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

[Need Coffee in an IV]

soooo plot twist, vic got offered another job within the same department. But this second job is a soil technician job and its exactly what he wanted. It pays better, has a better location, and he will gain experience so he could become a professional geologist. He was head hunted, he asked whether this would cause problems concerning the first job. He was told it was fine and the hiring woman would talk to mary. Sooo they were on first name basis! Its 7 hours away though so instead of every weekend, we will visit maybe twice a month. But we are super excited. I found a couple of apartment complexes that I would like to live in so we are trying to settle everything. Going to talk to the landlord to see if we can convert it to a 6 month lease. I don't need a big house and I want to live in a gated community/nice apartment. Plus I can get a cat! I found the perfect cat too.  @Effloresce sounds like me! I love unpacking everything when I move in. It drives me nuts otherwise. But it takes me two weeks to unpack a suitcase.

@hippyscientist I hope you enjoyed your birthday!

@jlt646 I'm not a huge hiker but that sounds fun/scary! You weren't afraid of being struck by lightening?

[hippyscientist]

33 minutes ago, jlt646 said:

My partner and I had an absurd date night last night- the local theatre is putting on a stage production of High School Musical, and it was exactly what we expected. Lots of earnest small town actors putting their all into a Disney movie.

Perseid is happening, and while it has slowed down now, there should still be meteors around and SC is so dark that it makes for great viewing.

Also, we hiked Mt. Nittany today between thunderstorms! Highly recommend, it was really pretty and not a hard hike. 

I definitely want to do that hike soon! I've seen the High School Musical production being advertised but won't do that at the moment. However, one of my favourite singers (G. Love & Special Sauce) is in town on 9/1 and so I'm hoping to find a few people to go listen with. 

@Pink Fuzzy Bunny congratulations to your boy! That's awesome news! Frustrating about visiting but at least you know it will still be regular. Thanks for the birthday wishes - it's not actually until next sunday, although you wouldn't know from all the birthday cards I have in my suitcase that family members have snuck in there!

@Effloresce You'll be fine at orientation! I was apprehensive at first but it seemed to go pretty smoothly. Just be you and you'll be just awesome The roommate thing would frustrate me though. Can you mention something politely?

[rhombusbombus]

@jlt646 i did mt nittany last week and almost died! i was not used to the steepness + the heat. but there were some nice bugs, so i should go back when it's cooler to collect!

I wanna get coffee tomorrow! But i have a project thing from 10 to 5  . Have ya'll been to Tadashi? It's really good and in downtown! Parking downtown is free on sundays!

@hippyscientist i didn't know g love and special sauce were coming here! i only know "milk and cereal"

Edited August 14, 2016 by rhombusbombus

[sjoh197]

Now that we have finally finished moving... It has started shit pouring and will continue to shit pour for the discernable future. I really wanted to get used to this part of town and enjoy all the reasons that we moved here... But I guess I can't lol.

[Danger_Zone]

@rhombusbombus Do you have a furniture row nearby? I got a super nice mattress for a reasonable price delivered to me in 2 days. They also set it up for me for a small fee.

 

So I can't tell which has been the more stressful experience: putting together furniture or dealing with Comcast. 

After 4+ hours of dealing with them I went and did some drunk karaoke.

[rhombusbombus]

Dealing with Comcast wins hands down!

I don't know about furniture row but there are a LOT of furniture stores around.

People (read: undergrads) have started moving in I think. Walmart was WAY more crowded than I'm used to here.

[hippyscientist]

8 hours ago, rhombusbombus said:

Dealing with Comcast wins hands down!

I don't know about furniture row but there are a LOT of furniture stores around.

People (read: undergrads) have started moving in I think. Walmart was WAY more crowded than I'm used to here.

Yesterday was summer graduation, and the international undergraduates started arriving this weekend too. The freshmen will arrive mid-next week and everyone else next weekend. Just in case you wanted to know! 

[sjoh197]

Well, my mom had to evacuate her house south of baton rouge about 30 minutes ago. The floodwater is bubbling up from the ground as the river swells from the northward drainage. Hoping the house doesn't flood.

[rhombusbombus]

@sjoh197 i hope shes okay!

[pterosaur]

On 12/08/2016 at 2:44 PM, sjoh197 said:

Living in a sea of unpacked boxes sucks. lol

Currently living in a sea of half-packed boxes. Except I don't have that much space, so it's more like a small but deep pond of boxes. Really worried about the airline weight limits. :/

[vonham]

On 8/13/2016 at 5:33 PM, hippyscientist said:

I definitely want to do that hike soon! I've seen the High School Musical production being advertised but won't do that at the moment. However, one of my favourite singers (G. Love & Special Sauce) is in town on 9/1 and so I'm hoping to find a few people to go listen with. 

