Ok Sneaks, I'm back in the game. First up, congrats on the email success, I hereby award you a virtual beverage of your choice :)

As for me.....

1) Email the genetic forum for advice on whether I pool samples.
2) Contact PD company's tech support on layout.
3) Plan plates for cDNA conversion, ready to roll tomorrow morning in the lab.
4) Check in on the ol' thesis, lets say we need 200 words minimum today.

Little and often....

Points 1 and 2 (up)

I'm on (temporary) fire, I think this deserves a chai latte to celebrate.

congrats, if I knew what that is I would join you!

The supervisor call has scared me in to action and am trying to pull together some of my writing to send her this afternoon aaaaargh

OK, So I have sent supervisor really crap writing which has about 1000 words in it and then about 3000 words of me saying "I'm going to write about this here" urgh - oh well, it's something!

I have done her emails and I am half way through doing some stats to put in the presentation slides that I want to get done today so it doesn't leek over in to every day this week and ruin my PhD!

Diet coke break I feel 8-)

Sneaks I'm going to be working late tonight to try get some stuff sent off to my supervisors in the morning;

by 9pm I want to have filled in all the extra references I have left blank
by 10.30 pm - long doc should make complete sense
and by 12 am the summary doc shoud be complete

I'll also et up early (7am for me!!) and into campus to hopefully access some papers and standards that are unavaelable to me at home but which I really, really need!!

Good luck with the rest of your work today (up)

good luck ev. I'm struggling with school child at home (not mine!) but trying to get stats done before dinner arrives - chinese :$

ok, so although my aims changed over the day today I have done

- emailed people for sup
- started presentation
- sent off writing to supervisor albeit being rubbish
- have completed graphs for presentation so don't spend all day tomorrow doing them

well done sneaks (up)

I've almost finished supplementing the docs with references although I seem to keep come across more relevant - I'll just have to come back to them another time as I don't have time to get through everything by tomorow

plan is now for a quick break - then,

1. make sure my arguments make some basic sense (At least worthy of a first draft!)
2. try to make a quick, easy-to-read sumary doc

Well done Ev and Sneaks, you guys are on a roll!

I've just gotten back from my first running club meet, knees hurting like hell but otherwise feeling 100x better than I have all day :)
Ice pack, ibuprofen and a take away sandwich - now I'm ready for another bash at the thesis before hubby comes home, word count so far (discounting tables)
= 338.
Damn, it was so much more with the table included! Ah well, it's 338 more than I've managed any other day for a fortnight so I'm happy.

well done both! Glad to hear you are on a roll again teek, I know it seems so awful when you aren't working and the awful feeling just gets worse and worse and you feel even more like you can't do work, so its great to break the cycle. My aims for tomorrow

- yes - actually do some of this stupid thematic analysis that has been on my list since starting this thread
- finish of presentation

I find that I sometimes set myself ridiculous goals and then get disappointed when I don't meet them - so taking baby steps!

Sneaks, is there some way you can break the "thematic analysis" down into smaller sections (apologies if that's a stupid question, I've no idea)? It seems to be a big beast to slay!
Back in work today and waiting to access the lab bench I need, so far it's been a morning of emails, tea, and of course....findaphd.com.
Goals for today:

1) cDNA conversions
2) write formal notes on alternative analysis programs
3) draft a work plan for remaining practical tasks

well its actually just reanalysing 40 interviews. They only take about 3mins each - just going through counting codes, so I should really just say, "I will do four today" but it just never happens. Mainly because I only have NVivo installed on my laptop and tend to work on my desktop, and my laptop is near the tv - nuff said!

How are the interviews going Sneaks, made any headway?

I had a lovely but PhD-wise unconstructive weekend *insert icon for beaming sheepishly* but Monday has arrived and I must get back on track. Meeting with supervisor today so I'll final get an idea of how he sees these final 6 months panning out. Tasks for the day include:

- Prep notes for the meeting
- Finally sort a rough guide for analysis methods
- Analyse data from Friday
- All being well with Friday's data, plan the HKG testing
- Write up relevant methods in thesis

Ta-daaaaaaaaa

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I had a similar weekend - I bought a new car! I have never had a new car before!! - and also bought complimentary seat covers and pet tube for the dawg so new car stays new

http://www.petplanet.co.uk/shop_dev/assets/new_product_images/dog_bag/pet_tube.jpg - so wicked! (yes I am now officially old) But I did manage to get out of going for old people (40) birthday drinks whoo and just lounged around instead. Feeling like I need to make a lot of headway with the thematic stuff - it is my nemesis at the mo! I have therefore downloaded Nvivo on to my desktop and am taking a new strategy, doing it at the start of the day, rather than it always being on the end of the list! So today

- thematic analysis - AT LEAST 5 interviews (I can have tea after 5 I have decided)
- email lady about data access for 3rd study
- sort out presentation now I don't have powerpoint :-(
- think about and possibly write down aims for data that turned out to be pretty useless but can't throw away so have to use it somehow!

I'm feeling a lot more positive today and the pain in my back/legs is easing and I am off painkillers so my mind is freeee - just got to find glasses before migraine sets in. I will report in at lunch.

hmph this morning has been a complete waste of time. nvivo decided that I had already used up all my trial usage, so I had to spend out £70 to use it for the rest of term!!! V annoyed. And it STILL hasn't been emailed to me, so am chasing that, so haven't even started doing proper work. :-s

Going to have lunch - then work!