Starshine - get a letter of recommendation from your supervisor, admin and accounts office saying you are on the books and that the stipend will cover the time period. Works fine here.

======= Date Modified 02 Jul 2009 21:35:59 =======
Ogriv - perfectly normal to be someway paranoid. The PhD process makes it worse :-s
Our one and only techie is sound out and always make a "pint" of getting him a bottle of something if its a major job (the screen and hard-disk went bananas a few weeks back).

Backing up stuff is essential and I would reckon that you at least have two-three back-ups (one on an external drive, one on the laptop and if stingy, set up a dummy yahoo/gmail and send your most important docs there). If really technophobic, most Anti-Virus programs these days have a back-up facility. Just set an almost always connected external drive to the work PC and set it up. You could always ask the techie dude to do this.

Take care and hope the lpatop problem is sorted soon.

36 hours ... thats not even two working days! I would be appreciative that you don't have to pay >150 for PC World etc., just to look at it. Make it a point to contact him tomorrow (Fri.) as you will need the info for the weekend ... nothing worse than a genuine but pi$$ed off techie (you will need him in the future). Call to the office and ask for him personally. If not, just act a bit worried and someone will contact him. I don't think that he would risk losing his job for a stipend. Sure, he will prob. take a look at the hard disk but only for a laugh (perks of the job!). You know where he works from so its not as if he can do a runner.

If still worried, keep an eye on the bank details, etc., for a while. Trust me - identity thieves are a bit more complex than that (had a case here of someone getting a pretty genuine looking mail from the inland rev. stating that they were due a rebate, but had to apply for it giving all details).

Another lesson is the whole issue of back-ups, but that's for another day (should have at least 3 copies)

walminskipeasucker - will check them out alright, but I actually remembered that we did a powerpoint presentation a year ago with animations and it worked a treat. It is basically to show the interfaces and a means of discussion for interviews with firms in a non-technical manner. But thanks - I will check out Rhino. Was using Freemind but that doesn't capture the "Shock & Awe" factor 8-)

Was just having one of those weeks where everything small ganged up.

======= Date Modified 01 12 2009 16:12:52 =======
Lads,
Quick question - any of ye know of any half decent prototyping software? Have a solid idea with some commercial interest so just want to be able to demonstrate the concept properly.

I have thought of using ERDs but to be honest, would need something simpler (pitching it to non-tech managers). We are losing the license for Visio, but that at best, is limited.

Any info would help as just kacking it that supervisor will shout down idea before I get a chance to pitch it properly. If he does, I am going to say nothing but the long process of supervisor changing will be initiated.

Regards,
Bonzo

Could the news vultures at least afford some dignity? Sure, its news but do they have to have helicopters hoovering over ambulances?

Not a fan of his music as there was way better musicians who deserved more respect and recognition (Rory Gallagher, Layne Stayley, Cliff Burton, Stevie Ray Vaughan) but in fairness, he deserves some notion of respect.

Personally, I think something akin to "Bubba Ho Tepp" has happened!

I would strongly suggest some whisky, listen to either Lamb of God's "Redneck" or Mastodon's "Blood & Thunder" just before presenting - with the blood pumping give the presentation. If anyone asks a stupid question, say it is a stupid question, throw the eyes up to heaven while laughing and mutter 'numbskull' under your breath. If anyone says why your research is correct, answer back ... "Cos I said so, duma$$!"

And coming back to reality, it is inevitable that people will know more than you but to paraphrase an old saying "Knowledge without compassion is just knowledge: Wisdom is both". Take solace that you are probably up to date with your knowledge - half the professors are still basking in former glories and are not in tune with contemporary knowledge. Just don't stretch into territory that you don't know - if someone (which there is always one) tries to catch you, say you just don't know and will look into it. If possible, with their help.

Welcome to the yo-yo existence of PhDs. It is good that you are worrying to an extent - it shows you are thinking! But that is also why your supervisor is there - he/she should be able to advise you on whether the idea(s)

Surely at this point you have seen the main trends within your field and what other researchers are doing. Also, you should know your own strengths as regards this research i.e. will you do case study/survey work or lab work to prove the hypothesis. So what you should do is get a quick summation of the existing research, pick whatever interests you and seems feasible and go to the supervisor and thrash out an idea - maybe even bounce a few ideas off other fellow researchers in the dept. Essentially, a PhD must have some originality, but that is subjective - most obvious areas are prob already researched. But that does not mean that you can apply someone else's research to your field and modify it enough to give your research originality.

