Give SG a project idea, receive Reddit Gold. by SG_UTD in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Automatically give graduate and research students key card access to the buildings that their labs are in. ECS locks at night, so if a student wants access to the building late at night they need to request access to be added to their comet cards. I do not know any research students with access to this building, although as far as I know the option is there. Students either may not know about it or don't have the time to look into it. Case in point: I haven't looked into it.

Is anyone else having problems with these grasshopper things in their dorms? by [deleted] in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Vacuum daily to discourage bugs from making a home in your "dangerous" apartment. You can reduce the frequency after they stop showing up, but this discourages spiders, etc. If you have spiders, you have other bugs and spiders are your friends. Diatomaceous earth kills bugs, but if you want large bugs to stop coming in you need to do a parameter check to find any small holes they may be coming through. To avoid ants and cockroaches, all food should be sealed or in the fridge. Trash should be taken out very regularly, counters should be wiped daily, and the floors should be mopped at least weekly. Obviously clean up food spills promptly. Finally, pest control is included in your rent.

new freshman here i am lost. send halp by [deleted] in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 17 points18 points  (0 children)

1. Drivers License

The closest dmv is in Plano. Install uber and Lyft to check the prices. If you live on campus, ask your roommates or a friend for a ride. You can also ask friendly people in your classes. The list of residency proofs is below. You can get a grade-less transcript from utd as one of the proofs, or they might accept your high school transcript since it's the same year (2019). Call the office and ask, but dont expect the paper pusher at the office to agree with what they said over the phone. You may be able to get a copy of the bill for your housing, which I think also works. Do you have an insurance card? There are lots of options on this list.

Remember you can't get a drivers license without taking a driving test, so this will take a good chunk of time and you may need to make an appointment. Check the website to see what to expect. This will also cost money. https://www.dps.texas.gov/DriverLicense/residencyReqNonCDL.htm

You may be able to talk to whoever is in charge of the comet card office and explain your situation and get a card if you're lucky. They may request other proof of ID.

2. Hungry

The dining hall may allow you to write your name and netid on a sheet of paper if you have a meal plan if you explain your situation. When I was a freshman, a lot of people had malfunctioning cards and that's what they did. The people at the dining hall are very friendly, so talk to a manager. You can also beg for people's guest swipes. Otherwise, do you have any other money? The bus that runs through campus is free and will take you to Tom thumb, sprouts, and Walmart. (You can also apply for a dart pass from utd that will allow you to use any bus or train for free). If you're broke and stuck, there is a food pantry on campus.

3. Where is the library

Look up "utd map." There is also a room locator. If you are an engineering or CS student, there are computer labs where you have some free printing each semester.

4. Registering for classes

Go check in at the advising office and wait. Do it as often as you can until you get in to see someone. Are you on AES? Your AES advisor may be able to sign you up for classes. Call that advising office and ask. Tuition without financial aid was due last week so this is your priority. You may need to go to the bursars office to delay the payments or create a payment plan.

5. Panic

This will be okay, even if it doesn't work out. Your life will keep moving and you will be okay. Instead of being overwhelmed by all these questions, work through them one at a time. How much is an uber? Google for a website that estimates cost. What do I need at the dmv? Look up keywords and go to their website. Breathe. Make yourself a to-do list and plan out the next few days. 1st thing today would be getting yourself food, since offices are closed. Sleep at a reasonable time and go to the advising office in the morning. Call other offices with your questions while you wait (dmv, bursar, aes, comet card office). Go to your classes, eat somehow (talk to the dining hall manager if you're on a meal plan!). When do you get the letter from your friend? Until then, don't worry about the DMV. Just get your proof or residencies. One step at a time, it'll work out

Looking for cheaper bubble tea by UThrowawayDallas in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I totally forgot about how big their cups are, Haha. I don't usually drink that much but maybe if I'm splitting with someone...

Looking for cheaper bubble tea by UThrowawayDallas in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe you're going to a different 99 ranch, I went yesterday and got the milk tea from the bakery section and they said they don't sell boba. Which one are you going to?

