======= Date Modified 16 Oct 2012 16:21:47 =======
Hi everyone,

Is there anyone here?

I have been pushed into a new field by my sup two weeks ago, I found it very hard for me to know this subfield in such a short time as my viva is coming soon. I am reading a book "a walk in the woods" before going to bed, the writing style is quite lovely. I am thinking my research can also be described as "a (random) walk in the (modeling )woods". It is frustrating, difficult and even devastating sometimes, yet maybe it still can be regarded as a lovely journey after the end of it? BTW, does anyone know any forum or group I can share my reading experience about the book: "a walk in the woods" by Bill Bryson? Thanks a lot.

Hope everyone comes back after taking off days.

During the past two weeks, more time is spent on reading, trying new programming language, less time is spent on writing and coding, which is supposed to be my everyday work.

my goal today,
1. Change ARMA estimation code to ARIMA estimation
2. Change ARIMA estimation code to FARIMA estimation
3. Change GARCH estimation code to EGARCH estimation
4. Change GARCH estimation code to FIEGARCH estimation

that is a good idea!! thanks a lot.

hi Azureray,

I know enough people replied to your post, I just want to add my story to it. I am as a PhD student for quite a long time, longer than most of other people for various reasons. My husband had got his PhD several years ago, and had a good job. He is a family guy, and wants to have kids, buy house to settle down, etc. All those have been postponed because of my PhD. My husband has been furious about that for a couple of years, especially when I procrastinated, and didn't work hard on my thesis. So I think you have reasons to be unhappy and anxious about your bf's PhD. My husband is a smart guy, he gradually learned he need to change his way of dealing this. He became more tolerant and patient of my slow progress. I saw his change, and very grateful to that. I am going to have my PhD done in a couple of months, and I have no jobs lined up. My husband seems not worried about that. I think in future days, if my husband experience some very difficult time, I will be more willing to sacrifice for him. Hope my story helps.

======= Date Modified 28 Sep 2012 19:09:07 =======
Hi everyone,

Hope everyone makes some progress during this week.

At the first half of this week, I thought over all my research, wrote them down, read about related literature and discussed with my sup about my future research. As I know this is a crucial step regarding if I can graduate on time or not, I focused on thinking about the details of my research for several days. After that, I felt quite tired and took one day off yesterday, which was quite nice.

I need to write a technique report to my other sup today, but I haven't started writing yet. I guess writer's block begins to take effect. Writing is always hard for me. Hope I can manage to write something today.

Wish everyone a nice weekend and see you here next week.

Hi everyone,

Skig, I agree with Batfink, taking a chilled day and thinking is the right thing for you. Linda, I usually stock up ink cartridge and printing papers. I like to scan documents on the screen to pick up the pages I need to read, then print them out to read and proof on. Batfink, congratulations to your good conference experience, and good luck with your interview this week.

I need to read a paper to prepare the meeting with my sup this afternoon. Without a good sleep last night, I am tired and fretful. Hope I can focus on this paper for a couple of hour before driving to school.

Wish everyone a productive day.

Hi everyone,

It's nice to see more people join this thread. Twomules, welcome.I need to sort out the bad estimation results which bothers me for a couple of weeks.
My goal today:
1. Do more tests to make sure the program for Gaussian case is right.
2. Add auto elements into the above program.

hi everyone,

Linda, hope you feel better now. Button, as Linda and Skig said, you have already done quite good. As a huge procrastinator, I can tell the difference btw relaxation and recharging after hard work and real procrastination. Btw, what a healthy way of procrastination by X'mas shopping, making cakes, cleaning house, my way is surfing the internet....Labpixie, I feel kinda same as you, writing 'my goal is to do some coding, debugging, testing' everyday, which might not seem interesting to others. my goal today is to reorganize the code for general models into code for a specific model. Have a good day everyone.

Hi all,

Linda, I also feel dizzy, try to ignore it, and hope it disappear soon. Skig, it's also a rainy day here. I was hoping I could walking outside for a couple of hours, now have to stay inside and focus on work.

My sup cancelled the meeting with me today, so I have a couple of extra days. I plan to take one step back, and rewrite parts of the code which I have done last semester. Need to sort out details of the implementation, then I can tell why the results are not good.

Wish everyone have a nice day.

======= Date Modified 17 Sep 2012 01:29:14 =======
Hi everyone,

Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

I was exhausted and tired after meeting with sup on Saturday. The weather was very nice today, beautiful but short autumn begins. Waking up late, running in the park, taking nap in the afternoon, making nice dinner for my hubby and I, after one day rest, I feel refreshed at the moment. I have a meeting with sup on Tuesday, so I have one and half day left. I don't want to be too rush on Tuesday, so need to start working now. The codes cannot produce the results I expect, so need to locate the error first.

my goal:
1. test hmmsample by setting H1=H2, estimating H.
2. test hmmFitAlgo by degenerating H to Gaussian case.
3. check implementation details by comparing latex and code.

Wish everyone a energetic Monday.

Hi everyone,

Linda, thanks a lot. I feel this post makes me more motivated, feel Im not alone. Natassia, I wonder what part-time PhD life will be? Under the pressure both of work and PhD, will it be more challenging? Good luck with part-time PhD life. Batfink, Helsinki looks pretty in the picture. Have nice day there.

I have just failed to appeal a parking ticket. The tail part of my car was along with the 'no parking' pole, and got $60 tickets. Parking is a nightmare here in the city. Try to focus on work.

My goal today,
1. code: compute H. (3tm)
2. code: sampling from model. (3tm)
3. test: compare estimated parameters with model parameters .(1tm)
4. code: add random initial guess. (2tm)

Have a nice weekend, ladies.

Hi everyone,

I haven't been here for about one week, it was a busy week for me. Milestones toward December have been set up by my sup and I, which make me realize how much further work I need to do.

A little can go a long way, my goal today
1. code: sort out data. (1tm)
2. code: compute B_j(t) (2tm)
3. code: compute emission components (2tm)
4. test: hypothesis testing(2tm)
5. code: add random initial guess (2tm)

Hope everyone makes good process with your theses

hmm I am one post away from my breakfast..(mince) It is enjoyable to read you guys posts, happy, cheerful, with some down moments scattered. congrats to your progress.

my goal today:

1. understand correlation matrix fixup methodology

2. understand matlab code

3. add table to show difference btw true H and estimated H.

That is a possible way to join two projects together. The two projects have some similarities, in very general way though. The structure of first model is simpler than that of second one, maybe I can state first model fail because the setting is blah blah blah, then I change the setting to second model. Thanks a lot for inspiration!

Hi everyone,

I have done two quite different projects in my PhD years with two different advisors. The first project failed after long time due to the error on the topic itself. The results and progress from the second topic is good. I am writing thesis now, some faculty member told me, I can write down anything I have done, with results or without results. Is that true? If I write two quite different topics, how can I splice them together in a nice structure? I don't want to have a thesis looking like two technique reports bound together. Any suggestion is appreciated.

======= Date Modified 06 Sep 2012 15:35:45 =======
Hi everyone,

It seems everyone has made some progress. I had an exhausting and chaotic day yesterday. I need to deal with some admin things from graduate school, which is very time consuming. Still need to follow up with the school these couple of days.

my goal today,

1. understand the methodology of "covmat fixup".
2. understand the code, (if cannot understand, write my own), add error process.
3. write memo with sup

Hope everyone is doing well today.