almost 8.5 hours of working today

[kareina]

That may not sound like much to those of you with "real jobs", but that is counting only actual productive hours, any time I pause to check e-mail or go refill my water bottle, or whatever, I make a note of it. I've been told that while most people are at work 8 (or more) hours a day, they don't actually *work* that many. Considering a few of my days recently have been less than 3.5 hours of work, I'm encouraged to manage so many today. (That brings my average hours a day for the month to 5.03 hours, counting every day in the month, not just week days.) Now, if only that had also translated into lots of new words for the thesis. I ran a couple of tries on calculations for one of my samples, then went to write it up, noticed one detail I hadn't previously noticed, whcih made me want to try a third set of calculations. Alas, the results of the third set aren't really as good as the first couple. I think. I'm also getting somewhat tired (not surprising--I haven't even gone for a walk yet today!), so I'll wait and deal with it in the morning.

However, before I go, I must comment on how much easier today's calculations were than normal. You see, the suite of programs I use for the calculations uses the windows command prompt as the interaction medium. I type in the name of the specific program I need at the moment, hit enter, and it asks a question, I type in a key stroke (or four) in reply, hit enter, it asks the next question, till it has enough answers with which to do the calculations. I long since figured out that I could type in the answers *before* it got to the next question, and have memorized the questions and answers (usually it gives a list of numbered choices, so I just select the number(s) which apply) and have developed a routine wherein I type in the program name, and then, as rapidly as possibly, type in all of the answers it will need. This is all well and fine when I don't make any typoes due to typing so fast. But today that all changed for the better. I opened Word, typed in the program name followed by all of the replies needed for each of the garnet end members. Then, as I did the calculations and plotting up the results, all I needed to do was select the heading of the series I was about to run and paste it into the command prompt. So easy, and no time wasted in typing the list over again due to mistakes. Why didn't I think of this *months* ago?

Note: the thing which prompted me to think of it at all is that mouse clovis_t purchased some time back which has nine different buttons, and the ability to program macros so that when playing a computer game he can hit one button on a mouse to do certain tasks, rather than hit a bunch of different keys. At first I thought "gee, can one program macros for the command prompt?", and then I realized that I didn't need to, a simple copy-paste would be more than sufficent to meet my needs!

Comments

"working"

[not-an-elf.livejournal.com]

You'd be thinking of salaried office workers I reckon.

I can happily say that when I work 13 hours straight, I "work" all those hours.

But you're right, there's an awful lot of employed people who really don't work, but that's OK, because they consume all the detritus that this marvellous capitalist machine produces, making us all a little more "prosperous" every day...

getting off my soapbox now....

Re: "working"

[baronsnorri.livejournal.com]

Nice soapbox! Where may one other find one? (Not that I'm doing the long hours at present, but, been there, done that, worn out the various flavours of specialist protective equipment, & still have all of my fingers & toes, despite a spectacularly broken jaw once upon a time...).

Miss you, old chap! : )

Re: "working"

[kareina.livejournal.com]

I was actually thinking of mere mortals. Everyone knows you Gods don't need to take breaks to pee, or eat, and don't get interrupted by co-workers when you would rather be working. ;-)

And really, given that I've been a student all my life, and one who found school so easy that the only thing I've ever done for eight or more hours in a single day hitherto was sleep, I'm actually pretty pleased with my progress. This PhD project isn't just about the things I've needed to learn in order to do the research, it has also been about learning to put forth more effort at once towards a single goal than I've ever done before...

Re: "working"

[not-an-elf.livejournal.com]

Huzzuh to your unprecedented focus, drive and tenacity!
I do to need to pee occasionaly! That's what the hose and bucket are for!
Also, you're not exactly one of natures great consumers....

[sacred-harlot.livejournal.com]

well done for putting in so much actual work, you are a trouper obviously, and will soon reach your goal of completeing and handing in your Thesis. As I have said before you are an inspiration to a lowly u-grad such as myself!

Warmest Wishes,
Sacred Harlot X.

[kareina.livejournal.com]

I am delighted that I'm being an inspiration. Thinking that, on days like today, when I am slow to actually get to the part about working, helps me *want* to work, which is half of the battle. If the inspiration causes you to also seek out a higher degree when you finish this one, I shall look forward to reading how the journey goes for you...