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Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til Looking back. Part 1
I started 2015 with a hope that that year wouldn't be so much of a roller coater ride as 2014 was - and luckily, it wasn't <3
In 2015 I've spent more time on my research in a long time, and it has felt really good. And on Saturday I was out, celebrating maybe the best and "biggest" thing of 2015 - my one year anniversary with Anders <3 We even made some "new year's resolutions":

1. go more to bars (a nice cocktail is, well, very nice)

one of my favourite places in Oslo for cocktails: Étoile

2. go more to the theatre
3. go more (once a month?) to the movies
4. go more out to dinner

(5. spend less on everyday "stupid" stuff, like buy lunch instead of making it yourself, buy coffee instead of making it yourself, buy take-away instead of making it yourself - I rather want to spend the money on point 1-4 😉 )
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So I've been looking back at 2015 - a very good year - and here are some of the highlights from the first 6 months:

January
What can I say? 2015 started with me getting the best boyfriend...

I wrote about heavy water, since I was inspired by the fantastic series at NRK ("Kampen om tungtvannet"). 

I thought about which scientific paper I like more - Chadwick's paper about the neutron, or Einstein's paper about E=mc2.

February

Alexandra turned 5! And I was excited. I was also super excited since Sushi and Nuclear got nominated to American Documentary Film Festival 2015 😀

#phdlife was important.
I went to Paris for the first experiment of 2015, and I had to admit I'd made an embarrassing mistake on the radio...(I guess we all make mistakes from time to time, right?)

March

We started filming Big Bang.

I gave several talks about thorium...

We celebrated pie day - of course 😛
I went on my first vacation with anders, to Barcelona, and missed the solar eclipse. Totally worth it, though <3
While we were in Barcelona, both Sushi and Nuclear and Big Bang premiered!
April
I did science, and asked (myself and others) "silly" questions.
It was finally spring, and the university was beautiful!
May
We went on a trip to the forest - around Sognsvann, with Lise and Joackim 🙂 This was a preparation to see if we thought Alexandra would manage a "real" trip into the forest, where would spend the night and everything... It was a great day, and we concluded she was ready.

I scienced some more, and finally I was starting to figure things out 😀
Then I started to get some actual real results, and it was 17th of May and sunny and hot, and a happy time:

We (the nuclear physics group) arranged a workshop in Oslo, where I talked about my preliminary results, and I gave a talk to the INSEAD Alumni group about thorium and nuclear power - and I met some very interesting people.

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Hope you enjoyed this little throwback on my first 6 months of a very good year - I can only hope (I do!) that 2016 will be just as good.
Part 2 of looking back will come soon 😉

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til Nuclear physicist or girly girl? (Crazy day)
My original plan today was something like this:
  • get up
  • meet Ingrid for an early coffee
  • meet my little sister, Carina, to get lash extensions (it was her Christmas present for me, and it's a good idea to do it now before the semester turns crazy)
  • go to the University and write on my paper (write, make figures, and maybe even do some more of the remaining analysis).

Then I woke up at 06:30, by the radio as we always do: "North Korea has tested what they claim to be a hydrogen bomb", and then this happened instead:
  • VG sent me an sms wondering if I could talk to them about the H-bomb
  • I got in the shower
  • VG called me - I talked to them
  • I read a little bit about about thermonuclear weapons
  • I realsized there would be no coffee with Ingrid, and Anders and i decided to have a coffee at Kaffebrenneriet at Sagene - where he could esily get to the University, and I could easily get to Bjerke (where I had the lashes date with my sister)
  • VG called again, wondering if I could come to their studio, but I was on my way to my appointment with Carina, so I had to decline
  • TV2 called, and I talked to them on the bus to meet Carina
At this time I realised that maybe this day would be mostly about hydrogen weapons, and not so much about the theory of the "Oslo method"...:P
I wanted to be a girly girl today <3
  • Carina and I got to the lashes place, I muted my phone (but not my Apple watch), and we started the treatment, where I had to lay still with my eyes closed for 2.5 hours...
  • my phone rang, but I couldn't answer it
  • my phone rang again, but I couldn't answer it
  • Carina's phone rang
  • I got an sms 
  • my phone rang again, but I couldn't answer it
  • I felt like I had to pee, and when I asked if I had to keep my eyes closed for much longer, the reply I got was 1.5 hours...
  • ...and so on...

We finished what we started, I could go to the toilet, and I could check my phone. It looked something like this:
I realised I wasn't going back to University, but home to Rose castle to charge my phone, my Mac, and talk and read.
  • interview with VG
  • interview with Stavanger Aftenblad
  • I showered and picked out an outfit I felt was appropriate on TV
  • went to TV2
  • got make-up on
  • interview for the news at 18:30
  • live interview for the 17:00 news
  • took a taxi from TV2 to NRK
  • Dagsnytt18
  • interview for Dagsrevyen
  • met Anders, and we saw the strange lights on the sky as we were walking towards the metro, in the freezing cold <3

thanks Mari, you're the best <3
Now I'm finally home, and of course I have a long list of un-ticked to dos from today, which I'm not doing today, since now I'm going to bed. I've done my best today, and tomorrow's a new day, and I'll continue on my writing and my analysis and everything 🙂
Dagsnytt18 (I'm at 9 something minutes) 
I think the "title" Nuclear Physicist and Girly Blogger has never been more suiting that today...

