I 'grew up' during my master's to the extent that nothing in academia shocks me now!

I marked an undergrad essay a few years ago with 8 different fonts in it! She didn't do well! She then went on to totally slate me in the tutorial feedback :-s

:$ I'm a bit of a news junkie and eally need to stay updated with what's going on in the world. Was in Boston recently and there the news was 90% on their economy and really just snipets about everything else. I don't think any channel mentioned the situation in Somalia for example.

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my analysis starts at page 145 of a 281 page thesis!

I can get it for you, no problem. Pm me your email and I'll send you the pdf

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you mean in the introduction? No, I don't think it would be strange, good in that it will make it clear how you are approaching your topic. Will you re-visit in the lit review? If so, just make sure you don't repeat yourself. I know science theses do things differently to us social scientists but you probably don't want your intro to be overly theoretical at the expense of setting the context, rationale etc.

my lit review chapter in particular is long; too long in my eyes but there you go. It's about 21,000 words, in three discrete sections. It was 16,000 words in my first draft and gradually creept up and up. 18,000 is probably on the longish side but sounds okay.

Have it, will send it to you now:-)

Really glad to hear she's out of danger Eska, hope she continues to recover

A

probably there's more we could do but I don't think he has it too bad. He loves the car and gets to go the beach 3 or 4 times a month where he swims, digs and generally has a ball although he only 'fetches' stones not balls - we found that out the hard way! He also gets to go to the park a good bit on top of the regular everyday walks. It's all about getting him in the right mood but he loves his sofas and no matter where you feed him, he carries his bowl into the sitting room and plonks it down in front of the TV :$. We're actally not a tv dinner family but he obvioulsy wishes we were! He does have a few issues but he's nearly 10 now so probably too late to change. It's not really an age thing as he has always been like that. Hmm we should have known; when we collected him as a puppy he was asleep in front of the fire!

if Tyra catches you eating spag bol topped with cheese she won't hold up your photo;-)

Any tips for encouraging a dog to go for walk who doesn't want to go if it's windy, if it's dark, if there's something on tv he wants to see etc etc! My son brought him jogging two years ago and he [the dog] hasn't forgiven him. Ever since it's been tough to get him to go if he doesn't want to. Our dog must be the only dog who refuses a walk - and he gets offered one every day.

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didn't mean to sound flippant; it's just that I live with five other people so crave a bit of me-time.

What about joining a keep fit or dance class a couple of times a week? It would be something to look forward to but would be for a set amount of time and could work as a bit of escapism.

I go for walks [alone!] and often get my best PhD ideas then and wish I had gotten into the habit of writing down these ideas the second I came home. Usually by the next day they're gone:-(. Exercise could therefore work for you on a number of levels - I'm a woman and so am always looking for ways to multi-task;-)

I 'get' your isolation but if joining something isn't your thing, try to make it work for you and get through your write-up as speedily as you can.

I too believe I was Greta Garbo in a previous existence!

Perhaps come on the forum more often for some virtual chats but if you do some volunteering, make sure that you are clear on your availability else it will eat into your write-up time, which chat or no chat, will drive you mad:-s