Engineering choices

Hi guys, I've officially started my course at UCL. I'm enrolled with my student card and everything. I attended a meeting to meet key staff members and my coursemates. They all seemed really nice people to work with but the most important thing is that I gained a lot of information. This really put my apprehension to bed because knowing things helps me relax more.

I learned that I had to choose some option modules and that I had to select an Advanced Design Project as I hadn't done one before because I come from a non-engineering background. This is a key criterion that I need to gain chartered status further down the line as I gain experience in the area. The list of option modules was pretty uncommunicative and it was hard to discern what each module contains. A quick look on the UCL website and the module synopses was available. I had a look at each of them and also had a talk with a fellow course mate who has experience in the department. She said a little about each of the choices and that seemed consistent with what the UCL website had to say.

After some careful deliberation and bearing in mind what my tutor had said before, I decided to go with Advanced process engineering, process dynamics and control and chemical reaction engineering.

The first, because it has a good portion of computer software use and I feel that if I am to work in a professional capacity as an engineer, I'll need to understand the various softwares and their limitations in an industrial setting. The second I chose because, like the first one, modelling and understanding how systems can react to unintentional and intended changes is important in industry. Also, control is the reverse of the safety coin and I'll need to be able to exercise control when handling a process. The third is a personal choice because it has a high degree of kinetics and stoichiometry. I've had experience with this as a chemist and I can do these things well. This made that option easier to select.

I've got the first meeting to start the advanced design project tomorrow and I'm really excited. Wish me luck.

Expanding gas infrastructure

In a recent report by publisher GlobalData, there is set to be a great increase in the infrastructure of gas transport networks. The report states that the top 5 countries responsible for the increase in the gas pipeline length will be responsible for more than 50% of the total increase in pipeline length this year. The top 5 countries were found to be Russia, India, the US, China and Canada. This is no surprise because India and China are fast developing countries and are in great need of clean burning fuels to power their massive numbers of citizens and Russia and (by shale gas exploitation) the US are large producers of Natural gas. Canada has access to the shale gas and the tar sands in its northern parts. All are great users of oil too. This goes to show their reliance on fossil fuels.

The report also gives the prediction that through the period 2011 - 2015, the proportion of new pipelines added to the existing network will tip more in favour of gas production / transportation than oil. In the context of todays energy production, this makes sense because more and more gas and shale gas fields are coming online over the next few years. This infrastructure will enable their exploitation. BP Energy Outlook predicts an Annual Average growth rate over this period of 2.7%, consistent with a greater increase in gas production relative to oil production.

Moved in

Yesterday, my Dad and I made the journey down to London and he helped me move into my flat which I will share with other people. It was a pleasant journey down because it was Saturday and there was no commuter traffic heading into London.

We made good time with the journey and we met my contact, Kevin and he gave me my keys and showed me around the place and even helped me move some of my stuff in. This was the start of a really good day.


After my Dad left to return home, I started to unpack my things and met more of my housemates. They're all really friendly and they told me about a party that night they were hosting and having a few friends over.

I was really glad that I had agreed to go along because the food was fantastic: lots of different dishes from all over Europe. I really enjoyed the Spanish tortilla. The company was really good too. There were people from all kinds of industries and they all knew my housemates in different ways. I'm a very sociable person and this was a great opportunity because I love meeting new people and chatting to them about what they're passionate about.

As  a large contingent of the party were Spanish, lots of Spanish and Catalan was spoken. I could understand the general gist of the Spanish as they were speaking quickly but the Catalan, I couldn't tell when it started and when it ended and my housmates ended up translating a few times for me. I speak Spanish but haven't used it in a while so it's coming back listening to these people and it's really helping me.

I spoke to one guy in English and he didn't understand so I switched to Spanish and he understood. Everyone was patient and kind when I spoke and a few asked about when / how I learned and applauded my grasp of the language. I was pleased to hear from the Spanish people that I could speak decently and I took heart from this.

After the party, we went down the pub and had a quick drink. It was a good night also because of all the new places I'd seen that day too.

That night made me feel that I'll get on really well here and I'll go far with the Spanish.

Holiday Snaps

As promised, here are some of my holiday snaps from my recent holiday in Austria.

Chem-eng Blogs

I've been looking for chemical engineering blogs to read as an opener to the MSc I'm due to start soon. I've looked quite a bit on various comparison webites listing blogs but I've not seen anything resembling a clear cut blog from a day to day engineer.

I've subscribed to a few PhD student blogs and have begun poring over those but I'd really like to see something from a professional engineer with experience in the field. That would be really inspiring to young people and it would help me as a budding engineer to see what I can expect ahead. Specifically I'd like to see something in the oil and gas arena because that's the area I'd like to take up work in.

I'll keep looking and perhaps start poring over company websites for something that fits the bill. I'll let you know if I hit paydirt and find an engineer sharing their experience.

Getting Affiliated

Today I applied for membership with the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE). As  I'll start reading an MSc soon, I'll want the support they can bring while I undergo my studies.

Other memberships
While I studied chemistry at York, I was signed up to the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and I had paid membership fees for the duration of my degree course. This allowed me to have undergraduate / student membership with the institution. This entitled me to the magazines RSC News and Chemistry World. Chemistry World is more of a trade magazine for the chemical sciences and it gives lots of summary articles based on cutting edge research from literature. RSC News keeps one abreast of the situation and happenings in the RSC and leans more toward the educational side of things.

New Beginnings
As I had been a member of the RSC during my first degree, I thought it a good idea to seek membership with the IChemE. If anything, the complimentary magazines are interesting and they can help direct your thinking toward the science as the articles are very focussed on the research / projects/ news they describe. There are many more benefits to being a member and as a young person starting out in their career, there is lots of support out there. There are discounts on course texts and discipline related books and there are opportunities to go to seminars, lectures and symposia too. These conferences are useful because one can hear what the captains of the industry are saying. This last part really excites me as it gives one the opportunity to talk to the people who are heavily involved in the field I want to move into. Certainly in the more social symposia and conferences, there will be the opportunity to network and meet people.

Reasonable Fees
As a member of the RSC, I pay £12 annually for my student membership and gain access to lots of resources and I think this is a reasonable price. For my RSC membership, the level of membership was easy to work out because I was an undergraduate student and so a student membership was appropriate. Because I was now a postgraduate, I was unsure on how to go forward. So I called the IChemE helpline to ask about the right membership for me. The service assistant on the other end advised me that given my previous experience in the chemical sciences, an affiliate membership would be right for me. An affiliate membership is for people who are out of their first degree or have a few years work experience in the chemical sciences. He said £20 would be the annual fee which, if I were to receive the same level of support as from the RSC, was pretty reasonable. He sent out the application form via email and I filled it in. I'm waiting to see if I get any shiny membership cards through the post.

Wholesome Character
Membership of an institution doesn't just give you access to great discounts and very readable 'trade magazines'. It can count as a part of a wholesome character from a professional perspective because being a member of an institution and maintaining that membership can be a sign that you're committed to your science. As a prospective employer, a maintained membership / active participation shows a love for what you do and can often be that extra cherry on the top of what employers expect from applicants. It's a small thing but it's important if you're trying to communicate you're passion for scientific industries in your CV.

FLNG

Not a video game abbreviation but a new age and very relevant acronym, FLNG stands for Floating Liquid Natural Gas. It is the one of the new ways that energy companies can exploit gas and petrochemical deposits with less risk and cost than traditional fixed platforms and rigs. The concept of a floating platform is new and currently, there are only 8 FLNG platforms in the whole world though more are due to come online in due course as the rush to capitalise on the new idea takes hold.

