This is my best guess about the next installment on the Evil Fuzzy saga... does anyone else want to join in?!

It was a dark and stormy night. The Evil Fuzzy remained locked outside his domain, the catflap secured against his every attempt at instrustion. 'I have hired very bad staff', Evil Fuzzy grumbled, 'such staff that would let me out and then bar me from returning...wait a minute, I did not hire them. I do not need to stoop to such indignities as PAYING a human! I, the wonderous Fuzzy, am, as all cats are, entitled to love, pampering and worship, and the meeting of my every needs, without having to HIRE it done...'

At that, Evil Fuzzy swatted ineffectively at his cat door and sat down to ponder his next move...

Smilodon left us with a cliff hanger...the ***EVIL FUZZY**** had been banned, the catflap locked, while Smilodon and spouse attacked the cat odor problem.....so what happened? Did Smilodon and the vinegar win? Is Evil Fuzzy still outside? Or has he returned indoors no doubt plotting some sort of kitty revenge??!

What are your favourite ( favorite) foods when studying? Do you have to have some snack or drink handy? ( does research drive you to drink??!) What about meals--do you eat regular meals or on the run, or simply exist on the air?

Me, I find I am cooking more than I have in a long time ( this is due to having to live on a student's budget rather than a professional's budget and eating out gets expensive in a hurry!) and thus, eating a more healthy diet. When studying, I am partial to a constant caffeine intake--coffee, the stronger the better, until about 10:00 a.m. and then diet Coke the rest of the day! A bag of Doritos ( unless the evil vending machine keeps hold of them--alternately, a nice bag of salt and vinegar crisps will do) is a must!

Is it feasible to simply do both?

Hi Hypothesis! Sorry that you are bored!!! I am just back from a 2 day post grad conference, which was delightful!!! I got to meet other PhD students in my particular area face to face, and the conference encouraged lots of networking. I met fasicinating people from a wealth of other countries and ----I EVEN SAW ANOTHER AMERICAN!!!! I have gone a full two weeks without speaking to or seeing another American! So I have just popped in to the university on my way back on foot from the train station ( loo stop and look at my email---not out of a misplaced sense of the need to start working again immediately--tomorrow is soon enough!)

I am happily, pleasantly, and mostly stress free right on pace with the PhD, thanks for the concern! I realize that a quick mental break can be vital when doing research or writing, and a quick visit to this forum is often enough to re-fire the synapses and take off again. Sometimes there are those paragraphs or sentences that can only be ingested in small bites, and you need to let your brain "breathe" in between. That, and it helps to be able to type at about 100 wpm.

http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20080121.html


To everyone who says they feel guilty for doing nothing--you are no tdoing nothing, you are incubating innovations in your brain!!! =))

Jouri is acting out a demonstration of the Flowers Paradigm! She was in the "madman" stage last night, and is now moving through the architecht, carpenter and judge stages!

The law can only win if you view it in a positivist light, as some entity that hangs out there of its own creation and volition. If on the other hand, you do not see law in a positivist light, then, it cannot win, because it has no separate independent existence.

The law can only win if you view it in a positivist light, as some entity that hangs out there of its own creation and volition. If on the other hand, you do not see law in a positivist light, then, it cannot win, because it has no separate independent existence.

if you have the time or the inclination, its worth a wander into Greenwich Village, on Manhattan Island. Its a great place to poke your nose into various little shops, look at the street signs that are like Simon and Garfunkel tune names, eat pizza, people watch, etc. If you are on a limited budget but still want to get the feel of NYC, I highly recommend Greenwich Village. I in fact never got higher on Manhattan Island than this!

correctin, not Days Inn, Doubletree--well, they both start with a D!

http://doubletree1.hilton.com/en_US/dt/hotel/EWRWTDT-Doubletree-Hotel-Jersey-City-New-Jersey/index.do

Also, be careful of where you fly in to--you might get a cheap flight but end up miles from where you need to be, without any direct public transportation. If you stay in Jersey, fly into Newark.

NOTHING is cheap in New York. If you can avoid staying in Manhattan, and stay in Jersey ( just over the river) from Manhattan, you will save money, although it is still mind-bogglingly expensive. I am going to guess that the venues you are trying to get to are in Manhattan? Yes, Google reveals them to be in Manhattan. There are two tunnels to the Jersey side--Lincoln and I think the Holland tunnel. There is a train that runs from Jersey into Manhattan, with stops in lower Manhattan. There is a Days Inn in Jersey City-I think that is the one--that is much less expensive than any hotel in Manhattan, and was only a two block walk from the train. Room rates start at $139 per night, according to their website, which is roughly just under £70 per night.

I think just managing acute or chronic pain is very tiring and stressful in and out itself. It certainly can make you feel cranky and miserable to be in pain, and the energy that goes into just coping through daily life can be exhausting. You have mentioned the link that anxiety and stress feed pain levels--I am sure that is true. Isn't plain old tea supposed to have some kind of soothing or restorative quality? Maybe the best way to cope is a good ole cuppa.

Lynn, so sorry to hear this and hope that you make a speedy recovery. I had an injury in September, not so severe as yours, but very painful. I was diagnosed with "acute toricullis", which is basically an unrelenting muscle spasm of the muscle near your collarbone, that is involved with turning your head, etc...I simply woke up with this one morning, and could not even pull my head from the pillow. It took about a week to get right, but in the meantime was very sore, and was told that this could have been brought on by stress, too many hours at the computer, etc...I just did my best to rest, use the pain meds as needed, but it was a wake up call to the amount of stress I was under, and the toll it takes on you. I went for some therapuetic massage...would you benefit from that, even just for the relaxation?