Postdoc Options

Postdoc Fallacy

In which I discuss my thoughts on a career in research at the present time. In which I cover the options open to me both from a research point of view and location.

I still currently plan to have an academic research career as opposed to an industrial research career but I'm open to the possibility my AZ placement may change my mind.

A Career in Research?

So far I've enjoyed my PhD and the working environment that is academia. There are always problems with any working environment but I've only encountered minor niggles so far and there is a lot of freedom to carry out your work in a manner that suits you (as long as it gets done :) ).

From the few people I've spoken to about Postdocs so far it is clear that getting at least one publication published by the end of my 4 year programme is a must. While it is possible to continue my research career without a publication under my belt it will make applying for good jobs significantly easier. This is the world of "

Publish or Perish

" after all.

Location, Location, Location

There is a general rule in research - move! The majority* of academics suggest you change institution between PhD and postdoc (the same has been said about undergrad to PhD too) unless you truly are at the best institute in the world for what you are doing. This, of course, gives me something to start ruminating about and also a great opportunity to visit a completely new city for several years.

Obviously the UK† is always an option but this is probably my best opportunity to live abroad for a short while.‡ And there is quite a lot of choice open to me. With my current language skills I could easily look at Australia, Belgium, Canada, France and the US. If I learn one of the two languages I most wish I knew then I'd open up opportunities in Germany or Japan as well.

I've also been told that, besides English, the best languages I could be learning at the moment for research are Chinese (Mandarin) and Japanese. This definitely gives Japan some bonus points. Not only is it a very interesting place that I've always wanted to visit but if I'm going to invest the time in learning the language I might as well put it to use in that country.

*That I've spoken to.

†Unless something drastically changes I expect I'll always want to return to the UK. It's not just the tea, I generally enjoy it here.

‡Postdocs are usually a few years.

Changes to the Site

I've added a links/cool stuff section to the blog which you can find here:

MRI Glossary

. It includes my very much under-development MRI glossary :)

Tom Out!

P.S. 

http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/1270/Careers.html

P.P.S. 

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php

Project Thor: Mjolnir Pepakura

I have all the materials to craft Mjolnir now - to the Forge! ... for real this time :)

Pepakura

As I'm still lacking a hot wire cutter I've decided to try the Pepakura method instead. Pepakura is paper modeling. Using the Pepakura Designer software you can take a pre-made paper folding file (such as the Mjolnir one here: http://www.lacasadeel.net/2012/03/fabricando-el-martillo-de-thor-en-papercraft.html) and edit it following this a YouTube video (sadly now removed) in order to make a foam version.

Crafting

So now I have these materials to play with:

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Thor Materials 2

Cutting out the template onto the foam was easy and then using wood glue I've started to form the hammer head:

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Hammer head

By Thor's Beard!

I've started growing the beard but it is currently unimpressive:

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By Thor's beard!

Tom Out!

Keemun Tea

In which I try a variety of black tea I was not previously aware of.

Brewing

"Use freshly drawn cold water. Use water at a “rolling boil” (100°C). Steep for 3 to 5 minutes (or to your taste). This delicate tea is best drunk black or with just a touch of milk … and for freshness every time, keep your tea somewhere cool, dark, dry and airtight!"

As usual I went for a strong brew and tried it both with and without milk.

Colour

Slightly darker than your standard tea but a good tea colour nonetheless.

Aroma

Smells like a normal tea, nothing fancy here. Though I think you can pick up a slightly nutty aroma too.

Taste

I tried this tea with and without milk. Without milk the tea is stronger than assam or ceylon based teas and has a slightly nutty taste. With milk the same description holds but the flavour is lighter and more delicate.

AstraZeneca

This has joined my new set of work teas for the duration of my work placement at AstraZeneca. Luckily there is a kitchen here with plentiful milk allowing me to expand my tea horizons once more :)

Conclusion

A nice change to my line-up of standard teas. Simple but tasty :)

Web-link

http://shop.twinings.co.uk/shop/keemun-tea-bags.html

Upcoming Changes

I have a whole gamut of  teas to try over the next weeks so this will likely become a weekly feature once more! Also I'm gearing up to a large scale tea review - The Great British Tea Test 2012! Details next week!

