LOUD

The fire alarm's knackered again. This means it's stuck on after the test - there's no fire. I've got a decent handle on my corrections, so I'll be job hunting after the (school) Easter holidays, and will finish them off in the evenings.
Easter concert coming up this Saturday, so I'll spend the morning putting a shed up, then don my dinner jacket and head off for singing. Nice. Not very keen on the music, but never mind.

Oh, and we're having a housewarming party on the 13th of April. Feel free to come round.

EDIT: Now it's on the Saturday - the 14th of April. I blame Emma.

Corrections

I think I've cracked it. Still will have a chunk of typing to do, but I think I've sussed the hard maths behind the problem.

In other news we've got internet access up at home again. Managed to set it up at midnight having got back from the Owls v Colchester game. We won. Very odd atmosphere: it felt like a reserve game. There was almost no singing before the last ten minutes.

Avatar Idol!

At Mahinda's suggestion, I thought it would be a good idea to pick an avatar for Emma. This could be amusing, and may prompt her to choose one.

Here are the current options:
Avatar 1
Avatar 2
Avatar 3 (courtesy of Pete)

Any suggestions, email them to me (or to Mark - I'm sure he won't mind passing them on) and I'll add them. I'll do a vote in a couple of weeks (or when we've got plenty of decent suggestions).

Saturday was very nice, having a meal out with all the Exeter-based relatives is something I'd like to do more often.

The new more irritating, more painfully loud fire alarm system was being configured and tested today. Which meant that the alarm would be sounding at irregular intervals throughout the day, Joy! Dad's suggestion to buy a pair of ear defenders was a very good one. However I still ended up with a bit of a headache from the useless din. Why can't such systems have a quieter testing mode? Apparently it took longer (and made more noise) because someone botched programming the master control box, and had to re-do about half of the programming.

There was a talk today about the options for me moving on from my current flat, I missed most of it, but got the information that I was after.

Telephone

BT finally made it round this morning, so we've got a landline again, with a new number. I'm not going to put it up here, so if you can't wait for me to post it out, send me a text. Broadband to follow when I've checked whether we've got an ethernet port or not.

Viva Aftermath

Now that I'm feeling a little more levelheaded about the whole viva thingy, I suppose I ought to make a more levelheaded post about the current state of play.

The good news:

• The examiners were very complimentary about my work, both in terms of quality and quantity.

The stuff we discussed in the viva was mostly minor typos and the odd howler which will only take five minutes to fix. There was one geometrical proof (Algebraic Topology combines algebra and geometry, but my work was largely on the algebraic side) which I'd completely made a hash of, but it's a well known result - just need to sort the proof out.

• The viva itself went very well.

It was much more relaxed than I was expecting, even considering that I knew both my examiners were nice blokes, so I wasn't expecting too much of an interrogation. I hadn't really twigged that I was going to be the "expert" on the material.

• I've got a much better idea of what to do next.

This will be even clearer when I get the proper list of corrections from the examiners. It's nice to finally have some certainty about the whole PhD thing. I've got a finite list of jobs to do, and when they're complete I'll pass. I think the hardest thing about pursuing research is that you're never quite sure how good the material is, how much needs doing, how much detail is required, and so on. This is after several years of trying things that don't work and wondering why you ever thought further study was a good idea.

• I'm certain that I'll graduate in the summer

Most of the hanging around was waiting for a viva date. Once corrections are done there will be a very quick turnaround.

• I'm sure of help from various sources

The external examiner's said he's very willing to discuss the problem with me. I'll have to pop to Leicester for that, but 'tis very nice. Similarly my supervisor has some free time at last, and the internal's already been very helpful.

• The worst case scenario's quite good

Even if I throw away all of the results which are affected by the techincal hitch, there's still enough material to get a PhD.


The bad news:

• I've not passed.

I think this really comes back under the certainty headline. For one thing, it's nigh on impossible to explain exactly what's going on succinctly.
Minor corrections? No problem: "I've passed, just need to do some corrections".
Me? A little trickier: "There's a technical issue affecting five chapters of my thesis. The examiners felt that a pass with minor corrections would put me under too much time pressure. There's no further oral exam, but I need to sort out the issue and resubmit. Unfortunately this could involve a fair bit of reorganisation and possibly typing. I've not passed yet, but will soon. I don't know how complicated the problem is, so don't have any idea about a timescale."
This is rubbish when you're trying to a) let people know how it went, b) trying to go out and celebrate afterwards.

• I can't get on with it yet
  

I love university administration. I can't get books out of the library just yet - need a form signed. I've not yet got the list of corrections, and don't really have a precise idea of what I need to fix. I've done some preparatory thinking, but can't really get stuck in at the moment. Again there's a book that would help with this, but it's in the library.

• I can't get on with other things

The thing I was most looking forward to was not having to do any more maths, getting a job & earning more money. I was hoping/assuming that minor corrections could be done in the evening around a job.

May I make a request? Can we only use post labels if we think, at some point in the future, someone might actually want to look back at all the posts about X? I think it's a bit of a stretch of the imagination, for example, to say that in two years time someone will think "I really want to know what thoughts the Dobsons have had about boxes over the years."

Message ends.

I should post about my job at some point, but, equally, I should go to bed.

