sjoh197

One of the best things about this time of year is that the fresh peaches, plums, and nectarines have finally come out.

Hey... I finally found another person that's kinda like me. I don't get summertime SAD, per se. Instead... I get "breaktime" SAD. Summer, Winter break, Fall break, Spring break. My brain is always on the go during the semesters, that when the time comes to shut down for a while, my brain becomes confused and depressed. I find that keeping my brain active is the best defense. I have developed multiple hobbies. Painting, crafts, gardening, building stuff, etc. I also have a tendency to try to learn something. Like Spanish... or Matlab, or something that isn't related to your coursework... just something you think is interesting. Also, getting outside and taking walks is really great. But its better if you have a purpose. Are there any challenging hikes that you want to accomplish. Perhaps some kind of birdwatching where you go out with the intent to see specific animals. If you are near a decent sized city... there are often groups on "meetup" for all kinds of outdoor hobbies and activities.

Blech... matlab. So... with all of the stress of figuring out my funding issues, and grad school issues... I now have to go in for an MRI to see if I might possibly have to have surgery done on my ankle. Because everyone wants the chance of starting grad school in a boot.

The cans typically have serving size directions for both just can feedbg, and mixed feeding. Also, your blue buffalo bag might have a serving size suggestion for mixed feeding as well.

Yeah, I have had cats that couldn't handle free range food. But now I just leave out a small amount of dry food. Enough for them to have access, but not enough that the can pig out. And grain free dry food is the way to go if you are going to provide the dry food.

We have 2 desperate feeding stations, one with wet food, and one with a small bowl of dry food. We leave the dry food out all the time so that they always have access to food, in case we are late or something. And then we feed them wet food before work and when we get home. It seems to work well. Some wet food is better than no wet food. Most people don't realize that a dry diet is actually really bad for cats.

Are you applying for the fall 2017 semester? If so, I would start researching the departments you want to apply to now and start reaching out to faculty by late summer. Also, I would start writing your SOP now, put it away, and pull it out the more research you do. The longer you work on it, the better it will be. Having a GRE score below 300 isn't particularly good, so I would really really try to get above that 300 mark. Your GPA and (hopefully above 300) GRE score won't have as negative of an impact as you think, so long as your SOP and LOR's are really strong.

OMG... My mother and I still sing that song to this day to poke fun at her profession. I also hope your cat is ok. One thing that some local vets will do is allow you to set up a payment plan on some more expensive treatments. You could always ask about that. Also, since you said "welcome to having pets" Is this your first cat? If so, there are a lot of preventative maintenance things that will keep your vet bills down in the future. For example, keeping your cat indoors only. Feeding them a diet that is mostly wet food. Brushing their teeth. Using a flea and heartworm treatment. All of those things can cost a little extra short term, but in the long run, its better than your cat getting the inevitable kidney failure that comes with eating dry food, or the heartworm eradication that may or may not work but costs a fortune either way.

A gre score below 300 is pretty low since you don't have any research experience to go with it. Lifting that score above the 300 mark would definitely help. Also... finding work, even if it is only mostly related, coupled with volunteer experience will definitely give you an extra boost. You could also look into less competitive programs? If that's an option.

I had the same situation where I applied one year and got in nowhere... and then reapplied. I didn't mention my failure.... despite the fact that one of the schools was a repeat application, so they could already see that I had previously applied. It is one thing to explain obvious "failures", such as poor marks due to outside circumstances... or quitting school and coming back sometime later to finish. But the not getting in last season isn't an obvious to them and I personally wouldn't point it out.

Neist will be able to help you a lot more... but I do know some of what my mom has done in the past involves assessing a particular database or journals usefullness in comparison to what the library pays. Some journals and stuff get used so little that they aren't worth the money that the university pays to access them, and somebody has to be there weighing the monetary cost vs the actual use value. And there are different field librarians for universities. So there is someone you can talk to for each large field, that can help you navigate the relevant databases. Most incoming students don't know how to use a database and it is really sad.

Yeah... I know that my mom does a lot of stuff working with the online databases and stuff. She agrees that the current library system is outdated. And I think the section of the library that she works in is called collection development... so that sounds right. lol

I wish I actually had a better understanding of what she does. I know that she does collection assessment, and I know that she serves on a lot of committees representing the library for like, re-accreditation and stuff. She does a lot of statistics type stuff too, which is why she started taking classes again to maybe get a phd in statistics. My knowledge of what my father does is even worse lol.

My mother told me she hasn't read a regular book in years. Also... she gets frustrated when people assume that she shelves books for a living, since that is nowhere near what she does lol.

I did get a generic confirmation letter from the graduate school office... just haven't heard anything from the department. But I had just wanted to make sure that it was normal. I don't really mind, and I'm not in a rush. I know things usually take a while in academia, I just don't know anyone else who has been through this process... and I didn't really know how long was typical for waiting for that kind of info.

Ok thanks. That's really what I wanted to know. I just wasn't sure if it was normal for it to take so long to hear about enrolling and such. I didn't really think about the fact that the semester would have just ended last week or so.

I'm not asking about admissions... I was already admitted the first week in March. And haven't heard anything since.

Also... my mother is an "academic librarian"... so that statement was funny to me.

So I was thinking about calling the grad advisor at UH's geo department. I emailed him almost 2 weeks ago about correspondence, but I never got anything back. It's been almost 2 months now with no info and over a month since I got the generic email from the Graduate School saying I would hear something "over the next several weeks". I don't really know what to say if I call.

Call the grad advisor? I had actually just looked up his number... but didn't know if I should call since he didn't answer my email.

Sooo... I still haven't heard anything from the department. Is it normal for them to wait over 2 months to contact me? I emailed the graduate advisor almost 2 weeks ago about whether there had been any error, or if i indeed they hadn't contacted me yet. I never got a response. I don't really know what to do now.

Lol... Coca cola now is just soda... But it did use to contain trace amounts of cocaine.

Nope, they must have been customary to a different region. Although I did learn that cola means "line" and coca is the coca plant from which cocaine alkaline is derived from. (We drank a metric shit ton of coca tea in Cusco). So Coca-Cola is literally referring to a coke line.

I've dealt with this throughout my life endeavours. I have always found that my best defense was to be the absolute best that I could be so that in the end, there was never a real question of how I got where I was. My grades, remarks, or success could never legitimately be questioned, because my work was always superior. Of course I still got plenty of remarks, by usually from jealous people (always men). But in the end I was always confident that I earned my success and respect, and it wasn't just given to me.

Customary dishes in Cusco Peru. Gotta try them while you're there. I'll post some pics later when I'm not at an airport anymore.