What's in your mind?

It's been fifty days since I started DPhil. For now I find it's not too difficult to fit my lifestyle into DPhil course. A couple of elements of my characteristic tend to drive me to work hard with enthusiasm, and I often enjoy some achievements usually coming from experiments and literature review. Apparently, I'm quite busy with ongoing experiemental works, and it seems this project will get bigger and bigger as I make it successful. My little concern is that, from time to time, I wish I could have more time to read journal articles to be more balanced between physical and brain work.

So, what's in my mind other than work, work and work?

First of all, I've made my decision 70% for skiing trip to Chamonix. I should've booked airplane and hotel during the last weekend, but my Saturday was messed up due to overdrinking at Wine & Cheese. I'm not going to disclose why I had to have beer after several glasses of wine due to his privacy, but talking about international politics was terrible idea. I must sort out booking by coming-up weekend. I believe it won't be too difficult to figure it out as I'm thinking of the same route and the same hotel, but it might be troublesome since Christmas is the busiest time of the year (probably). So, I better rush it!

Secondly, my laptop has never been the external threat to me while I'm living in the UK. Probably this is because I'm always prepared for any issue coming from softwares, and I don't much carry my laptop, so there shouldn't be a big mechanical issue. BUT, in the end, it seems to me that mechanical problem occured to my laptop. FAN ERROR. Still I don't really understand why this is happening to my laptop at this moment. The critical limit of life span of my previous laptop was a noisy fan. Given that nowadays nothing seems to be impossible when it comes to portable devices, it's quite nonsense that the first maintanance which PC requires is exchanging fan. Now I have to make quite difficult decision because this country hasn't earned much credit from me when it comes to service work, but at the same time, it's quite scary to keep using laptop having fan problem. I'll probably pop in PC shop in Oxford.

Thirdly, my first term is quite chaos. Now, it's week 7, so only about ten days left until Christmas vacation. Considering the fact that there is going to be almost no social activity organized by the college MCR during vacation, I might be better try more activities. Now I'm obliged to sign up for Christmas dinner because of my best college friend (?), and I'm also supposed to sign up for 2nd hall for day after tomorrow (Eventually!). Probably that's it. And we'll see I will be able to proceed research as much as I wish to do during off-term!

MCR dinner

On November 10th, it was my first MCR dinner in Oxford. On the day, late afternoon, since I was able to confirm that my current method of sample preparation won't work at around 6pm, I went to MCR a bit late at 7pm. My first impression of the dinner was that the people were relatively calm and peaceful probably because the people more energetic and keen for socializing were screened by the swap dinner with St John's College. Thanks to the swap dinner, I was able to meet non-fresher graduates in the college.

I hadn't been to the MCR, and my first impression for the MCR was small, cozy and mess like other ordinary MCRs. As a person who speaks English as the secondary language, it's not very enjoyable having a chat with someone who I don't know much about in a crowd. With said that, the idea of social connection through MCR is unique, and one of the best advantages of Oxford and Cambridge. Mixing up with people from different academic fields and backgrounds sometimes creates a distance in human relationship because they have less chance to professionally get connected. But, right before the dinner, and with a glass of wine, an engineer may find it quite interesting to know what a economist or a pianist is doing in Oxford.

In my college, MCR dinner does not take place at main hall, which is a bit disappointing in that the hall is quite beautiful and cool. Another surprising point was that there was no seat plan, which means you can sit anywhere. This could be good or bad, depending on individuals. As for me, it was not bad.

During the dinner, I met a fourth year Chinese DPhil studying physics. Actually, I cannot imagine how it would be like being a fourth year DPhil student. Needless to say that under massive pressure for thesis, and almost chaos due to job hunting or applying for postdocs. It's been just one-and-a-half month since my DPhil started, and still it's extremely difficult to judge the nature of DPhil. It seems to me that I am having more spare time, and enjoying what I am doing, but at the same time, it seems to be impossible to feel satisfaction and achievement from work. Sometimes, it seems like I am just working as an employee in Oxford ltd, but it requires academic depth. 

