I now officially have a B.A. in mathematics. And a sunburn (the ceremony was outside, three hours long, and in Los Angeles. In black robes. With no shade. Should I move this comment to "people are idiots" or "worst things ever"?).
Now if only I had a job as well--it's weird, I know what I'm doing in four months but not what I'm doing in two weeks.
"ps not an lp member so stop beating that drum. the drum is tired and wants to go home now, to the family that loves it. i haven’t even mentioned PRECIOUS PRECIOUS GOLD or ferrets or anything." - dhex
Aresen, math grad students don't tend to specialize until a year or two into grad school. Or, rather, half my profs tell me they had one plan when they got to grad school and changed their minds by year 3, when they finally had enough info to decide informedly. That said, I'm strongly leaning towards Algebra these days.
Thoreau, I'm spending a year in Cambridge studying for the Tripos part III program (I leave in late September-ish). I come back in early July, I believe, and start my PhD at Caltech in late September.
Ali: the beach is great, and all, but it doesn't buy me food. :)
Get the least demanding job possible for the summer before grad school. Trust me on this. This is NOT the time to build the resume.
Unless the resume-building job is a potential escape hatch, which is an important thing to have. The escape hatch is about more than just the escape, it's also about knowing you have options so that you don't sink into utter despair during the worst moments of grad school.
My dream is that once I have tenure I will spend a summer working whatever job I can find that is (1) completely non-academic and (2) on the beach. Since I'm not really lifeguard material, I imagine this job will involve a cash register. Which is perfectly fine with me, as long as it is far away from academia and on the beach.
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"the only thing worse than a freeper is a blue state freeper that doesn't realize they're a freeper." -dhex
Get the least demanding job possible for the summer before grad school. Trust me on this. This is NOT the time to build the resume.
I second Thoreau on this. In between PhD and postdoc, I spent a summer in Ann Arbor working on some research but definitely also chilling! Yes, you can definitely chill in Ann Arbor.
EDIT: Even though I was an engineering student, that summer was funded through one of my profs in the math department. The environment among mathematicians is way different than among engineers.
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Ignore D. A. Ridgely's sig. Here is what Ali really said: "love is like porn, you know it when you see feel it"
I realize this is very silly and a bit childish, but I've never had a 'real job' and the idea kind of scares me. The only jobs I've ever had were interning the company my father works for, and grading, TAing, and research during college. I should just get a temp job somewhere local (I could probably get a waiter-ing job, but somehow I think I'd be really bad at that), but the whole idea makes me rather nervous.
Oh, well; I'll find something somewhere or other. Worst-case scenario is go back and live with the parents for another few months; there are worse things.
I realize this is very silly and a bit childish, but I've never had a 'real job' and the idea kind of scares me. The only jobs I've ever had were interning the company my father works for, and grading, TAing, and research during college. I should just get a temp job somewhere local (I could probably get a waiter-ing job, but somehow I think I'd be really bad at that), but the whole idea makes me rather nervous.
Oh, well; I'll find something somewhere or other. Worst-case scenario is go back and live with the parents for another few months; there are worse things.
You have a degree in MATH and are an American. You'll probably get a signing bonus of $30K along with a $70k salary and, I dunno, free handjobs.
I realize this is very silly and a bit childish, but I've never had a 'real job' and the idea kind of scares me. The only jobs I've ever had were interning the company my father works for, and grading, TAing, and research during college. I should just get a temp job somewhere local (I could probably get a waiter-ing job, but somehow I think I'd be really bad at that), but the whole idea makes me rather nervous.
Oh, well; I'll find something somewhere or other. Worst-case scenario is go back and live with the parents for another few months; there are worse things.
Jobs are highly overrated. Trading what someone else wants you to do in return for money is not nearly as much fun as figuring out how to get paid to do what you want to do anyway. OTOH, there's nothing to be frightened about and, frankly, waiter jobs can afford you the dual advantages of busyness without thought and relatively high hourly wages without commensurately high taxes (unless, of course, you're pathologically honest).
Many intellectuals (I merely play one on the internet, but I have smart friends) find non-intellectual leisure time or non-mental work enormously useful in recharging the batteries, clearing the cobwebs and four or five other hoary metaphors I could probably come up with if I tried. OTOH, it usually takes lifelong students a few months at least to get used to not having papers or exams or whathaveyou hanging over their heads, so you might find that you're only just starting to unwind when Cambridge calls.
Trading what someone else wants you to do in return for money is not nearly as much fun as figuring out how to get paid to do what you want to do anyway.
QFT.
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Whenever I catch so much as a glimpse of pr0n, I suddenly turn into a sex-crazed barbarian, slashing and clawing my way through whatever and whomever until I find something to put my weiner into. -- Taktix
F cubed: Yeah, see, that's the problem. If I were looking for a permanent job and flexible on where I lived, I'd know basically where to start. But instead, I know I'm leaving in four months and want to stay in one not-particularly-employment-heavy town (the town my college is in, I'd like to spend the summer with my friends who are mostly around here). Most of the obvious jobs to get seem like they're a total waste of the skillset I very definitely have, but I'm not sure how to use these skills in the given timeframe. Also, what DAR said.
DAR: Jobs may be overrated, but eating isn't. :) That said, I agree with you, and I have found a way to make what I want to do pay. (My explanation for why I'm getting a math PhD: If I won the lottery and never had to work again I'd buy a nicer computer, eat better food, wear nicer clothes, and spend my time dicking around on the internet and working on math problems. In the absence of the lottery thing, I figure having someone to pay me to work on math problems is about as close as I'll get). But that doesn't start for another four months, and I need something to do in the interim.
As I said, I'll find something or go hang with the parents for a few months; either way, it's not a big problem. But I'll be much happier when I get it sorted out.
Trading what someone else wants you to do in return for money is not nearly as much fun as figuring out how to get paid to do what you want to do anyway.
QFT.
Indeed, and yet, the job market for professional kitten petters is so small these days ... *sigh*
Jadagul - I say go work in a warehouse or at target or something. Honestly, that sort of "moving boxes around" job is a waste of your skillset, sure, but it's easy and it's nice to do something not so mental every now and again. Also, in many instances it's better than working in a cubicle.
There's also always temping...but temping is a special kind of corporate hell.
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Whenever I catch so much as a glimpse of pr0n, I suddenly turn into a sex-crazed barbarian, slashing and clawing my way through whatever and whomever until I find something to put my weiner into. -- Taktix
Regarding what to do this summer, the beach would probably be a good idea.
Just make sure you wear the black robes so everyone knows and can come up and pay their respects.
Hey, is it "needs graduated" or would the southern "needs grajerating" be more appropriate?
It's "gradutated," Hell-Clown.
Actually, it's "was graduated from," it being something that happens or is done to you and not something that you do, but only the British get that right. At the University of Virginia, where Jefferson considered degrees artificial embellishments too similar to titles of nobility to permit them at first, students typically avoid the whole point by saying "I took my degree in [whatever year]." As affectations go, I rather like that one.
BTW, which college at Cambridge are you going to and are you going to buy an academic gown so you can bicycle up and down the streets of Cambridge like Mr. Chips?
But instead, I know I'm leaving in four months and want to stay in one not-particularly-employment-heavy town (the town my college is in, I'd like to spend the summer with my friends who are mostly around here). Most of the obvious jobs to get seem like they're a total waste of the skillset I very definitely have, but I'm not sure how to use these skills in the given timeframe.
This is no time for pride. You want cash. You don't want heavy demands. You do want to live in Claremont. You can't build a time machine and apply to be my summer research assistant. So get thee to Starbucks or Barnes and Noble or something.
