Making good progress on my questionnaire. I keep being interrupted by my other half though - his Masters dissertation is due in this Friday and he keeps fretting and getting into a panic about finishing on time, poor lad. Oh well, next week he can spend the whole time playing computer games and leave me to get on with my work!

How annoying, Sneaks! I'm very glad to be warm after so many weeks without heating....

Goal one done, plus various other silly little admin-type jobs. Now the decks are a bit clearer to get on with some proper work!

Been through a few emails and stuff already this morning, so time to get on with proper work now!

Goals for today:

1.) Email organisation I met yesterday (goal carried over from yesterday!)
2.) Work on redrafting questionnaire
3.) Read 2 or 3 journal articles

Oh, I totally recognise what you're saying! I can't give much advice I'm afraid, as I haven't presented at a conference yet - but in September I'm hoping I'll be presenting in pretty much exactly the circumstances you describe, and it gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it! So I just wanted to say that what you're feeling is totally normal and natural and not at all a sign of actually being an impostor (I imagine that deep down you know this yourself...) Anyway - I think the thing is to try not to build it up into a huge make-or-break thing. It's a big moment for you, but to everyone else it's just another (hopefully interesting!) presentation. So try to release all of the tension about it so that you can be relaxed enough to enjoy it and get the most from it (easier said than done, I know!). Good luck with it, anyway!

Congratulations Keenbean! And yes, what a grump! I thought you were going to say she came to find you an hour later to apologise for not congratulating you, or to make up for that somehow, but seems like she just doesn't know how to congratulate you! What a misery - must be difficult to go through life never seeing the joy in anything.....

I agree with Sneaks though - feminism is about having the choice. There was a time when getting married meant women had to give up careers altogether, and if we were still in that time then I could see the argument about women who are ambitious needing to avoid marriage - but we're not in those times any more, and if other women have had to fight to clear a path for us to have the freedom to choose how we manage careers and relationships, then it would be a tragedy to hem ourselves in by limiting the things available to us ourselves. (Hmm, that didn't come out as clearly as it seemed in my head, I hope it made sense!)

Anyway, both my supervisors are men and it doesn't seem to occur to them that me being female makes any difference, but my external examiner is a woman and she cornered me and had a very similar discussion as the one Keenbean's supervisor seems to have had. Maybe because she's had to battle hard, being about the only female at her level in a very male-oriented department. But I got very annoyed when (under questioning!) I told her that my boyfriend and I intended to live together as soon as we could afford it, and she suggested that me living with my boyfriend was a betrayal of my independence. She couldn't be further from the truth! It really wound me up! So I totally feel for you!

Thanks Sneaks, I'm collecting all that sort of information at the moment so hopefully it won't be too bad to write up! Supervisor warned me to keep notes on absolutely everything and write some things up as I go, so that's exactly what I'm doing!

Trip to Paris is looking very positive :-) I'm one of two UK based PhD students presenting to a research group at a large and influential international company that might possibly be interested in funding post-doc work in my area - yikes! No pressure there then! And they're paying for me to go there by Eurostar and stay in a hotel overnight. Trying not to be overwhelmed by just how big this opportunity could be...

Anyway, this afternoon I've gone through emails and sorted out various things, but not managed to send email to organisation I met this morning, or do any further work on my questionnaire design. But I can do that tomorrow morning. I have a cold and my ears are popping so I may call it a day for today and get a fresh start tomorrow!

Heh, I'm eating Smarties while I work, wish they counted as vegetables!

This morning, I had my first meeting with the second potential hosts of my research. It went really well - they've agreed to host the study and seem to be excited about how they could apply my research findings once it's done. So I'd better get on and do it! Goals for this afternoon are:

1.) Catch up on the gazillion emails that seem to have filled up by inbox while I was away this morning
2.) Email second study hosts with summary of things we agreed this morning and list of documents I need from them
3.) Arrange meeting with second supervisor
4.) Arrange trip to Paris to present research (!!!)
5.) Continue redrafting questionnaire

Button - I'm curious - what does the VIP represent?!

Didn't get everything written before supervision, but my supervisor only had twenty minutes spare anyway apparently, and looked at what I'd done so far, and just said to get a proper draft done by next Wednesday and that he was happy with what I was doing. Phew!

Tasks for this afternoon:
1.) Write up brief notes from very brief meeting with supervisor 1!
2.) Email supervisor 2 about meeting to discuss equipment needed for study
3.) Plan for meeting with potential hosts of second research study tomorrow morning
4.) Contact organisers of seminar event to discuss travel to Paris (woo!!!)
5.) Go back to redrafting questionnaire

Morning Button! (And anyone else who's around!)

Good luck with meeting the deadline!

I have a deadline too - meeting with supervisor in 3 hours when I'm supposed to present the next draft of my questionnaire. I've been working on it a lot but just haven't made any progress. So, three hours to try to pull together everything I've thought about in the last week and get it all down on paper!

I'm having a really unproductive day, and feeling slightly panicked that I have a meeting with my supervisor on Monday and at this rate will have nothing to show him! Yikes. Really must pull my finger out this afternoon and get on with redrafting my questionnaire.

Oh dear, I woke up with a sore throat too, not good. Hopefully it won't get any worse!

Goal for this morning - going through literature for further elements to include in questionnaire. Not sure how long this will take, so won't give myself any more goals until I have an idea - it's too demoralising to keep missing my daily targets!

Sneaks, your workload and the way your supervisor expects you to manage it seems crazy to me - seems like you can't plan your work in advance, and that's no use to anyone.

Today's goals are
1.) work through the notes I've made on literature read since I last updated my literature review
2.) have a brainstorming session around my draft questionnaire
3.) book meeting room for important meeting
4.) book dentists appointment to get wisdom tooth looked at
(Those last two added because I meant to do them yesterday but forgot!)

Gah, I'm making no progress this afternoon. I keep getting distracted by the internet (ahem). And I made a huge pan of vegetable and bean chili which will keep me fed for about a week. I suppose that's some progress, but not the kind I intended!

I am now going to focus non-stop on my work for the next hour. Apart from getting up to stir the chili of course!

Good luck, Button and Sneaks, hope you find a way back into it all okay!

I didn't achieve all my goals yesterday (I think I was over-ambitious) so today is partly carried over. I'm going to spend this morning planning out the journal article I'm writing. This afternoon I'll start revising my draft questionnaire. That should keep me busy!

Oh, I agree - saying no is a powerful skill to learn! (Though I ended up doing some marking in October that I didn't want to do, or really have time for, just because I didn't like to say no. Not 150 though!)

Today, I've only achieved half my goals. I've done a rough plan of my journal article, run some more statistical tests, and been to the supermarket for a big shop. Also scrubbed out the inside of the fridge (including taking out and scrubbing the shelves) and done two huge loads of washing which are now draped damply all over the flat. Hmm, displacement activities there I think! But I suppose that's not too bad for my first day 'back to it' after slobbing around all Christmas...