Time to take the heads out of the sand

Hi guys,

Just a short one here, but I reached a sort of revelation just a few hours ago, and I thought I'd share it...

We all get stuck. Overwhelmed. We don't know where to start. It all seems just too immense. We should have been reading the literature from the start, and now with only a few months to go, we suddenly realize we know very little about what we actually do (on the broader scale) and why... right? I can tell you exactly how best to transport marine invertebrates in a car without killing them, but why? Or what they actually do in the world.... I draw a blank!

Well, for me at least, this has been a big problem. I left it too late, felt too scared by all of the information out there, so I buried my head in the sand, and hoped it would all go away. Unfortunately it did not. In fact, it manifested itself in the form of a presentation I must give in three days time, followed by the fear of questions I cannot comprehend on topics I should have been an expert on three years ago.

So, what can we do? I know it all seems too great a mountain to climb, but there is a way! The way - the internet. With a small pinch of salt, an afternoon, and a computer, you too can become easily and quickly eased into the world of your supposed "expertise".

I found that with a simple wiki search on my overall broad topic, I not only was introduced nicely into the whole thing, but it also provided references to some of the more widely known papers etc, which can quickly lead onto more and more. Now I know that wiki could be written by a Dalmatian, but its a start right? It gets you going. Gives you a nice easing into things, and before you know it, you are actually understanding what you do.... and I'll tell ya, it's a good feeling.

So try it.... try it today. It IS scary, and yes, there is a lot to know, but we can all do it, it's just how to approach it! If you had never learned to swim would you start by cannonballing into the deep end of a pool? No. You'd put on some water-wings and paddle in the shallows until you felt braver!



So paddle on Almost Doctors, and fear not, the water is warmer than you think!

Dr Almost there

Rise and Shine

I don't know if you guys have noticed but I'm not particularly good at mornings. Since the start of the year I'd say I could count on one hand the number of times I've been in the lab before noon. Mornings are a dot to me. The thing is, while I'll agree I'm pretty lazy, I'm not amazingly lazy. I usually do a full day's worth of work. I had no trouble getting up during my undergrad years, or the 2 years of early-morning travel to the institute for leaving cert. Not to mention the various jobs I've managed to not get fired from for excessive tardiness over the years. I think I've just gotten into a bad habit. Plus the fact that there are no consequences for getting in late to work. With that in mind I think it's high time to pull myself back from the brink of being completely nocturnal and research some successful habits for getting up early.

1. Set 2 alarms. Sounds obvious, but here's the kicker. Set them exactly 2 minutes apart! Place one beside your bed and have it play soothing music to wake you up slowly, then place the other on the other side of the room and have it play really that really annoying alarm sound.
- This is a slight twist on a fairly basic technique. It may be a winner though.

2. Set an automatic coffee maker to start making coffee in the morning and be awoken by the aroma wafting to your nostrils.
- I don't have what it takes for this, either a coffee machine OR a love of coffee. I presume this can be replaced by anything smelly though; a fry up, the smell of napalm in the morning or even the bin-lorry. A variation of this is to get a cat, feed it regularly at your desired wake-up time and then if you sleep in, it'll burst into your room and crawl all over your face until your get up and give it breakfast. Lousy cats.

3. Get some sort of "unorthodox" alarm clock.

(This is as close to a robot dinosaur as I think this post will allow.)
...
...
Ah feck it:


or something like
http://www.hammacher.com/publish/70460.asp?promo=homepage
(there are others on this page too)

or


or this looks cool


(Also on my travels I found possibly the coolest thing EVER: )


- I think I might get that flying alarm clock, that looks pretty cool. But right now I have to go and find my old transformers and see how I can turn them into ipod docks.

4. Consequences. Nothing gets you out of bed like the threat of being fired. Or of missing your bus. Or of missing someone's viva talk. Or of being stomped on by a giant robot... you get the idea. At the moment I, and presumably all of you, have no real consequences to suffer for being late. Here's what I propose: we form Team Consequence. (Team-name poll coming soon). All members of the team (you guys) are sworn to pester, cajole and slag the other members (me) into getting up and in to work (relatively) early. I feel if we all pull together we can beat this thing!

As a final thought, here is a video showing just some of the consequences of having a robot ninja dinosaur in your life:



What about you guys? How do you manage to drag your ugly butts out of bed in the morning? Share your tips in the comment section.

New poll!

Hello Sports-fans! This will be a quick one, as I am not technically "host of posts" (LOL) this month (Gary... we're waiting).... but Suz and I had a ponderment that required a new poll....

