thanks for the help btw! :)

yea, ive been able to download the add on but i cant actually install it on my excel...i cant believe they've removed it and made possible to add it back in but made it this complicated! nonsense!

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Hi all!

I'm on the verge of throwing my computer out the window here, I'm trying to do a very simple thing in excel and i just cannot figure out how to do it in new 2007 version. I have a bar chart, with several data points or bars for each variable, and i want to just do it the old fashioned way and give each bar a different pattern instead of colour for each type of data. In 2007 excel i can olny change the colours or textures which is no good if il be printing in black and white, how do i get the old fashioned stripes, spots etc again?!

good lord just noticed my spelling is terrible! i should really go home!

hi there! I have to use equipment in 2 labs other than my own and one of these i had to sort out myself. generally, people are ok with sharing equipment so long as there is something in it for them - and in academia, that would be co-authorship for the paper resulting from your data. Especially in science, 'collaboration' is a big thing i've found. If you can find a really nice person who doesn't have this attitude and helping cos thy are genuinely nice then you're well sorted, but otherwise I would try to arrange it that the results will be written up as a pper and not just in ur thesis, then you have add the other lab onto authorship, and everyone will be happy. trying to find another lab might be difficult tho!

Speaking of flamenco...I joined it just at the start of this year and loved it!
I totally know how you're feeling dramagirl, I've had all the same feelings although in a slightly different sense...I'm doing my PhD in the same uni as I did my undergrad, but when we finished our first degree, all my mates left the city the uni was in and went home, or went travelling or to another place to do masters etc. Although I stayed in the same city that I had been in for 5 years, I was totally alone in it and knew hardly anyone! It was like a total culture shock, I may as well have been on the other side of the world. My partner was also working away at the time so I only got to see him once a month if even that. After freaking out and teetering on the edge of depression for a while (I had some major problems and questions about the project too...) I decided the only way to get through it was to get out there and do stuff. I joined various classes and while I didn't immediatly make friends with everyone in them, it was good for my mind to get out and do something and enjoy myself for the hour or two that I was free. Over time I got to know people in my office and in other labs and now I've built up a pretty good network of friends here and I'm actually really enjoying myself!
The real eye-opener was when I met up with some family and friends who I'd not seen for a while and discovered that doing the PhD has really changed me as a person - I have a much wider circle of experience then many people I've grown up and spent 20-odd years of my life with, I've had some tough challenges both personally and academically, and although they can't relate to them exactly and can't understand what I've been through, realising that the past 2 years has affected me so much and in such a positive way has been great!
So I know that everyone handles situations differently, and only you can ever know how you really feel about things. But I will say think positive, don't be afraid to take a back seat and let friends come to you, get to be comfortable in your own company and you'll treasure the huge learning curve you've just started on :)

Good luck!(up)

hi Dlim, Im not in ur field but surely regardless ur title depends on what research YOU want to do and are being funded to do? the only way to find this is to read the literature now, find out what is lacking, see if you want to work on that, if you have valuable, novel ideas etc and discuss these with supervisors to determine the feasability of the project...if its all good go for it, your job will come from it in the end, you cant envisiage what job opportunities are available now for 3+ years time so dont let that hold you back

hi Jinio!

Im so there with u, when i first started my phd i was falling asleep all the time! One morning i came into work to find a fellow student had taken a pic of me snoozing the previous day and put it as a new desktop background on my computer! it was a bit of a shock when i turned it on that morning! I've also fallen asleep in my office to be woken by my supervisor coming to ask me something so I've done it all! :-)

the best thing i found is varying my day depending on how sleepy im feeling. if im not too busy il go to the gym just before lunch and have a small light lunch after that which helps get the energy levels going again. if i dont have time for that but im still sleepy then l go for a quick walk outside, even if its to the shop to buy some milk, it really helps. its best not to eat really heavy lunches as ur much more likely to nod off if the office library etc is warm. if u do feel like ur far to knackered then feel free to have a snooze, but just a short one, no more than 20 mins max. Any longer than this and ul start to enter a deeper sleep which ul feel awful after, so just a quick nap to rest ur poor brain is dead on.

Also i started making notes as i was going thru papers to avoid the monotony of reading continuously. it takes a little longer to go through all your papers taht way but the advantage is that when u come to write a paper or report you dont have to wade through hundreds of papers trying to find something you found interesting months ago - just go to your notes and u can find which paper it is much quicker!

