Time to Breathe!
Apr. 1st, 2023 09:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcpipThe past several days have been intensely busy, even by my standards, but I knew it would be the case. For the University of Melbourne's master's course Cluster and Cloud Computing, I delivered two presentations last week on the Linux command line, and this week I gave a lecture on supercomputing and the Spartan HPC system, followed by a workshop on job submission and programming - repeated three times! I've made copies of the presentation slidedecks available. In addition in work-related activities, I will be delivering a new course on the uses of databases in an HPC environment (embedded libraries are easier than servers) which just so happens to coincide with a presentation and book chapter for a conference in Thailand; something like 5.5K words formatted in LaTex written in the past few days - that would be nice. To top it all off, I chaired a tech presentation on Friday for Research Computing Services on the University's new "Secure Research Environment".
But that's not all! Yes, there is the other side of the lectern to consider, and today, after spending many hours buried in books (or staring at a screen), I sat my first exam for the paper 'Physical Basis for Climate Change', as part of the master's in climate science. That also coincided with a minor assignment in 'Political Ecology' and a major assignment for the same on the Anthropocene which is one of the most depressing things to have knowledge about if you have even a vague sensitivity to biodiversity on this planet. Finally, I have submitted my first assignment for the final paper in my graduate diploma in psychology, on identity formation (choosing myself as the subject), and have made a start on the next one on work-related stress (which I will dovetail as a work initiative as well).
I will mention that I have not been entirely buried in these activities, and have had some social occasions. Last night I took Erica H., out for dinner at the movies for an early birthday in Yarraville; we saw the new Dungeons & Dragons movie at The Sun, a rather beautiful cinema. The film was OK with plenty of in-game references for the fans, but a bit light in terms of character development - the protagonist had some. Mid-week I caught up for a lunch with some ex-VPAC people whom I hadn't seen for years, which was quite pleasant and I certainly hope to do so again. A few days prior I spent an afternoon with fellow gamer-scientists Liz and Karl who also wanted to show off their new pet rats. Finally, visiting all the way from Níngxià Province of China my dear friend Yanping introduced me to her sister and young niece. We visited the National Gallery, but I suspect the youngster had more fun at the nearby "risky" playground.
But that's not all! Yes, there is the other side of the lectern to consider, and today, after spending many hours buried in books (or staring at a screen), I sat my first exam for the paper 'Physical Basis for Climate Change', as part of the master's in climate science. That also coincided with a minor assignment in 'Political Ecology' and a major assignment for the same on the Anthropocene which is one of the most depressing things to have knowledge about if you have even a vague sensitivity to biodiversity on this planet. Finally, I have submitted my first assignment for the final paper in my graduate diploma in psychology, on identity formation (choosing myself as the subject), and have made a start on the next one on work-related stress (which I will dovetail as a work initiative as well).
I will mention that I have not been entirely buried in these activities, and have had some social occasions. Last night I took Erica H., out for dinner at the movies for an early birthday in Yarraville; we saw the new Dungeons & Dragons movie at The Sun, a rather beautiful cinema. The film was OK with plenty of in-game references for the fans, but a bit light in terms of character development - the protagonist had some. Mid-week I caught up for a lunch with some ex-VPAC people whom I hadn't seen for years, which was quite pleasant and I certainly hope to do so again. A few days prior I spent an afternoon with fellow gamer-scientists Liz and Karl who also wanted to show off their new pet rats. Finally, visiting all the way from Níngxià Province of China my dear friend Yanping introduced me to her sister and young niece. We visited the National Gallery, but I suspect the youngster had more fun at the nearby "risky" playground.