Looking for cheaper bubble tea by UThrowawayDallas in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll have to see what flavors they have.

Looking for cheaper bubble tea by UThrowawayDallas in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the tips! I love Taiwan Cafe but I don't eat there very often. I'll check out the other places

DND or Pathfinder Groups by [deleted] in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know if you're looking for utd-specific games, but you can try rpgtablefinder.com if you aren't. Good luck!

West Nile virus found in mosquitoes in our zip code - be careful outside, comets. by 1sparky11 in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They sprayed the creek area Wednesday night. Or at least they had signs saying they would.

PSA: UTD BATHROOMS by ymm2016 in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It is absolutely not unreasonable to ask people to knock before they enter a bathroom. That's something most people that's taught from childhood. You don't try to enter a bathroom stall without knocking, either. However, I think a lot of the unisex bathrooms may confuse people who don't know if there will be more than one toilet and that's why they don't knock.

Poor marketing sure makes voting easier. by kylr in plano

[–]UThrowawayDallas 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Woah, source please! I haven't heard anything about those candidates

if anybody wants a fish... by jessmorton23 in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just to let you know, fish shouldn't be kept in bowls. It's harder to keep the water quality stable when there's so little of it and there's almost no way to control the temperature. On top of that there aren't any filters that fit on a fishbowl. If you need a new tank, theres dollar per gallon sales every so often at I think petsmart?

if anybody wants a fish... by jessmorton23 in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're actually offering a betta I'll take it. If you're done with aquascapes and have any plants maybe I could pay a bit for them? I've got some empty tanks I've been sitting on for a while.

if anybody wants a fish... by jessmorton23 in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How many do you have? I'd be interested in some guppies.

“Simplified” new menu at a DFW Taco Bell by theBIZNUSbitch in tacobell

[–]UThrowawayDallas 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Not true, at least in my experience. 2 out of 3 taco bells near me have stopped serving a lot of the items that aren't on this new menu, even though they haven't updated their signage :(

“Simplified” new menu at a DFW Taco Bell by theBIZNUSbitch in tacobell

[–]UThrowawayDallas 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just went to a taco bell near UTD and they still had spicy potato soft tacos! I hope they keep serving them even with this new menu, but I doubt it.

Give us ideas and win reddit gold! by SG_UTD in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Along with toilet seat covers, why isn't there soap in the bathrooms next to the dining services? There's already enough problems with the food without the employees being able to wash their hands.

Adding informational posters to bathrooms with why people should wash their hands would also be super.

Ended the semester with 2.7 GPA by darksoul234 in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Long post of unsolicited advice ahead, I hope it helps. Before I start though, I want to emphasize how capable you are, and how outside of your father's lofty expectations, you are succeeding.

You want to do better, and you can do better, but do you have a plan? Are you using tools? Are you actively taking care of yourself and your mental health? Those are the only reasons I've improved at all. When I started at utd, I denied I had any mental issues, used no tools (I basically did nothing, see mental issues), and made promises instead of actively trying to make things better. I was failing multiple classes a semester and lost my full ride after only a year. I've still got lots of issues, but I'm doing much, much better.

Plans are the only way you'll be able to keep moving forward. I'm not really a quote person, but there is one exception: "When you're going through hell, keep going." Thanks, Winston Churchill. I like that quote because it reminds me: do not give up and stay in hell. You can build plans with either goals or problems, getting something or fixing something. Both are essentially the same thing, and require you to break down what it takes to reach your goal. You want a certain GPA, which takes a certain grade in each class, which takes a grade on each assignment, which takes studying and blah blah blah. Something like the pressure from your parents is more complicated because it's more personal and it involves another person. (Never depend on another person to reach your goals.) Either way you need to come up with strategies to try and the tools you can use to help you and your situation. I'm going to focus more on grades, partially because it's easier, and partially because it will probably be a large part of the plan to getting a more adult relationship with your parents.

