spectastic

dude, I'm just happy to have this gig I'm in right now. I was basically shut out by grad schools twice (to this day, I have no idea why), and wasted 2 years of my life in a job that I absolutely hated. It did paid well, and I grew a lot, but not a great deal for me. the third time, I applied to one school, not sure whether I'd get in or not. I hustled around to about 4-5 different professors, to their offices, and one of them gave me a chance. It's not the best group, we struggle with funding, and I'll probably stay here longer than if I were in a different group. But I'm still glad to be here, because I could've ended up like one of those salary slaves. For me, it's not about worrying about getting the best draw of the cards, but more about playing my best hand, and working my ass off to earn what I have. do I think about what if I had gone to a different college where there were more opportunities that are better aligned with my interests, or wish I could have a 4 hour conversation with my 17 year old self? sure. but you live you learn. not all the lessons will come easy.

try doing something that gets you skills for the future. this is not the time to build your savings account or pension. hustling for wages is a waste of time at this stage. work on your skills. I worked for almost a year as a mechanic before grad school. Sure, it helped me a tiny bit with my garage skills. But it has absolutely no place on my resume long term. right now, your most precious commodity is time. don't waste it.

boss said we'll talk about it on monday, and do the right thing. he suspects that the first authors didn't know I existed, which was probably true, because I let the other grad student be the liaison between our groups.

^ they say that about cyclists too. it's almost common sense that after getting an SO the FTP (functional threshold power) drops considerably. people joke around about it, but there's a certain truth to that. can't find the time to do it all.

thanks for the advice. I'll ask adviser about it. I'm planning to apply for federal fellowships next year. that's the main reason this concerns me. I realize this won't really contribute to my graduation in any significant degree

I helped make some material for a more senior grad student that's getting submitted, and when I say helped, I really mean I made the material, while the other grad student characterized, and shipped it away to our first author collaborators. The way I see it, I played equal contributing role to this project as the more senior grad student, except I wasn't even really a part of the conversation as far as authorship goes and the other person is getting 2nd authorship. Objectively speaking, our group only made the material because we have the resources to make it, and not many places do. So the level of contribution on our side wasn't actually that great. In that respect, 2nd authorship is highly glorified, because we don't actually have a good idea what our collaborators did. I think it's a low impact journal anyway. So what would you do?

these young bucks need to embrace reality and quit bitching at me about how life is unfair.

you're not wrong about a lot of the things you list. it's true, 90% or more of the classes we learn in school won't be used in the real world. Considering masters is mostly classes, I can see how spending 2 extra years in school can result in not much more than a diploma that might get you a higher entry level salary compared to a bachelors, and not worth the 2 years of opportunity cost of making money and gaining real experience. However, this varies with the field. I can also see how the schools are businesses before academic institutions, and how administrators are getting paid very well without doing much real work. However, your attitude about this entire situation, with the way you describe how everyone you've encountered is crazy or arrogant, makes me think that your negative experience largely resulted from your state of mind about your environment. I had a similar experience in my undergrad. I hated that place, and my experience there was not good. But I realize now that it was my state of mind back then about myself, my family, hometown, that resulted in me accentuating my negative experiences, and it's a reinforcing feedback. bottomline, it clearly wasn't a good fit for you. but there are plenty of places where you can move and start fresh.

i cuddle with my cat. i think it's starting to get serious between us. seriously though. my problem is not being proactive going out and meeting people. last year, I was talking to girls, getting phone numbers, etc. but these are shallow relationships.. and I'm much less interested in that now that research and school has me by the balls. I've got cycling friends, but boy:girl ratio sucks for me. thought about going to church again. that's a good way to meet people right?

using marijuana should not be a crime. I don't use it, but I somewhat understand its potential medical benefits and the threat it poses to drug companies trying to make a buck. the us justice system is retarded like that, and in other ways as well, making the tax payers pay for their own demise.

just finished meeting with adviser about some stuff. one thing that came up is how certain people in the department get by with more funding, higher salary, and yet produce less than we do. I hate to speculate, but I suspect the difference between our groups is our levels of commitment to networking with people. I imagine this to be true when writing grant proposals too (which we struggle with), where your proposals are more likely approved by someone with whom you have some kind of social capital. Right now, I'm starting to realize that science is a lot of politics, and how you play your cards with people may have vast implications on your success as a scientist, not just your work. What's your guys' experience been with respect to things you do outside the lab that was beneficial to your science career? share your stories.

it appears to me that you already know what to do. so it's more an issue with your work/life balance.

