Considering its dark when I go to work as well as when I return I often feel that day light has disappeared. I am sure I get SAD (I knwo some wil say whats new? but I mean Seasonal Affective Disorder). Any bit of sunlight will do to make me happy.

Just goes to show that human being can be dissatified no matter what or one can turn it on its head and be happy with what ever you get, as there is always an up side to everything.

Hot sunny sunday and music

Next week I am off to Amsterdam for EARLI conference. I am presenting a few papers with colleagues from the research team at University of Exeter. The papers are related to use of synchronous online learning tools called Digalo with Argunaut System and InterLoc. The first is a spatial and graphically displayed text tool while the latter is a linear text display tool. Argument theory underlies the development of both, and so they allow development of a collaborative discussion. The Argunaut System consists of the Moderators Interface which allows the facilitator to support online collaboration by the learners.

I just had a small panic attack as I needed to sort out the handout for my conference paper. I needed one screen dump to complete my snapshots of the awareness tools in Moderators Interface (Argunaut Project) for facilitators supporting students learning using Digalo. Considering I had not done screen dumps in ages, I could not remember how to do those. For some reason this always happens to me. Also then I had a panic trying to find the paper submitted among of the millions of files I have for my thesis and the related papers and projects.

The sunny and warm day makes it harder to be focused in my work as panic increases sweating! The songs playing on Sunrise Radio and Kismat Radio are a good company when I study or work. Later I will listen to another program on Asian network radio where there are old songs which are rare these days. While I never remember what was playing afterwords it is fun to hum and jig in place to some real fast tunes. But in this heat I prefer to have the slow numbers on the radio as bopping about is just too much. But music does not fill ones stomach... what to eat is always a major question......

Tedium and happiness

Well I am back to work. Getting into the swing of things is hard especially after a long break. I seem to be in 'helping out' mode and hope to get the some idea of what I should be doing this year. Aside from that I am happy as I have time to spend on doing my thesis. Waiting for things to happen is the most tedious thing for me. So I thought I will have a few minutes break and do my blog.

The most interesting thing I have heard today is a new research is out about how to be happy! The best way to do this is by taking a minute everyday and remembering what was the best thing that you did or achieved or that happened to you in th last 24 hours. Also smiling for a short while too is useful. Am sure there are other ways suggested by this research done at University of Hertfordshire. But hearing it in the BBC news early morning did put a smile on my face!!!

So I guess I am happy despite the waiting and helping out... after all there is some constructive activity there.....

One day I shall have a garden

I have been to the west country for a few days. I like going there as it seems a different country... the pace of life is certainly slower than the South East of UK. It would be nice to live there I think. The sun was shining most of the time and the countryside was green and had so many butterflies and bushes with blackberries ripening. In fact this year there is a huge bush in our garden and there is so much fruit that it allows for fresh picking every day. The neighbour has grown cucumber, broad beans and tomatoes of which I was able to get some to bring back home.

This year I have also managed to get fresh mangoes a few times. Generally they are affordable during the season and they are from the Indian subcontinent. Very sweet and makes you never want to eat the tinned stuff ever again. Reminds me that when I was younger and living in India we always had seasonal fruit and it always meant so much and tasted much better since it was available only for short period in the year. As a kid I remember sitting in my slip with mango and getting it all over myself. The taste made me shiver with pleasure. Grapes are another favourite. I always remember big bunches of seedless grapes in the fridge and my eagerness to help my mother in the kitchen... as getting things from the fridge for her allowed me to sneak a grape or two! Guavas specially those from Pune were real big and sweet... yummmmyyy I always bought some when I went out at weekends from hostel. Nibbling at one to make it last. My mother likes guavas was well and I took some home for her during my vacation.
I wish we had a small garden at least. Am sure we could grow a few things... potatoes would be the first one and also some chillies. Tomatoes I know are fairly easy and any other veg would do. Maybe some herbs as well like basil, thyme, coriander. Another thing I would like would be lavender. I have in past got some and dried it, making a sort of potpourri and hung it the hall. It felt so nice as the scent wafted every time you passed by. mmmmmmmmm Am dreaming again.. one day maybe I shall have a little garden.......

Any one out there?

The One Show is celebrating the Year of Astronomy and have started a snippet on the skies. Just brought home that there would be millions of other life forms out there... Then strangely I watched an old Have I got News for You on Dave and there it was about release of old UFO files... all saying the UFO do not exist..Contradictions everywhere.....

What I find strange that we want to find aliens and make contact with them... spending lots of money for that, people researching all their lives. Yet when it comes to using imagination and making movies why do we always portray the aliens are malevolent and out to destroy earth.... not many movies of friendly aliens.. and if what we believe that someone out there is monitoring our transmissions.. would they wish to even bother contacting us when we display the violent responses in imagined situations?

Maybe within series like Star Trek or even Babylon 5 there is some attempt to show a balanced approach that as with humanity there will be some good and some bad or is it that this mixture is our perception only but does not truly occur.

Anyone out there? any thought?

New Month - August

It has taken a while to get over the jet lag and get back into the local time zone. Spent a few days sorting out the holiday snaps and putting up the captions. It is strange how you remember the small things that happened when you are reviewing the photos.

Cricket was on the TV on OZ a lot... they want to take the Ashes. It is fun to see the comments the strong feelings about cricket. However footie Aussie style is big there as well... managed to avoid the football fans at weekends in Melbourne even though we were round the corner from Etihad Stadium. I am only an occasional fan of cricket now a days but I like the Aussies.

I finally got back into twitter as well... long time since I went in there. I must have missed a lot of twittering... I now have to concentrate on my thesis and stop spending time in here. Maybe I should include my work in the blog as I will soon be going to Amsterdam for EARLI conference. We are presenting papers at it and I hope to have a very interesting and productive time there.