overworkedta

My BF drinks IPA's. He doesn't understand why more people don't drink them for that reason alone. I am not a big IPA fan but for a house party where all I want to do is forget my troubles, we can bring a sixer and very much enjoy ourselves between the two of us with a double. That said, we missed the hopslam premiere this year and my boyfriend was absolutely WRECKED.

Read, travel, work, whatever makes you happy. I'm not happy being bored, so I took a summer internship with a Medicaid provider to essentially study bureaucrats and work on health reform with them. It was a great experience and I could bike commute to work! I loved my coworkers and learned a lot about what I wanted to do from there. I read but not as much as I should. Now, I can barely bother to get a book out. So depressing! READ. I also met up with my BFF from the UK and we did a bit of travelling around the states. I also managed to be hospitalized two times thanks to complex migraines and a kidney stone! It was an "entertaining" summer.

You won't be the oldest. There were several people over thirty in my cohort. Most people were over 25. I was the second-youngest at almost 23 in the class. YMMV but usually you will be right in the middle! When did I feel mature? When I bought my washer and dryer. And now, looking at moving again in a year, they seem like a deadweight around my neck. I moved here in my car. I had NOTHING - not even a bed - and now I have all this stuff. I'm not used to that yet. Also, plenty of "mature" people borrow money in grad school. Even the best planners need help when we only get paid 10 months a year and our first paycheck is delayed until a month after classes begin (and when school fees are due!).

I have a surface pro and I love it but the battery life isn't great and I still would rather use the laptop for other things. The sell with this one is that I can still run STATA on it. Can't do that with any other actual tablet on the market and it was half the price of an ultrabook on sale.

You may be my beer twin. There is a dive bar in town where Stag and PBR are both $1.00. Those are your choices. I take the PBR if our group ends up there. God, I hate that place. I would much rather go to the other dive where Guinness is $2-$3.00 a pint depending on the day.

Macs are great, don't get me wrong, but they are prohibitively expensive for a lot of people for similar components found in almost ANY PC half their price. You are paying for OSX, which makes sense in some fields where the OS works seamlessly and makes NO sense in others (like mine) where half your programs won't work and everything is 10x's harder. In my dept. there are both Macs and PC's but the people who are working hard on programming with R and are real stats heads do most things on a PC because they are 10x's easier to work with. Our campus is also really mac friendly, which is nice, but I have been on many that were anything but. Also, you should plan to keep your machine for 5 years - as few of us do. I want the option to upgrade in 2 years to have a new "toy" because I love tech. Macs aren't friendly for a grad student budget in the same way. TL;DR - I think Macs are nice if you can deal with the hassles of programs you need potentially not work and you have a big budget and plan to keep this computer a long time.

I'm a beer snob dating a beer snob who also brews and I can tell you that NO ONE we know would drink PBR willingly if there was anything "better" and certainly none of us would call it "good" beer. That said, it's beer. It does the trick and there may be no other choices. RE: Guinness is a "good" beer. Not a "great" beer and certainly not "great" for the price. I sometimes get a hankering for it. I did last night when I picked up a sixer. It tastes the same every time. That said, it's not the best stout on the market by a long shot. Currently, if I get to choose, I go for Bell's Expedition Stout or a Young's Chocolate Stout if beer is your favorite dessert. Both of those are harder to find and more expensive but Stouts are my drink of choice. Similarly priced to Guinness is Nitro. I would choose Nitro over Guinness most days because it's just a better beer. But sometimes, I just really feel like a Guinness.

Thanks so much for this I will definitely include this in my calculations. I have a lot to think about as far as how I will present it but I will try to be as clear as possible, I guess. Thanks!

I didn't think about the NSF rates, but that is a great idea $1600.00 seems like a lot to me, too, but it needs to be furnished since I can't afford to have furniture moved to/from for a month and that seems like the going rate for something furnished. Even the youth hostel was about $1000.00/month. .20/pg is what Canada charges in their archives for copying. I have a DSLR already and would buy a small scanner like the one I carted with me to archives in Rwanda. I could hook it up to my tablet and be good to go.

Vizios are one I have no experience with.