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"the only thing worse than a freeper is a blue state freeper that doesn't realize they're a freeper." -dhex
yeah what everyone else said. don't be like my wife and pick up jobs editing journals and shit. it's made her crazier than usual. (fun fact: famous professors hand in misspelled documents with incorrect footnoting because they're used to having grad slaves do all the detail work for them!)
man out of nowhere i got a letter yesterday from my job saying they're now offering matching on our 403b plans. it's only 5% for my time here but, hey, free money! and it's immediately 100% vested cause i've been here over 4 years.
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"Yeah, but my character would be all swav and deboner." - Warren
Congrats, Jadagul! Number me among the people who agree that swallowing down pride and taking whatever job is there is a good idea. Realistically, you're already really late when it comes to getting a temp job, so taking what's there is probably what you're going to have to do unless you want to spend your summer looking for work. I worked on a road crew, myself, which was nice because I wound up with a beautiful tan, but bad because I mostly flagged, which meant that I was the first, last and only line of defense when it came to out of control cars. I caught more than one mirror on the arm that year.
In Shem related news, the people who I thought rejected me for an internship were really just testing my resolve by making me wait. Now they want me to come in to interview with three different divisions. The only downside, the one that would be most fun (working with the division that makes and sells laser training sights for firearms) is most of the way to Baltimore. So getting there is a little hard.** Even so, though, they'd all be fascinating, so I won't complain.
**And if anyone has advice on how to do it, it'd be much appreciated.
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I CAUTION YOU / IN DEFEATING ORCS WE MAY FIND THE ONLY VILLAIN LEFT TO FACE IS OUR OWN PREJUDICE--qwantz.com
"ps not an lp member so stop beating that drum. the drum is tired and wants to go home now, to the family that loves it. i haven’t even mentioned PRECIOUS PRECIOUS GOLD or ferrets or anything." - dhex
Congratulations, Jadagul! And don't worry so much about the "real job" thing. Everybody has to figure it out (unless your last name is Hilton) and everybody does eventually.
D.A. Ridgely wrote:
Jobs are highly overrated. Trading what someone else wants you to do in return for money is not nearly as much fun as figuring out how to get paid to do what you want to do anyway.
I agree about the overrated part. I think if I had a child, I'd tell them to follow their heart and not just do the safe thing by getting an office job or whatever. Wish I'd had that kind of bravery myself. The thing about "getting paid to do what you want to do", though, is that making a living invariably entails a certain amount of bullshit. If you love something, maybe you shouldn't do it for a living, lest the tiny bullshit gremlins sabotage your love. It's like they say about photography: want to travel around the world, set your own schedule, and take beautiful pictures of exciting things? Then don't quit your day job!
If Jadagul is the caliber that I expect he is, he'll ignore our advice and get a summer job that requires some sort of mental skills (coding? tutoring? I dunno) while spending a portion of his spare time revising a paper on his research results, instead of working at a t-shirt shop at Venice Beach. Which is not to say that he's right to take the more serious job: Far from it. He will suffer for it this fall, and he would have benefited greatly from the summer at the beach. (I plan to spend a summer working at Venice Beach once I have tenure, and I will benefit more than I can possibly describe.) However, it is in his nature to do something that taxes the brain, because he does not yet understand the terrible price that one pays for using one's education instead of taking a break.
You will pay for this, Jadagul, but it is in your nature to pay that price.
When you finish your Ph.D. at Caltech, I'll hopefully have tenure. I'll come and drag you to the beach for a summer of selling t-shirts before you go off to do a postdoc. If necessary, I will confiscate your laptop, uninstall all mathematical and document preparation software, and install some games.
Don't think for one moment that I'm not 100% serious.
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"the only thing worse than a freeper is a blue state freeper that doesn't realize they're a freeper." -dhex
Congratulations, Jadagul. Work a brainless job. Even if it's a brainless office job. Don't do anything intellectually taxing for the whole summer.
Tell you what, I was lucky for my summer job before med school.
That spring I had been working on a research project for the Forest Pathology/Mycology department, so since I was around they offered me a job as a biology tech for the USDA Forestry Dept. for that summer.
Cleaning saplings for planting, trimming and scoping roots, and working for more than minimum wage with flex hours and overtime pay, and minimal thinking work. That was a pretty sweet job and got me $2000 for moving expenses.
Don't know if math departments got anything like that, but you might wanna check out anywhere that needs a lab tech/scut monkey.
In Shem related news, the people who I thought rejected me for an internship were really just testing my resolve by making me wait. Now they want me to come in to interview with three different divisions. The only downside, the one that would be most fun (working with the division that makes and sells laser training sights for firearms) is most of the way to Baltimore. So getting there is a little hard.** Even so, though, they'd all be fascinating, so I won't complain.
**And if anyone has advice on how to do it, it'd be much appreciated.
A parasite feeding on bacteria growing on fungus growing on cow excrement? The only way the parasitic chain could get any longer would be if the cow excrement worked for the government. - Smacky
I was raised in the Washington, DC area, which is to say that I was raised to look down my nose at Baltimore. Baltimore is where people worked with their hands for a living, lived in crappy looking row houses where they sat drinking National Bohemian beer in the summer and were inordinately proud of their marble front stoops and their Colts and Orioles.
After college I had occasion to spend several months living just outside Baltimore, in Ellicott City, and to go into the city just about every day. Aside from having probably the finest medical school / university teaching hospital and one of the finest universities in the country, Baltimore's attractions include not only places like Camden Yards and Harbor Place but Fells Point (a funky transitional neighborhood close to the harbor where housing is still reasonably affordable), places where you can get as good a corned beef or pastrami sandwich as you can in New York, wonderful seafood restaurants and little treasures like Peabody's Bookstore and Beerstube (a former speakeasy with books in the front and a bar in the back that Mencken once frequented.)
Okay, so it's not New York, San Francisco, Paris or Florence. Believe me, you could do far worse than Baltimore or its environs for a place to live or work.
Yeah, Baltimore has a lot of fun aspects to it. The classic rock radio station reminded me of a Mid-Atlantic-accented version of Columbia, SC, with the ads targeting high schoolers with heavy metal bands and so forth.
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This is a personal problem. There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable use of high explosives. This is not one of those exceptions.
But, as Deepak Chopra taught us, quantum physics means anything can happen at any time for no reason! Also, eat plenty of oatmeal, and animals never had a war... who's the real animal?
Congratulations Jadagul. I know I am way too late to say so, but I have decided not to let that keep me from weighing in anyway.
The thing is, I often miss out on entire threads. I am not anywhere near as vigilant as I used to be.
D.A. I once got wasted in Ellicott City with a girl named Kris. She was the girl who convinced me to grow a beard because she thought I would look like Bob Seger (who she thought was "hot").This was way back in the mid-80s. Man, that was a very redneck experience. That place is way different now.
Getting to Baltimore would be a bitch. Are you sure you don't just want to move up there? It is surprisingly affordable in spots. Plus, you could see shows at the Otto Bar or Talking Head.
Getting to Baltimore would be a bitch. Are you sure you don't just want to move up there? It is surprisingly affordable in spots. Plus, you could see shows at the Otto Bar or Talking Head.
That would be a pretty bad idea for a 2.5 month internship. Especially once classes started. Plus, I think they would have had me working in Alexandria. I apparently just had to go there for the interview.
It's a moot point anyway, because I got the first internship I interviewed for! In a few weeks I'll be helping the company to land preferred bidder status with USAID.