Natural gas has been used for decades as a means to heat and power homes. Now, the high demand for low-carbon resources to heat and power to homes is encouraging the uptake of natural gas. This in turn requires more gas and as a result, the production of gas has to increase. Traditionally, natural gas is reinjected into oil wells to increase the pressure and extend the life of the oil field. Alternatively, the gas is flared, simply burned through a boom hanging off the side of the facility. Now, the need for gas means that this 'waste-gas' needs to be harnessed for consumer use.

This is where FLNG comes in: the traditional rig is replaced with a giant tanker-style vessel with the topside incorporating a rig system with processing and refining facilities and the hold containting massive gas storage tanks. This allows the gas reserves to be safely tapped and processed at sea. The sheer size of the vessel means that they are less susceptible to storm damage and their inherent mobility means that they can be moved in the event of an impending natural disaster. Traditional gas tankers are moored next to the FLNG facility and filled with LNG. This can be shipped to buyers from the facility.

The main attractive point about FLNG is that the there is no need for fixed onshore facilities to process the gas and the LNG is obtained on the site of the gas field.

There is the expectation for many more of these floating behemoths cruising the seas in the next 5 - 10 years as more oil and gas companies weigh off the benefits against costs of FLNG and the rising need for clean energy. There is already heavy investment from Royal Dutch Shell in the technology as they have placed orders at Samsung Heavy Industries for 10 vessels of varying types to expand into the FLNG arena. The order included a few of the giant FLNGs and various support vessels and LNG transport vessels. From an environmental point of view, the FLNG represents a large step in the direction of clean energy provision and from a supply point of view, it's exactly the kind of technological development needed to ensure that the lights stay on in a world of ever increasing energy consumption.

London Calling

I've just finalised my arrangements for accomodation for my year in London. I found a place in Haringey district and I've signed the contract, paid the deposit and first installment of rent. I'm so glad that the search is over, a - because it's getting quite close to the start of my course ( first orientation session is 26th of September) and b - it removes the need to look for a room. It has been a pretty easy find actually. I didn't have to put much work into it beyond posting an online ad about who I was and what I wanted then sifting through the automated emails I received from the site. It wasn't too dissimilar to the search for accomodation I did with my girlfriend to find a house for our third year accommodation in York. Though then we posted ads and also looked for ourselves. I was confident the same approach could be applied to London which would have more house shares so I used it.

The people I'll be living with seem to be friendly and my main point of contact, Jose, has been really helpful in ensuring that he and I and the agency who handles the property are on the same page. The house, as I've said in previous posts, is great for my needs and the fact that my housemates are all workers who care for their house means that I should have a nice place to live and won't be plagued by mouldy plates like I have in previous student houses I've lived in.

I'm looking forward to living in London and studying engineering. I'm feeling positive about my choice to  specialise in engineering and look to work as a chemical engineer with a view to gaining chartered status. The house I'll be living in should provide favourable conditions and help me achieve my potential.

Kitzbuhel

Hi guys, its been a while. I recently returned from my holiday to Austria. My girlfriend, myself and her parents went on a walking holiday to a little place called Kitzbuhel in the low mountains. It's a small town, very picturesque and quaint. The still employ a lot of the traditional dress and music and it seems that it's what they do rather than a show for paying tourists. It was a great visit and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Pictures to follow.

Jobs

My girlfriend recently got a job. I'm really excited for her. It's a fantastic opportunity and I'm pleased she got one so soon after graduating university. It's a 6 month placement to cover some maternity leave. The most important part of the position is that it is a true graduate position with the potential to relocate within the company after the 6 month placement has been completed.

It's great that she has a job and it's already boosting her confidence and self-esteem. Even if there is no possibility to relocate, the experience that she's gaining on the job is a sure fire help in further applications to other jobs.

It's one thing to get a job. It's another to use it to your advantage and get everything you can out of it which isn't money. An important thing to consider when in a job is the ease with which you can try your hand at all parts of the job. If you can get involved in all parts of your job and gain experience and knowledge of many areas, it instantly increases your appeal when applying for other jobs. Showing you can adapt and learn many things by demonstrating that you've done it in the past is a great sign to encourage employers to hire you because that's what they're looking for. Obviously, different positions need different specific skills but there are transferrable skills which are common to many jobs.

Bearing this in mind, good luck with seeking employment and getting the job that's right for you.

Reading

I took the train down to see my girlfriend  and stay with her before we go on holiday to Austria. I find that normally the train ride is quite difficult because you're essentially sitting there and waiting till you arrive. Even with a magazine or a newspaper, it's tedious. I had decided to buy a magazine for the train in the hope of occupying my mind for at least some of the journey. On this occasion however, I passed a discount book store (The Works) and picked up a new copy of Bret Easton Ellis' outspoken 'American Psycho' for £1.99. I thought that this was amazing value considering Amazon don't do as good deals as they used to on even used books as the minimum delivery cost is £2.80 now (14/08/11). This was part of a 3 for £5 deal on books and fiction works.

I started reading from the moment I got on my first train (it's a long journey) and I started to appreaciate the appeal of reading a book over say, a newspaper or a magazine. With a newspaper, one skims the text and can't really get involved unless the subject matter is particularly cultured or concerned with some gripping theme. With a book, the mind is constantly building the environment described in the book and working hard to mould freeform thoughts into a coherent scene. This mental activity pulls you in and immerses you in the book. It is this drawing the reader into the book that makes time fly by. I tend to block out the environment around me when I read as I focus so heavily on the book and what's going on in the story. This makes for some telling offs when the missus tries to talk to me whilst I read. But this induced ignorance is exactly what is required for travelling because then one doesn't notice the other people on the train or the time. This is what makes reading books such a good use of one's time whilst travelling. The pages turn, the mind races and time rushes on. Before you know it, you're at the terminus of your journey and a large portion of your book is read. I'll certainly be reading a book on my return journey.

Ladybirds

In recent weeks, there's been an invasion / massive increase in numbers of ladybirds in my area. They are everywhere, probably due to it being breeding season or something like that. They're all over the ground, walls, fences and they seem to like travelling by bus too as they're all over the inside of the local public transport, calmly walking along.

A funny thing happened the other day when I visited some friends in Hull. I was travelling on the Humber Flyer, a bus which links Grimsby and Hull. A ladybird was mooching about on the sill of the bus window and it crawled onto the woman sitting next to me. She thought nothing of it and blew the creature off her hand. The ladybird came back. She placed the insect further away on the other side of the window sill. The bug returned. The lady continued to remove the bug from herself and it kept coming back (perhaps the ladybird liked her hairspray or perfume? ). This continued for a good third of the bus journey and it ended with the woman alighting from the bus after cursing the ladybird for coming back repeatedly. It was the funniest scene I've witnessed in a long time.

Update your CV, Update your life

In today's labour market, it's increasingly difficult to get a job. There are many different people and blogs out there who will tell you that it's all about what you did on your gap year and how your handshake is perceived but this isn't the case. The big thing that will make you stand out from your rivals in the tussle for your dream job is your CV.

Looks are everything, on your CV anyways
Boring as it may sound, your CV is the document that all employers want to see and the interesting ones which make the cut will land the job. Employers see your CV before you so make your CV look as good as you do and this will go a long way with prospective employers. To ensure that yours stands out, you need to cover the following topics to ensure you've got it all.

Content
First and foremost, you need content. That means being thorough and yet concise because a 3-page CV will not get a look in, despite what you've written about this award or the amount of trophies you've won for your golfing talents. Aim for about 2 pages maximum. Giving a one page CV may be dangerous as there's a risk you don't communicate all you need to to show you're the right person for the job. To ensure that you're that right person, you need to show your relevance to the position and why you'd fit right in. You need to relate specific bits of what you've done in your education and experience to what they want in a prospective employee. You need to relate skills to requisites. Remember "skills for kills", get the skills covered and you'll knock 'em dead in the preliminary stages. Keep it relevant too; employers will want to hear about your recreational activities but don't go into too much depth. The main thing your CV needs to show is your enthusiasm and drive for what you do in all areas of your life.

