Will be back to blogging later on, life is just too busy at the moment.
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Twitter: bryndisg75
Feel free to follow me there, I post PhD and running related stuff, and much more.
Cheers,
Bryndis :)
Tuesday 30 June 2015
Friday 24 April 2015
Time management!
I'm trying to keep calm and carry on, but ...
These last three weeks have been pure madness. And the next month and a half will be just as bad. I really need to learn better time management skills. Or I need to implement what I already now! I used to be so good at planning and organising my time and sticking to it. When I was doing my undergraduate studies in early childhood, I was studying 75%, working 120%, taking piano lessons and working towards a piano exam, which was no easy task, I was also playing the tuba in a local brass band and singing in a choir or two. Plus, I was going to the gym and doing a little socialising. Not too much, but enough. And I did very well in my studies. Granted, I was on the verge of exhaustion and doing the zombie thing at work, but I managed my time very well. I remember planning the week ahead, writing down every task I needed to do, organising everything to the smallest detail. Because that is what I needed to do to make it through. And it worked.
Things are different now! Obviously, I am not comparing a bachelor study to a PhD. It is not comparable. But in theory, I have all the time in the world but still I keep getting into trouble with not having enough time before deadlines. Maybe it is because I have all the time in the world. It seems I am very good at wasting time. Well, as I have been tutoring and doing some research assistant work, I don’t actually have all the time in the world, but almost. Maybe I'm just tired now and in need of a rant. Because I'm not complaining. Believe me, I'm not complaining at all. This may be the most difficult and stressful thing I have ever done in my life, moving to another hemisphere and doing a PhD, but it is fantastic. I have not been as happy as I am now, ever! Or at least not often before. This is such a dream come true for me. But, it is difficult. And I need to get a grip on this time management thing so that I'm not stressed out all the time.
There are several websites and information out there on how to manage your time better. I know most of this already. My problem is not lack of knowledge, it is lack of implementation. But I guess the fact that I’m ranting about this here means that I’m ready to implement some good, old habits. I’ll let you know how I go on with that next week.
Now, what is it that is keeping me so busy these weeks? Obviously, it is my research proposal. I was also working on my ethics approval which I submitted a couple of weeks ago. I can happily report that my research has almost been approved, I just need to do a couple of changes to my application, send it to the contact person at the ethics committee and that’s it. Hopefully! My methodology section of my proposal is almost done. It needs some tweaking and stuff like that, but the basics are there. Now I need to put everything together and produce the whole proposal. I have a deadline next Wednesday to send that off to my supervisors. And time is getting sparse. My confirmation hearing, or whatever it is called, is on the 2nd of June. So I basically have a month to finish everything. And I feel I have at least three months of work to do! Yebb, good times ahead.
Well, best get back to work then.
Cheers,
Bryndis
Tuesday 14 April 2015
I'm still alive ;)
It has been two weeks since my last running post, I just had the most insane couple of weeks with my PhD as well as trying to relax and enjoy Easter a little bit so writing blogs was not on my agenda. I will put up a PhD post on Friday. This is my running/health post for the week. Nothing has really changed. I am eating well and same as before, this low carb, no sugar thing is really working for me. I can happily report that I've officially lost 5 kilos, today actually almost 6. And I'm feeling very good in general. Have been having some headache spells, but those are tension headaches because I'm sitting all day and basically all evening in front of my computer and my shoulders are starting to suffer.
I am trying to find my way back into a gym/running routine, but for some reason that has been difficult. So I joined a 'fat-loss' challenge online from Iceland, we have a Facebook group and an Instagram hashtag so that is great support. My goals are just to start going to the gym regularly and do strength training, and then getting my running into a more structured plan. I don't think I will be able to join the Wellington half marathon, so the plan now is just to excel at the Reykjavik half marathon. That is fine, you just have to play with what you're dealt, right? I think one of the reasons I'm not going to the gym, is because I have this off-peak membership, which means that on weekdays I cannot use the gym between 3-7pm, which are the peak hours. I am negotiating with my gym and hope to change my membership, but they are being difficult. Which I don't understand, as if I get to change my membership status, I will be paying a higher fee. I am just not going to the gym in the mornings. In spite of my best intentions, it is just not happening. And when I go home around 4-5pm, I just can't make myself go back outside to go to the gym at 7pm. I know, these are stupid reasons. But when you are stressed out about so many things in your life, you need other things to be simple and easy. So I need to be able to go to the gym at 5pm when I'm heading home. Then I can jump in the shower when I come home, have dinner and relax. If they won't let me change my membership, I will have to think of something else to do.
