Hi Everyone,

It's great to be back and to read all your posts. Congratulations Butterfly! It feels great to submit, doesn't it? besides so many other mixed feelings, that is. ;-)

It is also great to hear back from Lara (our beloved leader), I'm looking forward to conversations on Viva preparation... Battle face :-s

Well done Ruby on submitting your draft! That's going to help you a lot because now you only need to wait for them to tell you what else you need to do and that's it. You won't have the uncertainty of not knowing how well you did. Congrats! (up)

Yesterday I went to the university to find out if there were any news about my Viva. I'm going away this Sunday for some weeks and wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything (yet) to worry about wile I'm not here. It turns out that nothing is going to happen, possibly until February, so apparently I have enough time to prepare. I do not want to leave it to the last moment, but I do want to have a proper Christmas break for a change. So I might do some reading and reviewing over the holidays, just so I do not disconnect completely, but I won't come back to it full swing until January.

Nevertheless, I'll be around to see how people are doing and perhaps join in for work on the odd day.

Talk soon 8-)

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*

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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 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?

Hi,

I just thought that I'd post a quick note to resurrect this thread. I suppose I could also post in the other ones, but for personal reasons this one is my favourite :p

I've made a point of taking things easy this past week after the submission, so I've only done the minimum necessary to catch up with all the things that were waiting for me at work. Other than than I've been an absolute slob. But that's it, today is my last day of laziness. (up)

So, something that I need to do is organise all the papers and books that I have lying around my flat and in the university office. Actually I have to vacate that office now, since I'm no longer a registered student. I'm doing some of that stuff right now actually.

Another thing I need to do is to go back to my data and organise it in a way that it makes sense to some other than myself, since I reckon that is one of the weakest points in my analysis chapter; it's just too messy. Fortunately all the data is on NVivo (qualitative data analysis software) so I only need to go back and pull out a coherent coding tree and some tables. That should be a good start on preparing for the Viva. I'll work on that on Tuesday which I'm taking as a research day.

Lara and TG, I hope that you are having a good break from the PhD work. How are things with you girls?

Ruby, I read in another thread that you were not feeling OK during the week. I hope you are better now. How are you keeping these days? If you tell me when you are at work and when you are working on your thesis I'll make sure to come by the forum to keep you company. Will you?

Best 8-)

Hi,

Reading this thread feels like watching a prequel of a film... you know, like when you watch star wars episode 1 after you already know the story in episodes 4-6. Cool!

(up)

Thanks Caz!!!

Ruby,

Thanks a million for your message, and for your constant support on the forum. I'm definitely taking time now for rest, celebrate, and getting my life back... in that order ;-)

...but don't worry, we'll be around for you, we still need to get that beautiful graphic thesis done, right? We don't leave PhDers behind ;-)

Congratulations Lara!!!!!

I am delighted to hear that all went well and that you are over that hurdle now. Go on girl, have fun. You deserve it.

I, for starters, am having a Halloween party tonight. 8-)

Thanks Bilbo, it's much appreciated :-)

I submitted!!!!!! yay!!!!

It turns out the I needed to have the final document ready on Wednesday to allow enough time for printing and binding. So the worst day was Tuesday when I worked non-stop -literally, not even for sleeping or eating- from 8am. Obviously, ran out of time, and on Tuesday evening I still had loads to do, so I kept going all night. Wednesday 9am -time at which they open the printing shop- and I still had loads to do, even though I've said that I would have it ready first thing in the morning for them to print it; so I kept going. At this point I have already had a couple of crisis when I thought that I would never finish and I was feeling sick with exhaustion, but somehow I managed to bring my self back to work. I did have to lay down and at list close my eyes for half an hour or so, because I just couldn't work any more. So eventually I wrapped up the document the best I could by noon and sent it to the printing shop. I rang them to make sure that they got it and could open it no problem.

I tried to get some sleep, but couldn't because I kept thinking that I should get the bound copies of the thesis sorted before collapsing. So instead I had something to eat, very little, since I was still feeling sick, got a shower and headed to the printing shop. By the time I got there it was already printed, in colour and everything, and it felt great to see it there. I only had to wait for the binding which took 15 minutes. The shop is text door to where I work, so I went to the office to print some copies of the abstract which are required for submission and went back home. It was already too late to submit that day, but I still had today to do that.

So, last night for the first time in months I went to bed before 2am and had a decent night sleep. This morning I was there at opening and submitted. :-)

Thank you girls... I could not have possibly done this without you :-x

Lara, I hope everything went OK with your submission.

Congratulations Lara! You did it! I knew you would (up)

This morning I got up earlier than usual and started working straight away. To the point that I forgot to have any breakfast until I started to feel sort of thirsty at around 11am. So I fetched my self a cuppa and kept on working. There are still a lot of corrections and wrapping up that I need to do, but I didn't want to be stressed at the end with finalising the document, so I did all that in the morning. I have it all formatted and ready with acknowledgements, front page, declaration and tables (contents, figures and tables). So I just need to keep on working on the main document and it all updates automatically wherever it needs to. I also made arrangements with the printing shop, they'll take the file from an email and will print it first thing in the morning, so when I get there, I just need to choose the cover for the binding.

So I think the only thing I can do now is keep going and just before dropping dead, print the document as it is to a PDF file and send it over.

Back later... still loads of work to do :-s

hi girls,

Just took a very-long/very-late-lunch break. I made some progress in the morning and did some quick shopping next door just to make sure I have enough food so I do not need to leave the house until I'm finished. I also rang some colleagues and my boss about my lecture tomorrow evening. Fortunately I got my friend to cover for me and everyone in the command chain to agree with it. That bought me an extra day to work. I also made sure that the printing shop next door to the office would take my thesis and print it and bind it while I wait. So, this is it, final dead line to have that document ready is tomorrow evening, then Thursday morning printing and binding, and finally submit Friday morning the latest... I'm so scared! :-(

I thought the same thing Lara, I have here copies of at least 5 thesis from my friends, and three of them in various electronic formats. I'm just putting together my one in the same way they did; no time to be original.

Ruby, I hope it is coming around for your deadline.

Back to work now :-s