Electric blankets and hot water bottles are a great idea! :), I had electric blankets many years ago and loved them. Like Sneaks said, I probably wouldn't use them at the same time lol.

It'd be much harder to turn off my laptop at night, I leave it on standby too many times! :$

The Guardian University Rankings might help:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2010/jun/04/university-guide-computer-sciences-and-it

Thanks Stressed!

Do you know where I could get these films from? Only one of the windows is double glazed.

CB x

Hey all,

Being a PhD student and moving into a fairly old property, I'd really appreciate any tips on how I could be more energy efficient and save money on my electricity bill. I just got a quote from the last tenants usage which shocked me a little so I'm trying to bring the cost down :p. Also, does anyone have any experience with storage heaters? There are storage heaters in place but we intend to use portable halogen ones instead as I heard they'd be more effective plus I don't have a low night rate tariff.

CB x

Hi Corina,

Motivation isn't always easy with our PhD especially if things are moving slowly or not at all. But, I just want to what is it about the PhD that's not motivating you? Is it that you find thought of the journey ahead of you daunting? Or the topic of your thesis?

If you're in your 4th year, that means you're two thirds of the way done, you'd have achieved so much to just give up now. Perhaps you should take some time off? It may motivate you to return to your PhD once you've had a nice break.

CB

Hi Drjydo, you should've been more specific with your help question rather than post the whole assignment. Genetics is not my field, however I know that PubMed is probably one of the largest databases you could use for accessing information in this field and it's worth spending time on it:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gquery/gquery.fcgi

CB

I think I've referred to Mr Darcy a couple of times on this forum....I need to stop :-x

Sorry Wally, soaps are ruled out for me. I used to watch Eastenders until I realised that everyone will eventually be run over by their neighbour or come back from the dead. I feel sorry to say it but until the British TV comes up with a good TV series that outdoes BBC's Pride and Prejudice, I'm sticking to American shows.

P.S. I don't even have terrestrial TV! I just wait till it's available online :)

Haha! I suppose to some extent it is. I guess I compared it to when I'm down in England :) - every house, every pub, every car have the England flag plastered to their windows. I heard many Scots will be wearing their Scotland shirts to counter the English ones, but I haven't really spotted any down my end.

CBx

Being in Scotland, I barely noticed that the World Cup had started. When England play, everyone here will be rooting for the USA! As for me, I don't mind watching the World Cup as long as it doesn't clash with a Wimbledon game.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I'm glad to see that it's ok to be wary. Jepson - sorry if I've made you paranoid. My supervisor made me paranoid! He's been cautioning me to be wary and hence why I'm acting this way but I didn't like the fact that I somewhat lied and I think he wouldn't be very happy with me once he finds out!

Just to clarify, I was speaking to someone during the tea break, I was not presenting myself. Obviously speaking to others is a great way to get ideas and I can't wait to be able to do that freely but I think at this stage it's still too sensitive. :s

I'm in early stages of my research and there's a lot of information I don't want to disclose with even other students. Not long ago I was at a conference and I actually lied about what I do to avoid disclosing anything. Am I being paranoid or is it okay to act that way?

It's so hard when people ask questions like 'so what is it you do?', 'what techniques are you using' because it always leads on to further questions.

Is your office far from your lab? I find it useful to run between my office and lab frequently, when I'm waiting for something in the lab, I go check my email or read an article etc at the office. They're on different floors so I take the stairs.

I also walk to uni. I'm not a health conscience, sports fanatic so walking helps. If you live far, perhaps get off one stop early and walk the rest or park somewhere further.

As for cooking, I'm also too tired and somewhat lazy to cook, and just shove a lot of things in the oven, like breaded chicken. But then I cut up the chicken and mix it with a salad so fast food isn't too bad! :)

CB

======= Date Modified 02 Jun 2010 10:37:53 =======
Clooney is slightly overrated if you ask me. I much prefer Colin Firth! - same age (49) and he won me over by his role as Mr Darcy in both P&P and Bridget Jones's Diary :-x

*Same age as Clooney, not me!

Want our dreams to come true? Be a sport and give us all a star :p