Tom out!

Giant Party Ring

Giant party rings! This week in metric!

Ingredients

• 90g butter

• 200g self raising flour

• 100g caster sugar*

• 1 medium egg

• ½ tsp vanilla essence

• approx. 150g icing sugar

• food colourings of your choice

*I used brown sugar because it was all I had and that worked pretty well :)

How-to

1. Cream butter and sugar together.

2. Add egg and vanilla essence.

3. Mix thoroughly.

4. Sieve flour into mixture.

5. Mix thoroughly.

6. Add flour if dough is too sticky.

7. Wrap dough in foil and leave in fridge for an hour.

8. Preheat oven to ~ 180°C

9. Roll dough out into a large round shape (pizza trays are a good size guide).

10. Cut a hexagonal hole out of the centre (yes, hexagonal!).

11. Use any spare dough to make smaller and smaller party rings.

12. Bake for ~ 30 mins.

13. Leave to cool

Icing:

1. Sieve icing sugar into bowl.

2. Add food colouring.

3. Add a small amount of water (be very careful or you're going to need a whole kilo of icing sugar to make it less runny!)

4. Mix thoroughly.

5. Use the back of a spoon to cover your biscuit.

6. Make up another colour of icing.

7. Use knife to place it in lines across the biscuit.

8. Use you knife to draw out the lines into a party ring pattern.

The Finished Article

Sadly this week I made my icing way too runny but here's a picture I took last time I got this right :)

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Giant Party Ring

Tom Out!

P.S. Based on: http://www.pimpthatsnack.com/project/15/

Good Internet, Bad Internet

In which I discuss poor internet connections.

Slow Internet

Today at work I was using a terribly slow internet connection. What interested me was which programs and websites worked on a slow connection and which ones didn't.

These programs/sites worked well:

• Wikipedia

• Xkcd

• Xkcd what if?

• Evernote

These didn't:

• Outlook

• Outlook web

• Wunderlist

• Ctrl-Alt-Delete

Google Mail & Calendar were intermittent.

Why should this be? I'm not sure and would have hazarded a guess that sites and programs which send less data would work better. However, Wunderlist only needs to send short strings of text (calendar events) when Evernote was syncing complete documents. Also with the websites both CAD and Xkcd require images to load. Xkcd managed it easily but I haven't seen today's CAD yet. Maybe the ones which loaded were just better coded/written!?!

Good Wi-Fi

Currently I'm writing this from the comfort of First Class with a complimentary glass of Merlot :-) The free Wi-Fi is excellent and speedy - the upgrade was definitely worth it (£2 to upgrade which gets me the normally £6 Wi-Fi, free wine and dinner). My new Archos G9 101 tablet is working very well and for a quick trip like this it's so much better than a laptop.*

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Don’t forget complimentary tea too:-)

So my first post written entirely on a tablet has gone well, also having a 250Gb HDD means I've done so to excellent musical accompaniment (LotR and TMBG among others).

*Although I did need to re-calibrate the screen after a recent update.

Tom Out!

CASE Placements and Research Software

In which I apologise for this week being low on blog posts and update you on my AstraZeneca placement. Also I use software I normally use for research for other purposes.I'm sorry there haven't been any updates this week. There was no cake made as I had no time for choir on Tuesday, no tea as it's an alternate week and the usual Thor update is delayed (pending a hot wire cutter).

CASE Placement

This week I started my work placement at AstraZeneca, the industrial part of my Industrial CASE PhD (see my post on PhD types). Apart from the system shock due to waking up significantly earlier than usual (my commute to UoM is a 15-20 min walk not a 45-60 min drive) the week has been good so far :) I've gone through a load of induction sessions and lots of positive feedback on my study designs and planning for the weeks ahead.

