You could just be exhausted/drained from it all. How about a vacation and more hiking!?

I totally agree with pm133, I'd ignore nonsense such as it being frowned upon to do a post-doc with your PhD supervisor. Of course, it could be good to experience working with another in a different institute, but also that could not go to plan. If you work well with your supervisor then continue. it looks promising that you will be working on a different project.

I would spend the first part of any vacation totally switched off, and then when you feel ready, start to think a bit about your options in academia or elsewhere.

All the best,
J

100 is a bit steep. I paid about 65-70 for 3 copies, also an official copy was submitted electronically.

In our department, we all had to pay for our Thesis printing and binding.

Thanks Tudor. Yes, my friend is OK, thank you for asking. I was lucky that i was confident in my cardiovascular knowledge from my Pharmacy/Chemistry degree, had it been a burns injury I'd have forgotten everything I learned when I did the 1st aid training in 2011.

Congratulations. Well done!

I do, however, recall blowing up the contents of my savoury rice in the microwave at work recently. I put the sachet in for 3 mins without making the outlet slit to let the steam out. I heard a pop and the inside was rice covered. I had sufficient yield leftover for my lunch.

oh dear.

I don't recall breaking anything, but I once curiously sniffed conc. TFA (Trifluoracetic acid), reasoning that it must be like Salt 'n Vinegar crisps but quite a bit stronger as the 3x F atoms are very electronegative making it a very strong acid - actually it has an acid ionisation constant 34,000 that of Acetic acid, lol. On catching me do this, my supervisor exclaimed "Stupid idiot" as I almost took out all my nasal hair.

Dogged determination and persistence is a great attitude to have. I agree, not using negative labels would be a better way forward.

When I was a PhD student, one of the post-docs, a Belarusian statistician was telling me of his 10 year ordeal through 4 different attempts to start and progress a PhD. It involved Europe, Australia, Nova Scotia in Canada, financial constraints etc...Apart from amusement at all his travel (which he was recounting in detail in a thick Belarusian accent), I was really impressed at his determination and that he completed it. He is talented in his field, I read many of his papers, and it was clear that it wasn't his fault but life circumstances that got in the way.

So, good luck and I wish you all the best.

Congratulations on your new Postdoc. Sorry to hear you had to leave your role in the US. But, as you say, you can go back there in the future, when the timing is better for you. I can empathise with having circumstances, whatever they may be. Life can be a challenge.

The other week at my tennis club, one of our members had a cardiac arrest and I had to administer CPR. He's fine now thankfully, and just the other day I was able to tease him in hospital saying "well, that's one way of getting out of buying your round". So on this occasion we had a good outcome, but it really did make me realise how precious life is and how things can go very differently at pretty much every stage of our lives. All we can do is try our best and hope for the best.

Thank you again for your good wishes :-)

Thanks Eng, Tudor, you were right. It was just HR being slow and I kept hounding them this morning and it's all sorted.

I don't know why I get myself into such a frenzy of catastrophising, oh dear.

Thanks Tudor.

I called a HR manager at the close of play today, but they manage the second HR team. He did say he would chase it but it is worrying as tomorrow it'll have been 5 working days!

I have an offer for a post-doc subject to references. The new institute has obtained academic/employment references from my previous roles, but also need one from my current role.

HR at my current institute is organised into two teams. Last week, I emailed my team requesting this reference and was told to get the new institute to contact them directly. The HR lady replying to the team email assured me she would handle it and wouldn't give out any confidential information other than my role and employment dates.

It has been a week and the new institute inform me that they haven't received the reference despite contacting them. It appears they are delaying providing this. Given the institute I'm applying to is highly competitive, I worry that this will jeopardise my chances of formalising the job. What can I do in this situation? I've contacted my HR team again this afternoon but still haven't heard back. I also worry this makes me look bad to the new employer :-(

What does one do in this sort of situation?

I agree with Rewt and pm133, it would have been more appropriate to go to your supervisor with a nearly completed, or even completed draft to ask for his opinion, especially since it doesn't involve him directly. In your words: I presented a paper I had started working on to my supervisor looking for feedback such as "do you think these are good questions to begin with?". Also, it is true, being defensive will be an obstacle to your relationship.

I say this because during my PhD, one of the things that I am grateful I gained from my supervisor was developing my paper writing skills -- essentially in my first year I had all the material for an important review paper. I wrote this and then gave him the draft and we discussed not only the results but the narrative. The narrative was important as it led me to develop some final checks to really back-up the results. This wouldn't have worked well had my work not been complete (i.e. final draft) or with such defensiveness on my part. Defensiveness is the opposite to openness to other's suggestions. I had the review paper submitted by the end of my first year and it was accepted in a high profile journal (OK not Nature, but still). He likewise helped me fine tune my later papers too for which I am very grateful.

I appreciated this because my supervisor was trained in hard science (Nuclear Physics) and my background is in Chemistry, although we were both working in Computer Science at the time. I valued his time and insight. It wouldn't be good etiquette to go to him with something half-baked.

I think on one occasion, I too was eager for his opinion on another paper that I was progressing with and he just said OK let me have the final draft when it's ready. I remember thinking to myself "fair play" and just got on with it.

You have an opportunity here, just lose the attitude (no offence) :-)