Blogging plans

I want to step up my blogging game, I think going back to regular writing practice would be beneficial. Till now I relied on slightly bigger events - such as conferences, courses and teaching. I regarded those as more worthy of mentioning, but sometimes it feels like there aren't enough of those - and then the habit of blogging quietly dies as I wait and wait for something "big" to happen.

This made me think.

(a) Since last field season photos of wildlife took over a tiny bit. There aren't enough "big" events to balance out all the in-between fieldwork posts, but that doesn't seem like a reason good enough to stop sharing the wildlife stories - they get me to blog, and lets face it, isn't Oz wildlife fascinating?

(b) PhD isn't just about those "big" events. It's mostly a series of tiny-tiny tasks. Tedious ones, repetitive ones, problematic ones, confusing ones... A series of solving problems, smaller and bigger. It's a lot of reading, writing, coding, analysing... A lot of thinking. One step forward, two steps back. How come I am omitting this, when this is the essence of my PhD? Isn't that just silly?


Moving forward the general plan is:

• Keep up with the in-between fieldwork posts, giving you a glimpse into the beautiful Australian wildlife and showing that even when it seems like there is no time to do anything outside of work one should at least try. I will try to get those out every other Thursday.
• Keep summarising and reflecting on those "big" events. It's nice to have a record of those, even if I only get around to writing up a selection of what I go to.
• Do more "occasional" posts on workflow, tools, habits... Like this one on my writing tools. Do smaller ones, but more often? I wonder if that would be of interest to anyone.
• Write some general work updates, to show you what my PhDing actually involves. The day-to-day work is not particularly glamorous, but I like it most of the time. It can be frustrating, but solving problems is also very rewarding. I sometimes spend a whole week troubleshooting, so I am thinking of trying to do those every two weeks - maybe aiming for the weeks when I don't post wildlife photos.

Update: "in-between fieldwork" every other Thursday

Me again. I have decided that for now In-between fieldwork posts with Australian wildlife will appear on Thursdays (completely arbitrary).

I'm currently scheduling posts for every other Thursday to gauge how much material I have and will go from there - if there is lots left over I might bump it to a weekly Thursday post. Either way, if you are mainly interested in the photos hopefully this will make it easier for you to know when to pop back :]

Update on the "in-between fieldwork" posts

I have seen quite a few things in-between fieldwork so far* and I still have two weeks to go. I realise now that if I want to post a good chunk of it (and I'd love to have a record of it here and be able to share it with my friends) I will have to space it out a bit more.

I will upload photos when I get a moment, but I might schedule the posts to get published in the future so that you don't get too overwhelmed. Hope you enjoy the photos at least to some extend!


*Australia's wildlife is awesome

In-between fieldwork

You only live once and it's fundamental you make the most of it.

Or so I tell myself.

I'm therefore trying to squeeze a little bit of exploring while I'm in Australia. Posts titled "In-between fieldwork" will contain photos and information about what I managed to get up to. Not particularly scientific or academic, but here is proof that even when you are exhausted and crazy-busy you can fit "life" into your schedule.

Feel free to skip the posts, otherwise - enjoy as I did!



And on with the story...

While I'm in Oz I have access to a bike, but not a car, so trips further out would prove rather difficult. I'm interested in birds, parrots particularly, but I wasn't quite sure where I should go besides my field site - where can I see the most in a relatively short period of time and which of those places are accessible by bike?

Here enters COG: Canberra Ornithologists Group. I have emailed them asking for advice on places known to be good for birding in the area. They have completely exceeded my expectations: several people have offered not only advice, but offered to actually take me birding, share their expertise and even drive out of the city to many of the nature reserves that surround Canberra. This is kindness I won't be able to repay and I feel very grateful for all their time and effort.

I hope you enjoy future posts and photos of Australian fauna and flora!

Moving houses, holidays and future plans

This is a bit of a crazy time for me. I'm moving all my possessions from Scotland to England and I am amazed at how much stuff I own. There definitely needs to be a purging/give-away session soon.

I'm also planning on taking some time off in August before flying out to Australia in September in order to do fieldwork (exciting!). I thought that since I wanted an extended holiday taking it between my first year confirmation and fieldwork was a good call. Hopefully it will cause little disruption to my work.

Who knows, maybe my brain will get some much needed rest and will be ready to rock statistical modelling like never before. Here is hoping. 

Checking in

I will update the blog shortly. I have been building my own PC and trying to get it up and running, but most importantly - organise it. This together with my research has been keeping me busy. I'm trying out Bloglovin' to see if I can keep track of some interesting blogs this way and I'm rewriting a couple of project report drafts today.

Hello & Disclaimer

So here I am.

Who am I?

I'm a fledgling behavioural ecologist/evolutionary behaviourist... Not quite sure how to classify myself at this point in time or where the next few years will take me. I'm passionate about wildlife conservation. Birds (parrots in particular) are my favourite animals and preferred study system.

I study full-time and have 2-3 part time jobs to support myself during my time at the University. I try to have a life in-between it all. I'm a keen rock climber, even if I'm not a strong one. I enjoy the great outdoors and wish I could cook/bake more and read more outside my degree.

Why am I here?

I process out loud. I love to talk. I don't think that forcing my friends to listen to me all the time is fair though. I'm hoping that I can get it out of my system here when needed. Maybe some of the things I say will be of some use to someone out there? Who knows.

What will I blog about?

I'd like this blog to be about science and "student life" from an academic point of view, progression through university, associated challenges, possibly a bit of research, lab and fieldwork, science outreach, women in science... As a student I often feel a little lost and confused. My brain gets stuck on problems and goes over them over and over again. Maybe blogging will help to make some sense of it all.

Disclaimer

I have a tendency to talk a bit randomly and use mental shortcuts. I will try my best to be coherent and hopefully will get better with time, but please do not try to "catch me out" on semantics. I usually mean well.

The views on this blog are mine and are true at the time of writing. I consider myself open minded  and do change my mind if new convincing evidence comes to light. I'm always keen to learn something new and I'm happy to hear what others have to say on the matters discussed.

Lastly: I'm busy. We all are. I'm not sure how often I will be able to write, so I make no promises right now.