Mostly lemon based

Category: Dissertation

  • Bonus prevarication (getting the stress out)

    So. I’ve got 1500 words to write through this next week (in which I’m on nights). Those 1500 words? They are on a subject that I know about in loose, nursey, I know how to treat it and roughly what the guidelines say* way, but not in a deep ‘I know what the papers say and where they are strong / weak’, so…uh, yeah, I need to read them. Now. Fast. Also, I need to know about audit. I know approximately >< that much about audit processes. I mean, I know what it is and roughly how to carry one out, but I don’t know how to pick one audit method over another. And the book I need? In the post. Maybe. *WAIL*

    On top of which, I start a new job in 11 days time****, to get to which I need to ride my bike (to get it out of the garage, I need to go through a gate that currently has no handle). So it would be useful if (a) My bike had a reflector on it (being as it’s legally required ‘n all) and (b) the gate had a handle on it, so as I can open the gate in the morning to get to work.

    Also, I need to proof read and improve (it definitely needs some improvement) the 3000 word literature review that I’ve written (on a different topic to the 1500 word one, obviously).

    And…our illustrious Volvo has, having destroyed its radiator and been fitted with a new one, decided that at 100,000 miles he’d rather like a new water pump. So the expensive nice coolant I bought to fill the brand new radiator is now slowly gracing the road surface outside our house as it drip-drip-drips its way out of the car. The new pump was only 12 quid (including delivery) – and wasn’t difficult to source – but is, I suspect, going to be an arse to fit and will, I suspect, require a chunk of time that I don’t currently feel I really have available to install.

    On top of all that…my beloved minor’s rebuilt differential, which has always been a little whiney, has decided (I suspect) to shred at least one of its bearings. She’s very, very whiney now and I changed the oil a few days ago wondering if I’d cooked it or it’d leaked out or somesuch. Normally diff oil is pretty much the same colour as it went in, but more runny**. It’s normally yellow (and smells pretty foul, EP90 does). It came out opaque grey. Opaque grey is not a suitable colour for oil coming out of a diff. Nor is the noise it’s making. All that grey used to be ball bearings.

    I’m waiting to find out if it’s still under warranty or if I’m going to have the fun and excitement of getting it re-rebuilt locally (we won’t think about that).

    Oh, and I *was* planning to have my GT550 up and running so that I could use that to get to work in a pinch. Have I done that…? No.

    As the final little set of stressors, I still have no desk, my laptop’s screen is getting flakier and flakier (once I’ve done these two essays I’m going to bite the bullet and take it down to Apple), and the house is no further along than it was a month ago. I am, as it were, ready for the world to chill out a bit.

    Right at this moment I’m feeling a teeeeensy tiny bit stressed.

    * Although, having just read the most recent Cochrane review I’ve just discovered, as with so many things in medicine, we’ve been doing it wrong. See, we (as in the medical profession) largely seem to have assumed that when people are sick sick (Looky here) we should throw all the antibiotics in the universe at them to make them not be sick. New research says, uh, don’t. It says yay to antibiotics but boo to the kitchen sink approach. I need to read it more thoroughly, but my glance at it says giving people multi-antibiotic therapy (which is what, I think, all the protocols I’ve ever seen say) is worse than just giving them one specific kind of broad-spectrum antibug. Basically, you roger their kidneys***. Like with oxygen, and so many other things that seem sensible, when you actually test it turns out you’re wrong, wrong, wrong. Arse. Also, the Number Needed to Harm is 4-5 patients. So of the many, many people I’ve given that to over the years….oh lord. This is the problem with doing research, it’s depressing.

    ** This is because the long-long-long chains that make up the thick goopy stuff that goes into a 1960s differential slowly gets chopped into teeny, tiny, shorter chains. But there’s no soot (which is what turns the oil black in an engine).

    *** As in screw them, permanently. This is bad.

    **** While it’s the same job, at the same pay, in the same kind of department I now get ‘Senior’ in my job title. Wahey!

  • Distraction.

    400 words to go on the Dissertation; so I got up this morning and with every intention of not getting sucked into doing anything else dumped my Shredded Wheat in a bowl and my Coffee in the Cafetiere (isn’t it interesting what a few weeks in Alaska changes about a person ;-) ) and my Yoghurt in.. well, it comes in a little plastic bottle. I trailed upstairs and sat down to read LJ while I munched (yes, I am that sad). And I came across this post by inspector_81 on Robert Newman’s History of Oil (google video link, just clicky and watchy) – and was well, shocked. Not so much by what he said, although the newly aquired history of the First World War, well, I must chat to my sister’s husband about it (History Teacher)… it wasn’t something I’d encountered.

