shadowclaw

I have two friends that have tried being sales consultants to earn some extra cash. A few years back, one friend started selling Mary Kay products. We were both bridesmaids in another friend's wedding, so she had a Mary Kay party for us and the mothers of the bride and groom.My mom thought this was so rude that she "had the nerve to guilt her friends into buying expensive makeup." Even though we all had jobs and she told us we didn't have to buy anything. Now another friend is selling Jamberry nail decal things and is having a Facebook party. I showed my mom some of the designs and she went on a rant about how terrible it was to invite me to the Facebook party when I don't make much money, and she had no right to pressure me into buying things I don't need. Yet she doesn't have a problem with my sister selling scentsy products to me, and my mom even hosted a scentsy party. Really, what's the difference between me buying $25 of wax from my sister or $30 of nail designs from a friend? If anything, pretty nails and makeup are least going to be seen by other people. Nobody smells the delightful scents in the burner in my room.

Dev Patel was in Chappie with Sigourney Weaver Sigourney Weaver was in Galaxy Quest with Alan Rickman Alan Rickman was in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with Helena Bonham Carter Helena Bonham Carter was in Big Fish with Ewan McGregor Ewan McGregor was in The Men Who Stare at Goats with Jeff Bridges Jeff Bridges was in The Big Lebowski with Julianne Moore Linda Kozlowski, Carey Grant

I got an unofficial acceptance to one of my top choice schools (thank goodness). The department recommended me for admission and the graduate school just has to give its stamp of approval and send me an official acceptance. At first I was so excited and relieved, especially since I've received only bad news or silence from my other programs. Now I feel like I'm going to explode if I don't have a definitive answer and funding information. Especially funding. I'm terrified of being admitted with no funding or terrible funding.

I think it's a little weird not to mention to a POI that you are applying for the GRFP or any other fellowship. For one, it shows that you are motivated to find funding and not just expecting a TA position to be handed to you. Grant writing is an important part of academia and I imagine it would be desirable to have a graduate student who is already thinking in those kinds of terms. I think it also demonstrates your seriousness in your pursuit of graduate studies. Aside from that, there are many POIs out there who have time and space for new graduate students, but no grant money to support them. External funding solves that problem and can get you into a lab that otherwise doesn't have the funding to support you. I had two POIs in this position who were happy to nominate me for school fellowships and specifically told me to apply for the GRFP and seek out any other funding opportunities I could find. As for mentioning it in a SOP, I'm agree that it doesn't seem like a good place for it. I know I have filled out at least one that specifically requested that information in the SOP, so if course in that case it's fine. Most applications I filled out had separate sections on the application for what fellowships I applied for. Mentioning it to your POI seems like the best way to let the school know aside from filling in the appropriate boxes on the application.

Cooking in the crockpot at the low setting generally gets food cooked in about 6 hours, although I imagine cooking something big like a pot roast or whole chicken might take longer (but there's always the high setting). However, if you're only planning to cook veggie and seafood dishes, you won't have to worry about that. I haven't had any issues with the food staying in longer than 6 hours, either. In fact, my Thai chicken curry I made last week was quite delicious after cooking for 8 and a half hours. So you can definitely put food in at night and have it ready in the morning. I know fancy crockpots exist with delay timers. In fact, my rice cooker can also act as a crockpot or steamer (and can cook rice and steam food at the same time) and it has a delay timer function. I highly recommend a rice cooker if you eat a lot of rice. Personally, I can't cook rice on the stove without watching it because it always boils over, so it's nice to be able to do something else while it cooks. I also think it comes out better, and it automatically switches to a keep warm setting when it's done. You can get rice cookers for under $15, but I spent extra to get one with a higher capacity (I like making fried rice with leftovers) and the extra functions like delay timer, steamer tray, white and brown buttons, etc. I love loose leaf tea! I found some nice tea samplers on Amazon that are a bit cheaper than Teavana, but I agree that they make awesome tea. Wegmans used to have a nice little selection of loose tea, but I haven't shopped for tea there in a while.

I got a snail mail letter today from one of my programs at Oregon State. I thought for sure it was a rejection because it came by post, but nope! It was good news! The department recommended me for admission to the university. Technically not an official acceptance, but I don't see why the graduate school wouldn't let me in. Funding is potentially the only barrier, as I need a TA position and they're limited. Of course, scoring the NSF GRFP would solve that. I am so excited! OSU is my second choice in terms of program, but Corvallis is my number one choice for a place to live.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Indian-Vietnamese-Cooker-Recipes/dp/0778804046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426892217&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Indian-Slow-Cooker/dp/1607746190/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=13VBYBRBJJCWG751V3F9 The first one has a nice mix of different cuisines and is the only cookbook I could find with Thai crockpot recipes. The second one is has only Indian recipes, but I like that it has extra non-crockpot recipes as well.

