Monday

I had a great day yesterday where it was one of those days that things just seemed to work out right. I had finished analysing my exploratory data some time ago and having some preliminary results have kept me in better spirits for the last few weeks. I was ready to progress to the next stage of data collection, which is individual interviews and have been trying to get participants, which is always quite a challenge. I managed to organise my first interview for yesterday morning at Toowong Village and it went really well.

I caught the City Cat back to the office and just as I reached my desk, my phone rang and it was a lady asking if I wanted to interview her. The Wellness program put in a bit about my research, requesting for participants and she'd seen it there. We organised to meet later that afternoon - two in one day! Just as I put down the phone, I received an email from another lady saying she'd be happy to participate. Another interview scheduled for Wednesday. How cool is that? The luck will probably dry up and I will have to painfully search for more participants after this, but am quite happy with having 3 so far. I'm meant to have 2 more, but I'm just waiting to hear back from them about their availability.




I hit the gym yesterday to do Morphosis and Ride, a combo I hadn't done in a while given I was fasting and then I was away. I felt like I needed to do some cardio as I've decided that I'm too fat (or at least big, you can't argue with big). Am annoyed that the longer I stay with the gym and the harder I work out, the heavier I get. It's just so unfair. I find my only comfort in the fact that I've significantly reduced my body fat percentage since I started at the gym a year and a half ago. During Morph, I really went for it. I was jumping like I'd never jumped before, swinging my arms like I had all the energy in the world. I was so pumped up, it was weird. I'm usually more lifeless than that. I was surprised at how much energy I seemed to have, or at least how hard I was working.

I also finished my marking for Consumer Behaviour yesterday, which felt like a great effort but I took less than 2 weeks to mark it all so that was quite surprising. I am back to marking again for Services Marketing but only have 45 to mark, which isn't so bad if I do 10 or so a day. Unfortunately, I am feeling incredibly uninspired and distracted so my marking progress is not really there yet. I'd rather be transcribing than marking. Ho hum...

Perhaps it is time for an update...

It has been, and continues to be, a very busy week this week. On Sunday, Bernard, Lindsay, Joel, Damien and I went to Little Hong Kong in Sunnybank for lunch. I thought we could check it out since I hadn't been since it opened. Bernard and Lindsay have been there before, which was good to get some recommendations from them. It was alright, there were a lot of pork dishes and I usually am not fussed but in some Chinese eating places, the smell of the pork is just too overwhelming for me. It makes me feel sick.

I've started teaching again for Semester 2 and find myself with seven classes this semester (compared to the three last semester). Eeks... I initially wanted to do 6 but one of the tutors wanted me to take one of his classes. I said yes because I had a gap between 2 of my classes and figured it was a better use of my time this way. I quite like my Services Marketing students, many of them I've taught before in Consumer Behaviour. I'm still doing CB and funnily, I'm in the same classroom for 3 tutes straight. That's never happened before! They usually make you run around, so this is a welcome change. I teach again today and tomorrow. Where did the week go???

I finally feel like I'm making some progress with my PhD research as my Ethics application was approved yesterday - after THREE submissions! It was scary sending out the email to half the people I know, begging for participants for my study. Incidentally, if anyone is reading this, I am looking for volunteers to participate in a focus group discussion. Volunteers must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Female
• Aged 50-69 years old
• Must have used BreastScreen Queensland (BSQ) breast cancer screening service (i.e. mammogram) at least once before

Volunteers do not have to be current customers of BSQ, nor do they have to be regular users of mammograms - as long as they have had a mammogram at BSQ at least once. The details of the focus group is as follows:

• Date: Tuesday 26th August or Thursday 29th August (depending on which date suits the greatest number of respondents)
• Location: QUT Gardens Point Campus, Faculty of Business Z Block
• Time: 6pm to accommodate volunteers who may work office hours
• Parking: can be arranged for those who drive

If you know someone who is interested in participating but is unable to make the suggested dates for the focus group, they can still participate in an individual-depth interview. Interviews can be conducted at a location of greatest convenience to the volunteer, and at a time that best suits them.

Ok, so that's the end of my plug. In the meantime, my supervisors want me to provide a descriptive chronology of the value literature in 2 weeks. Erm... okay... I really hate doing trawling through the literature. I just don't have the patience or the attention span. It just makes me wonder constantly if I'm really cut out to do research :(

I probably won't be able to get much done this week. I feel like I just have too many things to do. I've started going to the gym during lunchtime on Fridays, and today will be the first time I am going on a Wednesday at lunchtime. I've been to see Liz (a trainer at the gym), who recommended I follow a certain program and hopefully I will start to see some changes.

Dad will be in Brisbane tomorrow morning, but I'm teaching all day so will only see him for dinner at Pane E Vino. Yum! I quite like that place, but there's one waiter who works there that I just can't stand. He's the guy with the ponytail, gruff attitude and perpetual frown. He's rude on the phone, he gets orders wrong, and one time I called to confirm my booking and he cancelled it!!! Thankfully, the owner was there when our party arrived and managed to get us a table.

Friday, its gym at lunchtime and then after-work drinkies (and hopefully dinner). Saturday, it's off to the Powerhouse Markets in the morning to get eggs, vegetables and maybe some meat. The markets are great. So fresh, so much fun and so much better than supermarket stuff! Then, it's the getting ready bit for the National Day Ball! I'm really looking forward to that. The theme for this year is Bollywood and Lindsay and I have got saris and bindis and bangles. It will be fun! I'm still trying to decide how to wear my hair, but as long I look okay, I don't think anyone will really care.