Love the Haiku Teek :) I'm almost done for the night, my eyes are stinging and I think it's time to go and lie in bed unable to sleep, not sure my back can hold me upright much longer.

Just another few tables... anyone else on the midnight express?

Seriously, why do supervisors have to be so epically shit at times?! 2/3 weeks from submission I email to check it's ok to move something (one bit of a topic) from one section to another to avoid repeating the info, and get a really crappy back about how it's very late in the day to be chopping and changing my thesis and I need to sort the structure myself and should he even bother reading the last section I've sent, then wrapped up nicely with a dig about moving away to write up.
Just really really close to saying feck this and leaving, I'm mentally not right, and it's all cos of the crap support throughout this past year. I 'know' it's not the be all and end all, and there is life outside the phd, but I can't get my head to accept that properly, honestly wish I'd never started the bloody thing.

Anyway, aside from the rant and current hating of my life and everything to do with this ball and chain around my life, I've done nearly all of today's goals, just finishing off the last thing now.

ok, I'm signing in here today cos I have to wade through a whole pile of data for my last experimental chapter and I'm dreading it. So please all of you hold me accountable if I don't get enough done today...

Woke up with a dizzy head which isn't the best start either, just so very tired lately. Anywhoo...
Goal 1: methods section
Goal 2: find out how to convert my results
Goal 3: add it into the big data table
Goal 4: do the stats

Hope everyone has a nice Saturday!

Well, it took a while, but a lot of that is down to personal learning and what way you think - I seem to think about things in a rather different way to most people, and I don't feel like a 'real scientist' in that I'm not naturally that technically minded for maths and equations, I'm much more flighty in that sense. So I have trouble with things like chemistry but am much better at taxonomy where you have to kind of work with a 'feel' for a species or sample. If that even makes sense, I'm 2 weeks from submission and starting to get a bit silly...

Anywhoo, yes I picked it up, it took a while as I was learning things from basics (didn't even know what a standard was when I started..), but I got there in a few months. I was learning loads of other techniques too, in chemistry and ecology and genetics so there was a whole pile of stuff to learn at the same time but I enjoyed it. And while three years seems like a long time, it will absolutely fly in and you'll be wishing you had more time. I can't actually remember most of my second year, it was first year, then sampling then suddenly time to start writing the thesis!

Regarding LaTex of Word, I'd go with whatever will work easiest for you when you are writing and formatting. If you understand how to use LaTeX then I'd go with it, Word is a holy nightmare when it comes to placement of figures and things sometimes. Although, I'd really really suggest checking Mendeley out :)

ah-ha....it seems there is a minor mistake in the paper, which is what my sup told me to do. I can fix it by just changing the units in the thesis chapter, hopefully they'll not notice. However, I had done it the right way before he told me to do it this way...sometimes, I really wish I'd never ever met the man, like about 90% of the time I wish this...anywhoo, back to fixing stuff.

Ooh ok, I'll give that a try Sneaks! I duno why SPSS makes graphs so complicated, bring back pen and paper that's what I say...

I've done very little of actual worth today...I've spent the whole afternoon trying to figure out how I did something, initially thinking I'd made a rather large mistake in my paper, which is published so no changing that (still think it's wrong actually), then in trying to sort that I though I'd done a whole section of analysis wrong, including writing the wrong results in my epic chapter, spent ages redoing it, figured out my sup had told me the wrong way, re did it the right way and found out I had actually discovered his mistake initially, and had done the stuff properly. So I redid everything this afternoon, causing myself much stress, for nothing really...

Top tip - write down everything you do and why, especially if you have decided not to do something your sup told you to do!!

SO now I need to go back and figure out if my initial mistake is really a mistake and find out how to fix it...joy!

Go Chris!! I'm sooooo jealous I'm almost sick!! Good luck with the corrections, get settled with a bottle of wine and it'll be over before oyu know it!! Then you'll have a nice thick personalised coffee table ornament! ;-)

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oh I love this!! Especially when I know how dumb I actually really am...

Sneaks, there are phytoplankton and fish that can fluoresce, I'm rather a fan of them myself! But alas, that's not my PhD, I work a different type of phytoplankton can can produce evil toxins that can kill* humans!! How exciting!

(*only if you are stupid enough to go swimming in a lake full of green water and a poor enough swimmer to swallow loads of water though...) ;-)


ETA: I have heard reports of postdocs with Dr on their licence getting off with speeding fines if they say they are on their way 'to a job', so it's good for something at least! :D

I've just realised one sup has told me the wrong way to do something, so I believe I may acknowledge him with a thump to the head...

