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gellert

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Posts posted by gellert

  1. Are there popular routes/areas where people go on long bike rides within the Chapel Hill area?  I'm used to going on 40-mile bike rides out to the middle of nowhere without having the fear of being hit by a car on the road.

     

    Yeah!  I really like going down Farrington Road headed out of town.  It goes over Jordan Lake and turns into Farrington Point Road, then Pea Ridge Road. You can loop around near the lake and come back on 751 past the mall.  There's also the American Tobacco Trail which goes up into downtown Durham that's a lot of fun, though there are often families and so on biking or roller blading depending on the day and time.

  2. I was a complete slacker in high school, but I was probably still a nerd.  I was a bit of a troublemaker, but in the end I still loved classic literature, Lord of the Rings, and the internet and didn't care at all about sports or fashion.  

     

    Even so, never studied for the SAT, scraped by with only taking exams in my classes (and never turning in homework or, uh, attending, though somehow I still got Bs), and spent most afternoons in detention.  I wasn't concerned with my grades at all and was thinking about dropping out of school to become a motorcycle mechanic.

     

    It was a 180 degree turn around when I was in college, for sure.

  3. As someone who grew up in Durham and never had a problem, I would encourage you not to be scared off by tales of "crime."  People living in CH and Cary seem to have an overblown fear of Durham that's based predominately on the fact that Durham has a large Black population (and associated racist assumptions).  Which is a shame, because Durham is absolutely lovely and I had more of an issue with feeling threatened on Franklin St in Chapel Hill than I ever did in downtown Durham.

  4. In my case, "Damn you reviewer one!" Haha. I wish there were some sort of standardization in the reviewing process. It seems unimaginable to me that I can get a P (the lowest possible rating!) from one reviewer in the BI section, yet two VG's from the others. 

     

    Just thought I would commiserate with you. Good luck with your next applications.

     

    Personally, I don't know if I'm going to reapply. Unfortunately, the P was given with no constructive comments, so I don't know how I can make my app any better. There seems to be too much randomness in the review process to make it worth my time. Maybe I can submit the exact same app next year, and I'll do much better simply because I don't have the reviewer from hell! :)

     

    Nevertheless, congrats to all awardees!

     

    Oh man, that sucks.  I'm sorry.  :/  

     

    The process is such a crapshoot, especially in some fields.  Sounds like your reviewer just hadn't had his/her morning coffee yet.  I would expect you'd do better next year simply because you'd have more experience (not just with grad school but with applying to the NSF), and you'd be getting different reviewers.  I understand the sentiment, though.

  5. Honorable Mention

     

    E/E

    E/E

    VG/G

     

     

    Say it with me now:  "Damn you, reviewer three!"   :lol:  

     

    Well, I have two more chances (I'm starting my first year in the fall), so hopefully I'll have better luck next year.

     

    Congratulations to all awardees!

  6. Mkay. Distraction game.

     

    1. What are you currently doing?

     

    2. What did you do this weekend?

     

    3. What would you do if you won the GRF?

     

    1. Data analysis.

     

    2. Went out and grilled in the warm weather, wrote on my novel.

     

    3. Probably make an undignified shrieking noise and immediately email my PI.

  7. I was a very poor high school student, mostly because I was going through a rebellious phase and never turned any homework in.

     

    I also have a life-threatening genetic condition that hospitalizes me frequently.  It was quite severe when I was in college and so I have multiple semester withdrawals on my transcript.  Around the same time, I had to testify at the trial of my childhood abuser, which was one of the most stressful events of my life.  

     

    Even so, I graduated from a top university with a high GPA and GREs.  I've been accepted into an excellent Ph.D. program.  In contrast with high school me, who was considering dropping out of school, or college me, who expected to die before graduation, I've definitely advanced a lot.

  8. How is Chapel Hill for Jewish life?

     

    Really good! 

     

    There are shuls for Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, and Orthodox between Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh.  There's also a thriving Chabad for UNC/Duke combined.  

     

    There's a significant Jewish population in Durham/Chapel Hill.  If you want to chat more about the area, PM me.

  9. I doubt many of us are orphan janitor math geniuses, but I applaud your efforts.

     

    Speak for yourself.  :lol:

     

     

    The marriage plot - at least to some degree when it comes to being an RA or choosing to go to grad school, that book is depressing but somewhat honest.  It's a good read anyhow.

     
    I loved this book, but depressing is definitely right.
  10. Anybody ever throw stuff in a blender and eat it? I have a Nutri Bullet. I can't really stomach fruits and vegetables. Only way I can eat them is by blending them and drinking it real fast. 

     

    Yep.  I don't like blended vegetables so my diet is very veggie-free, but I drink a breakfast smoothie pretty much every day.  I also don't really like yogurt or kefir on its own so I freeze that in an ice cube tray and toss it in with the fruit.  Works for me to get quick protein + fruit.

  11. I'm definitely getting a Macbook Air for grad school after extensively researching all my options.  A little bit sad because I want to play Skyrim and this will mean I have to partition my HD and use Bootcamp, but I think it'll be worth it, all things considered, to have the portability, battery life, usability, and to not have to buy PC versions of my software.

  12. State Farm.  My bank (Wells Fargo) actually had a thing where they would compare all the insurance options for me and tell me which was best.  They didn't include SF  in their analysis, but I called SF myself and they ended up being cheapest. Even so, if your bank offers this kind of option, it may be worth a shot.

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