[QUOTE=Antonio;377202]I think you should have taken some time off as well. :smile:[/QUOTE]As I did.

This event (IMO) gave me permanent brain damage. The contents of the skull slop around quite remarkably when subject to accelerations of 50g in directions which vary on millisecond timescales. I never used to suffer from severe migraines before. I've done so moderately often since.

P.S. Or even minor migraines.

I have spent 9 of the last 10 weeks (minus weekends) about 350 miles away from home at a customer site. I have missed the better half of spring and the first half of summer. One the positive side I only have one more week like this. I was told that might have to come back again for one or two weeks at the end of July, but I said "No". I'm already a month behind on my next project and can't afford to lose more time. So far it appears that I won't need to come back at that time.

My old trusty Dell M65 laptop finally died.

Well, she didn't actually die, but she has been protesting when moved (by not booting for about a day).

And then last Wednesday she refused to bring up her main 1920x1200 display.

It's a royal pain in the butt trying to manage servers via SSH using a Nexus 5's 12.6 cm screen.

But, to the old girl's credit, she will still accept SSH requests, and her harddrive is still good.

You could try a hard-drive transplant into a healthier subject.

[QUOTE=chalsall;378250]My old trusty Dell M65 laptop finally died.

But, to the old girl's credit, she will still accept SSH requests, and her harddrive is still good.[/QUOTE]It's not dead, it's only resting.

[QUOTE=xilman;378266]It's not dead, it's only resting.[/QUOTE]

I would say she's poinin' (not for the fiords, but you get the idea.) :smile:

[QUOTE=xilman;378266]It's not dead, it's only resting.[/QUOTE]

LOL. Thanks for that.

And, [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Parrot_sketch"]she's only resting.[/URL]

Why I am unhappy?

Well, one year ago I set a goal to make my PhD in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. I didn't get the message from the people of the lab (director, professors and supervisors) that we weren't welcome here, we never were. "We" means me and my wife. We both applied and we won first and third positions despite the fact that the lab director was against couples (have an email proving this).
We suffered from discrimination, severe one. We even were invited to stay two weeks away from the lab because we didn't go to a barbecue!!! This barbecue was three hours away in bus from where we are living. Yes, here in Brazil you are evaluated from extra hobbies and not by the number of papers you publish. This was the turn around point for us. We then decided to start looking for a new job in Europe. I got lucky and found a place in Irthlingborough, UK. So far I don't have complains about the people from this UK company, they are helping us a lot and I don't know how to retrieve beside being a good worker.

The director of this lab ruined our life's in here. We made an investment for 4 years, kitchen appliances, furniture, etc. All it is now going to be donated to charity.

So my suggestion to people who might go abroad to do a PhD in the third world is to first check the publication list of that lab you are applying to. Next talk to the secretary of the department, that person always knows about what is going on inside the department. The director of the lab was in fact and is a persona non grata in the mechanical engineering department. Several friends told us that we were in the wrong lab.

We are now in depression until we go back home to Portugal.

The only good thing a see from this experience is that we learned to live in a third world country, very dangerous, and of course, I took advantage of the servers of the lab to help me on my prime search.

Finally I regret so much that my wife decided to leave a PhD opportunity in Portugal to come with me to Brazil. It was a real proof of love. I ruined her life...:cry:

Carlos

[QUOTE=pinhodecarlos;378586]Why I am unhappy?[/QUOTE]
A few months ago in one of the soap box threads you mentioned the racist discrimination you were experiencing in Brazil. These attitudes are destructive, make life impossible, and the two of you clearly had no choice but to abandon the positions and home there and come back to Europe. You've had quite an experience together anyway: much more interesting than if you'd just stayed in your original country all the time. I hope that now things improve again for you both in the UK and later back in Portugal. Good luck.

Brian,

The racist discrimination kept going until we couldn't be in that lab anymore.
Good news is that we will be living near Paul Xilman, Tom (aka fivemack) and I hope to meet paulunderwood in person with whom I had lots and lots of talks through skype.

We now feel we are in the right way to a stable life in UK.
Thank you.

Carlos

[QUOTE=pinhodecarlos;378594]Good news is that we will be living near Paul Xilman, Tom (aka fivemack) and I hope to meet paulunderwood in person with whom I had lots and lots of talks through skype.[/QUOTE]
Wow, I'm quite jealous now.:smile: