Good luck in you meeting Butterfly; keep us posted :-)

Thank you Armendaf :-) will definitely keep everyone posted. I'm expecting the worst, but I'm also hoping for the best. All the best guys!!

======= Date Modified 27 Oct 2008 01:22:03 =======
Thanks for that boost Armendaf! :-) that put a smile on my face. hehe

knowing you all are working hard, really motivates me.

i finally finished my conclusions chapter. its only 5 pages. but its the best i can do.

Armendaf, totally get what you mean about if it wasnt for our deadline, we would be so impressed with ourselves how hard we are working!! so let me pat you on the back *pat pat - well done*

i just had some food and feeling very tired, i think i might just sleep and finish everything tommorow eeeek. abit risky. but working through the night makes me feel sick.

Butterfly, thanks so much for sharing that comment about a thesis will never be perfect, just the perfect thing i needed to hear at this crucial time, thank you! good luck with the meeting and let us know how you get on. and YES you can totally do the corrections in 11 days! you can do it!

Ruby, i am glad you took some time off from your phd and enjoyed yourself with your friends :-) hope chapter 5 is coming along.

*gives Armendaf a cup of coffee* hang in there buddy, you're doing great!

======= Date Modified 27 Oct 2008 13:03:49 =======
Good morning folks! what a lovely blue sky today. I'm clocked back in. I ended up falling asleep last night. So i still have chapter 2 methods and materials to correct! my deadline to get it done is 1pm!! :-s

I HAVE to email my brother the pdf tommorow so he can print it at work!. so today is the last day, yikes!!

good luck Armendaf!

Hi Ruby and Butterfly.
will report back as soon as methods chapter is corrected.

battleface:-s

edit:
my brother just emailed me, and cause i am behind schedule told me he can print the document the latest on weds. so that's bought me one more day for final proof reading and checking and sorting out appendix stuff. but i must email him the pdf tommorow night.

am half way through the methods corrections. hope to get it done within the next 2 hours. just going to get something to eat.

Hello there!!

Lara, it's great that your brother's so accommodating, phew!!! It buys you a bit more time - it all counts doesn't it!

btw I'm very impressed by your good spirits, you and Armendaf! You'd never guess the pressure you're both under - (up)

Hope you're making good progress anyway.

I worked till too late last night and it went really well for some bizarre reason (!!!) so I've just been s-l-o-w-l-y typing up all the amendments in word. I could do it a bit quicker but seem intent on creeping along today, all a bit contrary really, but there you go. I think it's because I know there isn't actually *huge* amounts to do now, after chipping away at both of the chapters recently (whhhooooppppeeee) but I should save my whoops till they're sent off in case I'm tempting fate or some such superstition. Apparently there is a new moon tomorrow and it's a good time to wrap old things up and for new beginnings, so you both have the heavens on your side, if you believe in unscientific stuff like that. Personally any help from anywhere, heavenly or otherwise, is nice at the moment for me :-)

Good luck both of you for the rest of the evening's work - see you later maybe? I'm having dinner now but will be back (up)

Hi Ruby :-) aww thanks for the kind words. yeh for some weird reason i seem to be quite relaxed, i think because i'm near the end, and just have to submit what i have done so far, no time for new writing and making it a good thesis. i've also been getting a good night sleep each night. and i just had to be realistic about the corrections cause of the deadline, in an ideal world, without the uni threatening me with termination, my sup wanted me to spend another 3 months on the thesis to really pull it up to standard. but you gotta make the best out of a bad situation really. and knowing i HAVE to submit it, i really just have to draw the line and say thats it. everything else i will leave for viva studying. and prepare like hell for the brutal viva exam i will get because the thesis isnt up to standard. but will cross that bridge when i get to it.

yah my brother is an absolute star, sorting out the printing for me, he's got a new colour cartridge installed at his workplace and got 100g paper for me. it really is a load off my mind knowing the printing will be taken care of.

i've just finished correcting chapter 2. so all chapters are corrected now. phew! i probably could do alot more. but i've done the corrections i wanted to get done. so thats it, i'm drawing a LINE!

i still have to do final proof reading for typos for all 7 chapters. then format the chapters. rewrite the abstract. write a declaration page. write the acknowledgments. sort out the appendix numbering. make TOC , check references. and all those other little bits and pieces! that take ages.

i'm going to take a little break now and then come back to rewrite the abstract.

Ruby, thats a nice idea about the new moon tommorow :-) well that is my deadline , to get my pdf made by tommorow night.

Hey Armendaf, hope you're doing okay.

Good luck with your proof reading Lara, and Armendaf with where ever you're up to today.... I am learning from your experience, so your pain is not in vain. ooh, what a crap poet I'd make hehe.

I'm off to bed now, I'm turning into a hunchback with RSI and pink piggy eyes, so time to stop. Can't believe I said earlier I didn't have much left to do on this one, hahah how very naive - I'll NEVER say that again! There's always more to do, isn't there! Ugh. Ah well tomorrow will be a long day in that case, so see you then. Goodnight :-)

thanks Ruby :-) glad to know that you're learning something from our experience , thats always good to hear.

i know what you mean, things always take longer than we predict.

i'm really sleepy now, so i'm going to bed. i've proof read and formatted, chapter 7, 2 and 3.

will proof read and format the remaining chapters tommorow and do all the other bits and pieces. last day tommorow!!

