Good morning all,

This PhD malarkey feels like the academic equivalent of an Olympic sport sometimes, testing the limits of human endurance... (no disrespect to any proper athletes intended, of course). A truly peculiar and rather masochistic academic rite of passage. When it's finished we'll be a bit like the Freemasons, but without the handshakes. When you meet other people who've done a PhD you will immediately *know* what they've put themselves through. Oh yes.

Mira, I'm really glad you're feeling a bit better today, I was getting a bit worried about you, the insomnia thing really doesn't help, everything is so much harder when you're knackered. Hopefully it will break that cycle for you when you go to India.

Armendaf, lol I meant I'd done 5000 words in total, not in one day!! I wish!! The day's output was a bit pathetic really, considering, but as Scarlett o Hara said at the end of Gone With the Wind, 'tomorrow is another day' or something like that, so I called it a day and went to bed.

Lara, hope you got enough done eventually and got a decent amount of sleep too.

Today: well, I've got to finish that chapter, though I'm cutting it a bit fine now with the time left but it should be do-able if I get on with it now. I'll pop back later and report when I've actually done something (it's just started thundering and raining, good PhD weather)

There's a 1970s disco song by The Floaters called Float On and the chorus goes 'Float... Float on...' and if you replace 'float' with 'plod' it makes a lovely mantra for anyone doing a PhD I think. Am rambling now so I'll log off and get on with something useful.

Hope we all have a productive day and see you later.

Hi everyone!
a late start for me, woke up at 12pm, oooops, went to sleep around 3am, even took 3 papers with me to bed!
in total did about 5 hours of productive time- reading.
and read/scanned 8 papers.
i think in my dreams i was trying to think of connections lol
i heard that the last thing you do before you go to bed, tends to get stored in long term or something.
--
anyways.. still got a hefty amount of papers to get through, about 15, but most of them, i will only need small sections of info. i can't afford to print them all out, so will just copy paste the relevant bits into word document.
then after that, i just have to read/scan a few more papers, so then i definately will be done with the reading, and can start putting together a discussion.

i know i keep saying everyday "today is the last day of reading" but today is definately going to be the last day of
reading!
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Ruby well done, on your progress, 5000 words is a very good amount of word for a chapter.
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Armendaf, hope you got a good nights rest, and exactly what else can we do, just gotta keep at it, everyday.
Although i do have fantasies throughout the day, of just chucking it all in, and refusing to submit my thesis or finishing it on time, and just failing by default.
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Mira thank you so much for the kind message, you're so very welcome, and glad we could help! Nice to see your motivation for the report coming back to you! and wow going to India for field work, that is exciting.
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lol Ruby, love your analogy, yah it's like a cult.
and Thanks, yeh I slept abit too much! was so tired, couldnt get up, but glad i am well rested as a tired brain just makes things harder. better to sleep abit more than be half awake.
yeh the thundering woke me up, was cool , i love thunder and lightening hehe.
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Well good luck everyone! it's so nice that the weather has cooled, yesterday was soo humid and uncomfortable. it's much cooler today in my study room which is nice.
i am going to do some reading and then take a lunch break..

immediate aim:
read/scan through 15 papers.

======= Date Modified 31 Aug 2008 13:37:22 =======
Glad you had good sleep Lara, absolutely agree that a tired brain isn't a very useful one. 5 hours is an amazing amount of reading to have got done in one go, you'll probably find out whether you absorbed it in your sleep or not later!! I'm sure you'll know when to stop reading, won't you. Quite annoying to spend ages reading and in the end, only using each paper for one ref and one single sentence though! Still, it has to be done.

I'm slowing down a bit now, so think I'll have a little break and go out for a quick walk.
Quite pleased so far - have done another 300 words that seem quite good, and ticked 2 more things off my bits-to-finish list. Only (!!) 10 more to go.

Good luck both of you, see you later.

Hi,

I'm starting late as well, but it happens every time I move from the office to home. I would probably be more productive at the office, but I hate being there on Sundays; it is a bit too depressive I think. Anyway being here gives me the chance to do all those little things that keep us alive and also have to be done; like cleaning the flat, doing the shopping and having proper meals ;-)

So, I'll go back to work on that chapter 3. If at least half of it is finished (discussion on strategic change) today, and I can start organising the material for the other half (discussion on technological change) tonight, I will be not completely disappointed.

