Sneaks is on the ball ... get used to it as any letter like that will typically have to be written by you then stamped (even from supervisors - they will read the letter and then sign/stamp it).
What you could do is get a transcript of your results so far, have a letter (that you prepared) stating your enrollment date and that your results thus far are included. Keep the letter brief and to the point i.e. Letter to confirm that Emmaki enrolled at a certain point, here is his/her latest results and maybe include a line to state that should be able/plans to continue pending latest results (which will be forwarded in due course). In the intro obviously refer back to the purpose of writing this letter i.e. state it is in relation to your application for funding
I would guess that the college has its reasons for not giving out this letter, which seems a bit non-standard anyways

Hey Agni,
Don't give up ... from reading this forum, you must now know that a lot of us have been there, but the good side is that we have all come back. Some of us take a bit longer, but we do come back. Go home now and do yourself a favour ... make a cup of tea and honey, lie down and take today off. Get up later today and write down exactly what is standing in your way. Even writing the post on this forum is a good start ... acknowledging your in sh!t is a start.

First of all, as suggested elsewhere, take a few days off at least and seek medical assistance. Do not see this as time being wasted. You need to do this. We all have been in that awful situation where we think that there is no hope for our work and we take it far too personally. I am assuming that this is already having effects elsewhere. As part of your list, write down the things in life that make it worthwhile (friends, family, etc.,).

As for your work, you are surely being too down on yourself. Get yourself an A3 sheet of paper from the printer and do a mindmap of the first thing that comes to mind ... so what if details are missing. Why do this now? Well, it might be the slight chink of light to show you that all is not lost. Just even get the abstracts of 4-5 main papers (and even if you have only one paper, use cite reports from google scholar to start getting a list).

We are all in the same boat here as regards dealing with sh!t mostly on our own, so why not ask straight out as to others opinions and this might give you a kickstart. Even if you want to remain somebit confidential, I am sure if you put out the general area, people can and will send private messages. I have done a similar report for my thesis and even if you want headings, can be sent.

Its called experience. Don't worry - you'll get there and before you know it and whether you like it or not, you will be the expert in your particular field. Ok, can be daunting relying on people but I would be of the opinion if you are receptive to their advice, etc., people won't mind helping.
So what if he is the same age as you ... you probably are way better than him at writing reports. Not that its a competition, but some people pick up stuff faster or have already worked in such an environment.
If it was a year into working in the lab, I'd be worried but its not.

CB,
Think its a bit of a toss-up between how sick you are and how much time you can actually afford to take off. I suppose if you are taking time off, you have to actually use that time to actually recover and be proactive in this i.e. if you are meant to rest, rest! Don't spend the time window-shopping or web-browsing. Ok, you'll miss a day or two but if a cold/flu or just a run-down system is about, you need to take time to recover. Maybe, as one of the others suggested, use this time to read a few journal papers.
Put it this way - if you don't have a clear head taking results, can you stand over them? A day or two off now is worth not having to repeat tests at a later point.

Hi Rebel,
Actually hoping to go out and do surveys amongst SMEs in the next two months, so this is applicable to my own research. Fair play for asking it.

Also, in terms of methodologies and justification, here's a good book, that while aimed at education, covers other areas too.
Cohen, L., L. Manion, and K. Morrison, Research Methods in Education. 2000, London: Routledge.

Lostinoz - get out of that habit if you can! While now, you are aware of it, you won't after a while and will say the wrong thing to the worng person. I know that having a bad relationship with the supervisor can lead to frustrations, but staying assertive whilst maintaining some discipline will get you further. Maybe its the fact that he realises that you have been pushed far enough and can see why you are snappy.
You must remember that soon you will be dealing with other people in either a post-doc or professional environment ... one five second rant on the keyboard will cost you, especially to people who don't know what they did to pi$$ you off.
Next time you find yourself in such a situation, remember Stephen Fry and ask yourself "What would Jeeves do?"

