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

[Cat_Robutt]

Sorry I've been absent all week...we're prepping for our move and there is so much adulting that has to be done! Getting the cars checked, getting our cat immunizations, changing addresses with my two jobs, selling the last few pieces of furniture, scheduling our extended visits with relatives. To top it off, one of my closest friends is getting married, and I'm the maid of honor! All the adult responsibilities! It's all very exciting, though.

@gingin6789 congratulations!!! That is very cool! If there's any way I can help out, even informally, please let me know? 

And @pterosaur you can't just casually mention "exoskeleton programming" without telling us all about this awesome research you're doing!

Happy almost Friday, y'all!

[MarineBluePsy]

5 hours ago, Neist said:

I'd even be leery of exclusively using external HDDs, unless you used them in a RAID, for redundancy's sake.

You might check to see if there's any programs out there that will periodically upload backups to cloud storage. I know there's services that provide this at a cost, but surely someone has developed something that will daily update the contents of a folder, right? That almost has to exist.

Oh no I meant it as an extra back up system.  Right now I keep everything on google drive and a flash drive, but a third thing just seems like a good idea given how long a dissertation takes.  Almost every company I've worked for has had a daily back system work automatically, but that kind of thing is expensive.  I'm ok manually doing it every week since its not too time consuming.

[hippyscientist]

@pterosaur that sounds epic!! I love exoskeletons and all that. I've been contemplating with researching them in rehabilitation settings as a side project. Tell us more!!
I think this threat has made me realise I gotta get some extra cloud storage - it's all full at the minute

[Neist]

Aww. The faculty member I graded for this semester sent the chair of the department I'm attending (and me) a glowing letter of appreciation in regards to my effort in his class. 

That was awfully nice of him.  

[pterosaur]

@hippyscientist. @Cat_Robutt. - My exoskeleton research isn't iron man level awesome, but I think it's pretty cool. I'm working on developing balance recovery assistance control for the exo. Basically, it means I push you and help you not fall down. So much code debugging crammed into 3 days while I had access to the robot. Now I have a gig of data to process, but hopefully it's the last I'll need for my masters thesis!

[hippyscientist]

17 minutes ago, pterosaur said:

@hippyscientist. @Cat_Robutt. - My exoskeleton research isn't iron man level awesome, but I think it's pretty cool. I'm working on developing balance recovery assistance control for the exo. Basically, it means I push you and help you not fall down. So much code debugging crammed into 3 days while I had access to the robot. Now I have a gig of data to process, but hopefully it's the last I'll need for my masters thesis!

That's so epic!!! I'm interested in the stuff that happens to the human when they wear that stuff - how do their mechanics differ etc. That's pretty cool  

[BooksCoffeeBeards]

I've donated, sold, or handed off SO many items, as well as clothing, during this packing/moving process. It's actually been a big relief since I will have to move mostly major furniture items (a couch, two IKEA book shelves, dining table/chairs, kitchen side table, and 4-drawer dresser), clothing, books, and DVDs.

I thought I was going to be buried in stuff, but it turns out...not so much.

How is everyone else's packing/moving business going? 

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

@BooksCoffeeBeards Good call! I wish I were that disciplined! 

Also, I wish there were an IKEA closer to me! Nearest one is four hours

[Neist]

I'm probably an outlier, given that I'm continuing within the same department I attended as an undergrad, but if i were single and moving, I'd have had a tiny house built, loaded, and moved in stead.  

Might be cheaper than paying for rent over the course of a PhD. Some people manage to have them built for under 10k.

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

9 minutes ago, Neist said:

I'm probably an outlier, given that I'm continuing within the same department I attended as an undergrad, but if i were single and moving, I'd have had a tiny house built, loaded, and moved in stead.  

Might be cheaper than paying for rent over the course of a PhD. Some people manage to have them built for under 10k.

SO many laws to skirt around though! Although I don't like the idea of paying... let's see... $86,400 over the next six years. 

[Neist]

3 minutes ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

SO many laws to skirt around though! Although I don't like the idea of paying... let's see... $86,400 over the next six years. 

To my understanding, you can avoid a lot of the laws the smaller the house is (which wouldn't be a huge issue for me). It gets more tricky the bigger a house is.

At least when I did my research a few years back, they aren't technically houses, they are RVs (as far as registering them goes). As such, one of the biggest problems is that they didn't qualify for mortgages. This is all musings as I don't live alone, but if I were to do it, I'd probably live in an apartment for a while, take out an initial chunk of unnecessary loans my first semester or two, then pay them back at an accelerated rate with my vastly increased income after the house was built.

The wild card is where to park one. You'd need to find somewhere that was affordable and convenient.