Layout
A good layout is key to producing a great CV. A general note is to put the more professional components of what makes the worker you up the top of the sheet and the more informal stuff like what you enjoy doing at the bottom. There are many ways to layout the various parts of your CV and a more modern trend is to tie some of them together into a short, cogent personal statement-esque piece of writing at the top of your resume. This gives the reader a bit of context and a more holistic view when thinking about you as a potential candidate for the job. This could be useful in establishing a good image in the employer's mind and could give you the edge.

Another good pointer is to put your motivations or career objectives at the top to show the employer why you want the job in respect of the big picture you have in your mind. It lets the interviewer know where you're coming from and where you want to go and shows how you fit into the job.

Font
A simple but salient point. Comic sans won't cut it; it never has and it never will. Try something more professional like Verdana or Arial. This allows you to show your professional side and matches the font and your CV fodder with with the position you're fighting for.

With all that said and done, try these tips and see what works for you. It's also worth giving Google a go and looking for some professional templates but take them with a pinch of salt. Anything too stylised will be bad for business and you'll struggle with credibility.

Packing

I'm due to go on holiday soon and stay with my girlfriend for a bit. I'm currently in the process of packing. And the start of a successful bout of suitcase packing is a good, thorough list. A list directs tour thinking toward what you'll need and what you can get away with leaving behind. It also gives you a handy roadmap which allows you to see where you are relative to starting and how much more you have left to do.

At the moment, I'm half way through my packing and am currently rounding up some shirts to wear in Austria. The list is a great tool for me because it puts my mind at ease to see things ticked off a list and it lets me forget about packing and enjoy my holiday.

I'm about halfway though but it doesn't take me long to quickly pack. At the most, it would take me about 45 minutes to pack everything I'll need. My girlfriend will easily take 5 times that and will pack then unpack several times. At the very most, it's taken her 2 days to pack a suitcase to travel. This can be frustrating when she's buzzing around but I just sit back and relax and bat down questions about my packing because my list is complete and all items accounted for and successfully packed.

Imminent Euro-wide credit crunch

In recent weeks, it has become apparent that the whole euro-zone is in debt and out of its league. The periphery and the core countries have major problems with regard to their levels of indebtedness and as this becomes apparent, other countries are rapidly ridding themselves of any ties to these countries.

A perfect example is France, about a month ago it was considered to be a stable economy within the Euro and on par with Germany in it's robust stature amid all the money worries of those around it. A new twist to the tale however, is that the French banks have been engaging heavily in gambling through Credit Default Swaps (CDS). These gambles work on the premise of one financial institution gambling on the failure of another. These financial instruments are dangerous because they rely on information about a company / market which isn't accurate. This causes a lack of confidence in the banks selling and buying and results in a lowering of inter-bank lending. This is exactly the course of action which ignited and perpetuated the fall of the global economy in 2008 and afterward.

The proof that banks are reducing their lending and preparing for another rough chapter in this economic crisis is the severance of Asian banks' ties with French banks. This means that the rich Asian banks are no longer lending to French ones. This will cause liquidity issues in the French finance sector which, due to the interlinked nature of finance sectors, will cause a fall among other European financial sectors.

Fundamentally, the bad thing that happenend in 2008 to cause the financial instability is going to happen again and the French bank liquidity / solvency issues are a good indicator of what lies ahead.

Zero Hedge

Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com/) is an independant news website mainly concerned with the world of finance, stock markets and investments. It came to my attention only recently and I really like it. It deals with the ups and downs in the financial markets and the underlying issues therein. Lots of the articles are thorough and treat a particular piece of market data but also give the full context including who is involved and why it happened the way it did. There are guest writers too; including a few people who identify trends in current economic data and give reasoned predictions of what happens next through the hindsight gained from stock market history.

The website takes a different approach to the markets and government action on finance because it gives an unadulterated presentation and pulls no punches. It makes no apologies for the opinions and themes it pulls from the news and whom it criticises for poor decision making. Many people who write for the website are closely related to the financial industry so they know their ground and this makes re-assuring reading.

On days when there's a run on the banks or a big government data presentation or news from the Fed, BoA, BoE, there's many articles written, constantly updating the blog-style format of the website.

The fact that Zero Hedge is syndicated and affiliated with many other market commentator and money blogs is also encouraging as it shows a wealth of information being brought forward in one community. It's certainly the place to go if you want to read about what's really going on in business and ensure that your money is working as hard as it can and more importantly, is safe.

money website guide

Most matter is empty space

Consider this: an atom is composed of a shell of electrons which orbit at a radius to a nucleus made of neutrons and protons. The electron is very small ( ~ 2 x 10^-15 m ) and the nucleus is also a very small object: ( ~1.75 x 10^-15 m ). Classically, the radius of the atom is 10000 times the radius of the nucleus. The distance between the electrons and nucleus is empty space. This means that nearly all the volume associated with an atom is actually empty space.

Discount Coffee review

I've just returned from a trip to a Lidl supermarket near by house: http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/index.htm. It's a discount supermarket. The world discount when associated with a supermarket or retailer of any kind usually conjours doubts and negative images. Aisles and aisles of non-branded gruel, the customers all grey-faced people shivering in rags.

The reality couldn't be further from this image. It's a bright, airy place with many bargains and offers on close imitations to main brand products. I'm going to talk about the discount coffee that they sell there because in a recent coffee taste test, the value, non-branded coffee won out : http://www.supermarketownbrandguide.co.uk/search.php?SearchString=SSCoffee&Search.x=27&Search.y=22&score=&price=0&pricevalue=0.00&orderby=Price.

As I like my coffee caffinated, I selected Aldi's GranArom Highland Gold 100% Arabica instant coffee. First impressions, it looks good. The jar has a distinctive Aztec, hewn-of-glass look to it and the packaging has images of coffee beans on it. It's pretty plain and doesn't try to be anything else.

Popping open the hermetically sealed lid releases a powerful rich aroma. There's no hint of any mealy or bland undertone to the nose of this coffee. It fills the mind with images of warm, comforting, steaming cups of coffee and good times with friends. Long discussions over luxurious coffee.

Once water and milk are added, it tastes great. Really nice smooth flavour. Not too rich but with a powerful smell of real coffee beans. This is definately not from the dregs of the coffee industry, a good piece of evidence for the 'own-brand' / 'non-brand' foodstuffs besting their more expensive cousins.

I'd easily give this coffee a full-bodied 8 out of ten. It's definately a good quality coffee that you could get yourself up with in the morning but not a product that you'd use to impress friends with your sophisticated coffee knowledge. A true no-frills, but delivers exactly what it says kind of product.

coffee

UCL : update

I received a letter detailing that I am now in receipt of an unconditional offer of study at UCL. This is great news as it means that I'm essentially 'in' at UCL and am clear to begin study in September. This is the kind of proof that I've been waiting for, the concrete proof that I've got 'in' and will be studying there. It makes it all the more real and as I read the letter I got so excited because I had physical proof that I'm going there now.


education

college

Houseshare : update

Today, I called the estate agents who take care of the property that I'm interested in letting a room in. I told them that I had an appointment on the Sunday and that I would not be able to make the appointment. They said that they didn't do appointments on Sunday. This led me to believe that I've got something wrong when I talked to the person on the phone last week.

The person on the end of the phone was only taking messages and told me that a director, a person who can handle my enquiry, would be in the office from 3pm onward and that I should call then. I will do exactly that and hopefully get this mess sorted out. Nothing is ever simple is it? hehe.

