D-day -64 and -63

It might be too early to say with any certainty, especially since yet another of those bad-for-work-motivation weekends is coming up (the last one for this year, that much is at least entirely sure), but it seems as though I've found inspiration again. Which is a good thing, since the Thesis needs to be handed in for printing in 26 days. Still waiting for the proper panic to get me going, though.

But all of that is for sure a problem for next year - Happy New Year everybody!

Today's and Yesterday's Achievements
Status: seriously missing the IIASA gym. Apparently gyms in Stockholm don't believe in letting people work-out without becoming a member for an entire year. Meh. And fnö.
Detailed progress: made corrections after getting half of the kappa back from proof-reading. Added a bunch of studies to the Related studies section. Think (hope) it's almost done now.
Thesis Hours: 4+6
Words written: +248
Figures included: 0
Tables included: 0

Overall Quest Stats 
Hours on Thesis Quest: 310
Words written: 26770 (86 words/h)
Figures included: 20
Tables included: 6
Equations included: 2
Overall accomplishment level:  72%
Quest level: 14 - Secret Procrastinator

Status - detailed report (%)

Abstract	0
Sammanfattning	0
List of Papers	100
Thesis outline	100
1. Introduction	92
2. Background	93
3. Biomass gasification	97
4. Studied systems	100
5. Methodology	88
6. Results and analysis	90
7. Discussion, conclusions and future work	70
Acknowledgements	0
Papers	100

D-day -65

Today's Achievements
Status: slightly more work motivated
Detailed progress: read+wrote about one more related study, finished Beaver paper (new Paper VII, the journal version), will be submitted tomorrow (not me, the Paper)
Thesis Hours: 4
Words written: 139

D-day -66

From previous experience I've noticed that a lack of posts here make people nervous that my Thesis is not moving forward. I'm therefore now posting a few posts with fake time-stamp to update you on the last couple of days' worth of Thesis Questing.

Today's Achievements
Status: post-Christmas don't-wanna-work-feeling
Detailed progress: visited University, met supervisor (who, btw, did not actually send an email as below but I could almost hear him thinking it) read+wrote about one related study, worked on Beaver paper
Thesis Hours: 4
Words written: 168

D-day -69

Happy Holidays everybody!

(....and yes, if anyone has actually visited this place since Christmas, this is a late fake Christmas post....)

D-day -73

Last day at IIASA offered sunshine, work motivation and lots of tearful goodbyes (except for the tear parts, I made that up just to sound human).

Progress so far today:

• Made the big collect-signatures-to-be-able-to-leave-IIASA-round all over the Schloss
• Wrote new Beaver results
• Finished Paper VII. Again. But this is the journal version of it.
• Succeeded in avoiding to eat schnitzelised food (so far)

Still on to-do-list for today:

• Go to Christmas party, eat and drink too much, pass out in bed too late

Ciao Schloss! Thanks for the good Thesis Questing environment, with a minimum of disturbances (until the glühwein season started, after that it became more difficult). See you next time!

D-day -74 - CONFIRMED

Thesis defense confirmed for March 2, 2012. This means 32 days until Thesis needs to be handed in for print. Aaaah, nothing like a deadline to bring on the motivation, is there now?

Progress today:

• Submitted finished parts for proof reading. Not as easy as it may sound when writing in Latex and all proof reader require Word. Silly Wysiwyg normative community
• Wrote list of abbreviations
• Emailed the guys printing. No response.
• Made plans for unreality after disputation
• Tried some new Beaver code. Didn't work. (Ok so that last was not so very Thesis related)

Expected progress tomorrow:

• Make the big collect-signatures-to-be-able-to-leave-IIASA-round all over the Schloss
• Write new Beaver results
• Finish Paper VII. Again. But this is the journal version of it.
• Try to avoid eating schnitzelised food. That was btw not easy today, I can tell you
• Go to Christmas party, eat and drink too much, pass out in bed too late

D-day -75

With the risk of repeating myself from yesterday - MAN, this is slow work.  I'm moving things, deleting a little here, adding a little there... at the end of the day the word count change is less than the content of this blogpost. And the progress is still not up to what it was before I redefined it. Soon, very soon, I need to do something truly drastic. Like writing the Acknowledgements or so. Now wouldn't THAT be something?!

Today's Achievements
Status: slooooow....
Detailed progress: progress? Naaah, not really. Largest thing is probably changes to Studied systems
Thesis Hours: 6
Words written: +106
Figures included: -1
Tables included: 0

Overall Quest Stats 
Hours on Thesis Quest: 285
Words written: 26215 (91 words/h, and counting downwards...)
Figures included: 20
Tables included: 6
Equations included: 2
Overall accomplishment level:  71% (it's slooooow...)
Quest level: 14 - Secret Procrastinator

Status - detailed report (%)

Abstract	0
Sammanfattning	0
List of Papers	100
Thesis outline	100
1. Introduction	92
2. Background	93
3. Biomass gasification	91
4. Studied systems	100
5. Methodology	88
6. Results and analysis	90
7. Discussion, conclusions and future work	70
Acknowledgements	0
Papers	100

D-day -76

Back to Thesis weekend after no less than FIVE non-working weekends. Deleted some, added some - ended up in pretty much immeasurable progress wordcountwise (in either direction) but moved slightly forward when it comes to finishing things I've started.