Failing that, I'll just write something like what Bilbo said

try marine or freshwater biology...I'm expected to know every single species of fish in the entire world...even though I work on phytoplankton... :-)

it's the looks of disgust and disappointment when I have to reply that I work in a specific area and although it's true that I am a genius and hypersmart (being sarcastic of course, but they never realise...) that I don't actually know *everything*, that I enjoy the most though! :p

I'm afraid Cornflower that it is the actual PhD process itself that trains you to be a scientist. All the other training skill stuff is just superfluous, stuff that helps get stuff done in the practical sense, and gives you transferable skills for outside academia etc, but that actual 'learning' how to think and be a scientist is all down to you!
If it helps, my PhD is in an area that I had absolutely NO experience in beforehand, so much so I wonder how I even got accepted. I don't even have chemistry A level cos I hated the subject, and here I am writing a thesis on the wonders of mass spectrometry and analytical toxin detection. I do freshwater stuff, when my primary degree is in marine biology - the two are surprisingly more different than it may seem! However, I overcame my fears and managed to get through all my lab and field work, learning loads of new techniques on the way including some stuff I thought I'd never enjoy but I did in the end. I also couldn't wait to get started, and read and read at the start, writing mini reviews on topics and going off on tangents left right and centre. I actually wish I was back at that stage, it was my favourite part!!

Just try to relax and enjoy the whole thing. You will learn to think like a scientist before you even realise, and you'll be annoying everyone you know telling them about the latest amazing experiment that you read about and can't wait to try. Then you'll spend months trying to get something to work and cursing everything about science and the day you ever wanted to be one. But then it will work and you'll love it. All par for the course. Just keep a note of absolutely every single thing you do, and all your little brainstorming ideas etc, they'll be invaluable when you are looking for inspiration a few years down the line.

Hi everyone

Does anyone know how to format the graphic output in SPSS so I don't have to go in and edit them all the time? I changed one graph and saved the format, but I can't get the rest to come out like that. I have to do about a million boxplots for my appendices and really don't have time to go through editing every single one...

Whoah!!! Seems I missed a bit last night!

ok, first up - AL, absolutely chuffed to bits for you submitting today!! Fingers crossed everything goes ok at the printers and you enjoy that moment when you hand it over! I also hope everything goes ok at the hospital and your tests don't show up anything serious, don't put yourself under too much more stress for now ok? Definitely take this weekend off at least, you simply will not survive if you don't! Your body will never trust you again if you don't give it a break and will rebel against you! So have a big lie in, have a bath, go to the flower show, enjoy the babysitting, watch movies, whatever you want to do. I'd be inclined to agree with getting the viva done on the 30th Sept, simply to get it over with, but you will still be working so I think it is entirely understandable if you push the date. However, I know exactly what you feel about annoying examiners, I'm in the same situation myself. I think the question is, do you think you will do yourself and your thesis justice doing the viva on 30th, or is it worth the risk of potentially annoying examiners to give yourself the best chance of doing well at it? it will be another month or two extra, but in the grand scheme of things it's not 'that' bad...but then there is always the straw that breaks the camels back. I think one is up to you unfortunately.

Sue, I'm glad to hear your wee dog is in good spirits, and that you've stepped down the pace a little. I hope everything goes ok with your tests too, I'm so sorry you had to go through ghastly tests. People truly don't understand what it is to go through a PhD. Good luck with the job interviews and the grant application! Nothing like keeping yourself busy eh?! Just don't go too crazy!

And Teek, I still think you're mad for starting a masters so soon after finishing!! Actually doing one I can understand, even though people think it's silly, no point not doing one if it's what qualifies you for what you want to do, but just take it easy at the start!! Don't go straight into super student mode, take a bit of time and be a student bum as much as you can get away with until you recuperate from the PhD! Good luck with writing the last experimental chapter, I'm starting mine today as well!!

As for me, I'm hanging on in there. Had a massive fight with the boyf last night, and almost booked myself on a flight home today. Got it sorted in the end, although I'm flying home next weekend instead, a week earlier than planned. No idea what's happening with us when I'm done though. As for the work, I'm almost finished my chapter 6, starting chapter 7 today which is the last experimental chapter and hopefully I'll have it done by next week. Which gives me roughly 2 weeks to do all the corrections for 4 chapters, write my general discussion, proof read, do references, print and submit....likely. I may be asking for an extension depending on how the corrections go, if there are loads I'll never get done in time!

Anywhoo folks, keep swimming, and take care of yourselves, I be worrying about you!!

Ahhh!!! maybe I'm just extremely tired, but I'm so pleased everything went well! I did ok until the last line about your son running off to school which made me cry a little! :$

I hope you have a brilliant last day at the conference, sounds like it's going great and you've got loads of motivation and enthusiasm! And plenty to do of course! (up)