We've wined, we've waited, now it's time to celebrate 2016

[Cat_Robutt]

Caaaaaaats! 

[sjoh197]

My kitties XD

[Danger_Zone]

12 minutes ago, sjoh197 said:

My kitties XD

Awww they're gorgeous!

I'm totally down for sharing cat pics.

[Need Coffee in an IV]

Sigh I miss having pets

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

@Cat_Robutt "Self-cleaning" is a bit of a misnomer for the litterbox... you basically roll it onto its side so that all of the litter falls through a grate (and goes back when you flip it right-side up) and then the clumps go into a little pull-out drawer to empty: http://www.amazon.com/Omega-Paw-Self-Cleaning-Litter-Regular/dp/B0002DK2A8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00

 

@sjoh197 HOW ADORABLE!!!!!

[hippyscientist]

12 hours ago, Cat_Robutt said:

 

On an unrelated note, a professor for my program emailed me a class recommendation....feminist comics and cartoons 1970s-2015! This prof saw it, knew I would be interested, and was kind enough to send me a note about it...it really made my day and made me feel like this program really cares about my academic area of interest. 

This is awesome! I just got a questionnaire about TA duties through basically a list of classes I'd have to TA and which ones I might be best suited to. There's 2 that are appropriate and another 2 that are questionable but now I'm researching the previous syllabi of those courses to see what I might be required to know! So freaking exciting. Also (sorry I know this was FB) 9 credits for sure! Don't overload yourself first semester, we're gunna have enough else on our plates.

@sjoh197 your cats are cute, and that's coming from someone who's really not a cat person! 

Edited May 3, 2016 by hippyscientist

[AP]

May I give an advice to incoming students?

I'd bet all your schools have a lot of resources to make your graduate education richer, better, and tailored according to your interests. Many times, these resources are sort of "hidden" because it is really hard to spread the word about anything since everyone is advertising their own thing. Use this time to check on this: workshops, free tutorials, library services, health and wellness options, etc. 

From my experience, many things are listed online, but I had to ask for final details to other grad students, especially regarding intramural sports. Remember that grad school is what you make of it, it is not just a program that you follow (granted, in some cases it is!  ). But you have the power to make it your own experience. This is the time to scout websites and check what's going on!

All the best!!!

AP

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

I can't decide if I want to TA in the fall or not... and they apparently expect me to know by next Friday

[sjoh197]

2 minutes ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

I can't decide if I want to TA in the fall or not... and they apparently expect me to know by next Friday

If you want to just pass that hypothetical TA job in this general direction...

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

22 minutes ago, sjoh197 said:

If you want to just pass that hypothetical TA job in this general direction...

I'd be glad to

[Neist]

27 minutes ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

I can't decide if I want to TA in the fall or not... and they apparently expect me to know by next Friday

Well, I'd give you some advice, but if memory serves you've TA'd more than any undergrad I've ever heard of.  

I say go with your gut.

[Cat_Robutt]

@sjoh197 Your cats are beautiful!!! 

@hippyscientist Thanks for your advice! I did decide 12 hours was TOO much my first semester, and as @AP mentioned, I think getting involved in other activities will be a boon. What are some programs/activities/things you all would like to do while getting your degree that may not necessarily be coursework?

@Pink Fuzzy Bunny You get to choose whether to be a TA?! What universe is this? What happens if you say yes/no?

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

3 minutes ago, Cat_Robutt said:

 

@Pink Fuzzy Bunny You get to choose whether to be a TA?! What universe is this? What happens if you say yes/no?

Yeah, it's because of how my funding works. I have six years of fellowships, so my first year I can choose if I want to TA (and make 2k less) or use 1 year of fellowship and not have to TA. It sounds like an easy choice but the DGS recommended I be a TA. But I think I'll be behind most students coursework-wise, so I think I'm going to choose not to... I dunno

[knp]

Why not ask the DGS why they recommended that? If they've already given you a list of reasons, never mind, but you could thank them for their recommendation, say that you're still torn, and ask them what they see as the benefits of TAing in your first year and saving the fellowship for later. Maybe they'll be convincing, or maybe not, but trying to take into account advice on hard decisions without knowing the reasons behind the advice always gives me hives.

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

Just now, knp said:

Why not ask the DGS why they recommended that? If they've already given you a list of reasons, never mind, but you could thank them for their recommendation, say that you're still torn, and ask them what they see as the benefits of TAing in your first year and saving the fellowship for later. Maybe they'll be convincing, or maybe not, but trying to take into account advice on hard decisions without knowing the reasons behind the advice always gives me hives.

He stopped responding to my emails  He gave me reasons (TAing is great experience, etc.) but since I've TA'd before and most graduate students graduate within 6 years at Cornell (so if I TA'd, and graduated within 6 years, I'd be wasting a semester of a fellowship), I think I'm going to go with a fellowship the first semester at least. I guess I can always TA in the spring.

To be fair, I don't think it matters much. There are so many external variables to consider that I just need to make a decision... and that's one thing I've been vowing to work on, is my decision-making skills

[Neist]

14 minutes ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

He stopped responding to my emails  He gave me reasons (TAing is great experience, etc.) but since I've TA'd before and most graduate students graduate within 6 years at Cornell (so if I TA'd, and graduated within 6 years, I'd be wasting a semester of a fellowship), I think I'm going to go with a fellowship the first semester at least. I guess I can always TA in the spring.

To be fair, I don't think it matters much. There are so many external variables to consider that I just need to make a decision... and that's one thing I've been vowing to work on, is my decision-making skills

This might be an overly personal question, but what do you want to do with your PhD? I'm not sure how the world of physics PhDs work.

