Week in review: 1-7 March

This week has gone well, but it has also gone fast.  Looking back I don't have any major criticisms, but I do have one major worry.  I mentioned earlier this week that work seems to progress like a small drip; with time, these small outputs can amount to something significant (like a polished thesis).  That's the plan at least.  And while I don't currently feel overwhelmed by my upcoming deadline, the deadline is approaching.*  During the entire tenure of my PhD studies pacing myself has been a significant challenge, or maybe it hasn't.  The problem is there are few if any signposts to measure your progress and the issue seems to compound itself in the last few months.  All this to say, I don't know how to approach next week or the week after, etc.  Do I continue with my schedule, pace and work plan?  Do I double my efforts, running the risk of burning out?  Can I afford to be side tracked for a week to write a paper, look for a job or take care of my personal to do list?  I suppose these are questions to answer tomorrow as I look ahead to the week, but for now they are the thoughts that weigh on my mind from the past 7 days.

*145 days and counting.

Writing and such

Today I continued to draft my thesis, a paragraph at a time.  While most of the week I've been reading and making notes in my draft, this morning I was actually turning my outline and comments into proper text.  In the afternoon I spent sometime working with my electronics and the analog filters I started with at the beginning of the week.  Unfortunately, I still have work to do as my filter circuits didn't help with my measurements.  Through the day I helped to organise a thesis printing and binding for another student who is out of the country.  It was neat to think that in a few months time I might be arranging for my own thesis to be printed.

Grinding on

Today I continued reading and working on my thesis.  I know, it's pretty boring to read about, but at least it means I am getting closing to finishing my dissertation.  I am going through the grind now to make sure it's not a crisis later.

New material

Early this morning I picked up a paper of interest from a colleague.  The work in the article was relevant to my efforts so I spent a good number of hours reading, thinking and discussing the contents.  In the afternoon I went back to reading my textbooks, but struggled to keep my mind on task.  It's scare how a small perturbation in your schedule can impact an entire day.  Luckily, at this point, I have time to be flexible and explore new ideas as they come up and I don't have to block out input form external sources.

More pages

I spent all of today reading, working problems and note taking on my thesis draft.  There's nothing else to report, because that was all I did.  I will comment that I am working my way through the relevant theory for my thesis and it is taking quite a bit of time.  I knew it would and I was ready to spend weeks working through some textbooks and papers.  I do feel confident that over the next month I can finish up this chapter of work (it's also a chapter of my thesis) and be ready for both visitors at the end of the month and my trip overseas next month.

The proverbial drop

Today was a very full day, with a number of jobs.  In the morning, I completed a travel grant application to be submitted for Faculty funding.  Afterwards, I moved on to lab tasks, specifically working on filtering analogue signals and thinking about a control program to prevent drift in measured data.  I didn't get to too much hands on work here, but I laid out what jobs I need to complete over the next week.  After lunch I moved back to my thesis preparation.  Even after less than a week focusing on my reading, I am feeling very positive about my progress and current state.

All in all it was a great day, but with a limited number of hours, of which I sub-divided to tackle a number of different tasks (as described above), I moved very quickly from one job to another.

On the way home this evening, I was talking to my wife and I explain that although I feel positive about the day, it seems like a small drop compared to the job laid out in front of me.  This made me picture the slow growth of stalagmites and stalactites (specifically speleothems) from the amalgamation of individual drops of solution and in my mind I saw the similarity between these beautiful features and an elegantly written thesis.  I suppose the main issue with this comparison is that stalagmites and stalactites form on a geologic time scale, where as a PhD at my university has to be completed in 4 years.

Week in advance: 1-7 March

This week I plan to build upon last week's success and continue to read and build my thesis, however, I am also planning to run experiments in the lab.  Now this seems like a big step backwards (or at least some kind of step backwards).  I just found my groove and here I want to change things up.  Here's the deal, while I still have plenty of work to do crafting my dissertation, I still need to finish up in the lab.  In a couple weeks there are visitors coming to use our equipment and there are still bugs that I should work out.  Also, next month I am headed overseas to work in another lab and I need to make sure I am not only set-up my experiments on the other side of the globe, but also troubleshoot all aspects as necessary.  For the most part, this shouldn't be an issue, but it would be silly for me not to fine tune my methods in a familiar setting.

So, this week I plan to balance my time between my thesis (the writing part) and working in the lab.  The challenge here is how much I enjoy the lab and how easy it is to get sucked into the hands on part of my job.  My hope is the momentum I've built over the past couple weeks will help draw me back to my desk so I can still move forward with my draft.