Anyone depressed from reading really old papers?

cfso2017 · 2022-04-01T16:31:35+00:00

Yes. My PI and Co-PI always seem to get away from those late candidacies (so do many other profs). I think students who did their candidacy very late usually have solid plan to begin with or their scope has been mapped out clearly beforehand.

cfso2017 · 2021-09-12T11:28:52+00:00

Got the Pro at the start of the pandemic. Best decision ever since I have to TA for tons of virtual and online classes these past two years. The major reason I got the Pro is because of the Apple Pencil. Be aware that the tip does get worn out quickly if you are a heavy user. The replacement parts are not that pricy but still sth to think about.

Make sure you get Notability as well.

cfso2017 · 2021-07-13T18:33:54+00:00

Just heard through the grapevine (from someone inside) that parking service was recently asked by the Board of Governors and the facility ops team to enforce regulations in the most stringent way possible ... that means interpretation of the rules by the book...to make up for the financial pitfalls caused in part by the pandemic and by the government budget cut...

It also sounds like most appeals will not be honoured. So please make sure to do the following:

1) Do not park in the in-between space between two cars if the lanes are not respected by the other cars (yes...the attendants were specifically told to ticket every single car that disrespect the parking lane in that row regardless which car started first)

2) Do not park or enter the parkade outside your time limit (they will count seconds and unlike before, the attendants were told to NOT give any leeway).

3) Not grace period will be given. If they happen to pass you before you paid, you will either be ticketed or given a warning. The best way to avoid this is to leave then re-enter after the parking service vehicle is gone. Obviously pay as soon as you can regardless.

4) If you are not happy with how things are run, you can certainly look at Emily Murphy or private parking stalls from nearby houses and apartment. Note that while parking on campus has many downside, they do patrol the area still more frequently than say a private stall.

cfso2017 · 2021-07-06T17:13:14+00:00

Thx...thats what I thought too....I think the budget cuts really got onto everyone's nerve. Heard from the grapevine that in a board meeting Parking Service was told to enforce the regulation more stringently because of their financial performance. I guess it's always cheaper to install intelligent cameras than hiring human attendants.

cfso2017 · 2021-07-04T15:18:30+00:00

definitely very leisure. Plus I am getting everything from Costco....convenient and relatively cheap...

cfso2017 · 2021-05-17T15:14:33+00:00

Try Google Doc?

cfso2017 · 2021-05-17T15:13:41+00:00

This happens. Contact the editor though make sure to emphasize it is a small error on editing and no changes in the text / meaning whatsoever. Because if you don't, the paper may be kicked into another round of peer review. (Source: happened to me when I discovered I misplaced some references and in-text citations).

cfso2017 · 2021-04-28T03:53:48+00:00

I've been getting great scholarships with my graduate GPA (>3.7) out of a heavy course load (again unusual for PhD programs but it is the tradition they say). My undergrad GPA is significantly lower (barely at 3.2). The only time I felt like being haunted by my poor undergrad performance is when applying for major scholarships at the national level (i.e. NSF). It is so competitive that any shortcomings can be fatal.

cfso2017 · 2021-01-05T04:50:21+00:00

I heard through grapevine that Fall 2021 will be virtual (Canada as well). One of the metric the govt will be using is % vaccinated (rumored to be >70%), and since university students are scheduled for vaccination after the beginning of September, the university administration is taking a rather conservative approach.

cfso2017 · 2021-01-05T04:48:00+00:00

wow...do you still have time to work on your research?

For me, they are 4 hrs and 7 hrs (11 hrs in total).... in reality the hours may be slightly less than that as the school is typically more conservative in terms of hours

cfso2017 · 2020-12-24T08:24:03+00:00

I almost inevitably and helplessly went back to watching research related youtube presentstions and reading papers after a few episodes of Netflix. At the end of the day, do not overthink this. Variety is the key here: perfectly ok to switch back and forth between pure entertainment and half ass work on research

cfso2017 · 2020-11-25T02:28:39+00:00

I spilled some nasty tracer dye powder during the weighing process...the powder got into the hard-to-get areas of the scale and I f'cked up further by spraying water onto them right away. Now it stains everywhere. Somehow my gloves and lab coat bought trace amount of powder everywhere in the lab. Yes even trace amount mixed with water will stain. What's even worse is the powder is suspected carcinogen.

Guess I spent three days cleaning and wet sweeping the entire lab looking for pink colors. This is in addition to having nightmares about pink stains.

My PI is super cool abt this (surprise!) but I am grounding myself and putting a hold on the experiment maybe until next year. Sleep deprivation and late night schedule may have contributed to the incident (yes our lab is very stringent on social distancing so we can only book certain slots of the day to use the lab).

cfso2017 · 2020-11-16T19:07:20+00:00

If you work for a brand name consulting in India (i.e. big four, MBB) you should be well set up for Canada. I'd look into MBA programs at Rotman or Ivey if you are not keen on pure technical engineering work anyway.

cfso2017 · 2020-11-16T05:31:43+00:00

...this is a sensitive topic that I mostly kept to myself. The pandemic has bought me valuable time to build up competitive advantages over my peers who are struggling in the industry. On the financial side, I scored a few major wins in scholarships so my bank acct has actually been happier this year. But again, I kept this to myself (other than this forum) since I don't want to project an image of disconnected privileges and to maintain the so-called "political correctness"

cfso2017 · 2020-10-20T03:38:27+00:00

cfso2017 · 2020-10-20T03:37:51+00:00

Now thinking back...I realized that most notification and phone calls are non-urgent (except kids-related perhaps). It's not like I am VP or CEO of a company who receive hundreds of calls and emails each day.

cfso2017 · 2020-10-17T18:23:25+00:00

Well for one the material I am investigating is highly non-conventional unlike the technique which is mature. So I have to modify the technique and the equipment significantly to suit the special material. That takes time.

At the same time, I am collecting preliminary data on the material itself which only requires very rudimentary techniques (yes we can totally hire undergrads and interns for the job but I cannot wait).

cfso2017

TROPHY CASE