New Year, new start. I was up early and at it this morning, and am feeling confident about making good progress this week. I need to - I'm way behind where I'd like to be!

Goals for today:
1.) Plan out loose structure of journal article based on Masters research - DONE
2.) Go back to Masters data and run a few more statistical tests
3.) Identify areas of literature to discuss in journal article
4.) Go food shopping
5.) Start revising draft questionnaire for PhD data collection

Hello everyone

I spent this morning brainstorming stuff for a journal article I'm writing. I'm now making notes on various statistical methods that I could go back to my data with. I wanto to get these notes finished and think about whether any of these methods can be applied to the data I have, and then note down a plan to put this all into action. All before I go to my other half's place for New Year, and probably for the whole weekend.

Goal one done, though I forgot to set my timer so don't know how many tomatoes that was. D'oh! Oh well. Brief break from work while I do the washing up and clean the kitchen, because it looks like repair man is coming this afternoon to fix the fridge.

Hello everyone, hope you all had a good Christmas break! I think I really needed the time off.

I'm really struggling to make myself get back to work - was going to work yesterday but ended up surfing the web and watching DVDs instead. So today I'm trying to be strict with myself. I think the only way I can do it is to use the tomatoes method - I'm going to aim for 8 tomatoes today, which isn't that much really so will hopefully ease me back in while also meaning I do make at least some progress! The task for the next few days is to plan and write a journal article based on research I did for my Masters dissertation. So, specific tasks to start with:

1.) Re-read dissertation and make notes on key findings
2.) Brainstorm around these key findings to look for suitable narrative
3.) Identify any further data analysis or reading that needs to be done
4.) Make a plan of the work to be done and prioritise the jobs
5.) Follow and stick to the plan!!

Same here - I wish I was leaping up desperate to get back to work, but I'm struggling to make myself. My supervisors told me to make sure I got a proper break, and I've had lots of time off now (about ten whole days!!!). I tried to make myself work yesterday but ended up surfing the web and watching DVDs instead. Today, though, I'm going to make myself get back into it....

Goal three done, and some extra stuff too. But the internal examiner I wanted to take a mince pie to has been absent all day - her office door is open and her coat's on the back of her chair, but she hasn't been there at all. Oh well, she misses out on the mince pies! Now I have to hot-foot it to the office to get my form stamped. Off to see the family tomorrow so no more real work til I'm back on Tuesday :-)

Goals one, two and four done. Supervisors were very happy with the mince pies :-) One of them started talking about applying for post-doc funding for me - I'm sure that's not connected to the provision of mince pies, he has mentioned it briefly before - but anyway, it's quite flattering that he's planning this when I'm only a short way into my second year. He is hyper-organised though!

Right, today I am going to achieve lots of things! I've had too many days of just drifting along not getting much done. I got the early train so am already on campus and ready to start work. Tasks for today (not necessarily in this order!):

1.) List all the documents and other things needed from first study hosts and email them about these
2.) Phone second study hosts and try to arrange date to meet with them
3.) Look at paper on methodology to see if one section of questionnaire can be condensed
4.) Go to supervision meeting all bright-eyed and enthusiastic(!!!) and bearing mince pies for supervisors
5.) Take mince pies to friendly, helpful person who acted as internal examiner on my first year viva
6.) Go to Research Student Office and get them to stamp my railcard renewal form
7.) Get my railcard renewed at the railway station
8.) Go to the pub for friend's birthday!!!

That should keep me busy. And if there's time left over I'll look at a couple of research papers.

Yay, congratulations! That sounds like a fantastic milestone to reach.

Hahaha. Oh dear, I can totally understand why you're mortified, but if you'd planned it you couldn't have come up with a better way of telling him how you felt! At least he's going to take notice when the complaint comes to him! And I'm sure this falls into the category of something that (to quote The Smiths, if I may) 'I can laugh about it now but at the time it was terrible'....

Yay, I have working heating at last!!! My flat is slowly warming up and it feels gooooood!

I'm going to go to the shops for some food for lunch, and then this afternoon get on with some proper work instead of faffing around with references. Time to think through the next stages of planning my main study.

Was at a colloquium/conference thing yesterday, where I gave a presentation (seemed to go well - had lots of conversations with people about my research afterwards, at least). I would have liked to sleep in a little - didn't get home til gone eleven pm - but the plumbers came round at 8 am to replace my radiators (yay!!! heating!!!) It involves a lot of banging and drilling and shouting so can't get much work involving actual thought done while they're here, so I'm going through journal alerts and updating RefWorks. I'll see how much of the day is left once they've finished - maybe there'll be time to do something more complicated!

Hello everyone

I'm trying to write a presentation that I have to give at a seminar tomorrow. Been trying to write it for days, and been totally blocked about it. I'm starting to get there now, but slowly. So, goals:

1.) Finish writing presentation
2.) Make notes on what I'll say to each slide
3.) Practice!

This weekend visiting my family for my Mum's birthday, then Christmas itself with my boyfriend - our first one together alone, usually we're either at his parents' or my parents', but we decided to break that pattern before it got locked into a tradition that could never be broken. I'm going to take a complete week off the PhD, under instructions to do so from my supervisors, and we're going to see friends and drink too much and watch lots of tv and films. It's going to be great!

I totally agree - complain! These people get away with this sort of behaviour because most people feel too awed and intimidated to say anything, and start doubting themselves, and feel that the person they've seen is the 'expert' so must be right. You're intelligent and articulate, so you can stand up to this (though I totally understand that you might not be feeling intelligent and articulate about this particular thing, I know when it's something personal like this all my intelligence and articulativeness (is that even a word??) seems to abandon me and I'm just a gibbering wreck) - but you have far more skills to be able to challenge this than most of the people the consultant will have treated in this manner. And it's not acceptable for anyone to be trated this way!!!

The other thing to say is that thyroid issues seem to be one of those things where patients have to fight the whole way to get the treatment they need. A friend of mine went through some fairly similar circumstances a while back, and ended up becoming more of an expert on her own condition than most of the health professionals she consulted, just because it was the only way she could be sure that every appointment didn't actually set her treatment back. Frustrating and difficult and not the way it should be - but you can cope with this, you are strong enough!

There must be a complaints procedure you can follow? But I totally agree about going back to your GP and explaining what happened and asking for a referral to another consultant.