Violence in Tottenham

It's not a good sign that there has been an apparently random series of violent outrages in North london. Buildings, cars and even a double decker bus have been burned out. There are sketchy reports that attempt to piece together the situation but from what I can tell, it seems there is a large racial component to the outrages.

London is a very diverse city with many different nationalities, religions and skin colours all living together. A utopia for modern society you would think but there is an age old problem between the police and the black demographic. It's not right that the police use their stop and search powers mostly on black people.

However, it seems that this is what happened and sparked off the violence. A black man was involved in an altercation with armed police and shot while in the back of a cab.

The riots that have followed yesterday (6/7/11) and today seem to be the backlash from the local community as young blacks are seething at the heavy handed police presence in their neighbourhood. As a result, a lot of police brutality has been doled out and this has been greeted with all manner of missiles including petrol bombs and rocks.

Looting has also taken place, taking advantage of the misdirection provided by the rioting. It has been observed that many cars have been pulling up at sports shops and had their boots loaded with stolen merchandise. This leads one to consider whether there is a criminal element instigating the riots in the first place. Creating the riots affords a distraction for the police from other less life-threatening and therefore less urgent criminal activities.

Whatever the fallout from these riots and street battles, one thing is clear: there is a lot of hurt in the community of Tottenham and a lot of work needs to be done to heal the wounds inflicted on both sides.

Study preparations

It's not long now till I start reading my second degree at UCL. I've recently sent off a confirmation of my interest in taking a place on an MSc chemical engineering course. I'm really interested in reading engineering as a practical application of the analytical, mathematical and organisational skills I gained as a chemistry student.

I've had a close look at the course synopsis at other institutions and there's good overlap in lots of areas so I've got a good idea that I'll be learning about things like fluid particle systems, process dynamics and control and environmental systems. In the course at UCL there's a lot of emphasis on thermodynamics. I've also got the opportunity to take one option module out of Law for managers, project management and mastering entrepreneurship. These last modules afford opportunities to develop in areas that really interest me. At the moment I'm really leaning toward the project management because I'd rather not take a punt on entrepreneurship. I know that if I took the choice to learn the law or the project management, I'd be taught concrete skills that I'd be able to take to the job. The full list of modules is here: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/chemeng/graduate/msc_content.html.

I'm really interested in specialising in engineering and getting to grips with developing industrial envrionments toward safety, loss prevention and efficiency gains.

Community Shield

It's been an exciting turn up in the football Community Shield between the Manchester teams, Man Utd and Man City. It has been a game of sorts so far in the first half, with some amateur dramatics from the Man City side and what seemed to be a surging game from United. However, two goals from Man City in quick succession have certainly taken some of the wind out of United's sails. There's also been a big change in the body Language of United's new goalkeeper De Gea; his head is hanging and it should be as he's let in two goals on his debut for Manchester United.

The game isn't over yet but this kind of early goal scoring is something that's been lacking in City's game for a while. It is also worth noting that it is a strong habit of Manchester United to score lots of goals later on in the game. What is interesting is that now, Man City seem to have a composure and poise that they didn't have last season. And even though this is a 'friendly' game, it has all the grit and determination of top flight football.

Hopefully City's luck will turn in the new football season and Man Utd's star will fall in favour of a strong new team with the motivation to win the premiership.

Walking

Today I went for a walk. Quite a long one: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=DN33+1EN&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1280&bih=711&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x487884a52a1de7eb:0x930d2bda1454cdca,Grimsby,+South+Humberside+DN33+1EN&gl=uk&ei=o5s-TomyO8-whAeEosmLAg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ8gEwAA

I decided that I'd make something of my Sunday and so I put on some hiking socks and boots and set out for the beach. I packed some water, enhanced with effervescent sports hydration tablets (the particular brand is High5. I prefer the citrus flavour ones : http://www.superfit.co.uk/high-5-low-cal-zero-active-hydration-1-x-20-flavoured-tablets.html) and some oatbars.

It was excellent weather for it too; not too hot and with a good breeze to help keep me cool. As I'm due to go on holiday to Austria to walk in the hills, I wanted to ensure that I've got some miles in my legs in preparation. I've been doing a lot of walking recently just going about my business in my summer break. This has given me the basic fitness I need to get by in Austria. However, I wanted to test myself on a route of roughly the distance that I'll be doing on holiday.

This 9 mile route is over mostly flat terrain and because Google maps doesn't allow for off road route plotting, the parts where I walked on the sand aren't shown. So for completion, on the more northern part of the route, I did walk on the beach and on the sandy thoroughfare near the docks. A lot of the route is over paths and roads. This isn't representative of what I'll be covering in Austria but the distance is so it's all good fun and good prep for my holiday!!

health

Madness on the markets

As the confidence in Europe's sovereign nations' ability to pay off their debts weakens, the yields being paid on their government bonds is increasing greatly. Evidence of this is given by Spanish and Italian bonds paying the highest yields seen in the Eurozone since its inception over a decade ago. There has been a massive sell-off of italian stocks and bonds in recent days as the markets react to the news that italy is having trouble making ends meet as a nation. This is crippling Italy in the same way that Greece was crippled by its sovereign debt.

Looking further afield, most markets in the EU including the UK have lost a significant percentage of their value in recent days due to the lack of confidence the markets have in sovereign nations' ability to pay their debt bills. The FTSE has been losing roughly 1.6% daily for the past week and the news today that Lloyds bank (partly owned by the taxpaying UK public) has made significant losses too.

It seems that this is just the latest chapter in the economic down-turn that started in 2008. Despite all the calls from governments worldwide that the markets have been getting back to 'normality' and the economic picture had been recovering, there have been no "green shoots" of recovery. This latest sell-off of government bonds and the great panic in the markets is just evidence that there is no recovery. The financial world has changed and the governments and banks need to realise this and adapt to the changed circumstances.

Fuel saving tips and tricks

With petrol prices going up and up due to the volatility in oil price, VAT increases and inflation, one can't be blamed for looking at how to reduce their fuel consumption. Many motorists are, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, looking for ways to bring their fuel use down to save money and make their motoring more affordable. In this article are some tips to driving in a more fuel efficient way and techniques you can use to ensure that you don't use a drop more petrol than you have to.

To drive or not to drive?
An obvious one to start with but worth considering anyway, do you actually need to drive there? Many people use their cars to get from A to B when a 10 minute walk will achieve the same aim whilst saving you money and giving you some health-boosting exercise. Next time you want to pop down the shops, ask yourself, 'do I really need to drive there?'. You'll find that many journeys you made before this analysis of your driving behaviour were actually unnecessary and that as a result of not driving so much, your health picks up too.

Coast and Burn
A technique used by hypermilers to get the most from their petrol is called coast and burn. It's what it sounds like; one accelerates then removes their foot from the accelerator. The car will carry itself forward with it's momentum whilst it's in gear. Unlike 'normal' driving though, the time the car spends coasting on the momentum built up from acceleration uses no fuel. This is because the accelerator pedal tells the car's fuel injection system when to feed fuel to the engine. When the pedal is pressed, fuel is injected into the engine, when the pedal is left alone, no fuel is used. This can be considered free movement as the car still moves but it isn't using fuel. This only works if you don't have the clutch pedal down. The momentum of the car drives the engine but when the clutch is down, the engine still uses fuel. Continuing this cycle of coasting and burning can save you quite a bit of fuel over the course of a month. It also gives you a better appreciation of the speed at which you're travelling as you need to keep burning and coasting to ensure a decent average speed.

