My Weekly Routine

Sorry everyone...

...for not putting up a weekend post. I had a nice weekend home (saving up for my trip to London this weekend), and have been busy since then.

It's probably as good a time as ever to explain my basic weekly schedule (remember, soft 'sch' sound).

Really, most of my week revolves around my weekly meeting with my supervisor on Wednesday mornings. In our meeting, I show Professor Allerton my progress over the previous week, and then we set some goals for the coming week. The rest of the day, I write up the minutes of our meeting and put together a plan of attack for accomplishing the new goals, but the pressure is off. So, I also use Wednesdays to run errands and catch up on various other things (like this). Wednesday evening is the Navigator's Bible Study and is my mid-week highlight.

Thursday and Friday are fairly routine and relaxed, and I spend most of my time in either the library or my office. This past month, I've been reading lots of technical papers on the future of air traffic control (that will change a bit once I get going in my actual research project). I try to get on campus early and then go home for a long lunch break (do the dishes, laundry, exercise, etc) and then head back to campus to finish up. I try to put in about 8 hours a day at school, but I have a lot of freedom to shift the hours around.

My only lecture class this semester (Distributed Real-Time Systems) meets on Friday for two hours. We use the British method: no homework or exams until the final exam. Good: no busy work. Bad: you better learn it and get it right the first time!

I try to run three times a week (MWF) and I save the long one for Friday (45 - 60 minutes). On Tuesday and Thursday I go to the gym to lift.

Of course, you already know what my Saturdays are like, but I can't afford to go away every weekend. This time, for example, I went to one of the local museums and learned about Sheffield's history (another story for another time).

Sunday I reserve completely for church, reading, and rest.

Monday and Tuesday are when things get busy again, because I have to push to complete my goals before Wednesday. So, these are really the only days that I work late. The only problem with reading about conflict resolution algorithms for hours each day is that when I walk back to my flat, I start thinking about how the people on the sidewalk are constantly using conflict detection and resolution, and it doesn't always work because we occasionally bump into each other...

I try to get out of bed at 6:00 and spend the better part of an hour in Bible reading, prayer, etc. (I've never had this much flexibility with my time, so I'm trying to spend it wisely). I can usually get to the Library to start work before 8:00. Bedtime is typically 10:30 (with 10:00ish to 10:30 just for reading/relaxing).

Oh, It's my birthday today, so I'm going out for some fish 'n chips tonight before Navs. Tomorrow, some people from church are coming over to my place for pizza as a late birthday party. It's brilliant (over here, brilliant can mean 'cool,' 'awesome,' or 'good to hear.' Ex: "I went to a party yesterday." "Oh, that's brilliant.").

I will put up pictures of my room soon, but I still have moving boxes in the way.

Ok, bye for now.

Cheers,
Will