Graduation and broken foot in the same 24 hour!

What a 24 hours I had…On Friday 18 July, I had my PhD graduation ceremony in the university. It was a joyous occasion and having family and friends round to share this lovely day with was so special. My daughter enjoyed herself so much and loved seeing mum in a funny hat and gown. All the hard work and the sleepless nights were worth it at the end. The following day I managed to twist my ankle and in less than 2 hours, I was sitting in A&E waiting for an X-ray. The good news is I can not do any house work at all, the bad news is; I have broken a bone in my foot. So no more running for now, no swimming, no driving, even making a cup of tea is a challenge at the moment. Praise God that we started the school holiday and that I have the family round to look after me. So be ware, more blogs on the way!

My Book

I got some information that my PhD thesis will be in the London University library now and available for people to have a look at and have for loans etc. I could not help thinking about what happened in Friends sitcom and I sincerely hope that this will not be the case for my book. Anyway, here it is.....Ross going mad about his book, so funny, enjoy.

Are you in the wrong profession?

That is how I feel at the moment, forget the PhD, forget academia and universities, at the moment I need to be qualified as a plumber and quick. My heating system broke down and finding a good registered plumber to sort it out is like trying to find Bin Laden! I finally (after calling at least 7 different plumbers) had one of them turning up (2 days late). He had a look and I saw him shaking his head and saying things like,” Oh…dear, I see”, and of course my heart sinks. He then went on to explain to me how this part need to be replaced because the thermal couple (I guess this is the correct spelling) heats up and so make the whole system stop working, how the starting light is not lighting up properly because something else that for the life of me I can not remember what is called is not working (I KNOW it is not working, that is why we called you). I think at this point of the conversation I was doing the usual nodding at the right time and pretending to understand all the technical points that he raised and trying to get to the more important questions like: When can you actually do it and How much it will all cost? And you know that in these situations, it is like theatre where you have seen the play before and you know it by heart now and everyone knows his role very well. He comes and play his part (very busy man, doing his explaining to you, poor person, what is exactly happening in your system, may be exaggerating a bit) and I am playing my part (not understanding a word of what he is saying but happy to pay whatever it cost to sort out the system-quick).
At these moments I feel that I am defiantly in the wrong profession, it would have been easier to spend my time training to become a plumber, at least some introductory course or something rather than a PhD that can not help you when your heating is not working.

Well, at the moment it feels like training as a plumber will be actually quicker than getting someone who can fix the system!

The day after the night before

I was overwhelmed by the amount of email, messages and calls I have received from family and friends. I am so grateful to you all. I think it has started to be part of reality, my research has been a big part of my life and letting go of my project is kind of letting go of a loved one. I am glad that it is done, but one gets so emotionally attached to certain degree of obsession sometimes. I remember having to remove some tests and cut few experiments that I already carried out, that was hard.

However, letting go and pressing on ahead is what the bible teach us, to forget what is behind and straining toward what is ahead (Philippians 3:13). It is always taught in the sense of letting go of the past and it's painful memories, or bad experiences and drama etc. But in my opinion I feel it is letting go of it all, the bad and the good, the failures and success and not to get stuck to what and who we WERE but what we are doing now. I said before that degrees and success inflate egos, but as we press on toward the goal, the ultimate goal of serving the living Lord, we keep focus on what matters most.

My celebration for obtaining my PhD has just begun and I am sure it will continue for a while yet and my gratitude to God will carry on as well. My prayer is not to loose sight of what is important in all of this.

Passed my PhD !

So..here we are, another day, another entry, but what a day it has been. after a 3 hours of siting in a hot office to defend my work, i was awarded my PhD degree. WOW. it is an amazing feeling and i do not think it has sunk in yet that i have actually passed. As i said before, it has been quite a journey. Through it all i was blessed with family and friends who were tremendous support, their prayers and confidence in me helped me tremendously to live through it all. However, science and degrees only inflate egos, but only God can fulfil to the maximum and as i prepare to celebrate this wonderful blessing (and sure it will be a big celebration) i only remember that without God we are nothing and without people that you celebrate with, success does not mean a lot.

A PhD is bad for your health!

So..do you think this is a good idea? Do you recognise any of these photos(you can check some more of these on "I did a PhD and did not go mad web page)? If you are mad enough to think about doing some more studying, have a look at these funny photos (the before and after shots of someone fictional I hope:), and may i just say this is not me (although some may disagree!). But just for the record I kind of enjoyed my PhD, it was a long and painful journey at times and it tested my strength and abilities to the limit some times. However, I was blessed with wonderful people whom i worked with and they provided continuous support and advice, that made this "endurance" course a lot bearable. I just hope that for them it wasn't as trying as it was -at times- for me. God has been my refuge through it all and His provision was evident all the time.