Coast to a stop
This one doesn't really have a name, it's more of an awareness of how you drive. It's a technique used when approaching a junction/ stop sign/ traffic lights/ etc and it's about letting the car coast along in gear with no pedals depressed so you roll up to one of the afore mentioned areas from cruising speed to a stop. This gives you 300/400 yards of free travel as the momentum of the car carries you forward as you slow down but unlike the coast and burn technique, the objective is to stop. Again, if no pedals are pressed, the wheels drive the engine and the movement uses no petrol.

Hopefully these techniques are useful to you in cutting your motoring bills.

Cloud Ships

It may sound like a fantasy idea but the concept of producing clouds to combat global warming is a potential solution to the increasing global temperatures we all face. Research done in the mid 2000's showed that a fleet of ships that can produce clouds could act as an effective tool to combat increasing temperatures caused by the excess CO2 produced by human activity.

The ships are called Flettner vessels, after their designer Anton Flettner. The ships in question consist of a single hull with three rotor stacks on top, like funnels. The stacks have fins on them and are rotated by the motion of the wind. The stacks are hollow and so draw water up themselves when rotated. The water forms a spray / mist and the aerosol formed rises into the atmosphere, increasing the concentration of water in the atmosphere and increasing the likelihood of clouds forming. It's an ingenious idea but the cost $5.3 Bn is too rich for anyone's blood at the moment as this project hasn't seen any progress since 2009.

The main inhibitor to the production of these vessels is cost. The huge cost is too much for even the richest countries. It's a good concept though, built on sound engineering principles. I'd like to see some progress and the project taken forward but it's the stuff of dreams, cloud seeding ships sailing the seas on autopilot.

Read more at : http://www.zdnet.com/blog/emergingtech/1500-ships-to-fight-climate-change/1030

cloud

Review: Freefall by Joseph Stiglitz

I've just finished reading Joseph Stigliz' review of the 2008 financial crash. In his book Freefall, he sets out the context of the financial institutions that were responsible for the downturn and the massive harm to the global ecomony. He gives a critical review of the appraisal and encouragement systems within banks and investment companies that gave their leaders disproportionate bonuses and salary relative to the work that they did.

Stigliz goes on to give a detailed critique of the actions of both the American government and the banks before and during the crisis. He talks about the current down turn whilst contrasting and comparing with past recessions and the Great Depression. This is a useful vehicle for explaining how the banks became so intertwined and how governments became so reliant on banks for growth. The book also touches on the rarely mentioned taboo of insider trading and it's role in the financial crunch.

What is most heartening about the book is that it isn't simply a critique of the governments' failure in safeguarding the taxpayer during a market crash. It also gives potential paths forward for government to follow in the future so it gives hope to the reader. The best part about this is that the solutions to our problem http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifaren't plucked out of thin air, they're tried and tested learnings from recessions and bubble bursts from over the past century. This relevance gives the reader confidence that Stigliz has done his homework, giving a thorough treatment of the matter.

In summary, it's a fantastic read. It's exciting and not packed with obscure jargon so you don't need an economics degree to understand what's going on. I will say however, some parts move so quickly (unexpected in a review of financial history) that going back and reading again is a must so that all the information can be assimilated. The book is available on Amazon :

Haircut: update

Hi there! I went for a haircut today. I'm pretty pleased with it. It was one of those haircuts that made me walk out feeling much better. And in a self-respect / I-feel-much-tidier-now kind of ways.

I asked for a tapering cut going from short around the bottom to long on the top of my head so I can retain the length on top but still get shot of the thick mass of hair behind my ears and around my neck. It is summer and recently I've been suffering so much with the heat (I'm from the coast, what do you expect?). I feel much cooler now in the neck / behind ears area as I go about my day.

I also asked that some thinning scissors be applied as my hair is just thick even after a good tidying up. After that, my hair is lighter, less thick and more manageable.

The end result makes me look more professional and less grufty student. A bonus. Judge it for yourself (pictures attached).

Student Loan Calculator

As I've just finished my first degree, I've started to think about how much it's going to cost me to pay the student loan back. As I'm part of the old system whereby one starts to pay over the £15,000 threshold, I wanted to know it would work. I had a quick Google and found this handy calculator which not only gives you your student loan repayments over a year, a month and a week but it also gives your tax contributions over the same time periods for a given salary. The calculator can be found at : http://listentotaxman.com/index.php .

Useful
It's quite a handy tool as I've recently been working as a student ambassaador to young people during higher education presentations. The bulk of the content was about student life but there was some material on student loans and repayments. The main theme was that on the new system, if you earned over £21,000 then you had to start paying your loan back and then if you earned £24,000 as an example, you would only pay back about 9% per year. This got me thinking about my own loan and how it would be paid back.

Prospects
As I'm starting on the road toward being a chemical engineer, I had a look at representative starting salaries for entry level workers and the median was around £22,000. As I'm 21k in debt, this salary wouldn't even start to pay back the student loan as the interest rate on the loan is roughly 2%pa. 2% interest on 21k would add about £800 to my existing debt and contributions from my wages would only pay about £720 so I'd be getting more indebted even though I was earning the average wage for a UK worker.

Many graduates from past years in a job that isn't in their preferred line of work because of the increasing competiton from increasing numbers of graduates. This is a scary prospect because as the graduate works the lower paid job, the interest builds on the loan and compound interest occurs. This lengthens the period over which the graduate will be paying their loan for.

As there are many people set to not reach the new minimum salary for repayment, there will be a great number of new graduates in massive debt to the Student Loans Company for a large portion of their lives.

debt

Wood-burning stoves

Fuel bills have increased astronomically over the last few years. You can combat these increased costs with a dual-fuel / woodburning stove. These stoves are usually made from cast iron or steel and can be routed into existing chimney systems. They can be operated with many different kinds of fuel. From simple wood and paper fuels to woodchip and bitumen bricks. They can also burn heavy grade tar if it is first preheated in a bowl in the stove by already burning wood.
As a result, this kind of stove is really appealing to survival nuts who feel they'll need to be able to burn anything 'when the end of the world comes'. http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=11297564&fh_location=//catalog01/en_GB/categories%3C{9372014}/categories%3C{9372037}/categories%3C{9372162}/specificationsProductType=stoves/specificationsSpecificProductType=solid_fuel_stoves&tmcampid=4&tmad=c&ecamp=cse_go&CAWELAID=754382696


Fuel
For normal people, this represents a really useful stove which can provide (after purchase) nearly free heat over the winter months. I say nearly free as you must invest in a hand axe http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002W5VM8A/ref=asc_df_B002W5VM8A3821946?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B002W5VM8A to obtain the fuel for your stove. This can be any wood that isn't treated with chemicals as these will be released into the air if you burn it. You can obtain wood from fallen logs in forests and old fence posts which haven't been treated with preservative. This act also serves to protect the delicate ecosystem in a forest to
ensure that no one species get the upper hand in that environment. To ensure an uninterrupted supply of wood, pile loads of dry wood up under a water proof tarp near your house. This will make finding wood in winter easy and ensure you don't have to go for to get it.

Use
Obviously, a stove can be used to heat your home but it can also be of another use, heating water. some stoves come with a built in hotplate which you can use to heat an iron kettle. This allows you to avoid using electricity during the winter months as it is charged at a higher rate. It can be safely used as central heating overnight while you sleep too. To do this safely, you will need a carbon monoxide alarm to ensure that you're stove isn't malfunctioning. position this near the stove and test it regularly. To use overnight, simply load up your stove with fuel then close the air intake to half way. This will reduce the burn rate of your stove and allow it to burn through the night. To continue use in the morning, simply add more fuel and open the intake to full to give full burn of fuel.

Savings
Over about a two year period, your stove will have paid for itself through gas and electricity savings. This goes forward on the premise that you'll use a few hundred pounds in energy to heat your home over winter. As these stoves are normally of very high quality, you can be sure to save that figure annually. The money saved will soon mount up on paper though in reality, you'll be able to use it for other things you want, rather than need.

