You know that you are in trouble when you buy an EXCEL for Dummies book only to discover that you have an older version of EXCEL!! I am departing shortly for the bookstore to see if they have a 2007 version… Getting up to speed in both SPSS and EXCEL is going to be a significant challenge for me over the next few months. These tools were never my forte but I achieved a reasonable level of competency during my MSc. Unfortunately, my skills have become rusty from lack of usage. That said, I was able to do some basic descriptive analysis of my data and I am excited by what was completed today.
On the work-life front things have been very challenging and stressful. I made a decision to take a “time-out” from some life issues to give myself some breathing space. This was a very important and good decision because I was taking on accountability that was not mine and was becoming quite overwhelmed.
My research plans for the next few weeks is to get stuck in. I will take a week off work soon so that I can focus on data analysis and writing. I am also going to finalize my 2012 colloquium schedule and confirm meetings with both of my supervisors in April. Having
some firm deadlines to present my research and provide updates is going to be
useful for me because I need to ramp up!