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!