======= Date Modified 07 Feb 2009 01:21:09 =======
i'm clocking out for today.
my progress today.
1. read 6 pages from my thesis. (i've started on chapter 2 'methods' chapter now).
2. study time in total - 2 hours. (not continuous mind you, but 15 minutes, 20 minutes etc, spread out through the day)
3. read 3 papers.

feel i am making snail like progress, but am trying to keep viva questions in my head and look out for relevant information in the papers i read, especially the big viva qs of "how would you further your research , ie future experiments"... hoping to get some inspiration or ideas from the papers, so far zilch.. but like they say, creative ideas take time to formulate.

its perfectly normal and natural to feel nonchalant towards your thesis at this stage, you dont have to love it at all, just focus on getting it done and dusted. thats how i feel whilst i am preparing for my viva, treating it like a "job" that i "have" to do. writing a phd thesis is unlike anything you will ever have to do in life. its such a HUGE task that its very overwelming, just the sheer magnitude of it, can leave someone feeling very intimidated.

lol!! that's so me too!! i spend so much time making elaborate plans and schedules and wall charts and revision time tables, and then the first day, it all goes out the window! its difficult to micromanage things that sometimes you just have no clue or cant predict how long its going to take. so my new motto is to do "something" everyday.

======= Date Modified 06 Feb 2009 23:00:13 =======

lol! you're so sweet. and you are very welcome!! i loved what you said about quid pro quo! what a lovely sentiment and so very true :)


i completely agree with you, once you start writing the thesis, the whole "oh i love my subject, and im so passionate about X Y Z" goes out the flying window! i've yet to come across a phd student that hasnt wanted to chuck out their computer or their half written thesis out the window. by the time you get to writing your thesis. you just want to get the darn thing written and done with. so dont beat yourself up about it. just treat it like a job and get the thing written and submitted. it will never be perfect and dont waste time and worry about getting it perfect, just get it done to the best of your ability.

thirst for knowledge and all that is all fine and dandy when your "researching" but when you have to write it all up in an coherent thesis thats when it can drive you nuts. i agree with you, you just need to get it written. dont worry about lack of motivation, because as joan says, you CAN write a thesis, even if you have no motivation and even if you dont want to. you pretty much just force yourself. like forcing yourself to take sour medicine, you dont like it, but you do it. becauase you know you HAVE to. you can even force yourself to write even if you just want to bolt from your office desk. the ol egg timer set to 15 minutes usually does the trick.

i personally use it for when i am bored and dont want to read anymore papers, so i have a matron type voice in my head saying "sit yourself back down and read that paper and do not even think about unglueing your butt from the chair, until the timer goes off, then you can go and do whatever it is that you want to do during your break". lol

thanks for your kind words, oh i'm very unprepared for my viva. but just taking it one day at a time. with anything in life, whether its writing a thesis or preparing for a viva, you cant do everything in one day. like you cant eat all your meals for one week in one day. you gotta spread it out. so just do as much as you can each day. and like Ruby said, whatever bit you work on, is better than nothing.



lol! nice idea ;) i'm happy that other phd-ers can benefit from a book that really helped me :)
and i completely agree with you, it's not true for me either!

======= Date Modified 06 Feb 2009 23:11:56 =======

lol ! you're so cute :-)

oh yes great idea about cutting down on the reading material, i had to do the same. i kept saying to myself, that my thesis is not a reference encylopedia. glad to hear from you! good luck !
its nice to hear from you and Ruby :-)
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Hey Ruby ! nice to hear from you :-) good idea about getting those chapters done and giving yourself something concrete to get done today!
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i'm gonna take a break at 7pm for dinner and dvd. until then, back to reading!

when i get bored of reading, i go jump on my trampoline for a few minutes
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EDIT.
i'm back - going to read in short 15minute burts. and take breaks until i feel sleepy or utterly bored! :p

hello

anyone out there?...

yesterday my internet decided to stop working, so spent the whole day getting back online. finally did it. yesterday managed to read 1 paper and 6 pages from my thesis before going to sleep.
--

todays aims:
1. read 6 pages from thesis
2. read papers about metastatic theories - i have 29 papers to read.

======= Date Modified 05 Feb 2009 17:52:12 =======

lol i know what you mean, that woman got me through the entire time i was writing my thesis. it was my bible throughout last year, constantly referred to it, it was like having a constant support/companion and sympathetic friend. i agree with you, it SHOULD be mandatory reading for every phd-er who is writing their thesis.

i know how you feel about schedule and sticking to a daily routine. i myself made a wall chart plan in excel, for 1 month. learn everything under the sun about my thesis for my viva. its very scary. but what i try to do is set small tasks that are do-able , that no matter what i must do. like i HAVE to read 6 pages of my thesis everyday. it usually takes about 30 minutes. so thats something i know i can do EVERYDAY even if the rest of the day i have done nothing, i wont let myself go to sleep unless those pages have been read.

and then i just do as much revision of other stuff.

my advice. do *something* everyday. its not HOW much you do , its that you work on your thesis EVERYDAY even if its just a little bit - that counts.

in the words of bolker

"EVERY day is MORE important than how much time you spend, or how many pages you produce or the quality"

just take it one section at a time, do it bit by bit.

how do you eat an elephant? one bite at a time.

anything is do-able, if you break it up in little chunks. some days the writing will flow, other days you will be drowning in reading papers. it all counts. if you really find yourself avoiding work. set your egg timer and tell yourself you only have to work for 15 minutes and then you can take a break. most often the case is , the 15minutes ends up being much longer.

do take breaks though throughout the day. reward yourself.

and like bolker says, dont aim to write perfect, just write, whatever it is. rough draft is better than no draft, and you can then build up on it and improve on it.

good luck! we're with you every step of the way. you CAN do this. trust me. it will all fall into place. just keep at it. and dont give up. if you find yourself feeling overwelmed by the huge mountain of it all. just do one small thing. and carry on.

in defence to the OP, she wasn't incoherent at all in her message, its just that if you've not worked in a lab you wouldn't be familiar with it. :-)

======= Date Modified 04 Feb 2009 17:32:01 =======

Ju Ju is right, if the lid is securely on the water bath - it should be fine. if the lid isnt on, then uhm the water most probably will evaporate and yes that is dangerous.

its not a good idea to leave a water bath on over night without the lid on, at that temperature unless you need it for an overnight incubation and in that case, make sure the lid is firmly in place.

