Well, not quite as successful yet again as I had hoped.
I got up lazily yesterday, and decided that I just couldn't sit at my dining table and study all day until I had a decent chair to sit in, I have lower back problems, and by the end of the night kept finding myself walking bent over at 90deg! Therefore, I was very naughty and treated myself to a slightly expensive ergonomic chair!
I then very comfortably sat down to work for a few hours last night, and have managed to write a paragraph or two tonight too. My first results chapter is now sitting at around 6000 words, 37 pages! Is this about standard? I still have some to write for discussion, with about 6 pages so far scattered in mini paragraphs to be put together in a more coherent thread!

Tomorrow morning I am back to the lab to some work for pretty images for this chapter - fingers crossed! and then into work for full shift, also off Thursday for writing, but found out I have to go into work for a business meeting, so very annoyingly this is going to split my day in two and quite possibly ruin any writing flow I might get! :(

Anyway, i'm off to read and relax for abit, pathetic I know but i'm still suffering from insomnia and i'm feeling it today :(
Hope you all ok, and Sue your discussion chapter is coming together nicely! ALxxx

Wal - maybe we should set up a smokers support thread - there must be more of us on here! :) I keep meaning to stop, but yes I think i'm in the same boat and will properly kick the habit when I no longer have to come home and depressingly sit at this desk all night!
I have so many plans for after this is done - no smoking, exercise, keeping my flat clean, cooking inspiring yummy meals. Just the simple things in life really....!

Hey Sue,

Thats brilliant, (mince) have a mince pie for all your hard work :) Can't believe you can do 23 toms in a day! It seems like you're coming on very fast, and dream of first draft complete by end of month is still in sight! It will be amazing for you to see one first draft done - big round of applause for you.

Thank you, it has been a productive week in other sense, but not with thesis :( I went out last night with some friends, and felt so old I just wanted to come home and get my slippers on! heehee, I should have stayed in and got some work done in retrospect.
Right, better get myself off here and go get ready for work.
Have a good day all and I will be on here tomorrow evening to account for myself hopefully! If you find me on here procrastinating during the day then please admonish me and tell me to get back to writing! :$

Teek -
http://www.cucirca.com/2010/01/15/watch-ugly-betty-online/
woohoo, you have a whole 15episodes to procrastinate on so use it wisely! :) using megavideo you can only watch about 70mins every so many hours, which is great for stopping you watching so many! but there are other sites you can watch it from too which is terrible for watching too many hours and periodically switching! :$

I am also addicted to the internet - damn the thing!

unfortunately the science centre i work in has an in house starbucks (which I am trained in), and can therefore get, and make myself, any coffees I want anytime for the very cheap staff rate of 60p!!!!!! it does make it horrid to go to any other SB and pay full price and is really not good for my wellbeing (especially my poor guts!).

:-s

This is a great thread, how funny how we think of each other!
I think of Wal as a lovely guy who dresses conservatively, with the occasional suit jacket (possibly the odd one has those leather elbow patches - i love them!). and likes the finer things like poetry, classical music and has lots of friends, who they all love and go to for support and a laugh when they need cheering up!

Sue - long brown hair, tied up, who likes to dress smart but casual and comfy, with flip-flops (no slippers cos you're lucky enough to live on the warm half of earth!), really laid back, very studious and dedicated and enjoys going out for walks in the nice sunshine, maybe the beach depending on where you live, and has a very full but organised study, that your partner comes into to give cups of tea, cold drinks, snacks and some nice supportive hugs sometimes! :)

Natassia, i though of quite the same with long blonde hair and possibly spanish looking.

Like Jimkim:
Sneaks, I see as being really funny and a good laugh to be around, but also quite conscientious - likes to make sure thinks are done on time and to a good standard.

I've always imagined Bug to be quite assertive, but sensitive at the same time. I imagine her with mid-length dark hair, and very smart looking. Someone who makes an effort, yet makes it look effortless.

I agree with these!

And Cakegirl for some reason abit like Izzy in Greys, (Katherine Heigl), who likes to make cakes at random times of the day and night to help relax and destress!

Thats all for now! :)

Hmm, i've not watched Lion Man, and poor Wal, stupid radio people, disturbing your time and giving you false hope! :(

I am ashamed to admit that I became (more) addicted to cigarettes :( I am constantly trying to give up, and do use nicorette during the day so I don't smoke then, but at night i get home, feel stressed and enjoy sitting on my back step with a cuppa, watching the stars and enjoying a nicotine hit - boo to me! :( (please don't hate the naughty smoker!)

