Yubsie's Yammerings

yubsie @ 2013-02-09T13:37:00

2013-02-09T18:44:14Z

Guess I might as well catch everyone up on what's been going on since my defense. I submitted my corrections, which almost got interesting because it turned out the defense chair had forgotten to sign my certificate of examination. Got that all straightened out, so for the first time in my brother's lifetime, I am not a student.

Spent Christmas baking and reorganizing my house.

As for now, we have a grant for an industry collaboration. We're working with a company that makes roof tiles from recycled plastic as an alternative to shakes made from old growth cedar. They're trying to improve their composite material and want to do that in a directed way, so my job is to characterize the material they have right now. I'll be working on that until November. I joke that this is the academic equivalent of living in my mother's basement, but this is actually a really awesome opportunity since it gives me experience that is (obviously) very industry relevant as well as contacts in industry. So it should be helpful in finding a real job so I can be a real person. (Seriously, as a post-doctoral fellow I am even less of a person than as a grad student. I now work at the university but not for the university :p)

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yubsie @ 2012-12-17T16:46:00

2012-12-17T21:45:57Z

So that would be Dr. Yubsie. It's still pretty surreal.

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yubsie @ 2012-10-31T19:50:00

2012-10-31T23:52:43Z

Kim says "I think it's a thesis!" and that she doesn't want to see it again until I give her a copy for my defense. Here exact words were "GET THIS OFF MY DESK!"

So I spent today watching the Muppet Show while making her final revisions. Tomorrow I'm going to trade theses with my labmate to proofread. He's only doing a Master's... one of us is getting the shit end of this deal. :p Unfortunately, all our other labmates (in both my labs) are ESL, so we were really each other's best option.

Five more days.

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yubsie @ 2012-09-27T23:31:00

2012-09-28T03:38:03Z

Well. I have a date.

Somewhat, anyway. I defend my thesis the week of December 17th. Which means submitting on November 5th. Pretty sure I will remember that date.

It's exciting. Also terrifying. Because this means it is really a thing that is happening.

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yubsie @ 2012-09-22T22:00:00

2012-09-23T02:00:26Z

( Spoilers for The Power of Three )

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Doctor Who Again

2012-09-16T01:59:57Z

( Spoilers for A Town Called Mercy )

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yubsie @ 2012-09-08T22:00:00

2012-09-09T02:00:29Z

Saturday night! We know what that means.

( Spoilers for Dinosaurs on a Spaceship )

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yubsie @ 2012-09-01T22:05:00

2012-09-02T02:06:41Z

Yay Doctor Who is finally back!

( Spoilers for Asylum of the Daleks )

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yubsie @ 2012-08-17T22:52:00

2012-08-18T02:55:37Z

So, Mount A people, remember what an adventure it always was navigating Hart Hall? Today I found Western's equivalent. Sommerville House. It took me ages to find the TA union office to drop off my dental claim form. And then I couldn't figure out how to get back out.

Brought back memories. :p

The past month or two has largely been an adventure in writing things and then camping outside my supervisor's office. The chapter I just gave her refused to print until I made all the figures into terrible, terrible JPEGs.

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yubsie @ 2012-06-11T12:38:00

2012-06-11T16:40:17Z

They're making a modern day adaptation of Anne of Green Gables.

I really want to know how they're going to get around what I see to be the biggest issue. Namely that modern day Prince Edward Island's major industry is... Anne of Green Gables.

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More History than the History Channel!

2012-05-25T23:30:11Z

I break my journal silence with... history! In addition to Discworld connotations, Towel Day and the anniversary of the release of ANH, it's also...

The 137th anniversary of the first woman in the British Empire receiving a Bachelor's degree. Her name was Grace Annie Lockhart and she went to Mount Allison University in the bustling town of Sackville, New Brunswick. She received a BSc because at the time you needed to know Greek or Latin to enroll in a BA program and they didn't teach those to girls. So this was their way of sneaking around it.

( Mount A's Class of 1875 )

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yubsie @ 2012-04-21T14:00:00

2012-04-21T18:05:15Z

Yeah, I know, I'm the queen of update fail. There hasn't been much going on in my life truth be told.