I was never really skinny to begin with. At my lowest adult weight, I was 190 pounds and a size 14 (in my senior year of high school). At that point in my life, I ate a fair amount of junk food (chips, cookies, etc), but didn't eat out at McDonalds or Chinese places very much. I also had a somewhat active job as a stock girl 3 nights a week and took karate classes 3 times a week (amounted to 5 hours each week). Plus I practiced at home frequently. I can honestly say that I was pretty fit, even though I still had some flab. When I went to college, all of that changed. No more time for karate classes and I got a full-time job at a fast food place near school. I gained about 40 pounds in my first two years. I eventually went on to gain a lot more (I was over 300 at one point), then went low carb and started working out and lost a lot of it. I managed to hold a steady weight until I finally graduated with my BS by 1) working full-time as a waitress (I did a lot of walking!), 2) trying to eat healthy, and 3) being active as much as I could but not actually working out. Then I went for my MS and I basically spent my first 3 semesters sitting in a chair. Between studying, reading papers, sitting in class, and the long commute to school, I did an obscene amount of sitting. It also didn't help that I would spend a lot of my free time binge watching Star Trek and other SciFi shows on Netflix. I also ate a lot of fast food because it was easy. I got so fat. The summer helped, because I was outside collecting data for my thesis, and I trimmed down a little bit, but once the semester started again I puffed up. So I have a lot of weight to lose right now, and I really need to get in shape for the summer for a job that will involve a lot of walking around the woods doing some habitat sampling, particularly in muddy places. Plus I'm sick of being fat and lazy. I've made a few lifestyle changes and they are working well for me: 1. Exercise! I try to do cardio 6 days per week, about 40-45 minutes per day. Basically, I watch an episode of a show on Netflix while I walk on the treadmill or cycle. A tip for anyone like me who can't run because it hurts your shins and other body parts - adjust the incline on the treadmill to a high number. You will get a great cardio workout walking at a slower pace. I also have an old Total Gym that I use 3 days per week. I just do a few sets of some basic exercises. I probably spend 20 minutes on the machine. 2. Just say no to fast food. I was eating so much McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza, Chinese takeout (and not the healthy kind), etc. before. Even though it takes a little planning, I pack a lunch and I cook at home. Crock pots are also awesome for having a meal ready when you get home from a long day. I really like Thai and Indian food, and I found a great cookbook full of crock pot versions of dishes. I also found that rice is really filling for me (and better for me than potatoes and bread), so I invested in a good rice cooker with a delay timer to make it easier to make. Anytime that I do find myself without a lunch at school, I just grab a sandwich someplace. No fries, chips, etc. 3. No late night snacking on junk. I am really guilty of kicking back at the end of the day, watching tv, and eating a bag of chips. This requires a bit of will power, but once 8:00 rolls around, if I want to eat something, I eat yogurt, fruit, veggies with a little ranch, etc. Something healthier than junk food. It's easy to eat 500 calories of chips in a sitting. It's not so easy to do that with yogurt or fruit (although possible). 4. Drink more water. I love soda. Sometime when I was a teenager, I started drinking soda like crazy. It's part of the reason I got so fat during college. Free Dr. Pepper at work? Sure, I'll drink like 100 ounces every shift. I was actually drinking over 1000 calories every time I worked (which was 5 days a week) on top of all the calorie-rich food I was eating. At some point while waitressing, I started cutting it with diet soda, which helped. However, now I strive to drink mostly water and only have one can of soda each day (and it's diet). I also try to drink a lot of water, too.

I didn't always want to go to graduate school. There were times during my long undergraduate career that I thought maybe I wanted to get my masters and others times that I thought it would be best if I just got a job and started paying off my student loans first. When I changed my major to biology and started getting involved in ecological research, I knew I wanted to do more of it and as much as possible. So I decided to go straight to grad school. Besides, at this point, if I went out and got a job, I'd probably end up staying there for a long time, because I'd get comfortable in the position. Of course, I could always find a job that really sucks, which would motivate me to apply to grad school sooner than later.

FoggyAnhinga and Crucial BBQ, sorry to hear of your rejections! I'm starting to get cranky about not getting decisions from most of my programs. When I filled out my applications back in the fall and winter, I was so sure that I'd know by this time if I was going for my PhD or reapplying next year. Grrr. I think I'm going to hear something soon either way from one of the two programs I applied to at Oregon State, but with my luck, something will delay it. Waiting for the results of the NSF GRFP is also getting me cranky, although I've known all along that I wouldn't hear anything on that until the first week of April. I just want to know now. Even an honorable mention might be enough to push me to the front of the waitlist at UTK or UNC. However, I've pretty much given up on both of those, even though UTK was my top choice Come on, OSU and FIU! Send me acceptances!

http://www.nh1.com/news/nh-lawmakers-brutally-kill-4th-graders-bill-in-front-of-them/ There are reasons that people dislike the government or have no interest in politics. This is a shining example. Sure, I get that picking out a state raptor isn't really important. Although we have state birds, flowers, trees, insects, drinks, dogs, fossils, etc., so what's the big deal? These politicians really slammed the bill that these 4th graders put together, and the comments were completely out of line. Aside from being an idiot and complaining that the proposed state raptor rips its victims apart limb by limb (what the heck do you think raptors do? And I don't hear anyone complaining about the Bald Eagle), but saying that it would be a better mascot for planned parenthood was really just... awful.

