still haven't done the correlations! Sorted a few things out for next week though.

My feet are cold :-(

sounds a bit like my place - we put it on the market and had to drop it a few times. In the end we just kept it as we didn't see the point of selling it for tuppence and buying a much smaller property for more money! (moving nearer london) so now we just commute.

I'd have another go with the mortgage company. You could ask for a payment holiday, or another advisor might be more sympathetic to the buy-to let thing - try talking to a supervisor, as the guys you talk to on the phone are just filling in forms anyway to get an answer for you.

I was SOOO going to post the same thing. My stipend has finished :-( and the money has gone :-(

its a toss up for me - do I do PhD 24/7 and then hope to get a better chance of getting a researc job as a 'Dr' :-x

or do I contribute towards the household by gettnig a (poorly) paid local job and try to finish my PhD in my spare time??

I'm trying to find things I can do that won't be a full time job. So far I've thought of erm....nothing.

I haven't got anything to sell either, people keep suggesting ebay.

======= Date Modified 17 Sep 2010 14:39:49 =======
Do you know why your flat isn't selling? Does it need a whip round with some (dull) magnolia? or the price dropping? I guess you need to work out whether you'd be better off losing a bit on the flat against not being out of pocket every month. Rubbish situation though.

ETA: if the flat has a separate living room, it could become a 'bedroom' - as we did for many years when renting out all the rooms of our house (apart from the one we used as our own room) to students.

======= Date Modified 17 Sep 2010 13:36:42 =======
You don't have to pay council tax on a vacant property - just inform them.

On another note, how many bedrooms is your flat?

If its more than one, then you can rent it out to a 'lodger' and say that you are still living there. That way you do not have to have a 'buy to let' mortgage, because its a lodger, not a tennant, an important distinction.

actually I've just reaslied I have an all-afternoon meeting on the 1st adn then i have to 'rush' back to babysit a small annoying child.

I think the film idea is great. Although I'd give them a 10 min break on the understanding that, particularly if its a large group, they won't be back seated before 15. If you give them 15, then they'll be back in 20 etc etc.

I personally wouldn't give my number out, unless you have a separate PAYG phone. I have about 10 emails per day from students needing help at the moment, I'd hate to think how many phone calls/texts I'd get if I gave my number out!

The uni I am doing my PhD at is about a 3 hour journey door to door if I go by train and that journey costs about £50.

THe uni in my town is about 10 mins away - I used it a lot in my first year for the library, but now nearly everything I need is online, or I just buy books off amazon cos I'm lazy :p

If it were me, I wouldn't bring it up with the supervisor, I would wait and see what the culture of the group is. But do be prepared to work full time in the office, as they may require it, don't assume you will be able to work from home

I'd say take the opportunity to get the PhD work done without the teaching distraction. My Supervisor banned me from teaching for the first two years and I haven't got bipolar! I wouldn't feel guilty, you are still working on your PhD.

If you've done teaching for the last year or so then you should have enough for not-teaching this year to affect your CV in any way. I say go for it. Otherwise bipolar or no bipolar, you may have to plead for some time off later to recover from burnout.

I have another uni - actually the uni I did my undergrad in, in my current city. You can do the sconul (?) scheme to use their libraries and a lot of unis will let you have access to their online stuff for a small fee, although I'm not sure if you have to be affiliated with them in some way (i.e. I'm a graduate).

The key thing about being in the office at the uni where you are funded is the networking, 'being seen', rather than actually working IMO, but I work a lot better at home. Its good to have a separate room/space for your work if you do work from home.

I always get nervous when I'm presenting in front of people who know me, which is a pain, because the more conferences you go to, the more people you know!

I don't really have much advice, apart from breathe, practice, that spray stuff - bach's rescue remedy? and try and assume your supervisors will be bored (because they already know about your research), talking to someone else/nodding off.

oh dear, i still haven't done goal 1, just been staring at my screen :-( MUST work.

Goal 1a) get coffee

Goal 1b) put music on

Goal 1c) actually do goal 1 which was the correlation table.

I live 3 hours away from my uni - coupled with an expensive train ticket. For the first 2 years I was going in about once or twice a week (after peak train hours :p ), but now I'm only going in for meetings/if I have to.

it really depends on the subject, but also the culture of the group you are working in. If everyone else is doing the same then fine, but you may be a group where they all work 8am-8pm in the office and if you don't you may be perceived as lazy, or at any rate, if any jobs come up you won't be the one who is thought of first.

I always try to make sure I'm in when they go for work drinks etc so I am up to date with all the gossip/jobs situations.

I just took pity on him for having such a moronic wife, although it did leave me feeling slight annoyed, especially as my dog was knackered after chasing pigeons the whole time across the ploughed field AND the fact I take her out twice a day.

I don't have a wall :-(

I stupidly took a sedative last night because I've not been sleeping well, so its taken until now to feel less bleary eyed.

plus I spent a good 30 mins fuming about the stupid man on the dog walking field who told me I hadn't been round long enough with my dog this morning - having been on 1hr walk! and his stupid wife wears WHITE jeans on a ploughed field after its rained, when she's dog walking = moron.

Goal 1: run correlations and write up in a nice APA format table