Hi Armendaf,

It's nice to hear from you :-) I've missed you and Lara, but will be back over here when you are!

I'm glad you've been able to slob around, I wouldn't have expected anything else after your recent marathon! It must be nice to be able to slowly think about sorting yourself out before starting viva prep. I'd definitely carry on slowly if I was you! Make the most of it 8-) It must be odd to have to clear stuff from your office space though, it really is the end of that particular era.

Thanks for asking, I had a cold last week but had to go in to work, as that is the culture there unless you're at death's door. I wasn't as productive as I'd have liked, though it was quite stressful and I must have picked up some other virus or something, so ended up in bed for a few days. All rather boring but quite seasonal I suppose. Am supposed to be working on my intro, methodology and conclusions chapters at the moment, for the Dec 2nd submission of the whole draft. Today I managed to cobble the introduction together from a few old versions, at least it's something to read through tomorrow when hopefully I'll feel a bit healthier again and will spot the virus-induced mistakes!! Have made a list of everything that needs doing for the draft too, it's a bit scarily long but if all else fails, make a list, that's what I was thinking!! Hopefully then I will tick things off, however minor, that might cheer me up a bit and prise me out of this mental quagmire.

Won't do any more now as it will probably be crap, but at least I've made a start, which should hopefully stop me from waking up in the night thinking about it again. I think I'll have dinner, watch some telly and go to bed early again... sooo unexciting, but so very necessary right now, if I'm going to get this thing done in time.

See you soon! :-)

Armendaf! Great to hear from you ! :-) I am glad i am not the only one that was a slob this week! hehehe. i did absolutely nothing!!
when i say, i did nothing, i meant i did no phd work related stuff. but plenty of other stuff.

i got my desktop computer fixed. but it had to be reformatted, so its a blank slate! i spent most of the week, putting all software back on it, backing up all my phd files onto dvds. i've not finished backing up stuff, there's still alot left.

my laptop died. poor thing was hanging on till i submitted. i dont think it can be resurrected. but i will try to get it fixed.

Armendaf, like you, i need to do alot of cleaning and sorting out. my study room is a mess! papers, stacks and stacks of papers, and old drafts and files and books everywhere. so now that my holiday is over. i am going to start sorting it all out.

my brother printed an extra copy of my thesis. i was going to get it bound. but i will instead put it in a folder, so i can take out particular chapters. nearer to my viva, i will get another copy printed and bound properly. but right now, i wanna be all messy on the chapters, and highlight , post its, etc.

today i havent done much. i woke up late! ooops, gotta start waking up at 10am now. now that my holiday is over.

but i ordered a book today- to help me with my viva prep, as recommended by miss spacey, when she went to a lecture on viva prep. i read loads of reviews on it, and it sounds very good!

How to Survive Your Viva: Defending a Thesis in an Oral Examination (Paperback)
by Rowena Murray (Author)

i also emailed the dragons today aka the supervisors. and asked them for advice and tips on how i should go about preparing for the viva.

tommorow i'm going into central, as i have a few errands to run, nothing phd related. so i will start properly on wednesday.
like Armendaf, I will start by cleaning and sorting out my study room.

Hi Ruby!! Aww missed you too! I was thinking about you, how you were getting on. and thinking, i am so glad to have this forum and you guys for support now that i have to start on viva prep. i wanted to be on holiday for longer!

I am sorry to hear you've been ill. You poor thing, it's hard enough working on a thesis, without battling with being ill. you hang in there. and take it easy, get better and then you will work better. no point punishing yourself. you have plenty of time. so get some rest. i am glad you had an early night. how are you feeling now?

and don't worry about last week, and trying to catch up. DONT. dont even think about catching up. as its a never ending cycle. because you cant work triple or double the time. so just write that week off. we all get ill. and just start afresh and make a new plan. dont try to catch up on last weeks work ONTOP of the work you had planned this week. like JB says, yesterdays unwritten words stay in the past, everyday is a fresh start.

2nd of December seems like a good deadline to aim for. is this a definite deadline? or one you imposed on yourself? or your supervisor?

i'm going to have some dinner now, and watch some telly.and continue backing up my computer files. catch you later!

Hi Girls,

Well, as promised I'm in the uni working on my data. I could have done it at home, but I'm meeting a friend here for lunch, so I thought I might as well make it a "research day" as when I was here full time. Ah... the memories ;-)

How are you girls getting on?

Hello!

Lara, thanks for your sensible words!! Still feel ropey but have to go to work tomorrow.
The December deadline isn't one of my imaginary deadlines unfortunately, but a proper one, so no room for manoeuvre there. It's the last time I'll get feedback from my second supervisor before final submission - he didn't want to be bothered with 'endless drafts!' It's the draft that shows how much I've got to do over Xmas.... ulp! Will get back to Phd stuff in a few days and do what I can - maybe just shift my expectations of what can be done in the time left, I suppose.

I'm looking forward to seeing how all this viva prep goes for both of you! See you soon.:-)

Hello
I posted on this thread a couple of months ago, but then buried deep back into my rabbit hole. I'm amazed to find that you've submitted since then Lara! And Armendaf! That's fantastic, congratulations!! (up)
My deadlines keep wooshing by, but it seems like I'm at a similar stage to Rubyw...I am revising my first draft and would like to submit the final draft at the beginning of December. I have the big important chapter 7 left to revise/rewrite, and the concluding and introductions to write too. Might I join you Rubyw in updating my progress in trying to meet that deadline on this thread?
Today I am trying to finish chapter 6, then send it off to Supervisor this evening. Was meant to do this last week and has just been dragging on as I am getting into philosophical tangles in my mind...must repeat the mantra, doesn't have to be perfect!
Right, on my bike to uni then...

