I need your help - Join my team!

As I mentioned yesterday I would like to do a sort of let's motivate each other thing, where we could share pictures on Instagram (I'm @sunnivarose) or Snap (I'm sunnivarose) or Twitter (@sunnivarose here too) - anything to cheer each other up, and to be proud of our selves. Can we use social media to cheer each other up? I think we can, and it would be so much fun:

• If you're early at the office (or wherever you're working or studying), well the tell us :)
• If you've made your self a fresh cup of coffee before you're starting repeating for your exam, then tell us :)
• If you feel like you're stupid, since "everyone else" understand this except you (which of course isn't true anyway, but whatever), but you're not giving up, tell us
• If you're having a 12 hour day at the university (or office or wherever), share it!
• If you just learnt something new, be proud and shout out :)
• If you finished something, or started something, let us know!

To do this, we need a tag, and since I want you on my motivation team, the tag is #teamsunnivarose - join my team, I need your help!

Here are a couple of snaps that I've made during this day and yesterday:

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A little update on my plan this week so far:

Yesterday I was all up to date, and I was early at the office - as planned :D

Today hasn't exactly been the same success: I did manage to be early at the office, but I was also supposed to write for three hours (only done 1), work on the Strength Function part of the uranium analysis (maybe even finish it), plot a lot of stuff, and discuss with Sunniva Supervisor (who is in CERN - which I didn't know when I made the plan yesterday, so that one isn't on me). Then this day just took a totally different turn, and I have almost done nothing...however, it's only Tuesday, and I'm quite confident I'll manage to get through my plan of the week by the end of the week - maybe this is where we can help each other...?

When it come to my writing goal this week, I'm certainly not giving up: I WILL DO 20 HOURS! Tomorrow I'm going on a writing seminar that lasts to Friday, so that's why I'm so positive :) But before that I'm going on "Tidenes morgen" on P13, to talk about fusion...so now it's dinner with Anders, and the some nuclear fusion reading <3

Have a beautiful evening, and GO TEAM!

Research plan of the week

Hello everyone, and hello Monday!

It's been a while since I shared my study/research plan of the week with you guys, but I was thinking maybe it's a good time to start again. As I was sort of saying yesterday, I'm starting to get nervous about finishing the PhD, feeling a little like I'm drowning in a hole, and I almost get dizzy from trying to just start somewhere... To solve this, I have to do (at least) two things, I believe: 

1) Plan my week (this will help me set goals, and check if I actually achieve them)
2) Get up early, and start working at the office early - every day(!)

I know "early" is sort of a relative term, but in academia, where almost nothing starts before 10:15, I think before 9 is early.

So this is what my (research) plan of the week looks like - there's a lot of focus on writing article number 2 now, as you can see ;) Hopefully I can soon put this article a little bit behind me, and focus on newer stuff...

Goals: Be at the office before nine every day, and spend 20 hours on writing on that (stupid) second article. I don't know exactly where that will take me, but if I just manage to fulfill this writing goal, I will know by the end of this week, and hopefully then I can "see the light" again.

Anyone want to join me? Maybe we could do a sort of let's motivate each other kind of thing? I mean, I can't be the only one struggling with writing articles/PhD thesis/doing my research/preparing for an exam/Master thesis or whatever... Maybe we could even do a hashtag or something? I'm not exactly sure of what it could be yet, but I'm thinking :)

Anyway, wish you all a great start at the new week, and good luck with all your goals! The first thing I'm going to do now is to read through and then send off my current draft of article2 to Sunniva Supervisor - then I can already put the first "check" on my plan ;)

PS: I was at my office at 08:20 this morning - great start for me, so far...

OMG - it's real!?!

Last friday (a little bit more than one week ago) Theres successfully defended her PhD thesis :)

Two weeks before that she got the theme and title of her trial lecture - which is standard procedure; 14 days before the PhD defence you get a title for a trial lecture, that you are supposed to give on the morning of the day of your thesis defence. If you don't get this trial lecture approved, then you don't get to actually defend your thesis either - so it's kind of a big deal... 

Therese's title was "Nuclear uncertainties in the direct detection of dark matter" (or something like that).

This may seem a little funny or strange, but from that Friday when she got her trial lecture title it suddenly hit me, right in the stomach, that this is actually real: It's exactly 10 months to the date I'm planning to finish my thesis today and it doesn't feel all good. There is so much to do I almost feel a little dizzy - where do I start?

I think have to step up this game if I'm going to have any kind of chance of finishing my thesis by the end of 2016...

What I wore #1 Debattskolen

Since I wrote about what to wear as a female scientist I got all kinds of reactions: From those who thought this was way over the top, and that I have now "stretched my pink bubblegum too far", to those who didn't see any issues with this what so ever, to those who want to wear something (like dresses or high heels) but has actually been ridiculed for being too feminine, thus not serious enough.

Therefore I thought: why not write more about #whatiwore for different occasions where I have given a talk, or had some kind of "performance". Then those who were provoked about me writing seriously about how to dress can continue to be provoked, or just not read the blogpost; those who didn't think of this as an issue at all can do whatever they like; and those who actually think of this as an issue, and maybe want some inspiration can read the blogpost and hopefully be inspired ;)

First out is my outfit for Debattskolen last Wednesday (sorry it has taken me a week, but that's just life), where I was in a panel consisting of several bloggers - we were discussing blogging; why and how. Lots of fun, and very interesting to listen to the experiences of the other bloggers (Gunnar Tjomlid, Hans-Petter Nygård-Hansen, Maria Gjerpe, and Christoffer Hovde)!
I felt like being ultra feminine this day, and I was certain I had to wear either a dress or a skirt. I ended up with this yellow, high waisted skirt from H&M, and a knitted top from KOOKAÏ (love the length of the arms - perfect for occasions inside at this time of the year). The plan was to change into heels for the evening, and just wear the sneakers at the university during the day, but I ended up feeling the outfit was actually perfect with the all white sneakers this day - a little bit more towards cute and fun ;)

