Projects are like ski-jumps.

I've been hurtling towards a deadline, gaining momentum. About a week before P-day, everything became uphill with pathetic amounts of sleep and piles of stress. I honestly felt like my concept was fatally flawed and for about four days I was grinding out progress with a teaspoon. Yesterday, everything clicked into place ( Read more... )

I'm in the middle of a design project for a replacement bridge over a road cutting and while I'll be marked on the structural design, the aesthetics are personally important - I'd like it to be more than an exercise in maths. As such, I respectfully solicit your opinions on 'wot it looks like ( Read more... )

On a recent train journey, my thoughts on retro-reinforcing masonry arches were interrupted by what I took to be a ring-tone from the other end of the carriage. There are obnoxious ring-tones and discrete electronic beeps, and the rap sample which filled the carriage was definately from column A ( Read more... )

I just read two of the best letters I've ever been priveledged to see. A friend of my parents wrote a two page, entirely different 'christmas round-up letter' to each of them - and the effort to not only percieve a couple as two separate people but to take the time to address them individually is worth a plethora of points for starters ( Read more... )

With all coursework now handed in, my time-management (as greatly distinct from my time) is now my own - and like all milestones, it was worth going out and celebrating ( Read more... )

Drinking coffee only steals time from your future self ( Read more... )

I've just asked my passion and interest in my work to come to my office after it took a four day undisclosed, unrecorded absence. A stern talking to, while focussing on its good points returned it to the status of model employee ( Read more... )

My evening has been spent forcing an Excel spreadsheet to do unnatural things. I'm not proud of myself, but...I literally punched the air with elation when I finally made it complete the calculation it so desperately wanted to avoid performing ( Read more... )

To keep from from becoming insane, I'm punctuating the vast, undulating plains of work with more Karate training. After a day of mental slogging it's fantastic to spar with an opponent, mind empty of conscious thought. Yesterday evening was particularly good ( Read more... )

The difficulty of making decisions, for the rationally inclined, increases with the horizontal nature of the scales in which you are weighing the pros and cons.

( Read on for a great example of shoehorning experience into maths )