Today I was making fudge for a party and I decided I might as well share the recipe. This fudge is practically idiot proof. There is no soft ball stage. The only way you can screw it up is by putting a pyrex dish on the stove top. And everyone raves about it. You want to make this fudge. And eat this fudge.

( Totally awesome fudge recipe )

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yubsie @ 2012-03-13T23:26:00

2012-03-14T03:37:25Z

In my department, we have to give a seminar about a current hot topic that has nothing to do with our research. We're supposed to discuss the topic critically, looking at both the potential and where there's room for improvement. I gave mine a couple years ago and the faculty was quite happy that in addition pointing out a rather major problem, I proposed a potential solution.

This week in JACS (which is a quite good journal) where they did exactly that. I actually predicted where this area of chemistry should go. It's kinda awesome.

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yubsie @ 2012-02-22T19:26:00

2012-02-23T00:26:51Z

Today I realized I have been going by Yubsie and using the baby Ewok avatar for almost a decade. There's a few months to go yet, but still.

Suddenly I feel old.

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yubsie @ 2012-02-19T19:04:00

2012-02-20T00:09:35Z

Man, Mount A people, why were the SAC elections never as exciting as the undergrad student council elections were here this year? Mostly I try not to pay attention to it... and kinda want to wear a sign that says "GRAD STUDENT" so candidates will leave me alone, but even I managed to notice this.

They switched to online voting this year. And the voting webpage promptly got hacked. To be about Justin Bieber. So now they need a do over. I suspect I'm not the only person who is now noticing the election for the first time.

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yubsie @ 2012-02-02T22:26:00

2012-02-03T03:31:19Z

So, I got one of my wisdom teeth removed today (Just one, the other upper one they figure if it hasn't done anything by now it never will, and the bottom ones have their roots wrapped around the nerve and no surgeon in their right mind would touch them). My teeth are apparently... special.

The tooth essentially imploded. The dentist had never seen anything like it. It looked fine on the outside but it was really badly decayed inside. Strangely (though fortunately), it had somehow not affected the tooth next to it at all.

The real fun part: Since the tooth was already partially erupted, it was a less involved procedure. So I was conscious the entire time the dentist was talking about not being able to get a grip on the tooth. Fortunately, he did eventually get the tooth out... hopefully. There's a little bit of root fused to the bone he couldn't get. Yeah.

So I have lots of drugs.

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yubsie @ 2012-02-01T22:38:00

2012-02-02T04:14:04Z

... so apparently today is the twentieth anniversary of the beginning of the BLizzard of '92. How is this possible? Something I remember should not be twenty years ago!

Apparently math says it was, but I can't get my head around it.

It was awesome because we didn't have school for a week.

And now it was twenty years ago and I am still in school. :p

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SRS QUESTION!

2012-01-20T03:20:37Z

So, this stems from a discussion with someone as they watched Project Runway. It led to a very important discussion which must obviously be carried on to Livejournal/Dreamwidth. So I ask you:

If you were designing a dress for Miss Piggy, what colour would you make it?

For those of you wondering, I would pick silver. When I think of Miss PIggy the first image that comes to mind is her wearing a silver dress, sitting on a piano and singing.

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yubsie @ 2012-01-12T20:11:00

2012-01-13T01:11:48Z

Unexpected development from LJ RP moving to Dreamwidth:

I've had to fiddle around with styles to make CR charts play nice. Then I was working on updating my research group's website and decided I should update it to use CSS and actually be standards compliant.

This seems like a good idea. Except for the bit where I don't actually know CSS. I got it working though! It's not all the way there yet, but when I'm done it should be easier for the people after me to update. Without the seven tutorials I had open. :p

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yubsie @ 2012-01-08T12:03:00

2012-01-08T17:05:36Z

Okay, this whole "have to be logged in as the right journal to comment from email" thing Dreamwidth has going is going to drive me freaking nuts. I knew I depended on the ability to just shoot off a comment from my email but I never realized how much until I couldn't. Of all the features to be missing...

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yubsie @ 2012-01-01T23:49:00

2012-01-01T23:50:36Z

My New Years resolution is very simple: Get my PhD. I figure that's a big enough goal to not worry about anything else.

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