We sometimes meet in that spot on where the path meets the road between Physics, Computer Sci, and Nursing.... and it's a lengthy description, which IMO makes it a lesser used meeting point, as it's too time-consuming to say, "Let's meet at that place where the path meets the road between Physics, Computer Sci, and Nursing"

Thus, a new poll has been born! Cast your vote on what we should now refer to said meeting place as, and thus it shall be called, and verily and merrily we shall meetith there henceforth! (When we're headed that was that is, otherwise it's actually quite out of the way)

Feel free to add more name choices, there were really only two so far, and I added two more to complete the poll... but the poll can be adjusted for new options!

Happy working my lil worker bees... Today will be a day of great motivation, high productivity, and much satisfaction. I feel it!
*hugs*

Dr. Almost there

Space: Actual (and beyond)

Today's post shall be dedicated to Space. For those of us in the space science group... and to welcome the return of Season 4 of Battlestar Galactica tonight on telly... Suzanne and Rob, scoff all you will, but if you watched it, you'd be hooked too...

Space. It's big right? Or is it? I believe we often regard space as that giant expanse of darkness and mystery above our heads... mostly empty (without even air forgodsake) only every once and a while interrupted by stuff like planets, space junk, and aliens.

But what if we think outside the box today, and think of space in other forms...

Space can be where we live, or feel at home. This is my space, I like it here. Then space becomes no longer the mysterious and scary unknown, but the familiar and safe.

Or what if we think of space from the emotional point of view? Ask yourself... do you make space in your life for new people and experiences? Are you open to every available opportunity? Is there space for improvement? We often think that we have no spare time or energy in our lives, they are too packed, there is no space. Or time. That is another concept one can look at in many ways... but not now, now it is Space's turn. No Space for Time today.

Hmmmm.... ponder that future doctors, and let this inspire us all to look at our lives and our work from different points of view today, and be open to change and new opportunities.

Dr. Almost there

PS. I have recently been forced to view my own data from many new points of view, which is most likely the inspiration for this post. Plus I am in an odd mood today, so if the above seem like the ramblings of a madwoman, forgive me. Plus I am late starting work today, have a meeting tomorrow I need to cram for, and inhaled too much hairspray. On the upside I attempted loose curls today & my hair looks pretty good :)

Extreme Makeover: Blog Edition

Image from http://www.rb-29.net/HTML/04.PAAvtnArt/PAShowScans/SO22Sea/CalmSea.jpg

Hello again my lovely PhD-ites!

It has come as quite a concern to me that the chosen colour scheme of our blog caused the sudden and immediate downward spiral of one of our members into a "dark inky blackness". Therefore I have decided to change the background colour to a more soothing blue. I find this a good compromise between the previously voted black and a boring "other light colour", and while it is still dark, it should hopefully revert Rob to a more upbeat world view, and release him from his dark cave of despair.

I also changed the title and things to green, for Suzanne, who's original vote WAS green. I will hope to add a bit of red for Gary, but it so far looks yucky, so I'm still working on that [EDIT: DONE!].

Hold on Rob, climb up from your darkness and into the cool soothing sea blue we shall now have.

If anyone has any issues with anything else, I just found a neat "poll" feature, which can be used to solve future conflicts.

*hugs*

PS. Added a poll- look at top right corner.
PSS. I envision I will be last to finish thesis, as this blog is too adictive and will therefore occupy a lot of my "work" time, as I already feel comfortable thinking of it as "work related" .... uh oh! :)

Light at the end of the PhD thesis.... it begins

Image courtesy of www.phdcomics.com

Hello everyone. I want to welcome you to our new blog, dedicated to nursing us all through the final throws of our PhD lives.....

I hope that this blog will give inspiration and comfort to all involved, and will increase productivity and motivation, as we all reach the final stage of our long horrible PhD journey. While we may suffer bouts of unproductivity, motivational slumps, and yes, even gloom and depression, let us turn to this blog in our time of need, and find comfort in our fellow thesis sufferers.

In this way, we will ALL complete our theses by September (2008), and ALL graduate in December!

WE CAN DO IT GUYS!!!!!!

PS: This Blog is meant to be happy and motivational, but I cannot guarantee all posts will be uplifting... I can only promise that they will be real and that even in the difficult times, we will be able to find the will to keep going!

PSS: I think I may be the only one who can post here, and while I want this to be a democracy and for all to be included, it was my idea, so I get to write it, HA! Please send along any comments, stories, pictures or thoughts to me and I promise to include them... but... I guess I am the Blog President! Yippee!

(By now I have accepted and embraced I am the craziest one, so you can all keep your "crazy" comments to yourself).

*hugs to all, and happy working*

Dr. Almost there