tent

Pete - thank you, it's fine now!! (up)

Hi Lara,

Sounds like a good plan for the day - it's the only way to try to stop panic setting in really. Hope it goes well.

My aims for today (thought I'd better state them on here, or I'll just make a lunchtime date with Dick van Dyke and 'Diagnosis Murder' and then it'll be downhill all the way, if I'm not strict with myself...)

I will choose my images for this upcoming exhibition and write the accompanying text.
I'll also finish scanning the pics and taking photos for the chapter I've already submitted as text, so I can go into college early tomorrow and stick a complete hard copy in the post for my supervisor as requested.

A nice easy day really, but necessary as I'm still a bit drained mentally after the last deadline.

Thank goodness for that - I'm relieved on your behalf too!! I think I'll be more diligent about doing several back ups and distributing them in various locations after your fright!

Twice as scary if the sheets and box were worn on top of 80s power-dressing outfits a la Dynasty and Dallas, complete with big hair and shoulder pads...

======= Date Modified 02 Sep 2008 10:06:02 =======
Forum admin,

The text in my posts looks fine while I'm writing it, but loses all the paragraphs when it's posted and compresses the whole lot into one big unreadable chunk of text. It's only been happening since I downloaded Firefox 3.0.1 a day ago (was ok in the previous version.) It is also ok in IE 6, as I edited one of my squashed posts in IE and it looked fine when it was saved. I'm using a PC with XP.

Edit - it's done it with this post too.

Tractorgirl, that's really awful - not a situation that you need at this stage!

2 suggestions, but not sure useful they might be...if the computers are networked, is there a backup of the whole server that IT do regularly (nightly, weekly) that they could retrieve your work from? Our lot do, though you have to get them to do it before the backup tapes are overwritten.

Also could you scan in a hard copy of your text using OCR (optical character recognition) software, to stop you having to re-type the whole thing again? It would only be basic Word text, but might be better than nothing.

I hope whoever took your backup disks finds them asap!

======= Date Modified 01 Sep 2008 23:28:18 =======
I've finished a draft of that blurb for the exhibition - can't believe I've dragged it out until this time of night...! I'm off to bed in that case, but hope you all get a good night's work in, if you're still at it.

PS Geeky troubleshooting thing - I've noticed that my post text only got squashed up and lost it's paragraphs in Firefox 3, which I only downloaded yesterday, but it's fine in old IE 6. I'll see if does the same thing tomorrow.

urgh sorry about that post, all my paragraphs have got squashed together - looked fine while I was writing it!

======= Date Modified 01 Sep 2008 23:18:27 =======
======= Date Modified 01 Sep 2008 22:50:33 =======
Hi all,

Lara - you've done so much since the last time I clocked in, it sounds excellent progress - you'd have to be bionic to do any more!! I know what you mean about reading loads until you want to start writing, it's like by then you feel confident you know enough about the area to actually get going on it to write what you want to say. Or something. Working on paper does it for me too, nice and scribbly and nowhere near the pc! Yep, wait for the inspiration thing to get going, you absolutely can't force it - better to wait for a bit and write a good coherent chunk that flows, rather than agonise for ages over squeezing out a clunky little paragraph. I think what seems like procrastination sometimes is actually really important thinking time.
Impressive to be cited by others, no harm in reminding yourself at this stage what you'v already achieved.

Armendaf- sounds like you've done loads, but there's a limit on what you can do when you've been at work all day. I don't envy you to be preparing for the new term's teaching though. I withdrew from my teaching this autumn as it just looked too much for a new year submission date.

Swantje - hope your stress levels are a bit less than when you posted last and you've managed to do something productive.

Celesmai, good luck with the baby, forget the PhD for now!

I've done absolutely nothing PhD-related today, as was tired after last night's deadline and wanted an easy day. Have just pottered about, caught up with domestic things and various friends. Should have done some writing for an research exhibition next month as the deadline is today, but I couldn't get down to it, probably because I'm rather underwhelmed by the whole event at the moment, but felt under pressure to take part as I'm staff. I'll do an hour tonight and edit it in the morning I think, so all is not lost yet!

See you later.

Hi all, I've had enough for tonight - completely knackered and feel a bit sick with tiredness now.

I've just sent that chapter 7 off to my supervisor minutes before midnight, but at least I've kept to the deadline, according to the time stamp on my email! I know there are so many gaps in it though, it's so frustrating. In the end I decided to cut out bits I know I've still got to do for the next version, or miss the deadline, which wasn't really an option. Ah well, it's gone off into the ether now... still it was only the first version of that chapter and I did knock it out in a month, which I'm amazed at, as it's been hellish at work too recently.

Hope you've both done ok - Armendaf sounds like you've done well with where you've got to for your chapter.

See you tomorrow.

pine

======= Date Modified 31 Aug 2008 13:37:22 =======
Glad you had good sleep Lara, absolutely agree that a tired brain isn't a very useful one. 5 hours is an amazing amount of reading to have got done in one go, you'll probably find out whether you absorbed it in your sleep or not later!! I'm sure you'll know when to stop reading, won't you. Quite annoying to spend ages reading and in the end, only using each paper for one ref and one single sentence though! Still, it has to be done.

I'm slowing down a bit now, so think I'll have a little break and go out for a quick walk.
Quite pleased so far - have done another 300 words that seem quite good, and ticked 2 more things off my bits-to-finish list. Only (!!) 10 more to go.

Good luck both of you, see you later.

Good morning all,

This PhD malarkey feels like the academic equivalent of an Olympic sport sometimes, testing the limits of human endurance... (no disrespect to any proper athletes intended, of course). A truly peculiar and rather masochistic academic rite of passage. When it's finished we'll be a bit like the Freemasons, but without the handshakes. When you meet other people who've done a PhD you will immediately *know* what they've put themselves through. Oh yes.

Mira, I'm really glad you're feeling a bit better today, I was getting a bit worried about you, the insomnia thing really doesn't help, everything is so much harder when you're knackered. Hopefully it will break that cycle for you when you go to India.

Armendaf, lol I meant I'd done 5000 words in total, not in one day!! I wish!! The day's output was a bit pathetic really, considering, but as Scarlett o Hara said at the end of Gone With the Wind, 'tomorrow is another day' or something like that, so I called it a day and went to bed.

Lara, hope you got enough done eventually and got a decent amount of sleep too.

Today: well, I've got to finish that chapter, though I'm cutting it a bit fine now with the time left but it should be do-able if I get on with it now. I'll pop back later and report when I've actually done something (it's just started thundering and raining, good PhD weather)

There's a 1970s disco song by The Floaters called Float On and the chorus goes 'Float... Float on...' and if you replace 'float' with 'plod' it makes a lovely mantra for anyone doing a PhD I think. Am rambling now so I'll log off and get on with something useful.

Hope we all have a productive day and see you later.

Hi Lara and Armendaf,

Hope you've both managed to get a bit more done. I've had enough for tonight - at least I've got over 5000 words done now, should manage the rest tomorrow. And I have ticked off *one thing* from my list - whooppeee. One sounds a bit sad really doesn't it, but better than nothing eh!

Anyway I'm off to bed, so see you in the morning.