noose

Thank you Pete, it's behaving perfectly now!

MissHopeful - a quick PS...
Not foolish to think theatre can help people either - I came across this PhD recently, though it's not my area at all...
http://www.csm.arts.ac.uk/44959.htm

MissHopeful, I'm really sorry you got bad news about your funding. If you're really keen on the subject areas you mentioned, is it worth trying to get a part-time job in the same area you want to study? Then your paid employment would inform what you're doing on your Masters, and vice versa. Or at least it might give you the edge over other people if you applied for funding in the future. Also, some employers fund staff doing work-related courses in their own time if they get something out of it too, so that might be a option for you at some point. (Mine did, fees only so I have to work p/t, but it's better than being completely self-funded.)
Hope you find a way that suits you. Take care.

It doesn't seem to be logging me off properly today - the text under my username next to the purple man shows me as 'online' when I'm not. If I try to post something, it tells me to login. I use Firefox 2.0.0.16, but it's not set to remember my login or password. I cleared my personal data, cookies etc but it's the same. I also had a look at the forum in IE 6 (the first time I've been to this site on this pc) and it shows me as online when I'm not on that too.

It's obviously not a big problem, but it's annoying been stuck in a sort of login limbo. (Also makes me look an even worse procrastinator than I thought I was!) Does it take a while to 'know' you've logged out or something?

mope

I think it depends where you live. I know there are some branches of the major supermarket chains in London that are open 24/7, plus odd independent shops, but it still doesn't seem great provision, considering the number of people that live here. I might be wrong as I don't drive, but maybe petrol stations sell a tiny selection of food-related stuff? That's a wild guess btw!

Christmas is the worst for everything closing, you'd think some shops would do ok catering for people who've forgotten bits and pieces before the national shutdown gets underway. The one time I did it, I noticed a surprisingly large number of people wandering around central London on Xmas day afternoon, probably tourists, but I did wonder whether there were enough people who hate Christmas/want the money to work over that period.

dote

none

Cope

Hello, I just wanted to pop over and say thanks for that 'work for 15 mins and prise yourself out of an unproductive rut' tip - I think Lara mentioned it on another thread. I was a bit sceptical actually, but gave it a try last night after frittering most of yesterday away on goodness knows what, and was amazed to find I did an hour and a half's work without realising it!

So thanks again - anything that helps see a thesis through to the end is absolutely invaluable! Hope you all have a better day today and get a decent amount of work done.
(up)

I too prefer working from home, for the same reasons others have mentioned (noise, time wasted travelling in, not great communal facilities, having to put up with other students' strange personal habits) but I don't think it is a good idea to cut yourself off completely from your institution and other PhD students. The latter writing up stage of a PhD can be a very isolating thing to do, and it really does help to talk to others doing the same thing occasionally, in real life and not just on the internet. This forum is great (I wish I'd discovered it ages ago) but I've also found it helpful to talk to other PhD students at my uni with imminent submission dates looming - not just as we're going through the same thing academically, but also because it's specific to my institution, the staff and their sometimes idiosyncratic way of doing things. Even if it's just a weekly moan over the photocopiers about where you're stuck in your current chapter or to catch up on departmental gossip, for me, it's a reminder that others are in the same situation which really helps, particularly as no-one in my personal life is doing/has completed one.

Also, I think it depends on what you want to do post-doc and whether you think you might want to maintain links with your institution. I've become aware recently of how my work could fit into several of our research centres and projects, both current and in the embryonic planning stage. I wouldn't have known about this if I hadn't been around in college and spoken to people informally. Existing researchers are likely to know about your work through internal monitoring procedures, but won't necessarily know you or how you might see your research developing post-doc without talking to you. Maybe it depends on how keen individual institutions are to retain students post completion as early stage researchers, or write them into future funding bids. It's made me realise how important it is not to be completely invisible at uni though.

Deadlines work for me too, especially as my final submission creeps nearer (a tiny bit of anxiety prods me into action). I prefer working at home as well, and find I can more or less avoid procrastinating on the internet if there's a detective thing on the TV around lunchtime. I find that arranging my working day around a good, short lunchtime mystery makes me more productive for some strange reason... preferably Ironside, though anything will do at the moment!

PS thanks Janey for pointing me towards this forum via her blog :-)