Next week I start work proper with my first study and hopefully the results will be as we predict. Sadly for now I can't give any more details due to confidentiality agreements. Rest assured though if I get a publication out of this placement (which I hope I will) it will be mentioned in this blog :)

Weeping Womble

On Monday night I managed to take a good set of photos of fellow Scout leader and Networker (Womble) walking ominously towards my camera. I used ImageJ a free, java based image tool commonly used by MRI researchers to animate this simple gif:

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Weeping Womble (640)

After fixing some timing issues, adding 'blinks' and a final word of warning I ended up with this final masterpiece of internet animation:

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Weeping Womble Final (640)

Proof that research software can be quite fun in your spare time!

Tom Out!

P.S. AstraZeneca

P.P.S ImageJ

Project Thor: Mjolnir Attempt 1

I have all the materials to craft Mjolnir now - to the Forge! ... or not

Materials

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Mjolnir materials

So I now have all the materials for Mjolnir. Polystyrene for the hammer head, wood for the handle, leather for the handle grip and plastidip for coating the hammer head. I'm short the amount of leather needed for the loop at the bottom but I might use string or something for that.

Crafting

Initially I tried cutting the polystyrene with a craft knife but that didn't work very well. I also tried using a saw and a carving knife. These were also all terrible ideas. I finally settled on heating a bread knife over the gas hob. This cut through the polystyrene like butter but if it was too hot caused more to melt than I wanted. Sadly we end up with this:

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Mjonir head 1

While the general shape is there it isn't up to my exacting (read: fairly lax) standards.

Where From Here?

I'm going to see if Fab Lab has a hot wire cutter or obtain one from somewhere else. If that fails I'll have to try the Foam Pepakura method (which I'll detail in a future post when talking about the armour).

Tom Out!

P.S. Polystyrene: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290617011792

P.P.S. Wood: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221116725954

P.P.P.S Leather: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190699033294

P.P.P.P.S Plastidip: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000KL5WOI/

After Dinner Tea

Here's another birthday present I've taken ages to review.

Brewing

"Infuse for at least 5 minutes in freshly boiled water."

As with many herbal teas it needs a long brewing time and can't really stew. Just remove the bag when it suits your taste :)

Colour

A mahogany like brown. A bit reminiscent of the box colour.

Aroma

I was a little bunged up when I reviewed this and the aroma is not very strong. You can smell hints of fennel and cardamom though.

Taste

A nice lightly spiced brew. It's quite wintry and warming but not as strong as a Christmas brew would be. Lovely :)

Doctor Who/Spartacus

I've been drinking this tea while watching the new series of Doctor Who :D Also Spartacus: Blood and Sand which is an excellent series reminiscent of Rome.

Conclusion

A calming spicy tea for the evening. Excellent to wind down before bed :)

Web-link

http://www.pukkaherbs.com/tea-room/all-our-teas/after-dinner.html

Tom out!

Wilkinson Family Fruitcake

My Grandma's old fruit cake recipe - simple and tasty!

Ingredients*

• 16 oz (450 g) self raising flour
• 8 oz (225 g) caster sugar
• 8 oz (225 g) margarine
• 4 medium eggs
• 24 oz (675 g) mixed fruit
• 2 tsp (10 ml) Mixed spice
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) vanilla essence
• Milk

*This makes a double sized cake suitable for feeding the Choir & Orchestra. Half these quantities for a normal loaf tin :)

How-to

1. Preheat oven to ~160°C
2. Sieve the flour and mixed spice together into a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the remaining dry ingredients.
4. Mix thoroughly.
5. Melt marge in a saucepan.
6. Add to dry ingredients.
7. Mix thoroughly.
8. Add vanilla essence and eggs.
9. Mix thoroughly.
10. Add milk if necessary to achieve a good consistency.
11. Place in a large, greased loaf tin.
12. Bake for ~2 hours.*

*You'll need to use your skill and judgement depending on your own oven. I tend to check after 90 minutes and adjust times accordingly.

Wilkinson Family Fruitcake

Tom Out!

Project Thor: Progress

A brief round up of Project Thor so far...

How's the Weight Loss Going?

Not so good. As of Tuesday my weight was 91 kg. Up 1 from the start but I have gained muscle in that time. I need to do more HIIT as I've mostly been concentrating on the gym aspect. From now there will be more HIIT and I'm changing diet plan to just reduced calorie intake as the other one was really hard to stick to this time round.

