Hey Sneaks, I know exactly how you feel. Even when I suspended for 6 months due to illness, I felt guilty that I wasn't working on the PhD. I think this is something that is very common with PhD, because no amount of work ever feels enough. I guess it's due to the nature of the beast, in that there are no clear "well you finished these module and you have to pass 10 modules in total" or whatever we had as structure in UG and Masters.

I am definitely looking forward to the day when I don't have to feel guilty about doing something other than work.

On the holiday front, can you guys go for days out? We try to make a day off a proper day off by going out (to pick your own fruit for example!) for the day. It really helps to refresh yourself.

Hope your holiday perks up :)

thank you :) I think it was having two late nights in a row... unfortunately, it wasn't due to working late (like a good student) or partying (like people our age) but jam making!!

I had a nap though and I feel much better now. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and go to bed (such a tough life...)

;)

I'm totally unmotivated today :( so sleepy. Have been trying to get on with work and failing badly :(

I hate days like this.

10 tomatoes and 6 papers extracted. I also went through the 100 or so papers I need to get through and got rid of about 30 papers as either not relevant or for another chapter. So things are not looking so depressing.

Off to make lemon marmalade and other yummy stuff :)

Benyaya - I see you're on a different time zone to me, whereabouts are you?

I've now 'come to terms' with my PhD. I think it helps when you are towards the end (in terms of registration period, NOT the amount of work left of course!!) to see the end of the tunnel (ignoring all that work that still has to be done).

but I do totally agree with you. I am absolutely looking forward to the day where I can do something and not feel guilty that it's not related to my PhD. I haven't had that feeling for 5 years! I would love to be able to take a whole weekend off, or actually enjoy a bank holiday by not working. I'm looking forward to not having to revise what I write twenty times.

However, I'm going to miss being able to use "I'm too busy working on my thesis" as an excuse to get out of stuff! ;-)

5 toms and 4 papers done :) off to lunch now.

Batfink - that's 1000 words a day - a slog, but not impossible, I hope it goes well for you (I totally sympathise!)

Hi Starshine, it's absolutely normal to make mistakes at first. There are so many things you need to learn and master about designing and carrying out experiments correctly. In fact that's why you do a PhD, to learn skills like experimental design in order to become a fully trained researcher!

Does your uni/dept offer courses in experimental designs? if not, ask your sup/colleague for a good book, and read it cover to cover. It'll make you a more confident designer.

we text if it's urgent (e.g. "I'm going to be 10 minutes late to your meeting") but otherwise we email each other. Don't have her home number, and she doesn't have mine.

Morning! :)

well, I had a lovely day off yesterday, went gooseberry and strawberry picking with my OH, and foraged for some elderflower. Made elderflower cordial, elderflower champagne, gooseberry and elderflower jam, and strawberry comport. We also have a batch of lemon marmalade to make this evening :) The gooseberry and elderflower jam turned out great and we had a lovely breakfast with it on some fresh waffles.

Annnnnyway, back to work now I guess! My first goal will be to extract info from a paper. I hoe to do 10 tomatoes today, and at least 4 papers.

if you get plain white fleece (I got ours from Ikea), then it doesn't look *too* weird.

we even put some over the front porch (just put a curtain track over it) and the back door, and it made a huge difference, I think we managed to delay turning out heating on for a month, and we all remember how cold it was last winter! brrrrrrrr

pinning your curtains (with safety pins, on the inside) with cheapy fleece blankets you can get for £1-2 from super markets. Amazing what a different that makes.

I second BilboBaggins (I'm doing computer science PhD), that majority of the time, you would be expected to have some theory, some product that tests that theory and some result.

Are you right at the start of your PhD, wondering how to shape your research, or are you at the end, realising you've run out of time and need to throw something together?

I feel for you Ev, I hate hospitals and I hate early mornings, but three times a week? you poor thing! *big hugs*

morning morning :)

gosh I had a real trouble going to sleep last night, started panicing about how much work I still have to get done in 6 months. It just seems impossible to get it all done in that time!! :(

On a good news though, the frozen yoghurt turned out great. No measuring required, just nuke some honey with some finely chopped ginger for about 30sec to 1 min, then add it to your yoghurt in the ice cream maker :)

I'm dreading yet another day of work (just seems so never ending). Please tell me this does get better!!

9 tomatoes done today, made a batch of strawberry and blue berry preserve, a batch of frozen yogurt with honey & ginger, and batch of spicy tomato sauce.