right, goal 1 is to get this blimmin chapter finished, by doing 2 things in the intro. The hardest part of the PhD for me is writing the bits that explain my contribution - I hate them! :-s and my supervisor never seems to think they're right.

I've heard tomato ketchup can reverse green hair - I think I read that its good when you go onlholiday if you have blonde hair that goes green once you've been in the pool. May help?

have you just started your lit review? if so then you'll probably find whole areas of research, maybe even in other disciplines that will be relevant - they may not be on the exact topic but you'll probably end up reviewing them, so I wouldn't worry.

I'd talk about the research from non-academic sources but just make you highlight why it may not be as rigourous etc. and methodological flaws.

well the postman came, after just 10 mins of work :-s so the dog is walked, and I've driven up to where I'm staying this week. THe rest of the day is mine (well my PhD's) so onwards!

I need to finish this chapter which means....

- checking what i've got in the chapter vs other versions to make sure I've got all the info I need
- make sure I've addressed all the comments made on this chapter when I submitted it to a journal (there are a lot!)

well I've had a blood test this morning, so my arm hurts. THe nurse didn't wipe the area clean before putting the needle in which is slightly concerning - I'm sure they usually do that??

ANyway, I've also got to wait in for the postman, who luckily didn't come when I was at the doctors, so I have an angry dog who's expecting a walk and I can't go until he's been,once he's been, and I've walked the dog, I have to drive for an hour up to somewhere else so guess I'll try and get some work done before he comes.

my hubby had his sup there. I think this was because the sup wanted to be there and hubs didn't want to say no, and also because his external was from another country (the same as the sup's) and therefore if there were any language issues he could help with translation. ALthough I think hubby said he did pipe up during the viva, but only in the sense of "well my sup has done work on that isn't that right, sup?" kinda thing. Its hard to ignore someone who is sat with you in a room with 4 people in it! I also think, depending on the supervisor, that it would help make the examiners take a softer approach. e.g. when my hubs said "no I've done it like this because xyz" his sup then said "yes, this is convention in our field" type of thing. It may well be that he also came in because in their country, viva's are more publica affairs where you invite friends and family etc.

My sup has never gone into any of her supervisees vivas so I doubt she will with mine.

Obviously win the lottery.

Mine would be either forcing my sup to check out the PhD-by-publication rules for our uni, OR just focus on the thesis and get it done -I basically spent at least 18 months trying to get publications up together which have gone backwards and forwards editing by sup and then she gets bored and they have never been submitted anywhere - feels like a lot of wasted time :-(

wow I'm massively jealous star-shaped! But it has motivated me to get cracking today.

I'm still in my pjs cos hubs is having a lie-in. So before he gets up I want to finish the 2 paragraphs I need to do the intro of this chapter.

well my hubby helped his sister move house yesterday, so him and his brother were removal men for the day, so he is asleep and will probably be sprawled in front of the tv and moaning about his muscles today - leaving me to get on with some work! :-)

So goal 1 today is......sneak in to the en-suite and have a shower.

Goal 2: eat breakfast.

Goal 3: write intro to chapter and work out what goes into the main lit review and what goes into the literature section of the chapter - I'm really NOT looking forward to this but its got to be done.

well goal is done :-)

I had to go to the GP this morning, who was younger than I am :$ - I wanted to tell her that I'll be a 'proper' dr. :p but didn't. I hate going to the GP it gets me really nervous, but she gave me the painkillers I wanted :-)

Next goal is to read through what I've got for the chapter so far and work out how to restructure and expand it. Its only 7500 words at the mo - everythings written so I'm puzzled as to how to make it longer!

had a bit of a rubbish morning :-(

Goal for today: finish the results section of chapter I'm working on.

hmmm, as my hubs has my old iphone, me having a new iphone would mean we could share the apps. Its all so confusing and I feel really old! I slightly hate Apple though because they are so mean and make it so difficult not to use itunes etc which annoys me. I also think a blackberry is too 'corporate' perhaps, but I also don't want a phone geared towards social networking because I'm not really that fussed by facebook etc. I barely use it.

Hi all, I've been doing my results section, just waiting for my computer to run the stats - its taking about 30 mins, but SPSS is still chugging away and hasn't crashed yet :-)

Can anyone recommend a smartphone? I need one, not sure what to get or why. I had an Apple 3g something iphone, I think its a Iphone 3? anyway, hubby took it off me and now I'm phoneless. I want a smartphone but have no idea what ones are good. I was quite happy with snake on my Nokia 3330

when I was asked about teaching, I'd done some research but couldn't remember the module codes etc - big mistake! Take in the module codes, even if it seems a bit nerdy and say 'yes, well I thought I could teach penguin101 and polarbear102' even if they're faces say "erm no you won't" - just plough on and smile - at least it shows you know the course well!

I wear factor 50 every day :$ I'm so pale though. 10 mins of walking the dog when I can't find shade and I'm like a beetroot :$(turkey)