How's the Gym Going?

The gym is going pretty well. Here's a table comparing my starting rep weight and current rep weight.*

	Lat Pulldown (lbs)	Shoulder Press (lbs)	Chest Press (lbs)	Leg Press (lbs)
Previous	75	42.5	72.5	140
Current	125	67.5	107.5	205
Improvement	+50	+25	+37	+65

There's visible improvement too but I'm waiting until the end for proper before and after photos :)

*Clearly not the maximal weight I can do. For example my starting maximal leg press was 210 lbs.

How's the Costume Going?

I have all the material components for Mjolnir now and will probably construct it this weekend :) I've just ordered a load of foam to make the armour with and I'm looking into finding templates for all the pieces.

My hair isn't growing fast enough for the full Thor length but I think with dye it will still look the part, also a few weeks will get me a reasonable beard too :)

Part of me is tempted to go as Avengers Thor before he dons his armour as it's proving difficult to find a good material for the arms.

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Thor

Tom Out!

Giant Jaffa Cake

Ingredients

• 12 oz self raising flour*

• 12 oz caster sugar

• 12 oz margarine/unsalted butter

• 6 medium eggs

• 2 packs orange jelly

• 1 pint water

• 300g chocolate

How-to

1. Cream the sugar and marge together in a big bowl

2. Add in the flour and eggs slowly.

3. Mix thoroughly.

4. Bake in a frying pan at 180°C for ~30 minutes (or until cooked through)

5. Leave to cool.

6. Dissolve two packets jelly in ½ pint boiling water.

7. Make up jelly to 1 pint by adding ½ pint cold water.

8. Leave to cool in a small bowl (pick one the correct size and shape for a good jaffa cake look).

9. Carefully slide a knife around of the jelly and then upturn on top of your cake base.

10. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie (small ceramic/glass bowl in a saucepan of hot water).

11. Coat the (top of the) cake in chocolate.

12. Allow to cool

13. Apply a pattern in any remaining chocolate to the top.

14. Allow to cool.

15. Enjoy :D

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Enjoyed!

*The original recipe said that baking powder was required then their cake overflowed. It really isn't required.

Tom Out!

P.S. Original recipe: http://www.pimpthatsnack.com/project/332/

Cranberry Green Tea

Here's the second of my candidates for a new workday green tea.

Brewing

"We suggest brewing this tea for a maximum of 2 minutes, any longer and you'll lose the delicate taste. Allow one bag per person and add freshly boiled water."

Same as last time - a nice quick brew for a delicate tasting tea.

Colour

Very pale brown with a reddish tinge.

Aroma

Unlike last time you can clearly smell the cranberry and the general tea aroma is less pronounced.

Taste

At first the tea tastes like a herbal tea with a weak cranberry flavour - very refreshing. The after taste is stronger than last time and tastes more like your usual green tea.

BC-ISMRM

I've been drinking this tea while going over my slides for a presentation at the British Chapter of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Getting nervous now as this is my first presentation at a conference.

Conclusion

A refreshing workday green tea with a subtle cranberry flavour - lovely.

Verdict

Which is better? There's only one way to find out - DRINK!

I think the Mango and Lychee tea is the more interesting but the Cranberry tea is more suitable for day-to-day drinking. For now I think that will become my workday green tea :)

Web-link

http://www.twinings.co.uk/green-teas/cranberry-green-tea

Tom out!

P.S.

BC-ISMRM

Android on an old Dell

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Android x86

So my old Dell Inspiron 1525 has had many problems. Not least of which is a hardware fault preventing the battery from charging most of the time :S However it is a very useful tool for testing distros on and generally tinkering.Following a chat with my housemate about his netbook I decided to see if it was possible to install Android on a laptop. Turns out the answer is yes courtesy of the Android-x86 Project: http://www.android-x86.org/

It's working well though I'm currently struggling to transfer pdfs and such across and certain apps (like Angry Birds) keep failing. You need a basic knowledge of linux commands to mount USBs and the like but other than that it is effectively a non-touch screen version of the OS :)

Tom Out!

