Venting Thread- Vent about anything.

[ERR_Alpha]

Really. Do it.

http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/pneumonia-petri.html

My dad got me the swine flu one after I got over that... I also have sperm and egg

[pianocognition]

Now I really want the Brain Cell one.  http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/braincell-gigantic.html

[shadowclaw]

GeoDUDE, I definitely understand that R has its advantages. In fact, R is the only program that I can do all of my analyses in one place, and the only one that is free. I will certainly like R more once I learn to use it properly, which is one of the reasons I'm so aggravated with my biostatistics course. I feel quite certain that I won't have much need for SAS in my field, while R is the preferred program and we are barely going to touch on it, even though in past semesters R was used.

However, I'm always going to be annoyed with command line interfaces. Which is funny, because I'm only a few courses short of a B.S. in computer science. You'd think I'd like it. I'm still waiting for when I can feed some data into the computer and verbally tell it to analyze it.

[FoggyAnhinga]

Group project is going pretty much exactly as I expected. Blerg.

Ah group projects... they can be especially frustrating when the workload somehow gets unevenly divided and a member or two of the group slacks off (most annoying part is when I ask them "did you get this done?" Their response is "uh, no. should I?"). 

 

Best of luck to you though! It'll be over before you know it.

[jujubea]

Over dinner every night, my kids ask if I've heard anything from schools yet.  I reply "Nope, not yet."  They answer "You'll get in Mom!"  I respond "Thanks honey." while thinking "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"   

 

They're great kids, and I know I should be grateful they care what's going on...I am, but geeez...talk about pressure.  Nothing worse in the world than letting down your kids. 

 

Ugh, I hear you. I thought about that a lot - especially as a stepmom. Felt like so much was riding on me not letting them down...!

[ERR_Alpha]

I'm teaching a 400 level lab course. Grading labs should not be this painful. Is it that hard to agree verb tenses or run spell check??

[Munashi]

Dude, you have walking pneumonia, that is serious!

 

Seriously, it is.  It is arguably quite serious/threatening BECAUSE you're "able" to be walking around, so you aren't resting... but you still need to heal.  My spouse had walking pneumonia once... not a good time.  Please rest up!  You aren't slacking, you're looking out for yourself.

Edited January 31, 2015 by Munashi

[geographyrocks]

I listened!  I had my TA duties covered which I planned on doing anyway because I doubt anyone wants someone coughing and sneezing on them while answering questions.  Now I just have to email my professor AGAIN because he never responded to the first email.  Of course, he's a self-proclaimed email ignorer. 

[TheoreticalBi0Chem1stry]

Of the many stresses of the application process, there are two things that really annoy me. Firstly, it's the people who apply to a lot of schools (8+) (and especially those with their 4.0 GPAs and X first author publications). It's always funny reading about someone who got rejected because you "weren't a great fit" -- well if you weren't a great fit why did you apply at all? I only applied to THREE schools where I felt I was a research fit AND where I liked the location, people etc., and was thrilled to recently be accepted to one of them. Now I could have gone ahead and applied to five random others just to enhance my chances but there was no need because not only was I not likely going to go there if I got accepted to one of my favorites, but then I might have taken away a spot from someone who really wanted to go to one of those others. Of course had I not gotten into to any of those three I would have had to suck it, but I don't have that problem because I did my research on each school and program beforehand. 

 

I also might add, I have a message for people who get rejected and then have the audacity to post "Your loss" along with all of their supreme credentials. Guess what, you are most assuredly NOT a loss for the program that rejected you because you would have been accepted if you were. No doubt your pride and inflated self-worth would have been an inhibition for a successful graduate career anyway. I hope you get rejected from all the other schools you applied to as well.

[Quantum Buckyball]

This female coworker of mine was telling another female undergrad that she should never get married and she should be the "man" of a relationship. This really annoyed the shit out of me especially when this female coworker pretty much relies on other male coworkers in the lab and outside the lab for 

 

(1) design all of her experiments

(2) teach her "how" to use stuff instead of finding out herself

(3) previous exams of the classes she was taking/plan to take

(4) troubleshooting her experiments

 

I mean, really? She sure knows how to use people for her personal gain. She found out my PI was on the admission committee and decided to "volunteer" in our lab 3 months before she graduates from undergrad, and all of the sudden she got really into research work and decided to apply to the PhD program at our school.