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

5 minutes ago, Neist said:

To my understanding, you can avoid a lot of the laws the smaller the house is (which wouldn't be a huge issue for me). It gets more tricky the bigger a house is.

At least when I did my research a few years back, they aren't technically houses, they are RVs (as far as registering them goes). As such, one of the biggest problems is that they didn't qualify for mortgages. This is all musings as I don't live alone, but if I were to do it, I'd probably live in an apartment for a while, take out an initial chunk of unnecessary loans my first semester or two, then pay them back at an accelerated rate with my vastly increased income after the house was built.

The wild card is where to park one. You'd need to find somewhere that was affordable and convenient.

You don't think you'd miss the space? Am I the only one who would go crazy if I didn't have the room to pace aimlessly around my apartment?

[hippyscientist]

If I was a native US citizen, I'd get a tiny house! As it is, I cannot really justify it as there is no guarantee after graduating whether I'd need it or not. Sure I could sell it, but it makes more financial sense for me to rent (as ridiculous as that sounds). Plus having lived in a really small apartment (bedroom is about two full beds across and you can just about fit a yoga mat at the end of the bed, plus a closet bathroom and kitchen where I have 1 cupboard and 1 fridge shelf) I am looking forward to being able to spread a bit. Is it really too much to ask to have a place to entertain visitors that's not my bed, or be able to lay out my yoga mat and actually have space to get into warrior poses? Apartment life seems to suit my needs right now quite well.

Re moving and packing, I've put up quite a lot of stuff on Gumtree (UK craigslist) but nothing so far. I'm using a lot still, and won't be able to get rid of it until mid-July which is frustrating. I've been paring down my wardrobe, but just went to a fitness convention and got a load of gym stuff (including the worlds snuggliest hoody) so that's not going too well either haha. I'm all itchy-feet about wanting to start though. Stuff keeps trickling back from my house to my moms (like spare bedding, rugs etc) but I can't wait to have a massive clearout in July. 

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

2 minutes ago, hippyscientist said:

If I was a native US citizen, I'd get a tiny house! As it is, I cannot really justify it as there is no guarantee after graduating whether I'd need it or not. Sure I could sell it, but it makes more financial sense for me to rent (as ridiculous as that sounds). Plus having lived in a really small apartment (bedroom is about two full beds across and you can just about fit a yoga mat at the end of the bed, plus a closet bathroom and kitchen where I have 1 cupboard and 1 fridge shelf) I am looking forward to being able to spread a bit. Is it really too much to ask to have a place to entertain visitors that's not my bed, or be able to lay out my yoga mat and actually have space to get into warrior poses? Apartment life seems to suit my needs right now quite well.

Re moving and packing, I've put up quite a lot of stuff on Gumtree (UK craigslist) but nothing so far. I'm using a lot still, and won't be able to get rid of it until mid-July which is frustrating. I've been paring down my wardrobe, but just went to a fitness convention and got a load of gym stuff (including the worlds snuggliest hoody) so that's not going too well either haha. I'm all itchy-feet about wanting to start though. Stuff keeps trickling back from my house to my moms (like spare bedding, rugs etc) but I can't wait to have a massive clearout in July. 

Yes I hate that! You want to get rid of stuff but it's hard until you start actually packing!

[Neist]

Just now, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

You don't think you'd miss the space? Am I the only one who would go crazy if I didn't have the room to pace aimlessly around my apartment?

I pace aimlessly outside, regardless of the weather.  

The only space I'd miss is for the sake of my books. Even if culled the collection, I don't think I could reduce it down to much less than a small bookshelf. So many of my books aren't available as eBooks or audio books. I grew up in a very, very tiny bedroom in which I spent nearly all of my at-home hours (which was nearly all of them when I wasn't at school). To me, a small space is a comforting space. It's a nest or hub in which I can operate out of. But everyone is different.  

14 minutes ago, hippyscientist said:

If I was a native US citizen, I'd get a tiny house! As it is, I cannot really justify it as there is no guarantee after graduating whether I'd need it or not. Sure I could sell it, but it makes more financial sense for me to rent (as ridiculous as that sounds). 

It makes perfect sense! I'd be wary of the resale value of a tiny house, as they are usually built quite specifically to the tastes of its future owners. Who knows if anyone would want to live in a tiny house that I had built.

[hippyscientist]

13 minutes ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

Yes I hate that! You want to get rid of stuff but it's hard until you start actually packing!

Yep exactly. There's so much stuff I've had for ages that I've been using because it's at the end of its life and I can't wait to get rid of it all and get shiny new pretty things in the states haha. Black Friday/Cyber Tuesday whatever the blinking name is is going to be my lifesaver this year. ALL the stuff!

[janetjanejune]

My mama's obsessed with tiny houses. That show on HGTV is one of her favorites.