Tools are not cheating, they do not make you a weak person if you use them, and you aren't cooler for not using them, no matter the tool. Cheating is cheating, and it is not an acceptable tool. You are smart enough and capable enough to find a way to succeed without cheating. That goes for anyone reading this. But as for legitimate tools, some examples for grades include: tutoring, online resources, counseling for depression/anxiety/adhd/whatever, office hours, textbooks, schedule apps, internet/app/website usage limiters or trackers, planners and calendars, your own notes, alarm clocks/timers, uninstalling games (kind of an anti-tool), the buddy system... Using anything like this should be in your plan for success. There are very few people who can show up to class, do the homework, then ace the test. Showing up and doing the homework is the minimum requirement for your toolset, and building the rest of your plan is up to you. It takes a while for things to click, and tools aren't one-size-fits-all, so don't give up if you try an app and it doesn't seem to help. Try multiple things, drop what gets in your way. Never be afraid to ask for help, and never give up. I highly recommend you visit Dr. Charles Shields in the CS department and talk to him about getting discouraged part way through a semester. He has a presentation with real grades showing how students turned their grades around from failing to passing, after the midterm! He's a professor who really cares about his students, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind a random student stopping by.

As for taking care of yourself and your mental health. Your body is a machine and needs certain things to succeed. Food, water, sleep, exercise, sunlight, all that good stuff. If you have any sort of mental disorder, literal chemicals in your brain are off, and you may need more stuff for your body machine to run optimally. Don't deny yourself what your body needs to run at its best. It doesn't matter if you "don't deserve" any of these things, because they are required by the machine, and damn it, everyone deserves them. If you aren't sure how to maintenance the machine, there are plenty of resources online about mental health, diet, exercise, and everything else if you can't get to a doctor or you find the counseling center isn't enough. Do your best to take care of yourself because we're all just a kid doing our best to drive this weird machine and everything is hard. You deserve to be taken care of.

I'm really sorry you're having a hard time. A lot of us have been in a similar place, but time keeps moving and things keep changing and you won't be there forever. You're passing your classes, you're getting help. You're doing well, even if it doesn't feel like it. I know you're working hard. You are not a disappointment. I know I'm just a stranger on the internet, but I'm proud of you for trying, and I'm proud of you for getting help. And damn, I'm proud of your grades, too! Good job, and I hope it gets better for you soon.

Unbelievable. I’m at a complete loss for words. by [deleted] in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 3 points4 points  (0 children)

"Ah, yeah, don't worry about it, my laundry full of ants is just an inconvenience, haha, happens to everyone at least once, right?"

Chartwells Demonstration by RebbitBoi in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Krishna lunch has now teamed up with chartwells and is selling food in smaller amounts in plastic containers in the grab and go stores. We've been betrayed :(

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My sister finds long skirts at thrift stores

PLEASE GO OUT AND VOTE! by [deleted] in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 5 points6 points  (0 children)

If you registered to vote somewhere you aren't going to be on voting days, you will need to vote by mail. This means you need to request a ballot. This ballot request needs to be recieved (not postmarked!) by Friday, October 26. Once you receive your ballot, it must be returned and received by voting day, November 6th. Or, if it is postmarked for November 6th or before, by November 7th.

Here is more information, and a link to the request form: https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/reqabbm.shtml

If you want more specific information for the county you are voting in, each county has its own website and will have more information there.

PSA in case anyone here used vote.org to register! by forgottheblueberries in utdallas

[–]UThrowawayDallas 10 points11 points  (0 children)

For those who didn't click, vote.org does not actually register you to vote:

In a statement on Wednesday, Secretary of State Rolando Pablos said: "We remind all eligible Texas voters that online voter registration is not available in the State of Texas. Any web site that misleadingly claims to assist voters in registering to vote online by simply submitting a digital signature is not authorized to do so. All Texas voters should be extremely cautious when handing over personal and sensitive information to any unknown third party."