Procrastinate

I have found myself lacking motivation to focus on my academics lately.  I attribute this to a sense of (temporary) closure to many arcs of my research work.  For example, my joint research on qualifying human observation accuracy was recently presented at the CogSIMA conference in Miami Beach.  So rather than get back into work that was started a while back (or work on my dissertation proposal which still needs a defined topic) I decided to create the “Son of Grumm” paper toy seen above.  Ironically he is standing on a paper that I should probably have been reading instead.

I got the template for the model from an amazing book I picked up at Urban Outfitters on sale.  Grumm isn’t the first model I’ve created, but he’s my favorite so far, especially because he didn’t have any curved cuts.  I find that putting together these models is quite enjoyable; it’s a nice combination of relaxing + rewarding (when you’re done).  My next step is to assemble the Howl’s Moving Caster model; however, I’m also reading up on creating my own models using pepakura designer freeware.  I’ll need to come up with a good idea for what to design first though.   I also think that from a usability/human factors standpoint, if I can get this software to work out well it could become a useful tool for rapid prototyping of 3D objects.   Excelsior!

Back to reading the paper for now though – Son of Grumm has taken his spot guarding my trackball.

Classic IE for the Win.

With my first dissertation committee meeting behind me, my latest research project all written up and submitted to CogSIMA 2011, and my consulting work in a momentary lull I’ve found myself without any pressing deadlines to motivate a strong focus on work.  The result of this state is a shift towards finding little problems to solve around my world.  For example, rather than reading a few extra journal articles I need to read, I took a 25 minute break to create a shadowboard (YEAH CLASSIC IE) in my desk drawer using corkboard, a sharpie, and some paperclips.  The main purpose of this endeavor was to keep all my desk stuff from flying all over the place when I shut/open the drawer which drives me crazy.

So, today I solved this problem and am pleased with the result.  Also, on a side note, the white-out is for painting white stuff- not because I make mistakes