... mid session break begins. I breathe a huge sigh of relief... there it goes. A week off! Woohoo! (wanted to insert a cool Homer Simpson pic there, but couldn't find one :P)
I had no idea that it would take me this long to get this thing updated but unfortunately, my workload urgently demanded that much... damn uni for being such an attention whore. Although, with the downs came the ups this last week (hurrah!) and it's been pretty cool overall.
Some of the 'ups':
- (this is a major one actually) Kim's wedding
- the turnaround on my 'depression' (another biggie!)
- (this was clearly after busting my ass doing work) handing in my research proposal and finishing up my Psychopathology mid session exam
- getting the statistical analyses on my social psychology results done (Bill... you are a legend!)
I don't really think that bringing up the 'downs' would really go with the whole, 'they are over and done with' principle so I'm sparing people that. :P
FF is down again it seems :( Hackers suck. Spammers suck. That idiot ass who developed the frikkin Blaster Worm Virus, sucks. There is no other way to say it all, other than the direct way. So there it was.
I don't actually have a lot of time to go into much at the moment, but I did want to just sort of bring this up to date, considering I don't know when, within the next week, I'll be able to get hold of a computer which has the net connected to it.
Hope everyone's doing ok at the moment :)
Friday, September 26, 2003
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
'Keep your chin up...'
Only today was I made aware of a couple of things, one however was something that only happened last night so that's no surprise I suppose... apparently, two students from my uni were found murdered in an apartment right by my campus last night. Apparently, international students (which UNSW is chock full of, btw) have recently been becoming targets of extortion schemes and kidnappings and police suspect that what happened last night, may be yet another case of this.
I looked on the SMH and the Australian news sites for a better article but, lo and behold, there wasn't even one. I really should've known. Both completly hopeless papers.
There have been a lot of similar incidents reported around uni lately... about a couple weeks ago, a friend of mine was walking along the street with her boyfriend when they noticed a car appeared to be following them. These two guys then jumped out and attacked her boyfriend and tried to rob them both. Thankfully, the guys then made a break for it, leaving my friend and her boyfriend there. He was pretty roughed up though... they were just walking back to where he had parked his car.
With this sort of thing happening, I'm glad that I use public transport. It's still makes me a little jittery though.
I also only just read Cranberry's post about the state of FF - btw, thanks for the link Chris :) - and although they've assured us that it's coming back online, I'm still missing a lot of people I only get to really talk to via FF... I did try and get in last friday and I remember that stupid page coming up. Hope it comes back on soon and to the admins working on it - you guys rock.
On some lighter notes, I have finally come up with a topic for my research proposal for Organisational (hurrah!). As it's due next monday, there goes a lot of weight off my shoulders! Now to just construct an experiment or a correlational study...
The Panthers beat the Broncos! The Panthers beat the Broncos! That completely made my weekend :) It started out pretty badly, Broncos getting an early lead, but once again, the Panthers kicked ass in the second half and won 28-18 :) I'll admit, Brisbane haven't been doing too well lately. I think they've lost 8 games in a row, but they're a pretty powerful team so I was still nervous as Penrith is only this year, bringing itself up.
And they won!
Ok, chin's up :)
I looked on the SMH and the Australian news sites for a better article but, lo and behold, there wasn't even one. I really should've known. Both completly hopeless papers.
There have been a lot of similar incidents reported around uni lately... about a couple weeks ago, a friend of mine was walking along the street with her boyfriend when they noticed a car appeared to be following them. These two guys then jumped out and attacked her boyfriend and tried to rob them both. Thankfully, the guys then made a break for it, leaving my friend and her boyfriend there. He was pretty roughed up though... they were just walking back to where he had parked his car.
With this sort of thing happening, I'm glad that I use public transport. It's still makes me a little jittery though.
I also only just read Cranberry's post about the state of FF - btw, thanks for the link Chris :) - and although they've assured us that it's coming back online, I'm still missing a lot of people I only get to really talk to via FF... I did try and get in last friday and I remember that stupid page coming up. Hope it comes back on soon and to the admins working on it - you guys rock.