    BUT – the commentary on society and oil, it’s basically largely what I thought about, with a huge helping of war thrown in; and the future isn’t bright for our society unless we do get off our collective arses and start doing something. I think when I’m done failing my course I’ll get out there and see about stuff I can do. I can’t exactly claim any fucking prize on this one, although much that I own is recycled I also
    – Drive (although it’s required by my job)
    – Keep my PC on all the time
    – Use 2 monitors (when one did me fine before)
    – Waste electricity and water something chronic
    – Eat fruit and veg out of season, and non-locally produced foods
    I think our society makes it easier to be irresponsible than it is to be responsible; it’s cheaper to buy food sourced from ‘wherever’, easier to buy new than to repair, difficult to travel by public transport. I’ve stripped out lots of the things I used to do, or that I would do if I could because it’s beyond my finances to be the ethical consumer I want to be. In some ways I’m good – I recycle loads, in fact I get quite annoyed at packaging that’s non-recyclable (particularly plastic. Trees coated in crud that means they won’t take it? That I can just about cope with, but plastic? How hard is it to put a number and a triangle on a fracking piece of plastic?!).

    Aye. So. Hrm. Lots to think about. And now I must regain my day; shower, work, and prepare for interviews of interviewy doom.

  • Wilting

    So, let’s try that again.

    It’s too hot here, and it’s only 1128 (now, it was 1045 when I first started).

    We tried an experiment in visualisation; the second monitor calls to me when it’s not on and and it’s nice to be able to see more stuff on screen; if you know what I mean. However, experiements with getting visualisation to work on the second screen lead to my machine freezing, which is not good.

    Anyway, so I spent the morning attempting to beat the civil service into submission. Let me give anyone a tip; telling someone who’s waited 6 months to be told what they should have been told, say, 2 weeks after applying that they get 98.7% of applications turned round in 7 weeks, that isn’t a good plan, that’s likely to annoy someone more. Claiming that there’s sufficient information when there isn’t, otherwise they’d’ve got the information the first time is also annoying; finally claiming you have no offical means of complaint; that’s likely to get someone’s goat. Specifically mine. It’s got my goat, taken it’s food, dumped ice cold water on it and then spent an hour insulting it; so now my goat is pretty angry.

    On the plus side, they’ve now said that all they needed in the first place was a 6 year old letter, which I have a copy of. So I shall send them a copy of that. Fucking useless arseholes. If they’d’ve *said* then I’d’ve *sent it*. Gaaah. Not that I’m happy to send it, given that it contains an awful lot of confidential information about my life, and they have *no need* to see it. Voeyeruistic arseholes.

    I’ve just discovered (everyone ready for a rant) that using public transport from Bristol, you can’t travel the 168 miles to Manchester and be there by for 9:30. I’ve just discovered that I can’t make it from my interview. I have to go up the night before, or spend several relaxing hours in the middle of the night in railway stations. I think I have to give up and use up my extra day worked, lose my weekend off and stay in either Manchester or Birmingham. Oh I’m *so* fucked off. Why does public transport have to be so utterly, utterly useless.

    It’s hard to persuade myself to travel by train when they make it so fucking hard. I’m now completely *argh*, it probably makes more sense for me to go up to Manchester a day early and spend the day getting a feel for Manchester since I’ve never been there before. Oh balls. Really.

    What was I going to say? No idea. I’ve done a letter for Trey; not that she can see this, but I’ll stick it in the post today or tomorrow. I’m gonna have some lunch, sling some laundry in and do more dissertation. I was going to do it this morning but civil service and  public transport’s kind of knocked it all on the head really. 2 nights in a hotel, vs: cost of driving and risk of not getting there on time. *sighs*

  • Damn this summer lazyness

    I need to do the editing of my Chapter 3 – but the sun’s out and although I’m not a sun creature (more a mountains, snow and rocks creature) I do just feel the urge to laze. Not made any better by the fact my hayfever’s been completely evil today – and I’m still an itchy eyes / blocked and runny nose type person. At least the anti-histamines have made me feel human.

