Apparently something is up with Google’s malware detector – every search result is showing up as being harmful.
..Even Google itself (click for full size).
Lifesaving Organisation Tips For Students
October 4th, 2008
So it’s the start of term again, so naturally I’ve been busy: first by helping new students aroung the university, then with my own classes. However thanks to some prior planning, I’m managing to keep on top of everything. So here are my tips for staying organised at university:
Have a plan. Decide how you are going to organise things, what you want to take part in, and how much time you’re willing to spend on each activity. Have a system for taking notes and storing your work. Sort out how you will manage everything as early as you can, and stick to it.
Make things as simple as possible. Whatever you’re doing to stay on top of your notes, appointments and work, keep it simple. If it’s too difficult or complicated you’ll give up or get behind after a few weeks or be spending time you could use for something more rewarding.
Make the most of software. Get hold of an organiser like Thunderbird or Kontact or use an online tool. Keep track of your timetable and any meetings or important dates. Use a list of to-dos to note your personal and academic deadlines.
Break bigger tasks into smaller bites. When you’re given a deadline for a piece of coursework it can be hard to know where to start, and it can seem like you have ages to work on it. Split the task up into sections and you’ll get a better idea of what needs to be done. Then set your own regular deadlines and milestones to keep your work on track.
Recognise when something has gone wrong. When I get behind, my natural reaction is to stop going to classes so people won’t see that I haven’t done enough work. Resisting that urge and immediately taking action is what has made the difference between catching up and failing a module.
Keep your notes and files sorted. Whether you take a load of notes on your laptop or a few sketches on paper, decide wht works for you and keep them in order. If your notes aren’t easy to access and understand later when you need them, they’re useless.
Don’t waste your time. Try to prevent yourself spending time doing nothing. If you enjoy something, make time for it in your week. Things like endlessly clicking on Stumbleupon however can take up hours of time you could spend on something else. On a related note: minimise your down time. Don’t take time clicking through sites when using RSS would be quicker. Don’t check your email every 5 minutes. Get into the habit of making your use of time more efficient, and spending more time on things you actually enjoy.
Hopefully these tips will help you get through university with minimal stress and panic: if you have any advice or techniques to share, drop me a comment below.
If Something Doesn’t Scare You, It Probably Isn’t Worth Doing
September 19th, 2008
University starts back on Monday, and as usual for the start of a new term I’m a little anxious. I don’t know how well I’ll cope with the new topics we’ll cover, whether I’ll be able to deal with the workload and if I’ll get on with my classmates working as part of a group for the first time. There are a lot of unknowns, a lot to be worried about.
If you look back to when I was in high school, starting a new term way pretty routine. I knew all the teachers well already, the topics covered in one year were never a huge leap from the last, and there was never that much pressure to do well. Nothing to worry about.
However, that meant school was never exciting either. There was never the feeling of pride about a large piece of finished coursework. No joy that I’d actually got my head around something which I found difficult. It was hard to build up interest in studying the topics we were being taught, let alone going beyond that to investigate areas I particularly enjoyed.
If fact, if you look back at some of the best things I’ve ever done, you see one common theme: they’ve all been terrifying.
For me, fear isn’t a bad thing. In fact, if I’m not scared by something, chances are I wont do well at it. Being afraid is a reassurance that I’m doing something difficult, and that it’s worth trying to succeed.
Happy Birthday to Me!
August 10th, 2008
My laptop is working again (well… enough to write a post) so it’s time to get some posts from the past few days typed up and online.
I just wanted to share the cake my mum made for my birthday:
The ears are filled with marzipan 
I had a great day working at Dare Protoplay at the EIF, but I’ll post about that shortly.
Project Frostbyte Updates
August 7th, 2008
I’ve done a lot of work on my case lately, so I thought I’d make it easy for you to find out what has been going on.
- First of all, if you are a little confused about what I am talking about – Here is the original plan for my case.
- Then I got hold of the case I’ll be working on.
- Next I cut a window into on of the side panels.
- I started working on a piece of acrylic.
- I did not enjoy altering my front panel with fibreglass. Not one bit.
- I got hold of a blowtorch.
- I bought some new acrylic and had to make another set of flames out of it.
- Then I ended up using more fibreglass to make space for my radiator in the top panel.
- And most recently I did some work on the front panel.
As you can see I still have a lot to do – I need to get all the metal work drilled, primed and painted, and I still have several acrylic pieces to cut. To make matters even better, the motor in my not-a-Dremel just burned out – I think I can return it under warranty, but that will still take time.
I’ll keep you updated as the mod progresses, but since I’m going to be away from my flat for a couple of weeks I don’t know how much I’ll get done. Hopefully the case will be painted before then so it has some time to cure.
