Depressing to read...

"These and others belie the demonic image of Gazans, often promoted by Israel. Rather, they are overwhelmingly decent people who simply want food on the table, a better life for their children, dignity, respect and freedom."

Read it all here:
Goodbye Gaza: our correspondent reflects on her time in the Middle East

Almost exactly...

...two weeks ago, on the 10th of January 2014, I had the final defense of my doctoral thesis, which, luckily, went smooth. The thesis has now been submitted, and hopefully the paperwork will be completed soon. One thing I have realized in all these years is that the most important role in the whole PhD process is that of your supervisor. My work was jointly supervised by two Profs (Dr. Sri Krishnan and Dr. Aziz Guergachi), and I was extremely fortunate to have supervisors who know how to support and mentor their students. Though I started with a supervisor about whom the less is said is better. But here too luck was on my side, as I realized well in time to run away as fast as I could, and in the process wasted just two semesters.

Now that the PhD work is over, its time to learn something new, research in the form of a post-doctoral position.