Today's Achievements
Status: awfully slow, have a cold, woke up with a headache, generally whiny - would rather be tunneling
Detailed progress: polishing of results, added scenario description
Thesis Hours: 6
Words written: +54...
Figures included: 1
Tables included: 0

Overall Quest Stats 
Hours on Thesis Quest: 281
Words written: 26109 (93 words/h, and counting downwards...)
Figures included: 21
Tables included: 6
Equations included: 2
Overall accomplishment level:  70% (doh.... not moving forward here much...)
Quest level: 13 - Week Seeker

Status - detailed report (%)

Abstract	0
Sammanfattning	0
List of Papers	100
Thesis outline	100
1. Introduction	88
2. Background	90
3. Biomass gasification	91
4. Studied systems	100
5. Methodology	88
6. Results and analysis	90
7. Discussion, conclusions and future work	63
Acknowledgements	0
Papers	100

D-day -77

This fall the Swedish crew has been a dominating factor in the IIASA (former) Forestry group, if only looking to numbers (and if counting the French guy who has lived in Sweden, has a Swedish wife, a Swedish PhD and speaks really good Swedish, as Swedish). The French faction has however not been far behind, and they also keep claiming that the French guy should be counted a French. Which is of course completely ridiculous in so many ways.

Anyway, now both I and Marianne (the other Swedish girl) are ending our IIASA stays (for this time), which is of course a hard blow to the Swedish force. However, to go out in style, we today of course – in accordance with traditional Swedish traditions – arranged fredagsfika*, to which we brought fikabröd. We also – in accordance with traditional Austrian traditions – of course brought wine. Traditions are important. Especially traditional such. I believe that the newly started Swaustrian tradition with vinfika (wine fika) definitely has the potential to become a fine traditional tradition. I also believe that there is a potential slightly more obstacles to the vinfika in Sweden, compared to in Austria, but the kinks will be worked out in due time.

* "Fika" is an untranslatable Swedish word that sort of, but not quite, means "coffee with cake". But it's more a state of mind, than just coffee with cake. Apparently "fika" can also mean something similar to "nuppa**" in German, but I swear I didn't know this before I sent out the invitation for fredagsfika


** "Nuppa" is a Swedish slang word. More translatable than "fika". Don't know it? Well, google is your friend, my friend ;-)  

D-day -78

If you're here to read about my latest Thesis achievements, you might end up disappointed (sorry Mats...). This has been a week of traditional Austrian traditions (drinking wine for lunch and eating ridiculous amounts of food) which seems to affect afternoon productivity in a slightly negative way. Nevertheless, my un-Thesis-related progress this week involves a long list of amazing feats, including but not limited to:

• Metamorphosed one conference paper into a journal paper
• Created one spanking new shiny conference paper
• Successfully acquired a true treasure - Pearl Jam tickets for this summer! Now let's just hope that the concert does not coincide with skydiving. Hmmm, wonder what the odds are for that, with at least two skydivers from two different teams?
• Been called by the Swedish police - and relatively successfully solved this remote side quest
• Felt genuinely sorry for myself due to evil cold that ambushed me earlier this week

Saturday might by the by be a day when the Thesis moves forward again. Until then, I'll leave you with the thrilling conclusion of the allergy PhD comics series. Oh and I have no immediate plans of leaving academia. I guess I'll just have to live with itching arms!

D-day -84

Deleting gets easier and easier. I've cut back the size of the Thesis by 6 pages and over 1500 words so far. Wonder how small I can make it....?

Now it's enough for today. Don't want to make the allergy worse again, after all. And yes Karin, Lise, Johanna and the rest of you - as you can see from the strictly scientific reference below it's aaaall your fault ;-)

Today's Achievements
Status: moving... sloooowly...
Detailed progress: revised results for RQ2
Thesis Hours: 4
Words written: -648
Figures included: -3
Tables included: 1

Overall Quest Stats 
Hours on Thesis Quest: 275
Words written: 26055 (96 words/h, and counting downwards...)
Figures included: 20
Tables included: 6
Equations included: 2
Overall accomplishment level:  70%
Quest level: 13 - Week Seeker

Status - detailed report (%)

Abstract	0
Sammanfattning	0
List of Papers	100
Thesis outline	100
1. Introduction	88
2. Background	90
3. Biomass gasification	91
4. Studied systems	100
5. Methodology	86
6. Results and analysis	88
7. Wrapping it up	63
Acknowledgements	0
Papers	100

D-day -85

Ok, so I have a confession to make. The real reason why I haven't worked on the Thesis for such a lengthy period of time is not the Beaver, as I might have lead you to believe. It's also not writer's block, as I might also have indicated. And it's definitely not the large selection of un-Thesis-related activities (including sparkling wine for lunch and glühwein at any time of the day) on offer in Wien during this time of the year. No no, not at all. The real reason, I must now finally admit, is that I've developed a severe allergy to my Thesis. This has manifested itself in the form of itches and rashes on arms and legs. Indeed, it has during some times been so bad that people have threatened to oven glove me Phoebe-with-chicken-pox-style, if I don't stop scratching.