Environment
Some of you may think that using a woodburning stove harms the environment but consider this, a woodburning stove uses fuel from local surroundings and ensures that waste wood doesn't build up. It also takes the transport energy costs out of heating your home. What I mean is that the natural gas you would have used formally, would have come from the Middle East or Australia or Russia. At least some of this gas will have arrived via pipeline which involves large machines to compress the gas for transport. This is without mentioning the energy costs involved in obtaining the gas in the first place. Drilling for gas is very energy intensive work and is another negative which is avoided totally with the use of a woodburning stove.

Consulting

Being a chemistry graduate, I have quite extensive experience in matters of chemical science and labwork. I am able and willing to consult with you if you have any need for chemical knowledge or assistance in a related area.

Extending out from chemistry, I have experience in public speaking and delivering my thoughts and ideas to groups of people.

Please hit me up if you're interested in some freelance consultancy

House Hunt Update

Hi, I went yesterday to the house I found on the internet and arranged to meet my contact, Jose, at elevenish. As I had arrived early in London, I had time on my hands so I scoped out the local area. I've given a quick account of the local area and my thoughts against my needs and preferences.

Quiet and Leafy
I had a slow walk around the surrounding streets and it looked like a decent area. The surrounding houses were all Victorian three storey houses and there wasn't much activity even at half past ten on a Saturday. From what I could see, there's a few older couples and young families in the area so I can only assume it has some degree of safety. This is important as I don't want to be 'locked into' an area rife with crime. There were plenty of trees and there were two parks close by. Again, an important thing for me as I like nothing more than to walk in parks when I've got a spare half an hour.

Shopping!!
Further up the road and round some corners, there's a Londis supermarket which makes two close by (I saw a discount supermarket shortly after getting off the tube). This is important too as I don't want to be walking miles / getting on many buses to get to a food shop done. In addition, there's a few restaurants, newsagents and a launderette. All these amenities being close to hand makes the property look very attractive.

The house proper
Having looked around the local area, I returned to the house to meet with Jose. The door opened to reveal a smiley character. He walked me through the house and it tallied well with the pictures that the advertiser of the house had given to me. It had a great, bright well lit living room. This is more important than anything as I tend to work, eat and generally live in there. The room was small but with a double bed so indeed, very tolerable!!

Spick and Span
As the property is rented by young professionals, there is a cleaning rota and the house was very clean and tidy when I saw it. As I'm allergic to dust and mould, this is fantastic. As I won't be busy for the whole working day like they will, I'll be able to easily achieve my cleaning commitments.

The way forward
I've indicated my strong interest in the property and I have a number for the estate agent. I'll give them a call Monday and see how I go from here.

Post-Uni Blues

After meeting with some friends whom I've not seen in quite a while, it became clear that many of them seem to have a case of the post-university blues. This isn't a recognised condition but rather, a pattern of behaviour that I've seen amongst friends and new graduates. My friends graduated from their respective institutions with good degrees after three years of study and hard work. They have moved back into the family home while they look for jobs. As we all know, the job market for new graduates is pretty bleak http://ulopportunities.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2011/07/13/what-is-the-graduate-job-market-really-like/. But it is looking up: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12266766.

Independance
This is a difficult time for them because they've had a taste of true independance and living for themselves. They now have to surrender their way of life till they can find a job. And good jobs in the local area are hard to come by. This takes me on to the question of the blues. Like I said, my friends are smart people and went to good universities. They have good degrees and are willing to work. They live at home with their parents and as a result, are clashing with them on matters of the home, which, after living for themselves, they have their own ways of doing chores.

Weak laughs hide the fear
They tell me time and again that they haven't found anything and joke that they'll be working at Matalan or JJB sports. Their laughs are weak and they look around nervously. This is symptomatic of the university blues: A thinly veiled grimace when talking about work and money. This is usually followed by a poor joke about working in a low-paid job to tide things over. This is an obvious manifestation of the fear that comes from finishing study in an uncertain job market.

Groan
Another symptom of the Blues, is the groaning and looking to the sky for answers. It's a difficult time for them and they're crying out for some good luck to get them on their way. They are looking hard for the opportunities and they're not getting a look in.

A Cure?
In the past, there have been many articles written about making yourself more employable and giving you a better chance against the field in terms of bagging that first job.

Master's Madness
The first of these is the often touted "Read a Masters". This will hold off the job market for another year, but at great personal expense as a lot of the funding for such studies has dried up. This will land you in more debt and as the poor labour market looks set to persist for the forseeable future, this postponement won't help. The best plan here is to adapt to the situation and be proactive with job hunting and getting employed.

Art vs. Science
Another trend that I've picked up on is that most of my friends have completed non-vocational courses (English, Business, etc) and as a result, hold art degrees (BA Hons). These degrees are very open ended with regard to jobs and there is no clear link between the course and a workplace function. The ones who read Law are having an equally bad time as over the past few years, students have realised that barristers make a mint and wanted to get involved. This lead to flooding the market with new law graduates, leaving many disappointed people were late to the party. This is where the adaptation comes in, many lawyers have the skills and can retrain as accountants and patent lawyers, dealing with numbers and intellectual property of big business. This can be a very lucrative career choice: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2001_10_05/noDOI.12050084083804997791

As many people who attend university studied art degrees, when they can't get employed in their preferred sector, they go for general admin jobs. As there are many more graduates in the system than there were traditionally, there are many who get 'left behind'. These students get a bum deal and cannot land their first professinal job in the first year after graduation. This means they have to compete for professional jobs with with new cohort of graduates who are one year younger and have learned newer ideas at university. This is particularly a problem for arts students but science students, as far as I can tell, don't have this problem.

Being a scientist means you have a special set of skills in maths and whatever flavour of science you chose to study (biology / biochemistry / chemistry / physics). These are skills that arts students will not have. This means that a large part of the competition for jobs in the workplace is instantly removed. This, hopefully means that there is more scope to land that dream first job readily when one is a holder of a science degree.

However, as the government has seen fit to remove a cap on tuition fees and encourage the price of a degree to soar, there is a shift occurring in the decision making of prospective undergraduates. As fees for many top universities are at £9000 pa + inflation (around 5%), new students are coming to the table with a consideration of value for money. As an art student, one may have at most, 10 hours a week contact time. This brings the price per lecture up to a ridiculous amount. As a science student, a typical week will have at least 25 hours contact time. This is good value for money as there is still private study to be done but there is more coming from the university in terms of lectures and labs. This is an important consideration that students are making and hopefully, this will encourage a new generation of young scientists to bring forth a scientific revolution in this country.

college

Haircut

It's getting to that time when I need another haircut. I woke up this morning and walked into the bathroom to see there, in the mirror, thick tufts of my hair sticking awkwardly out here, there and everywhere. I have particularly unruly hair and it is very hard to tame regardless of whether it's short or long. For me, getting a haircut that looks good is a difficult thing. A lot of what I ask for is thinning of my hair as it gets so thick on the back of my head. This can usually be achieved with a request for a short back and sides with a No2 grade razor. This approach, however, results in me looking like a ten year old boy (Not great when you're of age and at university).

More often than not, each haircut is different and I can ask for the same cut at the same barbers and come out looking different every time. In recent times, I can say I've had maybe two or three haircuts that I truly liked. The rest were more of a maintenance thing and something I needed before my hair smothered me in my sleep.

I've been experimenting with choppy and sweeping fringes but generally keeping the emphasis on a tidy haircut. I don't want to walk out like a monstrosity you see in town centres, hanging round the alternative clothing shops with their scooter / skateboard.

Anyway, rant over. Wish me luck hehe.