 

The worst part was that she told my PI, "if I don't get in PhD at this school then I'm gonna volunteer in your lab for another year and try again". 

 

I mean, really? what a sketchy SOB, she shouldn't have put my PI in a such awkward situation. 

Edited January 31, 2015 by Quantum Buckyball

[FoggyAnhinga]

This female coworker of mine was telling another female undergrad that she should never get married and she should be the "man" of a relationship. This really annoyed the shit out of me especially when this female coworker pretty much relies on other male coworkers in the lab and outside the lab for 

 

(1) design all of her experiments

(2) teach her "how" to use stuff instead of finding out herself

(3) previous exams of the classes she was taking/plan to take

(4) troubleshooting her experiments

 

I mean, really? She sure knows how to use people for her personal gain. She found out my PI was on the admission committee and decided to "volunteer" in our lab 3 months before she graduates from undergrad, and all of the sudden she got really into research work and decided to apply to the PhD program at our school.

 

The worst part was that she told my PI, "if I don't get in PhD at this school then I'm gonna volunteer in your lab for another year and try again". 

 

I mean, really? what a sketchy SOB, she shouldn't have put my PI in a such awkward situation. 

 

Wow, what a pain in the rear end... has any male coworker refused to help her?  If it was me, I'd be like "I am not going to do it for you but I can try to help you". But yeah she does sound sketchy... 

 

If I remember correctly, during my undergrad this one girl with terrible undergrad grades apparently got a research position in a prestigious faculty's lab because she managed to seduce a grad student there... 

[Monochrome Spring]

GeoDUDE, I definitely understand that R has its advantages. In fact, R is the only program that I can do all of my analyses in one place, and the only one that is free. I will certainly like R more once I learn to use it properly, which is one of the reasons I'm so aggravated with my biostatistics course. I feel quite certain that I won't have much need for SAS in my field, while R is the preferred program and we are barely going to touch on it, even though in past semesters R was used.

 

I love R and use R for all of my analyses. But, like you, my biostatistics courses uses SAS, which is extremely frustrating. I try to do all of my homework in R because he doesn't require proof that we used SAS. But I hate having to teach myself R when the entire class gets taught in SAS. It takes more time out of my day. Even my advisor was confused as to why we were learning SAS in an ecology/evolution based statistics course.

[shadowclaw]

I love R and use R for all of my analyses. But, like you, my biostatistics courses uses SAS, which is extremely frustrating. I try to do all of my homework in R because he doesn't require proof that we used SAS. But I hate having to teach myself R when the entire class gets taught in SAS. It takes more time out of my day. Even my advisor was confused as to why we were learning SAS in an ecology/evolution based statistics course.

Yeah, even though I wasn't nuts about taking a biostats course, I was at least looking forward to learning R so I don't have to get so frustrated trying to use it. Plus it's a useful skill for ecology PhD positions. I'm still baffled as to why we're using SAS when the course was taught using R in past semesters and most of the class is made up of ecology-orientated students. At the moment, I have to use SAS for assignments because the professor wants us to turn in our code as well. So I don't even have that option.

[Pitangus]

I love R and use R for all of my analyses. But, like you, my biostatistics courses uses SAS, which is extremely frustrating. I try to do all of my homework in R because he doesn't require proof that we used SAS. But I hate having to teach myself R when the entire class gets taught in SAS. It takes more time out of my day. Even my advisor was confused as to why we were learning SAS in an ecology/evolution based statistics course.

 

 

It was kind of annoying learning linear modeling with SAS, especially because the stats course before it used R, but it was still better than switching back to relying on a menu-based interface. I don't mind SAS, and I figure it doesn't hurt to get familiar with different programs, but R is still more flexible (and free).

Fortunately the following semester I took a course in my department that went over most of the same topics in more detail and used R. And all of the other courses I've taken have used R. 

[ERR_Alpha]

This female coworker of mine was telling another female undergrad that she should never get married and she should be the "man" of a relationship. This really annoyed the shit out of me especially when this female coworker pretty much relies on other male coworkers in the lab and outside the lab for

(1) design all of her experiments

(2) teach her "how" to use stuff instead of finding out herself

(3) previous exams of the classes she was taking/plan to take

(4) troubleshooting her experiments

I mean, really? She sure knows how to use people for her personal gain. She found out my PI was on the admission committee and decided to "volunteer" in our lab 3 months before she graduates from undergrad, and all of the sudden she got really into research work and decided to apply to the PhD program at our school.