Well done, girls, for coming back to work on a Sunday. Just keep it up; whatever we finish today might not be ready, but it will be definitely finished so we can move on to other things that also need to be done.

Back soon,

I've been working on editing chapter 3 for some hours now... well, it is actually only the first half of the chapter. It looked like it would never end, but I think I'm starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. I have almost finished organising all of the writing in the right sections, and almost trimmed down from all redundant information. I could probably finish it today if I pushed it for another couple of hours; but I'm too tired to do that. I think I'm going to give it a rest for today, and that will give me a precise point where to retake it tomorrow.

I hope that the rest of you could do a bit better than myself.

I'll keep an eye on the forum anyway.

Talk soon

Hi all, I've had enough for tonight - completely knackered and feel a bit sick with tiredness now.

I've just sent that chapter 7 off to my supervisor minutes before midnight, but at least I've kept to the deadline, according to the time stamp on my email! I know there are so many gaps in it though, it's so frustrating. In the end I decided to cut out bits I know I've still got to do for the next version, or miss the deadline, which wasn't really an option. Ah well, it's gone off into the ether now... still it was only the first version of that chapter and I did knock it out in a month, which I'm amazed at, as it's been hellish at work too recently.

Hope you've both done ok - Armendaf sounds like you've done well with where you've got to for your chapter.

See you tomorrow.

hello all how have you been? Im doing ok - 3 weeks til this baby comes and im feeling massive. Just want it here!!! So uncomfortable and not sleeping!!! All that fun plus Im just impatient! Ive taken the last week and a half off from phd stuff as I was starting to get stressed with all the things I have to do. Im glad I did as finally my house is sorted, baby's room all decorated and hospital bags packed, my room sorted and generally the nesting instinct has meant I have a clean tidy house!!! I've also got caught up on that silly admin stuff such as bills etc. So although not able to sleep feeling ready for baby. I am now planning to keep on top of things and if I feel up to it do a little phd stuff until baby arrives then take off til new year then start afresh. Going to go and see my supervisor on friday to finish stuff off in uni!

Hope all the work is going well for you all!!!

======= Date Modified 01 Sep 2008 12:35:59 =======
I'm checking if I can post this. It's discarded two really long posts already...

Apparently it's working now. How are you girls doing. I do not think I can start working until this evening, so I'll try to do as much as possible preparing my lectures for next Monday and then will work some more on the thesis. I just do not want to stop...

Hi everyone!

Armendaf, sounds like you're doing really well, well done on working on the sunday!

Ruby, thats brilliant you sent it off, well done you, for meeting your deadline, and dont worry about it being incompletel now you can work on it further.

Celesmai, wow few weeks to go! good luck! I really admire you, being pregnant and working on your phd. I hope everything goes well for you, and thats great you taking time off from your phd to spend time with the baby.

Armendaf - wow you have to prepare lectures? ontop of the phd stuff.
that's great you dont want to stop, i like your momentum !

--

my update: well i finished all my reading, finally, there are probably more papers i could read, but I have to stop now and start writing.

I read/scanned through about 16 papers yesterday! How much has gone in my teeny tiny brain i cannot tell you lol

i was falling asleep at around 1.30am, took about 5 papers with me to bed. and then i slept for a few hours and woke up around 5am and read until 6am and finished them before going to sleep again, and woke up at 11am.

--

so far have not done anything for my thesis, i had to send some data and stuff to my 2nd sup regarding my 2nd paper.

--
but now my horizon is clear and i can start writing.

in order to stop me freezing up, i have told myself to just write and concentrate on writing a zero draft today, "mad man" stage.

so in that respect, i don't mind.

my plan is to write until 6.30pm
then go for a bike ride, then have dinner, and then tonight,after i've relaxed abit after dinner, work on it abit more, if i dont feel up to it, then maybe work on the results section and transfer that to my computer.

okay i have 4 hours to get some writing done!

good luck everyone!

ps i've had my long messages deleted many times, so now i write my message in notepad and copy paste it.

Tractorgirl, how was your weekend?

eeek it's 1st of september today! but we still have 3 whole weeks to get it all done.

so you really have to submit by 30th of september? what will happen if you don't? i know for me, my uni will terminate my registration if i dont submit a thesis (and hence i will no longer be elligible to submit a thesis and fail by default).

what did the uni tell you ?

