Its amazing how October has gone so quickly and November is almost gone. As I look back at the past 6-7 weeks, it has been pretty hectic although I am not sure what I have actually accomplished.
Some of the activities that took my time include:
1. volunteered for a Talent ID testing session for Canoeing Victoria (VIS attachment)
2. got a bit involved in a cycling crank angle measurement project (VIS attachment)
3. analysed wheelchair rugby match data (PhD)
4. trying to develop a sensor for a cricket project (PhD related)
5. wheelchair racing testing (PhD)
6. figuring out application of the ANT+ protocol (PhD)
7. part-time work stuff at Catapult (work)
8. write & submit abstract for 2012 ISEA conference (PhD related)
Only one of those things listed above can be considered done and closed (at least for me), and that's the Talent ID testing. The rest of the stuff are either on-going, in progress, or requires follow up or more work. It sounds like I am saying the same thing but it is actually different.
Firstly, on-going stuff is like my part-time job - as long as the company is still running and has work for me, it is on-going and the scope isn't going to change much.
Secondly, stuff that is in progress would be me analysing wheelchair rugby match data and getting the ANT+ thing to work the way I need it to. They are in progress because I haven't reached any sort of milestone or goal yet and I know more or less how I am going to get there.
Thirdly, stuff that requires follow up would be the cycling project. I have done my part and now the ball is in someone else's court. I may or may not have to do more work on that but that is what I need to follow up and find out. To be honest, I have a feeling that my bit of contribution would not be used in the end, which would be slightly disappointing. [The up side is that I did learn something useful during my involvement that I could apply in the cricket project]
The last category is stuff that requires more work; this includes the cricket project, wheelchair racing testing and the 2012 ISEA conference paper submission. The cricket project was a bit of a bummer initially because I spent a couple of weeks trying to troubleshoot an issue with a micro-controller that turned out to be simply a wrong boot loader burned onto it. But as I mentioned briefly earlier, I transferred what I picked up from the cycling project and ended up with a simpler solution of using a simple data logger board instead of programming a micro-controller. If only I came to that solution earlier (pfft). Anyway there is more work to be done in this project like testing and other stuff. The wheelchair racing testing and the conference paper submission are inter-related. The plan was to run some lab tests (which I had done); from the lab test results, work out a field test protocol, run the field tests and publish all those results in the conference paper (since the abstract I submitted was accepted). Unfortunately, the results from the lab test was not exactly what I had expected and it would take some brainstorming before I could go ahead with the field test. Plus the fact that I am planning to go for a extended holiday beginning of December, this means I would not be able to finish all the work and meet the paper submission deadline which is 21st Dec. Sigh. So actually there is no more work to do for the ISEA conference because I will not make it!
Nevertheless, the work of the wheelchair racing project still has to go on. Hopefully at the end of the day, I get some results or analysis that can give the athlete some insight into how he could improve his performance and win some (more) gold medals!
So for all the effort that I put into doing stuff the past weeks, some worked out according to plan, some efforts were kinda wasted (submitting the abstract only to realise I can't submit the full paper) and some worked out in an unexpected way.
Going back to the first activity on the list: the Talent ID testing. There was actually something interesting that I learned from that experience. I realised on that day that none of the young people (13 - 22 year olds) who turned up for that testing had any experience in canoeing prior to that. Most of them were either in life-saving or triathlon or some other sport. I had expected them to have a certain level of physical fitness but I was wrong. I guess the whole point of that exercise was to find talent outside of the sport of canoeing; and if it was detected that there was some potential in a particular person, he/she would be put under a canoeing program and monitored for the next year. From there, the VIS would then decide if it was worth training and mentoring that athlete, and also for the athlete to decide if it was worth pursuing the sport of canoeing competitively. Looking at the selected squad, it seems more than half the people who turned up for the testing did not make it through. But I can't say they have wasted their time or effort in going through the testing because they probably found out a bit more about themselves that day, and this might just lead them to understanding where their strengths really lies.
Some of the activities that took my time include:
1. volunteered for a Talent ID testing session for Canoeing Victoria (VIS attachment)
2. got a bit involved in a cycling crank angle measurement project (VIS attachment)
3. analysed wheelchair rugby match data (PhD)
4. trying to develop a sensor for a cricket project (PhD related)
5. wheelchair racing testing (PhD)
6. figuring out application of the ANT+ protocol (PhD)
7. part-time work stuff at Catapult (work)
8. write & submit abstract for 2012 ISEA conference (PhD related)
Only one of those things listed above can be considered done and closed (at least for me), and that's the Talent ID testing. The rest of the stuff are either on-going, in progress, or requires follow up or more work. It sounds like I am saying the same thing but it is actually different.
Firstly, on-going stuff is like my part-time job - as long as the company is still running and has work for me, it is on-going and the scope isn't going to change much.
Secondly, stuff that is in progress would be me analysing wheelchair rugby match data and getting the ANT+ thing to work the way I need it to. They are in progress because I haven't reached any sort of milestone or goal yet and I know more or less how I am going to get there.
Thirdly, stuff that requires follow up would be the cycling project. I have done my part and now the ball is in someone else's court. I may or may not have to do more work on that but that is what I need to follow up and find out. To be honest, I have a feeling that my bit of contribution would not be used in the end, which would be slightly disappointing. [The up side is that I did learn something useful during my involvement that I could apply in the cricket project]
The last category is stuff that requires more work; this includes the cricket project, wheelchair racing testing and the 2012 ISEA conference paper submission. The cricket project was a bit of a bummer initially because I spent a couple of weeks trying to troubleshoot an issue with a micro-controller that turned out to be simply a wrong boot loader burned onto it. But as I mentioned briefly earlier, I transferred what I picked up from the cycling project and ended up with a simpler solution of using a simple data logger board instead of programming a micro-controller. If only I came to that solution earlier (pfft). Anyway there is more work to be done in this project like testing and other stuff. The wheelchair racing testing and the conference paper submission are inter-related. The plan was to run some lab tests (which I had done); from the lab test results, work out a field test protocol, run the field tests and publish all those results in the conference paper (since the abstract I submitted was accepted). Unfortunately, the results from the lab test was not exactly what I had expected and it would take some brainstorming before I could go ahead with the field test. Plus the fact that I am planning to go for a extended holiday beginning of December, this means I would not be able to finish all the work and meet the paper submission deadline which is 21st Dec. Sigh. So actually there is no more work to do for the ISEA conference because I will not make it!
Nevertheless, the work of the wheelchair racing project still has to go on. Hopefully at the end of the day, I get some results or analysis that can give the athlete some insight into how he could improve his performance and win some (more) gold medals!
 |
| The racing wheelchair |
Going back to the first activity on the list: the Talent ID testing. There was actually something interesting that I learned from that experience. I realised on that day that none of the young people (13 - 22 year olds) who turned up for that testing had any experience in canoeing prior to that. Most of them were either in life-saving or triathlon or some other sport. I had expected them to have a certain level of physical fitness but I was wrong. I guess the whole point of that exercise was to find talent outside of the sport of canoeing; and if it was detected that there was some potential in a particular person, he/she would be put under a canoeing program and monitored for the next year. From there, the VIS would then decide if it was worth training and mentoring that athlete, and also for the athlete to decide if it was worth pursuing the sport of canoeing competitively. Looking at the selected squad, it seems more than half the people who turned up for the testing did not make it through. But I can't say they have wasted their time or effort in going through the testing because they probably found out a bit more about themselves that day, and this might just lead them to understanding where their strengths really lies.
