Showing posts with label Grad School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grad School. Show all posts
Monday, April 8, 2019
On Research Presentations
Recently I've been giving a number of research presentations again, and I've been noticing a particular trend. When I'm practicing or preparing a talk, I've noticed that I'll pause pretty often and think about how to improve a talk. While this is normally good for me, it does make it difficult to practice timing. So what ends up happening is that the first time I end up seeing how long the presentation lasts is when I've presenting it to an audience. At least when I'm actually presenting the talk I can give it without stopping or having any unnatural pauses.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Flirting With Spring
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It almost felt like spring, or at least it did for a few days. A nice lunchtime stroll through campus, a walk away from the lab and from my work, serves as a reminder that there is life outside of work (and that it can be nice). It seemed that spring was around the corner.
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Of course, this is the pacific northwest, and as immediately as this weather appeared, it reverted back to the typical clouds and rain. Alas, it will be a while before it approaches the majestic conditions of a typical summer.
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Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Mathematica 9!
So I finally upgraded my desktop's version of Mathematica to version 9.0 (though my laptop's version is still 8...), and I noticed that the biggest difference is that Mathematica 9 actually lets you attach legends to any plot you have. This is huge! It's also interesting how Mathematica 9 will sometimes suggest commands for you to use while you're typing them, as sometimes they're really off...
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Grad School Snap Judgements
I've now been here for a full month and my graduate career/life/purgatory is somewhat underway. Being in labs for parts of the past 5+ years has dampened my excitement coming in, but nonetheless this is a foray into the unknown and a chance to start fresh.
Most importantly I learned (or relearned?) that I tend not to like undergrads (or people in general). The apartment complex I live in has its fair share of undergrads, and most (if not all) of them have the inability to tell time and fail to remove their laundry from the washers more than an hour and a half after they are done. Sometimes when I walk to/from the office I'll overhear undergrads talking about drinking, partying, or the people they hooked up with last weekend. I've never really understood why people choose to be so open about their indiscretions around everyone else, and why they choose to value those ideas over most others.
I also never understood going over homework sets during class time. Class time should be spent learning material, not spent on what was already supposed to be learned. I feel like if there's a gap in understanding then make use of office hours or try to understand what's been missed. I just feel like it's time wasted that could be used more productively (either learning more material or not having class at all).
Seattle has actual working public transit (at least much better than LA) that has buses that run somewhat regularly. There's even an app that tells you when the next bus should be arriving, and at least tries to account for early/late buses. It's pretty cool, and it's made even better by my bus pass. It's convenient when I want to get to campus in the morning when I wake up late and it's raining (which occurs somewhat regularly).
I have found the 99 Ranch, but it's 10 miles away, so I have to have someone drive me there each week. There's also an Uwajimaya in the international district, but there's no good bus to get there from my apartment. The QFC nearby carries a surprisingly large range of products, but of course the produce tends to be more expensive at QFC than at the asian marts. Personally I've just waiting for the Din Tai Fung to open nearby (within a 5-minute walk from my apartment) sometime in November.
Labwork so far hasn't been very productive, mostly because I'm also balancing it with my classes at this point, but I've joined a group and I'm looking forward to doing research for the next N years (and hopefully I'll at least not hate research when this is all said and done).
Woo grad school!
Most importantly I learned (or relearned?) that I tend not to like undergrads (or people in general). The apartment complex I live in has its fair share of undergrads, and most (if not all) of them have the inability to tell time and fail to remove their laundry from the washers more than an hour and a half after they are done. Sometimes when I walk to/from the office I'll overhear undergrads talking about drinking, partying, or the people they hooked up with last weekend. I've never really understood why people choose to be so open about their indiscretions around everyone else, and why they choose to value those ideas over most others.
I also never understood going over homework sets during class time. Class time should be spent learning material, not spent on what was already supposed to be learned. I feel like if there's a gap in understanding then make use of office hours or try to understand what's been missed. I just feel like it's time wasted that could be used more productively (either learning more material or not having class at all).
Seattle has actual working public transit (at least much better than LA) that has buses that run somewhat regularly. There's even an app that tells you when the next bus should be arriving, and at least tries to account for early/late buses. It's pretty cool, and it's made even better by my bus pass. It's convenient when I want to get to campus in the morning when I wake up late and it's raining (which occurs somewhat regularly).
I have found the 99 Ranch, but it's 10 miles away, so I have to have someone drive me there each week. There's also an Uwajimaya in the international district, but there's no good bus to get there from my apartment. The QFC nearby carries a surprisingly large range of products, but of course the produce tends to be more expensive at QFC than at the asian marts. Personally I've just waiting for the Din Tai Fung to open nearby (within a 5-minute walk from my apartment) sometime in November.
Labwork so far hasn't been very productive, mostly because I'm also balancing it with my classes at this point, but I've joined a group and I'm looking forward to doing research for the next N years (and hopefully I'll at least not hate research when this is all said and done).
Woo grad school!
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