MCR dinner is definitely expansive, and I guess it's because of wine. Having a wine or not should be optional, and if the dinner price could be under 7 or 8 pounds, I would like to sign up for the dinner everytime.

Viva Voce

Looking back, viva voce was definitely defending myself from the attack.
And it'll be during my DPhil.

Could I finalize my mobile phone contract tomorrow?

When I was a college student, one of the lecturers has told us that mobile phone is depriving freedom from people. You are normally asked to give your mobile phone number when you try to join online networks. Then, what if you don't have one? The answer is that you are not allowed unless you get a new number.

Thesedays, mobile phone has become troublesome for those who are not particularly interested in other functions in it. As for me, there is little time to utilise a number of apps in smart phones, so I don't pay attention to the latest smart phone. Instead, the quality of phone camera is quite important because I want to memorise my daily life in Oxford. Even if I need to take pictures with no plan, I can't carry a camera all the time since it's heavy, bulky and probably more fragile.

I'm currently using one of the cheapest phone with no camera, so planning to purchase new one or contract a pay monthly. The criteria are now clear.

1. It has to be a major telecommunication company, so either O2 or Vodafone. For some reason, signal is extremely weak depending on regions, and Oxford is not a good place for this aspect. The first priority should be strong signal, and hence I prefer those companies.

2. It should definitely have a camera. As a result of the research on current mobile phones, 5 megapixel seems to be reasonable, so I would be happy with the camera with the resolution of over 5 MP. Paradoxically, some phones provide good cameras with no flash, so I'll have to double check if it has flash function.

3. Deciding mobile tariff is quite tricky and difficult. The best option seems to be either 18 months or 24 months, and I don't like either tariff. How could I possible know which phone is better unless I actually use it? Contract over 18 months with no experience is oppression by major companies and must be abolished. Having said that, 24 month contract offers £10.5 a month, and particularly Vodafone offers 100 minutes call and 500 texts.

I guess I should choose the cheapest one because most of my phone call is international call, and this is not included in the £10.5.

4. I don't need a smartphone for the time being. It might be neccessary to keep myself away from the internet at least on the street or in Tesco because I have to spend significant time with the internet for my work.

I've decided to let myself left behind the cutting-edge mobile phone for the next a couple of years. But, instead I need to pay attention to the progress of mobile phone technology as a PhD student working on MEMS.

Now it became more clear which tariff and which phone I should choose tomorrow. Be decisive and quick with no hesitation.

Managing your DPhil

Doctor of Philosophy =
physical work +
minimum brain power (99% human being has this) +
language +
what else??

Several days ago, I took 'Managing your DPhil course', by the lecturer, a PhD degree holder, from Imperial College. This course seemed to be mandatory to new DPhil students, so I went to the lecture room with no hesitation. Surprisingly, there was no one other than the lecturer in the lecture room. Recently, I often get surprised by my amazing punctuality. Being puntual at a meeting or whatever and waiting for others to arrive make me feel quite nice than you imagine.

This session was booked for the whole afternoon (1 to 5 o'clock). I knew it was going to be a waste of time and actually it was. Four hours is ridiculously long to learn how to manage my doctoral research. The content of the session was quite predictable, and indeed it covered stuff like time management, plagiarism, originality and etc.  

Since I came to the UK, I've taken quite many training courses such as presentation skill (particularly several times for this one) and various kinds of management skills. Fortunately(?), I've never got bored from those sessions, thanks to the language. It requires high concentration and good listening skill. To me, it's quite impressive to see how British people pay attention to this this kind of sessions.

Despite the fact that four hours of managing your DPhil was obviously over the top, I have to say that the course was quite fruitful. During the course, I had to think about 'Why?' for a couple of factors associated with DPhil course, and it was a good opportunity to clarify more specific goals. For example,

What a DPhil is?

'Demonstrate your ability to conduct research, understand your subject, demonstrate critical and independent thought, show originality, contribute to knowledge, develop a model, explain and defend a model and so on.'