I hope this helps, just stay clear of the energy drinks as mentioned before and drink LOADS of water!! if nothing else, going to the loo every 20 mins will keep u awake! (up)

Hi everyone! sorry to kind of hijack the thread here, but does anyone have any advice for the current mid-phd partners of final year phders?! mr algaequeen is writing up, due to hand in soon altho he's pushed the date back a bit so it's going to take longer than i thought....and i've literally been counting down the weeks. I know its mighty stressful for him and im trying to be v understanding etc but we are long distance and its really taking its toll on the relationship! I'm already pretty stressed myself with my own work but ive had a cold since christmas and every time im annoyed about something with the mr it manifests itself in some other body malfunction - currrently i have my first ever coldsore, a stye on my eye, an infection and a cold....

ah thanks guys! its so true though, it's so frustrating having to deal with feeling like that on top of everything else! Although I did find that a quick walk home and nap made me feel so much better! My supervisor is generally pretty good, but he's so busy (recently became head of department along with having about 20 other phd students...) that I feel guilty about bringing it up with him so I tend to say nothing and slowly go mad! :)

Smoobles - i have a track that always helps cheer me up, if you are in need of a little music therapy, its by Jason Mraz, called The Remedy :) and I'm rather embarassed to admit that while listening to radio 1 this morning destinys child Survivor came on which really got me going! :$

just wondering, although i already know the answer but still need to vent before i crack up, why it is that this phd is making me feel like the most stupid person alive?! im trying to analyse data from a recent experiment, and between issues in experimental design, having to put up with dicky people in carrying out the experiments and prep work, now its just a nightmare trying to do the analysis! having to learn several new methods of statistical analysis, things ive never ever been good at is just totally soul destroying! its awful, usually im the happiest person ever, always bouncing around and smiling but lately im more depressing then marvin the paranoid android :( i hate feeling so thick!

hey all!

just wanted to say thanks for all the replies, it has really helped! It's just an initial study, with sampling locations restrained by practical factors so it's not a very complex dataset, i managed to get it going on spss, and i have arranged to learn R (the basics anyway) and my very nice supervisor finally admitted that he knows someone who can help with more indepth stuff, so it's on the right track again! and my computer escaped unscathed, whihc is more than i can say for my brain! so thanks guys!!

dont feel too gutted about it, sometimes the sups actually do know best (shocking i know). i dont know what field you were applying to, but sometimes, if you dont have the basic knowledge of the topic you want to research it can be very difficult to do the phd, even if you are capable of putting the effort in and thinking like a researcher. from personal experience, i started a phd that was vaguely related to my proir degree and i wish sooo much that id done a masters in it first, ive had to learn so much new stuff, without any prior experience, as well as working on the stuff id already done and it's been soo difficult, i spent the entire first year convincing myself not to leave. so keep positive, its possible this just isnt the project for you, and if its a field you still want to work in, try the masters or take a different approach that draws more on your own masters...if that even makes sense, my brain is broken today!

(up) a super huge good luck to you!

omg! thanks v much! ul never believe it but i just figured it out in spss! i had one textbook that was just doing it in an awfully complicated way and it would never work, but then i tried a new textbook which was sooo easy! im v chuffed! however, i get different results depending on if i choose the correlation matrix or covariance matrix, i have two groups (aiming to see if there is any difference between the groups) so i was planning on sticking with the covariance matrix, am i right here?

Hi all! Just as i approach that point where I feel like throwing my computer out the window and myself along with it, does anyone know of any good programs or ways of doing PCA?! I tried on SPSS (horrible experience) and on SIMCA P+, but its not doing too good, I can't figure out a way of getting a covariate analysis yet. I did try looking at R to use it, but the whole computer syntax thing just blows my mind, I may as well be reading Russian for all I understand of it... I'm trying to write a paper to be published, and part of the results section will live or die on my stats so I really need to make sure I do a good job. However, all 3 of my supervisors are non-statisticians, and my mian sup has actually told me he doesnt want to see anything but the final result of the tests cos he actually hates stats, so I'm kinda stuck with no-one here to help me out! :-( so if anyone knows anything please fill me in!!