Roadworks and Cycling

I've been getting out and about on my bike over the past few weeks since I got back from university and Grimsby seems to be getting a makeover of its roads. The work is being done at night to not disturb traffic during peak times. The result is a nice new roadway that is free from divets and snow / frost damage.

The work to repair snow damage is greatly overdue in many parts of the country and as a result, a simple drive down the road turns into a slalom event with weaving to avoid road-craters becoming ordinary. This is another example of the continued ignorance of government towards the transport infrastructure of the UK. Roads laid down years ago have seen little to no maintenance. That which is seen is usually just a round of patch-and-mend. This is done by two council workers shovelling tarred grit into the holes, maybe patting it down for good measure, only for it to be excavated by the next lorry that drives over it. This lack of proper care for our roads increases the likelihood of collisions as road users are constantly swerving to avoid potholes. A great example of the inability of council leaders to see the problem is more pronounced in York.

A great, ancient city, York is home to around 150,000 people and has some great historic monuments but its roads are awful. The trend in York is to simply pave over the Victorian road cobbles in the older quarters with a couple of inches of tarmac. This makes the road surface smooth and good to drive / ride on but after not very long, the frost comes and attacks the road. The tarmac degrades and is removed by traffic driving over it, exposing the cobbles below. This makes a dangerous situation for cyclists as there's no safe way to ride into a pothole and in narrow city streets, there's little room to compete with motorists for space.

That said, York is an excellent cycling city and it's drivers have a really good appreciation of cyclists. This cannot be said all over the country and I'm glad that the roadworks are being done in Grimsby as the motorists here have a really selfish attitude and occasionally, no insurance, license or tax disc. This goes to show the regional variation and exemplifies the difference between council approaches to the same problem. I hope that this investment in roads continues and ramps up as it'll cut down journey times, increase traffic flow and give budding cyclists a safe surface to ride on. The last point is especially important as many new cyclists are put off by the sight of bumpy, unsafe roads with cycle lanes that are filled with glass and debris from the road.

Househunting Updated

Here's an update on the househunting situation. I've been looking for a houseshare in north London, preferably not too far from University College London campus. I kept to a budget of roughly £400 pcm including bills. I thought that was pretty reasonable considering what I wanted. At the start of my house hunt I didn't have much success; I had trouble finding the right kind of housing to fit my needs ( a lot of what was on offer was up the east end of London and too far to be practical to get to university quickly).

I scoured the housing websites looking for potential digs and just recently I hit upon a goldmine. I visited the website easyroommate.co.uk and they have a huge variety of rooms available for students and young professionals in London. They also had a tool that maps the room vacancies so you can see instantly where the houses are so you can cut out all the places that aren't suitable straight away.

One downside to the website, however is that after not so long the system that it uses to send your emails to landlords blocks off access to those people under the guise of the landlords becoming premium members of the website. To get around this, simply give your email address with the initial interest email to the landlord and you can continue your investigations without the need for the website.

I really liked this website because it allowed you to directly contact the landlord / agent instead of going through a whole heap of middle-men programs. This allowed me to get in contact with a few people and arrange some viewings. It's going to be an interesting Saturday as I'll be roaming around north London viewing the rooms I've lined up and doing some reconnaisance to find the local shops, restaurants, hotels ( for family), etc. I like going to new places and getting to know them. I hope this works out well and I can come back soon with some good news.

Pub Quiz

I'm going to a pub quiz tonight. I've not been to one in a while and I'm really excited. The last time I did a pub quiz as some time late last year and I had a really good time. I love testing my brain and those of my friends to see who can come up with the goods when the most obscure pieces of trivia are needed.

The concept of a pub quiz is simple, answer questions as part of a team, compete with other teams, win prizes. The implementation, however, varies from place to place. Most pub quizzes have some common elements to their structure. One goes along to the quiz night and pays a nominal fee of a few pounds then enters their team name into the contest. Pub quizzes normally come made up of about 3 / 4 + rounds or questions. These are broken up usually by 5 minute breaks so that refreshments may be bought as the quiz goes on. These rounds are ususally on specific topics and some of the more popular ones are:

Picture rounds - you are given a picture of the face / part of face of someone famous
and you need to give that person's name or their character in a particular soap opera.

Sport rounds - testing your knowledge of sport and sportspersons.

music round - this kind of round can be very varied with anything from the name of the song, artist or the next lyric being requested as answers to a short piece of music that is played.

wildcard round - this round usually consists of various random and obscure questions being asked. Rounds like these usually have more points attached to them due to the difficulty of the questions being asked.

Generally, the quizzes operate along these lines with a few of the above types of rounds being used along with others. I once attended a quiz where there was a round of questions solely on bears. The subject was approached from lots of different angles with Paddington Bear, Alaskan bears and even Bear Grylls making an appearance on the question list.

Each quiz is different due to different types of questions being asked each time . The nature of the competition is friendly and you have a great time encouraging your friends to give that disputed answer over a niche area and laughing at long-shot answers. This kind of activity makes for a great, fun evening and any prizes you win are a bonus.

Prizes
Prizes differ but generally don't deviate too much from a set pattern: the winner takes a small pot of cash originating from the money raised by all the quiz team entries. The second place will get a smaller pot of money and the third will get a bottle of wine or a free round. Other variations are the use of cuddly toys and physical items that can be won. If you've never been along to a pub quiz, support your local one by getting a team of mates together and give it a go!

Solar Power

I've just got back from gallavanting around the country and I've noticed that solar energy systems, harnessing the power of the sun to heat water or by converting the light into electricity, are becoming more and more popular.

I was sat on the train for a few hours ( a long, long journey) and I saw that every so often, a battery of photo-voltaic cells or a solar water heater would be mounted on someone's roof. Ironically, as I made my way north, the number and frequency of panels on rooves in residential areas seemed to increase. This was an interesting trend as it's counter-intuitive to think that it's a good idea to put solar energy systems on the roof at higher latitudes. But there they were, glinting in the sun.

This is a good example of how high energy prices are driving a domestic energy generation revolution. There has been a unilateral price increase by energy providers in recent weeks and this will serve to squeeze the pockets of the average Briton even harder than they were in the winter when prices were high and there was a massive need for fuel to rebuff the awful cold. Homeowners (as you need to own your roof to get solar panels installed on it) have been
slowly moving toward and adopting solar technology to power / heat their homes. This works well for two reasons: one - the panels on your roof remove the need to buy electricity / gas to heat water for domestic use, except on the darkest / coldest of days. This means you can have all the hot water you want without needing to worry about that next huge post-winter energy bill as it simply won't arrive. However, this is countered by the cost of installing the system in the first place.

The second point only applies to solar photo-voltaic (electricity generating) panels and it is that the energy that your panels collect which isn't used in the home can be sold back to the national
grid. The money you generate from your redundant energy is sold per kWh (kilo-Watt-hour) at pennies per unit.

This adds up over time and can, whilst cutting your electricity bill to zero, earn your household an extra £2,000 a year depending on the capacity your home can provide.

The standard set-up for an average house is a 3-5kWh system, costing around £10,000. This means that the money that your roof-based power plant provides through electricity generation will help pay off the cost of the system in around 5 years or so. Considering that by having solar panels, you can have essentially free electricity for 25 years (the average life of a system) and the potential to generate an extra income to help you live your life without money worries. The only care that either system requires is that you keep the panels clean to ensure maximum light
capture.

Good Times

Just been down the pub with my Dad and brother before I take the train tomorrow to see my girlfriend. We had some dinner and a few drinks together. It was really good to share memories and experiences that we've all had and now that we're all adults, we're able to appreciate the totality of each person's experience.

Dad shared lots of stories of his time at sea, working as a trawlerman and the times he ate meals without eyebrows due to his crewmates shaving them off as he slept, exhausted from a long shift up on deck. He also shed some light on his time as a cheeky lad running around alleys, picking gooseberries.

