Sunday, July 31, 2011

end of July

31st July, last day of the month. Tomorrow starts a new month. And the countdown seriously begins for me as I have to leave on the 7th. There are still lots to do but I can only do as much. That is the pitfall with working on your degree while also running a project, i.e. working and studying. So since a few weeks ago already our team had been working on the planning of work in the next few months when I am not here. Delegate, delegate ... provided one has good staff. Which I think we have. A few people but they can do the job. With the right motivation, good direction, clear instruction, and enough resources.

I have so far completed nearly all the work I was doing except for the SOS posters. Still working on the English version, which I plan to finish this coming week. And the Thai version will come later. 

The field work has already been assigned and delegated so that gives me peace of mind. But of course I could not really be totally cut from all the action. I will still be in touch with the team, that's just part project management.

So now I have started packing, trying to fit in all the stuff I have to bring. This is a dilemma as I am going to UK which has a totally different climate as here, different food and lifestyle. So whatever I bring has to support that difference. So hope that I can finish my packing by Sat so I do not have to rush and do last minute packing before I leave on Sun night.

I have my books to pack as well, and now I am thinking where can I put them them.

Will surely miss it here!

Team meeting to discuss work to be done in the coming months. I took this photo.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

signs of the times

Busy times the past months, weeks and days ... thus blogging here has been irregular. I also maintain other blogs so my time is divided.

So now it is July 2011. Many things have been happening ... project-wise. Aside from my research work in the project, I have been busy putting together documents for visa application to the UK. I will be at my university there from Aug till Dec for consultation with my supervisors, data analysis, and writing up. And I am leaving in August, nearly a month from now. And there are still so many things to do.

In May we had a workshop with stakeholders, and I am still in the process of preparing the report, working on the comments of the first drat. Unfortunately, the worst thing happened. My notebook computer crashed. I lost a weekend's worth of work, as I was not able to save my file the night before. I was sooooo sleepy. The following day, my computer would not open. So until now it is a useless piece of machine. I hope I can go to the shop tomorrow to have it solved.