Oh take me back to the start...

Hello All!!

Despite my lack of participation on this board, I do read everyone's posts and you all sound like you are making great progress (in life and thesising)! I have a question about making the table of contents, which I should have learned to do in grade three, but didn't...and I do not have the patience to manually put ........4, ..........5, and so on, in a word document, so here is my question:

How do you make a table of contents using word 2007? Hahaha

Sarah - I know you briefly tried to show me a longggg time ago, but I have since forgotten your words of wisdom. Any help (other than telling me to use the word help tool bar) would be greatly appreciated!

I have section headings in my word document, but have not yet done that weird linky thing at the top of the tool bar (Sarah I think you know what I mean).

Thank you!!

Feelin pretty good.

As you know, I nervously sent a chapter to my adviser for him to review. I just got an email which said, "And I am pleased that you are still making progress on the thesis. I have read, and enjoyed, this chapter."

Yay. There's something about even the smallest words of encouragement that give me a bit more drive to finish!

Not abandoned!

Hi all,

Yes, I'm still alive and working on my thesis. I just sent a draft of Chapter 3 off to Ian! And Chapter 2 is 'almost' ready for criticism as well. ;)

My results chapter 4, is in progress, and shouldn't be toooo difficult to complete. Although, I still haven't worked out how I'm going to tackle my weather adjusted data, which is in a form that isn't as useful to me as I once thought it would be.

My goal at this point - as Ian suggested - is to KEEP IT SIMPLE! I think for the most part I've made things harder on myself by making things unnecessarily complicated.


How is everyone else doing?? Lynz? Marianne?

100 pages!!

It's pretty obvious that the blog has been abandonned by one and all....but I still wanted to post two pieces of exciting news.
1. I cracked the 100 page mark today! Whoop! I know page number mean nothing in terms of content, but it's a mental victory.
2. I have a defence date!! With some committee member re-organization, Ian and I have finally decided on a defence date. The big day will be September 22, 2008, hopefully in the morning. I get back from Peru on the 20th, and will have 2 days to reacclimatize and to prep for the defence. I'll have 4 days to do my revisions, and I should be able to get my tuition back for the fall semester.

The end is in sight!

...and we're back!!

So, I've been neglecting nathewrimo for a while now, but I don't feel too bad because it seems as though everyone else has been doing the same! I thought I would post a quick update just to let everyone I'm still alive and kicking.

I'm currently writing chapter 5, which is my phase 2 results chapter. So far I'm loving the results chapter because all it is is writing down the survey and interview responses that I collected. No analysis, no explanations...just writing down the results! My overall page count is up to about 72, so I'm only 8 pages away from meeting the nathewrimo goal of 80 pages....and only 2.5 months late! I'm still hoping to get Ian and Paul a draft by the 23rd, but I have a feeling that my analysis chapter will be a little shaky. I still have some time, so we'll see how it goes.

In non-school related news, I had an awesome weekend! Thanks for coming out to help us celebrate and I hope you guys had fun too.

Peace.

I've lost count...

HI SARAH! Good to hear from you again. Thanks for the update...you'll get stuff done, and sounds like you'll be really busy! We miss you around here too! I have a random question for you...I got an email from CanSIA yesterday, and it was a news release stating that the gov't and the OPA announced the suspension of the ReSOP pending further review. So...do you have any insider info as to what's going on?? Is your job to be the reviewer of the program?? I can't find any other news release from either the OPA or the gov't, and I'm super curious. Anyways...do you know?

Also...HI MARIANNE!

As far as an update from me....I've lost count as to how many days until d-day...but I've committed to getting a draft to Ian by June 23rd. He's checked with Paul, and it looks like a July defense date could be in the works as long as my draft "is in good shape" by the time I give it to them. I'm going to be working my ass off to meet this deadline, because I would LOVE to get outta here by July. Anyways, I've started writing the results chapter. I think that it will go fairly quickly because it's just reporting results. Just because I've said that it will probably take forever, but I'll let you know! I'm up to page 62...so it feels like I'm progressing. Other than that....things are trucking along.

Good to hear from everyone!

Where's that Sarah girl?

Hi Everyone!!!!!

Yes, I've been absent from the blogsphere for toooo long. And, just in case you don't remember, this is what I look like.

<--- Sarah (at last year's Hillside)

So I've been pretty busy for the last month or so (hardly on the thesis... but more on that later).

I'm working full time for the summer with the City of Guelph in the Waterworks Division. Specifically, I was hired for the Healthy Landscapes Program. Monday thru Thursday I work 11:30-7pm as a Landscape Adviser. I go to people's home for a 30-minute consultation about outdoor water efficiency and establishing a healthy, pesticide-free lawn and garden. Mostly I talk to people about how to keep their grass looking good, and selecting drought tolerant plants. Community Based Social Marketing at it's finest!

It's been pretty fun so far, and I've got to see some wonderful gardens... and some gardens that need a lot of attention. Fridays I'm in the office 8:30-4pm working on a separate project, an energy audit of the Waterworks facility. I'm basically putting together a Request For Proposal, and getting some of the preliminary work done for the assessment.

In other news, I have things lined up for September!!! I had a THIRD interview for a position at the OPA a few weeks ago. This time for a 1-year contract position in the department that runs the Standard Offer Program. And, I was hired ON THE SPOT! I'm very excited, and actually feel a lot more calm about everything. (It's relieving a bit to have a plan for the fall). I will be moving to TO in September, which I am very much looking forward too. Guelph has treated me very well for the past 6 years, but I feel it is time to move on.

IT'S TIME TO BUCKLE DOWN AND GET THIS THESIS FINISHED!!!
I have found it a bit difficult to focus on my thesis. However, now that I have a plan for the fall, it has given me considerable motivation to move forward. My goal is to have a full draft done by the end of July. To get started, here are a few things that I need to do in the short term (1-2weeks)...

• Fix my lit review so that it is decent enough to show to Ian for feedback (I'm not looking for perfection at this point... I just need to know I'm on the right track)

• Complete my methods section. I'm pretty happy with the way it has progressed... it just needs to be filled in.

• Put my interviews into logical summary tables.

• Organize my weather-adjusted data into a usable format.

I will make better effort to post here and keep in touch. I really really miss you girls!!!! Keep up the great work!!!

and now 31...

Yay!!...Someone besides me is using the blog! Good to hear how you're doing Marianne, and I second that Sarah needs to update ASAP. I hear ya about the daily steeling of nerves, and I too CANNOT WAIT until we are forced to talk about things that have nothing to do with school. Only a few more months to go...

Anyways, today has been a bit of a slower day. I got here around 12:30, and I can't believe it is almost 2:30...because I really haven't done anything yet. I was at school until 10pm last night, so I feel like I can take a bit of time to get going. I find that I get a lot more work done at night, so I've just been staying as long as I'm still productive. Since today is Friday though, I'll probably be outta here by 6pm or so.

Anyways, yesterday I finished chapter 4 (somewhat). I'm spending the rest of the day today editing, and Monday I'll move on the the results chapter. That's pretty intimidating because I haven't really looked at the data in depth, but hopefully it will all make sense soon. I think I'm up to 58 pages now, so I'm happy about that....although it's not really the length that matters anyways.

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

Bust a move!

Man, this place is turning into a personal blog for Claire!

I'm here to do my part.

Well, as my nth strategy to do a prescribed amount of thesis per day has gone, once again, tits up (or pear shaped, if you prefer), I am set to try yet another. I have his vague memory of being engaged in activities where it doesn't take a daily steeling of nerves to make progress. It'll be interesting to have that again! Someday maybe.

Anyway, things are going fairly well all things considered, though I consider that mainly a report on my mental heath and less on actual physical thesis progress, since that's all spotty. I'm desperately trying not to wonder where we'll go next, or who will get a job first, or what kind of adventure I want to have. It's so distracting and fulfilling, so I know it's not good for what needs to be done now. How much can you all NOT WAIT to never have to freaking talk about progress on our papers again? Holy god, what will we say to one another! hah, I kid. We'll think of something.

My current goals are to send ML chapter one and chapter 2 tomorrow maybe and then by wednesday to have chapter three hashed out in terms of structural planning and some writing done for sure. Maybe even lots of writing done, since chapter three seems like it should be so much easier than chapter 2. Though I suppose that remains to be seen!

Sarah, if you're reading this, drop a quick line...where/how are you? It's been radio silence for a while now!

So: left tonight I have 1h 45m of work to accumulate, then I get to reward myself with a ride home and taking off my infernal bra, which for some reasons feels so annoying. Maybe I'll do that before I go home. We'll see and I'll leave that little TMI there. Awesome.

More when I hit "send" with my big fat attachments on it!
xoxoxoxoxoxo

...32 days

I felt like I had a pretty productive day yesterday. I went through the first three chapters, and did some editing based on Ian's comments. I feel like the methodology chapter is good to go, but I'm somehow not 100% happy with the intro and the lit review. It's getting there though, so I guess that's all I can ask for.

I'm pulling the late shift with Marianne tonight, so hopefully today will be another productive day. I made a list of small task that need to be completed for my thesis (thanks for the suggestions Lynz!), and it's nice to cross them off one by one. Today, I'm working on the discussion for chapter 4. Hopefully I'll be able to finish that today, meaning that tomorrow I can move on to the results chapter. I'm up to 55 pages...which means I've only managed 2 pages since the last time I wrote, but I feel like some good editing happened as well.

I'll check in tomorrow to see how things panned out...good luck everyone!

Starting the countdown...34 days to go

Looking at my last post, I realize that I did have a lot going on, and I am happy to report that I have been able to cross a few things off the list. The OCE conference was a good experience. I got to meet many people that I think will be useful in the coming months, and the oral competition was actually pretty fun. I didn't win (dang!), but I got a lot of good comments, and it was a good experience in public speaking. I've also sent off a couple applications for the interesting jobs I mentioned in my last post, so at least that's off my plate for a bit.

I also finished my paper for the World Wind Energy Conference for next month. It's my first published, thesis-related thing, so that's pretty cool. I'll have to prep a 15 minute presentation, but that is definitely going to get thrown together a few days before the conference.

Random wedding-related excitement is that we sent out the invites on monday (yay!), my dress has arrived (yay! yay!), AND we received our first wedding gift! Wow...I guess I'm actually going to get married this summer! Exciting stuff!

So, now the major thing on the agenda is getting a completed first draft to Ian before I go to the WWEC conference in 34 days. June 23rd is d-day I'm going to be hardcore about this, because there is no more time for fucking around. SO, you can expect me to update this blog with progress hopefully daily with an account of what I've managed to finish. So, today, I'm starting with 53 pages of written material, and almost 4 completed chapters. What I need to do is:
1. Finish the discussion for chapter 4
2. Write up the results (SPSS and interview stuff)
3. Write up the discussions

I figure if I write about another 40-50 pages I'll be happy. So....here goes!!! Hope every one is doing well!

I'm an expert juggler...

So, I've been feeling a lot like a juggler these days...I feel like I have a lot of different things on the go, and finding the time/energy to do everything has been a challenge. Also, simply REMEMBERING what the heck need to get done has forced me into making lists and keeping a calendar. Anyways, here are a select few of the things I have going on
1. Preping for the OCE Discovery Conference. I'm setting up the booth, and preping for an oral presentation.
2. Planning for the World Wind Energy Conference - I finally heard back, and now I'm slated for an ORAL presentation. Scary! I also have to write a paper to be published in the conference proceedings...by May 20. Yikes.
3. Figuring out how to analyze my stats
4. Listening and taking notes on my interviews, and documenting some of those results.
5. Wedding planning (not too stressful, but it is on my mind)
6. Applying for a couple cool jobs that have come across my desk.
7. oh yeah....and freaking writing my thesis.

There seems to be about a million more nit picky tasks that I've been taking care of, and so far, I haven't dropped any balls. This is just a taste of what's to come this summer, I think...but I'm happy to be crossing things off my list, one by one.

In other news, Karen's back! Exciting stuff...and...where the hell did 10 months go?!?

Keep on truckin!

Yeah!

I'm back on mornings! I'm genuinely excited to be back at school bright and early, every day. The routine of it is soothing and helpful for me. I find my afternoon schedule to be mixed up and harder to get a handle on. I was at school by 7 as usual in these circumstances and I could not be happier. It was a lovely ride in, and I'm expecting a lovely ride home. So yay to that.

I'm still trying not to think about end dates and when to finish by etc, since that seems to do nothing for motivation and everything for anxiety, so my latest strategy is to just keep plugging away and it'll end when it ends. I want to enjoy my summer and not feel pressure, just like when I chose to come back in the first place.

So that's it, mostly I'm focussing on feeling healthy and happy and allowing myself as much time as it takes to do this thesis, which I think will help me just do it. Plus, who wants to spend the summer feeling assy? Not me!

And it's time to get ready to plant seeds and seedlings! IN a few more weeks I'll get stuff into Claire's back yard and we'll start the hovering and loving care of quite a few different veggies and melons. Ah, food, the best part of summer. That, and slushy drinks.

Remember, the WWII sign with the best message: Keep calm, and carry on.

It's a mantra. My mantra.
xo!

Don't forget

To pay tuition, ladies. Close your eyes and make it happen. Then, pretend it didn't. Heh.

Oh, bank account.

sigh.

Signing back on...

Thanks for the reminder to post, Claire!

Things for me have been slow, though now that I think about it I can't quite figure out why...I guess there were a few small events that I parlayed into days and days doing something else!

Like Claire, I have a daily goal of either writing or editing what I have (which ends up being writing, but such is life). It' too much but still a good goal for me every day. I have a long ways to go with this thesis since I still haven't done any interviews (though I will only do two or three), so I spend a bit of time every day trying not to get too anxious about it. I'm trying to remind myself that I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and if I don't make my defend-by-June goal then that's okay, it's not worth feeling horrible abot it all the time.

It doesn't always work, but I'm trying.

My sister and brother in law are coming in tomorrow and staying the night on their way to move into Degrassi Street! I can't wait to go see that place, apparently it's got the most stolen street signs of naywhere in Toronto. Quelle surprise ;-)

Keep going!

Reviving Nathewrimo

Hey guys!

Well I have been super busy with visitors over the last couple weeks. My aunt was here last week, and my brother and sister were here for almost a week. My work has suffered as a result, so I am buckling down to get my draft finished by the end of May. It's a pretty ambitious goal, so I am a little nervous, but I'm thinking that there is no use in getting stressed out about it. I've just got to sit down every day and work on it! I figure I have about 50 pages to go....so that works out to about 2-3 pages every day, not including weekends or the odd procrastinat-y, unproductive day. It's attainable...although I still have to go through my interviews, which is going to suck.

There are a few things that I have on my plate that will distract from the thesis work. For one, I have the OCE Discovery conference coming up in a couple weeks. Somehow, I've been nominated/roped into participating in an oral competition at the conference. It's only a 5 minute presentation, with 2 minutes for questions, so it's pretty straight forward. However, somehow, the OCE is recommending a 2-day course to prepare for the presentation!? I'm attending day 2 of the course tomorrow, and I *think* it's called "networking and communications". I definitely need some help with networking, so it'll be a good course regardless. I'm also STILL waiting to hear about the WWEC conference at the end of June. At this point, I think that I am going to recycle the grad conference posted I prepared, because it is getting ridiculous. I emailed the organizers, and they said that they are STILL going through the abstracts for the conference. Totally disorganized.

Anyways, the visit with Paul and Jocelyn has been great. We spent time in Toronto, out at the lake with our family, and yesterday Paul and I went to Niagara for wine and Buffalo for chicken wings. It was awesome, except for Paul forgot his camera at the restaurant in Buffalo, so we had to go through the border TWICE to get it back. Luckily we look innocent and honest because the border guards had three chances to find the booze we had in the trunk that we did not pay duty on.

Anyways, good times! I'm actually itching to get back to work so I think it's a good sign.

What's up with you guys?? Don't forget to update!

Presentation day!

Yesterday was a busy day. I make 2 presentations in 6 months, and of course they both were yesterday. In the morning I was in Oakville for the Eco-Innovation conference hosted by T.A. Blakelock. It was actually super fun, although I was nervous to speak in front of a bunch of 15 and 16 year olds. Anyways, I gave two talks to groups of about 40, and it went really well! I brought chocolate, and anyone who answered any questions got candy, so people actually participated ;). I got a swag-bag, which was also cool...so all in all it was a great experience!