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I CAUTION YOU / IN DEFEATING ORCS WE MAY FIND THE ONLY VILLAIN LEFT TO FACE IS OUR OWN PREJUDICE--qwantz.com
"ps not an lp member so stop beating that drum. the drum is tired and wants to go home now, to the family that loves it. i haven’t even mentioned PRECIOUS PRECIOUS GOLD or ferrets or anything." - dhex
Getting to Baltimore would be a bitch. Are you sure you don't just want to move up there? It is surprisingly affordable in spots. Plus, you could see shows at the Otto Bar or Talking Head.
That would be a pretty bad idea for a 2.5 month internship. Especially once classes started. Plus, I think they would have had me working in Alexandria. I apparently just had to go there for the interview.
It's a moot point anyway, because I got the first internship I interviewed for! In a few weeks I'll be helping the company to land preferred bidder status with USAID.
Congrats, Shem.
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If you weren't doing anything wrong, then you have no reason to be afraid while they kick the crap out of you. - D.A. Ridgely
It's a moot point anyway, because I got the first internship I interviewed for! In a few weeks I'll be helping the company to land preferred bidder status with USAID.
I'm so sorry.
Wait, you put this in the Better thread? Huh.
Signed,
Former employee of an 8A contractor to USAID.
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This is a personal problem. There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable use of high explosives. This is not one of those exceptions.
It's a moot point anyway, because I got the first internship I interviewed for! In a few weeks I'll be helping the company to land preferred bidder status with USAID.
I'm so sorry.
Wait, you put this in the Better thread? Huh.
Signed,
Former employee of an 8A contractor to USAID.
Let me tell you a story about the Small Business Act Section 8(a) program. Well, no, actually it's a story about government employees and, in particular, the sort of government employees who exist as such entirely because of, well, programs like the 8(a) program. For those blissfully ignorant of all this nonsense, the 8(a) program is a "set-aside" program for "small, disadvantaged businesses" through which such designated businesses can receive government contracts on a sole source basis. About, oh, nearly 10 years ago there was a case decided by the Supreme Court called Adarand Constructors and the Court basically held that racially based set-aside programs were, except as remedies for prior discrimination, violations of the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment. (The case actually addressed a subcontracting set-aside program, not the 8(a) program, but the principles are basically the same.)
Well, now, there was much scrambling as a result (note, also, that "diversity" became a buzzword almost exactly when overtly racial preference programs began being struck down by the courts) and I happened to be listening to a GS-15 Small Business Specialist addressing a crowd of frightened 8(a) business owners, and her words, I swear to you, were that they shouldn't worry about what the Supreme Court said because "it's only their opinion."
(BTW, there are plenty of other special treatment programs besides the 8(a) program. Federal contracting law is littered with the damned things.)
Hey, something I wrote got posted to my ISP's "best-of" newsgroup! A little background: we have a newsgroup called ISP.people, which never got very much use until one guy got the bright idea of creating a program to automatically post on the newsgroup lists of who'd joined or left the ISP. So now we all watch and make witticisms about the users who join or leave. Then this new guy shows up with the username of "island"... (Note you will probably have to be a serious Unix user to get most of this, sorry.)
I wrote:
Dallman Ross <____@_____.com> wrote:
> Let's give a warm hello to ...
> Login Gecos Name UID Groups Shell
> ----- ---------- --- ------ -----
> island Carl Iuliucci 20537 users net /usr/local/bin/psh
No user is an island, entire of itself
every user is a piece of the continent, a part of the main()
if an inode be washed away by the C,
Panix is the less(1), as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a $HOME of thy friends or of thine own were
any userdel diminishes me, because I am involved in faggot hackery*
and therefore never send() to know for whom the ^G tolls
it tolls for thee
* A long time ago, someone angrily called Panix's users "faggot hackers". The term was subsequently adopted as a snarky sobriquet by the community.
Late afternoon of a long, unhurried but reasonably productive day, after a long walk through the Village, browsing the art for sale, listening to street musicians, and watching the pretty girls, what could be better than sitting in my garden with a Campari and soda enjoying the stillness? (Other than the garden being somewhat cleaner and greener.)
I think I could come up with circumstances in which a promise to die could constitute legally sufficient consideration to bind a contract. However, I would hope that a court construing such a contract would strike as against public policy any provision to the effect that time was of the essence in fulfilling that particular quid pro quo. *grin*
Wait, what was "a promise to die" supposed to have been, please? I'm not familiar with any phrasing that sounds sorta like that.
Quote:
Fortunately the recipient of the letter is an old friend of the boss's, because the letter did go out like that.
My first real boss told me a story from his previous job ... This was actually far back enough in time that managers actually still dictated letters now and then. Oh, I guess Ellie's boss at Yahweh & Sons still does that.
Any, my former boss called his secretary in to take a letter. Feeling in a bit of a jovial, playful mood -- and also to give himself time to mentally compose his letter -- my boss starts off by saying:
"Frank ... Dear Frank ... Dear Frankie-Babes ... I received your letter last week, thanks ..."
When the secretary typed up the letter and brought it in for my boss to sign, he looked it over carefully, of course ... the body of the letter, that is. He didn't bother to look at the saluation, because that's, like, so basic. You can't mess up "Dear Frank."
Later he looked at the file copy of the letter and discovered that it did in fact go out with the salutation, "Dear Frankie-Babes." Unfortunately, it did not go out to an old friend, but to some guy my boss hardly knew.
I never found out what the repercussions were.
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"My intellect is gigantic, monstrous, terrifying."
It was "a promise to buy." I think the secretary got into a transcription version of highway hypnosis and just typed exactly what she thought she heard, without thinking.
It was clearly a promise made to Princess Diana (before the whole death-by-paparazzi thing). He said, "...promise to Di," but she typed "...promise to die."
Occam's Razor says I'm right!
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A parasite feeding on bacteria growing on fungus growing on cow excrement? The only way the parasitic chain could get any longer would be if the cow excrement worked for the government. - Smacky
JD: hey now. Does your text editor do butterflies?
In other news, I seem to have a job at a test prep company. They need labor desperately, they pay well, and it means I get to stay all summer. As long as nothing goes disastrously in the next couple days...
Whoohoo! I got the super-top-secret consulting mission I wanted. This is fun, I'm now officially a political operative.
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But, as Deepak Chopra taught us, quantum physics means anything can happen at any time for no reason! Also, eat plenty of oatmeal, and animals never had a war... who's the real animal?
Yesterday one of my friends and I rode his motorcycle (a Honda Shadow) from Streetsboro all the way up to beautiful Sandusky, OH and spent the evening at Cedar Point riding roller coasters, after an unsuccessful visit to a NASA Open House event. We rode the Blue Streak, the Top Thrill Dragster, the Magnum XL-200, the Gemini, the Mean Streak, the Maverick, the Mine Ride, and the Millennium Force, in that order. (If you've never been to Cedar Point -- and since I don't know of any roller coaster fanatics here I'm guessing most of you haven't -- 8 roller coasters in 4 hours is really good as far as line waits go.) But riding the motorbike up there on a gorgeous day might still have been the best part. If I had a lot of money I would definitely get a bike. Probably a Vespa.
The Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster are totally awesome coasters.
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A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having. - V
UNDERPANTS HAWK
DOES NOT DESIRE YOUR TOUCH
I long for the day that a chimp will ghost-ride someone's boomcar into a lake. - tymac
Yesterday one of my friends and I rode his motorcycle (a Honda Shadow) from Streetsboro all the way up to beautiful Sandusky, OH and spent the evening at Cedar Point riding roller coasters, after an unsuccessful visit to a NASA Open House event. We rode the Blue Streak, the Top Thrill Dragster, the Magnum XL-200, the Gemini, the Mean Streak, the Maverick, the Mine Ride, and the Millennium Force, in that order. (If you've never been to Cedar Point -- and since I don't know of any roller coaster fanatics here I'm guessing most of you haven't -- 8 roller coasters in 4 hours is really good as far as line waits go.) But riding the motorbike up there on a gorgeous day might still have been the best part. If I had a lot of money I would definitely get a bike. Probably a Vespa.
The Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster are totally awesome coasters.
It's been ten yeras since I've visited the roller coaster capitol of the world. If you're into thrill rides, Cedar Point is Mecca.
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The sun is barely up and the streets are already filled with drunken Scots. That can't be good. - mk
Oh, I forgot one rich detail: We saw this man who -- seriously -- must have been about 75 or 80 years old, or possibly older, getting in line for The Maverick. Later we saw him exiting the ride and asked him what he thought of it. His response was, "Too slow."
Priceless. Cedar Point really is where all of the roller coaster aficionados gather.
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A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having. - V
UNDERPANTS HAWK
DOES NOT DESIRE YOUR TOUCH
I long for the day that a chimp will ghost-ride someone's boomcar into a lake. - tymac
Cedar Point rocks! I used to go there every summer when I visited my grandparents in Cleveland. The Magnum 2000 is sweet...
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But, as Deepak Chopra taught us, quantum physics means anything can happen at any time for no reason! Also, eat plenty of oatmeal, and animals never had a war... who's the real animal?
out of nowhere, my company is suddenly offering 403b matching funds. 5% isn't a million, but it's so much better than 0%.
? Please explain to this poor Canuck what the hell a '403b matching fund' is and how it works. What's 5% got to with it.
(I have a guess, because I used to work for a company that allowed you to purchase shares from your income. The maximum contribution was 5% and the company kicked in another 2.5%. The 2.5%, BTW, was taxed as income at the time of the contribution.)
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If you weren't doing anything wrong, then you have no reason to be afraid while they kick the crap out of you. - D.A. Ridgely
Dhex - is that 5% of your contribution or is it 1-for-1 up to 5% of your salary?
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Whenever I catch so much as a glimpse of pr0n, I suddenly turn into a sex-crazed barbarian, slashing and clawing my way through whatever and whomever until I find something to put my weiner into. -- Taktix
? Please explain to this poor Canuck what the hell a '403b matching fund' is and how it works. What's 5% got to with it.
aight, it's like, charlie has 14 heads of moose and uh ok racism aside, my employer will contribute 5% of my salary to my 401k presuming i'm contributing up to 5% or more. which isn't a problem cause i've always done 10% or more whenever possible.
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"Yeah, but my character would be all swav and deboner." - Warren
Company pay Aresen 20 Moosehead per week. Aresen put 1 Moosehead in cellar for later, company will also put 1 Moosehead in cellar for later.
Eh?
Better still, government will not make Aresen give it any of Mooseheads in cellar until many, many years from now when Aresen doesn't get so many Mooseheads every year and therefore probably owes government fewer Mooseheads every year anyway.
Tax deferred compounding moosehead is powerful. A moosehead matching formula that changes from 0% to 5% represents a 50% increase in the effective rate of savings for dhex without a reduction in take home. This is betterite!
since we're on the topic, am i the only one who gets these CHECK OUT OUR EXCITING NEW FUND AND MEET THE TOTALLY COOL MANAGERS WHO RUN IT type brochures from their savings/investment overlords and automatically thinks "ok, so what's really wrong with it?"
maybe they just seem a bit more desperate than usual. or perhaps i'm merely being paranoid.
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"Yeah, but my character would be all swav and deboner." - Warren
since we're on the topic, am i the only one who gets these CHECK OUT OUR EXCITING NEW FUND AND MEET THE TOTALLY COOL MANAGERS WHO RUN IT type brochures from their savings/investment overlords and automatically thinks "ok, so what's really wrong with it?"
maybe they just seem a bit more desperate than usual. or perhaps i'm merely being paranoid.
Nah, I get the same ones from Merryl Lynch / Princeton Retirement Group (formerly Invesco or AIM, I don't remember). The bank is also now offering a portfolio of new mutual funds in the 401k aegis, managed by the good people upstairs (thanks Dad). They're pretty good funds, all things considered, but I'm still socking money away in indexes. Also, tax-deffered compounding moosehead plan is reason Tim have many mooseheads saved for retirement already but few mooseheads readily available in case of immediate mooshead shortage.
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Whenever I catch so much as a glimpse of pr0n, I suddenly turn into a sex-crazed barbarian, slashing and clawing my way through whatever and whomever until I find something to put my weiner into. -- Taktix
i can't decide if moosehead is the best or worst term for money ever. i'm leaning towards best.
i had one of those weird conversations with an unemployed friend of mine sunday when i was recording his podcast. he's about a year older than i am but perhaps not the coolest when it comes to money stuff. like many people my age the line between "need" and "want" is, imo, fucked up. i was trying to explain to him why tax-deferred stuff is a total bag of coolness and it ran into the whole "how do you afford to throw out 10% of your income" thing which is just incomprehensible. no no i say, it's more like i'm putting it away to make me not poor later on when shit is fucked up, plus i get to tell the government to stuff it.
just doesn't sell. i started doing this as soon as i started working a job where i could, so it's been about ten years now, with a year or so break due to that whole 9/11 thing.
__________________
"Yeah, but my character would be all swav and deboner." - Warren
My dad always said that there are spenders and savers, and no matter how much you make, if you're a spender you'll never have any money.
I am still working on taking his advice.
__________________
But, as Deepak Chopra taught us, quantum physics means anything can happen at any time for no reason! Also, eat plenty of oatmeal, and animals never had a war... who's the real animal?
One thing that can help in response to the 10% of your income gone thingie is that deferring 10% into a retirement plan doesn't reduce your take home pay by 10%. By the time you get your hands on it taxes have already been withheld. If you count state and federal taxes, your take home changes by much less than 10%.
Another response for people eligible for match, "Uh, why are you turning down 5% of your salary?"
I signed up for the 401k the day I was eligible and I haven't noticed it since.
Randolph: Can your dad come give me some advice about that, like six years ago? Also, avoid bad debt dudes! I'd teach five years ago me that if I could!
__________________
Whenever I catch so much as a glimpse of pr0n, I suddenly turn into a sex-crazed barbarian, slashing and clawing my way through whatever and whomever until I find something to put my weiner into. -- Taktix
"But if it makes you feel better, I would also enjoy a world in which there are men, women, transsexuals, genderqueer folk, etc. who all enjoy pelican role-play." - JD
"Extraordinary conditions do not create or enlarge constitutional powers."
My first-ever academic paper just got accepted for publication, in the journal Experimental Mathematics. We have some minor edits to make, should be done by the end of July, and then I can get published.
Now if only the other two papers would get finished, submitted, and published... (the prof wants to write them himself, hasn't accepted my offers to help).
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
I now officially have a B.A. in mathematics. And a sunburn (the ceremony was outside, three hours long, and in Los Angeles. In black robes. With no shade. Should I move this comment to "people are idiots" or "worst things ever"?).
Now if only I had a job as well--it's weird, I know what I'm doing in four months but not what I'm doing in two weeks.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congrats
"ps not an lp member so stop beating that drum. the drum is tired and wants to go home now, to the family that loves it. i haven’t even mentioned PRECIOUS PRECIOUS GOLD or ferrets or anything." - dhex
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congrat, Jadagul.
I think you've told us before, but any specialty in math?
