I use logme in to access my home computer when I am at work or in the university library (usually because I have left my data stick in the home computer).

No problem hijacking the thread - I'll be interested in the answers to the questison you raise.

Maximum 16 hours working a week but as you are not looking for work it is probably fraud if you do claim it - just not worth it.

I'm kind of heading that way. The £55 seems to be so long as I am a registered student which seeing as I am part-time will work out at about £11 per year so seems good value.

I am in the early stages of my PhD and am wondering about software to manage references. I can use end note on the computers at uni and get a discounted version (£55) for home use or I can use endnote web and export backwards and forwards. I also have word 2007 and so could use onenote in that.

What do you think I should do?

I'm in the early stages of my PhD and so now is the time to get my references sorted.  I keep thinking about endnote but haven't used it. I can use it on site for free but as a part-time (social science) student I am almost never in the university.  I can get a discounted copy for £55 to use at home. Is it worth it?  What's the web version like - could I use that at home and then upload onto the proper version when I do go in?

Today has not been a waste because...

I went to Speech Day at my son's junior school [which he leaves on Wednesday :-(]
I finished reading some stuff to add to a paper (which is totally not related to my PhD but which is an update of some research 18 months ago)
I finished a draft of said paper and sent it to my boss to take a look at
I am going to have some wine and watch tv with my husband :-)

Have you thought of citizen's advice - they can sometimes help you negotiate the minefield that is government. Or your MP? Or maybe there is a phone number to a central helpdesk who might be able to help.

I don't think you can register for job seekers allowance if you are working part-time.

You really need to check with your supervisor or with your post grad administrator - my proposal had to include all the stuff mentioned but had an absolute limit of 2 pages. I wasn't even allowed to put the references on a separate page. I neded up with 10pt, narrow margins and almost no header or footer but I managed to get 1200 words of content and 22 references (plus lots of "and and others") onto the 2 pages. I pity the person who scrutinised it for the research committee.

Depends entirely on how much reading she has done already. Most of us PhDers could knock a couple of thousand word review out in a couple of days max. Biggest problem (for me at least) is distractions...

Presumably your mother is a child minder? In which case are the people who pay her to look after their child aware that she is "watching tv while you mum pops out to the shops" being "supervised" by a student who thinks it is OK to leave a two year old playing with wires "for a while"?

Not sure why we need warning about this - most of us wouldn't dream of leaving a child in such circumstances.

Have had phones get sumerged in swimming pools on holiday - separate all the bits as much. It might take 48 hours but our experience with the phones is that they do work again.

I would be more worried that a child in a position where she was able to put wires / plugs etc in her mouth. You simply cannot leave a child to play with wires etc. She could have tied them round her neck or anything. A two year old is not old enough to be left "for a while".

You are so close now Sue - you will get there and then in September (when the chaos of the new academic year - reregistration and so on is underway) you will be hopefully off to teh tropics on your holiday. it's only a couple of months :-)