Afternoon,

I, like Batfink, am glad this thread has been found useful! I definitely think it helps to keep me motivated, and also less alone! I am a long distance student and it's very easy to feel isolated so I find PGF an invaluable part of my day!

I'm only just sitting down properly now - that wasn't my intention, I was just busy this morning and I also had a trip to the dentist but I must get this chapter proofed now otherwise it's going to throw my whole plan off kilter! Hope you are all having a good day and I will check in later (up)

Hope you get somewhere with the work!

My plan is failing a bit today - I've made some good progress on my interview schedule but the damp weather has got into my joints and my arthritis is flaring up in my right hand, so it's hurting to type or hold a pen. I'm going to do some other stuff for the rest of the day - I have filing to sort out, and some reading to do - and hope that it's not so painful tomorrow.

I'm back! The chapter wasn't as bad as I thought it was but there was one section in there which I'd obviously gotten bored of writing and given up halfway through a sentence! :$ this is why we proof read though I suppose! I'm not totally disappointed with it but I'm still not really sure whether it's working, but I'll just have to wait and see what the sup says I guess. I'm going to hang onto it for a few more days then send it off to her next week.

Hope everyone's had a productive day so far!

Oh dear Batfink, that sounds painful! I also suffer with hand/wrist problems, in my left wrist, I was advised by my physio to use a powerball, I don't know how suitable that would be for arthritis though, might be worth checking out? I have days where I can't work as it's so painful but having a wrist guard, proper keyboard and screen rather than trying to work off of my laptop has improved the situation no end. Hope it's not too painful and improves with rest.

I've not heard of powerballs, will have to check those out. I'm usually not too bad - the arthritis doesn't often get in the way, but today it's quite painful and very distracting. Oh well.

Sounds like you've made good progress on the chapter! Finding you'd given up half way through a sentence made me smile - that's definitely the sort of thing I do!

Today has been my least productive days in weeks - had a 2.5 hour meeting this morning and it completely drained me. Haven't been able to concentrate all afternoon! Tried to bribe myself with chocolate and sweets but even that didn't work. Will definitely have to work Saturday to make up for it.

I feel your (wrist!) pain. Are power balls, the same thing as squidgy stress balls? which look very like this guy: :-)

Good luck to anyone working this evening.

Good morning,

Hehe Lughna, yes the :-) guy does look like a squidgy stress ball doesn't he?! No, the powerball looks like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5cM84qSj5o they're a mechanical type thingy. I don't really know how it works but I think there has been some improvement in my wrist since I started using it, however I'm not religiously using it every day so I don't think I can really give it a fair judgement. If this was a trial then my results would have to be discounted ;-)

I did manage to proof my chapter yesterday but I woke up this morning thinking about it and things I might have missed so I'm starting the day going back over it today, and adding in the reference list! So my goals for today are as follows:

Goal 1: Finish proofing Chapter 6 and add in reference list
Goal 2: Conduct a literature search specific to Chapter 7
Goal 3: Write some more of Chapter 7

My wedding is inching ever closer and I really want to get Chapter 7 nailed by then, as well as a re-draft of Chapter 1! So I have lots to do :-( but I will get there, in the end!

Good luck to everyone working today (up)

Hah, that powerball video is hilarious (especially if you read the comments underneath).

My hand is a lot better today so I'm going to get back to what I'd originally planned for yesterday. But in the meantime I have managed to clear all the filing off my desk, which gives me loads of space to work on - amazing what a difference that makes to the thought processes!

Goals for today:
1.) Finish pulling out potential interview question topics from various written chapters etc
2.) Identify which dempgraphics/types are important to represent in interview sample
3.) Identify potential interview subjects from volunteer list
4.) Draft email to potential interviewees (and send, if I'm happy I'm ready)

Oh my god! :$ I totally didn't read the comments underneath, I just looked at the video! Oh dear...! I'm glad it made you laugh though! 8-)

Good luck with your work today Batfink! Sounds like you've got lots to do!

Goal 1 is now complete, thankfully! Now time for a tea break before tackling Goal 2! I'm still :$ about the comments on the video!

Tee hee, it was very funny. We need things like that to cheer us up occasionally!

Hope your work's still progressing well!

I've identified most of the themes I need to address in my interview questions, and the main characteristics I need to look for in my interviewees, but I've decided I want to think about them a bit more before I select and email my possible participants. I'll do that on Monday probably. For the rest of today I'm going to start designing my actual questions.

And yay, I just noticed the time and it's almost the weekend! I'm going to work tomorrow morning but take the rest of the weekend off - looking forward to it! Not much time left today before I pack up and head off to meet friends for drinks, but I can squeeze a little more work in I suppose...

Have a good weekend everyone!

Morning everyone!

I'm really tired after accidentally drinking too much caffeine yesterday so ending up staying awake half the night :$

Lots to do today. I'm starting to feel that edge of pressure that time is passing too quickly and I'm progressing too slowly. I need to make some seroous progress this week.

Today's goals:
1.) Prepare for supervision meeting
2.) Attend meeting and write up notes afterwards
3.) Work on interview schedule
4.) Respond to several emails
5.) Identify and email potential interviewees from list of volunteers
6.) Chase up software with IT people

Afternoon (can't believe it's afternoon already!) I know the feeling well Batfink, I have days where I'm gripped with terror about how little time I have left - this year is slipping past and I still have tonnes to do!

Today's goals are:

1) Draw up a flow chart
2) Continue writing Chapter 7
3) Go over Chapter 6 one more time to make sure there are no stupid spelling or grammar mistakes!

Hope you're having a good day Batfink, one goal at a time and you'll get there (up)

Hello all!!!!!!1

After a really hectic weekend as I had to finish a chapter and submit it for my annual review, I managed to just submit it!!!!!!

So, I'm going to take the rest of the day off!!!

I need rest....

So, for the rest of the day, I will just pamper myself, take the cats to the vet, go to the gym and then watch a movie....

I think I deserve it!

To morrow is a new day and a new chapter!

Good luck everybody!!!

Emmaki, time off is essential when you've been working hard at something like a review - enjoy it!

Lindalou, thanks, I'm really feeling the pressure now but it helps to know I'm not the only one who feels this way!

Had supervision meeting this morning, and it's becoming plain to me that I really genuinely am slipping behind where I need to be. I think it's still rescue-able, but only just. Pressure! But if I can make some serious progress this week I'll feel better.

My goals for the day were thrown off by one of my supervisors telling me about a conference that would be perfect for me to present at, with today being deadline for abstracts. So, mad panic to get one written! I've just cobbled together something from edits of two previous abstracts I've done so it'll be in by the deadline - probably good to not have much time to waste on it! I'm just waiting for supervisors to come back with the 'five minutes worth of comments' they said they'd give me this afternoon and then I can send it off. After that, it's back to my regular list of actions!