The worst part was that she told my PI, "if I don't get in PhD at this school then I'm gonna volunteer in your lab for another year and try again".

I mean, really? what a sketchy SOB, she shouldn't have put my PI in a such awkward situation.

Oh gender roles. My boyfriend and I frequently get "oh so she's the man in the relationship!" No, I'm the bread winner and he's much better at cooking and cleaning(and enjoys it more). People's simple dichotomy brains infuriate me.

[shadowclaw]

Oh gender roles. My boyfriend and I frequently get "oh so she's the man in the relationship!" No, I'm the bread winner and he's much better at cooking and cleaning(and enjoys it more). People's simple dichotomy brains infuriate me.

Don't get me started on gender roles. There are few things more infuriating for me than the concept that anything aside from pregnancy and childbirth can be assigned to one gender. Then again, Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in Junior was pregnant... but seriously, why do gender roles still exist? There's no reason why a woman shouldn't be the breadwinner and no reason why a man can't be a stay at home dad and do the cooking, cleaning, etc.

It also seriously aggravates me when people say that someone who doesn't fit an old fashioned gender role must be gay. Really, why should sexual orientation have anything to do with your career or hobbies? When I was a teenager, I took karate classes at a school run by two women, and my mom insisted that they were lesbians. It still gets me mad that she thought that without any other information to base her assumption on. I think she saw them 3 times and didn't know anything else about them other than that they owned a business and were athletic. Arrrg.

[FoggyAnhinga]

Don't get me started on gender roles. There are few things more infuriating for me than the concept that anything aside from pregnancy and childbirth can be assigned to one gender. Then again, Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in Junior was pregnant... but seriously, why do gender roles still exist? There's no reason why a woman shouldn't be the breadwinner and no reason why a man can't be a stay at home dad and do the cooking, cleaning, etc.

It also seriously aggravates me when people say that someone who doesn't fit an old fashioned gender role must be gay. Really, why should sexual orientation have anything to do with your career or hobbies? When I was a teenager, I took karate classes at a school run by two women, and my mom insisted that they were lesbians. It still gets me mad that she thought that without any other information to base her assumption on. I think she saw them 3 times and didn't know anything else about them other than that they owned a business and were athletic. Arrrg.

 

I'm a guy but I have a HUGE respect for dedicated housewives or househusbands who dedicate large part of their day to housework/chores/making meals, etc. I never realized how tedious and time-consuming housework/doing chores/cooking/cleaning/running errands (and taking care of their children) can be until I lived alone without any roommates during my master's (before then I lived with several friends so our chores were all shared, which was completely different). I too like to keep things clean and I try to get all the chores done when I can and I also prepare healthy meals when I'm on my own. And trying to balance all of this with graduate school work is certainly not easy, since doing housework can take you ALL day! 

 

Unfortunately, there are still many people out there who think housewives/househusbands are people who simply stay at home and chill out or do nothing and have lots of free time, which does aggravate me, especially when they ask "so... what is his wife doing these days? Nothing? I mean, stay at home mom, so she has a lot of time, right?" 

Edited January 31, 2015 by FoggyAnhinga

[busybeinganxious]

Heh.  The gender roles thing rotates with me.  Sometimes it bugs me, sometimes I find it funny, sometimes it makes me furious.

 

Funny: I have four daughters and one son.  All of them rotate chores, including mowing the lawn and washing dishes...the rotation is equal.  I had a family member tell me that my son shouldn't have to do dishes, and my daughters shouldn't have to mow the lawn. I laughed at him.

 

Bugged me: My older girls date and go "dutch" more often than not.  They're independent ladies, and I'm proud of that.  Apparently a couple of boyfriends Moms have fussed about it.  It isn't proper for them to pay their own way...or to treat their boyfriends sometimes.  

 

Infuriated me: I know how to change a tire.  I had a flat and was griping to an acquaintance about the timing of it.  She told me I should have waited for help.  Why? Because it "gives away" that women can do it...thus she might have to do it eventually.  I had to walk away from that conversation. 

[Quantum Buckyball]

Wow, what a pain in the rear end... has any male coworker refused to help her?  If it was me, I'd be like "I am not going to do it for you but I can try to help you". But yeah she does sound sketchy... 

