aww sounds like you're overtired - which will mean the work drags more.

If I were you, I'd have 1 conversation with hubby a day about the work he's sorting out, that will get any worries of your chest. If he's anything like my hubby he'll rush in without checking important things e.g. knock a wall down before checking if its a supporting wall, so I have to constantly check "have you done this, are you sure" etc etc.

If its possible with a small creature in you, maybe you should try zoning out when you are in bed, so you don't think about anything that stresses you. Alternatively you could try listening to an audio book - its a great way to take your mind off the days troubles and go to sleep with it on. I have a 'sound asleep' pillow for exactly that http://www.play.com/Gadgets/Gadgets/4-/9308726/Sound-Asleep-Speaker-Pillow/Product.html

thanks for the update LD. congrats!

My presentation went well too - I had a difficult question from another PhD student but gave him a very good answer (IMO) and he shut up and looked embarrassed.

There were a lot of young male PhD students deliberately picking apart peoples presentations. I'm not sure if it was because they were just a group of rude arrogant people looking to prove themselves or whether it was 'alpha male' behaviour i.e. a group of young blokes trying to fight it out, the setting being a small hall in a university rather than the masai mara.

I noticed that the more experienced/better academics are more likely to ask questions privately or make 'nice' suggestions/questions whereas these younger ones seem to want to embarrass you/challenge you in front of everyone, presumably to make themselves look better. Thankfully that didn't happen to me, mainly because they didn't; know my subject (up)

well done on the 1st goal! I've done goal 2, doing goal 1, finding it hard to concentrate on it for longer than 5 mins at a time.

Presentation did go well and I managed to bat away a difficult PhD student, who was clearly trying to prove himself in front of his sup who was there and/or trying to show himself as alpha male in the group - he questioned my hypotheses, so I slowly and clearly stated why I had chosen them and made him look like a primary school kid hehe.

Have you thought about gathering wood Stressed? I suppose it depends where you live, I live next to apple orchards where they prune the trees and then leave the wood to rot, so it we had a wood burner we could collect it, dry it out in the garage and then use it for fuel.

If you don't have heating but want a heater, I do recommend a oil-free heater - we had one when our boiler broke down during that cold (very cold) period in january - i.e. the coldest in 30 years or whatever. It was brilliant - heated a room up in 5 mins. Apparently the ones with thermostats are worth their money because they turn off when its hot enough, so its not continually on.

its a total lack of money 4matt, although I do worry about the environment too - hence why I have captured and imprisoned my cats - to stop them rampaging the neighbourhood looking for birds/mice/frogs (honestly that is the reason, not cos they're warm ;-) )

ALthough, maybe I could install a wood burner - or maybe just a bonfire in my room. I'm sure it will be fine if I have the window open to let the smoke out :$:p

Any tips on warming up without turning the heating on? I know its not *that* cold yet, but I can feel it, and in a months time I reckon I'll be freezing!

So far I have...

- a travel mug for constant warm tea
- slippers on
- locked 3 animals (2 cats, 1dog) potentially against their will, although they are all sleeping, in the room with me for extra body heat :p

yep I'll join you :-) I'm back from the conference I went to last week and raring to go (after a cup of tea and a 'second breakfast' - perhaps a slice of toast)

My goal 1 for today: make changes to journal article
Goal 2 which should be conducted simultaneously to goal 1: check format that the journal requires.

Which year are you in?

So to summarise - this is what I got from your post - 1) your sup keeps changing their mind what your're working on and you never get anything finished. 2) he has passed a review on to someone else that you started.

If it were me I'd tackle the review issue by scheduling a meeting with you and the other student and your supervisor. And I'd take along a list of potential journals where you could publish it. In this meeting I would discuss 1) how will it be included in your thesis if the other student has worked on it 2) where to publish it, and the order of the authors.

To tackle the overall issue of sups style, you need to take charge of your Phd, sounds like my sup - she forgets what she's asked me to do and gets me flitting between projects with no real end result. I've learnt to do what she asks to an extent, but also carry on with what I think I should be doing, even if it means working longer hours. If I were you, I'd start writing on anything - everything WILL be used in the thesis to some extent, even if its copying a pasting 200 words from 2000, its worth it at the end.

I would also suggest that you speak to your supervisor about his style and about his expectations for you over the next 6 months. Maybe plan out some clear deadlines that you have to meet, so he knows what you are working for and send him an update email every week or so, specifically related to these deadlines e.g.

Deadline 1: we agreed to finish writing a paper on Theory x. Progress: I have completed 2000 words on xyz aspect of Theory X and hope to complete by next month.....

I wouldn't rush to officially complain without consulting your sup and discussing your concerns - it could look a little immature in the sense that he'd exect you to come to him with these issues first.

The thing is, its actually making me think twice about applying for jobs, because I'm thinking, "will this be worth my while? will it be a day putting together an application, for a job that only pays £1.20 per annum??" or "is this job aimed at somoene who should be getting £50k?"

I'm looking at non-academic jobs at the mo, as there is nothing on the academic front and I'm starting to doubt whether I'm really intelligent enough to be an academic, after just being at a conference where I just found everything really dull.

I'm getting SO annoyed with adverts saying 'salary: competitive' - realistically I need a certain salary (particularly if the job is in london) to be able to afford to take the job, otherwise I'll look for something more simple locally, so this 'competitive' thing really winds me up - competitive compared to what!? is it £15k a year or £50k?????

confused.

If you were vague in the first email, then this could be why.

You need to say something along the lines of..

I'm very interested in your research and am looking for an opportunity to study for a PhD in the area.

And then you need to ask for a meeting/phonecall e.g. can you suggest a suitable time we could meet, or I could call you about the possibilities of researching in this area.

I'm sure someone can put it better than me tho ;-)

That is strange stressed, as I like radio 4 because I grew up with it always being on, we used to have silent mealtimes so mum could listen to the Archers haha! So it kind of feels like home when its on.

catalinbond, that is wrong (but I see where you're coming from!! aaargh!)

I only had one option for my PhD :-) But I'd go with the place that offers the best supervisor, as this is what will be the key to a successful PhD.

Equal to that is a project that interests you - 2 years down the line when the thing is dragging, you'll appreciate still being interested in what you're writing about.

Term hasn't started yet, so, particularly if they are a professor, they may be still on holidays, or gearing up to start teaching. I'd email again in a week or so.