On some lighter notes, I have finally come up with a topic for my research proposal for Organisational (hurrah!). As it's due next monday, there goes a lot of weight off my shoulders! Now to just construct an experiment or a correlational study...
The Panthers beat the Broncos! The Panthers beat the Broncos! That completely made my weekend :) It started out pretty badly, Broncos getting an early lead, but once again, the Panthers kicked ass in the second half and won 28-18 :) I'll admit, Brisbane haven't been doing too well lately. I think they've lost 8 games in a row, but they're a pretty powerful team so I was still nervous as Penrith is only this year, bringing itself up.
And they won!
Ok, chin's up :)
Friday, September 12, 2003
Yesterday...
I know that I didn't say much with regard to 911 yesterday and, in all honesty, I didn't really want to. I understand people wanting to remember such a terrible day... what it stood for and the effect it had on so many lives, and I respect that. But at the same time, I hate the fact that everywhere I turn, it's being flashed in my face by the media, like ads for some new product.
It's that part that sickens me. Nothing else.
I don't know about everyone else... I do remember where I was and what I was doing when I found out what happened. I also remember listening to my radio on the train to uni that morning and listening to update after update. It was scary, but at the same time, I don't think I was really feeling anything... not yet anyway. That didn't happen until all the footage was shown on all the news channels later that day. And the next day. And the days and weeks after that... and so on.
All I can say is that my prayers are with all those people who were, in any way affected by 911... it's the best I can offer.
That said, I thought that this very simple tribute was really beautiful.
Thanks for that Wil.
It's that part that sickens me. Nothing else.
I don't know about everyone else... I do remember where I was and what I was doing when I found out what happened. I also remember listening to my radio on the train to uni that morning and listening to update after update. It was scary, but at the same time, I don't think I was really feeling anything... not yet anyway. That didn't happen until all the footage was shown on all the news channels later that day. And the next day. And the days and weeks after that... and so on.
All I can say is that my prayers are with all those people who were, in any way affected by 911... it's the best I can offer.
That said, I thought that this very simple tribute was really beautiful.
Thanks for that Wil.
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
Chicken feet anyone?
Right now, I'm trying to figure out what to wear to Kim and Shane's wedding on Saturday. It's finally happening! The two of them have been engaged for almost 3 years now and the original date had to be postponed and I am totally happy for them :D
I remember how back at school, we kinda threw around our ideas of who would be the first ones in our class to get married (if anyone! lol)... boy, were we wrong! Ok, so I don't think that Michelle (who got married last October) was that huge a shock but I'm pretty damn sure that not a lot of people would have put Kim down as #2 lol. Or Kirsty, whose wedding is coming up in November (I think), as #3 for that matter. What makes this whole thing even funnier is that onlynow is my 26 year old brother having to spend a fortune on wedding gifts, at the same time as I am. Then again, marriage isn't exactly the norm for 20-21 year olds is it? I've freaked out a lot of people with the news of my old friends' weddings and engagements, I have to say. Actual looks of terror even...
It's pretty damn funny.
I'm also expecting a couple more engagements over the next year or so... I could be totally wrong or goodness knows what might happen between now and then but well, I guess we'll see.
I am incredibly happy because I finished my data collection for my Social Psych experiment today! We needed 80 people and since my group has 4 people in it, we split into pairs and each pair had 40 people to cover each, 20 for the experimental condition and 20 for the control condition.
All of yesterday and today my partner, Melissa, and I trekked the entire campus (I'm not kidding... my feet... they absolutely hate me right now), approaching people and asking them to try some unusual food which, according to us, studies had shown contained particular food chemicals which have been found to enhance memory (for the experimental condition - with a cognitive load in the form of a memory test) or attention (for the control condition - without a cognitive load). We then administered the Stroop Test (do it if your game ;) It's pretty funny) and that was pretty much it.
