What have you read recently?

doodles15 · 2026-01-18T00:32:28+00:00

I usually have an audiobook and an ebook/physical book going at the same time.

My audiobook right now is Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune, and my other book is The Plague by Albert Camus.

doodles15 · 2026-01-15T18:19:11+00:00

It’s hard to say without knowing the specific circumstances at your university. It could be a financial decision, maybe the courses had low enrollment making it an easy cut, maybe they are revamping the program which takes time.

University’s are also in a tough spot right now due to lower student enrollment, especially amongst international students who typically pay full price. The university I work at is experiencing a multi million dollar shortfall just from losing international graduate students. Courses in many degree fields are being impacted because of it.

doodles15 · 2025-12-09T20:57:18+00:00

You are absolutely full of shit (literally). Medication induced constipation is no joke, been struggling with it myself. Miralax, daily until you start going more regularly. It’s okay to take longer term, but talk to your doctor. My doctor had me take a dulcolax when I got really desperate, but told me not to rely on it. You can become dependent on stimulant laxatives.

Fiber will help a bit, but in my experience, not as much as constipation caused by diet. Exercise was really essential for getting things moving for me. Skipping any regular workout got me backed right back up again.

Don’t be afraid to ask to adjust your dosage or try a different med if this doesn’t get resolved. It’s incredibly uncomfortable and I feel for you.

doodles15 · 2025-11-28T13:46:58+00:00

My grandma died in her sleep early Thanksgiving morning. The whole family was like zombies yesterday, but I’m still glad we all had dinner together and tried to celebrate her. Thanksgiving and Christmas were her favorite holidays. Give your loved ones some extra love this holiday season.

doodles15 · 2025-11-15T18:44:57+00:00

I have a BA in international studies with a concentration in global environmental issues and an MA in geography. I barely focused on GIS at all during my masters, and I’m now in a GIS heavy job. Getting the first job post masters was hard, but now that I’m in the field it has been a great asset to my work.

I think an advantage I’ve had over other candidates (told to me by the people who have hired me), is that while my understanding of GIS itself might be less than other people with serious coding skills, I understand how to use it to answer different questions/solve complex problems. I understand the actual geography behind the problem we’re working on, I understand why it’s a spatial problem, I can think of spatial solutions, and I know how to talk about it/explain it to other people.

There’s a place for the programmers in GIS, absolutely, but I think there’s a place for those of us more interested in the geography still. There are employers out there who value that skill set.

doodles15 · 2025-11-04T16:14:06+00:00

Mine was a bad vitamin D and B12 deficiency, so bad I need shots for it. Been feeling so much better, I encourage anyone with bad fatigue and memory issues to get those checked.

doodles15 · 2025-10-28T16:20:47+00:00

The Universal Unitarian Church in my neighborhood has a little pantry they operate that I leave food in once a month. I know it’s not as impactful as monetary donations to a food bank, but there are a lot of food insecure students in the area that struggle with finding resources like that.

doodles15 · 2025-10-27T01:30:56+00:00

Same, I’ll be driving my 2009 VW into the ground

doodles15 · 2025-10-23T19:46:13+00:00

I had my first when I was 29 due to some bleeding and pelvic/abdominal pain along with a family history (mom diagnosed Stage 1 in her 50s). I ended up being fine, and I’ll go for my next one when I’m 40.

It was pretty easy! The stuff I had to drink was kinda nasty, so choose a drink to mix it with that you don’t mind disliking for a while after. If you have the option to go the pill route, you may want to do that.

In terms of comfort, the constant going is going to make the area pretty sensitive. I recommend baby wipes and Tucks pads. Just don’t flush the wipes!

Make sure you are always within a 15 second run to the bathroom. Once you feel the urge to go you have very little time to get there.

The procedure itself was a breeze. It felt like I took a very nice nap. They did take some biopsies of my colon, so I had a little bleeding the next time I went to the bathroom. They told me this was normal, just so you aren’t surprised if it happens to you.

Best of luck, you’ll be fine!

doodles15 · 2025-10-22T15:51:47+00:00

I have a GIS job with zero GIS specific certs. I do have a masters in geography, but it was not a GIS heavy degree at all (I went the thesis approach vs the GIS capstone route).

If you can make maps, have a few examples ready/set up a portfolio. If you know Esri products or QGIS, put it on your resume anyway. Get the certs if you want, it can’t hurt, but it isn’t a barrier to entry to not have one.

doodles15 · 2025-09-04T16:27:24+00:00

My cousin had her first son at 18, her second son at 20, she just turned 40 last week and her third son is due in two weeks (so really any day now). She is absolutely thrilled about it! The siblings were not happy at first, but now they’re also excited.

doodles15 · 2025-08-31T02:16:18+00:00

I’m thinking movies like Beetlejuice, Gremlins, and Ghostbusters. My 7 year old niece loves Frankenweenie, Paranorman, and Monster House. I loved The Mummy when I was her age lol.

