Well done Button! I'm making dismal progress this morning! I've written the summary part of my introduction, so that's something...!

Oh, well done Button, that's great progress. And Lindalou, you've made a great start so don't feel disheartened! :-)

Lindalou, it sounds like you're in a great position to get it all done by your deadline. I agree about R&R but with time at the end of the process you should be able to iron out anything major that would lead to that. I think my supervisors overestimate my writing skills, they seem to think it's quick and easy for me, which it isn't at all, but it does mean they're not too worried about my progress, despite not having long left to get it all done! I really didn't want to overrun but I think realistically I may well do, by a month or so. Oh well, there are worse things - MrBatfink and I have figured out the finances more or less, in case that happens.

Anyway - today's goals.
1.) Go swimming - DONE, and I feel great!
2.) Work on journal article conclusion and send to co-authors
3.) Read a journal article I've prioritised
4.) Start identifying broad themes in interview transcripts
That's quite a lot for one day, so I'd better get on with it!

Good luck with it today Batfink, and hope you're having a good day Button. I've managed to get somewhere, eventually, so Goal 1 is now complete, thank goodness!

Well I've done goal 2 but GRRRRRR I'm really annoyed.

I keep getting phonecalls (sometimes up to 4 a day) from a debt collections company, asking for a person I've never heard of, and I am definitely not in debt and have never been! Anyway they rang again, I told them I'd never heard of the person they asked for. They then asked me for my address. I obviously told them to politely F off, and they said 'fine, we will continue to call until you provide your address for us to remove you from our database'.

I should also add that I live in a new build house, with the only person living here before me being my landlord (also not the person they are asking for!)

I've done a good old google of them and there are hundreds of complaints about them, saying they've experienced exactly the same thing as me.

Anyway, I've spoken to my brother who is a solicitor and am waiting to hear back from him, but other than turning my house phone off there's not a lot I can do! Sorry just a rant, obviously stupid Sky have given me a recycled phone number when I moved in, idiots!


And breathe!

Oh, that sounds seriously irritating! I hope your brother can find a way to stop them, they sound like a nightmare. I get lots of recorded phone calls from those companies who get money off banks for payment protection miss-selling - I get about eight calls a week, and that's frustrating enough (especially as they're recordings, so they just blithely keep talking while I'm ready to scream and swear about being dragged away from my work again), but it sounds like they're being way more disruptive.

I know, they drive me mad! I think it's just got me today because he was so rude, but it is bloomin disruptive when the phone rings and I have to run to the phone, only for it to be them again!

That is annoying! I never answer my house phon during the day because of those calls, it really irritates me how companies sell your telephone number to these sorts of people! If someone wants to get hold of me I figure they'll call my mobile phone which I hardly ever give out to anyone because I hate these calls so much!

Can you ring Sky and ask them to change your number to a new one? Annoying I know, but at least it would stop them calling you?

Apparently Sky won't change my number without a police harrassment report thingy, and my only other option is to pay them £4 a month to barr the calls, err I don't think so!

I think I'll just continue to ignore the calls rather than answering them; I always know it's them anyway because our answer machine comes on really quickly, and they never leave a message! It's more that the ringing interrupts me, and I don't really want to turn the phone off (but no one really rings anyway so maybe I should!) I'm actually just wondering if my phone has a function to ignore certain numbers, will have to look into it.

Thanks for the ideas!

I'm doing pretty well work wise; nearly finished summarising the chapter and then it'll be onto editing chapter four of four woohoo! I can't see me really starting that today but I'll set a small goal of reading the fourth chapter, so I'll be able to crack on with it tomorrow.

Goal 4- read 4th findings chapter

Good news- big bro is sending them a big fancy solicitors letter threatening them with all sorts of legislation, so hopefully it may stop them (up) I think I'll believe it only when/if they stop calling though!

Ah that's good news Button, there are massive benefits to having a solicitor in the family aren't there! That is really annoying of Sky to not change your number! Grr to them!

I've had supervision today which has filled my head full of noise so I'm having some quiet time this afternoon to think and make sense of everything. Sometimes I feel more confused after having supervision than I did before! I'm really pleased to be having 2 weeks off now though, I really need it. My sup was like, "oh I'm sure you'll think about it whilst you're away"! As if I'm going to be thinking about my thesis whilst I'm on honeymoon! Honestly! ;-)

Sounds like a lot of progress has been made today, both workwise and personally! (up)

Hah, Lindalou, I bet you will think about it. You'll jerk awake suddenly one morning in a panic because you haven't been working on it for a few days. And then you'll remember that you don't have to, and you'll be all peaceful and serene and have a wonderful day as a result.

And Button, good news about your brother's/solicitor's letter, hope it stops the phone calls!

I'm making painfully slow progress on the bit of the journal article I'm rewriting. It's a mess, frankly, and is way more work than I imagined before I looked at what the other two authors have done to it. I'm restructuring it to address a problem one of the authors has spotted. I want to get this finished asap so I can get on with actual PhD work but this may take the rest of the day. Boo.

Linda I know what you mean about supervision meetings; I come out of my meetings either confused or flabbergasted at the amount of work I need to do!

Batfink it's a real pain when you can't get on with you PhD work isn't it? Practically the whole of March for me was taken up with other things (mainly preparing and taking 2 lectures and preparing for a couple of conferences, all things that are great but still they take up valuable time!)

I've done goal 4 and therefore finished my third findings chapter yippee. I'm going to quickly read through my next findings chapter (it's really short) and then nip to the shops, what a glamourous life I lead!

Morning!

It's my last day today for two weeks, yipee! But! I need to make sure I get everything done today so I won't wake up in the middle of the night panicking whilst I'm away! (hopefully!)

Goal 1: Re-read chapter to check for any spelling errors, punctuation etc
Goal 2: Email to sups

That will do for now. I'm not sure whether I should start looking at editing another chapter now or leave it until I get back, as realistically I'm not going to get much done today and I'm worried if I start editing it then I'll get confused when I come back in two weeks. I might make some minor amendments to it right now, just to get the ball rolling so to speak. I have been thinking about it a lot, and how I might change it, but I still don't really know where I'm going to go with it. I need a bit more head scratching time!

Hope everyone is well today!

Eeek Linda that's so exciting! I think I'd leave editing your next chapter until you get back, or maybe just read through it?

I've got an interrupted day today, having to nip out at lunchtime. I may also go into town and buy a spice rack, how exciting! So not sure how much I'll get done today but hey, it's Friday!

Goal 1- edit section 7.1 of final findings chapter

Ooh, spicy....! Oh dear, my brain has already shut down I think...!

I've had a quick read through and made a few changes here and there, and kind of written the basic frame of the re-structure, and that's it. I'm now attempting to read through my other chapter that I'm sending off today, but I'm finding it hard to concentrate! Must read chapter!