Hi girls,

I couldn't get up as early as I would have liked to, but I did get a very good night sleep, so I'm refreshed and ready to keep going. :-)

Today, I think I should stick to the reading, thinking and organising; and if after that I really feel the urge to do so, perhaps some more writing. I'd like to take it easy this evening anyway because tomorrow I start lecturing and still haven't finish preparing, so I need to be in early.

I too am very impressed with TG doing all that work after coming back from the Pub, but so am I with Rubyw working on all the chapters at the same time, and Lara for reading all those papers and writing all those words in less than a week, not to mention Swantje who not only finished her thesis but now she's studying for her exam. You girls really have become my role models right now and are literally pulling me through this thesis. Thanks! 8-)

Well, now it's my turn to call it a night. I do not want to go to bed too late, otherwise I'd be knackered all day tomorrow. I think I could sort out some of the confusion in my chapter; haven't quite got around that blockage just yet, but I'm getting there. At lest I know how to fill some of the gaps and the papers where that information is. So, I'll probably start with some reading in the morning while drinking some tea. :p

Apparently we all managed to do some work this evening. Well done girls, I'm so proud of my writing buddies! (up) I also love this thread and the community we've managed to put together here; we should probably organise some sort of celebration when we are all through this thing ;-)

======= Date Modified 07 Sep 2008 00:35:40 =======
I'm also in that situation, although my case is a bit different since I was a full-time lecturer before the PhD. I started the PhD as a full-time student, but had to go back to work when ran out of funding. I also thought that I should get a part time job so it doesn't interfere with the PhD, but at the end found out that to make it worthwhile, you have to take on so many hours, that it makes it too much time consuming. Instead I went for a full time job, since you almost have to put in as many hours, but at least you get the job security and better paid. I was very lucky, and I think I only got the job because I already had teaching experience.

Now, the College I work in want people to do research, but there is not much support for that since the priority is teaching. I'm only doing research, because I'm finishing the thesis and still attached to the university where I'm doing it. Otherwise I would find it very difficult. In my opinion, to be able to do research you need to have a teaching load of no more that 6hrs a week, other wise it is impossible. Well, that also depends on the area you are in; social sciences and humanities could work this way. Hard sciences, I think is a different story.

In terms of teaching skills and development, it is like a craft; there is no real qualification, universities and colleges have no objective way to assess it and most people, who care about this, would be autodidactic. They take short courses and seminars here and there and join networks with other interested lecturers to share best practices. We can discuss specific teaching strategies if you are interested; such as teaching through cases, problem based learning, blended learning, etc.

Another thing to consider is that ideally research should also inform your teaching. That is, you teach the same subject you do research on. So conceptually, you have a better understanding of it and thus you can explain it better, not to mention that your capacity to constantly update and improve the course is also better. You can take it even further and do research on the teaching of your subject, to find out how best to deliver the content and so on. But as I said before, there is only so many things one can do, so the balance between contact hours with students, faculty administrative tasks, research activity and other responsibilities has to be balanced.

Well, since I seem to be unable to make much progress this weekend, please allow me to be the first one to check in for the night shift. Lunch was good, had a decent fry and kept me going for the whole day. Although I hate to clean the kitchen after cooking a fry, anyway has to be done ;-)

For some reason I'm stuck trying to finish this first half of the chapter, and it's keeping me from moving on. I think I have to go to the original "plan" because I can't find the argument to link the bits and pieces I've written. I have this mind map I made for discussion with my supervisor, where all the theories in the literature review are shown and linked with one another and with the theoretical framework of my thesis. I have also been told that I could use it as my model and contribution. So I think I'll pull it out and try to work out why I'm stuck here. I'm not going to kill myself tonight, but I do need to get things in a state in which I can easily pick them up again and clarify the direction.

How are you girls getting on?

Hi girls,

Not much work done today; got up quite late actually. And now I'm hungry, so I think I'll have some lunch and then do some serious non-stop working for the rest of the day. Hopefully I'll make good progress and be able to go to bed early (-ish) tonight.

I'm so glad to hear that you are all getting on with the work and that things are coming around. Lara, I hope you are feeling better; no need to apologise for a cramp, I'm familiar with the symptomatology, and very sympathetic to the sufferer ;-)

So, lunch and then work... talk later,

I think that's it for me. I can't concentrate any more. I'm going to bed. Sorry I can not keep you company any longer. Don't work too hard yourselves and get some rest.

Talk tomorrow,

Hi Girls,

Checking in for the night shift as well here.

It turns out that only about 30% of my tooth is still sticking out and it is so thin that rather than a molar it looks more like a front tooth. I knew it was going to be insanely expensive to repair it, and that I could not afford the time nor the money to get it fixed right now. So I went there with the idea to get it provisionally filled or covered in some way so it would be OK for the time being until I finished writing. But the dentist said that he couldn't do anything to it and that I was better of leaving it like that and to come back when finished. I just need to be careful of maintaining the area as clean as possible; There is no decay or tissue damage, and it is not sensitive for the moment. The only thing he did was to reduce the remaining of the tooth so it doesn't have any mechanical interaction with any other tooth to avoid the risk of getting it further fractured. Still I had to pay the visit which wasn't at all cheap. Thanks for asking.

Rubyw - Good for you the pics are sorted and that is out of the way now. Good luck with the writing and editing now. If you are working the night shift post a note.

