Get down to the nitty gritty of string theory with Beijing expat, and Chinese Academy of Sciences post doctoral researcher, Jonathan Shock.

Home (in Haidian)

7:30a.m.

Get up, wash, dress and head out. CAS Campus

8:00

Listen to my Mandarin lesson on my iPod.

8:03

Get funny looks as I repeat the Chinese phrases while standing at the traffic lights.

8:05

Get a couple of big pork baozi for breakfast—wish I could get more, but with work, teaching and my social life, there is little time for the gym.

Office

8:07

Make a cup of tea (grown in Wales). Get online and check e-mails: five spam, three work related, one Facebook, two Flickr, one Couchsurfing, three in Chinese. Write four replies.

8:15

Go to my Google Reader— 96 new entries since yesterday. Browse the headlines, find a few to read in full: string theory posts, tech posts, a couple of China posts and a friend's blog.

8:30

Check Flickr activity and blog stats activity. No time to blog, so stats are going down.

8:35

Go to arXiv.org and check the new high energy physics papers, both theoretical and phenomenological.

8:55

Turn on iTunes: Amon Tobin, DJ Shadow, Plaid, etc.

9:00

Work out what I'm going to get done today. I have a new idea for a calculation. Start coding and working through equations from my previous calculations and other people's papers.

10:00

Get coffee; back to coding.

11:30

Professor comes to chat about a project we've just completed. Discuss some possible extensions and e-mails from authors who are asking about citations.

University Canteen

12:15 p.m.

Go to lunch with same professor. Have lamb noodles—¥4. Office

12:30

Organize photos from last weekend and the previous week.

12:45 Get back to maths coding,

work out the equations I'm trying to solve and look through my previous work

1:15

Another professor comes in and wants to discuss a talk I gave at Beida. Then we start talking about a problem he's working on.

1:52

Chat with my parents on MSN.

KITPC Building

1:55

Head over to the new building to discuss string theory with a student. I'm acting as a tutor, telling him what to read and helping when he gets stuck.

2:40

A short session. Come back with a list of things to work out for him for next time.

Office

2:42

Start chatting with a collaborator in Munich on MSN. We're working on several projects together and discuss a presentation he will be giving tomorrow about the progress of our work.

2:45

Note “this weeks finds in mathematical physics” for later reading and highlight it on my blog. Continue talking on MSN about dynamical susy breaking and about my new calculation.

3:05

See if previous professor is still around—no sign.

3:10

Go and get a coffee and get back to my calculation.

3:12

Chat with parents for a few minutes while continuing to write program.

3:45

Start reading another paper to understand more about what I am trying to calculate. Continue coding and reading for the next couple of hours.

5:30

Run between floors trying to print out instructions for tomorrow's travels.

5:45 Organize weekend activities.

Meeting up with friends, possible trip to Dashanzi. Make a couple of phone calls to friends to see what's going on.

University Canteen

6:15 Dinner of aubergine, chicken,

pork liver and rice—¥7.

Office

6:45

Chat with friend in Australia on MSN.

7:05

Write Blogpost and choose photos for Flickr; 400 photos from the weekend to go through.

8:00

Continue with program.

9:30

Chat with friends on MSN.

10:00

Catch up with blog posts and news.

Home

10:30

No TV, so I pick up Jonathan Tel’s novel “Freud's Alphabet.”

11:35

Organize some more photos for my Flickr site.

11:45

Fix broken toilet with bits of string.

11:48

Continue editing photos with Picassa software.

12:11 a.m.

Lights out.