(Not that I'd understand. I got lost at Taylor's expansion.)
If you weren't doing anything wrong, then you have no reason to be afraid while they kick the crap out of you. - D.A. Ridgely
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congratulations, long may you divide.
EDITED for lame attempt at humor.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congratulations Jadagul.
Regarding what to do this summer, the beach would probably be a good idea.
Ignore D. A. Ridgely's sig. Here is what Ali really said: "love is like porn, you know it when you
seefeel it"Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congratulations, Jadagul.
What are you doing this fall?
"the only thing worse than a freeper is a blue state freeper that doesn't realize they're a freeper." -dhex
hoisted by their own waterboard!
-dhex
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Thanks, all!
Aresen, math grad students don't tend to specialize until a year or two into grad school. Or, rather, half my profs tell me they had one plan when they got to grad school and changed their minds by year 3, when they finally had enough info to decide informedly. That said, I'm strongly leaning towards Algebra these days.
Thoreau, I'm spending a year in Cambridge studying for the Tripos part III program (I leave in late September-ish). I come back in early July, I believe, and start my PhD at Caltech in late September.
Ali: the beach is great, and all, but it doesn't buy me food. :)
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Get the least demanding job possible for the summer before grad school. Trust me on this. This is NOT the time to build the resume.
Unless the resume-building job is a potential escape hatch, which is an important thing to have. The escape hatch is about more than just the escape, it's also about knowing you have options so that you don't sink into utter despair during the worst moments of grad school.
My dream is that once I have tenure I will spend a summer working whatever job I can find that is (1) completely non-academic and (2) on the beach. Since I'm not really lifeguard material, I imagine this job will involve a cash register. Which is perfectly fine with me, as long as it is far away from academia and on the beach.
"the only thing worse than a freeper is a blue state freeper that doesn't realize they're a freeper." -dhex
hoisted by their own waterboard!
-dhex
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
I second Thoreau on this. In between PhD and postdoc, I spent a summer in Ann Arbor working on some research but definitely also chilling! Yes, you can definitely chill in Ann Arbor.
EDIT: Even though I was an engineering student, that summer was funded through one of my profs in the math department. The environment among mathematicians is way different than among engineers.
Ignore D. A. Ridgely's sig. Here is what Ali really said: "love is like porn, you know it when you
seefeel it"Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congrats Jadagul!
I have a tank full of gentle cuttlefish.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congratulations! That is wonderful news.
(No advice on what to do next; just marveling at anyone who could pass Differential Equations and beyond...)
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
If I could do it all again I would have spent the summer between Ph.D. and postdoc selling t-shirts at the beach.
"the only thing worse than a freeper is a blue state freeper that doesn't realize they're a freeper." -dhex
hoisted by their own waterboard!
-dhex
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
I realize this is very silly and a bit childish, but I've never had a 'real job' and the idea kind of scares me. The only jobs I've ever had were interning the company my father works for, and grading, TAing, and research during college. I should just get a temp job somewhere local (I could probably get a waiter-ing job, but somehow I think I'd be really bad at that), but the whole idea makes me rather nervous.
Oh, well; I'll find something somewhere or other. Worst-case scenario is go back and live with the parents for another few months; there are worse things.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
You have a degree in MATH and are an American. You'll probably get a signing bonus of $30K along with a $70k salary and, I dunno, free handjobs.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Jobs are highly overrated. Trading what someone else wants you to do in return for money is not nearly as much fun as figuring out how to get paid to do what you want to do anyway. OTOH, there's nothing to be frightened about and, frankly, waiter jobs can afford you the dual advantages of busyness without thought and relatively high hourly wages without commensurately high taxes (unless, of course, you're pathologically honest).
Many intellectuals (I merely play one on the internet, but I have smart friends) find non-intellectual leisure time or non-mental work enormously useful in recharging the batteries, clearing the cobwebs and four or five other hoary metaphors I could probably come up with if I tried. OTOH, it usually takes lifelong students a few months at least to get used to not having papers or exams or whathaveyou hanging over their heads, so you might find that you're only just starting to unwind when Cambridge calls.
"love is like porn, you know" -- Ali
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
QFT.
Whenever I catch so much as a glimpse of pr0n, I suddenly turn into a sex-crazed barbarian, slashing and clawing my way through whatever and whomever until I find something to put my weiner into. -- Taktix
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
F cubed: Yeah, see, that's the problem. If I were looking for a permanent job and flexible on where I lived, I'd know basically where to start. But instead, I know I'm leaving in four months and want to stay in one not-particularly-employment-heavy town (the town my college is in, I'd like to spend the summer with my friends who are mostly around here). Most of the obvious jobs to get seem like they're a total waste of the skillset I very definitely have, but I'm not sure how to use these skills in the given timeframe. Also, what DAR said.
DAR: Jobs may be overrated, but eating isn't. :) That said, I agree with you, and I have found a way to make what I want to do pay. (My explanation for why I'm getting a math PhD: If I won the lottery and never had to work again I'd buy a nicer computer, eat better food, wear nicer clothes, and spend my time dicking around on the internet and working on math problems. In the absence of the lottery thing, I figure having someone to pay me to work on math problems is about as close as I'll get). But that doesn't start for another four months, and I need something to do in the interim.
As I said, I'll find something or go hang with the parents for a few months; either way, it's not a big problem. But I'll be much happier when I get it sorted out.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congrats, Jadagul!
A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having. - V
UNDERPANTS HAWK
DOES NOT DESIRE YOUR TOUCH
I long for the day that a chimp will ghost-ride someone's boomcar into a lake. - tymac
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Indeed, and yet, the job market for professional kitten petters is so small these days ... *sigh*
Congratulations, Jadagul!
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Just make sure you wear the black robes so everyone knows and can come up and pay their respects.
Hey, is it "needs graduated" or would the southern "needs grajerating" be more appropriate?
"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."- William James
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
It's "gradutated," Hell-Clown.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Jadagul - I say go work in a warehouse or at target or something. Honestly, that sort of "moving boxes around" job is a waste of your skillset, sure, but it's easy and it's nice to do something not so mental every now and again. Also, in many instances it's better than working in a cubicle.
There's also always temping...but temping is a special kind of corporate hell.
Whenever I catch so much as a glimpse of pr0n, I suddenly turn into a sex-crazed barbarian, slashing and clawing my way through whatever and whomever until I find something to put my weiner into. -- Taktix
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Get a job where you have time to read. That's what I'd do. Like at a bookstore or something.
Ignore D. A. Ridgely's sig. Here is what Ali really said: "love is like porn, you know it when you
seefeel it"Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Actually, it's "was graduated from," it being something that happens or is done to you and not something that you do, but only the British get that right. At the University of Virginia, where Jefferson considered degrees artificial embellishments too similar to titles of nobility to permit them at first, students typically avoid the whole point by saying "I took my degree in [whatever year]." As affectations go, I rather like that one.
BTW, which college at Cambridge are you going to and are you going to buy an academic gown so you can bicycle up and down the streets of Cambridge like Mr. Chips?
"love is like porn, you know" -- Ali
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
This is no time for pride. You want cash. You don't want heavy demands. You do want to live in Claremont. You can't build a time machine and apply to be my summer research assistant. So get thee to Starbucks or Barnes and Noble or something.
"the only thing worse than a freeper is a blue state freeper that doesn't realize they're a freeper." -dhex
hoisted by their own waterboard!