After the high school conference, I raced back to campus for my "poster judging". The judge was a biology prof, and at least 80% of the people presenting were biology students. I have a feeling that i didn't win the iPOD...but it was a good practice run for poster presentations.

Anyways...after my brief break from writing, it's time to get back to it. I'm still aiming to have a draft by the end of may...so Nathewrimo month #3 is almost getting going!

Talk soon!

Update from Guelph

So, I just finished my first week at my position for the City of Guelph as a Water Efficiency Program Assistant. I really like my new job; the people are great, and the project I'm working on is innovative and engaging.

I didn't get the OPA job because I didn't "have enough experience". I was "over-qualified" for the intern position... I guess they need to find me a position where I have the "right" amount of qualification. Either way, I know I made a good impression on them so there are opportunities for the future. I'm obviously disappointed, but not discouraged. It's all part of the process I guess.

All in all, I am happy I have the job at Guelph because I will have a lot more time (and rest) and have more energy to work in the evenings on my thesis... that is.. if I avoid the pubs and patios on the way home from work.

I also found out that I wasn't accepted to the PhD program at York. But, I'm actually relieved. I only put a half-hearted effort into the application. I think I need a bit of time before I dive into another 4-6 years of school.

So, I'm pretty happy. I feel a bit weird to have so many rejections in one week.. but better to get that out of the way now I guess.

New Mix Tape!

New mix tape at http://wheretheheck.blogspot.com/

Whee!

:-)

Poster time!

So, I spent today throwing together my poster for the grad conference next week. I'm not willing to spend too much time on the thing...but I do want to win the iPOD. Essentially I'm willing to dedicate one day, and one day only to the thing. I'm pretty happy with how it came together, but we'll see how it turns out when printed large-scale. Anyhoo...that was my day...pilfering images off the internet and trying to distill 45 pages of writing into 3 concise textboxes. Fun stuff.

Other than that, I think I may be coming down with a cold...which is a huge bummer. I think I am just going to mentally decide NOT to be sick, because of course I have lots of fun things coming up in the next couple weeks.

I was glad to hear that your first day of work was good Sarah, and Marianne...I hope you found the exam room in time!

Talk to you ladies soon!

Claire

Writing again

It's nice to be writing again. Especially since it's new writing, not fixing-old-stuff writing. Which definitely needs to happen, just...not now. 

I've been on the morning shift with Rob which is really nice, though I'm still not adjusted to the sleep schedule yet. Either way, I actually feel good and am really happy to have something to say again!

Mary Louise is super busy at the moment, but expects to meet with me next week and then  soon after that she expects to be able to turn more attention my way. Which is definitely good, but now I have more reason then ever to have something to show her. So I'd like to have a chapter three filled in outline for her to see next week so she can guide my progress. One of the issues with doing such an  exploratory thesis is there really isn't very much structure out there, I need to create it and that's nerve wracking and I want lots of authoritative reassurance! 

Anyway, if she likes what she sees enough then I can continue and finish chapter three, fix chapter one and two to reflect the newish focus of my thesis and then...just maybe...do some interviews. heh. Better late than never!

Other than that, I've got my summer bike out and feeling good about that. I started going through the sports closet and have moved all the winter coats and snowshoes to the basement and will be do a camping inventory soon so see where we are in terms of spring/summer getaway gear. Sarah, a roadtrip sounds like lots of fun, we should take advantage for sure.  

And we will miss you sarah! Be sure to let us know how your new schedule is treating you and how you like the new job. 

And that's it for me. Keep on truckin' ladies!

xo

Rainbows!

Awwww....I can't believe tomorrow is your last day here at ERS Sarah!! Wow...that came up fast! We'll definitely miss you around here. I hope that your new job is super awesome...and I know that you'll do a great job!

Right now I'm staring at a rainbow of highlighter colours. I'm using Lynz's coding technique, and so far is fun because all my interview notes look like a big rainbow.

That's it for news from me...besides the fact that I am officially DONE with data collection. Last night was my last council meeting...thank goodness! It has been a long time coming! I now have absolutely no excuse for not finishing up my draft in the next 6 weeks. WHOOP!

Keep in touch ladies!

It's starting to hit me...

It's starting to hit me that tomorrow will be my last day as a regular frequenter of ES. I start working full time Monday so I obviously won't be around during the week. My evenings and weekends will be filled with "thesising" .

I'm really happy that I have this blog as an outlet, and a connection to you at ES. I will try my best too visit Waterloo as often as I can, perhaps during the weekend, or the occasional evening.

Also, my parents are going on a trip for two weeks starting April 29th. Road-trip anyone?? Maybe just a 'day-trip'?

Anyone up for a few drinks tomorrow night??

job update

Ok... I heard back from the OPA. I have to go for another interview in TO tomorrow at 3:30pm.

Wish me LUCK!!

Happy Monday

So, I didn't get that much work done this weekend, but that's ok ;)
I had a really good weekend. I had brunch with friends, took in the spring weather, had a visit with my parents. And, Pete and I reorganized my living room with 'new hand-me-down' furniture from my parents (and we did that without arguing!!! what a change!)

I did mange to find some really good articles about mix-methods research, which I'm now reading and summarizing. These articles will come in handy to help justify my mixed(-up)-methods.

I'm still waiting to hear back from the OPA. I don't know what I'm going to do... I'm scheduled to start with the City of Guelph next Monday... so I don't feel like I have enough time to give them fair warning if I decline their offer. There seems to be pros and cons to both positions. The OPA position starts later, pays more.. but the commute will be hectic. The Guelph job pays less but has less responsibilities and virtually no commute. I may just take the Guelph job now, and return to job hunting with the OPA at the end of the summer.

weekend review

So, I got some comments back from Ian...and I don't feel horrible!! Yay! Overall, his comments were positive, but if you look through the pages there are A LOT of comments/suggestions/changes to be made. So, there's still a lot of work to be done, but my first three chapters aren't a total "do over". The plan for the next week is to scan through Ian's comments, but generally put them aside for now. I want to write chapter 4, and make my stupid poster for the grad conference on the 21st. Of course, I am also supposed to be a presenter at a conference in Oakville that morning, so I'm still hoping to make it back in time for the poster judging (I want that iPod!!).

Otherwise, the weekend was good...although not really school-productive. Agustin and I rode our bikes out to Elmira for the maple syrup festival...which was soooooo satisfying because we got to wiz by all the people stuck in the traffic jam. Marianne's b-day dinner was also lovely, although I was completely tired by 10pm. Also....yay me...I learned how to do basic HTML coding for websites. Agustin is really into this, and I learned how to do basic web design. You'll all get to see my work soon enough, as our website will be launching at the end of the month!

Last but not least, I finally got to experience funk night with DJ Charless....and it was definitely as fun as promised.

So, hope everyone had a wonderful weekend enjoying the spring weather, and we'll chat soon!

Still alive

I haven't been writing anywhere, not just here, so don't be mad ;-)

Haha, as you pretty much all already know, I've been in a major thesis slump, and some stuffhad to get resolved to get that going. I feel the same amount of anxiety over the thing, but that will be there until I am making progress, so fair enough. I am ready to dive back in after over a week off the case (not writing anyways, lots of thinking  guess) and I'm trying to cut down on fantasizing about being done to keep things flowing.

Other than that, it's been birthday time for me and I am looking forward to getting good at making tortillas on my new press! I have been looking forward to that for pretty much a really long time, so that's cool. Also, several family members have promised me birthday surprises still, so I get the pleasure of essentially randomly getting presents in the mail, which everyone loves. So that's pretty cool too. 

I'm still working on keeping a healthy perspective on this whole thesis thing, and it helps me tremendously to remember that is takes as long as it takes and that's okay. One thing that tends to worry me is if it goes longer into the summer than I want it to, which it may, but I can't really help that. Que sera sera, so relax, you know? 

Working on it and feeling pretty good! 

:-)

Clearly I do not know how to space paragraphs on blogs properly

Keepin' goin'

Another favorite PHD comic. Image from here.