I also love my Greys, Desperate Housewives and ugly betty (which they're now cutting after this season!). I also, am naughty in that I need my fix and stream it from American tv, therefore everyweek I get to look forward to coming home and losing myself for 50 minutes in their lives! :)

Its the weekend again and I'm back! :)
Just got back from 3 successful days of outreach at secondary schools with big scary kids! But it was really good and although I haven't done any thesis work, in my day job I have had a very good week and additionally just finished putting together a Solar System (!) resource for primary kids, so i'm giving myself a pat on the back for that!
I'm working a half day tomorrow, but then its thesis Sunday again! My partner also just got his results in for his MSc exam, and got 2 merits (one of them was one mark off a distinction!) so very proud of him and we're off out tonight to see friends, a Battle of the Bands and let our hair down - Hurrah!

But then I must get some thesis work done, so plan for Sunday is to take my ideas from last Sundays work and start pulling together all the ideas for my discussion in Chapter 2. I also have Tuesday am off next week so will be in lab doing some last work, and Thursday off too for a day of writing. And then i'm off ALL next weekend! :) Although in lab on the Sunday to try and get some really nice images of my cancer cells i've been storing forever at a very cold -80degrees! (hope they're not too chilly and annoyed with me for keeping them waiting for so long!) hmmm, i may have gone mad and given my cells a personality :$

Therefore, by end of next weekend I hope to be able to go back and see my sup and give him a redraft of the chapter he so horribly berated last time and hopefully get some improvement!

Thank you all for your support last week, you were all brillliant and I apologise Algaequeen for not finishing with my thread and thanking you for your advice. It was much appreciated from all of you though, and my friends, family and work colleagues have also been really supportive. I've decided that if I go back and see him and he acts the same i'm going to find a way to nicely tell him, I can not deal with him being like this, and if he wants me to get the PhD he's going to have to be more constructive, otherwise I will be going to my monitoring committee and asking them for a second opinion with someone who CAN give me constructive criticism and understand the situation - and SUPERVISE me through it! He won't like that cos then it affects his reputation and his labs already struggling so its the last thing he needs!
I do think I maybe got him on one of his worst days, but its still no excuse for the way he treated me and I will not put up with it! I need to be strong and stand up to him, which is something i've never done before, but i think its time he did or he will continue in this way!

So, that's the plan for this week! Hopefully with afew less hours at work, and a few more hours at my desk, it will be a fruitful week! time to get the timer out and start some tomato counting! :)

I hope you've all had good weeks, thanks for your support, I love you all! (gift) here is a special gift from me to say Thank you! :)

Oh dear, I hope all is well with you and partner, i'm sure he just hates to see you getting worked up and upset, everything will be alright in the end!

It seems like we're in the same boat then as usual, writing up this horrid thing, with no really incentive other than that we've put too much blood, sweat and tears into it to give up now!

Thanks Sue, I will do, i've been rubbish at getting any exercise- which is what always happens to me in winter, but i'm going to try and start getting back to my swimming couple of times a week which always makes me feel better!

right, i've managed to write a pretty rubbish 1400 words tonight, having read 7 papers today. Its a start, and i've got some better ideas of how to put my discussion together now (been working on an introductory section to it). So i'm going to chill out before bed and then try and come home tomorrow to read over what i've written and put some ideas down for the discussion!

Hope you have a good day! Keep smiling and feel the hugs - they've got quite a distance to go but they're UBER hugs, so should be about at your side of the world by now! Enjoy! :p

Hi Sue,
Oh i'm so sorry, that's horrid! I think sometimes partners feel they need to be cruel to be kind - mine does it quite alot, and however much some of it might be true, I don't think it ever really helps. Did you explain back to him how you feel? I guess the problem is, there's only one way to know how this phd feels and that's to be doing one! My partner is working very hard on a very tough masters, and also works full time, it can be really tough on him too, but he also gets holidays were there are no assignments etc, and that makes it completely different in so many ways.
PhDs really do consume life and soul, creeping into your every thought - mine seems to be haunting me day and night these days (along with my other job). But we'll get there!

Don't let him get you down, explain how you feel and what it's like, it doesn't matter what other people have in their lives, this is yours, and everyone reacts differently to each situation, so you can't ever compare one persons situation to another - that's just life! I hope you feel better soon, just remember the progress you've made this month, watch that candle glowing brighter and brighter and MOST importantly be proud of yourself! I am proud of you, and your partner should be too!

I have decided this week that i actually HATE this thesis, my work is rubbish, my lab work sucks, the writing is awful and I know my sup is going to come back with my intro and tell my the tables and figures I added were a load of bullsh*t! :(
I have managed to do about 6 hours work to do (solid tomato work), but since having tea, and doing washing etc, i've sat back down and really done nothing! i'm shattered.

Have had terrible insomnia this week, getting max 3hours restless sleep each night, but unable to move myself to just get up and do work or something! I think my sup seriously disturbed me, when he said "do you seriously have a degree in microbiology" or whatever, he then while making a dig at my public engagement job decided to culminate the two and say "i hope you're not trying to teach the kids this stuff..."! The worst thing is I got a grant to do a microbiology based thing with some schools, and i'm in the process of coming up with my activities, but since monday when he plunged the knife to my heart, I feel like I can't do that either!

