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


hippyscientist

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3 hours ago, Need Coffee in an IV said:

on hold.......two hours later

:wacko: That sounds horrible.

I just finished budgeting 3 years in advance. Assuming nothing catastrophic occurs, my entire program will only cost me between ~$7000-$16000 (sans reading materials). I couldn't calculate it precisely before this point because I hadn't seen the exact fees for a typical semester (I couldn't ask current students, because I'm in an oddball dual program), and it's going to cost me a bit extra than a normal student because my stipend is supporting a family of three.

I think I can live with that. It's not great, but I can live with that.

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So today's full day of orientations wouldn't have been so bad if everything hadn't been back to back with no opportunity to refill coffees and water bottles and maybe get a snack. I now have a killer headache.

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Orientations are finally over! @Pink Fuzzy Bunny, ours were like yours- so much food! Endless food and coffee! Very little veg, but enough coffee, so I think I might be okay in the office. Also got to speak with my advisor and a bunch of other faculty members, and I'm feeling great about my program. And I actually got into my office, which has a window! I'm psyched to start putting plants in it. And investigating the PSU bug museum. It's happening!

 

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37 minutes ago, sjoh197 said:

So today's full day of orientations wouldn't have been so bad if everything hadn't been back to back with no opportunity to refill coffees and water bottles and maybe get a snack. I now have a killer headache.

That's not cool! They should have given you breaks. I'd moan! @jlt646 that's no fair! We had 0 food at our orientations (bar the department one and that was a slice of pizza). Man, different departments really do things differently I guess.

So guys, the day has come. Tomorrow, I move into my apartment! The car is packed up (sans TV and a few last bags in my room for tonight) and I'm ready to move! Unfortunately, I spent a total of 3 hours on the phone with the power company just changing over the electric into my name. Ugh pain in the backside. BUT!!! I got LOADS done today so I'm really pleased. 

Edited by hippyscientist
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Our department did offer pizza at a short lunch break, but I cant eat pizza lol. I packed a lunch. But it really wasn't until later in the day that I really needed water and maybe a coffee break or something. Ate a huge roast when I came home though lol.

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13 minutes ago, Neist said:

@hippyscientist That's so exciting! :D Make sure you let us know how it goes.

Thanks Neist! I'm so excited about moving in and actually having a kitchen because it's been a nightmare in this airbnb. It's pretty exciting for all of us now. Classes start Monday! 

I had a meeting with my advisor yesterday, and he basically said "I want you in the lab 9-5 M-F, and if you're in here outside those hours you're overworking and if I catch you I'll be sending you to go have fun" which is so good! I think I'll have to do some extra work at home in terms of reading papers - there's so many more meetings than I'm used to. At my masters, we'd have two meetings a week - one for the lab and one one:one meeting. Here it's like well we have a TA meeting and a lab meeting and a one:one meeting and a seminar series (or two) and journal club and writing club. Like that's a whole week of meetings right there! I now see why they prioritise organisational skills in grad students

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i bought parts to build a pc! they should be here by wednesday the latest. :) 

emailing PIs that I'm interested in was intimidating, but a lot of them are really sweet which I'm relieved about. also tomorrow I'm going to meet with my program mentor who's the year above me, and she is so sweet. i'm super excited.

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So after 2 weeks of dealing with post office over what should have been a 2 day delivery... They told me they had sent my package back to amazon. I called amazon on Thursday, told them what happened, and they gave me a refund. Now today the package arrived? (Apparently the post office has no clue what's going on with their packages.)

I dont know if I should call amazon and tell them what happened or what?

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12 hours ago, Effloresce said:

i bought parts to build a pc! they should be here by wednesday the latest. :) 

emailing PIs that I'm interested in was intimidating, but a lot of them are really sweet which I'm relieved about. also tomorrow I'm going to meet with my program mentor who's the year above me, and she is so sweet. i'm super excited.

That's exciting! What kind of pc are you building? I just ordered parts to build one today as well. :)

Good luck tomorrow as well! 