======= Date Modified 04 Feb 2009 14:10:36 =======
Hello. clocking in for the day.
my aims:

1. read 6 pages from thesis (pages 25-30)
2. make notes on mets theories
3. write a rough answer to 1 viva question
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How is everyone doing? Ruby you okay? Anyone else out there?

lol! this is excellent! you're a great writer. i really enjoyed reading that.

i can TOTALLY relate to the whole, why did you do that, and why didnt you do that. that's what i imagine my viva is going to be like! love the bit about, "uh i think i think this"

looking forward to more!

bbbb i can totally relate to that. i am trying to shift my body clock back to. but yah i can stay up late but find it so hard to wake up early. i am gonna start going to the library once a week which involves me having to wake up at 9am. so i want to start geting used to that, so the day that i gotta get up early, im not a walking zombie. so far i managed to wake up at 10.30am today, but thats only cause of the postman rang the bell to give me a parcel.

but hopefully by me waking up earlier, i will get sleepy earlier. because if left to my own devises, i will end up going to sleep later and later like 4am, and waking up later and later like 1pm. so dont wanna do that.

======= Date Modified 03 Feb 2009 19:00:36 =======

i also submitted in november, but that was because the uni forced me to, my supervisor didnt want me to submit and wanted me to work on my thesis for another 3 months. but it was either submit my thesis by nov 1st or fail by default for not submitting it. my sup told me i am going to have a VERY BRUTAL and horrible viva, because he said my thesis is not good and how i dont have a good understanding of my thesis and background theory and also outside the box, so told me to go off and study like crazy. he is right though, i couldnt answer any of his questions when i got back corrections for my final draft.

thus, i'm actually hoping my viva will be delayed for a few months, the more time i have the better! as ive forgotten almost everything. only in the past couple of weeks have i started revising.

but just incase they "spring" a viva on me soon. i've set myself a deadline of 27th of feb. about a month to revise everything and prepare. the reason i chose this date, is because its my bday on the 28th and me and my friends are going to spain for the weekend to celebrate.


but i'm avoiding my sup at the moment, for a month at least. and keeping a low profile so i can buy myself more time. i did contact my 2nd sup just before xmas and she told me they are so busy they havent had a chance to think who should be my examiners. so i said, that's great, as i need time to study.

and thats how i've left it. i wont contact them, until i feel confident and ready for my viva. which will be in a month or so. i'm in no hurry for my viva, as i want to study as much as i can before sitting for it.

i dont think they can give you less than 2 weeks short notice for a viva though. as you and your examiners have to decide on a date together. they give you several dates which you can choose from.

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i am curious though, why do you not want to contact your supervisor again? if you really want to know when your viva is, the best option would be to go and see your supervisor, send him an email, or better yet drop into uni and just ask him.
BUT -IF you are like me, and the reason you dont want to ask is because you want more time to study, then i can understand that you dont want to "remind" him that he has to arrange examiners for you. so you're hoping to buy yourself more time.

but yah my advice would be, if you're really anxious about it. just email him again and ask him, whats happening. and in the meantime, carry on revising for your viva. and be on the alert, and prepare for the viva, as if it might happen in a months time or 2 weeks time.

======= Date Modified 04 Feb 2009 01:54:05 =======
======= Date Modified 03 Feb 2009 19:56:25 =======
oooooops i've just been procrastinating all day. but i did manage to wake up at 10.30am which is a first for me. but only cause of the postman. but hoping to carry it on and shift my body clock once and for all. so no more going to bed at 4am!

feeling bored and restless today, not in the mood to study. but going to force myself to study regardless of lack of motivation and interest.

going to study till 7pm. and then have a break for dinner.

glueing myself to the chair

my aims:
1. review again and thoroughly understand thesis pages 7-12 - these pages are densely packed with conflicting theories and crisitisms of different theories, so really need to get a lock down and get the understanding of it all in my teeny tiny brain.
2. look up references from pages 7-12.
3. read references from pages 7-12.
4. make notes on the 3 main theories of metastases and compare contrast them. on how they differ and the critisisms of each and supporting evidence for each, and which theory my thesis supports.
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EDIT:
uh did none of the above, but instead read the 6 pages from my thesis that were allocated for todays quota, thought it would only take half an hour, took me ages, as i was being so slow lol and kept getting bored. then kept wincing at how many times i repeated myself during my writing lol. oh well. a senior collegue did proof-read my introduction chapter and told me it read well. but my first sup for the other chapters says i repeat myself alot.

you know its so true what they say, when you leave a piece of writing for quite some time and go back to it. you really can see it with "fresh eyes". oh well i am not going to dwell on it nor worry about it. whats done is done. just hope it doesnt peeve off the examiners as my sup told me it can do.
==

gonna have dinner now, as i am really hungry. and just had a banana and water today. i will come back to studying later on this evening.
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edit 2nd:
didnt come back to studying. going to bed now. aiming to wake up at 10am tommorow. see you folks tommorow for another fun filled study session and i say "fun" sarcastically :p

I agree that's a very good idea!