Calling all PS thesis-tacklers, researchers, and students!

[AmberGretchen]

pjean - the other science phenomenon you seem to be dealing with is the disease where most professors/advisors/colleagues seem to think that if they say anything nice at all about your work, the world might shrivel up and die

OK, so I''m exaggerating a little bit, but seriously, it does sometimes seem like that...

Delster - I think that''s a great plan for tomorrow, get something done in the morning and then get on with your weekend adventures

 

[JSM]

Date: 5/29/2008 5:07:01 PM
Author: AmberGretchen
pjean - the other science phenomenon you seem to be dealing with is the disease where most professors/advisors/colleagues seem to think that if they say anything nice at all about your work, the world might shrivel up and die

OK, so I''m exaggerating a little bit, but seriously, it does sometimes seem like that...

That sounds like my PI! Nothing is ever good enough.

Good luck everyone, keep up the good work. I am taking notes for when my turn comes.

pjean, thanks for the advice! My next committee meeting is in November. I hope to be done in two years, which would be 6 years total. Not too bad, only a semester off the average in this department. Good luck with experiments and figure making!

 

[Delster]

Date: 5/29/2008 5:07:01 PM
Author: AmberGretchen
Delster - I think that''s a great plan for tomorrow, get something done in the morning and then get on with your weekend adventures

Thanks Amber, giving it my best shot here!

How is everyone doing this a.m.?

 

[Lorelei]

....

 

[gwendolyn]

Hehe, love the pompom squad, Lorelei!

It''s been a slow start to the morning. J and I were up until almost 2am talking on the phone last night--usually that signifies a fight or something but not last night, we just hadn''t talked in a few nights due to random events. So, it was good to talk to him, but not so good it was so late. As a result, I''m feeling rather out of it this morning. I''ve got my chair set up so I am ready for solid hours of writing, but my brain is very "....huh...?" at the moment, so that might not last long. Might have to go for a walk to wake myself up so I can get to work!

How''s everyone else doing this morning?

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 5/30/2008 6:01:40 AM
Author: gwendolyn
Hehe, love the pompom squad, Lorelei!

It''s been a slow start to the morning. J and I were up until almost 2am talking on the phone last night--usually that signifies a fight or something but not last night, we just hadn''t talked in a few nights due to random events. So, it was good to talk to him, but not so good it was so late. As a result, I''m feeling rather out of it this morning. I''ve got my chair set up so I am ready for solid hours of writing, but my brain is very ''....huh...?'' at the moment, so that might not last long. Might have to go for a walk to wake myself up so I can get to work!

How''s everyone else doing this morning?

I thought you could all do with a little cheering.

 

[Stephanie]

We should come up with some sort of virtual reward system Lorelei..

 

[AmberGretchen]

Poor Gwen - I''d be a complete mess after being up that late, so I''m impressed you''re even awake and functioning

Good luck with the writing.

I''ve decided to stop my samples incoming for about a week and a half to catch up on some additional experiments and also to prep for my upcoming interview, and catch up on my data analysis. Whew, it sounds like a lot just thinking about it - fingers crossed that I can have a really productive week next week

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 5/30/2008 9:39:54 AM
Author: Stephanie
We should come up with some sort of virtual reward system Lorelei..

I think that is a great idea! I am going to try to post a cheery emotie whenever I see the word thesis pop up on the boards! What else could we do for virtual rewards.....

 

[Stephanie]

Date: 5/30/2008 10:34:11 AM
Author: Lorelei

Date: 5/30/2008 9:39:54 AM
Author: Stephanie
We should come up with some sort of virtual reward system Lorelei..

I think that is a great idea! I am going to try to post a cheery emotie whenever I see the word thesis pop up on the boards! What else could we do for virtual rewards.....

Well, there is always pie...

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Cool thread. How to keep oneself motivated....hmmmmm.

I used to visualize myself walking down the stage, gowned and garbed, seeing my loved one''s smiling faces in the background. It was as thrilling when it finally did come to fruition, as I imagined. I dunno, I just found it to be a huge rush; hearing my name and all the people I wanted to thank who supported me thru school.. I was nominated, by a group of Professors in my faculty, to give the graduation speech/address; so I was wired for sound. My family was just SO proud!! And Professors close to me personally, whom I thanked in the personal blurb they read out, were genuinely happy I had included them! I know this sounds cheesy, but I got the Grad photo''s--I needed to finish to get the silly picture of myself!!!!

Defending my thesis was daunting--but that was a lot of self imposed stress--trying to be "perfect". I wrote the questions down , so I could answer them in parts and completely, b/c you tend to forget when you are nervous. On that note, I acknowledged to the committee at the outset how nervous I was, and the one member put me at ease when he stated, "this is just a conversation between colleagues". It was great he suggested I was on their level, like I had nothing to "fear". Another mentioned very early on in my defense, how " very thorough" my work was, so that also helped my confidence level.

My grad school eperience was the best--undergrad sucked by compaison!