Sorry, this was meant to be AL supporting Sue response, and i've just taken over and moaned!! :$

Back to you...don't let partner get to you, just stay focused and lets remember that it will be over eventually and then we can get the lives back on track! Although you're hating it right now and say you're only finishing it cos you've come so far, I thought you did want to stay in academia if possible, I know jobs in your area are tough to find, but if you keep focused and determined i'm sure you'll find a way!

big hugs AL xx

Wow sue, that's brilliant! I hope you're enjoying the beers and are treating yourself to a nice day off! :)

See and here's you saying other day that you'll probably go way past your planned submission - but look what progress you've made in the last few weeks since finishing day job!

I am trying to study today, setting the timer for 40 mins as this is my usual optimal time, going well so far, i've done 3 (didn't get started til after 2). This week has been horrible, since seeing sup have suffered serious insomnia, and feeling really down! feel like i've gone back months and with little hours to get work done i'm never going to get finished - just wanted to burn everything and give up! but trying to be scolding with myself and just keep plugging away!

Aim for today - read the 5 papers i've collected this week, and just write - anything as long as my thoughts are on paper! decided not to worry about structure and style etc but just to get some words down on paper and see how i go from there!
Got 1.5 papers to go and then gonna get into the writing!
Will let you know how i get on!

Away on business this week from wednesday lunchtime, so if i can get some done tonight and either mon or tues evening, then i'll be happy til next weekend I guess! ug this is just so slow going i want to cry! Starting to come to realisation that I ain't getting a summer, will probably not get to enjoy my friends wedding or my booked trip to amsterdam as much as planned at end of summer, and will probably be applying for an extension!

hope everyone else more cheerful than me! right, time to set the egg timer... :-s

Take comfort Joyce, I took my ear muffs off the other day and replaced with a nice flat cap, and the sun is still shining! fingers crossed it stays this way - my SAD must have sunshine!

AL x

Hi Raidan,
Welcome to the forum!
I'm afraid this is pretty normal for the PhD process, do not worry, you do have plenty of time really! It will be fantastic experience to go to an industrial lab and learn processes and techniques, and also give you experience of the industry vs. academic way of life!
It is accepted that your first year is really a training year, results are just a bonus, therefore when you go for your monitoring committee/board meeting, they will not be expecting you to show lots and lots of results, just show them what you have been doing. The PhD is really a training course, where you learn so many skills, It sounds like you have been working really hard and have done alot over the last 4 months, therefore do not stress - just explain what you have been doing and be proud of it! Discuss your work and the pitfalls, remember things that don't work in the long run probably teach you more than those that work nicely first time - even if they don't put the same spring in your step!
In the second year you will get alot more stuck into your work and see things coming together, and with many research projects the results you will put into your thesis will predominantly come from your final year.
I hope this helps to remove some of the anxiety you are feeling! Just relax and enjoy the process - believe me it gets all too serious and time consuming far too quickly, so enjoy this first year of learning techniques and just remember to write it all down, even if its not working, as this is just as important, (more so), when it comes to the write up!

Best of luck and keep smiling 8-)

Thanks Wal, he is a sh*t - and not a little one, an obese unfit one! :) someone at my work made my laugh yesterday by saying, well feel comforted it sounds like this guy hasn't had sex in a very long time! :) heehee!

Yes, there are people I could probably get to look at my work, but they are not experts in the subject, and that is the problem - he is, he's a prof and does know his stuff!
:-s

Hi Sue,
yes, he is a pratt! :) He has read some of my writing more recently, sometimes I think just skim reading and told me it was ok - I knew what i'd written for discussion wasn't very good and needed much work but I wanted helpful feedback not that!
He used to never read what I had and used to tell me not to try to write thesis in first two years and just get on with lab work, but I was always determined not to leave it all to last minute so just kept writing materials and methods and lit review etc.

My other sup is ok, nice guy but he's a medic and unfortunately doesn't have much of the science knowledge - I don't think i'd get much constructive help from him, been waiting to give him my work until I know its in a decent state and he can just give advice on any medical stuff and more general writing style.

I just so want it out of the way, i'm fed up of it hanging over me, i've lost all passion I had for it and pretty much despise it now! But I can't give up this close to the finishing line therefore I just have to keep plugging away!
I really want to give myself some time off from it, but I really have to take any evening i've got. working this weekend and away with work visiting schools all next week, therefore I have tonight and tomorrow, and bit of sunday, and then thats it til following sunday! :(
MUST GET ON.........!! cup of tea first I think!

Thanks for your support and hugs Sue, I wish I was working as determinedly as you! I feel after yesterday if how ever much time and energy I put in results in rubbish then what's the point?
Anyway, enough of my moaning, just need to step back on the ladder and keep going.