After venting and almost crying, I feel a bit more calm about this thesis-writing situation. I just have to do a bit every day, and stay focused. Even though I haven't actually written that much, I feel a bit more clear about what I'm actually going to write, and have gotten some more sources to 'beef-up' my methods section. This weekend, I'm going to go thru my interviews, and code them, and put them into fancy tables. I'm also going to even-out my methods section. Fun times!

----

Happy almost Birthday MARIANNE!!!! Why didn't you warn me??!!!??? *hugs*

Nathewrima? Nathewrinep?

So, based on Sarah's input I've revamped the Nathewrimo page, deleted the page tracker spreadsheet, and gotten rid of the rules. We've never really been "rules" girls anyways, right??

Anyways, Nathewrimo is now in it's second month so it's maybe more appropriate to call it the National THesis WRIting MArathon (or maybe closer to how we are feel...NAtional THesis WRiting NeverEnding Process). Anyways, hopefully we all continue to work hard and as my wise thesis advisor suggested lets "just get the damn thing done!"

April showers bring May flowers...

Hello ladies...


I was encouraged to contribute a little more to this blog...here is my attempt:)
This month seems to have started off an a low note for all...but may I remind you that it is April!!! Here are some lovely quotes about spring to inspire you:

"I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden."- Ruth Stout

"Science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as a sunny spring day."- W. Earl Hall

"When March goes on forever, And April's twice as long, Who gives a damn if spring has come, As long as winter's gone."- R. L. Ruzicka

Ok so these aren't really that great, but I tried. Maybe we can all get together and watch Bambi to celebrate the season...or we could start some sort of spring/summer preparation group where we could practice dodging cars on our bikes, avoiding dog poop on the sidewalk and chasing after the ice cream man at record speed (does anyone remember dickie dee??). Tomorrow I am going to walk around the block in my bathing suit and high heels to get ready for swim suit season if anyone wants to join me.

There is a little running motivational trick where, for every kilometer you run in training, you take an elastic band and start forming a ball...and eventually it gets gigantic and you get to see how much you've accomplished. I might try this trick, since keeping track of page numbers in word documents does not seem to work....so tomorrow I am going to walk around the block in my bathing suit and high heels carrying a small ball of elastic bands. I will leave bail money with my landlord.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I leave you with these little poems...

Don't Quitby: Unknown Author
When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit.
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns.
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out:
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out -The silver tint of the clouds of doubt.
And you never can tell how close you are.
It may be near when it seems so far: So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again

If I had my child to raise all over again,I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I would care to know less and know to care more.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging.
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I'd teach less about the love of power, And more about the power of love.
Diane Loomans

Nathewrimo - April edition

Hey guys,

Well I sent off my chapters to Ian as promise at 8pm on March 31st. As Marianne pointed out, my time to productivity ratio was very poor at that point....so I just sent it off to Ian for comments. I took yesterday off to take care of a few nagging tasks that have been neglected lately, like clipping my toe nails and waxing my legs. I'm back to work today and I've been trying to start chapter 4, but so far I have been spectacularly unsuccessful. The sunshine at this point is very distracting, so I am planning on getting out for a run later.

I hope you are feeling better Sarah! Getting sick really sucks, especially when you are trying to get stuff done.

Also, this week has seemed really long, so I think beers on Friday are in order. How does Friday, 4pm at the grad house sound??

Talk to you ladies soon!

Sick!!

Boo Sick! Boooo.....

I started to feel it yesterday, and today I feel terrible. I have a pretty bad cold - body ache, chest wheezy, stomach nauseous. I was supposed to go to UofG for an Alumni event - Grad Launch. But fortunately, it has been unanimously agreed that I should stay home and rest (and not share my germs with the world).

I hate being sick...

what day is it??

So, I spend part of both Saturday AND Sunday at the school, so I'm feeling like my weekend never really happened. I'm sending my stuff to Ian tomorrow, so hopefully he'll have some nice things to say.

In other news, even though I spent some time at the University, many fun activities happened this weekend.
1. REEP open house in Kitchener. It was pretty exciting to see the cool green renos that are planned for the new REEP century houses. One is a demo project, and the other will be the REEP offices. My favourite part of the day was that an 87 year old man born in one of the houses came to take the tour. I love that these houses have been part of this community for so long...if these wall could talk, eh? Also...the City Cafe croissant and coffee were a huge highlight...excellent suggestions from Marianne.
2. I officially kicked off bike season. It is a huge pain in the ass to get my bike out of the shed because I still have to slog through 2 feet of snow in the backyard...but enough is enough, and spring is here as far as I am concerned.
3. Earth Hour also was very fun. A candle lite BBQ should be part of every person's life on a weekly basis if possible.

Good luck with work this week ladies! And great job keeping Nathewrimo alive!

Note to Self: Don't Give Up

Someone wrote this on the black board in the quite grad lounge, and it pretty much sums up how I'm feeling this week. As some of you may know, I'm having an emotional week. It's rough, but I've got tonnes of support and feel truly grateful to have such great friends.

I'm wayyyy behind in my work. Well.... maybe it's all relative. I'm further behind than I want to be, but maybe I put too much pressure on myself. Or, maybe I will never feel 'caught up' until this darn thing is defended and I have no more revisions.

Anyways, I definitely want to keep this blogy going. I love sharing and venting with you! It's been very meaningful to me.

Who votes for a revamp of the site for a new purpose? i.e. lets get ride of the page count (its making me a bit depressed)

Maybe we can create a section checklist?

I can also change the "purpose statements etc" for the site? Or someone else can?

The the games...continue!

Hello ladies!

I most definitely would like to continue with this blog, it's been great reading tips and sharing progress and setbacks. 

Yesterday I guess I had both!

I wasn't able to progress with my last thesis incarnation and it has resulted in a major/minor re-jig of the whole thing, including questions and the way I handle my sections. I can still use al the work I did, but I have to tweak it so it says something slightly different n most cases. In all honestly (as always) I am still working on wrapping my head around it all and have to concentrate harder than I would like to have it all make sense in my head. So, I have an outline written again and I think my next best step is to take what I've written and read it, re-order bits and strike unhelpful bits. 

I feel fine and always happy t make progress, yet naturally a bit bummed at the extra time to be spent on all this.  I think it's part of the cycle and the process, though.

Also, next on the list: I'm picking up my share of term projects to mark at noon, always a time suck sad to say.  I'll try to remember that I'm guaranteed to read some downright hilarious statements in these papers. 

I hope all is well! Stay in touch :-)

4 days until the close of Nathewrimo...

Well, I can't believe it, but we are only days away from the end of Nathewrimo! I doubt that any of us met the 80 page challenge, but I think that it was a really valuable exercise (for me, anyways!). I'm going to be giving Ian my first three chapters on Monday, and I'm not finished yet, but it looks like I'll be giving him about 40-45 pages, which is pretty good I think! I'm relatively happy with what I have written, and I am very anxious to see what he thinks.

Other excellent things that I have gotten from this experience:
1. A new appreciation for the genius of www.phdcomics.com
2. A brand new awesome playlist...thanks Marianne and Sarah :)
3. A raging blog checking habit...again, thanks Marianne and Sarah.....sigh

I think I am going to continue to check this blog regularly (see #3 above) even after March 31st. It's a nice way to keep on top of things, and it's good to see how everyone is doing.

And remember...only 4 days left in the frenzy!

For break times only

I outright copied Marianne's blog idea.

Check out my 'mix-tape'

:)

Two more methods books

Hey all. I picked up two more methods books.

• Social research methods : qualitative and quantitative approaches / W. Lawrence Neuman
• Qualitative interviewing : the art of hearing data / Herbert J. Rubin, Irene S. Rubin.

Let me know if you would like to use them. I'll be keeping most of these books in my locker for the time being (I only need to take a couple home at a time.)

Cheers.

just muddled...

Looks like it was stress-time today! I feel everyone's pain, and have been dealing with my fair share of stress (fun! fun!). Today wasn't much a stressful day as a muddled day. I'm continuing to work on my lit review, and it's getting to the point when I have reviewed TOO MANY articles! It's hard to see the themes and patterns when you've been starting at the same thing for ages. But anyways, it's going okay...and I'm determined to give Ian whatever I have by the end of the month. At this point I am really going to appreciate some feedback!