What are your plans for this week? do you know when you will be getting your feedback from your sup ?

hope you're okay. we still got plenty of time, we can do this!

i read that we shouldnt worry about making it perfect, because the examiners will always spot errors, so just gotta make it as good enough as possible and submit it. i wish i could get an extention though!!

======= Date Modified 01 Sep 2008 18:47:36 =======
======= Date Modified 01 Sep 2008 18:43:35 =======
Hello everyone, how has your day been so far? Ruby? Armendaf? TG? Mira? and Celesmai and anyone else venturing on this thread!

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i thought i would come in for a quick account of what i've been doing today!

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Sent off some data etc to my 2nd sup about 2nd paper and explained some stuff, so there is no need for me to go in personally to explain and show where *stuff* is, so that's saved me a day!
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I started writing today!! after 3 days of reading papers!! and funnily enough, after reading non stop, you actually *want* to start writing! funny that. but did quite alot of procrastination, and have only really been writing for the past 2 hours or so. can't remember when i started properly.

but before i started writing - i was abit naughty, and printed out some of the papers that have cited my 1st paper, but then realised how valuable those papers actually are, and i can use them for my discussion for chapter 3! so not a complete ego indulgence there.. hehe but i must admit, it's quite nice to see other papers citing lil ol me in their papers. makes me think all those years have not gone to waste, regardless of whether i pass my phd or not!
---

i then started writing finally. i am writing the old fashioned way, pen and paper, and i really much prefer this, really helps to let loose the man mad persona inside me. did not care much about repetition, or grammer or sequence, i tried to keep it at least to the same *sub-section*.

so far today: i've written 5 pages of hand written mad scribblings and i tend to write big lol, a few paragraphs i have already crossed out, but at least its *something*... and i don't feel so scared or intimidated as i was a few days ago, when i had no clue what to write or what i could say.

i am going for a quick bike ride, and then have some dinner and relax for abit with a dvd, and then start again later on tonight.

see you for the night shift, folks! if anyone else is planning on working tonight.

i wanted to finish my chapter 5 by today, but sometimes it takes time to get inspiration! you can't always put a clock on it. but i am trying to stay calm - because when i panic and stress about the time ticking away and the looming deadline and about failing to finish my thesis by the deadline or thinking my thesis is crap, i can't think at all and get blocked and stressed and can't concentrate or work. so i am staying relaxed and that's helped to unblock me.

Well done Lara, you are keeping busy and the work is flowing, some times more than others, but that's OK; it's not a linear process. So, just keep going and the whole thesis will come around, you'll see.

Me, I just came back from work half an hour ago, and decided that instead of going to the university, I'll just work from home for a couple of hours. So I've fetched myself a cupa, and I'm ready to give it another go. I'll start on the document to see how much more editing I can do, and if I get tired of that, I'll read the next paper in the queue. Fortunately I do not need to read so many papers as Lara.

Rubyw, I wanted to say earlier (but the forum got me out of a really long post) that you've done great handing in your chapter, because now you've pass the ball to you supervisor. It's their turn to do their job, and in the mean time, you can busy yourself with some other thing that also needs to be done. Congratulations! Keep like that and the whole thesis should come around much faster.

Celesmai, best of luck with the baby and forget about the PhD for the time being. Just organise as much as you can so you can easily pick it up again whenever you are back. For the moment the only thing that is important is to be ready for the baby and that you enjoy the experience.

TG, where are you? we miss you ;-)

Talk soon,

ok, so i had my last meeting with my supervisor on friday and discussed my results, discussion and conclusion sections one last time. since then i have been changing stuff, reading some last articles and sorting these chapters out! hopefully i will be able to hand my thesis in tomorrow for grading - then i'll have to start studying for my last exam (11th september). 12th i need the thesis to be finished, graded, printed, bound and handed in so i can get some kind of confirmation certificate that i got my degree.

i'm like TOTALLY freaking!!! every day i take longer in finishing the thesis is one day less for preparing my oral exam (on a topic i know practically NOTHING about) - waaaaaaaaahhh!

Swantje,

-
You seem to have done pretty much all of the intellectual work that needs to be put into a thesis. From now on, just so you do not loose any more studying time for your exam, why don't you just dedicate half days to what ever is left to do on you thesis, and half or full days on studying? This way even if you still have things to do about the thesis, you are not delaying studying any longer.

Just a thought 8-)