Well, I failed to finish chapter 6 yesterday:-(, but have just finished it now ;-). Giving myself a little break this afternoon, a spot of window shopping maybe, but I plan to read over what I already have for chapter 7 in some cafe and make notes for when I start revising it tomorrow. Chapter 7 deadline is next Wednesday evening!

======= Date Modified 14 Nov 2008 11:48:09 =======
Thanks Tokyorabbit! Well done finishing chapter 6, it is great to get something ticked off your list, isn't it? What's chapter 7 about?

Hi Tokyorabbit,

Of course you can join me over here on updating your progress, whatever helps with the work and it's always nice to have the company! Looks like you've been doing fine though, and about the same deadline as me, as you said! I'll be back on the PhD case at the weekend, as am doing it part-time and currently at work, so see you then. (up)

======= Date Modified 17 Nov 2008 01:07:22 =======
Thanks Rubyw! I'm not very confident of meeting the December deadline, but hopefully this forum and you guys will help me to stay motivated. Hope you had a productive weekend - I only managed some reading.
Armendaf - chapter 7 is pretty theoretical, about internal structuring of hierarchical networks (of people!) so I'm not looking forward to tackling it.
So today I'm going to read notes, skim articles, look back on previous chapters and draw lots of mental maps to make sure I know what I'm going to say before I start writing/revising tomorrow. By the end of today I'll hopefully have a half-finished chapter consisting of cut and pasted existing sections and an outline of what should go in between.
Then I have tomorrow and Wednesday morning to write!

Well, I'm giving in for the day and going to cycle home for supper. I haven't finished what I was meant to do today - this morning was completely out with a class, but I thought I had allowed for that! Am only half way through revising and cutting the chapter, so I'll plow on tomorrow morning.
It seems that lots of people work late at night on this forum, so I feel a bit pathetic packing it in at 8pm, but I really find that I can't work at home. Anyone else the same?
Have a good day everyone 8-)

Hi, just wanted to say a huge well done to Armendaf and Lara for submitting their thesis. I haven't been able to post for a while and it was wonderful to hear your good news. I hope you are both having a well deserved rest at the moment!!!!!! Well done again, brilliant.
Ruby: Glad you are well and that you are also nearly there. You have done so much since i last checked in and should feel really proud of what you have achieved. You are not far off now so just keep going and i really hope the writing is going well. Are you still watching diagnosis murder when it is on!!!!!!
A massive hello to toykorabbit and the other newer people who have also posted. Good luck to everyone with there writing and hope that you have a good week.
xx

Hello,

Tokyorabbit, I wouldn't worry about packing it in earlier than others seem to on here, it's just as likely that they're having long bouts of procrastination or just not working very productively, even if they're clocking up the hours. We all work differently and I can't work late into the night without the next few days being a complete write off, I'd rather get an early night and start early the next day - I get more done that way, but that probably doesn't work for others.

I'm quite behind at the moment, I wasted so much time being ill last week and yesterday going to the opticians, all unavoidable really, so today I'll really have to get a decent draft of this methodology chapter out of the way. It's a very rough draft at the moment, so I'll try to get a better version done by this evening. I'll have to find a couple of papers that I'm supposed to be referencing in this chapter, but they are buried somewhere in these piles of folders and papers that seem to be my temporary filing system at the moment. I'm dreading starting to look for them, as the whole floor will be covered in paper. I'm starting to feel like an academic version of a bag lady, except instead of living amongst all my possessions tied up in plastic bags like the lady near college, I live amongst paper, and every bit is useful too (hehe, well probably!)

Hi Tractorgirl, nice to hear from you! Hope the job is still going well and your viva prep is coming along - do you have a date set for it, or for a mock one?
Yep, I am watching Diagnosis Murder again!!! Pamela Anderson's ex has been replaced by Jesse Travis now as the medical sidekick, so it's more watchable! It's a bit weird as Steve Sloan has got really blond hair, I was sure it was brownish in later episodes, it looks like a rather dodgy dye job I'm afraid, I think I prefer the brown look. Maybe if I keep watching I'll be able to spot the point when he morphs into a darker haired cop with bigger roles in the mysteries... yeah I know, any excuse but it is my allowable lunchbreak!

Anyway, I'd better get off this forum and do some work now. Hope you get your chapter finished today, Tokyorabbit (up)

Hi girls,

Just a quick note to say hello. I'm back at another one of my research days. I'm currently revising my analysis in preparation for the Viva. Today I'm going over the coding structure of one of my units of analysis. It's a bit of a slow process since I have to read all my transcripts and make sure that they are coded to the themes on which the conclusions of the thesis are based. It's not too difficult though, it's just slow.

Ruby, I hope that you are feeling well now and that you can catch up with methodology chapter. What methodology are you using, if you do not mind me asking?
Tokyorabbit, there is nothing wrong with having the discipline of finishing early and starting early as well. I bet a lot of people would love to be able to work like that; me included (up)
TG, thanks for that message! It's great to hear from you again. How are things going?
I wonder what Lara is up to... *rubbing his chin*

Hi Armendaf,

Yep I'm ok now thanks! My methodology is a mixture of design history/material culture and sociology mostly, so uses a combination of archive/contemporary sources and qualitative interviews.

Good luck with your coding checking, it sounds a bit onerous if you don't mind me saying so. Do you have a date set for your viva, or a mock one lined up?

Yes I wonder what Lara's up to as well!

It must be so tedious preparing for vivas, but please correct me if I'm wrong!!