Quite a long day for me at work today, only just made it in time for Simon's dinner this evening, when I arrived he was eating dinner in bed. Alright for some! I think he went to bed early because he had many therapy appointments today, in fact he didn't get time to have a shower until early afternoon. One of the therapies was a 'group communication session', he said it was interesting but that he hadn't joined in the conversation, just listened to some women talking about what jobs they would like to do. A purpose of these sessions is that patients assist each other with their language, since a fellow patient will have greater understanding of the difficulty involved in finding the right words. Those further down the line can also talk about techniques and tricks that worked for them. Worth a go.
The nicest moment of the day was after lunch, we dropped by the coffee shop and met a big brown dog who went straight to Simon and licked him all over. Simon was just so happy that this animal should love him at first sight. This evening we shared a joke at the prospect of Skippy giving Simon a puppy for his father's day present....
Ended the evening with a spot of TV, Simon is now a fan of 'Deal or No Deal' and gets quite involved in the decision making. I have booked the taxis for Saturday and Sunday, so there is no stopping us now. Looks like being a wet weekend, so will stoke up the fire and press the DVD player into service.
Met up with Michael, one of my research students this evening. Michael is currently wrestling with epistemology. I told him that this is part of the pain that all Phd students must endure if they are to pass their apprenticeship.....
Love Marian x
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Hey I'm so glad that Simon got some proper attention from a dog - hope Skippy gets the message soon.
ReplyDeleteAll the best to you both for the weekend, I hope it goes really well
Carol
U of Sussex
(was in Sussex Direct team that Simon managed)
Yes, yes, yes - you know a puppy would be good (whoops, me keyboard just got hijacked by Hermes and Cleo), but they may be right... Get him a big one, that can pull the wheelchair / drag him on walks....
ReplyDeletelove
asher (and Hermes and Cleo) and Mitch xxx
Ok smarty pants! for the benefit of us that was dragged up and went to schools that was approved.... what's epistemology?!!!
ReplyDeleteD xx
Sorry about that. Epistemology is concerned with the theory of knowledge. The essential question that researchers must ask themselves is "how do we know what we know?". Early career researchers might encounter this question for the first time and get tied up in knots. Every time you think you know something you are challenged by your supervisors to reveal your assumptions, and the source of this 'knowledge'. Quickly it transpires that we are uncertain about almost everything, there is no truth. It can get deeply philosophical and drive you round the bend. I was always a very accepting researcher when it came to this complexity and tried to triangulate data collection to cover the bases, but even that doesn't really work. The upshot is that when making any kind of statement from researched work in social sciences we tend to say: "it could be argued that....". Clear as mud?
ReplyDeleteMarian x
Hehehe!! Marian, you have just described my Masters thesis experience in a few sentences!! I too tried to triangulate my data to cover the bases....and it didn't really work - at least, not the way I thought it would! Fascinating stuff, but boy it can also drive you crazy!
ReplyDeleteHappy to hear about Simon's progress and now home visits. A dog may not be such a bad idea...!!
When we first met and discussed my AI theory, Simon was very very excited (this is before his mishap) and gave me a book called 'Catching ourselves in the Act' by Horst Hendriks-Janson. Simon gave it to me on the condition that if I read it cover to cover I would be in the program. It was so good that I bought myself a copy that I could underline and highlight. Basically its 'how we know what we know' as was mentioned by Katherine.
ReplyDeleteMy style with these kinds of problems is to map the ideas out as hyperbolic figures and look for where the curves cross. These are definite points to include. An asympotic graph can also identify background issues that are not of huge importance, but come up regularly.
I hope this helps. One day I'd like Simon to come to our house where he can be licked by dogs all day. Its their favorite hobby..maybe he can enjoy it too!