Anyway, this was just me rambling. I just arrived at a doctoral writing retreat and need to get back to my methodology. Have a great week :)
Cheers, Bryndis.
I am trying to find my way back into a gym/running routine, but for some reason that has been difficult. So I joined a 'fat-loss' challenge online from Iceland, we have a Facebook group and an Instagram hashtag so that is great support. My goals are just to start going to the gym regularly and do strength training, and then getting my running into a more structured plan. I don't think I will be able to join the Wellington half marathon, so the plan now is just to excel at the Reykjavik half marathon. That is fine, you just have to play with what you're dealt, right? I think one of the reasons I'm not going to the gym, is because I have this off-peak membership, which means that on weekdays I cannot use the gym between 3-7pm, which are the peak hours. I am negotiating with my gym and hope to change my membership, but they are being difficult. Which I don't understand, as if I get to change my membership status, I will be paying a higher fee. I am just not going to the gym in the mornings. In spite of my best intentions, it is just not happening. And when I go home around 4-5pm, I just can't make myself go back outside to go to the gym at 7pm. I know, these are stupid reasons. But when you are stressed out about so many things in your life, you need other things to be simple and easy. So I need to be able to go to the gym at 5pm when I'm heading home. Then I can jump in the shower when I come home, have dinner and relax. If they won't let me change my membership, I will have to think of something else to do.
Anyway, this was just me rambling. I just arrived at a doctoral writing retreat and need to get back to my methodology. Have a great week :)
Cheers, Bryndis.
Tuesday 31 March 2015
Quick update
Since my goal is to post a running related rant every Tuesday, I just had to put a few words down today. I am afraid I don't have much to report. This last week has been very bad in terms of running. There has been no running! I have walked a bit, like 16km in total for the week, but mostly I've been working on my methodology and ethics approval application. My time management skills need some serious work, I tell you. This is ridiculous. As soon as things get busy, I drop the running. I don't understand it. I love to run. I want to get better at running. But, it is just not happening. I am not going to stress about it too much, but will just try to do my best and be better at making the time to go for my runs.
This lovely Tuesday evening I'm sitting here with my laptop working on my ethics application. I have to send it to my supervisors tonight so they can read it over tomorrow and send it back to my with their comments. I have a week to submit. So if it isn't good enough now, I might have to wait another month for the next submission date. And I don't want to do that so the pressure is on!
Sorry, this is not a PhD post. Back to running. I saw this photo on the Runner's World page on Facebook earlier.
This is so true. It is all in your head, basically. And now I need to get my head back on right. Time management, here I come!
Cheers :)
This lovely Tuesday evening I'm sitting here with my laptop working on my ethics application. I have to send it to my supervisors tonight so they can read it over tomorrow and send it back to my with their comments. I have a week to submit. So if it isn't good enough now, I might have to wait another month for the next submission date. And I don't want to do that so the pressure is on!
Sorry, this is not a PhD post. Back to running. I saw this photo on the Runner's World page on Facebook earlier.
This is so true. It is all in your head, basically. And now I need to get my head back on right. Time management, here I come!
Cheers :)
Thursday 26 March 2015
Productivity ...
I love PhD Comics, they are just so funny. And a great way to procrastinate. Or when you just need to feel like you are not alone in the universe. Recommend you check them out.
This week (and many weeks before that!) has been a little like that comic. I've been going to my office and sitting by my computer all day, working away, but still have the feeling that I haven't actually done enough. Very strange. So, I've decided to try to log my work. I got that idea from my friend and office neighbour Sherrie, you can read her blog here! I am hoping that by logging my reading and writing, I can see just what it is I am doing. I will also have to log when I take brakes, when I'm working on my tutoring, when I'm going through emails and social media, etc. I am doing this because I think I am being to hard on myself. Sometimes I may spend the whole day 'writing' but only produce a couple of paragraphs. But that can often be a lot, because there is a lot of reading, thinking and gaining understanding of what I am writing that goes on behind the scenes, so to speak. I need to remember my Reggio Emilia philosophy here, it is the process not the outcome that is important. Well, obviously the outcome is important but I hope you get my drift. My proposal can only be between 20 and 30 pages, but it will have taken me 7-8 months to produce that document, so you can imagine the thinking, reading, writing, re-writing, re-reading, re-thinking, editing, changing, reconstructing, re-re-thinking and re-re-writing, and then some re-re-re-writing that needs to go on for me to be able to produce a quality proposal that will be accepted. It often feels like I'm going in circles, like a cat chasing its tail. But then I have days filled with 'Eureka' and feel extremely clever and on the top of my game, only to be knocked down to Earth by reality the next day. Like I've said before, this adventure is a roller coaster ride!