Wow, that's no good, spectastic. Hope it was just a storm rolling in or something! I wouldn't go with Toshiba. They are hit and miss. I've had about 10 laptops and netbooks in my lifetime that I have either fixed and given to someone or kept as my own and I usually have 2+ computers at a given time. Right now, I have a Surface Pro as my go-to-class-to-teach-and-then-read computer but I can also run STATA and do just about ANYTHING with it, an Asus 14'' which is my go-to computer, and a POS Dell that I only use as a desktop model for photoshop because it weighs 30 lbs and has since its inception 5 years ago given me nothing but issues. Any Toshiba I have helped fix or come across has been either really good or a big POS. There isn't much in between. I loved my Acer netbook that I had before this tablet and I love my ASUS. It's been very reliable for the past few years. I would not recommend Dell after having many, many issues. My advice? Well, two pieces really. One, if you are still really worried about weight, get a monitor to hook your computer up to (or ask your department if they have one for your office, I stole mine from another unused desk and that was fine). You will want it anyway, I think. I use mine daily from either my laptop or tablet. If you want a bigger screen regardless, I recommend getting something as cheap as possible that meets your needs. My ASUS was about $500.00. Super cheap back then. It does everything I need it to do and if it broke in a year, it would be no big. I used to buy the expensive computer and then deal with tech support for days when something broke. No more. If I can't fix it myself, I move on. I back up regularly and that works. That advice was given to me by a former boyfriend who was a computer scientist and despite him being a PITA, it has served me well.

Hey, so I am applying for funding for my dissertation once more. I still have an affiliation up in Ottawa that has agreed to try to find me matching funds for what my home university will give me. They are saying they need to know how much money I am likely to get here before they can promise funds (makes sense) but I don't even know how to get started with the itemized list I need for my grant. I am probably driving my car up like i did last time, so I figured in Gas and parking. That was cheap (about $400.00). I hopefully will have a place to park but if not, the money is there. Should I also count in my insurance? Mileage? I don't know where to begin for a month of living expenses. It could be anywhere from $1000.00-$1600.00 a month for a short stay place (1000 is a centrally-located youth hostel with a single room, basically). $1600.00 is what a corporate place charges. Food is much more predictable. I want a place with at least a kitchenette so I can eat healthy and not spend all of my money elsewhere. Copying is .20 a page but I have NO clue how many pages I will need to budget for! I know this will require a great deal of archival research, some of which will most likely be a copying endeavor, What else am I missing? I plan on doing interviews. Should I budget money for taking those people to lunch? I don't know what the protocol is for this. Any help from people who have done this before would be much appreciated.

Thanks. My asthma is allergy and sickness dependent, not exercise-induced, so it's rather easy. I had to do a course since I got sick and was coughing. Hate that stuff. Would much rather take a jab to the hip than deal with it, but you know, no choice here. I'm 8 hours away from my speciailst. In a town of hospitals, the only one my insurance would cover without a year's+ wait was a quack who refused to give me an epi script for a nut allergy. And yeah, it's terrible stuff!

Yep. I ignored that bit of sage advice my first semester and just did tons and tons of work. It didn't help and I was up and down and all around emotionally. My second semester, I started running every other day and got on the bike all summer long. It's amazing how much of a difference it made for me. I wasn't feeling my best but I still went to spin class today because my mental health was too important and I needed to sleep tonight. I barely slept last night because I was coming off prednisone from an asthma flare up. I used to have to schedule my friends and boyfriend in, too. I still do a lot of scheduling. But despite my BF and I being on completely different schedules, we still spend tons of time together. I work when he can't be around and do whatever when he is available. If you want to do something, you will learn to schedule and find a way. And, honestly, you will realize that going to the gym or going for a run or ride will actually HELP you significantly. You will be so much fresher and more productive thanks to it.

Books, comps notebooks and books (too lazy to remove), a bankers box for assorted things such as food (oatmeal packets), coffee, instant mocha things when I'm not in the mood to turn on the coffee pot), a coffee pot, my monitor that I hook my tablet and notebook up to, my gym bag with my gym stuff, an IU basketball figure, a hockey puck, a water bottle or two (I am a cylist and they are everywhere), and a couple coffee mugs. Assorted office supplies, of course. At home, I've got more stuff and more pictures and the like up but I rarely work from there. It's just not a great set up because my desk is in my bedroom.