Anyways, good job on the job stuff Sarah! You'll get something great, so stop worrying! (easier said than done for sure ;) )

And Marianne, something you said gave me an idea. I was thinking that it might be useful if we traded documents at some point, just to get another set of eyes on the paper. Not maybe soon, but I would appreciate a new set of eyes, just to ensure that I am making the points that I'm trying to make.

Anyways, let me know what you guys think....and keep on truckin!

unrelated thesis stuff... adding to stress...

I had just pulled myself together enough to open and start working on my thesis when I got an email back from the OPA about the Intern position I applied for.... Basically, I made a really good impression on them, but they decided to give the position to someone else. They said they think that I "can do more than the position requires". So, they have another internship position that they are recommending me for - which is an 8 month contract instead of a 4 month contract. But, nothing is guaranteed.

The position looks very interesting, and I told her that I was still keen to work with the OPA in another position. And, they are getting back to me tomorrow about the next steps.

Boo... more uncertainty! Got to roll with it though because I'm hopeful that things may work out. Maybe maybe.

Now I need to pull myself together again and get back to work!

*sigh*

Stress Bag II

Hello! 

I've definitely got much less on my plate to think about than Sarah, but I seem to be similarly stressy. Rob was away all weekend, so I worked most of the day, every day from Thursday till today. Unfortunately , that resulted in less than a paragraph of writing and a couple of crises on my thesis. Not insurmountable, just...if I try it alone. So I have sent my questions and concerns my e-mail to ML and I am thinking of going for a bike ride to clear my head. 

I still have to write up the notes from that GB UW meeting, which I can't seem to make myself do. I suppose, eventually I will break and get that done. 

Anyhoo, it looks like a time for re-grouping. 

Sarah, don't worry about disappointing Ian, you aren't meant to figure it all out by yourself. Also, even if you managed to fall short, that's life, you're busy and you can count it as motivation to keep moving. Good luck and try not to worry about that. 

We will prevail!

 

Stress bag!

So, how is everyone doing?

I'm feeling anxious and stressed out. I feel like I've gotten in over my head with work. My thesis writing is pathetic. I'm waiting to hear back from the OPA about the policy research position. I have to finish my Teaching Dossier. I'm worried that Ian is going to disappointed with my work. I'm helping FES Alumni Network put together an information booth. I'm helping GEL with their upcoming workshop. I have to take my cat to the vet for shots. blah blah blah...

On the up side, I had a terrific Easter weekend with my family. Good food, and chocolate. mmm. I tried to enjoy it as much as possible even though I'm feeling stressed about school work.

Methods books

Hey ladies,

Wow - the library works quickly. To follow-up with a previous post, I requested some materials that were referenced in the thesis I suggested.

So, I have in my possession now:

• Research decisions : quantitative and qualitative perspectives / Ted Palys, Chris Atchison.
• Mail and internet surveys : the tailored design method / Don A. Dillman.
• Interviewing : strategy, techniques, and tactics / Raymond L. Gorden.
  
• Studying elites using qualitative methods / Rosanna Hertz, Jonathan B. Imber, editors.

If you want to use any of these book, I'm going to leave them in my locker for a bit - I can give you the code upon request.

...
In other news, I managed to get all non-thesis related work done. *phew*

More lists

Here are some words I really don't like to say:

1. mixture

2. mortgage

3. pustule

As for school: I am pretty much starting my week today. I handed a pile of stuff in on Monday and heard back that's it's okay but needs to be tighter, denser and backed up with more references. Not unexpected, still a little disappointing! So, I will spend the next couple of days keeping my head down and workin' it. 

Right now I am in office hours, which is more like solitary confinement in a very cold boardroom with the odd student asking me questions, which I gracefully sidestep.  Heh, some of the time, anyways. 

I hope everyone is doing well

m

reading reading reading

My oh my...yesterday was a bad night for sleeping apparently! I definitely saw 4:30 come and go, so today was a bit of a sleepy day for me. I've got an outline for my lit review that I am happy with, and I have continued summarizing my articles on cue cards. WHY HAVEN'T I BEEN DOING THIS ALL ALONG!?!?!?!? seriously...I can see why we were supposed to have a decent lit review finished a year ago...it would have made my life sooooo much easier. Anyways, it's all part of the learning process....and the next time I write a thesis I am definitely going to do a better job on the lit review the first time around.

Anyways, that's it for me. I did send an email to Ian today telling him to expect 3 chapters by the end of the month....so that's definitely some additional motivation. Sorry to hear about everyone's insomnia/sleep injuries. Here's hoping tonight will be less eventful.

Also, Jackie's birthday is tomorrow, and I think people are going to McMullians for beer on Thursday. This might be old news, but I thought that I would pass the invitation along!

Talk to everyone tomorrow!

Good sleep until...

I was having  nice sleep last night, but was woken up a bunch of times very early this morning, from Rob's alarm, from the cat deciding it was time to get up (it wasn't) and from some kind o very painful damage I seem to have done to my knee in my sleep!

So my right leg is barely load-bearing this morning for no reason that I can imagine, a very small part of the left side of the knee just screams when I try to use its own power to do anything. So I've got a bag of frozen corn on it and I'm hoping it's better by the time I'm supposed to go in to school this afternoon. I have a barrage of more marking coming my way, which is sad.    

School-wise, I sent ML CH1, CH2 and the outline of CH3. I'm expecting lots of comments from her! In the mean time, I've put together my seed order for summer gardening and need to review the assignment I'm supposed to hold office hours for on Thursday (TA job). So this morning I am home bound . I may pull up ethics and see what happened lo so many months ago! 

have a great day!

restless night

I had a restless night tossing and turning with worry about my thesis. Yesterday, I got hung up with some of my stats. I couldn't figure out how to do what the stats consultant has told me to do - so I'm just going to send her an email this morning.

Today, I'm working from home. I'm going to start with lit review for as long as I can stand it. Then, I'm going to move onto my CUT response paper. Then, more stats and prep for my presentation on Thursday.

Image from here.

Monday...

Thanks for the reference suggestions Sarah! I've definitely looked at Tom's thesis before, but it's been a while (like a year), so it was a good reminder!

Today was a successful day for sure. I started rewriting/reorganizing my lit review on friday, and I now have about 9 pages that I would be willing to show to Ian. That, in my opinion, is a freaking miracle. I'm still a ways away from actually finishing it, but I'm confident that I'll have three chapters to him by the end of the month.

Other than that, I've been listening to a sweet mix of tunes today from Feist, Ryan Adams, Metric and Josh Radin...so it has been a good day!

recommended reading - interview methods

For those of you doing interviews (which I think is all of us)... I recommend that you read this thesis. Ian recommended it to me a while back. There is TONNES of detail and references for how to use interviews.

Enjoy!

REFERENCES

This may have gotten lost in my last couple posts, but I NEED HELP WITH METHODOLOGY REFERENCES.

Marianne - how are you planning on analyzing your interview/narrative data. Do you have references for this?

Sarah - in your methods, how are you describing your analysis for SPSS stuff? Do you have references for this?

Thanks guys!

Week goals

Good idea Sarah, weekly goals are cool. You are such a busy bee with so much on the go! Go Sarah!

So, for me this week:

1. Draft chapter 3 today (HA HAAaAA haaaa haaa ha a ah ah hahahahaaaa sigh)

2. Mail in my first three franken-chapters to ML today

3. Draft CH4 plan (more case studies just like CH 3)

4. Go back over my ethics and see where it needs to be updated for interviews and also prepare participant observation ethics addendum

That should cover me pretty well I would say for the week. If I can punch out a skeleton plan for CH 3 today then I'll have lots to keep me busy filling in  blanks for CH3 and CH4 for quite a while. Plus I can't forget the CH1 and CH2 which still need quite a bit of loving TLC. 

 have this nagging feeling I'm missing some valuable connections in my thesis, to housing or whatever so I'm also going to go back over my meeting notes with ML and make sure I'm refreshed on how this thing is coming together specifically. I have a tendency to run off the rails when left o my own devices, and I can lose the thread of what exactly 'm doing fairly easily, so this is definitely a  good idea. 

Anyhoodle, this is me busy for a few days! Good luck girls!

m

This week's goal... lit review!

My goal this week is to get my literature review drafted... FINALLY! No excuses!

