wnd's weblog

Kids need toys to stay sharp

Kids need toys to stay sharp. That's why I had to get this.

There will be more pictures once I earn my wings.

MSc thesis. Done with it!

When I woke up last morning, I had already decided that I won't sleep until I'm done with my master's thesis. I didn't have very much to do, but I knew it would take some effort nonetheless. I fed the cat and headed to University, my room, D226.

I started going through list of about ten items I would have to fix. Some would be trivial, some would actually require brain activity. At seven o'clock in the evening I printed the first draft, which I would use to check and recheck references, and to make sure all pictures were readable in black and white. In the process I would read the whole thing through looking for inconsistencies and things that weren't all that clear.

At three o'clock in the morning I was done with the first run. Now the text would be mostly finished, but I would still have to force \LaTeX to place figures and tables where my professor wanted them. This would take another two hours. I also fixed fonts used in the gnuplot-generated pictures, adjusted position of legend in the graphs, and changed some linetypes gnuplot used. At half past five I was mostly happy. I would still have to run a spell checker one more time. Then I would be done.

As always, running a spell checker revealed a few things that would have to be dealt with before it was too late. At this point doing changes was not exactly a good idea, since I had already spent quite a bit of time adjusting the figures. I have to admit, though, that simply placing the figures and tables in a logical place within the source code did most of the work. The rest was just to do things the way my professor preferred.

Fifteen past seven I was done. I had printed the thing, plus another copy, plus some miscellaneous documents. Half past seven I was all done. I had left my thesis for the professor for final judgement. This would be it. This is it. I just finished what I started nearly nine years ago! What would I do next? What on earth would I do next? In fact, I was so out of my head that I didn't even realise I was still at University, it was seven o'clock in the morning, and that I really should have been in bed a long time ago.

Right now I'm trying to clear my head. I'm writing this entry -- just for the record. I know I should go home and get some sleep. And maybe eat a little. Actually, now that I finally have the time, I can do pretty much anything I can think of. Last two months have been frantic. I have spend nearly all my waking hours doing research and writing my thesis. I have had nearly no time for my wife, my cat, my projects, or computer games. All that should finally change. And all the better that way! Over and out.

6th kyu in iaido

After three months of rigorous training, I have succesfully completed the sixth kyu in iaido. Ok fine, it may not have been rigorous training but it sure has been fun doing it. And that's what matters.

Having completed the 6th kyu in kendo I was allowed to start practicing iaido and jodo in our club. Iaido was the reason why I started doing kendo in the first place. However, as it turned out, the club arranged a beginners' course for iaido this year, which did not require any previous knowledge of martial arts.

At first I was unsure if I wanted to go on with kendo and do both but the answer soon became clear. After a few iaido lessons, doing kendo started to feel more and more alien. I mean, practicing kendo is nice and it's a great way to get some exercise, but it's just not "me". Kendo is loud and agressive -- and I'm neither.

The result? The sixth kyu in iaido and kendo, two great experiences, and lot of interest to keep practicing iaido. Think about it; I already participated to a seminar held by 7th dan sensei Peter West! That's the way to go.