Cool Physics #1

In which I describe some cool physics!

So I thought I would start to impart any cool science/physics I've come across throughout my degree and continuing research. This post is going out while I'm at a conference - so this week have some beer!

Beer Bottle Fizz

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Beer Fizz

When I came back from my first year at Uni a friend of mine asked me what Physics I had learnt that year. Casually I lifted by beer bottle and tapped hers on the top causing her beer to froth and foam over the top and down the side. She dived forward to stop any spillage (which as we all know is lick-age). Practically anyone who has been to a party involving alcohol has seen this trick - but how does it work?

Well why does the bottle fizz in the first place when you open it? Gas (C02) is stored in the liquid in equilibrium. When you open the bottle a new equilibrium needs to be established and so gas leaves the liquid and causes bubbles. When you hit the bottle you release a lot more gas compared to opening the bottle causing the bottle to fizz all over your hand/the table/a nearby cat. You can also obtain the same effect from slamming a bottle onto a table.

Smashing the Bottom of a Beer Bottle

Watch this video:

So how does that work?

Cavitation is mentioned but you've probably never heard of it. What happens is a vacuum is formed and then collapses very quickly. The force of the water crashing down through the vacuum is easily enough to break glass. In fact cavitation can be very damaging in things such as turbines:

Cavitation turbine damage

The collapse of these 'bubbles' causes heating and shockwaves and causes lots of problems in devices such as turbines.

Tom Out!

P.S. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavitation

P.P.S. http://what-if.xkcd.com/6/

Project Thor: Very Demotivational

In which I discuss how easy it is to fake weight loss.

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Motivation

As part of Project Thor I'm hoping to get some pretty good before and after photos. Obviously this required me to take some before photos and then they've sat on my camera for a few weeks :S

Now taking photos of yourself before losing weight is quite demoralising (or even demotivating depending on your personality) and that's all the excuse I need for a title for this blog-post!

For the purposes of full disclosure I thought I'd take photos of me standing straight and hunched and the difference is very dramatic. These photos taken seconds apart show a completely different physique. This reminded me of a post I saw weeks back about how easy it is to fake those 'dramatic weight loss' pictures you see on website advertising. Apparently their method involved:

• Taking the 'after' shot first

• Eating a lot of foods which make you bloated

• Waiting 30 minutes

• Taking the 'before' shot

Once again don't trust everything you see on the internet (though I expect you knew that already). Enjoy a little demotivational featuring yours truly:

Weight Loss

In other news I now own a large block of polystyrene and some wood. Once the leather turns up I can start to craft the mighty Mjolnir! Expect pics and a how-to in the following fortnight!

Tom Out!

P.S. http://memebase.cheezburger.com/verydemotivational

Starting 3rd Year/So You Want To Do A PhD?

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How to Get a PhD

So I thought as my third year looms it might be worth reviewing my PhD experience and giving new or potential PhD students my thoughts.

2 Years In

So how do I feel now that I'm successfully onto the 3rd year of my programme?

In general, I am enjoying my PhD and I am very grateful for the opportunity I have been given. There are of course downsides but the majority are minor or would be the case in any job (such as delays beyond your control etc.). I am really looking forward to my upcoming industrial placement as it will be a nice change of pace and will (fingers crossed) lead to a publication.

As far as progress goes I could be a little further ahead but with the potential for publications this year and my first oral presentation at BC-ISMRM next week I'm very excited for my third year. There's always a bit of worry from being half-way through something but I'm coping well at the moment.

So You Want To Do A PhD?

There are already books[1] on getting a PhD but I think I'll summarise the general points below.

Why should you do one?

• You want to get into academia/research - it's still the standard route.

• You're really interested in a specific research area - if you enjoy it, do it!

• You need a higher level qualification for your ideal job - though you still need to be interested!

Why shouldn't you do one?

• Just for the title

• Because you're afraid of getting a real job

• You want to stay a student forever

So if you've decided you want to do a PhD there's still a lot of choice for doctoral courses, which one should you pick?