I've got other things I've got to do:
1. Prepare a presentation for Thursday - FES Speaker Series/CUT
2. Submit a response paper for CUT by Thursday
3. Meet with UofG Alumni to prepare a display for the Grad Launch event next week

That's fewer distractions then normal, so wish me luck!

A schedule!

Hello all!

Well, the original rules of Nathewrimo have clearly been thrown out the window...but that's okay, because I think we are all getting stuff done. And personally, I like keeping account of what I've accomplished, and knowing that other people (Hi Liz!) are checking up on me. Also, thanks for the play list marianne....awesome stuff!

Anyways, I've been working on summarizing the literature that I've collected on cue cards. It has been pretty helpful, and I think I've sorted out a logical structure for my lit review already...which has been a challenge up until now. I'm also still looking for help as to how you peeps are planning on analyzing your data...so if anyone has good references for SPSS or qualitative interview stuff that would be great.

Another accomplishment has been to set a schedule with due dates for myself, which I need to stick to if I want to get out of here before August. So, here it is:
1. March 31st - Finish Ch. 1, 2 and 3 (intro, lit review and methodology).
2. April 15th - Finish Ch. 4 (results and analysis for my summer interviews)
3. May 15th - Transcribe school interviews, and write Ch. 5 (Case study results chapter)
4. June 15th - Finish Ch. 6 (Analysis chapter)
5. June 30th - Finish Ch. 7 (Conclusions and recommendations)

So, obviously this is a ton of work, but I think the due dates are realistic and achievable. I plan to hand my completed chapters to Ian as soon as I finish them , so by the end of June he'll have seen all my chapters. I hope to give Paul and Ian my 1st draft at the end of June, so that they can tear it apart. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep to this schedule, but I think it will help me keep focused as well. So, I have 2 weeks to turn out a finished, decent lit review!

And.....YAY, it's Friday! See you guys tomorrow at the Charity ball and Sunday for breakie!

I made you a mix tape

But it's on the other blog. 

Here.

In school news, I have until monday not until today to do bunches of writing, so of course I've done nothing all day. However, I plan to go to school later this evening. Wheee!

Have a good day you guys.

m 

This is going to be cross posted

Check out this little distraction (ONLY DURING APPROVED BREAK PERIODS)

It's called photoshop disasters. 

Don't worry, it's short but sweet. 

m

More lists

Hey guys, so the write-a-thon is on, and it's going okay. I'm pretty sure I can't hit my goal, but I might be able to not embarrass myself totally, so that's good. 

Here is a short list of words that are pretty fun to say:

1. poo

2. bramble

3. snuffle

4. spandex

5. plinko

Thoughts?

m

and so it goes...

Hilarious!...I love how this blog is now used to share our different procrastination methods. This is awesome, and also gives me so many more websites to check before I get to work. So thanks marianne...I'm up to speed on professional dominatrix activities for now...

Writing hasn't really been happening for the last few days, but today I feel it picking up. I'm planning on using the cue card method sarah suggested to organized my lit review. Also, for my methods section I'm wondering how everyone is writing about how their data will be analyzed. Especially for people using qualitative data...what's the analysis method? Any suggestions??

In other news, the St. Paddy's Day breakie is on Sunday, so don't forget to stop by in a green hat, beer in hand. It'll be good craic, I promise!

Things I do instead of my thesis...

1. Check my email
2. Check my blog and news feed reader
3. Check Facebook
4. Write a blog post
5. Do the dishes
6. Do the laundry
7. Play with my kitten
8. Get a snack
9. Listen to music and watch music videos on Last.fm
10. Look for jobs
11. GEL
12. CUT
13. Grocery shopping
14. Coffee with friends

.... I'm sure there's more....

Image from here.

okay!

I 'm glad you're feeling better Sarah, headache are the worst because it's really hard to fix/ignore them. I hope you have a good day today as well. 

Tomorrow I'm supposed to hand off some materials to ML for her to read, which is a big deal to me anyways because I know how busy she is. Needless to say, what I've got is not ML worthy an muchof it is still unwritten (Natasha Beddingfield, anyone?). So, today is a keeping-my-head-down kind of day...wish me luck and perseverance!

See you ladies later!

m

a down day

Yesterday, I had the worst headache all day!! I could hardly stand to look at the computer for more then 10 mins. Today I feel much better - except that I feel behind and a bit stressed out.

Lets hope today is more productive.

Lists

Hey ladies, 

This is a website of lists called 5ives

It's...pretty funny. I think so anyways.

Here's my list:

5 Things I can do today to stave off my stress-activated "active sleep" dreams

1. Go to the library to pick up books, incorporate with walk to school

2. Go over notes I made for Ch 1 and fix t in the actual computer document

3. Figure out my case study criteria (i.e. write up my final paragraphs in Ch 2)

4. Determine my US/Canada case studies

5. Hash out what Ch 3 looks like

brrrrrrrrrum-ching!

How are YOU doing?

m

I got two turn tables and a microphone

Whoa Sarah, awesome idea with the cue cards! That's an excellent strategy. Keeping myself on the rails when writing is one my my bigger challenges. Once I actually get writing, that is. 

This weekend was more fun than work-ish. With the snowstorm on Saturday I wanted to go snowshoeing and rob wanted to check out a bluegrass band playing at the Duke, we decided to compromise and snowshoe to the duke! It was super fun, and I won a CD from a great band from Montreal.  Anyhoo, that translated into a very late night and a very late morning (not hungover, just way sleepy). So Sunday was a bit of a bust. We also switched from afternoon shift to morning shift so I'm adjusting to less sleep t shift my schedule back by about 4 hours. 

I did some random writing her and there, but my main accomplishment was reading trough chapter one and making lots of corrections and additions and shifting sections (on paper, I still have to transfer it all to type). Today I am adding bits and pieces from articles to beef up some points, then I plan to fix up chapter one in a typed way. Those are both big enough tasks for one day, but let's say there's a miracle and that all happens, in that case I will then put together my criteria for case study selection. This all has to be way backed up with lots of lit and writing, so no small feat. Once I do that I can chose and analyse 3 international case studies (sustainable housing innovators, specifically ones relating to my criteria). Then after that it's on to choosing my K/W case studies and hashing out interview questions for the narratives/interviews. 

Obviously, this is not all on the plate for today, but as I write it out I get chills...time to brew some (caffeinated) tea and crack the whip...action time!

Good luck everyone!

marianne

where I'm at

Over the weekend I spent a lot of time trying to make sense of my consumption data. I was originally going to present some 'results' to the energy research group today, but in the end I decided against it. I was using data that wasn't weather adjusted, and I would just have to repeat the lengthy calculations all over again. I don't think that it was a complete waste of time though because I trouble shot many problems that I will have to deal with later. Perhaps though I didn't prioritize my time properly because I didn't get ANY writing done over the weekend.

Yesterday, I spent the day at school, and stayed late to work on my lit review. I managed to tidy it up a bit. I wrote out all the themes and concepts on cue cards with the authors - then put them in an order that makes sense. This seems to have helped me out tremendously.

Thanks Claire for letting my use your couch last night!

How's everyone else doing?

Image from here.

Week 2, and it's getting easier!

Welcome to week two of Nathewrimo!! Due to several very late nights over the weekend, I ended up getting a late start today. I'm finding that I don't accomplish very much in the mornings anyways, so I am going to experiment with coming in late (11ish) and leaving late (maybe 8ish?) this week. I did that today, and I have to say that it worked really well! I wrote about 3 pages today, and I am *almost* done the methodology section of my paper. Tomorrow I need to write about how I plan to analyze my data, and then I am putting that chapter to bed. My goal for the rest of Nathewrimo is to get my lit review chapter to a point that I am not embarrassed to show it to Ian. If I can do that, I'll have the first three chapters ready to be torn apart by Ian...which would make me incredible happy.

Anyways, hopefully everyone else is getting into the swing of things this week. I can't wait to hear how you are all doing.

Peace.

the matrix

A sample of my data.... vs....

The matrix...

Can you see the similarities?

Workin' on a Friday night...

How cool am I?

This morning, I got up early to meet with GEL at 8am to work on our EcoMarket. I got home around 11am, and when back to sleep for a few hours.