I'm not much of an interior designer plus my apartment's pre-furnished. I want it to feel like home since I'll be there for two years but I don't want to invest too much in it cause it's *only* two years. My last place I put zero love into it and it showed. Moving was a breeze though.

[Neist]

17 hours ago, Cat_Robutt said:

Sorry I've been absent all week...we're prepping for our move and there is so much adulting that has to be done! Getting the cars checked, getting our cat immunizations, changing addresses with my two jobs, selling the last few pieces of furniture, scheduling our extended visits with relatives. To top it off, one of my closest friends is getting married, and I'm the maid of honor! All the adult responsibilities! It's all very exciting, though.

It's okay.

I fully expect most people on these boards to vanish in a few months, never to be seen again. But it sounds like everything is coming along for you. I'm glad!

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

For some reason I just got a bill from Cornell for "2015-2016 health insurance"... *laughs nervously*

[Danger_Zone]

I received my I-20 in the mail today. Just one step closer to the dream!

[Danger_Zone]

8 hours ago, BooksCoffeeBeards said:

I've donated, sold, or handed off SO many items, as well as clothing, during this packing/moving process. It's actually been a big relief since I will have to move mostly major furniture items (a couch, two IKEA book shelves, dining table/chairs, kitchen side table, and 4-drawer dresser), clothing, books, and DVDs.

I thought I was going to be buried in stuff, but it turns out...not so much.

How is everyone else's packing/moving business going? 

I can't move until the end of July, so I am anticipating it way too much! I've been slowly trying to sort through my stuff and think of what I'd like to take with me, have shipped or donate/leave/throw out. It feels strange to leave things behind even if I won't use them. At the same time, I don't want any clutter in my new place so I don't want to take anything I don't need, either. (And I think the thing that worries me more than moving this stuff is the thought of having to decorate my own place! I have no sense of interior design.)

I'm glad if moving is going smoothly for others so far!

Edited May 14, 2016 by Danger_Zone

[hippyscientist]

6 hours ago, Danger_Zone said:

I can't move until the end of July, so I am anticipating it way too much! I've been slowly trying to sort through my stuff and think of what I'd like to take with me, have shipped or donate/leave/throw out. It feels strange to leave things behind even if I won't use them. At the same time, I don't want any clutter in my new place so I don't want to take anything I don't need, either. (And I think the thing that worries me more than moving this stuff is the thought of having to decorate my own place! I have no sense of interior design.)

I'm glad if moving is going smoothly for others so far!

We're in exactly the same boat. It's weird trying to get rid of perfectly good stuff, but stuff you don't need to be taking with you. Interior design wise - pinterest is heaven. I browse their home decor section frequently and have boards for different rooms in my new apartment so I can pin things I like. Then, when I look at the board as a whole I can see my tastes, common themes etc. It might work for you, it might not! 

[pterosaur]

I'll be in grad student dorms and don't have a way to get my stuff from my dad's basement, so I don't think I'm going to be too strong on the interior design front. What I'd love to do is make a giant desk out of an Ikea butcher block. You can never have too big of a desk. But I have another year before I'll possibly be somewhere semi-permanent enough that it's worth getting real furniture and artwork.

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

20 minutes ago, pterosaur said:

I'll be in grad student dorms and don't have a way to get my stuff from my dad's basement, so I don't think I'm going to be too strong on the interior design front. What I'd love to do is make a giant desk out of an Ikea butcher block. You can never have too big of a desk. But I have another year before I'll possibly be somewhere semi-permanent enough that it's worth getting real furniture and artwork.

I'm with you on the huge IKEA desks. I got one for... maybe $60? You chose the top (I chose one that's like 5 feet long by 3 feet wide) and then got legs for it. Big desks are the best desks.

Also, I'm still learning how to be an adult apparently. I never had to check mail at my old place since utilities were covered... but my postman just came by with my mail like "You gonna get your mail? Or nah?"  

[pterosaur]

Just now, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

I'm with you on the huge IKEA desks. I got one for... maybe $60? You chose the top (I chose one that's like 5 feet long by 3 feet wide) and then got legs for it. Big desks are the best desks.

Also, I'm still learning how to be an adult apparently. I never had to check mail at my old place since utilities were covered... but my postman just came by with my mail like "You gonna get your mail? Or nah?"  

What desk did you go with? I recently came to the realization that since I have a bit of money saved, I can actually buy something that's not the cheapest version of what I'm looking for. And then I won't have to spend more money in the long run to upgrade it later. So I think I'd spend a bit more to get something solid wood. (With that size desk and the amount of technology I put on top of it, I wouldn't want it to start sagging.) Or, alternatively, if I can actually move stuff come a year from now, I could steal my own desk back from my brother, who took it when he graduated from college.