Claire's blog

I know, I know. I should post more often, especially as the backlog of photos is building up of things I’ve beaded or knitted, and places I’ve been too. However I got my new work computer hooked up to the network today, meaning that I’m not stuck on the sloooooow computer, and I’ve got over […]

Got up at 3.15 a.m. this morning! I was meeting the others in the centre of Galway to catch the 4.30 a.m. coach to Shannon airport, ready for our flight to Dusseldorf. The journey passed without incident – except for a lot of yawning! – until we landed. Then we discovered our flights had been […]

The Christmas Market at Patchings went very well, and I had a great time. We had tons of people coming round, but although they were spending we all noticed that the money was only really coming out for the small items, and very few larger, more expensive items were sold. Small things all add up […]

Ok, so for my research I get to culture cells, and try to find ways to produce parts of the human body, but do I ever get to hear a mouse sing? These guys do. Somehow, I just can’t stop thinking of the Aero advert with the hula-hooping and singing mice…

Am in work this morning, being shown how to set up a gel for culturing cells in, and am currently in the waiting 1 hour while the stuff we make the gel from dissolves and is sterilised. Once we’ve got this set up, I’m off home to wait patiently for the nice NTL man, who’s […]

Dropped Rob off at the airport for his return flight, and then come into work to catch up on my email (I dragged the poor boy into work with me on Saturday, so I could get caught up enough on my cell work to take most of the day to take him back to Shannon). […]

I GOT PAID!!!!! This is exciting ‘cos it didn’t happen last month, and despite an advance from the university, money’s been getting a little… tight. What to spend it on *rubbing hands together with glee* (9 days to internet, tv and phone)

Been to an interesting talk today on tissue engineering heart muscle by Prof. Buddy Ratner. It’s the first scientific talk I’ve been to in quite a while (what with spending a lot of time back home with Mum and Dad while I wrote my thesis), and I was pleased to find I understood it! Not […]

My viewing choice for this week has been Star Wars IV V and VI Guys and Dolls Truly, Madly, Deeply Otherwise I’ve been sorting out printing the final, final version of my thesis for binding. This may seem like a simple job, but I’ve spent the entire week on it so far, and it’s still […]

Caught the plane back on Sunday, after spending a long time trying to fit everything I wanted to bring back here with me within the tiny weight limits set by RyanAir. Still managed to pack two saucepans and my DVDs, both of which I desperately wanted as I still don’t have TV or internet connected […]

I’ve moved to Ireland now, but haven’t been posting as I don’t yet have internet access in my apartment – lovely though it is in every other way. But I’ve come back to England for the last few days for my viva (which was on Thursday). It was scary and nervewracking, and took 2 and […]

Blimey. Almost a month since my last post! Over the last month I’ve…. Finally finished, printed, bound and submitted my thesis!!!!!! That’s one thing less to worry about, at least until my viva on August 11th. Wish me luck. Been to Galway for my second interview. They flew me out one night and put me […]

I finally finished all 6 chapters of my thesis and got them sent off to my supervisor for a final read through. I’ve still got to make any changes she suggests, and I think she’s going to suggest quite a lot for the discussion, but I get to have a little break for a week […]

I know, I know. It’s been a while since I added to the blog, and even longer since I updated my website. In my defence I will say that I’ve been giving the site a spring face-lift, so won’t be updating until that’s finished, but I’ve been working on that for the last 3 or […]