@Pink Fuzzy Bunny congratulations to your boy! That's awesome news! Frustrating about visiting but at least you know it will still be regular. Thanks for the birthday wishes - it's not actually until next sunday, although you wouldn't know from all the birthday cards I have in my suitcase that family members have snuck in there!

@Effloresce You'll be fine at orientation! I was apprehensive at first but it seemed to go pretty smoothly. Just be you and you'll be just awesome The roommate thing would frustrate me though. Can you mention something politely?

I used to love g. love & special sauce!! I totally forgot about them, though; thanks for reminding me! 

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

@jlt646 I actually will be hiking Mt. Nittany in the coming weeks as I have a friend who is a PSU alum who never got to climb it. Was it super crowded?

[sjoh197]

I got to meet the collaborator of my second phd project today. He was really cool... and of course everything he said went straight over my head. Thankfully he noticed... when he made the "hand whooshing over head" motion lol. 

And one of my 2 textbooks for next semester is one that I already have... Yay! 

[asurachm]

Another incoming grad student at Penn State here. Soooo many orientation events that I have to attend! Anyway, good luck for the new semester, everyone

[jlt646]

2 hours ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

@jlt646 I actually will be hiking Mt. Nittany in the coming weeks as I have a friend who is a PSU alum who never got to climb it. Was it super crowded?

It wasn't, but it will be soon because undergrads are flooding back into town. 

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

Dude I feel you guys on the orientation events. Have TA training stuff 9am-7:30pm tomorrow and then 9am-4pm the next day... and I'm not even going to be a TA!

[pterosaur]

My advisor will be on vacation when I start, but I've already got my first task for when I arrive: "learn to control the swarm." The post-doc will be teaching me the basics of how to control the 1,000 robot collective, and then I get a few of my own to program/play with for my first project.

But with all of that I'm looking forward to, I still have to try to focus on finishing my masters thesis. asdfoyulrofypaudn. 

[sjoh197]

OH MY GOD....

As a new student I'm currently getting to watch a video and take a test on sexual misconduct... and what "consent" actually means. Facepalm. It's like I'm a 17 year old kid again, not someone who's already birthed a child. Is this what the world has come to? This is an hour of my time completely wasted on moral values that should have been taught at home, not in a video from a university. 

[jlt646]

8 minutes ago, sjoh197 said:

OH MY GOD....

As a new student I'm currently getting to watch a video and take a test on sexual misconduct... and what "consent" actually means. Facepalm. It's like I'm a 17 year old kid again, not someone who's already birthed a child. Is this what the world has come to? This is an hour of my time completely wasted on moral values that should have been taught at home, not in a video from a university. 

Sure it's a waste of time for a lot of grad students, but the fact that sexual assault on college campuses is such a huge problem (and growing, not shrinking) means that it hasn't been taught at home. So maybe it's not such a bad idea for universities to at least attempt to fill the gap? 

[sjoh197]

I get it, but this video is totally geared towards just out of high school. It's obnoxious. And if these morals aren't being taught at home, a video isn't going to fix it. 

 

Well... I was going to stalk and harass that girl... but now that I've seen this informative video, I won't follow her home in the dark.

Said no one ever. 

[hippyscientist]

@sjoh197 I had to take a very similar one. What really irritated me was the emphasis on how alcohol is the culprit, not the person doing the wrong thing. Ugh. Yes, we're not 18 anymore. Maybe don't treat us like we know nothing?

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

9 hours ago, pterosaur said:

My advisor will be on vacation when I start, but I've already got my first task for when I arrive: "learn to control the swarm." The post-doc will be teaching me the basics of how to control the 1,000 robot collective, and then I get a few of my own to program/play with for my first project.

But with all of that I'm looking forward to, I still have to try to focus on finishing my masters thesis. asdfoyulrofypaudn. 

That sounds... really fun honestly. Do you have videos?

[sjoh197]

10 hours ago, pterosaur said:

The post-doc will be teaching me the basics of how to control the 1,000 robot collective

That sounds awesomely like herding cats. 

I just found out that I am likely going to be operating a $600000 machine and that makes me about as nervous as being in charge of 1000 mini robots. 

[Need Coffee in an IV]

welp i fell in love with a cat. I'm going to see him tomorrow. I really want to adopt him but my current place is no pets. With bf moving I don't want/need all this space plus i don't want to deal with bugs. I tried asking my landlord to convert my lease to a 6 month lease and then month to month. So its not like I would be breaking my lease and he's had short term renters before. He said no, sigh.

[Neist]

You guys have awesome jobs. My job will be... reading? Grading papers?

In other news, I got my office today. It's as remarkable as one would expect a humanities discipline GA office would be.  On the bright side, my training is officially done. I completed my ethics training last week, and today was the final day of TA training. I'm excited! I expected to be nervous, but I'm pretty pumped! I can't wait.