PhD Types

• Traditional PhD/DPhil - Normally 3 years funded* (in the UK) and takes around 3.5 years, the traditional model with topic usually being set at the beginning by your supervisors. Funding from the research councils is currently £13,590 (tax free).†

• EngD etc. - 4 years including taught elements and industrial placements.

• DTC based PhD - usually 4 years with taught elements. Often you don't pick a research topic straight away choosing it between 3-12 months in.

• Industrial CASE PhD - usually 4 years funded with a 3-6 month industrial placement. These include an increase to the normal PhD stipend of up to ~£7,000

I'm on an Industrial CASE PhD so there's the possibility I'm slightly wrong about the differences between the others.

Once you've decided your research field/topic, the type of PhD you want to do and double checked that your really want to do one - start applying!

Most PhD positions are advertised from January onwards with interviews around February. If there is funding though PhD positions need to be filled and there will be positions advertised all year. Summer tends to have a large number of PhD places which weren't filled early in the year on offer.§

So You're In For The Long Haul?

What can you expect from your time doing a PhD then?

1st Year

Regardless of your programme you are going to have to review the literature. This normally takes around 3 months and is sometimes publishable as a paper if your field is in an interesting niche.

You will learn how to use the lab equipment/computers/databases/blackboards you need for your continued research.

You will probably narrow down the topic area and methods to be used in future years.

You may get trained on something really specific (I was flown out to Bruker in Germany to learn how to program MRI scanners).

You will have some sort of report to get through to the next year. I had to have a full-on viva but other departments have a simple meeting with supervisors to see if you should continue.

2nd Year

This is usually your method development year. For CASE students you may go on your first placement.

If method development is quick you can start collecting useful data.

3rd Year

This is your data collection year. People on a '3 year' programme will need all their data pretty much by the end of this year.

4th Year

On a 3 year programme you will be writing the thesis until your agree viva date. On a 4 year programme you will finish data collection then write the thesis.¶

VIVA

Graduate! :D

* This is for Sciences PhDs - it is a lot harder to get funding in the Humanities.

†Funding bodies will also pay your tuition fees.‡

‡I believe Wellcome Trust provide the best at the moment with total stipend of around £21,000

§You can see available positions on respective universities' websites and at http://www.findaphd.com

¶You will write a fair amount of certain thesis sections ahead of this time. Some people write up throughout and continue collecting data well into the traditional data collection phase.

Tom out!

[1] Phillips, E.M. and Pugh, D.S., 2000. How to Get a PhD: A Handbook for Students and Their Supervisors. 3rd ed. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Mango and Lychee Green Tea

I ran out of green tea so this review and the next review my attempt to find a new workday green tea :).

Brewing

"We suggest brewing this tea for a maximum of 2 minutes, any longer and you'll lose the delicate taste. Allow one bag per person and add freshly boiled water.

"

A change to my usual long brewing habits. However I did over brew the first cup and I don't think it ruined the tea at all - it just made it taste more of green tea than mango.

Colour

Very pale brown.

Aroma

I'm not sure if I would pick out the smell as mango or lychee (I don't believe I have ever sniffed a lychee) but there is definitely a pleasing fruity aroma.

Taste

At first the tea tastes like a herbal tea with a strong mango flavour (probably lychee too but it's clearly a complimentary flavour as I don't know what it tastes like and it isn't very obvious). The after taste is a weak tea flavour which is equally enjoyable.

Lasagna Lunch

I've been drinking this tea while enjoying a home-made lasagna for lunch. Back to work soon though!

Conclusion

A very refreshing tea which, as it's green, doesn't require milk. A fruity, soothing change to my workday tea schedule :D

Web-link

http://www.twinings.co.uk/green-teas/mango-lychee-green

Tom out!

Project Thor: The Slow-Carb Diet

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Slow Carb

So here is the diet plan for Project Thor which is based upon the slow-carb diet from Tim Ferriss' book (see previous post).

Luckily most of this is available online for free so I can post the rules this time :)

Slow Carb

Rules:

1. Avoid 'white' carbohydrates - any carb that is white or can be white (e.g. brown rice is still bad)

2. Eat the same few meals over and over again mixing at least one item form the three groups: protein, legumes, vegetables.