Food poisoning.

I don't know the exact procedure, but you should be able to get an exemption/deferment/whatever from serving because you're a student. However, they don't actually have to exempt you if they don't want to. They probably will, though. I know one of the professors in my department couldn't get out of it even though she was teaching several courses and finding someone to cover was a massive pain. Then again, our lab supervisor told them that it would be too much of a burden on the department if she was gone for jury duty, and they let her slide.

Sorry, EEBPHD2015, but I didn't apply to those schools! Good luck, though! I'm waiting for rejections from UNC and UTK (didn't get invited for an interview), although there's always a tiny chance that everyone who was accepted will decline, potentionally making space for me I'm waiting for a decision either way from two programs at Oregon State and one at FIU.

extreme cheddar

word crimes

Got another one of those random emails from schools because of the GRE. This one didn't have its name in the subject or sender name... it was just from The Graduate School. The subject actually had nothing to do with admissions, but it's been a while since I got a fake out email and I got really excited for a moment.

I really wish ecology programs had better representation in the results search! There are 2 results for one of my programs at Oregon State, and they are for the masters degree. One got an acceptance on Feb 15 and the other got one on March 24. I know decisions will be made soon if not already, but I really wish I had some idea! The other program at OSU has zero results, so yeah. The program at FIU has results all over the place, from early March to early June. I really have no clue when to expect anything from them!

Continue hoping for those acceptances! I'm rooting for you! Since you've got somewhere to live after graduation, it's ok if you don't go looking for a job until you find out for sure about graduate school. That said, it will probably take you a while to actually get a job if you end up needing one. Most job postings for temporary field positions are advertised several months in advance and get filled long before the start date. So by mid-April, most summer positions will likely be filled and advertisements for positions starting in late August or September will start popping up. On the bright side, it's not that hard to find some sort of summer employment (McDonalds, amusement parks, etc) to hold you over if you need money. Just do it! Not that helpful, I know, but if you're that certain about it, you need to just take the plunge. Write up an email accepting the offer (or go to the website), stare at it for a little while, and then click send as fast as you can.

Field sparrow

I agree, you'll be thankful that you have a head start on research. It's really not that uncommon for wildlife graduate positions to get started with field work the summer before classes start. This often happens when the PI has a very specific project in mind and already has a protocol in place. I wish I had this opportunity when I started my masters program... it would have given me two years of data instead of just one! However, my PI only had a very general idea of the project he wanted me to work on and really just kind of told me when class started to look up a few things and figure it out myself.

Speaking of Facebook and family relationships, my mother-in-law and husband are eternally getting into Facebook fights. Actually, she gets into Facebook fights with everyone because she forgets that everyone on her friend list can see her posts and she's always trash taking somebody. She doesn't have a car anymore, refuses to shop at the grocery store that is three buildings away from her apartment, and instead prefers to shop at the grocery store in the next town that is part of the same chain and has the same food at the same prices. She also likes to buy certain things at Walmart (which is 20 minutes away by car) which she can get at the Dollar General in town (which is a 5 minute walk) for the same price. Nevertheless, my husband drives her both to the grocery store and to Walmart when she asks (but she won't go to both on the same day because of differences in when she gets her food stamps and social security). This time, however, he must have been in a bad mood, because he told her he wasn't going to drive her twice in one week and just wait the few days for her social security to come in so they could go to both stores. Evidently it pissed her off, because she put a bunch of posts on Facebook about how her son doesn't love her, how she did everything for him all his life and now look at how he treats her, etc. So now there's a bunch of Facebook drama going on. Could be worse. She used to be Facebook friends with my family, until she started posting a bunch of stuff about them as if they wouldn't see it, plus was spying on my brother and his girlfriend at family get-togethers and reporting back to his ex-wife through Facebook so she could try to use it against him. The drama got so bad that she was banned from my parents' home. Then when we got married on a cruise (which he paid her way for by borrowing money from my parents), she flipped out because she had to wait a day for him to put money on her cruise account and couldn't buy any booze for one night. She was rooming with two of my friends and while unpacking, told them how mean and terrible he was and that he was going to abuse me after we were married. When we confronted her about it after the cruise, she insisted my friends were lying to us to turn us against her, because they were under the influence of Satan (one friend is pagan and the other isn't really religious). So yeah. Drama. Never ending drama.

One word: money. Unless it's just a quick follow up that couldn't be charged to your insurance. In that case, I have no idea. My family's doctor (or at least someone from the office) phones us with lab results. It seems a lot easier than taking up time slots at the office that could go to other patients.