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til One goal…
Happy new year my dearest!
I've been quiet since Christmas eve, and there are two main reasons for that:

1) I needed the time to relax and be with my family - preparing my self for what will be an intense year. 

2) Someone broke into our car and stole half of the presents we got for Christmas (for example Anders' present for me 🙁 ), and our suitcase with clothes and stuff. This was a mentally exhausting experience, which also stole a lot of time since we've been on the phone with different insurance companies and the police and everything. End of the story is that even though we had the best travel insurance in the biggest insurance company in Norway, we got nothing, since we happened to be inside our own apartment when it happened (the car could have been parked at exactly the same place; if we had been somewhere else when it happened, we would have been covered). After the day when it happened (in the middle of the day, the 27th of December) when I cried most of the day, I've wanted to just put this episode behind me, and I've tried focusing on all the fantastic things I've got in my life - Alexandra, Anders, health, amongst others, and I haven't really felt I had any time for blogging. Hope you understand.

But now I'm back! Back at the University, back on the blog, back with my research.
Maybe you've already guessed why I'm saying this will be an intense year... 
2016 is the year where I have really just one, main goal: to finish my PhD. There is a lot of work to do be done, and I think it will be hard, but with the support and help of especially Anders, and also my fantastic supervisors, I think I'll manage! I will of course share (almost) everything from the last part of this trip, from a Master of Science to becoming a Doctor 😉 Hope you will follow me!

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til I didn't make it (#phdlife no. 284610798)
I'm a little bit upset and angry at my self right now, since I didn't even get close to my milestone/goal of these last 14 days :/ I was supposed to finish the analysis part of my paper, but then it turns out I haven't even touched it, since I've been busy giving talks. Going on "tour" around Norway to give talks just takes more time than I like to think that it does - I guess it's time for me to realize this now...
I have to become better at planning (not that I'm horrible at it, but I'm definetely not perfect either...). 
Tomorrow I think I have to start the day by making a DETAILED plan for the next week - to get through what I should have done the last 2 weeks. I understand that I have to change my next 14 days milestone a little bit, but I don't want to make the biggest changes either; I want to try to get very close to my original plan, which means three things: 
1 part PLANNING
1 part STRUCTURE
1 part DICIPLINE
Come on, Sunniva, you can do it! Don't let yourself down 😉
love this new notebook from IKEA - perfect size, and perfect amount of coolness and pink <3 
Hope you all had a great weekend, and sorry that I'm not happy and inspiring just now - at least I'm honest... I'll keep you posted on snap (sunnivarose), with #teamsunnivarose <3 <3 <3

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Publisert 2 kommentarer til Experimental setup. Check!
My main goal last week was to finish the part about the experimental setup for my next paper (article), and even though there will always be changes, I can still say that I more or less achieved my goal 😀 I still have to look at the comments and corrections that I got from Sunniva Supervisor, but that's not a very big job.
My next goal, or milestone, is to finish the part about the experimental results. I'm supposed to do this by the end of next week, and even though that should be enough time, I'm a little bit more uncertain about this one... To finish the results part, I also have to have all the results (which I don't), and since I'm spending this week on "tour" and next week I'm also giving two talks, there isn't that much time left to work on data analysis - but I just have to manage, spending the weekend, or something, I guess <3
(picture from phdcomics.com)

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Publisert 2 kommentarer til I have a title!
One of the results from three very good days here at Soria Moria (except my article number 2 is actually really starting to look like something, and I've had some great discussions with Sunniva Supervisor; not only about this article, but also the next one - that I'm so eager to start at 😀 ) is that I actually got my self a working title of my thesis...! (OMG)
I don't dare share it with you guys just yet - I need to sort of "feel" it for a while... But it has words like uncertainties, modelling, thorium, nuclear, and reactor in it <3
It actually feels really good just have an actual title for your thesis document 😉
PS: I managed to reach my goal to get up and start quite early every day this week, but I must admit I'll have to spend some time during the weekend to get through all the rest of my goals. I think I'll manage, though 🙂
You guys have been great too - it's so cool to get snaps from all you hard-working, goal-chasing people! Go #teamsunnivarose <3

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til References, figures, and references

...and figures.

And tables!

