Cat_Robutt

@drivingthoughts Neat! For me personally, if I don't have some kind of rigid schedule, I'm not disciplined enough to go through with really any kind of plan. Hopefully you find the right fit (no pun intended) and your 5k goes well! 

@Cat_Robutt In an effort to get myself back into some kind of shape resembling healthy human, I just signed up for my first 5k. I think it's a good start!

@Cat_Robutt congrats on the 5k! I've given taht program several tries but never made it to the end, so you should be hella proud! 

We're an eclectic bunch of nerds here that's for sure. The ever-changing conversation topic makes me smile.
Also, I love living on the road!!! Have so much fun The best stories come from the most random adventures so say yes to things you wouldn't normally (YMMV with that advice). 
 

It's so funny the things I miss here when I'm out for a few days––I leave, we're talking about Sims, I come back to free the nipple lol  I'm just surprised no one has mentioned chafing yet, what with the reliably reasoned discussions we have. 
We move on Friday! I'm really nervous about being on the road for essentially two months....I've never spent more than a few days at my pard's childhood home, and can't believe we will be there for almost a month. Hoping things go well with the in-laws; if not, at least I'll have a boatload of really interesting stories to tell at awkward cocktail parties?
@Neist Best of luck with your meeting(s)! You've probably got one of the best plans they've ever seen and they will be speechless.
And @Effloresce I'm sure you've already done this, so sorry if this is redundant, but have you checked Padmapper and asked current students who will be graduating about their housing? I hope you're able to find a good place. 

Well, I finally got a TA offer from UH. Don't really know much else... but I'm feeling much better about my decision to try to go to grad school. 

@janetjanejune oh let the nipples free If I didn't need the support from torture devices I would burn them all.  
@sjoh197 tell me about it! I'm a really really awkward size - tiny band, large cups - so trying to find anywhere that stocks anything that fits for less than 3 figures is a miracle. 
I think long story short, boobs are great, bras really aren't!
@rhombusbombus ugh. I'm planning on having enough savings to live off until October, as I'm not sure when the assistantship payments will kick in and so there's a lot of things I want to get that will just have to be put off until steady income is coming in. In related news, have you, @jlt646,  @Cat_Robutt and any other penn staters seen the Graduate CATA pass - $180 for unlimited travel for the year?! That's so worth it in my book! 

@hippyscientist  You learn something new every day!!! Oh, btw, for you and @rhombusbombus––grad assistants can now register for the AETNA dental plan! Yay? 
 

Ok, I'm going for the whole truth here. But before that, some context: Our comps/quals are three fields of roughly 120 books each. In general, we have a base for fields I and II, but we often tend to create a new list for field III, which is more thematic. 
The best advice I've got:
When prepping for Comps, I lurked some forums. Someone said that we have to imagine Comps as a huge conference and that you should be able to drop in ANY session and ask a question, make an observation, have a short conversation with someone. So, it shows that you are on topic and that you can engage. 
What I did:
I scanned as many books as I could and made these files word-searchable. I read reviews more than books. We all love reading but 350 books is impossible to cover. I probably read most introductions and some sections of conclusions.  My notes included a brief summary of the argument, sources, notes on introduction, possible questions that this book would be useful for (eg: "good for gender and labor"), content table and brief anything on chapters, and historical background. Did I do this with 350 books? No. You won't. Nobody does. But you get through it. I used OneNote because you have everything in one place instead of many word documents. I used historiographical essays to remember the big picture. Sometimes we are very invested in one book that we forget why this book is important.  Towards the end, I tried to make connections between authors.  Habits:
It's painful. You won't see much of other humans and you'll feel your life is not your own. But it's only three months of your life (studying and sitting for them). I had post its all over my office to remind me of beautiful things in life. Motivational quotes also worked. It sounds super cheesy, but it just worked.  Get to know what's good for you. I tried to keep up with exercise and I was set not to gain weight during exams. And I didn't (I gained a month after them!). So keep your well-being at top priority. Rely on people. Advisors, friends within the department, friends outside grad life, family. RELY ON THEM.  Enjoy it as much as you can. Remember you'll feel super smart after them! (I sort of lost that feeling by the following semester... hahaha) Hope it helps!
AP
 

YOU GUYS I GOT MY VISA!!!
 

Whoever decided that "cracklins" sounded better than "pig skin fried in fat" was certainly ready to fool all of unsuspecting people new to the south.

I would love to see pictures of this! That's amazing! My brother is like a real-life Sans, down to the bad puns and everything.
@shesanecho Congrats! For the summer, if you can do a combination of getting R&R and reading up on current literature in the field, that may be a winning combination. This will be your last bit of "freedom" for some time.
@MarineBluePsy It's so WEIRD which names get altered with foods. Plums=prunes, grapes=raisins, cucumbers=pickles, bananas=......dried bananas. Why don't bananas get some cool name? Because dried bananas just sound unappetizing, while craisins are like a freakin' party. Can you think of some other food names that get weirded once the food changes?