Viva Results

The Examiners will make one of the following recommendations for a PhD:
i Award the degree of PhD with no corrections
ii Award the degree of PhD subject to minor corrections
iii Invite to revise and resubmit (on only one occasion) for the degree of PhD with possible further oral examination
iv Award the degree of MPhil
v Award the degree of MPhil subject to minor corrections
vi Invite to revise and resubmit (on only one occasion) with possible further oral
examination for the degree of MPhil
vii Reject, not permitting resubmission

The viva went very well, and my results are good.
But.
I've not passed. There's an issue with deducing the infinite results from the finite results that needs resolving, and this issue affects most chapters of my thesis. The examiners felt that a pass with minor corrections (which gives you four weeks to make the corrections) would put me under too much time pressure. There's no further oral exam, but I need to sort out the issue and resubmit, at which point I'll pass. Unfortunately this could involve a fair bit of reorganisation and possibly typing.

Bollocks.

Off to the pub now.

I managed to mess up being on JSA already, by missing my first sign-on day because I got the date wrong, curse my numerate dyslexia. This was not helped by having new smoke detectors fitted in my flat on the same day. Or receiving my JSA letter which states I have the disabled and severely disabled bonus, the latter of which I'm not sure I should be eligible for, so I asked my support worker to check that I'm not getting money that I shouldn't be getting and get in a proper muddle.
I only discovered my blunder long after the Job centre had shut, and after going to the Job centre twice today I am waiting for an appointment tomorrow to hear what the decision will be. Plus there hasn't been a single suitable job in the paper or websites, unless I fancy moving to Bradford or Liverpool. It's really annoying how many jobs want "good communication skills", "excellent telephone manner" and "customer service". Just what I can't do

And now for the good news
My Student Loan is finally down to about £600, at my current rate I'll have repaid it by this time next year.

Viva

It's my viva on the 28th of Feb (Wednesday) at 2:00pm, so whenever I get out I'll be off to Kro Bar on Oxford Road for a few beers, then off to the Manchester Ceilidh at Jabez Clegg (8:00 kick off, I think, and entry's £5 or £2.50 NUS) round the corner for a few more. Not sure when I'll get to Kro, as vivas finish when they finish, but hopefully by about 5:00 or 6:00 or so.

*crosses fingers*

Come for a beer if you're in the area.

It was really nice to have Mum and Dad around last week, even nicer that I could treat Mum to a day out at Plymouth Aquarium (her choice) as her birthday present. Like many males I'm often at a loss as what to get Mum for her birthday, and this seemed like a good idea.

It seems a little strange to me that all of my siblings have paired off, and all of them all either from another country or in Emma's case her father is from another country. But then it almost seems like a family tradition, one of my uncles was born of European immigrants, my Dad's sister emigrated to America with her husband and my Nan's sister emigrated to Australia. Personally I think it's down to good taste, Emma and Monica are both lovely people, can't really comment on Ann (Nicholas's girlfriend), since I've yet to meet her.

I'm now on Jobseeker's Allowance, things have changed a little since last time. I now have to apply for at least two jobs a week. This is both a good thing and a bad thing, the obvious flaw is that there are so few suitable jobs for someone with Asperger's Syndrome, and if there is the possibility that I will have to apply for an unsuitable job. The good thing is that I will be making much more of an effort to find a suitable job than I would otherwise. The only positive thing is that failing at the interview stage is much more likely for me even if I try, so there is less risk of getting an unsuitable job. This may sound a little unethical but given the choice between being unemployed and having a job that will exhaust and discourage me, I'd rather be unemployed.

I found one possible job, helping people with learning disabilities cope with independent living, sound like the sort of thing that might appeal to me. The other bit of good news is that even if I'm still on JSA, I would be able to help with the forthcoming parental unpacking when they move to Bushbury.

I spent the rest of the afternoon having a bake-fest. My housegroup is having a meal together before this week's meeting, I offered to bake a cake, and then decided to have a go at baking a non-gluten-free loaf for the mini-communion after the housegroup talk. Also baking a cake for the staff meeting at Mortimer House, partly to use up the leftover eggs, partly because I like baking cakes and like people to enjoy eating them.

Knackered

Well, we're into the new house, and out of the old one (with the exception of some cleaning at the old place). Spent Saturday cleaning the new house, Sunday doing the remaining packing at the old place (plus an amazing roast dinner at Ben and Vicky's), Monday moving (three trips with a 3.5 tonne van plus an extra one for stuff like barbecue & bikes which are a little filthy) with large amounts of valuable help from Rosy and Vicky on the first two trips. Pete helped out with the unloading of trip three. Tuesday morning was spent moving our bed (obtained from our 'ex'-landlord) upstairs via a window halfway up the stairs using a rope and a (slightly dodgily borrowed) ladder. Thanks to Dave for his assistance with the bed.

The furniture is pretty much where we want it now. The clothes are mostly unpacked (thanks to Emma), and the kitchen is useable. It's starting to look like our house now, albeit with boxes everywhere. It's nice to be back on real food - takeaway gets boring very quickly and is expensive.
Next time we move (not that I ever want to move house again) I think we'll pay someone else to do it. We're not students any more, and it's no longer just a couple of car loads to shift!

Now I've got my PhD viva in just under two weeks, so I'm back to work on maths in preparation. We should have a BT line in place in early March, and internet a couple of days (hopefully) later.

EDIT: I might be overstating this, but we've had a hell of a lot of help from quite a few people during the move. I'm not sure we would have got it done otherwise, and all the help meant that it was a tiring and stressful experience, but not a horrible one.