Of course afterwards, we had to debrief each participant and tell them that our study was actually looking to see how they would react to the appearance of the bizarre looking food (would they blurt out or not?) and how that related to inhibition, which was measured by the Stroop Test. In both conditions, we had to totally up the food so that it would be at least somewhat inappropriate for them to blurt out something, especially something negative.
Considering how tedious that all sounds, we could see that some subjects saw it that way as well... that is, up until they saw the chicken feet and then did the Stroop Test. In the end, that had a lot of people laughing and relaxing a bit more considering they knew we were conducting a Psych experiment (honestly, we have the worst reputation for disturbing people during their lunch breaks and dumping weird and scary questionnaires and tests on them lol. The minute the words 'Psych students' came out, it would usually be followed by a bout of knowing or suspicious laughter).
We received a whole lot of different reactions, ranging from total disgust, to 'ooh yeah, I love this stuff!' and several in betweeners. We didn't approach anyone of Asian background considering we doubted that they would be all that schocked were they to see the chicken feet. More people than we expected were daring enough to actually eat the food - we were even running out! But all in all, people seemed pretty cool about the fact that we had *ahem* had to bend the truth a bit during the experiment :D
Oh man, I simply can't wait to get started on statistically analysing our data *shudder*. Now that's the real fun part.
Ugh... I'm gonna have to shudder again.
Oh yeah, adding to the above 'Hurrah!!' - Penrith got the Minor Premiership!!! They killed the Eels with a score of 40-22 (I despise the Eels so this was a bit of an extra bonus as far as I was concerned), with Rhys Wesser breaking the record for most tries scored in a season with 24 and Girdler's conversion rate actually improving, despite the fact that hardly a minute into the game, he was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes. Awesome, awesome game... just bloody fantastic. I'm a little nervous because next week they're up against the Broncos - one scary as team - and these are the qualifying finals... here's to the hope that they do just as well in the finals!
I remember how back at school, we kinda threw around our ideas of who would be the first ones in our class to get married (if anyone! lol)... boy, were we wrong! Ok, so I don't think that Michelle (who got married last October) was that huge a shock but I'm pretty damn sure that not a lot of people would have put Kim down as #2 lol. Or Kirsty, whose wedding is coming up in November (I think), as #3 for that matter. What makes this whole thing even funnier is that onlynow is my 26 year old brother having to spend a fortune on wedding gifts, at the same time as I am. Then again, marriage isn't exactly the norm for 20-21 year olds is it? I've freaked out a lot of people with the news of my old friends' weddings and engagements, I have to say. Actual looks of terror even...
It's pretty damn funny.
I'm also expecting a couple more engagements over the next year or so... I could be totally wrong or goodness knows what might happen between now and then but well, I guess we'll see.
I am incredibly happy because I finished my data collection for my Social Psych experiment today! We needed 80 people and since my group has 4 people in it, we split into pairs and each pair had 40 people to cover each, 20 for the experimental condition and 20 for the control condition.
All of yesterday and today my partner, Melissa, and I trekked the entire campus (I'm not kidding... my feet... they absolutely hate me right now), approaching people and asking them to try some unusual food which, according to us, studies had shown contained particular food chemicals which have been found to enhance memory (for the experimental condition - with a cognitive load in the form of a memory test) or attention (for the control condition - without a cognitive load). We then administered the Stroop Test (do it if your game ;) It's pretty funny) and that was pretty much it.
Of course afterwards, we had to debrief each participant and tell them that our study was actually looking to see how they would react to the appearance of the bizarre looking food (would they blurt out or not?) and how that related to inhibition, which was measured by the Stroop Test. In both conditions, we had to totally up the food so that it would be at least somewhat inappropriate for them to blurt out something, especially something negative.
Considering how tedious that all sounds, we could see that some subjects saw it that way as well... that is, up until they saw the chicken feet and then did the Stroop Test. In the end, that had a lot of people laughing and relaxing a bit more considering they knew we were conducting a Psych experiment (honestly, we have the worst reputation for disturbing people during their lunch breaks and dumping weird and scary questionnaires and tests on them lol. The minute the words 'Psych students' came out, it would usually be followed by a bout of knowing or suspicious laughter).