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5 hours ago, Danger_Zone said:

That's exciting! What kind of pc are you building? I just ordered parts to build one today as well. :)

Good luck tomorrow as well! 

awesome! what kind are you building?

i'm not building anything too fancy (i say as my wallet groans)..i5-4690K, started with a 256gb ssd as I have a 1TB external, 8gb RAM to start off and a GTX 960 that a friend had given me. the real feat will be fitting all of that and having great cable management into a micro ATX mini case. :P I'll upgrade as time goes on, but I think this is a pretty nice start..my old setup had two monitors but my current desk isn't big enough, so maybe in the future I'll have my dual setup again :P 

just wanted something to be able to play games when I wanna, and depending on the lab I join I might be doing some computational work (eek). i'm really excited for my new mechanical keyboard honestly, lol...

thank you! :) 

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9 hours ago, Effloresce said:

awesome! what kind are you building?

i'm not building anything too fancy (i say as my wallet groans)..i5-4690K, started with a 256gb ssd as I have a 1TB external, 8gb RAM to start off and a GTX 960 that a friend had given me. the real feat will be fitting all of that and having great cable management into a micro ATX mini case. :P I'll upgrade as time goes on, but I think this is a pretty nice start..my old setup had two monitors but my current desk isn't big enough, so maybe in the future I'll have my dual setup again :P 

just wanted something to be able to play games when I wanna, and depending on the lab I join I might be doing some computational work (eek). i'm really excited for my new mechanical keyboard honestly, lol...

thank you! :) 

That sounds pretty nice! GTX960 is a great graphics card. A friend of mine loves to build computers and offered to build mine so I guess I'm not technically building it myself, but I've ordered a GTX1070, i7-6700, 240gb ssd, 2tb hdd, 16gb RAM, 144 hz monitor, and a mechanical keyboard of course (don't you love how loud and clicky they are :P )? 

Hoping to play games in my free time as well. The last couple of years my desktop hasn't been able to handle much of anything that has come out, so I'm really excited to run new games properly. I'd like to get two monitors eventually but I probably wouldn't be able to fit that either.. heck, I don't know how I'm going to fit a computer desk at my new place. Though my friend has a somewhat smaller place than me and has managed to fit three monitors (why he needs three I have no idea :P), so it might be doable. 

Edited by Danger_Zone
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I'm really jealous of you guys. I've been saving up for a new computer and hope to get one in time to put it together over winter break. My PC Part Picker list looks a lot like Danger_Zone's, but no mechanical keyboard - my cats walking on it would drive me up the wall. Fortunately No Man's Sky has been running okay on my current PC so that satiates me for now!

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10 minutes ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

I'm really jealous of you guys. I've been saving up for a new computer and hope to get one in time to put it together over winter break. My PC Part Picker list looks a lot like Danger_Zone's, but no mechanical keyboard - my cats walking on it would drive me up the wall. Fortunately No Man's Sky has been running okay on my current PC so that satiates me for now!

I got my computer through best buys 12 month program... Where you have 12 months to pay it off no interest. That could be an option for you. Made it much easier for me.

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35 minutes ago, sjoh197 said:

I got my computer through best buys 12 month program... Where you have 12 months to pay it off no interest. That could be an option for you. Made it much easier for me.

I wish that were an option, but I'll be building my own. I really like being able to pick and choose graphics cards, processors, SSDs, etc.

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4 hours ago, Danger_Zone said:

...so I'm really excited to run new games properly...

 

Wait, you expect to have time for games? I certainly don't think I will! :D 

Edit: Classes start tomorrow! And my first obligation is my TA course. I'm nervous.

Edited by Neist
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7 hours ago, MarineBluePsy said:

Soooo.....I just drove across the country and you know what?  It's pretty flat.  And now I'm slightly disappointed.

Yes. Very, very flat. Even living in Illinois my entire life did nothing to prepare me for how flat our damn country was.

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