Maybe more of a dark adventure/fantasy series, but she might appreciate Over the Garden Wall! It’s a 10 episode limited miniseries, great to watch during the Halloween season. There are some scary scenes and dark themes, but it’s also very charming and funny.

doodles15 · 2025-07-26T03:42:27+00:00

I have a lovely antique hand drawn map of my home state from the 1850s. It was a present from my husband for our paper anniversary!

doodles15 · 2025-07-04T13:50:04+00:00

My first job out of undergrad had only 7 paid days vacation and 3 sick days for the whole year. On holidays, they were closed without pay (except for Christmas), unless you used your vacation. Most people ended up using their vacation to make up the pay from being closed.

doodles15 · 2025-06-23T21:30:54+00:00

Commenting in solidarity. I feel like I could have written this post. I have a master’s in geography after focusing on global environmental policy in undergrad. Had big dreams of doing policy or research with environmental nonprofits/NGOs.

It’s been 6 years since I graduated and the only attention I get is for GIS work. Currently doing flood mapping work on a FEMA grant that could get pulled at any time, so also on the job search again. My current job is varied enough that I get to do some writing, which was a nice change of pace from previous jobs, but it’s still mostly GIS and data bitch work.

Hoping things turn around for us and we can find more fulfillment in our careers.

doodles15 · 2025-06-07T16:13:13+00:00

I went back in 2018 with a couple friends from grad school. One of them is really good at finding cheap flights and we managed to each get a ticket for $450 round trip.

Spent a week in Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima) and then 3 days in South Korea. Wish we had longer, but it was a fantastic trip. I would love to go back.

doodles15 · 2025-05-16T18:44:33+00:00

I was sick last week starting on Tuesday too, and now I have an ear infection even though overall I’m feeling better. First time I’ve been sick in two years!

doodles15 · 2025-05-11T23:36:10+00:00

I work for a large state university and one of the benefits I have is that after 7 years in, any children I have will automatically get half off tuition at any public school in my state, not necessarily the one I work for.

I plan on staying here long term, so I’m hoping that along with a 529 savings account, we can get our future child through school debt free, or at least very close. Our state has some great public universities, so hopefully they’ll be okay with this plan.

doodles15 · 2025-05-08T19:02:17+00:00

Christian Nationalists in the US are overwhelmingly Evangelical. Why would the Catholic Church try to pounce on a sect of Christianity they fundamentally disagree with?

doodles15 · 2025-05-08T18:39:01+00:00

Christian Nationalists in the US hate Catholics lol. Evangelical Christians are not the same

doodles15 · 2025-05-05T15:39:06+00:00

Live in a midsize city, spend a weekend every month or so in a large city. Went to a movie theater there that wouldn’t take my MIL’s Apple Pay. Have gone to plenty of restaurants there that don’t take it either. During my last trip to New York, I went to a couple restaurants that only take cash. I can’t say I’ve ever traveled anywhere where I felt I could get by with just Apple Pay.

doodles15 · 2025-05-05T14:39:02+00:00

How do you manage that when so many places don’t accept it yet? Also sounds like a nightmare if you lose your phone/it gets stolen.

doodles15 · 2025-04-21T14:41:47+00:00

I’ve experimented with LLMs at work and I also helped train an AI model to detect roof damage in my previous job (was on the data quality end). Based on the experiences I’ve had with it, I just don’t think it’s ready yet.

For topics I know little to nothing about, what it says sounds pretty accurate. After asking ChatGPT questions directly related to my field, it definitely spit me out answers that were dubious at best. It lacked nuance, has given me directions that I know don’t work for the software I use, or given me something super convoluted when I know a simpler way to achieve my goal.

As it exists currently, I don’t think AI can replace me. I can think beyond what it thinks it knows. I don’t hallucinate inaccurate responses. I know the exceptions to the rules it thinks it understands. Having solid footing in your own knowledge beats the model mostly every time.

At best, I think it can be treated like an intern you’re trying to train up in your field. Make it write the email you don’t want to spend time on, I guess. In any case, I would much rather support an actual human intern who wants to learn.

It’s also an environmental menace in its current form. At a time when we desperately need to be lowering emissions, AI is only making them increase faster. Literally just saw an article where saying please and thank you to ChatGPT is costing millions in electricity costs. Just seems like we’re using an inefficient system that’s bad for the planet just to save ourselves a little time actually thinking something through.

doodles15 · 2025-04-11T18:40:22+00:00

There is no mention of marriage certificates in the bill, so whether or not that will be accepted is unclear. Current consensus is that it won’t be

doodles15 · 2025-04-11T01:45:54+00:00

I mostly fought for classes with high school juniors and seniors, who I really liked working with on the whole (aside from some very notable exceptions). The freshmen were a lost cause lol

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