We received a whole lot of different reactions, ranging from total disgust, to 'ooh yeah, I love this stuff!' and several in betweeners. We didn't approach anyone of Asian background considering we doubted that they would be all that schocked were they to see the chicken feet. More people than we expected were daring enough to actually eat the food - we were even running out! But all in all, people seemed pretty cool about the fact that we had *ahem* had to bend the truth a bit during the experiment :D
Oh man, I simply can't wait to get started on statistically analysing our data *shudder*. Now that's the real fun part.
Ugh... I'm gonna have to shudder again.
Oh yeah, adding to the above 'Hurrah!!' - Penrith got the Minor Premiership!!! They killed the Eels with a score of 40-22 (I despise the Eels so this was a bit of an extra bonus as far as I was concerned), with Rhys Wesser breaking the record for most tries scored in a season with 24 and Girdler's conversion rate actually improving, despite the fact that hardly a minute into the game, he was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes. Awesome, awesome game... just bloody fantastic. I'm a little nervous because next week they're up against the Broncos - one scary as team - and these are the qualifying finals... here's to the hope that they do just as well in the finals!
Friday, September 05, 2003
Wanna Chupa Chup??
I am in true Friday afternoon mode at the moment: keyed up and a little nuts! Fun place to be right now, especially after this week... it's been a bit psycho lately.
So, you want a Chupa Chup or not? I've got em all - fruity ones, cola ones, creamy ones... it's a little tantalising for me, walking around with a bag full of lollipops whilst my sweet tooth continues to act up but because they are our form of 'compensation' for anyone who takes part in our social psych experiment...
Bugger.
We've had to revise our method again but we begin conducting it formally on Monday (finally! We've done enough practice, I reckon). I only wish I could get a pic up of the food we're going to be showing to people... seriously mate, it's just bloody gorgeous. It's chicken feet, which I know quite a few people wouldn't find so shocking, but I swear, when I looked into that container, they looked to me like hands! Gnarled, bony, burnt hands!
Pardon me a moment while I get really girly here but... eeeeeewwwwwwwwwww!
I am aware that my lack of experience with Asian food is pretty shocking considering I'm Filo but coz I'm allergic to most other Asian dishes, I could NOT help myself. Hands I tell you!
The weekend looks to be dull and full of note taking... if anyone can think of anything they might be interested in investigating or studying concerning behaviour in organisations/the workplace, drop me a line 'cause at the moment, I am completely stuck for my Org. Psych research proposal hehehe...
:wave:
So, you want a Chupa Chup or not? I've got em all - fruity ones, cola ones, creamy ones... it's a little tantalising for me, walking around with a bag full of lollipops whilst my sweet tooth continues to act up but because they are our form of 'compensation' for anyone who takes part in our social psych experiment...
Bugger.
We've had to revise our method again but we begin conducting it formally on Monday (finally! We've done enough practice, I reckon). I only wish I could get a pic up of the food we're going to be showing to people... seriously mate, it's just bloody gorgeous. It's chicken feet, which I know quite a few people wouldn't find so shocking, but I swear, when I looked into that container, they looked to me like hands! Gnarled, bony, burnt hands!
Pardon me a moment while I get really girly here but... eeeeeewwwwwwwwwww!
I am aware that my lack of experience with Asian food is pretty shocking considering I'm Filo but coz I'm allergic to most other Asian dishes, I could NOT help myself. Hands I tell you!
The weekend looks to be dull and full of note taking... if anyone can think of anything they might be interested in investigating or studying concerning behaviour in organisations/the workplace, drop me a line 'cause at the moment, I am completely stuck for my Org. Psych research proposal hehehe...
:wave:
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
:wave:
Again, I'm celebrating a Panthers win! Hurrah! Not only did they completely annihilate the Eagles (52-26!!) but they are back on top of the ladder with a real lead :D A bloody great job but also - Lewis, Wesser and Campbell... you. guys. rock! At half time, the score was a 12-26, in favour of the Eagles so the second half was just awesome. Woohoo!