TG - Welcome to the night shift, and yes, the set box helps a lot. I have hours and hours of Stargate Atlantis, CSI, Private Practice, Ghost Whisperer... you name it, queueing up in the digital recorder, as well as numerous films that I think I want to see, whenever I'll have time. I always do a bit of back log clearing when I break for a meal :p

Lara - You are doing great, keep it up but do not overstretch yourself. Finishing that chapter this weekend is a good aim, and you should have time to start organising for the remaining ones as well. I hope your are feeling better.

Swantje - Congratulations on finishing the thesis. You really need to take tomorrow off and relax before starting your revision for the exam. You have time if you start on Sunday, and you'll make the most of it if you are well rested. So, go on enjoy yourself tomorrow. Although you might be having the same crappy weather we are having over here; You can always indulge in a duvet day though ;-)

Well, technically summer is not over until the 20th-23rd of September when the equinox takes place, but since we haven't had any summer like weather at all this year, that makes no difference whatsoever. ;-)

So, back to work...

Go to the endnote web site and from the support page download and install whatever updates they have for the version of endnote you are using. That usually installs and configures the right plug-ins and then try again. I hope that helps.

Good Morning!

Today we have the perfect weather to work on our theses; rainy, stormy, dark... there is nothing else I rather do today but work on my thesis [sarcasm] lol!

Lara - I'm very glad to hear that you are feeling better and that after talking to people about your thesis you can now see that you are not doing bad at all and that you are just going through whatever any PhD student go when finishing. It's hard because we work in such isolation, but it is necessary to touch ground once in a while to get the right perspective.

TG - I hope that your headache is gone by now and that you'll be able to take advantage of this fine weather to keep working.

Rubyw - I'm also no very happy talking to people about the deadlines and the process of finishing the thesis; they just don't get it. I'm in a bit of an uncommon position since on the one hand I know a lot of people who have no idea what I'm going through, but they guess it is extremely hard and are very sympathetic, but can't give real advice. On the other hand I know brilliant people who have done their PhD ages ago, on a different area, that can not understand why I'm taking so long. They never try to put me down, but I know they believe I should have finished years ago. Anyway, I hope your pics are sorted now and that you can move on to something else.

Swantje - Best of luck with studying and what's left of your thesis. If it helps, post here your progress, we'd love to hear from you.

So, good luck girls. I'll keep working on that fist half of chapter 3 and report later.

Hi girls,

Just checking how things are going on for you before going to bed. I couldn't do much today since I was stuck in work all day, and the worst is that I couldn't finish everything that I need done by Monday when lectures start. Anyway, I'm staying at home tomorrow to work on the thesis, otherwise I'll never get out of this chapter I'm stuck with; I'll figure out what to do with my lectures on Monday morning (I'm not teaching until 6pm). And to make things even worst, last night while I was having dinner, I broke a tooth chewing on a crouton. Just what I need, now I have to go to the dentist as a matter of urgency tomorrow. At least I'm not in pain. Ah well, no point in moaning... I mean, beyond this :p

So, I hope you did make some progress and that you are getting closer than I am. I promise I'll do my best to catch up with you girls from tomorrow.:-)

Seems like everyone posted while I was writing my message... typical ;-)

I too find almost impossible to work after dinner. I have this ritual by which I take a shower, have dinner and relax for a bit and if I don't start by 9pm, I end up going to bed after midnight... just like right now. Even though I try to do something before go to bed, like at least read a paper of quickly go through a paragraph or something like that, most of the time I just can't and prefer to finish watching whatever is on on the telly. Sometimes you just have to completely unwind.

Perhaps if you went to bed a bit earlier and got up earlier as well to try to make the most of the morning... It's very difficult, depends on when you are more comfortable working... just try to find your rhythm and be happy with it... when you have to rest, you have to rest. Eventually you'll have pull out the odd all-nighter, and when that time comes, you better not be knackered.

Rubyw - I'm very glad to hear that you sorted out your photos, I understand the importance of that kind of data since I too work with qualitative data. In my case it's recordings of interviews. If I lost them, I'd be in a huge trouble. At least you sorted it out now and you do not have to come back to it tomorrow.

Hi Lara,

Just a quick note in case you are working late. I hope things are moving forward. I'm guessing Rubyw and TG might have gone to bed by now since we haven't heard from them in a while; but if they haven't, I'm sure they'll drop a message soon to keep you company.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to go to bed, otherwise I won't be able to go to work early tomorrow. Besides the progress I made before lunch time, I couldn't do anything else, so I'll try to have an early start tomorrow to get as many things done as possible.... Including writing the thesis :p

So, go on girls, lets keep it up we are almost there (up)

Talk tomorrow,

Hi Girls,

Quick report. I think I'm almost done with trimming down the chapter from all redundant information, and finally came up with a definite structure for the first half of it. There are some gaps to be filled, but not much (I think/hope) new writing to be done. The second half, though, is a different story.

Right now I'm taking a break to have some luch, and then I'll be heading to the office. Hopefully I'll be able to come back to do some more work on this chapter this evening.

Talk soon,

======= Date Modified 03 Sep 2008 11:09:19 =======
Ah, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! I love Truly as a wind-up doll singing "...look at me, and tell me what you see..." My favourite scene of all times!

My favourite day-time tv programme, though, is Monk. But they so very randomly show it that I can never catch it.

Back to work ;-)