If I was aiming for a career path that did not involve teaching, I'd probably ride the fellowship for as long as I could.  

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

4 minutes ago, Neist said:

This might be an overly personal question, but what do you want to do with your PhD? I'm not sure how the world of physics PhDs work.

If I was aiming for a career path that did not involve teaching, I'd probably ride the fellowship for as long as I could.  

I have no friggin' idea  

[Neist]

2 minutes ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

I have no friggin' idea  

Completely understandable.

[hippyscientist]

1 hour ago, Cat_Robutt said:

 

@hippyscientist Thanks for your advice! I did decide 12 hours was TOO much my first semester, and as @AP mentioned, I think getting involved in other activities will be a boon. What are some programs/activities/things you all would like to do while getting your degree that may not necessarily be coursework?

I'll be gymming a lot, and want to hike and explore the area. I also want to push and build my CV to make me super competitive come job hunts following the PhD so I'll sit down with my advisor shortly after arriving and come up with a game plan to get to the end goal. I want to figure out which conferences I want to be presenting in, who I should be schmoozing, whether there's opportunities to lead, figure out how to actually run a lab & how to be a PI (obviously not initially but) and all that sort of stuff. But I will have my 3 courses, plus TA assignment (got a questionnaire via email yesterday about suitability for different courses which was interesting) so little research occurring in my first semester. I should be taking my first set of exams by the end of Spring '17 and then start smashing diss. I want to have a life out of uni too - join some things in town so when all the undergrads go there's still a core group of people around outside my dept. It's way important to me to have balance.

Okay that's enough ramblings. Total and utter sidetrack - Big Hero 6 is amazing and I want a Baymax to get me through grad school.

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

8 minutes ago, hippyscientist said:

I'll be gymming a lot, and want to hike and explore the area. I also want to push and build my CV to make me super competitive come job hunts following the PhD so I'll sit down with my advisor shortly after arriving and come up with a game plan to get to the end goal. I want to figure out which conferences I want to be presenting in, who I should be schmoozing, whether there's opportunities to lead, figure out how to actually run a lab & how to be a PI (obviously not initially but) and all that sort of stuff. But I will have my 3 courses, plus TA assignment (got a questionnaire via email yesterday about suitability for different courses which was interesting) so little research occurring in my first semester. I should be taking my first set of exams by the end of Spring '17 and then start smashing diss. I want to have a life out of uni too - join some things in town so when all the undergrads go there's still a core group of people around outside my dept. It's way important to me to have balance.

Okay that's enough ramblings. Total and utter sidetrack - Big Hero 6 is amazing and I want a Baymax to get me through grad school.

BIG HERO 6 IS THE BESSST. Every Halloween I really want to dress up as Baymax. Or get one of these:

 

[hippyscientist]

1 minute ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

BIG HERO 6 IS THE BESSST. Every Halloween I really want to dress up as Baymax. Or get one of these:

 

I WANT ONE!

[sjoh197]

3 minutes ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

BIG HERO 6 IS THE BESSST. Every Halloween I really want to dress up as Baymax. Or get one of these:

 

I dress up as toothless for halloween. And then I sit at home eating caramel corn and watching movies.

[Neist]

8 minutes ago, hippyscientist said:

I'll be gymming a lot, and want to hike and explore the area. I also want to push and build my CV to make me super competitive come job hunts following the PhD so I'll sit down with my advisor shortly after arriving and come up with a game plan to get to the end goal. I want to figure out which conferences I want to be presenting in, who I should be schmoozing, whether there's opportunities to lead, figure out how to actually run a lab & how to be a PI (obviously not initially but) and all that sort of stuff. But I will have my 3 courses, plus TA assignment (got a questionnaire via email yesterday about suitability for different courses which was interesting) so little research occurring in my first semester. I should be taking my first set of exams by the end of Spring '17 and then start smashing diss. I want to have a life out of uni too - join some things in town so when all the undergrads go there's still a core group of people around outside my dept. It's way important to me to have balance.

Okay that's enough ramblings. Total and utter sidetrack - Big Hero 6 is amazing and I want a Baymax to get me through grad school.

I'm not sure if it'd be your thing, and I'm not sure if you'd be up to traveling a bit, but the Great Allegheny Passage and C & O Towpath runs from Pittsburgh to DC, about 400 miles, if memory serves. The former is a rail trail, and the latter is a towpath. You can walk it, but people generally bike pack it, and there's a litany of places that you can rent the gear from if you don't want to purchase it yourself. It's also nice because it's a very clear, groomed trail, which brings me to another recommendation.

Take Lyme disease very, very seriously. It's quite bad in the northeast. I'm an outdoorsy person who likes to hike, and even I'm a bit leery about the current epidemic of Lyme disease in that part of the country. For example, they say that 1/10 hikers who hike the Appalachian Trail contract Lyme.

http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/stats/maps.html

Nasty little ticks...

[sjoh197]

Also, last night I found an almost new 0 degree northface snowshoe mummy sleeping bag for $25 on craigslist. It's awesome. 

It's 2016 model equivalent is $140.

[Neist]

6 minutes ago, sjoh197 said:

Also, last night I found an almost new 0 degree northface snowshoe mummy sleeping bag for $25 on craigslist. It's awesome. 

It's 2016 model equivalent is $140.

Those are pretty nice sleeping bags.  They are a little bulk when stuffed, but that's pretty par the course for synthetic bags. It's also pretty light, especially considering that it's a 0 degree synthetic bag.

Sounds like a great deal! The great thing about camping equipment is that the markdown for used gear is pretty big.