Not a silly question at all. In fact, recognising a suitable conference to present your work at is a good exercise once some work has been done and you need to get it out there. I would reckon since you have only started, you will be nowhere near getting substantial writing done until 9-12 months in (you could present on the literature review and your proposed defined area of research as a basis of feedback).
There is another factor ... funding! I am assuming that you wouldn't have as much funding as was about about 3-4 years ago, so you might not have the luxury to go to conferences just to attend without presenting and also funding may not allow for conferences of a far off foreign destination.
To force the issue, get writing as soon as possible to narrow down what exactly your hypothesis is and from that, you should be able to identify possible conferences. Your supervisor will know the main ones in your area and will receive calls for the applicable conferences. If he/she is able to see what your research is looking like, you will decide then. In short, it is usually about the year mark.

Slowmo - its not the time, its the quality. If you feel that you are getting work done, how bad! There will be slow days and good days, but I'd reckon a good barometer is actual writing ... if you can get a page or two done for every day, it will soon add up.

Don't compare yourself to other people. But in saying that, if you are working 5 hours, that is great. Just so long at the end of that 5 hours, you can have even a one page of notes and know where that fits into the bigger scheme, that is excellent. Being honest, if you even spent one hour each day adding to your PhD, that's progress.

Me, because of circumstances, I would be 10 hours at least ... but then I usually take one day off to get stuff sorted at home (I commute and at the moment am looking for work). Anyone saying that they work 10-12 hours on their PhD constant are either finishing, adding other work into that equation or on Class A drugs. There are exceptions but pacing yourself and taking note of progress is much better in the long run.

It does sound a bit of a dilemma alright but what you have to do is seperate both issues. From what I grasp is that
a. The extern has pointed out some questions about an exam paper
b. You are worried that it will descend into personal tit for tat

You just have to call for a meeting to deal with the issue of the exam paper itself and follow some form of process ... after all, it is the extern's duty to point out what he/she thinks is wrong with an exam paper. I'd call for an internal meeting at your workplace and make a list of points brought by the external examiner and if possible, see if you can get rid of the personal criticisms from the review. Make a list of generic points of where there were things pointed out, using "reword" or "replace question". They don't need to see the initial report.

I wouldn't worry so much about your relationship as per your research. Maybe do this report and send it onto the extern first with a bit of a more diplomatic wording.

Have to agree with Maria - use Dropbox. It is good for backup, syncing and sharing

A roundabout solution which will work on the shortterm ... why don't you convert the file back to 2003 on a second PC or Laptop, do the graphs and then copy & paste into the necessary Word document. There is a free program that allows you to do this ... do a google on "Batchwork Batch XLSX to XLS Convertor".
Ok, I know thats bypassing the main problem but it would allow you to get the graphs done.
By the way, use Dropbox if not doing so already - it really helps you to sync work between two PCs/laptops and allows sharing of work.

Rant over and all calm again.
He said in the meeting to prove him wrong, so with new vigour, gonna just do that! If one thing I got out of the meeting was that I stood up for myself with either breaking into a jibbering idiot or maniacal axeman, so a small victory.
Can see his viewpoint that I need to be far more focussed and actually be more proactive at what I want looked at and why.

Call in the HoD to chair a meeting but before you do, get all emails from day one and build up your case.

Well if its Cheese ya want, can't go wrong with Baz Manilow ... "Her name was Lola etc.,"

Of course the ultimate drinkin' song ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISmgOrhELXs

Lads and ladies,
It really has boiled down to me looking seriously at the option of moving supervisor as I do feel that
a. I AM going to finish this Phd with a valid idea and plan
b. I just have little or no faith left in my current supervisor ... every meeting turns into a Jeremy Kyle show and I get the feeling that I am the runt of the litter (first to be stopped funding, ignores work and keeps bringing up stuff from two years ago FFS!). Who the f**k starts a meeting with "I don't think you are making progress!" and then is basically proven wrong when all of nearly 200 pages of work is not even read!!

I no longer let it get to me personally too much but if I am putting in an effort (which we all do!) I would like to think that this is being someway respected.

Anyhows, I just do not want to give up (what options are there in current climate) but am left in the double whammy of
a. I'm now part time and have the complication of looking for work (funding long gone but also too the part-time work for a while)
b. I've only an inkling of some potential alternative supervisors so would be basically without the safety net of having someone waiting if I did part ways with my current supervisor.

Any advice/tips would be appreciated. As I say, it no longer bothers me personally but I feel that I have a valid idea with the notion of commercialisation, so want to get this done for that reason and not just getting three letters (no disrespect intended to any of ye!)