Practical idea - spend a day or two looking over whatever you have done. Then, by yourself or with the help of a friend in the same area, spend an hour or two in an empty classroom and "mind-map" all you know about your area on a white/black board. This will be a mess but then transfer this to an A3 sheet and tidy it up. You might see potential ideas emerge. Then, do a quick review of papers on that area and then go to the supervisor and ask him/her on it. If you have some papers on related areas, then it should be a decent area.

By the way, of course there is no guarantee that the idea will lead to a successful conclusion, but that is a chance all research must take. And proving the null hypothesis is research also

Sorry for the rambling.

======= Date Modified 23 Jun 2009 12:48:06 =======
No - meet as often as possible. Keep the meetings brief and to the point. Only talk about work and only bring up personal stuff when it is applicable to your work i.e. when your condition prevents you from working. Try to set an agenda for every meeting, follow that and keep to an alloted time.
The alternative is that you don't meet with your supervisor less frequently. In a situation where I hardly ever meet the supervisor and it is frustrating as he doesn't have a clue and going around in circles.
Next meeting, maybe state your appreciation for the help so far, but leave it at that. Supervisors are there for work.

Pamplemousse - simple solution. Get your head of department in on the act for a meeting ... one of our students had to change supervisor from a very obstinate guy and the head of dept. mediated. You are in a tricky situation but you do need these concerns dealt with (you'd swear at times that supervisors forget that we are intelligent and have outside lives!).

Even go to your HoD in confidence and request a meeting, but state that you wish to to make it seem as if it is at his/her request. Then, take detailed minutes of the meeting and relay these to everyone. This should include how things are going to be dealt with and a detailed scope of your project. Surely you can go to your HoD in confidence - if not him/her, there is surely someone else even to act as chairperson, so if Capt. A$$hole gets stroppy.

You are right to be concerned and if he ever gets aggressive, step back and remind him of the fact that you are not one of his kids to berate. Keep the cool and good luck with research and your future plans.

Every expert is gonna be throwing rocks from their ivory towers! That stats guy is what he does i.e. just another number!

Our research is dependent on established methodologies but remember that as part of creating novelty, some methodologies are tweeked. So, yes they will be different and yes, they will have flaws. But as scary as it sounds, we probably have the best opinion of how to treat our subject matter and how to gather more information. You have confirmation that you are on the right course ... if Stato heard this, maybe he might have a better idea now of your project and might revise his original opinion. Failing all this, write a mail to the stats guy thanking him for his opinion but that you are using Case Study instead :-P

At some stage, you have to just say "I know what I am doing - trust me!"

Lads and ladies,
If bored, head off for the cinema and catch "The Hangover" ... a good laugh is what we all need to remind ourselves that there is more to life than those three letters - P, h and d!

.PDF files - get into the habit of converting finished files into one common format. If they want to edit these files, well you can get an editor pretty easy. Supervisor and meself were the other way about - he wanted me to use LaTeX but I couldn't be ar$ed. PrimoPDF is a good convertor and most recent editions of Adobe allow editing.

It's like watching paint dry and halfway thro' realising you've used the wrong colour ... Arrrrgggghhhh!!!!

End of three years in Oct., and due to a whole load of setbacks, only now hitting the crux of research. Have decided that irrespective of what the supervisor says, I am taking the line of research I want - after all, as scary as it sounds, I am the local expert:p

Thanks Smilodon,
I was thinking along that lines i.e. to at least make him aware that this paper will be submitted either way, but in a diplomatic way. If he does not agree, I would suggest getting more help, but in a limited capacity so not to extend resources. In a sense, it would then mark an end to a distinct part of the research and allow the head to move onto the next bit. It could be a year before it gets rejected, so I would think that I will deal with that scenario then.
Thanks again. Keep on truckin' and have a good weekend.
Bonzo