I've got 535 after 9 months

Sorry Someone3, I tried but I don't have access to them either.

I'm sure someone on here will though.

Best of luck!

Thanks Emaa! I turned 25 two weeks ago now;-)

I'm an Aries so I guess I'm supposed to be all fiery etc :$

Goal 2 completed whilst bopping along to theme tunes to old tv series -some funny looks coming my way :$

Now for goal 3 - figure out the tricky part of the procedure which has been baffling me for weeks - Goal 3 is a biggie and I imagine will put an end to my current good mood!

Thanks Joyce. I don't know how long a slot I have yet as the line-up hasn't yet been posted. But I will certainly keep what you have said in mind.

Incidentally, does anyone care to comment on the importance placed on conference publications? I mean I know that they are not as highly regarded as journal publications but they surely they count for something right? (ps I am in the sciences if that has any bearing on matters)

Woohoo goal 1 complete!

Off for lunch with an office-mate.

Commencing at 3pm goal 2 - find a method to measure odd substance

I realise this is a 'how long is a piece of string' type question but a ball-park figure would be great!

I am due to give my first paper at a conference in September however completed papers must be submitted by the start of August. Also my supervisors have suggested that we should complete it by the start of July due to holidays etc. In the abstract we submitted, we said we intend to do this, this and this in order to develop this. The problem is we haven't been able to do anything concrete yet due to the inevitable delays involved with setting up experiments so it is likely to be at least another couple of months before we have any results. So I guess what I'm asking is how quickly can it be done?

Cheers,
EV

Aw Sneaks, I certainly know the (snowman) feeling and am determined not to give in!!

Ok so I'm midway through goal 1 and the only thing that's getting me through it sitting in my office, everyone with really serious faces and me listening to this www.live365.com/cgi-bin/mini.cgi?station_name=elviswayne4301&tm=2278

Somehow it just makes it easier :-):-)

Good morning everyone and good going (up)

I am just preparing to start doing some work :$ Actually I spent this morning registering for a 10km charity run in June to give me some incentive to crack on with the training :-) So by June I'll have changed from a (snowman) to a (robin) hopefully

Right, goal 1 - read and thoroughly understand complicated method for new machine

Hi Satchi

You've got it spot on in my opinion :-)

Well done everyone - keep it up (up)

I had an ok day yesterday - made some progress - not all positive - I realised that I had been mis-interpreting some parts of a document I have been following for my experiments so that means even more equipment is needed :-( Still though, better to realise it now than later.

Today I haven't made it into the office yet :-( So I am going to have a cup of tea and some chocolate and then be in the office 2-10pm hopefully!! Please God let me be able to focus later and not panic :$

Well done Sneaks and Button on completing so many goals!! And everyone else too (up)

I have had another absolutely rubbish day yet again - despite making it into the office and having some mildly positive news I have managd to do nothing constructive at all. My head is spinning and I'm really starting to doubt if it possible for me to do a PhD at all ...

Good going everyone - you all seem to be making steady progress (up)

I have made it into the office (my 1st goal although I didn't post earlier).

I need to spend the rest of the day really getting my head around the procedures I will be using for my labwork so that I can start ordering some things and finally make some progress. I'm already so overwhelmed that I feel naueous :-(

Well done Button (up) And Sneaks I hope your headache clears up soon!

Unfortunately I haven't made it into the office. I feel pretty rubbish and have spent a great deal of the day crying and generally freaking out a bit.

I think it's a combination of the fight this morning (which had been brewing for a few weeks anyway) and panic about my project. I'm 8 months in now and have not managed to do anything useful. I have wasted the last month because I am so overwhelmed by what I'm supposed to be doing that everytime I sit down to work my stomach is in knots and I don't have a chance of focusing. I can't even make it in to the office due to nerves for Christ's sake.

I have a deadline coming up this week that I'm supposed to have lots of stuff organised for but have nothing much to show for it. It's not a writing assignment, actually writing is the only thing I actually seem to be any good at. Anyway, there's nobody to help and to be honest there's not much I can do about it at the weekend. So I had intended to spend today in the office to get myself as prepared as I possibly could so that bright and early on Monday morning, I could snap into action and miraculously get everything sorted. But I have done no work today. Bf is due home soon - cue round 2 :-(