Keep up the good work folks!!

cheers--Sharon

 

[gwendolyn]

Cheerleaders and pie? Sounds like some dude's Superbowl fantasy...

Seriously, I LOVE all the encouragement! You guys are the best.

So, I'm curious...am I the only one writing today? *waits for tumbleweed* I have been on a roll and have only 791 words left until I reach my goal! Then this chapter will be finished, and I'll be halfway done with the thesis! Woohoo!

 

[kcoursolle]

Date: 5/27/2008 6:08:53 AM
Author: Delster
Morning all!


kcoursolle what area are you in? Tell us some more about you! What are your goals this week?

Sorry I''m so late to replying to this. I am finishing up a Ph.D. in demography. My research is about quantitative methods, marriage, and aging. Unfortunately, we are still in out quarter over here, so my goals for the week are to finish up my final papers LOL!!! I will start laying out my summer goals in two weeks when my school year is over.

Good luck gals, hope this week went well for all of you!

 

[pennquaker09]

I think it''s definitely a divide and conquer thing. My thesis was on high achieving minority students. It''s basically the foundation of my future Ph.D. . . . whenever that happens. I just had to organize myself and I wrote the majority from August to November of last year. Thankfully it''s over! Now I can cheer for the rest of you!

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Just wanted to add myself to list of cheerleaders!! You are all so talented and successful!

 

[gwendolyn]

kcoursolle: Wow, that sounds fascinating! I would love to hear more about it if you are inclined to share more!

pennquaker09: Oh, very cool! My thesis is also the foundation for a PhD project that I may or may not do in the future. I can''t imagine going on to do a PhD right now, but maybe eventually. Congrats on finishing! What a great feeling that must be!

Sarah: Hey, sweetie, thanks for coming to be a cheerleader! You are such a doll.

Just wanted to report in that I am HALFWAY DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Ok, with the rough draft, but STILL! So happy!)

To celebrate, I''m taking half a day off from writing and am going for a walk with my iPod.

 

[AmberGretchen]

Go GWEN!!!!

That''s so awesome - you ROCK!

Enjoy your half day off and your walk

 

[pjean]

Yay, Gwen!! You may have been the only person working on the 31st, but you certainly shouldn''t have been.

I had a minor tiff via email with my advisor on Friday, and so I''ve spent the weekend reading romance novels and sulking. Great way to graduate, I don''t think.

Still: new week, new goals. This week, I''m going to finish 1 set of experiments and start a second, finish drafting the methods section of one chapter, and start writing the results section. So there!

 

[AmberGretchen]

You go pjean! That''s an awesome goals list for the week - tons of good PS dust that you get it all done!

I''m going to study hard for my interview on Wednesday, and I''m also going to optimize an experiment that''s been on the back burner so I can scale it up and run lots of samples over the next few weeks.

 

[Lynnchee]

Date: 5/26/2008 7:04:54 AM
Author: Lorelei
I will be happy to cheer you on!

hahaha

 

[Stephanie]

Date: 6/1/2008 7:37:38 AM
Author: gwendolyn
Just wanted to report in that I am HALFWAY DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Ok, with the rough draft, but STILL! So happy!)

To celebrate, I''m taking half a day off from writing and am going for a walk with my iPod.

 

[gwendolyn]

Hahah, you guys are the best!! Ok, so I lied and bit and took the WHOLE day off! I was bad, but it felt oh so good.

Aww, pjean, I'm sorry to hear you had a little disagreement over the weekend! I hope you are feeling better now. Romance novels do tend to cure me of sour feelings too, actually.

 

[pjean]

Date: 5/29/2008 4:41:38 PM
Author: Delster

What does your superviser mean by ''on your own time''? How does he differentiate between what is ''your time'' and what is ''not your time''? It''s an unfamiliar phenomenon for me as in my field we are literally left entirely to our own devices.

It''s an interesting concept, I''ll admit. Those of us in bench science have more standard working hours than those of you in the arts, in general. That is, we have a desk in a lab where we are expected to appear during roughly business hours. Of course, we invariably end up working much more than that, but there is slightly more structure than "go to the library, think of something profound, let us know when you''re done".

My advisor has currently declared that we will not be permitted to work from home or from the library during "normal working hours" (the tiff we had this weekend, in fact), but he also feels that if we are not in lab at least one weekend day we''re shirking. So I''m not entirely clear on what "normal working hours" means to him.

To make a long story short, "on your own time" for we science students is a bad way of dealing with the eternal tension between acquiring data and doing something meaningful with it. A secondary definition, the one my advisor uses, is "I don''t care when you do this as long as it isn''t any time when I want you to do something else."

 

[AmberGretchen]

Date: 6/2/2008 6:57:42 PM
Author: pjean

Date: 5/29/2008 4:41:38 PM

Author: Delster


What does your superviser mean by ''on your own time''? How does he differentiate between what is ''your time'' and what is ''not your time''? It''s an unfamiliar phenomenon for me as in my field we are literally left entirely to our own devices.