These are most of factors and qualities which I should always bear in mind as a DPhil student.

Another interesting point in the session was 'The Pareto Principle'.

'The 80:20 Rule.

A minority of input produces the majority of results.'

This implies several good points and suggestions to DPhil students. First and foremost, it is very likely that you will waste your time by sticking to one particular experiment. Success or failure could be determined by your extra input and effort, but it is less likely to happen. Trying to be well oriented is much more important than just hard working. Secondly, do not focus on just your work during your DPhil. It might be wiser to try to drill your other skills with your main work so that I can efficiently utilise the 80% of my time.

So far I feel doing DPhil is not tough as much as doing MPhil, but you should always bear in mind where you are, where you are heading, how you are doing in longer term. Probably, doing DPhil is another step to become more professional.

Sporadic enjoyment

It's been approximately twenty days since I came to Oxford. It was quicker and easier to settle down in  Oxford since I've gone through the initial setting-up process a year ago in Cambridge. I've got a bike, bank account, mobile phone and etc, so was able to begin normal daily life from the second day in Oxford. Yet, my life is still nevertheless inefficient, inconvenient and uncomfortable. There are only several streets and roads I've become familar with so far, and just a couple of shops where I am going for shopping. I've not been inside any college other than my college, and haven't taken any photo yet.

To analyse this, I think, I'm not rushing it and there is no reason for rushing it. I will be here for three years (to say the least). Interestingly I've never lived in one city more than a year in the UK, so three years seem to be extremely long to me. Here is a good analogy. Jinju Castle is one of the best cultural heritages in South Korea, so tourists across the country travel to visit the castle. But, surprisingly, I've been to the castle just a couple of time though I've lived in Jinju over twenty years. Once you're aware of that it's always there whenever you reach your hands, you don't try hard to get to know it.

At the same time, I'm also afraid that I may get tired of this old town too soon. Since I haven't looked around the city, Balliol College, which I pass by everyday on my way to my college, looks like a classic castle, and Queens College, which I come across on my way to the pool, is mysterious and magnificant college for me. The easiest and quickest way to become familar with this city might be taking a city tour bus. It probably takes you around most of important and beautiful places in Oxford in one and half hours. But I want to leave it for a while.

For me, the best way to enjoy this town is letting Oxford sporadically and randomly get into my eyes, and the enjoyment will be maximised when I get tired of the routine work.

My baseball philosophy

Sports is addictive as much as internet. Nowadays, professional sports leagues have become a huge industry in a number of countries. In South Korea, football and baseball have been major sports for the last several decades. Despite the fact that Koreans tend to take international football matches seriously like other countries do, Korea professional football league (K-league) has never been a big success. First of all, it is hard to watch K-league on TV since it is not attractive sports from the viewpoint of broadcasting companies. Broadcasting companies seem to be relectant to put K-league games on the air because of the less economic benefit from commertials. They can utilise only 20 minute break between the first half and the second half in football, so this is definitely not a beneficial sports for broadcasting companies. By contrast, Korean professional baseball league has become a 'blockbuster'. Surprisingly, baseball has become a super hit in both professional league as well as international matches, and people love to watch baseball either in stadium or at home. Besides, broadcasting companies, in fact, way prefer baseball since they can insert 15 minute commercials  between every inning and whenever pitchers get changed. After Beijing Olympics and WBC, more people have visited stadiums to watch heros' plays, and once boom was created, more people started travelling to baseball stadium to enjoy the fever and atmosphere.

What I intend to argue today is not the present and the future of Korea sports or anything like that. Once you are addicted to something, it is quite difficult to just ignore it. I am a big fan of 'Kia Tigers', which is one of the teams in Korea Professional Baseball. Being currently in the UK, I've been consistently checking all the news associated with this team. Given that Korea Professional Baseball is around 30 years old, Kia Tigers has been the most successful team by winning the league for 10 years. The fans are not limited to the home city Gwangju, and this team has secured supporters across the country. Accordingly, the expectation from the large number of fans is enormous, and the manager is always under signifiant pressure and criticism. Because I understand that the position of the manager of Kia Tigers is difficult, I have been generous about his leadership and the result. But, today I intend to brutally criticize his baseball philosophy, and strongly believe that it is the time to change the manager.

