Mr. Sam Adam Berry BSc. (Hons)

I should be paid!! This is the second time this year that the following has happened to me. Basically yesterday I was happily driving along listening to a bit of Celine Dion (I kid you not) and I see in my rear-view mirror a red car bombing up the road behind me. As I look ahead I see a policeman with a speed gun and so I thought, if this guy overtakes me, he’s had it. But no, he slows to my speed and so I’ve just saved him whatever fine and points he gets; the bloody speed thing should go round corners!! :P

To add insult to injury, he overtakes me just after the speed trap and so the whole system is not doing what it was designed for; safety. Although I dare say that it’s probably for the financial benefit also.. let’s be honest. So annoyed, but hey, more to the point if the police want to catch the real dangerous drivers they should be out at the crack of dawn not the dead of night. Some people in the morning speed way too fast and even appear drunk where they obviously haven’t woken up properly in the early hours.

OK, I’ve had my rant. I’m happy. Hope everyone has a good easter.

Love love xx,
Sam =]

I got my lab keys, my authorisation to use the lasers and a HeNe 5mW (class 3A) laser. So now I can't start working in the lab. I have had to do lots of health and safety admin work since the lab I'm in doesn't get used often. So I've re-written the risk assessment, printed COSHH forms for the chemicals and made sure that my equipment is safety tested. Phew - that stuff is honestly harder than quantum laser physics, so many things you have to do to make sure that the lab is documented as safe for you and others. So today I started experimenting with coupling light into fibres; well I would've but someone has decided to force the laser to only work when connected to the failsafe that usually only the class 4 lasers need. Either that, or my laser is broken (probably more my luck). End result is that I don't have a coherent light source at the moment. However, I'm getting a new one :P

My friend said that he couldn't believe "how slow research is". It does take ages to do things, because you seem to be working against sod's law around the clock. When all of your work depends on the smallest simple thing working, you can bet your life it won't. I thought that I'd be waiting on other people but I'm not in a group project so how fast I progress depends on me; which is a good thing cause I like to come in at 6:30am and get lots done.

Well I've done a lot this week already and I'm hoping to be doing some practical work alongside my reading theoretical work around my project and what I'll be doing. But the math's is SO advanced now, it is scary; A lot of calculation rely on non-linear effects which can be modelled with matrices easily but can quickly end up as a 3x3x3x3 matrix (4 dimensional)! Still, that's what MATLAB is for.

Sam :D

I haven't, and probably won't anytime soon, adjusted to the academic life of a PhD student yet. It is so different to being an undergraduate. Whereas an undergraduate pays the University to be taught things, a PhD student is paid to learn. Although, its not really pay, you are given a cut of the grant the University receives to cover your living expenses while you study. The upshot is that you are earning the University money by being there and you could make your University proud by discovering something key research that, in turn, drives more research, more money and thus more industrial applications. I was even asked why I was wandering over to the lobby to buy a coffee; we get it free - oh dear, I think another tea overdose is impending.

I have now spent 3 days as a PhD student and I don't regret a single thing. Things are going slowly, I need to be trained loads before I can start planning my own experiments and publishing research papers. But its definitely worth the wait. I sat in on someone's pre-viva PhD presentation (the penultimate event to the viva where the decision on your thesis is made), I thought "oh dear, I don't understand a thing!!" The content was so advanced with very photonics industry acronym I'd never heard of; on reflection maybe I'll be knowledgeable enough to understand all that in 3 to 4 years.

I go for an eye test on Monday to have my retina scanned; so I can get my laser lab keys woo!!

Sam :D

Today, I went back for my first day at University as a post-graduate researcher (PGR). It is so much different than being an undergraduate; I have my own desk, computer and a new ID card that makes me look like an escaped convict. But this PhD program I'm really excited about and can't wait to actually start working on it. I'm studying a program called nano-scale non-linear optics; I can't divulge what I'm doing exactly, because I'm in competition with other institutions to become a world expert in my field of research. Basically I'm using a technique to see objects smaller than the wavelength of the illuminating light (a restriction imposed by the Rayleigh criterion). By investigating the non-propagating wave of light incident, extreme detail can be seen.

I think that I'm not going to regret deciding to undertake this PhD and I'm going have a lot of fun on the way. Bye for now,
Sam :D

Right, I haven't seen a film this good in a while. Put simply, I'm going to buy this the day it comes out in the shops. I loved it, it was highly amusing with silly humour, with a romance story and had some real though provoking moments (especially when considering how dependant on computers and machines we're becoming. I don't want to spoil the storyline so I'll just say what is in the trailer. Basically humans have trashed the Earth and there were robots that had the job of clearing all the rubbish up. However it got too bad and the human race had to leave to space; but they forgot to turn a robot off - WALLE. So this cute little robots carries on regardless for hundreds of years clearing rubbish up daily. But he starts to develop a personality and becomes highly inquisitive, consequently a little lonely. The the arrival of another robot called EVA would change his day to day routine forever.

Another thing, the little short films that PIXAR show before the films they make. They are always good, but the short that comes with WALL-E is brilliant. Had me crying it was so funny. Can't wait to watch this again on my future WALL-E DVD lol

Disney and PIXAR have done a good job me thinks.

Love to all,
Sam xx