Yesterday I went on a Waikato river cruise with a group of academics. We had a BBQ and wine tasting and I had a great time. It was great to talk to people from Iceland, Sweden, Scotland and New Zealand and just have fun. But, staying up late and drinking all that wine caused me to oversleep this morning! I'm such a 'hen-head' as we say in Iceland. Not good for my productivity log! And I have just over a week for my ethics approval application deadline so I have no time to waste. Looks like this will be a long working weekend! But last night was worth it ...
This week (and many weeks before that!) has been a little like that comic. I've been going to my office and sitting by my computer all day, working away, but still have the feeling that I haven't actually done enough. Very strange. So, I've decided to try to log my work. I got that idea from my friend and office neighbour Sherrie, you can read her blog here! I am hoping that by logging my reading and writing, I can see just what it is I am doing. I will also have to log when I take brakes, when I'm working on my tutoring, when I'm going through emails and social media, etc. I am doing this because I think I am being to hard on myself. Sometimes I may spend the whole day 'writing' but only produce a couple of paragraphs. But that can often be a lot, because there is a lot of reading, thinking and gaining understanding of what I am writing that goes on behind the scenes, so to speak. I need to remember my Reggio Emilia philosophy here, it is the process not the outcome that is important. Well, obviously the outcome is important but I hope you get my drift. My proposal can only be between 20 and 30 pages, but it will have taken me 7-8 months to produce that document, so you can imagine the thinking, reading, writing, re-writing, re-reading, re-thinking, editing, changing, reconstructing, re-re-thinking and re-re-writing, and then some re-re-re-writing that needs to go on for me to be able to produce a quality proposal that will be accepted. It often feels like I'm going in circles, like a cat chasing its tail. But then I have days filled with 'Eureka' and feel extremely clever and on the top of my game, only to be knocked down to Earth by reality the next day. Like I've said before, this adventure is a roller coaster ride!
Yesterday I went on a Waikato river cruise with a group of academics. We had a BBQ and wine tasting and I had a great time. It was great to talk to people from Iceland, Sweden, Scotland and New Zealand and just have fun. But, staying up late and drinking all that wine caused me to oversleep this morning! I'm such a 'hen-head' as we say in Iceland. Not good for my productivity log! And I have just over a week for my ethics approval application deadline so I have no time to waste. Looks like this will be a long working weekend! But last night was worth it ...
Tuesday 24 March 2015
Running update
This last week I've been on point with my training and running goals. Last Tuesday, I went to the gym and got my tempo run in plus leg training. The tempo run went very well. I only did 3km, am working very slowly to build my mileage, but I was in the lactate threshold zone of my heart rate for most of the run, minus a short warm up and cool down. I was very happy with my effort and felt good afterwards. Regarding leg workouts, I don't go overboard when I have leg day. At least I didn't think I was going overboard. I did 10 normal squats, 10 lounges (each leg) and 10 one-legged squats (each leg). Now, that does not sound like a lot. But OMG, I was so sore for days after this. I am just so weak, it is seriously not funny. I guess all I can say is that I will hopefully get stronger and be able to do more. According to Runners Connect, runners shouldn't really use the leg-machines at a gym, it is more effective to just do free-standing leg workouts. So that's what I'm doing. I didn't use any weights, just my own. I was like a duck, couldn't walk properly for a couple of days. Crazy!
On Thursday, I went for my recovery run, where you should be in the recovery training zone. That means running VERY slowly, at least in my case. In fact, I had to alternate between running and walking, cause I just couldn't run slow enough! My heart-rate kept going too high. And, remember, I was sore as hell, so I didn't manage to run/walk very far. I actually cut the run short, and only went 1,6km, my thighs were just screaming. Hahaha, this is so embarrassing! Sunday was long run day, and it was lovely. My soreness had gone away and I had such a great run. I was actually pleasantly surprised that my average pace was 7.40m/km, still within the long run heart rate, so that was a happy discovery. I was sure I would have to run in the 8m/km range. I want to be able to 6m/km for the half marathon, to reach my 2.20 goal, so it is doable I suppose. Whether I will make it this August, we will have to see.