Now, when I've to my immeasurable dismay and sadness have been forced to let the Thesis sit untouched for numerous weeks, I'm glad to announce that the allergy seems to be retreating somewhat. I've now started to, carefully and in small portions, continue pursuing the finalisation of this grand master piece (still talking about the Thesis here). Slowly, slowly moving forward again. Or actually, right now moving backwards both in number of words and in progress quantifiables, but at least it's moving.

Apparently Thesis allergy is not as uncommon as it may sound. So all you PhD students still out there - beware!

Today's Achievements
Status: moving... sloooowly...
Detailed progress: revised results for RQ4
Hours in Schloss: 0 (it's another holiday, this time something with Immaculate Conception)
Thesis Hours: 4.5
Words written: -633
Figures included: -1

Overall Quest Stats 
Hours on Thesis Quest: 267
Words written: 26703 (100 words/h)
Figures included: 23
Tables included: 5
Equations included: 2
Overall accomplishment level:  70% (redefined, revised, repulsed...)
Quest level: 13 - Week Seeker

Status - detailed report (%) - REVISED

Abstract	0
Sammanfattning	0
List of Papers	100
Thesis outline	100
1. Introduction	88
2. Background	90
3. Biomass gasification	91
4. Studied systems	100
5. Methodology	86
6. Results and analysis	85
7. Wrapping it up	63
Acknowledgements	0
Papers	100

D-day -88 (again...)

Apparently I'm not very good at counting. I had Friday as day -88, when it was in fact day -91. I've now revised my accounts accordingly. Since I won no less than three full days, I've today compensated by been very unproductive.

Today's Achievements
Status: ztill out of Ze Flow
Detailed progress: continued revising the Results section
Hours in Schloss: 8
Thesis Hours: 5
Words written: -95

Overall Quest Stats 
Hours on Thesis Quest: 262.5
Words written: 27336 (104 words/h)
Figures included: 24
Tables included: 5
Equations included: 2
Overall accomplishment level:  72% (should probably still be redefined)
Quest level: 12.5 - Cultural Tourister

Status - detailed report (%) 

Abstract	0
Sammanfattning	0
List of Papers	100
Thesis outline	100
1. Introduction	90
2. Background	100
3. Biomass gasification	89
4. Studied systems	100
5. Methodology	96
6. Results and analysis	100
7. Wrapping it up	67
Acknowledgements	0
Papers	100

D-day -89 (revised!)

Reporting from a weekend of serious, all-in, definitely hardcore tourisming, supervised by my visiting sister. We have....

....seen lots of artsy-fartsy stuff....

Up-side-down Christmas tree at the Upper Belvedere

Magritte's "The Age of Fire" at the Albertina (Team Fire ftw!)

More Magritte

The Family

....been cheking out the baroque scene (and let me tell you, this baroque stuff is HUGE in Wien)...

....visiting Christmas markets and drinking glühwein.....

Spittelberg Christmas market

Belvedere Christmas market

Karlskirche Christmas market

 ......listened to the Wien Symphoniker orchestra perform Strauss - and now I don't mean one of the famous Johan Strausses, but the completely unrelated and significantly less known Richard Strauss....

All in all, I think it's safe to say that I'm now right on track with my cultural consumption quota, which probably means I should get back to working on the Thesis again...... 

D-day -91 (revised!)

I'm touched that so many (>1) have contacted me and asked with worried voices (worried email voices that is) whether the blog is still alive. The truth is that the blog very well reflects the current status of the Thesis: temporarily dead as a doornail. In order to ease your concerns I thus sanctified this grey Friday to the Thesis Quest, in order to have something to put here (thanks to all the holies for the blog, otherwise today would have seen the same output as all other days during the last weeks... that is, zip zero nada).

This weekend will however not see any Thesis Questing. Instead I have some much-needed cultural catching up to do. Museums, Musikvereins, Christmas markets, erdäpfelpuffers - here I come!

Today's Achievements
Status: completely out of Ze Flow and all other forms of inspirations. Not too bad with a delete key though. (And on a sidenote, getting pretty awesome at Matlab and Gams too!)
Detailed progress: removed two figures plus some text from RQ1a
Hours in Schloss: 8
Thesis Hours: 5
Words written: -172
Figures included: -2
Tables included: +1 

Overall Quest Stats 
Hours on Thesis Quest: 257.5
Words written: 27431 (107 words/h)
Figures included: 24
Tables included: 5
Equations included: 2
Overall accomplishment level:  72% (should probably still be redefined)
Quest level: 12.5 - Cultural Tourister

Status - detailed report (%) 

Abstract	0
Sammanfattning	0
List of Papers	100
Thesis outline	100
1. Introduction	90
2. Background	100
3. Biomass gasification	89
4. Studied systems	100
5. Methodology	96
6. Results and analysis	100
7. Wrapping it up	67
Acknowledgements	0
Papers	100