My brother shared his stories from work where he works metal into complex pipe systems for the chemical industries. He showed us all his scars from the work and some of his funny stories when he worked with other pipe-fitters.

It's times like these that I miss when I go away to study and I'm glad that I'm able to take advantage of the time between terms of university so I can see my family and spend quality time with each other and share our stories and laugh at it all over some drinks.

Yoga for cycling

As an avid cyclist, I want to take care of my body so I can continue to enjoy cycling often and with as little injury-incurred recovery as possible. To do this there are many factors to consider, some obvious and some more subtle. A lot of the techniques put forward here aren't cycling specific but can help support a cyclist well during a training regime or through the daily commute by bike.

Nutrition
The age-old Adage 'You are what you eat' is an old chestnut that keeps coming back, especially around times of traditional food and drink abuse (Xmas, New year, Birthdays, etc.). It is true, to a certain extent, and worth bearing in mind if you're particularly motivated toward a healthy lifestyle. Diet is an important factor and to ensure that you're not deviating from a pretty healthy set-up already, see your GP for some advice. They will undoubtledly point you towards the food pyramid and this is an excellent way to start your food planning. For cyclists, it is essential that you consume lots of good quality protein. This can come in the form of protein shakes but if you want to keep it real, then eating quality chicken breast and turkey steaks is the way forward. These food sources are lean and healthy and swapping these into your diet in place of red meat will help protect your heart from copious amounts of fat that run through the animal flesh.

Fish Supper
Another good tip for food intake is tinned macarel and tuna, it keeps for ages and when it is stored under oil, it takes on the aroma of the oil as it penetrates the fish tissue. The oil from the fish is the same kind of oil which makes up the cod liver oil capsules and when combined with the sunflower storage oil, it gives the benefits of B vitamins too. The oil from the fish penetrates your joints and keeps them supple and fluid. You can capitalise on this extra bendiness by taking up some yoga practise.

Yoga: Bend and Stretch and Breathe
Normally given a cameo appearance in sit-coms on television, yoga is typically personified in popular media by people so bendy, they can fire a bow and arrow with their feet... whilst standing on their hands or all coiled up to the size of a small suitcase. These, like many other stereotypes are true to an extent but the reality is much more diverse. There are people looking to support their back as they work in offices and are concerned about posture and joint pain.

The cyclist can benefit from yoga by reversing all the damage done to the upper back, shoulders and neck from being hunched over the handlebars for hours a week (a day in the case of the cyclist commuter). There is yoga designed specifically for cyclists and is easily found via google search but the general focus is working out the afore mentioned areas. There is an emphasis on groundwork and back bends to reverse the position the body has been in. This is an excellent way to ensure that you don't get a long term injury requiring physiotherapy and, when used in tandem with regular yoga, can help eliminate sprains and strains by making the muscles and joints more supple and mobile. Also, as time goes on, your posture will improve as you're essentially practising putting your body into poses.

Not only can a regular yoga practise ensure that your body is flexible and not damaged by cycling, the breathing component of all yoga moves can help still the mind so the poses become a way to relax and de-stress after a trying work day. It can help give you a much more balanced approach to life and as you're breathing more, more oxygen gets to the brain and muscles so you get an pronounced feeling of well-being relative to not using yoga.

I hope this post helped and keep on enjoying cycling :)

health

Sleep

Because I've been moving around all over the place recently, I've been sleeping in lots of different houses at different times. It's safe to say that my typical sleep pattern is shot. I do have some simple techniques that I use to help implement a regular sleep routine to help me maximise the amount of good sleep I can get out of a night.

Techniques
For me there are a few simple techniques that I use and I'll talk a little about each one below:

Darkness
For me, there's one thing I can't do without when it comes to sleep and that's darkness. I'm a bit of an owl in that I like total coal-black darkness in order to fall asleep. This means no hall lights, blinds / curtains cut and closing doors to rooms which permit light from outside in.

Quiet
I like real quiet when I go to bed, the dead space is like a blanket and wraps around your mind and body, sending me to sleep. To remedy any noises from outside, I don't go to sleep early and if there is an occasional ambient noise, I focus on the silence and apply a pillow to my ears.

Airflow
It has been proved through countless sleep studies that a good flow of cold (not freezing) air through your bedroom can help put your body to sleep and help you relax. I always have my window open a crack. This cold air is hard to come by in summer so I just switch out a duvet for simple sheets and this helps attain the desired coolness.

Sheets
As mentioned above, I use a bed covering appropriate to the season. In the height of summer, I use a couple of thin comfy cotton sheets to drape over myself to keep the chill off. In the winter, I snuggle under a thick duvet of many tog.

I hope these tips help you get some good rest yourself

health

Summer Cycling

I had a great time cycling today. I had to go and pick up some groceries from the shops and I decided that, rather than take the bus, I would go by bike. It had rained about 4 hours previously so the air was nice and crisp. Perfect for cycling as it keeps you cool and is really nice to breathe as it keeps you fresh.

Riding down the street, there was a light breeze and that helped keep me cool too. I have a tendancy to ride quickly even if I intend to go out for a slow, easy ride. The breeze helped me from turning into a sweatbox as I cycled to the shops. I parked my bike and locked it to the steel sheffield frame outside and went in.

After finishing buying some essentials, I cycled home again. The whole trip was really pleasant and simply goes to highlight how useful and fun cycling can be when integrated into one's daily routine or, as I did, taken as an option to mix it up a bit.

Bike Maintenance Basics

So you've got your shiny new bike and you've ridden it all over the place. You've been up and down and round and back home. Your bike has definately had a bit of hammer and will need support in the way of maintenance and regular upkeep to ensure you can go many miles further together.

Chain Reaction
Depending on how long you've ridden your bike for and where you store your bike day-to-day, you can work out how much maintenance you need to give your chain to ensure that your drivetrain will continue to work effectively.
If you ride your bike a lot, over great distances, it will be important to keep your chain well lubricated to keep the wear on the bike components down. There are many different lubes out there for this purpose but there is a runaway favourite of mine which is Finish Line Teflon Lube http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=317 . This lubricant is for use really only in the dry conditions and this may be impractical in old blighty so there's also a wet conditions equivalent: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=1041 and at roughly 3 quid a pop, it's not gonna break the bank.

Working at the.... Bike.... wash (Seamless :D)
As important as it is to keep your chain in good condition, it is also a good idea to keep your bike relatively clean as this will prevent transfer of muck to you from the bike. A good fluid for this is the Muc Off Nano Tech bike cleaner (£5.99) : http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=520 . I really like this product because it's a no gimmicks fluid with a spray bottle container. It's really just a point and shoot system which works great if, like me, you have a busy life and just want to keep your bike in good working order.

Stop!!
On the more mechanical / physical side of bike maintenance, it's important to keep an eye on your tyres and brake pads. I'll deal with brake pads first as they're more likely to go before your tyres do ( again, like so much in this article, it depends on the type and frequency of the riding that you do). Brake pads are the traditional way to stop a bike and there are specific types of brake pads for different bikes. Mountain bikes generally have longer brake pads and road bikes have smaller pads mounted in a side-pull fashion. These can be picked up at Halfords or from Chain Reaction Cycles for little money and especially with CRC, there is a massive selection to choose from.

Tyres, again vary depending on the bike and type of riding you do. If you do a lot of mountain biking then slick tyres are not for you. Likewise, a knobby tyre on a road bike lends the it to more cyclo-cross type riding rather than a fast morning commute into the City. A good thing to watch out for with the commuter tyre is whether it has kevlar in it. Kevlar in this application is the same stuff used in bullet proof vests and will go a long way to help protect you from punctures.