Even though this has been a good week on the training front, my eating front has been troublesome. I don't know what is happening. I just keep having these crazy cravings. Maybe I'm bored. Tired of eating like I'm eating. Because I don't think these cravings are physical. I think it is all in my head. And I can get bored quite easily, I need things to be exiting and fun. So now I am looking into what I can do differently to keep myself motivated. Maybe I am also getting tired of the lack of weight loss in the last month or so. I've basically been the same weight now for way too long, and it is frustrating. I'm going to 'hydrate my brain' as we say in Iceland, and try to find a way to get out of this rut. I need to get some clothes for autumn and winter. I was thinking that I should get them a size smaller than I use now, so that will motivate me cause I am quite poor and can't be buying clothes again if I don't fit into what I have. But I'm not sure if that is a good idea or not. What do you guys think? Anyway, we'll see. Right now, all I have time for is to do my methodology and ethical approval application. An important deadline is fast approaching!
Cheers :)
On Thursday, I went for my recovery run, where you should be in the recovery training zone. That means running VERY slowly, at least in my case. In fact, I had to alternate between running and walking, cause I just couldn't run slow enough! My heart-rate kept going too high. And, remember, I was sore as hell, so I didn't manage to run/walk very far. I actually cut the run short, and only went 1,6km, my thighs were just screaming. Hahaha, this is so embarrassing! Sunday was long run day, and it was lovely. My soreness had gone away and I had such a great run. I was actually pleasantly surprised that my average pace was 7.40m/km, still within the long run heart rate, so that was a happy discovery. I was sure I would have to run in the 8m/km range. I want to be able to 6m/km for the half marathon, to reach my 2.20 goal, so it is doable I suppose. Whether I will make it this August, we will have to see.
Even though this has been a good week on the training front, my eating front has been troublesome. I don't know what is happening. I just keep having these crazy cravings. Maybe I'm bored. Tired of eating like I'm eating. Because I don't think these cravings are physical. I think it is all in my head. And I can get bored quite easily, I need things to be exiting and fun. So now I am looking into what I can do differently to keep myself motivated. Maybe I am also getting tired of the lack of weight loss in the last month or so. I've basically been the same weight now for way too long, and it is frustrating. I'm going to 'hydrate my brain' as we say in Iceland, and try to find a way to get out of this rut. I need to get some clothes for autumn and winter. I was thinking that I should get them a size smaller than I use now, so that will motivate me cause I am quite poor and can't be buying clothes again if I don't fit into what I have. But I'm not sure if that is a good idea or not. What do you guys think? Anyway, we'll see. Right now, all I have time for is to do my methodology and ethical approval application. An important deadline is fast approaching!
Cheers :)
Thursday 19 March 2015
A week to cherish
This has been a good week.
Last weekend I spent a lot of time finishing grading my students' first assignment as well as giving them feedback on their online discussions. And I was working on my proposal. But I managed to watch a couple of movies and sleep in, and go to the gym. So it was a very productive weekend, which is usually not the case as I really like my super lazy weekends.
This week I have been working on my methodology. Well, I've been starting to work on my methodology. Need to do a lot of reading around it as you might expect. I feel like I've been working so hard all week, but I don't yet have a lot to show for it as of yet! Tuesday was 'ShutUpAndWrite' Tuesday on Twitter, and I participated as usual. I love these sessions. It's only an hour and it is just nice to share with others what you are doing and see what others are doing. Today (Friday), we have our Doctoral Writing Conversations workshop and we will have a SUaW session as well. That will be fun, I'm sure. If you don't know what this is, you can check it out here. I like these kind of things. Writing you PhD can be a very lonely project so being able to share something, even just a sentence or to about what you are doing with other people, even strangers, is great. I like it. And Twitter is great for networking and following people you find interesting.
I guess my weeks are quite boring these days. I am getting closer to serious deadlines, like the one for my ethical approval. So there is very little going on with me other than PhD and running. The only social thing that happens is at lunch, basically. I'm hoping things will calm down after Easter, when I've finished this tutoring job, and then I can hopefully do something more fun in the weekends and evenings. Now, I'm just so exhausted when I go home in the afternoons, and I spend at least 1 hour every evening working as a tutor, so by 10pm, I'm comatosed.