-dhex
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
yeah what everyone else said. don't be like my wife and pick up jobs editing journals and shit. it's made her crazier than usual. (fun fact: famous professors hand in misspelled documents with incorrect footnoting because they're used to having grad slaves do all the detail work for them!)
man out of nowhere i got a letter yesterday from my job saying they're now offering matching on our 403b plans. it's only 5% for my time here but, hey, free money! and it's immediately 100% vested cause i've been here over 4 years.
"Yeah, but my character would be all swav and deboner." - Warren
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
I think it's is properly "requires gradufication".
The sun is barely up and the streets are already filled with drunken Scots. That can't be good. - mk
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congrats, Jadagul! Number me among the people who agree that swallowing down pride and taking whatever job is there is a good idea. Realistically, you're already really late when it comes to getting a temp job, so taking what's there is probably what you're going to have to do unless you want to spend your summer looking for work. I worked on a road crew, myself, which was nice because I wound up with a beautiful tan, but bad because I mostly flagged, which meant that I was the first, last and only line of defense when it came to out of control cars. I caught more than one mirror on the arm that year.
In Shem related news, the people who I thought rejected me for an internship were really just testing my resolve by making me wait. Now they want me to come in to interview with three different divisions. The only downside, the one that would be most fun (working with the division that makes and sells laser training sights for firearms) is most of the way to Baltimore. So getting there is a little hard.** Even so, though, they'd all be fascinating, so I won't complain.
**And if anyone has advice on how to do it, it'd be much appreciated.
I CAUTION YOU / IN DEFEATING ORCS WE MAY FIND THE ONLY VILLAIN LEFT TO FACE IS OUR OWN PREJUDICE--qwantz.com
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congrats Shem on the interview shot.
"ps not an lp member so stop beating that drum. the drum is tired and wants to go home now, to the family that loves it. i haven’t even mentioned PRECIOUS PRECIOUS GOLD or ferrets or anything." - dhex
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congrats, Shem
Actually, it's the "Baltimore" part of it that is giving me a problem.
If you weren't doing anything wrong, then you have no reason to be afraid while they kick the crap out of you. - D.A. Ridgely
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congratulations, Jadagul! And don't worry so much about the "real job" thing. Everybody has to figure it out (unless your last name is Hilton) and everybody does eventually.
I agree about the overrated part. I think if I had a child, I'd tell them to follow their heart and not just do the safe thing by getting an office job or whatever. Wish I'd had that kind of bravery myself. The thing about "getting paid to do what you want to do", though, is that making a living invariably entails a certain amount of bullshit. If you love something, maybe you shouldn't do it for a living, lest the tiny bullshit gremlins sabotage your love. It's like they say about photography: want to travel around the world, set your own schedule, and take beautiful pictures of exciting things? Then don't quit your day job!
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Huh?
I CAUTION YOU / IN DEFEATING ORCS WE MAY FIND THE ONLY VILLAIN LEFT TO FACE IS OUR OWN PREJUDICE--qwantz.com
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congratulations, Jadagul. Work a brainless job. Even if it's a brainless office job. Don't do anything intellectually taxing for the whole summer.
I don't think the world needs more proof that Objectivists make lousy boyfriends - Shem
I respect spite - tymac
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
As in "I can give you advice on how to get somewhere. But getting to Baltimore does not count as getting to somewhere."
If you weren't doing anything wrong, then you have no reason to be afraid while they kick the crap out of you. - D.A. Ridgely
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
If Jadagul is the caliber that I expect he is, he'll ignore our advice and get a summer job that requires some sort of mental skills (coding? tutoring? I dunno) while spending a portion of his spare time revising a paper on his research results, instead of working at a t-shirt shop at Venice Beach. Which is not to say that he's right to take the more serious job: Far from it. He will suffer for it this fall, and he would have benefited greatly from the summer at the beach. (I plan to spend a summer working at Venice Beach once I have tenure, and I will benefit more than I can possibly describe.) However, it is in his nature to do something that taxes the brain, because he does not yet understand the terrible price that one pays for using one's education instead of taking a break.
You will pay for this, Jadagul, but it is in your nature to pay that price.
When you finish your Ph.D. at Caltech, I'll hopefully have tenure. I'll come and drag you to the beach for a summer of selling t-shirts before you go off to do a postdoc. If necessary, I will confiscate your laptop, uninstall all mathematical and document preparation software, and install some games.
Don't think for one moment that I'm not 100% serious.
"the only thing worse than a freeper is a blue state freeper that doesn't realize they're a freeper." -dhex
hoisted by their own waterboard!
-dhex
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Tell you what, I was lucky for my summer job before med school.
That spring I had been working on a research project for the Forest Pathology/Mycology department, so since I was around they offered me a job as a biology tech for the USDA Forestry Dept. for that summer.
Cleaning saplings for planting, trimming and scoping roots, and working for more than minimum wage with flex hours and overtime pay, and minimal thinking work. That was a pretty sweet job and got me $2000 for moving expenses.
Don't know if math departments got anything like that, but you might wanna check out anywhere that needs a lab tech/scut monkey.
I have a tank full of gentle cuttlefish.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Also, congrats Shem!
I have a tank full of gentle cuttlefish.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
...Are you telling me to go to hell?
I CAUTION YOU / IN DEFEATING ORCS WE MAY FIND THE ONLY VILLAIN LEFT TO FACE IS OUR OWN PREJUDICE--qwantz.com
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
You're going to Baltimore in a handbasket.
A parasite feeding on bacteria growing on fungus growing on cow excrement? The only way the parasitic chain could get any longer would be if the cow excrement worked for the government.
- Smacky
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
I was raised in the Washington, DC area, which is to say that I was raised to look down my nose at Baltimore. Baltimore is where people worked with their hands for a living, lived in crappy looking row houses where they sat drinking National Bohemian beer in the summer and were inordinately proud of their marble front stoops and their Colts and Orioles.
After college I had occasion to spend several months living just outside Baltimore, in Ellicott City, and to go into the city just about every day. Aside from having probably the finest medical school / university teaching hospital and one of the finest universities in the country, Baltimore's attractions include not only places like Camden Yards and Harbor Place but Fells Point (a funky transitional neighborhood close to the harbor where housing is still reasonably affordable), places where you can get as good a corned beef or pastrami sandwich as you can in New York, wonderful seafood restaurants and little treasures like Peabody's Bookstore and Beerstube (a former speakeasy with books in the front and a bar in the back that Mencken once frequented.)
Okay, so it's not New York, San Francisco, Paris or Florence. Believe me, you could do far worse than Baltimore or its environs for a place to live or work.
"love is like porn, you know" -- Ali
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Yeah, Baltimore has a lot of fun aspects to it. The classic rock radio station reminded me of a Mid-Atlantic-accented version of Columbia, SC, with the ads targeting high schoolers with heavy metal bands and so forth.
This is a personal problem. There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable use of high explosives. This is not one of those exceptions.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Katamari Damacy. Coolest game ever.
But, as Deepak Chopra taught us, quantum physics means anything can happen at any time for no reason! Also, eat plenty of oatmeal, and animals never had a war... who's the real animal?
=Professor Farnsworth
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
My daughter and I both enjoy Katamari Damarcy.
Congratulations Jadagul. I know I am way too late to say so, but I have decided not to let that keep me from weighing in anyway.
The thing is, I often miss out on entire threads. I am not anywhere near as vigilant as I used to be.
D.A. I once got wasted in Ellicott City with a girl named Kris. She was the girl who convinced me to grow a beard because she thought I would look like Bob Seger (who she thought was "hot").This was way back in the mid-80s. Man, that was a very redneck experience. That place is way different now.