 

If I remember correctly, during my undergrad this one girl with terrible undergrad grades apparently got a research position in a prestigious faculty's lab because she managed to seduce a grad student there... 

 

Her research progression was very fast after she "joined" the group for about 2 months because she would ask other guys (including my PI) questions like,

 

"oh what should I do next?"

"do you have the protocol for it?"

"does the protocol work?"

"do you know how to do it?"

"can you show me how to do it?"

"how effective is your method?"

"how much samples do I need for xxxxx experiments?"

"can I see how you did your experiments? like the conditions you used?"

"can you do this calculation for me so I don't mess up?"

 

Yeah after for about 2 months people were like, "yeah....so this is HOW your research progressed so fast". I think the most annoying part was that she would just ask other people for answers instead of trying to figure it out by herself.  

 

She has made statements like, "I want to be the only girl in this group" for several times now..

Edited January 31, 2015 by Quantum Buckyball

[FoggyAnhinga]

Her research progression was very fast after she "joined" the group for about 2 months because she would ask other guys (including my PI) questions like,

 

"oh what should I do next?"

"do you have the protocol for it?"

"does the protocol work?"

"do you know how to do it?"

"can you show me how to do it?"

"how effective is your method?"

"how much samples do I need for xxxxx experiments?"

"can I see how you did your experiments? like the conditions you used?"

"can you do this calculation for me so I don't mess up?"

 

Yeah after for about 2 months people were like, "yeah....so this is HOW your research progressed so fast". I think the most annoying part was that she would just ask other people for answers instead of trying to figure it out by herself.  

 

She has made statements like, "I want to be the only girl in this group" for several times now..

Wow... just wow... what does she expect people to do, babysit her?! I'm laughing at the "can you do this calculation for me" hahaha...

 

God speed to any guy who is or will be dating her... 

[Quantum Buckyball]

Wow... just wow... what does she expect people to do, babysit her?! I'm laughing at the "can you do this calculation for me" hahaha...

 

God speed to any guy who is or will be dating her... 

 

She dated a guy from my department awhile ago but they broke up because he graduated. She is now dating another guy from another group 10 ft away from our lab, that guy is a douchebag and always tell people that he works 80+ hrs/week and is going to publish his work in Science or Nature.

 

Oh yeah he's half way through his 4th year and still have no papers. 

Edited February 1, 2015 by Quantum Buckyball

[Mattie Roh]

A co-worker of mine (who I trained less than a year ago) got an administrative position at the local college. This guy just graduated with his BA last May and will be making 37k. I'm in my mid-thirties, have worked full time throughout undergrad and grad programs and have about 8 years experience in my field and I have yet to crack 30k.

 

He's a really nice guy. He's smart, hardworking, and totally deserves this position and I'm very happy for him. But FML, man.

[SymmetryOfImperfection]

She dated a guy from my department awhile ago but they broke up because he graduated. She is now dating another guy from another group 10 ft away from our lab, that guy is a douchebag and always tell people that he works 80+ hrs/week and is going to publish his work in Science or Nature.

 

Oh yeah he's half way through his 4th year and still have no papers. 

guy's meant for her.

[shadowclaw]

A co-worker of mine (who I trained less than a year ago) got an administrative position at the local college. This guy just graduated with his BA last May and will be making 37k. I'm in my mid-thirties, have worked full time throughout undergrad and grad programs and have about 8 years experience in my field and I have yet to crack 30k.

 

He's a really nice guy. He's smart, hardworking, and totally deserves this position and I'm very happy for him. But FML, man.

 

There are people who worked their way up the ranks at fast food places and ended up making 60-70k after only 5 years or so.

 

Sometimes I wish I didn't take my grad assistant position in my masters program. The pay really sucks... I get about $700 per month after taxes. I used to work at a Pizza Hut, and if I stayed I could have worked almost full time as a driver which would have earned me $1500 a month after taxes because I was getting paid $8 an hour plus gas money and didn't have to claim tips (which were at least $100 a night). C'est la vie.

[FoggyAnhinga]

She dated a guy from my department awhile ago but they broke up because he graduated. She is now dating another guy from another group 10 ft away from our lab, that guy is a douchebag and always tell people that he works 80+ hrs/week and is going to publish his work in Science or Nature.

 

Oh yeah he's half way through his 4th year and still have no papers. 

Looks like they are perfectly meant for each other lol.