3. Don't drink calories

4. Take one day off a week

There are some other additions to these rules covered in the book and online (see links below).

My Changes

One of the additional rules in the book is allowing you to eat carbs within two hours of  exercise so I've been using that rule when going to the gym. I'm also taking the 'cheat day' and spreading it out across the week as this helps my lack of self control :)

Links!

Tim Ferriss' blog post on the Slow-Carb diet: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/06/how-to-lose-20-lbs-of-fat-in-30-days-without-doing-any-exercise/

Diet reference (tells you whether a food is allowed): http://www.eslowcarbdiet.com/

Tom out!

Spiced Chai

This is the return of my tea blogs on a bi-weekly basis. If you have any tea suggestions please post them in the comments. If I know you IRL feel free to share a cup with me and I'll happily review it :D

This is the last of the teas from my visit to the Whittard's outlet store - I'll have to go again after this :).

Brewing

"Brew using 2 or 3 teabags in a 6-cup teapot

. Warm the pot first with a splash of hot water. Add the tea and pour on boiling water. Brew for 4-5 minutes. Alternatively, brew one teabag in a mug and remove when the tea is the strength you require"

As usual I brewed it for 5 minutes. Apparently you can add condensed milk to have a sweet version of tea but unsurprisingly I don't have any at work.

Colour

Dark brown.

Aroma

You can definitely smell the cinnamon and cloves. Surprisingly it smells less Christmassy than I thought it would. It smells very nice though :)

Taste

A cavalcade of spices! But the cloves and cardamon are the strongest flavours. Despite the strength of these flavours you can still taste the black tea fairly strongly. A very enjoyable experience but I have had better chai. I think milk would likely improve it.

2nd Year Report

I've been drinking this tea while writing my 2nd Year Report. Hopefully as of Wednesday next week I'll be officially onto the 3rd year of my PhD Programme :)

Conclusion

A lovely tea but there is better chai out there. Probably would be improved by milk (condensed or otherwise).

Next Time

As I said tea reviews will be bi-weekly on Wednesdays now :) I'm thinking of coming up with some kind of rating system for the teas so people can compare my thoughts on tea.

Web-link

http://www.whittard.co.uk/tea/flavoured_black_tea/spiced_chai/spiced_chai_50_teabags.htm

Tom out!

Project Thor: On Measurement

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Waists!

Firstly an announcment! Tea reviews will re-commence on Wednesday and run bi-weekly for the foreseeable future! Also if there's a tea you think I should try feel free to proffer it to me when I see you for my delectation and reviewing pleasure :)

So onto the post -

Measurement and tracking is very important when following an exercise program, mostly because it stops you from going insane. This is because it is very hard to see if you are losing weight* if you look in the mirror everyday whereas cold hard numbers don't lie to you**.

So below is my table of starting measurements before Project Thor so I can compare the results at the end.

Though in defiance of my earlier paragraph there is a number which lies to you - the waist measurement on your clothes. I've been defiantly wearing my 34" jeans since I managed to be too small for 38" and 36" jeans last year. Recently they have gotten tighter but still fit (sadly all the cake I've eaten this year was not a lie). Now hopefully you haven't scrolled down far enough to see the measurement table yet - do so now and see how inaccurate this flattering lie is!

Weight / kg	Waist / in	Hips / in	L Bicep / in	R Bicep / in	L Thigh / in	R Thigh / in	Total Inches
89	40.5	39.5	12	12	21.5	22.5	148

Even if you ignore the half inch which would explain the slight tightness of my trousers that's still wrong by 6 inches! A 17% inaccuracy. Maybe if they gave clothing sizes accurately across the board it would help solve our obesity problem.

Finally, the total inches measurement allows you to see if there is an overall improvement even if, par exemple, your waist doesn't decrease one week. Huzzah for improvements!

*Well weight is affected by muscle mass and fat so it is possible to stay the same weight while looking more trim, but generally.

**The scientist inside me forces me to point out I mean mass which is referred to as weight; obviously going to the moon is great for any weight-loss program :P

Tom out!

P.S. This P.S. is a lie!