congrats! 9-5 wont be so bad as you get weekends off without PhD hanging over your head.

Congrats! you never knew what the postman was going to bring did ya? Just keep this moment in your memory so that when things look so dark and gloomy may be you can remain optimistic and hope for the best

from what I know if you are a taching assistant in a university and the PhD on part time basis they will allow you to do PGCE or sometimes make it as compulsory as a part of your teaching activities.

Few tips:
1) buy a good personal diary with 2-3 days per page which starts with the academic year (2006 July/2007 July)and write everything you did for e.g. emailed super abt a meeting, admin abt the registration. It will come useful for the records.
2)keep a journal of your research ideas as you go along. You might want to come back to them later. Does not matter how simple just keep writing them. If you are an electronic wiz then there are gadgets that will do the same.

I'm in similar situation. since I began the PhD its been half sleep and half wake up nights or staying the whole night up doing work. Before this I never had a problem in going to sleep or sleeping like a log throughout the night. So are these the side effects of PhD's?

So, what do you think about what others think about this issue now (not in a bad way at all) since I am the only person who replied

sorry for being harsh, but if this person is doing the PhD work well enough then I dont think its anyone's business to think about others "breaking terms & conditions". The max hours of working are there to stop people loosing their aim towards the PhD and these terms should be considered with caution and common sense. Also, IF this person's supervisor is happy with the work then I think you should MYOB.

Happppppy Birthday where's the party? whats to eat and how much booze have you bought? can you buy some more pleeeease as I have just missed being hit by a car when crossing the road and got an earful from the driver, although I didnt hear what he said. So, life is too short..or and get some more booze.. got that

..actually this is about Husbands and boyfriends..
this is hardly PhD related but I'm sure there can be plenty of material in this topic for few PhD's. Why can't this breed of people express their feelings or ideas in any form ? verbal, written or ? When you ask "Just say what you think or feel abot X?" they will look at you like the third world war has strated in a good day with some form of expression and in bad days with the expression "am I m bothered? without even looking at the person who is talking" Please can male species explain the phenomena and females share their experiences.

oh no! no way!

Just repeating what everyone said ..Its EARLY DAYS. So, first try not to be confused, the thing about getting more confused as you read more is common and it will be with you probably until you start the write up and you are normal in that way. Get to know other postgrads in the first few months and sort the supervisory meeting and admin stuff and the staff (these are important things as you never know when you will need them and the most important thing is that after about one year...I still feel the same as you must be PhD hormones..

wow, DanB its the best of those lists that I have ever read and have to say it was a comprehensive one. When I started the post I only meant physical problems but the mental disaster is worse. I have grown really sloppy after starting my PhD. before I was full of energy and did so many things including a paid job which actually made me more active, so the weight gain and not being bothered about meals are both in.

well, If anyone has seen my previous posts (more like moanings and rants).. so same here, the more I read, the less I'm sure about the project and lose confidence and the time factor is adding stress with issues about funding. I guess its that time of the year when we all face the beginning of "our" year in october. Lets try to keep sharing the thoughts and helping eachother at the lowwwwest points.

say something like "oh it was a pop-up u know superV how it is these days with all the junk turning up in your computer" OR
" a bit of privacy please if you don't mind, this is a free country and you are evading my personal space which includes my rights as a research individual to express opinions with my peers" (ha ha I wish I could only dream the sup's face when you say this

any one had any bad back aches that never seem to go away or addictions that has taken over your life as a result of doing the PhD?