It''s an interesting concept, I''ll admit. Those of us in bench science have more standard working hours than those of you in the arts, in general. That is, we have a desk in a lab where we are expected to appear during roughly business hours. Of course, we invariably end up working much more than that, but there is slightly more structure than ''go to the library, think of something profound, let us know when you''re done''.

My advisor has currently declared that we will not be permitted to work from home or from the library during ''normal working hours'' (the tiff we had this weekend, in fact), but he also feels that if we are not in lab at least one weekend day we''re shirking. So I''m not entirely clear on what ''normal working hours'' means to him.


To make a long story short, ''on your own time'' for we science students is a bad way of dealing with the eternal tension between acquiring data and doing something meaningful with it. A secondary definition, the one my advisor uses, is ''I don''t care when you do this as long as it isn''t any time when I want you to do something else.''

OMG pjean - I know that PI''s like this exist, but it always astonishes me to hear about it

I would have never made it with a PI like that - if I couldn''t go to the library or home when I needed to do quiet analysis or writing, it would never get done - the lab is way too hectic and loud a lot of the time. Although that has something to do with the really immature guys who work in my lab, but still...

I''m so sorry you''re dealing with this - it is completely unreasonable. Hugs and good thoughts for quick progress so you can get out of their soon.

 

[Delster]

OK first and foremost - BIG CONTRATULATIONS to Gwen! Halfway there, woohoo!!!! You totally deserved the day off. It was well earned girl. You are an inspiration!!!

Amber, what''s a PI? Not a private investigator I take it?

pjean that sounds exactly like my BF''s supervisor and the set-up in their research group. Everyone in at eight and no-one leaves before seven, oftentimes more like midnight. And everyone must do one full day per weekend. None of this ever said out in the open, but very clearly conveyed nonetheless. It caused a lot of arguments in BF''s third year of the PhD when the supervisor expected him to be in the lab till 2am seven days a week.

I love your description of Arts/Humanities PhDs - ''go to the library, think of something profound, tell us when you''re done''! Ain''t that just the truth! Or in my case ''go away, think of something profound, show it to me, I''ll ignore your work and tell you all my personal problems, and then in about six months'' time I''ll yell at you for not having any work done''

Anyway my weekend was, as I suspected, a total wash-out. And today I have another commitment that''s gonna use up most of the day (will get a few hours in this afternoon but that''s about it) (it''s a loved one''s birthday). Tomorrow some friends want to go to SATC and I haven''t seen them in a while and I really want to go. They''re my best girlfriends and I don''t get to see them that often so I want to make the effort. That''s gonna lose me tomorrow afternoon (travelling there), tomorrow evening (movie & cocktails, stay over with them), and Thursday morning (travelling back). BF says to just go and stop worrying so much.

Workwise I''m still working on the same topic as last week and don''t feel much closer to finishing it. I could do with some encouraging words ladies, I feel pretty bad about my progress just now

 

[Stephanie]

Del, you''ll get past this little hump. Sounds like you are uber busy!

By the way, thought of you yesterday in a store when "your" song began playing....

 

[AmberGretchen]

Del - you''ll definitely get past this hump. Sometimes things just get crazy busy and you don''t get as much done as you expected. I''ve got a week like that this week - my phone interview got pushed back until Thursday, so I''ll be stressing about that and scheduling around it for a whole other day, so that really minimizes how much work I can get done this week up until Thursday, and then on Friday I''ve got a really good friend coming into town who I haven''t seen in a long time, so I''m taking part of the day off to spend with her. So really, I''m not being nearly as productive as I''d hoped this week either.

But you just have to kind of move past it and get right back on the horse. Try to make concrete plans for setting aside large chunks of time to work over the next couple of weeks after your outing with your girlfriends.

Really you will do better, and I always find I''m more productive after I take some time off to do something relaxing and therapeutic like spending time with girlfriends. I''m sure you will be too.

 

[Lorelei]

 

[pjean]

"PI" stands for "Principal Investigator", ie the guy with the big grant, ie my advisor.

Delster, I know you''re feeling behind, and it doesn''t help that you''re still looking at the same task you were earlier. But please don''t beat yourself up! (a) it won''t help at all, in fact you''ll make even less progress, and (b) why would you beat yourself up for being an interesting, active person who is likeable enough to have lots of friends?

I think you need a win right now. Carve off a small, tractable task that you can do in an afternoon. Then do it in an afternoon. Then check it off, and feel accomplished and good about yourself. Win! Win! Go, Delster! Hurray!!!

AmberGretchen, it sucks that your interview got pushed off. I hate waiting for things! Good luck on the day of.

Gwen, I hope your day off has you feeling rested and ready to tackle the next half. Go Gwen!

 

[Delster]

Aw, thanks for the cheering squad ladies, you really lifted my spirits!!! And again, the motto of ''divide and conquer'' reigns supreme!

Well I''m off for some lunch now and then I''m going to head up to meet my girl pals to see SATC. I''ll hit the library tomorrow for a bit (where my friends are is where my uni library is, may as well go get some books out) before I come back here. I''ll check in with everyone tomorrow evening or Friday morning maybe.

Keep up the good work all!