ya, sounds great. am really looking forward to it - except the presentation bit. lol, there's always a catch.

its only a hundred pounds for these, however, they are included in the list of costs that we should give our unis. i just wish i didn't have to spend a hundred pounds on a cruise with academics discussing books . i'll rather put it towards another holiday in better company. anyhow, am giving them the list anyway. i'll probably indicate a note saying am gonna pay for these or better still, am not attending these . sympathy votes.

thanks fluffy!

Gosh Otto. that harshness was uncalled for. It is worth recognising that not everyone has an oxbridge ability and some people may need help along the way. Esenboga, I would have considered if that was my area or if I knew someone who's specialised in that area. All the best in finding someone.

hey everyone, am going to this conference in athens in the summer. they've listed activities such as cruises, visiting historical sites, concerts etc amongst others. my uni is willing to offer me conference funding. should i list these as expenses in the name of networking or am i expected to foot the bill for these on my own?

my supervisor finally got back to me by email a week ago with constructive feedback. it involves restructuring the chapters that i already have into something that flows more easily, that is less detailed and avoiding some areas that aren't doing the argument in my thesis any good. am currently working on that and have set myself a deadline for submission on Monday. I just hope that this time round I can get my act together and do what my sup wants and stop being such a perfectionist - therefore too much detail and going off on tangents.

me too - felt like this yesterday. today am back into the working mood. am finding that my working patterns are changing - some days i work really hard, say 12 hours and then the next day i just can't get myself to focus on anything. i've decided to capitalise on days i feel like working.

try taking sometime off your work to do something different. a week or so. i find that that helps.

it takes a lot to do this, but if i were you, i'd try and concentrate and stay in the same lab. moving labs just confirms to your supervisor that you can't handle a love life and your research. instead of being 'love struck', why don't you work on impressing her with your good progress. that should motivate you. try to stay away from each other in the lab - each doing your own thing?

all the best fluffy. remember you're the expert on your work and and you know it more than any other person in the world. you just need to be calm in explaining it to someone who is an expert in the area but not in your work.

don worry, you'll be fine.

no, i haven't done that yet. all advice welcome. still about 18 months to go. would like to submit in 15 months if that were at all possible. .

hi, one of my friends is finishing his phd in project management in Manchester, so you might wanna try there.

what is your favorite part of this extract?

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mblum/research/pdf/grad.html

:-)

There will come a time when you work on a problem long and hard and SUCCESSFULLY :)
And then you learn that someone else already published. :(
Hard as that may be for you to take, you must view this too as a great opportunity.
Don't turn off. Read what got published.

You will be surprised how often the published paper turns out to be different in some significant way. Roughly
50% of the time, it is NOT at all the same as what you did.
25% of the time, it is the same but not as good.
25% of the time it is better.

This means that 50% of the time or more, you can still publish.

And what about the 25% time that what got published is better than your own?
In that case, you have a great opportunity to learn.
Ask yourself: "How SHOULD I have been thinking to solve the problem in this fine way?"

So, 404 don't worry about it. 75% of the time, someone else's work won't be as good. for the full poem; http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mblum/research/pdf/grad.html