First of all, his philosophy on baseball is doubtful, and the success highly relies on the performance of only several top players. He put a high value on the quality of pitchers rather than that of hitters. He believes that the performance of pitchers is more stable and consistent than that of hitters. As no hitter can achieve over 0.4 batting average, baseball has been known as the game of pitcher. With said that, having just several good pitchers is quite risky, particularly when there are not enough reliable bull pen in the team. In this year (2011), Kia Tigers had the excellent three pitchers, and the manager intended to take advantage of them. The earned run average of these  three players used to rank in top five during the first half of the season, which means that any one of three could be the ace of other teams. The manager's strategy was quite successful in that Kia Tigers was placed at the first in the league table at the end of the first half of the season. Since these pitchers were capable of dominating the game by the seventh or eighth inning, the hitters in the team got less pressure, and hence they were able to bring their the best. Even though the bull pen in the team was critical weakness, they used to be able to finish the game in the lead. In 2009, and the first half of 2011, I must say, his strategy did work.

In 2009, Kia Tigers was well known for the strongest five starting pitchers including two foreign players. Lopez has been playing in Kia Tigers for the last three years, significantly contributing to Kia Tigers (he should've been absolutely the MVP of Korean Series in 2009). Rick Guttormson has won 13 games in 2009, with earned run average of 3.24. (He had to leave the team immediately because his performance during Korean Series was not impressive compared to Lopez). In 2011, three starting pitchers (Yoon Suk-Min, Lopez and Travis) showed fantastic performance every single game until the summer break. In particular, Yoon Suk-Min and Lopez were ranked at the first and second place in several league tables such as earned run average.

However, the second half of the 2011 season showed the critical weakness of Kia Tigers, which was the injury of the key players. Because the team was relying on the ace pitchers, they had to be in charge of as many innings as they could, which in the end brough about injury. As soon as two foreign pitchers' condition fell down, the bull pen pitchers had to play longer innings, but bull pen also requires enough break time for recovery. Therefore, the ace pitchers' injury got the entire team to get trapped in a vicious circle.

Given that every team is allowed to have two foregin players, there have been just one Korean ace pitcher, Yoon Suk-Min, who differentiates Kia Tigers from the rest teams. This means that for the last several years, the coach has failed to upgrade bull pen and pitchers. In fact, bull pen is extremely important when it comes to professional baseball league. Having a group of good bull pen means that the team is less vulnerable to the injury of aces. Besides, it provides reliability to the team, so hitters can concentrate on games up to the last inning in games. As long as there is good bull pens, there is no collapse.

Secondly, a combination of one foreign hitter and pitcher might work better rather than two foreign pitchers. In 2011, Kia Tigers had four home run hitters (Kim Sang-Hyeon, Choi Hee-Seop, Na Ji-Wan and Lee Bum-Ho), but this fantastic line-up has never played its role properly since most of them had to suffer from injury. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that Kia Tigers was the top in the league table when three of them were able to play in their good shape. Having another good pitcher affects one game out of five or six games, but having another robust home run hitter contributes to the overall performance of the team. Travis who is one of the foreign pitchers in Kia Tigers ended up with one of the worst foreign players in 2011 due to both his injury and bad temper. It makes me think of 'what if Kia Tigers had another home run hitter rather than pitcher?'

The next year is the last season for Cho Bum-Hyun as a manager of Kia Tigers according to the current contract. His success is very likely to be entirely up to the performance of a couple of ace pitchers and hitters in 2012 again. As a fan of Kia Tigers, I do not want to see another victory highly dependent on luck. Even if Kia Tigers cannot be a winner in the next season, I wish the team could have more sustainable and consistent performance, and it's only possible with a stronger bull pens and more consistent home run hitters. This is why most of fans are speaking up for Sun as a new manager in Kia Tigers.