My proposal is going well. I got very positive feedback from one of my supervisors and feel like I am really in 'da zone' when it comes to my literature review. It still need a lot of fine tuning and editing and some clarifications here and there, but the core of it is good. Now I just look forward to getting feedback from my other supervisor. But meanwhile I am working on my methodology. What joy! Yes, that is sarcasm. Well, not completely. I am a very structured person. I like to plan things, write things down, make lists and tables and have a visible cue to what I need to do. My planner looks like this:
I do like that I am progressing well enough to be able to start working on the methodology, but it is the process of getting my head around epistemology and ontology and all that good stuff that is a little bit tricky. My research is a qualitative one. If I am understanding it correctly, my epistemological stance is social constructionism, the belief that knowledge is constructed through interactions with others. I'm not sure yet how to define my ontology! Foucault is my lens and through that lens I am using an ethnomethodological approach, finding out how people (in my case toddlers) make sense of the world. My research design is a case study. I will be examining certain phenomena in a certain early childhood setting. My research methods will be participant observations and document analysis. My analytical tools will be conversation analysis and discourse analysis, possibly critical discourse analysis. This is the skeleton of my research. Now I just have to work to understand exactly what all of those terms mean! Lovely.
Have a great weekend and see you next week :)
Last weekend I spent a lot of time finishing grading my students' first assignment as well as giving them feedback on their online discussions. And I was working on my proposal. But I managed to watch a couple of movies and sleep in, and go to the gym. So it was a very productive weekend, which is usually not the case as I really like my super lazy weekends.
This week I have been working on my methodology. Well, I've been starting to work on my methodology. Need to do a lot of reading around it as you might expect. I feel like I've been working so hard all week, but I don't yet have a lot to show for it as of yet! Tuesday was 'ShutUpAndWrite' Tuesday on Twitter, and I participated as usual. I love these sessions. It's only an hour and it is just nice to share with others what you are doing and see what others are doing. Today (Friday), we have our Doctoral Writing Conversations workshop and we will have a SUaW session as well. That will be fun, I'm sure. If you don't know what this is, you can check it out here. I like these kind of things. Writing you PhD can be a very lonely project so being able to share something, even just a sentence or to about what you are doing with other people, even strangers, is great. I like it. And Twitter is great for networking and following people you find interesting.
I guess my weeks are quite boring these days. I am getting closer to serious deadlines, like the one for my ethical approval. So there is very little going on with me other than PhD and running. The only social thing that happens is at lunch, basically. I'm hoping things will calm down after Easter, when I've finished this tutoring job, and then I can hopefully do something more fun in the weekends and evenings. Now, I'm just so exhausted when I go home in the afternoons, and I spend at least 1 hour every evening working as a tutor, so by 10pm, I'm comatosed.
My proposal is going well. I got very positive feedback from one of my supervisors and feel like I am really in 'da zone' when it comes to my literature review. It still need a lot of fine tuning and editing and some clarifications here and there, but the core of it is good. Now I just look forward to getting feedback from my other supervisor. But meanwhile I am working on my methodology. What joy! Yes, that is sarcasm. Well, not completely. I am a very structured person. I like to plan things, write things down, make lists and tables and have a visible cue to what I need to do. My planner looks like this:
So as you can see, I am a teenage girl ;) Seriously, though, just making things look nice and fun and not so serious all the time, makes all the difference to me. Obviously, this is not how my methodology will look like!
I do like that I am progressing well enough to be able to start working on the methodology, but it is the process of getting my head around epistemology and ontology and all that good stuff that is a little bit tricky. My research is a qualitative one. If I am understanding it correctly, my epistemological stance is social constructionism, the belief that knowledge is constructed through interactions with others. I'm not sure yet how to define my ontology! Foucault is my lens and through that lens I am using an ethnomethodological approach, finding out how people (in my case toddlers) make sense of the world. My research design is a case study. I will be examining certain phenomena in a certain early childhood setting. My research methods will be participant observations and document analysis. My analytical tools will be conversation analysis and discourse analysis, possibly critical discourse analysis. This is the skeleton of my research. Now I just have to work to understand exactly what all of those terms mean! Lovely.
Have a great weekend and see you next week :)
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