    I shall have to work after I get back from my appointment, but the enthusiasm for riding into the centre of Brizzy in all my bike gear for an appointment where he’ll tell me to get some blood taken, I’ll get it taken, he’ll make an appointment for me in a year’s time, and la, that’s it… well it’s not great. But I must go.

    I just spent a little while crafting a post on Gingerbeer – who we stewarded between (them and dykes on bikes) a few years ago begging, nay pleading for 2 stewards (for Guy). Hopefully they’ll come through or we’ll be the world’s shortest float. Not that I mind, but people might think ‘that’s a bit odd’ :-)

    Anyway, Dr’s Appt, then Dissertation, I promise.

  • ’tis the season to be overheated

    ’tis hot, and ’tis continuing to maliciously be hot without any good reason.

    Yes. So.

    Here I am, home again, my dissertation meeting went well, some suggested modifications (essentially, I need to link back more to my earlier critique, and there’s a couple of comments I made which he felt should have been referenced) which I can make and then on to the discussion. I didn’t realise that the copyright with my dissertation apparently lies with the university; I find this most odd. These days, the university is paid by me (in this case, by the NHS) to provide a service; unlike a job where *they* pay me to do work, I *pay* them to teach me. So why should I let them have the copyright on my work? Hrmph.
    I picked up the ScanJet 3300C today, so I’m ‘with scanner’ again, which is good news. ‘cos I’ve missed having one. Of course, working out where *exactly* a scanner fits into the room is… challenging, to say the least.

    Yeah, anyway, main point of this post; Aisling pointed me at Breakfast on Pluto, which she thought I’d enjoy – and it’s true I did. I really found it excellent; incredibly funny but also incredbly touching. Filled with brilliant music… It’s now on my to buy DVD list.

    It does have a few continunity glitches but within their budget they’ve done an astounding job of recreating the right look.

  • I’d ask where my day went, but I know…

    For once I really did do stuff with the weekend.

    Yesterday I got to the stage where I’d finished to first-draft stage chapter 3 of the dissertation; which meant that today I could tackle a few other jobs, namely cleaning the bathroom (done), tidying the garage (sort of done), small jobs on Cherry (speedo drive, new chain casing, greasing and adjusting the chain, etc). I also did a run to the supermarket. It doesn’t sound like that much, but really, it was. I’ve freecycled a bunch more stuff. And now I’m really *really* tired.

    I have however remembered what it was like before I started my course, when I had a life. It was nice.

  • How did people cope before word counts?

    3988 words in Chapter three. The minimum length for chapter 3 is 4000 words (well, slightly less actually assuming I hit the 2000 word minimum for chapter 4); I’m happy. Why am I happy? Because there’s lots of leeway in this and I’ve got another couple of hundred words I want to write. Hehehe.

    Raaaaaar.

    And my 1930’s fan is wobbling away cheerily. I think it might not be perfectly balanced. Incidentally, anyone know where you can get scintered bearings made for very cheap?

  • Thing the first

    Thing the first – I have a badge; this goes on my police woman’s hat, thus making it look that bit more authentic. I need some black felt too, I think, but rarrr. Ultra-special raar because it’s a St. Petersburg Police badge, thus unlikely to be mistaken for the Met Police (although, dubiously, I note that you can buy police hatbadges for most UK policeforces on e-bay).

    Thing the second – with careful arrangement the letters P, O, L, I, C and E fit onto a sheet of A4 twice, even when the letters are 3 inches high by two and a chunk inches wide. This is good. This means that by purchasing some inkjet-cling-white-magnetic paper, Rebecca can proclaim POLICE on the boot, the doors, and the bonnet (oh, and on a roofsign, did I mention that?) and look most police-like. I can also *try* and print it (although I may have to get Nikki to do so ‘cos I think it’s straight-through-paper-path stuff which won’t go through my HP very well) with stuff wot says ‘Whipem Down Police Dept’ and “Whipping Criminals Into Shape” or whatever (and also MMLGBT – Morris Minor LGBT Group) so that people know who were are :-)

    See the ultracool?

    Thing the Third – It’s a gorgeous day, made more gorgeous by the fact that instead of saying “Kellaway (lying & theiving) Motorcycles Incorporated” on the number plate (tempting though), it now says ‘MZ – Es ist eine Lesbiche Sache’ (although spelt correctly, which that probably isn’t). Raaar.

    Thing the fourth – I’ve added a huge chunk to C3 of my dissertation, and am going to make some tea before continuing. This is goodness.

