Those mug warmers do actually work, but don't keep all that warm really. I'd recommend just blasting your cup of tea in the microwave for 20 secs every time it goes cold.

Hi Arista, I'm here! We can try it, but I doubt it'll make any difference:-)

Right, let's see if this works then;-)

The way the stars thing works is if you have a thread and someone leaves a useful comment, you click on the helpful user button. Unfortunately, you can only vote someone a helpful user once. It's very easy to get one star and increasingly hard to get further stars, so four or five stars requires a lot of votes. Just between you and me, I actually think it's impossible to get five because I've been on this forum for around three years (the course of my PhD) and I have never seen a single person with five stars - other than the admins that is (who seem to be able to award themselves five stars at the click of a button). Not that I harbour seething, childish resentment at never having been able to get 5 stars or anything :$

Obviously, Sneaks, if I'd won all those lotteries, I'd split the winnings with everyone on here. I don't know whether its because my PhD made me a cynic, but there's just this slight nagging at the back of my mind about it all... Maybe it's because all the phone numbers are South African, no matter which lottery I've won. Or maybe it's because all the lottery correspondents have names like James Peter, Smith Andrew and the like. There's just something which stops me from photocopying my passport and bank details and e-mailing it to them. It doesn't matter though because I'm pretty certain I'll win next week and the week after that. So we're all going to be millionaires!

And just this minute, I've received an e-mail! It's from Lucie...at laterooms.com!

Just to add, I used to have a Hotmail account but they're not very good at dealing with spam. I've had e-mails relating to everything from winning the internet lottery, to winning the Dutch lottery and the 'people's lottery'. So, I just use a G-mail account now.

Ah ha! Great idea, Catlinbond. I'll be spoilt for e-mail procrastination choice if I set my PGF account to send me notification e-mails when threads are responded to. I'm also experimenting with those RSS feeds for Outlook so that I can also be distracted by the World's latest news 24/7. Hopefully things will pick up in a week or two when my supervisor gets back from holiday and starts to ask where my work is.

I've not had a single e-mail from anyone for 4 days, meaning that I've lost a valuable source of procrastination. No spam, no adds - nothing. In the history of my PhD this is unprecedented. Out of the 7 billion people that inhabit this planet, I feel like I've disappeared. I know for some people this would be heaven, but I miss my e-mails. I may have to sign up for dubious offers on the internet to keep my inbox active. Is anyone else experiencing this strange, pointless and insignificant phenomenon?

Microsoft Project 2007 is a good suggestion. If you want to use something for free, then I'd suggest GanntProject: http://www.ganttproject.biz/

Good luck

Hi Mynoisemail. I'd just like to clarify something firstly: you don't need any papers published in order to defend your thesis. A lot of PhD students don't publish any papers from their research until they have finished their PhD, so don't worry about it. Of course, it helps because it helps to demonstrate that your research is of a publishable standard but it's not the be all and end all. I think it's good that you've spotted limitations in your research. If it's nothing your can remedy, it'll make writing the discussion a bit easier because you're aware of the limitations.
You're supervisor doesn't sound very conscientious with your research. I'd recommend arranging a fixed meeting with him to discuss any issues or concerns you might have. If it's a set meeting he can't be unavailable. Do you not have a co-supervisor - where does he/she stand in all of this? Have you got any chapters written? How much more data do you have to collect and analyse? It sounds as though you've hit a lull period. This is very common at the stage you're at. Just keep plugging away at it and you'll get there.

By the end of tonight, I expect my second chapter to be 66.6% done. Stupid vsfhdsicvnsdlkvhslekvnsdjlvhsldnvsldkvnlsdfnvlkfadsnvl-ING! chapter. I'll try and get it most finished off for tomorrow then.

Heck Satchi, never apologise for farting! Any animal with a GI tract has to do it. My mum's dog is the best; it farts when it's half asleep and scares itself senseless.. We'd actually die if we didn't (we have to expel 2 litres of bowel gas a day). I suppose it's all a question of timing and discretion, and you just misfired.

I don't think it works like that in the USA. You have to sit training courses before you begin the PhD and this takes 6 to 7 years in total. Why not think about doing a PhD in the UK?