General

It has been a busy couple of weeks. I have been through the induction process now. A few different induction sessions to go through with the faculty induction and graduate school induction and of course the school of computing induction. This last was not really needed as I sort of know who I need to know in the school of computing and I know where most things are from my year as an undergrad. However I would say that a new PhD student needs to go through these sessions and it will probably do your confidence a world of good; and possibly knock it down again.

I say this as you will be told, quite rightly, that you are at the top of the pile; you are very clever and you deserve to be there. Only the best get this opportunity and they are right to keep telling you this. Then, if you are like me, you will look around and see lots of other people in the same situation as you and you will hear about their fields and, in my case, think to yourself, "What am I doing here? My project is not as important as all these others". I was in a room full of people working on big stuff. I mean really big, you don't get bigger than this type big. You know, the cosmos! Suddenly my project looking at houses does not seem so important anymore. How can you weigh a house against the cosmos?

However, keep in mind one thing. You are at the top of the pile; you are pretty damn good to be offered this chance; the university that has asked you to join can see your capabilities and they will only ever offer these places to the very best. There is a lot riding on the people that they offer these places to as the reputation of a uni rides on the quality of its research and its researchers. That means YOU!

So, remember, you are one of the best in the world. Not just one of the best on your undergrad course or your masters course. One of the best IN THE WORLD. Never forget that.

Of course, you still have to turn in the work and this is not going to be easy. But, getting off to the right start must be important and thinking, no, not thinking, KNOWING that you are one of the best in the world should make you and your families proud of you!

Today I had my faculty induction and my graduate school induction at the uni. Well, I say I had my faculty induction but this is not strictly true as I have sort of had my induction over the last year as I already know about the library, where the various buildings are and where the important people reside. I found out where my office and desk are last week and today I checked that I could print stuff out. The grad school induction was interesting; I am working on smart homes. A single dwelling. A small point on a street in a county in a country on the planet earth. There are some PhD students who are looking at the cosmos. Note the difference here; one little building and one entire universe. Looking for dark matter and suchlike. Sort of puts you in your place let me tell you!

Tomorrow I start on the "How to get started on your PhD" course. That should be interesting.

I had thought that a Beaglebone Black would be a great bit of kit to use for this project. I ordered one from RS Components in May of this year and they had none in stock so I went on the back order list. Arriving in September I was told. Great, just the right time as this would give me a bit of time to play with it before getting stuck in to the research side of things. I checked in August that all was OK by looking at my account online and the date had slipped to October 7th. Not a problem but a bit annoying, I must have missed the email letting me know about the slippage. Never mind, still plenty of time to play and learn the system. Last week I looked at my account again to confirm that nothing had changed. But now however, without letting me know that anything was changed again, the delivery date would now be February 2015. Now, this slippage is bad enough, but the main annoyance is the total lack of notification that there was a problem from RS. So I have decided to cancel the order and use my Arduino Mega and my Pi to get the system working instead. I fill out a form letting them know that I do not want to wait till February 2015 for my Beaglebone and that I want my money back. Guess what, nothing from RS again. Customer care has become customer don't care so I have placed my last order with them. This is a complete farce and if anyone asks me for advice about who to buy kit from will be told that I might not know who to get something from but I do know who NOT to buy things from. Yes, RS Components.

Should have posted this yesterday as I officially started my PhD then! However more important things were taking place so it sort of got forgotten. More important I hear you ask? What could be more important than the start date of my PhD? My wife's birthday, that's what. I may miss things over the nexty few months because of the doctorate but I had to make sure that I did not miss this one. So, happy birthday Ruth!

Today I received some dates for seminars that I should attend. These are to do with the School of Computing Research Seminars and the University of Portsmouth, (UoP), Computing Seminars. They are the first things in my diary! According to my supervisor I need to go and get ready to present stuff in them myself...... As a couple of the ones that are already filled have Professors as speakers I think that this may be a bit daunting. I reckon it is quite likely that I will be ready to do this and I think that this will be a good training ground for me as I learn how to lecture and then stand up at conferences and extoll the virtues of our work...
Yes, lecturing. I will have to run lectures sometimes, this sounds a bit scary at the moment, but as I am self-funding this doctorate, any cash flow is greatly received! (Perhaps I should put a "Donate using PayPal" button here. Only joking. )

September 1st - only a month to go now.
How to fill my time as the boys go back to school? Well, that is quite easy I think. I have to do a review of the current work that has been done in the area of my subject so I have to gather all the relevant info I can. I have made a start already and found very little in my specific area. This is a bit scary, does this mean that others know that it is not worth working here? Does it mean that I have been searching for the wrong terms and when I get it right there is a ton of stuff and I can't get a new angle on it? Let's hope not.

On a totally off topic note, is it a coincidence that the latest release of an extremely popular computer game called Minecraft is released the day that the kids go back to school? Ha ha ha





I found a blog while looking for a suitable domain name for this site, entitled I Hate My PhD Hopefully I won't be feeling like this is a couple of years!

OK, the start is actually on the 1st of October, my wife's birthday actually, and but I think that I can safely say that I am nearly there.

I suppose I should put some kind of introduction here so here goes. My name is Mark and I am currently 47, married with 3 children, one of which is soon to start a degree course at Queen's University Belfast in law. (Of which I am immensely proud I have to say). The two remaining at home are currently in high school and we have high hopes for them too.

My PhD is currently entitled "Using Smart Building Technology to Improve the Quality of Life for Vulnerable Young People", however this may change over the next three years!

I am looking forward to this next part of my life, I have had quite a time of it over the last decade, running my own business, developing a serious illness, (ulcerative colitis), nearly dying a couple of times, starting a degree with the Open University, stopping a degree with the Open University as they changed things dramatically. Then I completed an HND, "Computing and Software Development" with Chichester University and moved on to top this up to turn it into a BSc, "Web Technologies" and the University of Portsmouth as a direct entry student, entering the final year. In this I obtained a first class honours degree and also managed to win a prize by being the direct entry student with the highest overall marks. Not bad for an oldie eh?

As I obtained a first in my degree I do not need to complete a Masters degree before starting a PhD so I can start this October after graduating in July of this year at Portsmouth and I am going to have the same supervisor in my PhD as I had for my final year project, Dr. Penny Ross.

Right, that will do for now, hopefully I will be able to update this blog pretty regularly, I certainly intend to but I expect that at some point I will have loads of stuff to do and not much time to write about it here so please be patient!
Mark