timuralp

How did you come up with that list? What is your area of interest? I would think that should be the guiding factor... From glancing at it, I'd guess theory. Is that right?

For Linux stuff: F-spot - photo processing/managing, although mono is a bit slow vmware player - awesome for... anything, even running OS X for the apple salesmen irssi - IRC can be useful and this is my favorite client All are free. By the way, the moment people stop saying there is just Mac and "PeeCee" is the moment I think one of my strong urges to choke someone will end. I mean, seriously, PC = personal computer, if your macbook is not a personal computer, what the hell is it?

That sounds... terrible. I don't know about your field, but at least in mine, professors do not typically conduct as much active research and the publications they get are from good work their students are doing. When they're up for tenure review that list of publications is reviewed. I mean, I'm excited about the research going on. Every research project has come from discussing an idea I have with my advisor, and I guess I care about these ideas working enough. I agree that this may not be the typical case. I think if I started having doubts about what I am really doing here, I might just quit and go get a "real" job. Sorry, if I came off sounding arrogant about it.

Well, if a professor doesn't yet have tenure then your success is directly tied to his/her. Either way, I actually found that the only thing I need in grad school is help with direction, but I never felt that I needed extra motivation and I never really had any conversations about that. It's a little weird to me that grad students need the pep-talks to get through it. Maybe I'm just weird.

Speaking of snow/frost melting off the hair, one time I went running in a blizzard without a hat and it was actually awesome because at first I got the snow on my head, then it froze, but as I kept running it melted. I kept thinking of the crazy stuff Syd Barrett would do on stage, with his face looking like it's melting and stuff. Um, do not try that at home About the ear protection (I realized I definitely neglected this), one thing I found awesome is a headband. Any running store around here carries cold weather running gear, which includes warm, but light gloves and headbands. If my ears feel like they're about to fall off, that's my go-to solution. It does look kinda funny though, so prepare for some heckling

Wow you guys go all out. I spent 7 years in MA, and now 2 years in Michigan. In all that time, in the winter I would wear sneakers, jeans (the flannel-lined LL Bean jeans can be even better), and then either a really warm LL Bean goose down jacket or a combination of a sweatshirt and a fall jacket (slightly warmer windbreaker pretty much). Maybe I've been lucky enough to be in areas where the snow's actually plowed somewhat consistently, but altogether, I'm comfortable in these clothes (for reference, Michigan gets down to 0 to -10 and sometimes -20 in the winter). Sometimes, I'll wear a scarf or pop the collar. Gloves are sometimes advisable to prevent a severe dryness of the skin and consequent bleeding, but that's only in extreme weather. The only upshot of not wearing them is that you get to scare all your friends because your hands look like they went through a cheese grater. And I have an aversion to hats... So, my opinion on hats doesn't count.

Uh... Do you not watch movies in which action takes place in colder climates? In all seriousness, I think you should be able to figure it out slowly. Say, in the Fall, as it starts getting chillier, time to bust out the sweatshirt and jeans, then move on to jeans and jackets... It's not that hard

A more nerdy continuation to this, but I setup subversion in the office and make a new folder for each project. Some nice features of going this route: 1. I can go through the changes to documents, as they have been committed and revert them as I please; 2. you can integrate svn with various file managers; 3. it's easy to add/remove people from having access to the repository; 4. easy to setup on a multitude of computers and keep it synchronized. Dropbox seems to have the same features and I'm sure other things do too. Either way, this works for me and keeps my projects organized P.S. Arguably better versioning system to check out would be git

And new doesn't mean it won't die after 1 year... By the way, the best printers I found are the ones that are free on campus. Is that not an option or you long for the convenience of printing at home?

People have definitely tried to do that. Look at the Bee Gees, for example, and there are actually a few other artists. And sometimes people might even say you're pretty fly (for a white guy). Personally, I'd say the original question was posed by someone suffering from the overly-ambitious-type-who-doesn't-know-how-to-enjoy-life syndrome.

For making bibtex entries, citeulike.org is cool. If you write your papers in latex, the bibtex entries are awesome. Also, check out bibdesk. My friend using OS X loves it. And finally, wiki has all the answers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_reference_management_software but you must choose... wisely.

My girlfriend live there and one other friend did too. They didn't complain. It's pretty small and I think you get hosed on the price. If money's no obstacle, check out the new complexes like the poster above told me. If you want best value for money, look outside of central campus. So far, I've only heard stories about terrible landlords who could care less if the roof comes tumbling down; they get away with it because of the location. I'd check out Kerry Town, if I were in your shoes or a bit down the street off Washtenaw (may be too far) or Geddes.