Getting to Baltimore would be a bitch. Are you sure you don't just want to move up there? It is surprisingly affordable in spots. Plus, you could see shows at the Otto Bar or Talking Head.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
That would be a pretty bad idea for a 2.5 month internship. Especially once classes started. Plus, I think they would have had me working in Alexandria. I apparently just had to go there for the interview.
It's a moot point anyway, because I got the first internship I interviewed for! In a few weeks I'll be helping the company to land preferred bidder status with USAID.
I CAUTION YOU / IN DEFEATING ORCS WE MAY FIND THE ONLY VILLAIN LEFT TO FACE IS OUR OWN PREJUDICE--qwantz.com
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congrats.
"ps not an lp member so stop beating that drum. the drum is tired and wants to go home now, to the family that loves it. i haven’t even mentioned PRECIOUS PRECIOUS GOLD or ferrets or anything." - dhex
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
I like the soundtrack.
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na!
A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having. - V
UNDERPANTS HAWK
DOES NOT DESIRE YOUR TOUCH
I long for the day that a chimp will ghost-ride someone's boomcar into a lake. - tymac
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Oh and congratulations to Shem and Jadagul.
A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having. - V
UNDERPANTS HAWK
DOES NOT DESIRE YOUR TOUCH
I long for the day that a chimp will ghost-ride someone's boomcar into a lake. - tymac
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congrats, Shem.
If you weren't doing anything wrong, then you have no reason to be afraid while they kick the crap out of you. - D.A. Ridgely
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
I'm so sorry.
Wait, you put this in the Better thread? Huh.
Signed,
Former employee of an 8A contractor to USAID.
This is a personal problem. There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable use of high explosives. This is not one of those exceptions.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Let me tell you a story about the Small Business Act Section 8(a) program. Well, no, actually it's a story about government employees and, in particular, the sort of government employees who exist as such entirely because of, well, programs like the 8(a) program. For those blissfully ignorant of all this nonsense, the 8(a) program is a "set-aside" program for "small, disadvantaged businesses" through which such designated businesses can receive government contracts on a sole source basis. About, oh, nearly 10 years ago there was a case decided by the Supreme Court called Adarand Constructors and the Court basically held that racially based set-aside programs were, except as remedies for prior discrimination, violations of the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment. (The case actually addressed a subcontracting set-aside program, not the 8(a) program, but the principles are basically the same.)
Well, now, there was much scrambling as a result (note, also, that "diversity" became a buzzword almost exactly when overtly racial preference programs began being struck down by the courts) and I happened to be listening to a GS-15 Small Business Specialist addressing a crowd of frightened 8(a) business owners, and her words, I swear to you, were that they shouldn't worry about what the Supreme Court said because "it's only their opinion."
(BTW, there are plenty of other special treatment programs besides the 8(a) program. Federal contracting law is littered with the damned things.)
"love is like porn, you know" -- Ali
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Hey, something I wrote got posted to my ISP's "best-of" newsgroup! A little background: we have a newsgroup called ISP.people, which never got very much use until one guy got the bright idea of creating a program to automatically post on the newsgroup lists of who'd joined or left the ISP. So now we all watch and make witticisms about the users who join or leave. Then this new guy shows up with the username of "island"... (Note you will probably have to be a serious Unix user to get most of this, sorry.)
* A long time ago, someone angrily called Panix's users "faggot hackers". The term was subsequently adopted as a snarky sobriquet by the community.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
So is it sad that to me the old-fashioned verbiage was far harder to understand than the *nix geekery? The only one I don't get is the ^G.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
^G is a control character on unix shells that sometimes triggers a bell noise.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Late afternoon of a long, unhurried but reasonably productive day, after a long walk through the Village, browsing the art for sale, listening to street musicians, and watching the pretty girls, what could be better than sitting in my garden with a Campari and soda enjoying the stillness? (Other than the garden being somewhat cleaner and greener.)
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
My boss's stumbling speech and Southern drawl make dictation hard to understand, but I'm not sure if our secretary has much of a defense on this gem:
Fortunately the recipient of the letter is an old friend of the boss's, because the letter did go out like that.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
I think I could come up with circumstances in which a promise to die could constitute legally sufficient consideration to bind a contract. However, I would hope that a court construing such a contract would strike as against public policy any provision to the effect that time was of the essence in fulfilling that particular quid pro quo. *grin*
"love is like porn, you know" -- Ali
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Wait, what was "a promise to die" supposed to have been, please? I'm not familiar with any phrasing that sounds sorta like that.
My first real boss told me a story from his previous job ... This was actually far back enough in time that managers actually still dictated letters now and then. Oh, I guess Ellie's boss at Yahweh & Sons still does that.
Any, my former boss called his secretary in to take a letter. Feeling in a bit of a jovial, playful mood -- and also to give himself time to mentally compose his letter -- my boss starts off by saying:
"Frank ... Dear Frank ... Dear Frankie-Babes ... I received your letter last week, thanks ..."
When the secretary typed up the letter and brought it in for my boss to sign, he looked it over carefully, of course ... the body of the letter, that is. He didn't bother to look at the saluation, because that's, like, so basic. You can't mess up "Dear Frank."
Later he looked at the file copy of the letter and discovered that it did in fact go out with the salutation, "Dear Frankie-Babes." Unfortunately, it did not go out to an old friend, but to some guy my boss hardly knew.
I never found out what the repercussions were.
"My intellect is gigantic, monstrous, terrifying."
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
My guess is that it would have been "a promise to dine". That might be a way of thanking someone for their services.
A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having. - V
UNDERPANTS HAWK
DOES NOT DESIRE YOUR TOUCH
I long for the day that a chimp will ghost-ride someone's boomcar into a lake. - tymac
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
It was "a promise to buy." I think the secretary got into a transcription version of highway hypnosis and just typed exactly what she thought she heard, without thinking.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
A promise to lie would have been funnier.
"love is like porn, you know" -- Ali
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
A promise to be bi might have been sexier, or at least might lead to a zany screwball romantic comedy for our times.
"My intellect is gigantic, monstrous, terrifying."
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
It would certainly make me feel a whole lot better about trolling OKCupid for girlfriends, that's for sure.
A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having. - V
UNDERPANTS HAWK
DOES NOT DESIRE YOUR TOUCH
I long for the day that a chimp will ghost-ride someone's boomcar into a lake. - tymac
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Better would have been a promise to vi, to stick it to those emacs users!
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
It was clearly a promise made to Princess Diana (before the whole death-by-paparazzi thing). He said, "...promise to Di," but she typed "...promise to die."
Occam's Razor says I'm right!
A parasite feeding on bacteria growing on fungus growing on cow excrement? The only way the parasitic chain could get any longer would be if the cow excrement worked for the government.
- Smacky
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
JD: hey now. Does your text editor do butterflies?
In other news, I seem to have a job at a test prep company. They need labor desperately, they pay well, and it means I get to stay all summer. As long as nothing goes disastrously in the next couple days...
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Whoohoo! I got the super-top-secret consulting mission I wanted. This is fun, I'm now officially a political operative.
But, as Deepak Chopra taught us, quantum physics means anything can happen at any time for no reason! Also, eat plenty of oatmeal, and animals never had a war... who's the real animal?
=Professor Farnsworth
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congratulations, Randolph Carter!
Yesterday one of my friends and I rode his motorcycle (a Honda Shadow) from Streetsboro all the way up to beautiful Sandusky, OH and spent the evening at Cedar Point riding roller coasters, after an unsuccessful visit to a NASA Open House event. We rode the Blue Streak, the Top Thrill Dragster, the Magnum XL-200, the Gemini, the Mean Streak, the Maverick, the Mine Ride, and the Millennium Force, in that order. (If you've never been to Cedar Point -- and since I don't know of any roller coaster fanatics here I'm guessing most of you haven't -- 8 roller coasters in 4 hours is really good as far as line waits go.) But riding the motorbike up there on a gorgeous day might still have been the best part. If I had a lot of money I would definitely get a bike. Probably a Vespa.
The Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster are totally awesome coasters.
A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having. - V
UNDERPANTS HAWK
DOES NOT DESIRE YOUR TOUCH
I long for the day that a chimp will ghost-ride someone's boomcar into a lake. - tymac
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
It's been ten yeras since I've visited the roller coaster capitol of the world. If you're into thrill rides, Cedar Point is Mecca.
The sun is barely up and the streets are already filled with drunken Scots. That can't be good. - mk
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Oh, I forgot one rich detail: We saw this man who -- seriously -- must have been about 75 or 80 years old, or possibly older, getting in line for The Maverick. Later we saw him exiting the ride and asked him what he thought of it. His response was, "Too slow."
Priceless. Cedar Point really is where all of the roller coaster aficionados gather.
A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having. - V
UNDERPANTS HAWK
DOES NOT DESIRE YOUR TOUCH
I long for the day that a chimp will ghost-ride someone's boomcar into a lake. - tymac
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Cedar Point rocks! I used to go there every summer when I visited my grandparents in Cleveland. The Magnum 2000 is sweet...
But, as Deepak Chopra taught us, quantum physics means anything can happen at any time for no reason! Also, eat plenty of oatmeal, and animals never had a war... who's the real animal?
=Professor Farnsworth
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
out of nowhere, my company is suddenly offering 403b matching funds. 5% isn't a million, but it's so much better than 0%.
"Yeah, but my character would be all swav and deboner." - Warren
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
? Please explain to this poor Canuck what the hell a '403b matching fund' is and how it works. What's 5% got to with it.
(I have a guess, because I used to work for a company that allowed you to purchase shares from your income. The maximum contribution was 5% and the company kicked in another 2.5%. The 2.5%, BTW, was taxed as income at the time of the contribution.)
If you weren't doing anything wrong, then you have no reason to be afraid while they kick the crap out of you. - D.A. Ridgely
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Dhex - is that 5% of your contribution or is it 1-for-1 up to 5% of your salary?
Whenever I catch so much as a glimpse of pr0n, I suddenly turn into a sex-crazed barbarian, slashing and clawing my way through whatever and whomever until I find something to put my weiner into. -- Taktix
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
1 for 1 up to 5% of my salary.
aight, it's like, charlie has 14 heads of moose and uh ok racism aside, my employer will contribute 5% of my salary to my 401k presuming i'm contributing up to 5% or more. which isn't a problem cause i've always done 10% or more whenever possible.
"Yeah, but my character would be all swav and deboner." - Warren
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
OK, now Aresen understand.
Company pay Aresen 20 Moosehead per week. Aresen put 1 Moosehead in cellar for later, company will also put 1 Moosehead in cellar for later.
Eh?
If you weren't doing anything wrong, then you have no reason to be afraid while they kick the crap out of you. - D.A. Ridgely
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Better still, government will not make Aresen give it any of Mooseheads in cellar until many, many years from now when Aresen doesn't get so many Mooseheads every year and therefore probably owes government fewer Mooseheads every year anyway.
"love is like porn, you know" -- Ali
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Tax deferred compounding moosehead is powerful. A moosehead matching formula that changes from 0% to 5% represents a 50% increase in the effective rate of savings for dhex without a reduction in take home. This is betterite!
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
yes it is basically a bag of awesome.
since we're on the topic, am i the only one who gets these CHECK OUT OUR EXCITING NEW FUND AND MEET THE TOTALLY COOL MANAGERS WHO RUN IT type brochures from their savings/investment overlords and automatically thinks "ok, so what's really wrong with it?"
maybe they just seem a bit more desperate than usual. or perhaps i'm merely being paranoid.
"Yeah, but my character would be all swav and deboner." - Warren
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Nah, I get the same ones from Merryl Lynch / Princeton Retirement Group (formerly Invesco or AIM, I don't remember). The bank is also now offering a portfolio of new mutual funds in the 401k aegis, managed by the good people upstairs (thanks Dad). They're pretty good funds, all things considered, but I'm still socking money away in indexes. Also, tax-deffered compounding moosehead plan is reason Tim have many mooseheads saved for retirement already but few mooseheads readily available in case of immediate mooshead shortage.
Whenever I catch so much as a glimpse of pr0n, I suddenly turn into a sex-crazed barbarian, slashing and clawing my way through whatever and whomever until I find something to put my weiner into. -- Taktix
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
i can't decide if moosehead is the best or worst term for money ever. i'm leaning towards best.
i had one of those weird conversations with an unemployed friend of mine sunday when i was recording his podcast. he's about a year older than i am but perhaps not the coolest when it comes to money stuff. like many people my age the line between "need" and "want" is, imo, fucked up. i was trying to explain to him why tax-deferred stuff is a total bag of coolness and it ran into the whole "how do you afford to throw out 10% of your income" thing which is just incomprehensible. no no i say, it's more like i'm putting it away to make me not poor later on when shit is fucked up, plus i get to tell the government to stuff it.
just doesn't sell. i started doing this as soon as i started working a job where i could, so it's been about ten years now, with a year or so break due to that whole 9/11 thing.
"Yeah, but my character would be all swav and deboner." - Warren
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
My dad always said that there are spenders and savers, and no matter how much you make, if you're a spender you'll never have any money.
I am still working on taking his advice.
But, as Deepak Chopra taught us, quantum physics means anything can happen at any time for no reason! Also, eat plenty of oatmeal, and animals never had a war... who's the real animal?
=Professor Farnsworth
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
One thing that can help in response to the 10% of your income gone thingie is that deferring 10% into a retirement plan doesn't reduce your take home pay by 10%. By the time you get your hands on it taxes have already been withheld. If you count state and federal taxes, your take home changes by much less than 10%.
Another response for people eligible for match, "Uh, why are you turning down 5% of your salary?"
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
I signed up for the 401k the day I was eligible and I haven't noticed it since.
Randolph: Can your dad come give me some advice about that, like six years ago? Also, avoid bad debt dudes! I'd teach five years ago me that if I could!
Whenever I catch so much as a glimpse of pr0n, I suddenly turn into a sex-crazed barbarian, slashing and clawing my way through whatever and whomever until I find something to put my weiner into. -- Taktix
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
best term for money.
worst term for beer.
"But if it makes you feel better, I would also enjoy a world in which there are men, women, transsexuals, genderqueer folk, etc. who all enjoy pelican role-play." - JD
"Extraordinary conditions do not create or enlarge constitutional powers."
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
IMHO, it works for cheese.
The sun is barely up and the streets are already filled with drunken Scots. That can't be good. - mk
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
My first-ever academic paper just got accepted for publication, in the journal Experimental Mathematics. We have some minor edits to make, should be done by the end of July, and then I can get published.
Now if only the other two papers would get finished, submitted, and published... (the prof wants to write them himself, hasn't accepted my offers to help).
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congratulations Jadagul. My first foray into publishing did not go so well . . . .
Indeed, congratulations!
This is not a signature.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congratulations! That sounds impressive; I'm sure I wouldn't understand much of it.
Re: The things in this topic are made of BETTERITE(tm).
Congrats, Jadagul!
If you need help editing the paper, Dave W. is offering editorial services.
"the only thing worse than a freeper is a blue state freeper that doesn't realize they're a freeper." -dhex
hoisted by their own waterboard!
-dhex