The prospect of no more roommates is just so exciting again. I lived alone when I first moved here but my landlord raise my rent almost $100 in a year so I had to move. The BF and I are finally getting a place together. We pretty much live together at his place now but it will be nice for it to be permanent and have a big enough place for his visitation with his kids too. Never thought that would factor into my plans but kids beat random roommates any day. Never thought I would say that either haha.

Aww thanks. Too bad he knows just how cute he is. He's a very good boy. Almost killed me by freaking out on our ice slick drive today but he's just a nervous guy when it's cold out. He gets me out and about even when I don't want to move!

I have a chi mix. He's pretty darn low-key minus his foibles. He was abused by a past owner and turned into AC about 3 or 4 years old. He's now going to be 7 or 8 this year. Just starting to get long in the tooth but perfectly healthy. He has a submissive urination problem which basically means that he will pee when he is nervous or in certain situations. It's annoying but it's one of the few annoying things. The BF helps out with him and "babysits" when he can. Although, I'm not sure I can call it that anymore because he's basically my dog's adoptive dad by now. Here he is in the car on the way back to my parents in his Indiana jersey and seatbelt. He loves travelling.

LiveLaughLove, Glad to have helped My only advice is to keep things civil and realize it will ALL be over in a few months. Remind yourself that, for right now, you have to do what you need to to help yourself out. She is of little consequence to you in the long run, so ignore her. I had a situation like this with my freshman roommate. She actually made me have panic attacks regularly and also almost left me out in the elements with no bus or ride home once as "punishment" for hanging out with another friend. I ended up having to walk 2.5 miles home in a snowstorm. For the months after that, I pretty much kept to myself and tried to ignore her as much as possible. I was so glad to be done with her FOR GOOD when we moved out (or so I thought) but then she moved down the hall from me. I continued to ignore her and eventually, despite seeing her often, I forgot about her and all of her awfulness for the most part.

I don't think you have to be "involved" in anything at most large schools. I am NOT NOT NOT a gym person and I hate to exercise indoors but in the winter months and for cross-training, it's what I'm stuck with. I can't exactly get on my bike and ride 50 miles in an ice storm right now. I am pretty good at making it to the gym. I go 4-5 times a week - cycling 3x's a week, 2 "free" days to run or do circuit training or aerobics. I'm trying to be sure I am in better shape than when I left the bike in October because I need to be in great shape to train for my century this summer. I usually work out mid-day. That way I can't complain I am too tired or too busy. It's a good break. It makes me more productive. I don't have coursework anymore, so I am free to set my own schedule. Exercise is absolutely central to my mental health, so I incorporate it just like some people would meditation or family time. If you schedule it, you will be FINE. Also, many departments will have rec sports they do. I'm going to do our softball team this spring.

OSU means OK state here but means Ohio State back at home. U of I means University of Illinois at home but mean U of Indy when I was in Bloomington. The most confusing one I say all the time now is "I'm ABD". No one understands that despite me saying it A MILLION times.

Good for you for seeking help. And yes, you will need it more in grad school than ever before. It will get worse. I promise that it will get better eventually if you stay the course, though. Your first semester of grad school is TERRIBLE. Most people say that. But if you survive, it's all uphill and rewarding. CBT works wonders for my OCD and anxiety. If anyone rec's CBT, take the time to look into it. It probably made my life 100 times better.

I wore dark, dark navy jeans, cute cowboy boots, a shell and a sweater today to teach. I feel like that's as casual as it gets, really.

I would say then there's really nothing to lose in that situation if you honestly think you aren't interested in living with her. If it won't reflect badly on her, why not?

Yeah, even here in MO you have craft beer and bikes but in the winter, since no one owns a shovel, riding is impossible. A prof of ours broke his collarbone attempting road riding on black ice. Michigan is also excellent bike riding country - tons of trails, safe roads, and beer and wine (I mean Bell's Brewery, c'mon). I always ride up there when I am home and grew up camping in MI with bikes. My family and BF went up to Bell's this fall, though, and it was WORTH IT.