Good morning folks. last day for me for final proof reading and sorting out the thesis. have a very long list of things to do today! i've glued myself till 1pm, and then will break for lunch.

GOOD LUCK Armendaf!!! you're nearly there!

Hi Ruby and good luck with your deadline today.

Butterfly how was the meeting?

Morning Lara!

Yeah, I bet your list is VERY long, but you'll get there - you'll submit the thing when you're meant to, and it'll be another step towards the end of it! Good luck with today's list of tasks!

Good luck Armendaf with today's work too (up)

I'm going to do an Armendafandlara thing now and do what I can with this chapter in the time I've got left for today. Wise words a few posts back Lara - it will not be perfect but it will meet the deadline and can be polished up in the next stage.

See you later :-s (up)

hey Ruby, that's good, just get it done within the deadline, and you can imporve on it later. its all part of the rewriting process JB always goes on about. and its so true. nothing is perfect, and writing a thesis is a very long journey... everything can always be improved on. but sometimes you just gotta draw a line and give it in, so you can get feedback and improve on it more. half of the stuff i wrote, my sup's crossed out completely!!! so its always good to get feedback as frequently as you can. if somethings are half undone - just write in brackets, further work on this paragraph or topic pending. its just a draft. so that ok. besides these deadlines are for YOU, to help you with writing your thesis. your sup aint gonna kill you if its not perfectly polished and 100% completed. i'm sure you will pull it out of the bag and hand in a respectable document.

update from me. just taking a little break from all the reading. i've finished proof reading and formatting two chapters today. i have two chapters left now. chapter 6, and chapter 1.
once proof reading and formatting is done.
the remaining list includes:

number the appendix files and check the appendix titles for typos.

put all the chapters into one document as a rough document to check for missing references.

sort out the reference page

write the abstract

write acknowledgements page

write declaration page,

page describing part of my thesis is published. he he always good to shove that bit of info in. haha

title page

sort out page numbers within each chapter. and then update the TOC. TOF and TOT within each chapter (handy tip put the toc that microsoft word makes at the end of the document, that way you can easily delete it once you've copied it into the front of your thesis and the page numbers arent affected - family friend told me that) keep all chapters in individual documents and make seperate pdf files.

make TOC, TOF, and TOT

erm what else? anything else i should be adding? anything missing?

word of advice, try to get hold of a pdf version of a collegues phd thesis. its always helpful to look at it, to make sure you have included everything, and can give you nice template to build your table of contents and other bits and pieces. most people are happy to give you a copy of their thesis, as they know other than the examiners no one is likely to read it.

my deadline to get my thesis in its final version ready for PDF conversion is 10pm! because i want to watch deadset, hehe love zombie movies. not a fan of bb. but anything with zombies in it. is good. its abit like dawn of the dead. i am hopefully going to my best friends halloween party on friday! cant wait. love halloween :-) i'm going to dress up as a witch all gothic like he he so looking forward to that :-)

okay break over. going back to proof reading.

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

Hello!

Don't be scared Armendaf, you'll get it done as best you can, and I bet whatever you submit will be better than you think it is, you're too close to see it properly now.

Lara I'm impressed with your hot tips about doing final versions with word etc, all useful for those poor sods like me who still have all that to come!!! Zombie break sounds good! As does your halloween party, that'll be a great break from all this PhD stuff. I like halloween too, I usually get a few halloweeny presents for my birthday as it's so near that date, I got a nice black skull and crossbones ice cube tray I'll have to use next year, you can probably use red or purple fruit juice in them and have them in a clear drink, that would look nice!! Or other lovely colour combinations too!

I've had it for today, I've sent the chapters off at last hehehe and am going to watch that fashion prog now. Started numbering all my figs wrongly so realised I was losing the plot, but ho hum that's life sometimes.

Good luck with the rest of tonight, see you tomorrow!! (up)

Hi Ruby: When is your birthday, you say it is near halloween and mine is on halloween!!!! Have got my pumpkin ready to carve!!! Just thought I would say a quick message to say hi. Also a massive well done to everyone for working so hard. Lara and Armendaf good luck for tomorrow!! You are almost there which is fantastic! Well done!!!!! I am sure that your thesis is brilliant and you should be really proud. Ruby, you also don't have long too go and have really made in-roads since I last checked in. Good luck with your work this week, and you also are really getting there.
As for me, I am ok, trying to balance work with viva prep and really now understand how hard it is for people to juggle work and the PhD. I am in even more awe for people who have done both throughout the writing phase. Viva prep going quite slowly, but will keep plodding on!!! Need to pick up the pace a little bit so will do this starting tomorrow night.
Work is ok but lots still to learn. Lara, i think you asked me about it last time

and no worries with filling you in. I'm working for the national blood service. No research lab work but I am training to process blood and blood products to send to hosptials when a patient needs blood. Most of it is checking blood group results on the computer and testing the blood for viruses, I reckon it is about 70 % computer and 30 % handling blood. I know it is not research and I have a lot of respect for people who can have a research career. I just really struggled!! Anyway, I am enjoying this and hopefully it will keep going ok, fingers crossed.
Anyway, I hope you are well and I hope you are going to have a well deserved rest once you submit your thesis.

Anyway, just to say hi. Good luck to everyone and hope everyone meets their aims for the week.
xxxx