This afternoon has been filled with my trying to understand my data. I'm trying to get the bulk of my calculations done tonight so that I can spend the rest of the weekend writing and working on my research presentation that I'm giving to this Tuesday's energy group meeting. What's confusing me right now.. again... is the whole Day Light Saving's time thing. My data is given to me in EST, but for part of the year, we are in DLS... and I need to get it straight for my calculations. Doesn't sound like it would be that complicated. I think I've got it right... but I sent off an email to Jer to double check.

Anyhoo... this will be another day with a "0" for my writing page count. No biggy though. I still feel like I'm making progress.

Happy weekend everyone! I hope the first week of NaTheWriMo has been a good experience!

Image from here.

TGIF!

Hey girls!

Well I already at school (hhahaha..."already"...it's 11:30am), and it's is taking me a while to get going. I received another survey back in the mail (wow...3 out of 22...what's that? A 13% response rate, that's what!), so that is a good thing I guess. My goal today is to do some more methods writing and hopefully finish off the skeleton of that section.

Good job Sarah on the job prospect! I've totally had to do the "pre-screening" thing before, and it's not that bad. For mine, it was an "interview" with an automated machine, and you could re-record your answers if you didn't like how it came out. Small tip...there is a finite amount of you can re-record.

Machine: Why qualifications make you suitable for this position?
Claire: I have a degree in International Relations, and I have had extensive experie....oh shit...hahahaha.
Machine: You have re-recorded your answer too many times. Your answer will be submitted.

But, I ended up getting the job anyways, so don't worry about it too much!

Anyways, back to work for me. Good job to us for finishing week one of Nathewrimo!!

NIght crew

Hey yo, still at school over here. 

Doing some writing but also lots of time wasting which means I am lacking in direction. I am starting to think that my next activity might be re-reading and moving parts around as well as clarifying and trimming.   I think that will help me feel a little less like I'm swimming in paragraphs and ideas an more like I'm cutting through it and making it better. 

Nice work with the pre-interview Sarah! Seems like a bit of a process but the job sounds perfect for you. 

Claire, I may be up for drinks tomorrow depending on how my day goes , it might work out if I have a good day, or I might want to have a late night if I suck all day. Could I tempt you to go somewhere in town to work, like a coffee shop or the library or something? 

Anyhoodle ladies, catch you on the flip side! 

m

Tired - but I've got news...

I got home from school about an hour and a half ago... and I'm exhausted... My guest lecture went ok... and I'm happy that I have one big thing off my plate.

I got a fair bit done to my consumption data, and should have it ready to be sent away for weather adjustment - another big thing to cross of my list. But, I'm way to tired to write (boo....)

On the plus side, I have another job prospect! I just got an email from the Ontario Power Authority about a Policy Research Intern position. They want to set up a 'pre-screening' phone call before they do an interview. Yikes!

Tomorrow is going to be another busy day. I'm meeting with GEL at 8am in the morning, to help with plan an EcoMarket for 'Earth Day' in April. It's a good thing that we are meeting early, so that I have enough time to get work done in the afternoon.

I plan to do a fair bit of writing this weekend.

methods, methods, methods

Today I spent most of the day trying to make some progress on the methods section. I'm finding it rather tough because (as I mentioned before) I have to keep saying WHY I've done the things I've done. I'm actually feeling quite muddled, but this is a good exercise to get me sorted out.

My plan for the next couple days:
1. Keep writing
2. Start listening to my interviews and making notes
3. Keep writing.

Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday...anyone up for drinks??

Who'd've thought?

Who would have thought that keeping track of the lives of 200 households would be so complicated!?! Right now I'm trying to figure out, of the consumption data that I was given, which of it needs to be cut out because people moved in and out during different times during my study period. Basically it means that for some of my units I won't be able to perform all the statistical analysis for all of the units. Gotta love it...

On the agenda today:
1. Prepare for Lecture - I need to figure out what I'm saying and add some images for my lecture today at 4pm
2. Get my data ready for weather adjustment - it needs to be sent off asap
3. Write SOMETHING...

Productivity....

I have to say, I was more productive today than I would have been without having to report on the blog. I guess that's the point.

So, today, despite carpool cancellations and having to scramble last minute for a ride and take the bus home, I managed to make it on time for a 15 minute meeting.... ugh. Fortunately, I did manage to get a fair bit done. I compiled a list of data 'availability', I discovered and solved a data discrepancy, I reviewed my lecture for Bob's class tomorrow, AND I got three pages written in my methods section! Yay! I wrote up a brief summary of the organizations that I interviewed and a few points about selection criteria. Not a heck of a lot, but it sure did take me a lot longer then I thought it should.

Anyways, I hope you all had a happy and productive day!

Image from here.

...and I'm back!

Hahaha....thanks for the laugh Marianne! God...you can find EVERYTHING on the internet!

So, today was definitely more productive than yesterday. I'm eating soup and saltines, which is a giant improvement over nothing and water from yesterday. I spent a good portion of the morning entering the last of my survey data into my excel spreadsheet (yay data entry!). Thanks to Sarah for helping me out with some SPSS stuff...I should be ready to do some fiddling (aka analysis) with my numbers fairly soon.

I also did a bit of writing, but somehow I wrote and delete (bad Claire!!), so I'm still sitting at about 28 pages. I probably wrote about 1-2 pages, so that's not too bad.

In other news, the Gentle Ninja Bears won our last soccer game, so we're off to the playoffs. GO BEARS!!

I'm loving this blog...it's great to keep up with everyone...and it's definitely encouraging me to at least accomplish SOMETHING everyday. Thanks guys! :)

Funny ha-ha, not funny-weird

Hey everyone, I hope this is funny for you. It's called Garfield Minus Garfield. 

I found it to be way funnier than Garfield plus Garfield :-) Enjoy!

xo

m

Today is going to be a good one

Or else, I'm rocking in a corner, holding my temples. 

Just kidding! Mostly!

Hee hee. Wow, Sarah that sounds like a real scare. It's fortunate that you were so well prepared and organized...I'm glad you were able to sort it out. It must have been an intense few minutes though! 

So, today:

- Fill in the blanks of stuff I've already written. I have some section headings with no words

- Come up with lit-based criteria for interview questions. 

- Start conceptualizing the literature-base why's of everything: which cases I want to look at, how that makes sense, what those cases will tell me specifically towards answering my questions.  

These goals are my over-several-days goals. I guess I need to start with number one thereand psych myself up for the rest. It seems...overwhelmy a bit. So, slow and steady wins the race. 

Also tonight I'm expected in the class I TA for from 7-10. Generally that means a semi-efficient 3 hours of typing and rolling eyes with the other TA's.  Should be  good. 

God luck ladies!

Data confusion...

This morning I was sorting thru my mountains of data. I was attempting to match up account numbers, consumption information and questionnaire data... and I had a bit of a scare. 38 of my account numbers didn't match the original account information that I had been given. Which either meant that I have been given the wrong data for 38 units, or the original account information I was given was incorrect.

'Luckily', it the original account information I was given was incorrect, which means that I only wasted about 2 hours of my time and I don't need to do any recalculations (that would have been a waste of ~15 hours of work).

Also, it was fortunate that when I was doing my questionnaires I made up a 'project reference number' that matched the address and not the incorrect account number. Even though there was a mix-up with the account numbers, I'm still able to match up my questionnaire data to the correct household. Phew!

.... I really like having this blog to vent too!

On todays agenda...
1. sorting thru consumption data and accounts
2. meeting with observer for my lecture tomorrow
3. Writing - I'm going to try to tackle some of my methods section, and summarize my interview findings. Hopefully this will help bring up my page count ;)

Hello from up North!

Hi fellow thesisettes,

Everyone seems to being doing well (minus a few snags and vomit episodes)! Sarah-In terms of interviews, I think I am using Yin suggestions and also possibly some information from a book on interviews that I think you told me about. I also might be able to give you a journal article about expert interviews when I get back to Waterloo if you can hold out until then (I don't have it with me here to send).

I won't be posting my daily/weekly totals on the page tracker thingy, as I don't have a google account and refuse to sign up for anything else related to email/internet, but I will give you verbal updates as I go along and write down my page count on paper.

I will be back at school next monday and I am sending along happy thoughts to you all as you plug away!

Lyndsay

Interview methods - sources?

Does anyone have any sources for interview methods? I've hit a bit of a snag - I'm trying to write my methods section on "expert interviews", but I'm realizing that the sources that I have kinda suck....

