Firstly, of course, I've started my PhD. At present this involves learning how to use command line in Unix, and also the ins and outs of various programs, including (but not limited to) GMT, Latex, BREQfast and SAC. Oh, and today I've got started with C programming language. Only simple programs at the moment, but I'm hoping to get something useful coded by December. I've already updated a program designed to sort earthquake catalogues and sift through them for interesting data - but this wasn't real programming - that'll have to wait.
Of course, all of that work requires a desktop in my room (which I've had for four years, although now with a 'new' hard-drive), and one in my office. But being a greedy person, that wasn't really enough. So, with some of my lovely scholarship money, I decided to get my first laptop. It arrived a week ago today, and I still haven't got over how pretty it is. And easy to use. And fast! For those of you wondering, it's a Sony SR19-XN. I particularly like how Sony have bundled Adobe Standard and Elements for free. Oh, and it has a fingerprint reader. For those who want to look like Bond.Apart from this, things have been fairly relaxed - I've settled in at my new college (Magdalene), and started demonstrating and supervising (which I won't talk about, as I can never tell who might be reading this). Now that Freshers' Fortnight is well and truly over, things have calmed down considerably, and I'm ready to get back into the normal social side of things, which, apart from a couple of dinners and parties, and a great evening out in London have had to take a back seat. Roll on November!
