Oh dear, can you creep round her or will she wake up as soon as you go down?! I keep forgetting it's easter this weekend, it's crept up out of nowhere so I only really have 2 days left to work this week! Where is the time going?! It's scary!

Has anyone got any snow today? It's looking cloudy and cold outside but I don't think we're going to get any snow. It's a bit weird how it's gone from spring/summer back to winter in a matter of hours! brrr!

She has a habit of hearing my first footstep upstairs, so no chance of creeping around her! Luckily she's woke up so I've had lunch. I'm now trying to get this section finished whilst puppy is eating my socks.

I can't believe snow is about, it's my birthday this Thursday and I wanted a bbq :-(

Well I hope the socks kep the puppy distracted!

It's turned nasty and wintery here too. It was sunny when I set off this morning but we've now had several hours of chilly looking rain. Brrr.

I've sorted out my references and have read 3 journal articles so far. We'll see how many more I have the willpower to get through by the end of the day....

aaw sock munching puppy! cute! good work both, you're motoring through today! I'm going to try and get to 4,500 today before I call it quits, but as I've been working since 7.30 this morning again my attention is starting to wander...! must... stay.... focused!

I made it, hurrah! Now I'm going to have a longer break as quite frankly, I deserve it after the blinking day I've had! Fingers crossed tomorrow is a better day and the whole money thing gets sorted out. I will take your advice though Button, if the money hasn't cleared in the morning I'll ring the hotel again and get it in writing. I might ring the bank too just to confirm it's definitely on the move tomorrow. Otherwise we'll run into problems later on! Luckily the rent had already gone out before this happened, phew! Thank you for listening to me freak out today!

Anyway, good work today Button and Batfink, see you tomorrow!

Oh well done on reaching the target! And hopefully the money thing will be sorted - don't some bank tranfer things come into effect at midnight, or maybe that isn't the case any more?

I've read and made notes on five journal articles now, and I think that might be my lot for the day. My brain is tired! I also can't stay late at campus because the bus back to the station doesn't run late out of term time, so that's me done for the day then. Hmm, telly and an early night tonight I think.

Speak to you both tomorrow I should think!

Morning!

It's still not cleared so that's (down)

I'm beyond stressing about it now!

Well done on doing all that reading yesterday Batfink, I can't remember the last time I sat down and just read/carried out lit searches for a day, it's really valuable time isn't it!

Today I'm just getting on with my chapter, I do have an unrealistic goal in mind so I won't set that for myself here! I'll break it down into smaller chunks:

Goal 1: Be finished with section 2 by lunchtime
Goal 2: Make some additions to section 1 this afternoon

Have a good day everyone! :-)

Morning! I was in the gym by 7.15 this morning, did an hour in there and now at my desk. Never again- I'm absolutely SHATTERED and really want to go back to bed!

Linda if I remember correctly refunds often take between 3-5 working days to come through to your account? Give the hotel a ring, I'm sure it'll be going through.

I'm really pleased with my progress yesterday, so much so that I should be able to finish editing my second findings chapter today. I'm seriously hoping that I can get it finished by lunchtime, then I can have a nap before hubby and I go to the theatre tonight (sounds very sophisticated, it's not!) (up) then it's my birthday tomorrow so I'll be doing nothing and may have the easter weekend off. Which would make it even better if I could finish this chapter today, and then start the next one next week!

So less chatting more writing for me!

Goal 1- edit section 5.3
Goal 2- edit section 5.4
Goal 3- do summary
Goal 4- sleep!

Linda, I'm sure Button's right about the money - it will turn up, so don't stress too much about it.

And Button, a whole long weekend off sounds like a great incentive to get through the work - hope you have a great time for your birthday, and at the theatre!

Good luck both of you with the chapters.

Today I'm starting to transcribe my interviews. I've got no idea how long each will take so I won't set myself a target, I'll just get as much done as I can.

I've spoken to them again today and asked for written confirmation so that has calmed me down a bit!

Good luck with the transcribing Batfink, mine were about 30 minutes in length and on average it took between 2 and 4 hours to transcribe, I'm quite a fast typist though (I spent a few summers inbetween uni terms as an audiotypist!). It also depended on the speed of speech from the interviewee! Good luck with it!

Fingers crossed you get your chapter done tody Button! I want to get this one fully drafted by tomorrow but we shall see! If we don't see you tomorrow, a very happy birthday in advance! (gift)

Thanks for the birthday wishes (up) more than hubby has thought about, he hasn't even bought me a card yet!

I am literally falling asleep at my desk, no kidding. Every other line I write has a typo on it! Going to the gym really early just hasn't worked for me! I've done goal 1 though so it's now onto goal 2 which is a much shorter section to edit. I've also eaten some quavers which will hopefully give me some energy! In desperate need of a nap later but I suspect naughty puppy will have other ideas.

Hope you're both doing well!

Hi Button, ah bless you! Is it likely that the hubby has something up his sleeve?

I don't really do exercise first thing either, I like to get my working day out of the way then use the workout/walk/bike ride to get the stress of work (and PhD related jargony language) out of my system before my other half gets home. It sounds like you're making progress though so that's good!

I've managed to get through the majority of Goal 1 now, it's messy but it's all there, more or less! I'm going to have a rummage downstairs now for some lunch, I really need to go to the supermarket but I can't really be bothered today!

Very unlikely that hubby has anything up his sleeve; we recently bought a big 45" tv so decided not to buy each other much for our birthdays (his was a couple of weeks ago), and the only plans we have for my birthday tomorrow is him taking me to asda to do the food shop (down) how romantic! I'm not bothered though, spending time with him is enough !

I've done goals 1 and 2, and so close to finish goal 3! So I'll finish that off quickly now before having a late lunch and then I will sleeeeeeep!

Hope you're all getting on okay today!

Oh, boo to unromantic blokes. It'd be nice if occasionally they didn't take us at our word when we say not to bother about something! Mine's completely unromantic, doesn't believe in Valentine's (fine, it's commercialised nonsense in my view too), or anniversaries (ours was on Sun, but all we did was say happy anniversary when it occurred to us, and then we both agreed we couldn't remember if we'd been together five years now or not...) Mostly I don't care, but sometimes I do think, a romantic gesture would be nice just once!

Anyway. Done my first transcription - it took about three hours, which isn't too bad, as I think I started with the worst one - a very talkative subject who also spoke really fast. I was an audio/copy typist in a previous job too (temping between permanent jobs) so I suspected I'd be quicker than my supervisor seemed to think.

Good work both, sounds like we've all had productive days! I think mine only remembers my birthday because it's on new year's eve! I have heard of men who go too far the other way - I know someone whose partner brings her flowers every single week, I think the novelty would wear off and it would become less romantic that way. Having said that, it would be nice to have some flowers (I may hint heavily to the other half about this later...!) I totally agree with you Button, I think just spending time together is special, especially when you both work full time. Though I think I'd be pushing to have lunch bought for me somewhere nice if it was my birthday, hehe!

I think previous experience in audio typing is worth its weight in gold when it comes to doing qual research!

Right, well I'm off to do Goal 2 now, I think this is going to take me a substantial amount of time this afternoon as I'll be amending work that originally sat in an analysis chapter (it's to do with government policy) so it'll need a fair bit of tweaking!