#foredragsoutfit

 

skirt: HM // tights: HM (200 denier - the best for everyday use!) // scarf: CMYK //watch: Apple // top: kookaï // sneakers: Nelly

Next question of the month will, by the way, be on the 15th of November. That's a Sunday, and I don't really like that so much, but I just found out that the 15th every month is a good date, and next time after that it will be on a weekday :)

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PS: I just gave my "10 reasons why I love <3 nuclear physics" talk, and this is a peek of my look today - I really like my hair like this (if I'm not nervous of not being taken ultra seriously; if that was the case I would have made a bun) :D

my selfie got photobombed <3

10 reasons why I love nuclear physics

Today I've been preparing for a talk that i'll be giving tomorrow: it's for high school students that are visiting the University, and my title is 10 reasons why I love nuclear physics.

Well, the title I was given was 10 reasons why I like nuclear physics, but of course I had to change the like into a love; I guess with me there's no in between - I either love something, or I hate it, and I love nuclear physics <3

1. the idea of the atom is really a philosophical and "simple" idea
2. the atom is more or less all empty space
3. the nuclear force is the strongest one we know of - when we release it, fascinating (and scary) things can happen
4. things are strange: mass can become energy, and energy can become mass (Einstein, Einstein, Einstein)
5. nuclear power is environmental friendly: 1.053 grams of uranium-235 that all fission release the same amount of energy as if you burn 4 tons of coal
6. nuclear power is the safest way (of all) of producing power, but interestingly that isn't the common perception
7. it's all kind of mysterious - the nucleus radiates, and there's a lot of fear around this, but all in all it's "just" energy :)
8. knowledge that can be used to produce weapons of mass destruction can also be used to cure cancer <3
9. it's still sooo much we don't understand; 100 years after Rutherford discovered the atomic nucleus, we are still doing extremely similar experiments
10. the study of (some of) the smallest things (the nucleus) is suddenly the same as studying the biggest things (big explosions in space)

I have to get up super early tomorrow morning, to finish my slides, so I think I'll just say good night, and sleep tight <3<3<3

Nerdy Baby!

I've translated a book! And written a preface! (Yes, I am yelling - in case you were wondering. I'm proud, that's why :D ) Prosjekt Baby, or the Human Infant Project!

a very very fresh Alexandra - ready to go home from the hospital (she's born in February, in Norway - therefore the woolen socks ;) )

It's a baby book, written and illustrated by a fantastic artist - Tiffany Ard. This scrapbook is an alternative to all the pink and blue baby scrapbooks that are out there. The book is neutral when it comes to the sex of the baby, since the thoughts and feelings you have when you are expecting are more or less the same if you're having a boy or a girl. But most importantly it's pretty and funny and a little bit sciency ;)

I soooo wish I had had this book when I was expecting Alexandra. If I'm ever having another baby there's no question which book  will be used to save all kinds of memories from the pregnancy and the first years of the baby (from the very happy ones: the baby is amazing and I love him/her from the bottom of my heart, to the scientific: the top story in Nature is they've cured HIV and AIDS, to the not so happy: I slept five minutes this night, and am this close to throwing the f***ing  baby from the balcony)!

The book includes (quoted from Tiffany Ard's page about the book):

• all the standard basic birth details
• family background
• anticipation! Whether you adopt or go through pregnancy or sit in the car while your husband steals a baby from rich people, the waiting is the hardest part...
• parental sleep statistics
• firsts - like bath, outing, babysitter, illness, toys, nicknames, smile, laugh, haircut, early physics experiments (which can include standing/walking/etc
• favorite and least favorite things
• motor reflexes (in motor reflexes bingo format)
• height and weight chart
• 1 year celebration
• 3 year celabration
• quotes by Neil deGrasse Tyson
• beautiful drawings of cells (my words, not quoted by Tiffany)
• place for handprints and footprints
• spaces for attaching photos
• several blank pages for any other details or keepsakes
• plus much more...

Also, I think the Prosjekt Baby is so incredibly pretty, I can't believe it <3 (I know I already said that, but I just had to say it again.)

On Tiffany's Nerdy Baby page, it's also possible to buy books like Schrödinger's kitty and  Science Coloring Book (The World's Most Ridiculously Excellent); Alexandra will definitely get some of her christmas presents from Tiffany this year <3

LIKE Tiffany Ard and her Nerdy Baby Artwork HERE, buy the Human Infant Project HERE (English, original), or buy the Prosjekt Baby HERE (Norwegian, translated, and with my preface :) )

<3 "a detailed lab report" <3

Friday Facts (or something): Top 10 places to visit...

Today's Friday Facts are not really facts (they are just highly my opinion...;) ), but my list of the top ten places to visit around the world, as a nuclear/reactor physicist. I'm not sure about the order, so that's quite random (except I think to me Chernobyl really is number one - I can't believe we didn't manage to go there when we were in Kiev two years ago).

1. Chernobyl - Ukraine
2. La Hague - France
3. Sellafield - UK
4. Olympic Dam - Australia
5. Olkiluoto - Finland
6. Fukushima - Japan
7. Three Mile Island - USA
8. Los Alamos - USA
9. Hirsohima - Japan
10. CERN - Switzerland

Now you know where to go when you're planning your next vacation ;)

 

The only place I can cross off the list is Hirsohima. I went there when we made Sushi and Nuclear last year. It was actually quite emotional to go there - it felt a little bit like a continuous punch in the stomach, to walk around the A-bomb Dome, which they left as it was after the bombing.

So, do you agree on my list? Or should some of the places be replaced?