Talking about your experience is fair. I was harping on the higher quality argument. The anti-virus thing, there are a number of free ones available. The fact that Windows is a more attractive OS in terms of writing malicious code does not mean it is lower quality. Actually, in terms of security features, it has more of them than OS X does. To throw in my own experience, I'm yet to get any virus/malware junk on my windows install, even though I use it more rarely now. Oh, and I had my Dell laptop for the past 4 years, with no issues. In the end, everyone should get what they're more comfortable with. My problem here is with misinformation about products, that's all.

The thing is that the multitasking appears to be really a service you can sign up an app for. Meaning, if there is an app which would require something aside from what apple already provided (so far I found VoIP and audio, and feel free to add here), it won't be able to run in the background. Seems like a bad design decision from the developer's standpoint, of course apple gets to control exactly what can run in the background.

Yea, consider the above post, and the quality argument goes out the window. It's pretty similar hardware in all the machines. If you want "tougher" cases, check out the toughbook. If you want shiny, go for mac. The "smart" opinion is not very well defined here, and neither is the "quality". I'm really not sure which quality you're referring to.

If you're going to suggest dual-booting, the VM route is far easier and might be all people look for anyway. The only catch is, I think most people will look at you and ask "what is VM?", but it'll catch on. Anyway, someone mentioned workspaces, on that basis I will advocate Linux for the same reason My point is... it's great you like that feature, but don't assume it's not available in other operating systems. It's not a good basis for advice.

"Cooler side"??? Where were you last year? Maybe I'm just not very tolerant of the heat, but I did not appreciate the couple of weeks in the high 80s, low 90s. Not really what I would consider "cooler". Either way, running cold water and a shower should make it survivable without AC. I think I used my AC only a week or two, so it's not a deal-breaker.

You, uh, should search this forum because the same question has been asked numerous times... Also, to get a good answer you should specify what you're looking for.

I went the earphones route, as I have the opposite problem: frequently, other students visit the office to talk and often get way too loud. Somewhat of an overkill, but if you have the money and love music, might be a good investment: http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4.aspx We had a different issue related to hygiene for a while though, but it was cleared up after talking about it. Was pretty awkward though.

All generalizations are dangerous, even this one (Dumas). Maybe he's feeling insecure? Is the MS really what he wants to be doing? Maybe he's channeling his frustration at you for something that's bothering him and misery loves company? Have you tried explaining to him how you feel and asking what's going on with him? I don't know the answer, but I would try to work it out with the person causing you grief. Also, not telling him about stuff would probably just make it worse, as he might think you're hiding stuff from him and are ashamed of him or something. Good luck.

With PhD, it's also a different kind of work. Right now, trying to figure out exactly what I'm going to include in the research paper and allow myself time to evaluate it, I've been searching the literature for a while. At the same time, the actual problem I'm working on hasn't been covered by anyone. There is no known answer right now, which means if I get stuck, it's just me, a computer, and a friendly wall on which I will bang my head once in a while. Research work is rewarding, enjoyable, and not always stressful, but when you're not making much progress and need to get through things is when you stop sleeping regularly and doing other stuff. Also, once you're done with classes, it's easier to have better planned days and not overwork. All in all, I got 2 degrees in undergrad, did research every semester since sophomore year, and ended up with a 3.8 - looking back, I had more time than now. I think the biggest part is that research doesn't end, but a class project/homework/paper always does

I bought a condo, which in this particular state was also nice. I'm paying for mortgage+condo fees the same as some of my friends who are renting. If you're planning on phd or staying in an area for a long time, it may be a worthwhile idea.

While I do not own a house, but I do own a condo. In terms or property taxes: these are usually paid out of the escrow account and you pay them along with the mortgage payments. Only thing to keep track of is whether you should itemize deductions or not. My condo, including the association fees, runs about the same as some students I know are paying for a room in a house. The utilities also cost about the same. Altogether, I'm happy with it

Hrm, only a month later, but anyway. I know a few people living in Ypsi. The downtown is a couple of blocks and it has another area called Depot town that has cool stuff going on. All in all, depending on where you go it varies between sketchy to reasonably nice. I'd say around EMU/St. Joe's/WCC is reasonably fine. A bit east of downtown, you'll get in some sketchy areas. Good luck.

The most common take I've heard is this: "If you're getting As, you're spending too much time on classes and not enough time on research." Then again, make sure to fulfill all the requirements.