Any suggestions?

Anything good I can get online?

my day will be starting soon!

Well, my favourite new line has definitely become woofing my cookies. I might just start substituting it randomly into my speech, or maybe in my head at least. Like smurfing or something. Heh. 

I'm super sorry to hear about the end of the chili and the reason that delightful phrase was brought into my life. I hope you feel way better soon claire!

My day has been a write of so far as well, but for far less excellent reasons. Rob's on afternoons and he doesn't leave till 3ish in the afternoon, so this morning was spent doing errands and laundry and other fun stuff. I think I might make a batch of crackers to snack on and then try to boogie on a few pages on transformational leadership. 

Good luck with your interviews Sarah! I'm sure you are an exceptional candidate. I don't really know when I'll be defending so I'm a little leery about job hunting, though it may be something worth thinking more about. Maybe when my draft is being read/passed around.

Right-o, good luck guys, catch up with you soon

marianne

Maybe I'll get some writing done tonight...

So, today I had my job interview with the City of Guelph. It wasn't the best interview I've ever had, but I still think it went alright. I'm a bit out of practice. Good thing I decided to take another interview for a job in another department as well.

Also, today, I worked on finishing up my notes for the FES Alumni Network. So, at least that excuse is out of the way for the time being.

The rest of the day has been a bit of a write off so far... P decided to take a few days off work, and I've been procrastinating.

I think I'll get a some writing done tonight when he goes out.

curveball!

Well, I should start by saying that I made a completely lovely pot of chili last night, and I remember commenting that "this is my best batch yet".

Unfortunately, something (could have been the chili...) gave me a lovely dose of food poisoning, and I was up all night feeling completely wretched and "woofing my cookies" as my mom likes to say. I spent today also feeling wretched, but at least I've been able to get some sleep. Agustin has felt completely fine, but as a precaution I've chucking the rest of the chili.

All and all...this is the first time my computer has been on today, except for this afternoon when I watched a few episodes of 30 Rock. I'm obviously feeling good enough to update this blog (which wasn't true this afternoon) so I'm hoping to be on the thesis-writing wagon again by tomorrow.

How did everyone else do?

Just keep pushing!

Hey, it's not a shaky start...it's a start!

I'm totally counting stuff written up till today towards today's total. It's a gimme, like a "welcome to nathewrimo" gift from me to me :-)

I had an advisor meeting today and we established that I need to get my buns in gear. I'm glad someone mentioned spacing, as I've been using double spacing. I like 1.5 much better, as it seems like a more reasonable amount on a page without being overwhelming. The writing I have coming up is a little more of the establishing lit reviewy bits, but then really digging into the justification of the whole affair. The why and how that have been brought up already. Jeez, what's with everything having to make sense? ;-)

I have about 35 pages written in some kind of order, but it's not dense...like, there's words on a page but not necessarily the depth and support needed to make it valuable. So, while I continue writing I suspect my page count will be going down simultaneously. Like that exercise thing where you gain weight from muscle even though you are losing fat. So, I suppose I will have to "trim the fat". 

I think I will count pages written but not subtract pages trimmed (if that happens, no editing!) in order to avoid demoralizing myself. Plus, progress is progress. 

Alright. Good job so far! I'm going to throw a number in the spreadsheet. Remember that the goal is to write 80 pages/have a draft by the end of March.  Growth happens in fits and spurts. 5 pages a day is a nice idea but some days will be big days an others lean, and we will succeed! 

later alligators

m

A shaky start...

I also had a shaky start to writing. I started the day with every intention of spending time fixing up my literature review... but after a few minutes of flipping back and forth thru the word doc I gave up. I've got thirty pages or so 'written' but its not in any order that makes sense. And, as I said previously, I told my advisor that I'd have a chapter written by the end of the week.

Today, I spent most of my time organizing my energy consumption data in preparation for being sent off for weather-adjusting. My data set is massive and overwhelming... and needs to be 'cleaned' up before it can be analyzed.

As for 'writing', I got some information into my methods chapter. No fresh material though, just cut-and-paste from other documents into appropriate sub-headings. I guess there's no sense re-writing anything, so I'm going to count these pages. Claire, I can totally relate to how your feeling. The 'whys' are killing me!

On a side note, what line spacing is everyone using? I don't know how important this is.. but I don't want to feel behind or a head of anyone if I'm actually not. I'm using 1.5 spacing.

Also, for the other NaTheWriMo participants, if you are having trouble posting on the blog, feel free to contact me!


Image from here.

This is harder than it looks....

Whoooooeeeee...day one of NaTheWriMo was off to a slow, grinding start for me. I realized this morning that a funding application that I had forgotten about was due today, so I spent most of the morning working on that. I did get some writing done this afternoon, but it is HARD to write without editing. I'm trying to resist, but I think that I wrote one, maybe two, pages today. I'm off to a slow start, but it's a start!!

My lit review is a mess right now, so I decided to start with the methodology section. I figured, how hard can that be?...I just have to write what I did. Turns out, it is actually pretty hard when you have to think about WHY you did every little thing. HOW did I pick the schools I did? WHY did I do it that way? Was there a better way? How does this affect my results (whatever they may be...)? Anyways, I probably did more think than writing...but that can't be bad either.

I also decided to try to work from home today. It worked pretty well, although I did end up taking an extended lunch to fix myself something nice, and I ate 3 muffins (delicious!). I'm going to go to school tomorrow to see how that works, and also because I need to use SPSS at some point tomorrow.

Anyways, that's it for me...How's everyone else doing?

Would you look at that logo!

Wow!

Nice job Sarah, this is perfect!

A a Facebook hold-out and  definite blog participant, this is awesome. Here's my starting block situation:

I have tonnes of stuff written, pages and pages. Sounds awesome except not a heck of a lot of it is solid stuff and I am definitely missing key sections/info. So I still have a bunch of writing to do.

I have done no field data collection except some participant observation stuff. This is not a crisis because I'll be talking to a couple of people to complement the other research I'm doing rather than surveys or other mega-time consuming stuff.  Still, it'll be nice to finish that off. 

My boyfriend is working the evening shift this week which means so am I, so I'm up late and work late (Hopefully ;-). It's past 11 a.m. and I'm just getting up, so my schedule is totally wonky this week. However, I have an advisor meeting today and so today's goal is to get as much done to minimize embarrassment. Hah!

Generally my plan is to focus on writing just absolute reams of thesis and then mercilessly cutting it down. 

Good luck everybody and don't forget to post your numbers this evening before midnight. 

Wheeeeee!

marianne

Thanks Sarah!!

Thanks to Sarah for getting this blog up and running...this will probably work better than the facebook page, since not everyone is actually on facebook (good job to the hold outs!)

Anyways, it's 10:30 and I've just made a fresh pot of coffee, and I've run out of places to procrastinate online (well...once I'm done posting this message, that will be true). So, day one of NaTheWriMo is underway. Good luck to everyone, and I can't wait to hear how you're all doing!

Welcome to the NaTheWriMo!!

Ready... Set... GO!!!!

I'm very excited to get this started! I really need the motivation to get this thesis drafted and completed. I've got a long way to go, but I think if I break it down into manageable chunks, it will be a much more enjoyable experience.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to strictly focus on writing this month. Here's a list of things that I've got on my mind:

1. A job interview tomorrow. And possibly another one next week.
2. My adviser wants a chapter 2 asap --> therefore, I'm going to have to spend a bit of time this week editing (I'm already breaking rules)
3. I'm doing a guest lecture for a forth year class as part of my certificate in university teaching
4. I want to start my teaching dossier for the same certificate
5. I'm helping organizing "Earth-Day" activities with Guelph Environmental Leadership
6. I'm preparing notes and attending a meeting for the Faculty of Environmental Sciences Alumni Network
7. I've got thesis data... mountains of thesis data.. to organize and evaluate (and hopefully write about)
8. I'm presenting two research presentations this month.

Phew... It's going to be a busy month. But, if I take a bit of time every day to write a few pages... this thesis will be done that little bit faster. And you guys watching me is just the motivation I need!

Please use this blog to post your concerns, frustrations, and successes. Tips and tricks. Motivational quotes. Funny pictures. Whatever you need! This space is yours.

Good luck everyone!

-Sarah