FML.
No, I'm joking, obviously, but my arms and my back hurt, and my head feels like it weighs a ton. And my eyes are dry and sore. And I'm going back and forth with respect to how to best represent my data and my results - and what to put in this article, and what to put in the next article (and I do remember, very well, that I was accused of self plagiarism one and a half year ago, and I'm of course very scared that someone will accuse me of something like this again, unless I'm extremely careful...:/)
I guess this is #phdlife <3

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Publisert 4 kommentarer til I need your help – Join my team!
As I mentioned yesterday I would like to do a sort of let's motivate each other thing, where we could share pictures on Instagram (I'm @sunnivarose) or Snap (I'm sunnivarose) or Twitter (@sunnivarose here too) - anything to cheer each other up, and to be proud of our selves. Can we use social media to cheer each other up? I think we can, and it would be so much fun:
  • If you're early at the office (or wherever you're working or studying), well the tell us 🙂
  • If you've made your self a fresh cup of coffee before you're starting repeating for your exam, then tell us 🙂
  • If you feel like you're stupid, since "everyone else" understand this except you (which of course isn't true anyway, but whatever), but you're not giving up, tell us
  • If you're having a 12 hour day at the university (or office or wherever), share it!
  • If you just learnt something new, be proud and shout out 🙂
  • If you finished something, or started something, let us know!

To do this, we need a tag, and since I want you on my motivation team, the tag is #teamsunnivarose - join my team, I need your help!
Here are a couple of snaps that I've made during this day and yesterday:
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A little update on my plan this week so far:

Yesterday I was all up to date, and I was early at the office - as planned 😀
Today hasn't exactly been the same success: I did manage to be early at the office, but I was also supposed to write for three hours (only done 1), work on the Strength Function part of the uranium analysis (maybe even finish it), plot a lot of stuff, and discuss with Sunniva Supervisor (who is in CERN - which I didn't know when I made the plan yesterday, so that one isn't on me). Then this day just took a totally different turn, and I have almost done nothing...however, it's only Tuesday, and I'm quite confident I'll manage to get through my plan of the week by the end of the week - maybe this is where we can help each other...?
When it come to my writing goal this week, I'm certainly not giving up: I WILL DO 20 HOURS! Tomorrow I'm going on a writing seminar that lasts to Friday, so that's why I'm so positive 🙂 But before that I'm going on "Tidenes morgen" on P13, to talk about fusion...so now it's dinner with Anders, and the some nuclear fusion reading <3
Have a beautiful evening, and GO TEAM!

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Publisert 1 kommentar til Research plan of the week
Hello everyone, and hello Monday!
It's been a while since I shared my study/research plan of the week with you guys, but I was thinking maybe it's a good time to start again. As I was sort of saying yesterday, I'm starting to get nervous about finishing the PhD, feeling a little like I'm drowning in a hole, and I almost get dizzy from trying to just start somewhere... To solve this, I have to do (at least) two things, I believe: 

1) Plan my week (this will help me set goals, and check if I actually achieve them)
2) Get up early, and start working at the office early - every day(!)

I know "early" is sort of a relative term, but in academia, where almost nothing starts before 10:15, I think before 9 is early.
So this is what my (research) plan of the week looks like - there's a lot of focus on writing article number 2 now, as you can see 😉 Hopefully I can soon put this article a little bit behind me, and focus on newer stuff...
Goals: Be at the office before nine every day, and spend 20 hours on writing on that (stupid) second article. I don't know exactly where that will take me, but if I just manage to fulfill this writing goal, I will know by the end of this week, and hopefully then I can "see the light" again.
Anyone want to join me? Maybe we could do a sort of let's motivate each other kind of thing? I mean, I can't be the only one struggling with writing articles/PhD thesis/doing my research/preparing for an exam/Master thesis or whatever... Maybe we could even do a hashtag or something? I'm not exactly sure of what it could be yet, but I'm thinking 🙂
Anyway, wish you all a great start at the new week, and good luck with all your goals! The first thing I'm going to do now is to read through and then send off my current draft of article2 to Sunniva Supervisor - then I can already put the first "check" on my plan 😉
PS: I was at my office at 08:20 this morning - great start for me, so far...

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til OMG – it's real!?!
Last friday (a little bit more than one week ago) Theres successfully defended her PhD thesis 🙂

Two weeks before that she got the theme and title of her trial lecture - which is standard procedure; 14 days before the PhD defence you get a title for a trial lecture, that you are supposed to give on the morning of the day of your thesis defence. If you don't get this trial lecture approved, then you don't get to actually defend your thesis either - so it's kind of a big deal... 
Therese's title was "Nuclear uncertainties in the direct detection of dark matter" (or something like that).
This may seem a little funny or strange, but from that Friday when she got her trial lecture title it suddenly hit me, right in the stomach, that this is actually real: It's exactly 10 months to the date I'm planning to finish my thesis today and it doesn't feel all good. There is so much to do I almost feel a little dizzy - where do I start?
I think have to step up this game if I'm going to have any kind of chance of finishing my thesis by the end of 2016...