Author: grant

Easy Ways to Fail a Ph.D.

Here is one person’s top ten list of ways to fail to obtain a PhD.
Interesting quotes:

Ph.D. school seems to be a magnet for every kind of procrastinator.

Advisors expect near-terminal Ph.D. students to be proto-professors with intimate knowledge of the challenges in their field. They should be capable of selecting and attacking research problems of appropriate size and scope.

A Ph.D. is a small but significant contribution to human knowledge. Impact is something students should aim for over a lifetime of research. Making a big impact with a Ph.D. is about as likely as hitting a bullseye the very first time you’ve fired a gun. Once you know how to shoot, you can keep shooting until you hit it. Plus, with a Ph.D., you get a lifetime supply of ammo.

It does not matter at all what you get your Ph.D. in. All that matters is that you get one. It’s the training that counts–not the topic.

(via ycombinator)

Installed tailbrights on my Connie

Buck Sport Touring sells reflective stickers called Tailbrights that stick to the rear and side portions of the hard bags. Tonight I installed them. Installation was pretty simple; only had one or two bubbles on each of the stickers. I guess that you could make these yourself; but Buck Sport figured out the right shape, and I like to support companies that fill a niche like they do. The cool thing about them is that the stickers are black; so during the day you don’t even see them.
Here are some photos:

Virtual Gravel Rash

Tonight after removing some of the caked-on dust from under the seat, I decided to investigate the gravel rash on the right of the lower fairing of the bike.
Getting down on my hands and knees to take a look, expecting deep grooves, I was shocked to instead find something like silver paint stuck to the fairing. It was caked on there, maybe one or two millimeters. Using a damp paper towel though I was able to remove all of the shiny crud.
My best guess is that the previous owner rode into something, or something rode into him, that left the material there.
I like easy fixes!

Wrapping up the 2009-2010 School Year

This past May, I completed the Simulation and Parallel and Distributed Systems class that I was attending. While taking two classes while working full time was challenging; the pure fun of it all more than made up for the challenge! I will have fond memories of that semester for a long time.
I can’t wait to get started with Applied Mathematical Analysis next week.