    ETA: Thing the fifth – the house in Brum that looks *perfect* for me is still available; it disappeared for a while but it’s come back. Now I just need a job there. This is *DEFINATELY* goodness

    Tinned goodness of a good variety.

  • Summer has arrived…

    …and brought with it blue skys, little fluffy clouds, and hayfever. Bugger. Let’s dispose of nervous happy Kate and leap to runny nose’d, sore eye’d, pissed off Kate. I want my hayfever to, and i say this with quite deliberate malice, I want it to fuck right off and die. It’s not even that bad yet, my eyes are just ‘itchy’ and the toilet roll is rapidly disappearing. Hopefully my Neoloritadine will knock this idea on the head quickly, but it always takes my body a while to react to it.

    It also meant that the computer room got ‘hot’. To be fair, it’s a tiny room and it’s got a Sempron and 21″ CRT monitor in it. It got hot enough yesterday, even with the window open, that I was forced to use the fan. Now, there are sensible people in this world, they’d probably have gone downstairs and dug out the 2 year old desk fan; not me; oh no. I connected up my 1930’s desk fan – partially repaired – okay, Bodged. It worked though and is shockingly effective at shifting air (if somewhat noisy). It really needs me to spend some time on it though.

    So today is, hopefully, finishing Chapter 3 of my Dissertation (the Critical Evaluation of the Literature). I’ve read through the last few papers this morning to make more notes (as if I didn’t have enough notes) which should be enough knowledge to get that section written up. Anyway, I suppose I should get on.

  • Progress

    So, I’m most of the way through section 2 of chapter 3 (“Where prejudicial experiences have occured, how do they affect the individual patient”) – although it’s one that I could write lots more on, actually. But I’ve written enough, I’ll probably tack on a summary paragraph for that section and then set to on re-reading the papers (the n’th time) to answer the final question  (“What improvements are suggested by the literature to enhance nurses abilities to appropriately support and care for patients”).

    In other news I picked up some dubiously cheap DVD-R’s yesterday, which means that I can now send disks to Rachel in ‘merkia, bringing the actual sending of her letter a step closer, and I spent an age attempting to beat a creative idea out of my head which is something to send to Trey. I didn’t succeed. My uni flatmates’ll remember the ‘after midnight rule’ – essentially: Don’t suggest anything to Kate after midnight, because if it’s a creative / bizzare thing, it’ll happen. Unfortunately, the idea hit me as I went to bed… at 23:53, and by the time midnight rolled round it was firmly embedded in my brain. Hell, I nearly had to get up there and then to do it. Feh. Anyway, it’ll give me something to do when I need a break…

    Damn my stress == creative streak.

    I also, last night, had a rocking chat with a friend who’s in the middle of writing; and she actually found a use for my biochemistry ‘knowledge’; it’s probably a bit out of date, but close enough for the story. I’m dead pleased, it felt really good to be able to provide some information – however rough and ready it’d be. I’m glad I kept one of my Biochem books now (the rest have been freecycled).

    In addition to writing section 3.2, I also threw together the Arrogant Worms Teeshirt Nikki and I’d planned to make; because my transfers are 10 years old and ‘knackered’ I didn’t want to waste a good teeshirt, but one of my tops recently developed a small stain (I’ve no idea what from) which nothing would remove. It’s conveniently covered by the letter ‘A’ in “Britain’s”:

    And, as I was feeling productive I also installed TomTom 3 onto the iPaq again – and installed the map onto my 64 Meg flash card; of course what I found out (and hadn’t previously realised) was that a 64Meg flashcard, like everything else in computing, is missold. It’s not 64 Meg at all. 62 exciting meg of space is yours for the price of 64, which means that the 64 Meg map won’t fit on the card *sigh*. So I’ve got the 32 Meg map though, which is better’n last time when I had the 16 Meg teeny-map. I shall however purchase a ‘huge-ass’ CF card at some point, thus enabling music and map storage. I’m glad that I went for the single slot expansion in the end, because it’s fracking huge. It’s like a brick of doom. Never mind – it’s also got good battery life now.

    Finally I watched Dr Who; which rocked my little world. It, as Chrissy said, felt like a real Dr Who epsiode, and Maureen Lipman is freaky when she’s scary. The BBC are doing evil things to my childhood memories, first the Testcard in Life on Mars, now Maureen Lipman being evil. It’s not right.

    So that was my yesterday, how was yours?