@Asperfemme I think you're running out of energy because your muscles isn't storing the glucose very well. when you starve your body of energy, your body starts to look for alternative fuel sources, like fat, and it's not a pleasant feeling. furthermore, when you overload on carbs and fat, your body has no way to process that from the blood stream, so they get turned into fat. so find ways to eat smaller portions over a longer period of time. don't eat out of a big jar. eat out of a small bowl. when the bowl is empty, get back to work. find foods that are complex carbs (like oats, whole wheats, etc). don't eat stuff that have a lot of sugar in them (almost anything you find in the grocery stores these days). you want your fuel to burn slow, so that it'll last longer. chances are, you have time to exercise. how much time do you spend on facebook, youtube, instagram. etc? (I am guilty of this) replace that time with yoga, running, or some form of real exercise. walking for 30 minutes isn't enough. you might as well do curls with a water bottle. pick an activity that challenges your body to adapt. If no adaptation occurs, you go nowhere. instead of 30 minute walk. spend 30 minutes on an elliptical. it will suck at first, and then it will suck less, and less, until it becomes routine. then pick something else that challenges your body, and make it adapt. when your body gets its ass kicked, it will come back stronger, and you will have more energy throughout your day. also, see your school's nutritionist, if you haven't already. they might tell you the same thing we've told you. but it can't hurt.

I'm using mendeley desktop now. thanks for that suggestion btw. the desktop is much better than the browser version

I guess google drive is another option. 15gb storage compared to 2 free gb for dropbox. the main thing I want to do is to be able to highlight stuff in the pdf form, and when it saves, have it sync with my collection. mendeley can be used when it's time to write a paper. good to learn about the mendeley desktop. I didn't know they had that.

how do you guys organize your articles? I've been using mendeley, and the more I use it, the more worthless it has become to me. dropbox does everything mendeley (free version) does, and you can save directly to a folder on your pc, instead of the desktop. I also like the fact that you can pull directly from dropbox on your tablet, and use xodo to highlight stuff, and edit it in more ways than mendeley ever could. I like dropbox right now. what about you?

dude cats chill lady cats fight

is your adviser an assistant professor who's young and gung ho about proving herself? i would be careful about any letter of recommendations coming from her.

i agree with pet deposit. take care of your apartment, and you'll get it back. pet fee/rent, on the other hand, is a total dick move.

chris carmichael came over to give a talk to the team today. part of his talk was addressed towards nutrition and weight loss. for people who already are eating healthy and getting their micronutrients from plants, which is what OP appears to already be doing, the next step is to focus on how you're taking in those calories. Basically, eat less calories through a few different strategies that have been proven by science: eat slower - you end up feeling full with less calories than if you gobble down food like most people who are short on time (eg. everyone here, hopefully) put the fork down every once a while - complementary to the first point to help you chew your food instead of stuffing the face don't eat and multi task. just focus on your food smaller portions. not smaller, more frequent portions, but just smaller portions. very simple stuff, but probably still helpful to most people. there was a question about intermittent fasting, to help the body burn more fat through carb deficiency, and while he sees the science behind it, it's unclear what the long term health impacts are. Plus, it requires a lot of attention and time that people just don't have. better to address the low hanging fruits listed above.

maybe you should be the one being upset in this case, because he's dragging down both of you.

there's a book "power of habit" that writes about how a habit works, and how to change them. there are 3 components to a habit: "cue" "routine" and "reward". to me, a craving signifies a "cue", after which your routine is to start eating whatever it is that you crave, and your reward is the dopamine sent to your brain. the book argues that the best way to change a habit is to keep the cue and reward, and change the routine. so if a guy wanted to quit smoking, he would recognize a cue (ex. stressful situation), develop a new routine (ex. i don't quite remember, something that replicates nicotine), and get the same reward as smoking a cig. I've not really tried this myself, but the concept makes sense to me. (I don't smoke.. that was just an example) not a vegan, just know that vegans have to eat more due to the lower calorie content of vegetables. but that does NOT look like a diet that would lead to weight gain, so I'm confused.

If you want a hug, I'm located in CPE on dean keeton. we'll hold hands, drink tea and sing songs.

this thread is not about you. my advice has always been directed to help the op address the weight gain problem, not this back and forth BS that helps no one. you got our opinion out. we're all unique. that's great. stereopticons clearly has nothing else to add beyond that. can we respect each other's opinions now?

talk down to you? I'm trying to pass on information I received from people who make a living taking care of their bodies and controlling their weight, so that they can perform at a high level, and steer people away from statements like this beyond which you have offered no constructive advice other than disagree with everything else I've written. carb sensitivity, caused by insulin resistance means the body can't process the sugar when it reach the blood stream, leading to low muscle glycogen retention, and having to eat more frequently. This is caused by underlying factors that can be addressed with exercise, good eating habits, being well rested, etc. your lifestyle blends into your diet. you can change your metabolism by changing your lifestyle. you can take that at face value or agree to disagree, idc. I stand by my advice to the OP. If you have a better one, we're all ears.