Anyway, that made for a pretty sweet weekend, as far as I'm concerned. Although, there was the slight disruption which held back my completion of my Psych presentation and this came in the form of my little sister's friend, gracing us with her presence for the entire weekend. Now she's a cool little kid, but a weekend of her and my sister combined is just a little too much.
The result? I was up till 5am this morning, working on my assignment. The really cool part was waking up at 6am in order to get ready and catch my train (I had to get in early to fix up my overheads). I know, I know... I'm sick. I don't need anyone to tell me this (not that that stops people). Believe me, I know. ;)
I'm cool with it now though, considering the presentation is over, meaning I have a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders. I am not the worst at presentations, but I'm certainly not the best. This is especially the case when the topic is one I'm not very familiar with at all par example, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It didn't help that the reading itself was badly structured and all over the place... my tutor even acknowledged this.
Tomorrow, Ri and I will be doing our child behaviour coding. We have to go to a family's house and observe a child during a supposedly high stress time, in our case dinnertime, and sit there for a half hour observing and coding the target child's behaviour and interaction with his/her parents. Ri and I know the girl we're doing but hopefully this doesn't disrupt things too much. The whole situation is most probably not going to be the most naturalistic but it's the best we can do at this point without the use of a lounge-like lab. The two of us there is to ensure inter-rater reliability between results.
Doesn't Psychopathology sound grand? ;)
Our Social Psych experiment is almost up and running... we just have to meet up with our tutor one more time to run it by him and also get ethics approval for it, then UNSW students on your breaks? Watch yourselves! Hehehehe...
Btw, Chris, I can't use imagestation on this comp :( because I don't have admin capabilities but hopefully when the comp at home is fixed, I can upload the pics there. But thanks heaps for the suggestion! :D
Anyhow, it's time to get back to work, I have a research proposal I have to also get started on for Organisational, which is due in week 9 and it's now week 6 :eek:
:D
Anyway, that made for a pretty sweet weekend, as far as I'm concerned. Although, there was the slight disruption which held back my completion of my Psych presentation and this came in the form of my little sister's friend, gracing us with her presence for the entire weekend. Now she's a cool little kid, but a weekend of her and my sister combined is just a little too much.
The result? I was up till 5am this morning, working on my assignment. The really cool part was waking up at 6am in order to get ready and catch my train (I had to get in early to fix up my overheads). I know, I know... I'm sick. I don't need anyone to tell me this (not that that stops people). Believe me, I know. ;)
I'm cool with it now though, considering the presentation is over, meaning I have a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders. I am not the worst at presentations, but I'm certainly not the best. This is especially the case when the topic is one I'm not very familiar with at all par example, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It didn't help that the reading itself was badly structured and all over the place... my tutor even acknowledged this.
Tomorrow, Ri and I will be doing our child behaviour coding. We have to go to a family's house and observe a child during a supposedly high stress time, in our case dinnertime, and sit there for a half hour observing and coding the target child's behaviour and interaction with his/her parents. Ri and I know the girl we're doing but hopefully this doesn't disrupt things too much. The whole situation is most probably not going to be the most naturalistic but it's the best we can do at this point without the use of a lounge-like lab. The two of us there is to ensure inter-rater reliability between results.
Doesn't Psychopathology sound grand? ;)
Our Social Psych experiment is almost up and running... we just have to meet up with our tutor one more time to run it by him and also get ethics approval for it, then UNSW students on your breaks? Watch yourselves! Hehehehe...
Btw, Chris, I can't use imagestation on this comp :( because I don't have admin capabilities but hopefully when the comp at home is fixed, I can upload the pics there. But thanks heaps for the suggestion! :D
Anyhow, it's time to get back to work, I have a research proposal I have to also get started on for Organisational, which is due in week 9 and it's now week 6 :eek:
:D
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)