lol thecoastman .

Unfortunately we had to cancel our balloon experience schedule, due to hot-air shortage. But we are waiting for delivery from far-east by May . Would you be interested in a sky-jumping experience instead? Your money back if you don't survive.

Dear Angie, have you attended a National or Local GradSchool yet? It is one of the best experiences and it would help you a lot with your current situation. Especially if you can get a place on one of the 4 1/2 day ones. If you are funded by a research council, it is free. If not, perhaps you can ask your supervisor to cover the fees from your budget or something? Here is the link: http://www.grad.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Course_Search/p!epmibXX?mode=courseSearch

Hey Piglet, nice to hear from you. It sounds like a tough schedule. I hope 3 months will pass quickly. (quickly only for you though, not for me as I really need the time to pass as slow as possible for my PhD work)

that's annoying juno, I haven't noticed that. I receive those calls every other day. I put the phone down as soon as I hear the machine talking. 1471 gives a return phone number (I jotted down but lost it). I will report them next time they call. It gets so annoying.

And an adventure gift company printed our telephone number on their hundreds of letters by mistake, we keep receiving phone calls from their customers trying to change their balloon trip's date or booking one more paragliding experience etc.

in most (or some) universities, unless you were registered for PhD direct, the minimum period for PhD completion is 3 years. I am registered for PhD direct, and I am in my 3rd year now. I was hoping to finalise my research in 2 years and write up on my 3rd (my funding is limited to 3 years) but it looks less and less realistic every day.

I think DJWickid on this forum finished within 3 years.. Here is the link to that thread: http://www.postgraduateforum.com/showmessage.asp?thread=5574&cat=4&keyword=DJWickid&newview=1&stype=U&category=0

do you ever get those Stephen Hawking-like cold calling machine calls? I hate them. Apparently they are illegal too.

sue, how about 2 cats? They love playing together, they won't feel lonely. You can put a cat flap if possible, for their independence. And their feeding time can be just before you left in the morning and when you come home in the evening etc...

lol @ chrisrolinski. You have to tell us their name too

I saw a movie poster for £400 at the cinema store. "an original" the guy said. It wasn't even that old.

sounds lovely But don't you find it difficult to keep the cats and degu/gerbils together?

I think my 3 cats really help me calm down when I have paper deadlines, stupid events to deal with and tragic news from family, friends etc. They come and sit next to me quietly, or sometimes run around and play silly games. Lovely...

Do you have pets?

I was actually looking for a form I've seen on the gov site to report this kind of calls. I'll post it here if I can find again. In the meantime, there might be a link from this document:

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/introductory/unwanted_marketing_guidance_oct_06.pdf

continuing....

So, follow your heart, make your pros+cons list and don't accept anything until you see all your options (but don't leave it to too late either.). Good luck.

hi i00t2000. I don't know if this helps at all, but I will write about my past experience: I was offered a funded PhD position at one university, I liked the supervisor, resources etc but I wasn't sure if I liked the town. Then they sent me all the paper work. I didn't return anything back, because I was waiting to hear from the other university that I applied for a place. When I heard the positive reply from them, I considered the pros and cons and decided to go for the 2nd offer, and kindly turned down the 1st offer. But it didn't end there. I received a horrible (quite long) email from the supervisor from the 1st offer and he talked about how much I waisted their time etc. My current supervisor convinced me that it was a very unprofessional behaviour and every PhD candidate has to have a plan B etc. Now I am on my final year. I will never know how it would be if I chose the 1st offer, but that doesn't matter really, does it?

lol @ lr261 I did that when I was 10; realised on the bus to school that I still had my fluffy funny-looking slippers on. So I can still relate to your experience.