Hey fellow Lions(?)! I posted this on the State College page but am also posting it here just in case:
Hope you all have been able to find places to live and that things are going well for you all! AETNA's dental plan for graduate assistant/fellows is now live (you can find your ID number under Lionpath: Demographics); the medical plan for non-graduate assistant/fellow graduate students is also available; the medical plan for GAs is heavily subsidized, so once we get closer to the semester starting, hopefully we'll receive updates. 
Also, if you've been having any difficulty registering for your courses in Lionpath, let me know! It's a new system used by PSU and it's a bit buggy, but I made a tiny tutorial for a few other students in my cohort.

I would love to see pictures of this! That's amazing! My brother is like a real-life Sans, down to the bad puns and everything.
@shesanecho Congrats! For the summer, if you can do a combination of getting R&R and reading up on current literature in the field, that may be a winning combination. This will be your last bit of "freedom" for some time.
@MarineBluePsy It's so WEIRD which names get altered with foods. Plums=prunes, grapes=raisins, cucumbers=pickles, bananas=......dried bananas. Why don't bananas get some cool name? Because dried bananas just sound unappetizing, while craisins are like a freakin' party. Can you think of some other food names that get weirded once the food changes?

I'm in!!!!
I got off the waiting list, so.....I'm trying to figure out where to start? Enjoy summer or brush up on courses? 

I am pretty much only into Nintendo games- specifically Zelda! I never really got so into playing that I called myself a gamer, but Zelda is the exception. So many hours of my life spent in Hyrule. 

I think part of this depends on where you are moving to––for example, establishing residency is more expensive in California than in New Mexico or Pennsylvania, as are getting car tags renewed. Some food for thought in this particular year, however: where you are a resident is where you vote. Mail-ins and early voting are fine, but you may want to consider brushing up on who is running for which seats in the place you will be spending the next several years. Local politics may influence changes in your community much more so than national elections.

Hedy's Folly is also written by Richard Rhodes, an author and historian I really adore. I've loved all of his books, even if they are generally pretty huge. And I do love documentaries. Their my favorite genre of film, actually.  I don't watch as many now that I don't have Netflix, but I still love'em. I've considered getting that Sundance documentary Netflix-like service.
I've dabbled in everything, to be honest. I've spent thousands of hours in MMORPGs, and I've spent hundreds of hours perfecting my craft in Call of Duty. I'll play pretty much anything, assuming it's good. However, I've pretty much sold everything off by my immense Nintendo DS collection (I have around 450) and my Steam games. I only really play games on those platforms anymore, or I would if I had time.  

@Cat_RobuttPrunes are dried plums?!?!?! How have I gone this long without knowing that?!
 Thanks for the book recommendations I will have to check them out. I can't wait to have these conversations in person in a few months!! I might have found a drone view video of the campus earlier and it got me all excited again.

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

But if they end Bates Motel how will I fill that hour of tv each week?!  Plus I get so many fashion ideas from Norma's wardrobe, it's a darn shame the whole thing is custom made for her and can't be bought in stores.
Good idea!  I came into Gossip Girl after a couple of seasons and never saw they early years that explained the long standing grudges and drama. 
Gilmore Girls is amazing!  I'm rewatching it now since its what I call comfort tv, sorta like comfort food.  I'm almost done with season 2 and hoping to finish rewatching all of it before the Netflix reboot starts.  I still don't get all those pop culture references, but it's all part of the fun.
Don't you have library interns or volunteers that can do that?  There really is no point in having minions if you don't make them work.

@hippyscientist I just started watching Gilmore Girls for the first time about a month ago....am almost done with Season 1. It's like there was this whole side of American pop culture that I just get now!
Unrelated, I just got an admission decision notification from a school where I withdrew my application. The notification was a standard rejection, and all I could think was "that's a little passive-aggressive, y'all." Also got my assistantship notification today, and am super excited!!! I get to help with a class called "Media & Democracy." Stoked!

Ooh, what are you using MATLAB for? But seriously, take that month and rest.... don't even think about work-related things!
I really love my research group and find the work they do fascinating, which is surprising since I wasn't really excited for it until very recently - this week-ish in fact. The other graduate students are great, but I feel bad for following them around like a lost puppy since I'm not skilled on anything enough to, you know, accomplish anything. I have only ever done theoretical physics, so until this week I had never used any sort of microscope, spectrometer, chemicals, or anything. Thank goodness for Google so I don't have to bother them with questions like "what is a microscope slide cover?"
 
Also, @Cat_Robutt, isn't Gilmore Girls the BEST THING EVER?!?!?!?!

Woo! And congrats!  
Hopefully I'll get my assignment soon. It'll probably be a survey course, but I'm not sure.

@hippyscientist I just started watching Gilmore Girls for the first time about a month ago....am almost done with Season 1. It's like there was this whole side of American pop culture that I just get now!
Unrelated, I just got an admission decision notification from a school where I withdrew my application. The notification was a standard rejection, and all I could think was "that's a little passive-aggressive, y'all." Also got my assistantship notification today, and am super excited!!! I get to help with a class called "Media & Democracy." Stoked!