Sunday, August 21, 2005
Orientation went as expected- paperwork, videos, and corporate mumbo-jumbo. My actual training is evenings Wednesday-Sunday of this week. I am going to be crazy tired by the time it's over- it will probably total about 30 hours, on top of my normal 39 at the field station. Whew. And the next morning (Monday) I'll have to be up early again for another full week of normal work. Plus whatever shifts I get at RL for the week. Uh, at least I get Saturday and Sunday morning and early afternoons off? Eh, while yes it will be tiring, my normal shifts won't be as numerous or consecutive as training. It sounds like the schedule changes every week, which is good because it means there's more flexibility in getting time off, but bad for planning ahead. Well, as with everything else, we'll see how it goes.
I'm getting a new cell # soon. My contract with Tones is up and I was considering a bunch of options for other family plans to save money (join up with Ryan and/or one of my coworkers, join up with my mom/brother), but when I asked my mom about joining her plan, she said I could plain old just have her phone because she hardly uses it. I offered her some money, but she didn't want it. I'll have a Washington area code (can't change the # because she's the secondary line on the family share), but as it was I had a long-distance area code anyway. If you are someone who would conceivably call me, I'll email you the # once the phone arrives. So I'll have free cell til May, when her contract is up. Then I'll probably join Ryan's plan, but we'll see how it goes.
I'm giving Crest Whitestrips a try. All my coffee drinking has definitely left my teeth yellowish. I've been using them for 4 days now and started to see a difference right away, albeit slight. There are 10 more days of strips, we'll see how it goes.
Thinking about grad school, I'm definitely most interested in the U of Maryland. It surpassed Davis because upon digging around websites, my impression is that Davis assumes that it has tons of talented people trying to get in, so it needn't bother setting them up with financial support because they can fight it out amongst themselves. Most other schools at least pair you with a TAship or RAship (research assistant), and possibly give you other fellowships. I think my qualifications are such that I'd be offered a comfortable package at a place like MD, whereas at Davis I would be constantly applying for money instead of focusing on my classes and research. Anyway, MD's proximity to Ryan's possible transfer site in Manassas is good too. Also, a guy at work knows someone who's a grad student at one of MD's field stations and she really likes it. I'm gonna get her email for more of the inside scoop. We'll see how it goes.
I'm getting a new cell # soon. My contract with Tones is up and I was considering a bunch of options for other family plans to save money (join up with Ryan and/or one of my coworkers, join up with my mom/brother), but when I asked my mom about joining her plan, she said I could plain old just have her phone because she hardly uses it. I offered her some money, but she didn't want it. I'll have a Washington area code (can't change the # because she's the secondary line on the family share), but as it was I had a long-distance area code anyway. If you are someone who would conceivably call me, I'll email you the # once the phone arrives. So I'll have free cell til May, when her contract is up. Then I'll probably join Ryan's plan, but we'll see how it goes.
I'm giving Crest Whitestrips a try. All my coffee drinking has definitely left my teeth yellowish. I've been using them for 4 days now and started to see a difference right away, albeit slight. There are 10 more days of strips, we'll see how it goes.
Thinking about grad school, I'm definitely most interested in the U of Maryland. It surpassed Davis because upon digging around websites, my impression is that Davis assumes that it has tons of talented people trying to get in, so it needn't bother setting them up with financial support because they can fight it out amongst themselves. Most other schools at least pair you with a TAship or RAship (research assistant), and possibly give you other fellowships. I think my qualifications are such that I'd be offered a comfortable package at a place like MD, whereas at Davis I would be constantly applying for money instead of focusing on my classes and research. Anyway, MD's proximity to Ryan's possible transfer site in Manassas is good too. Also, a guy at work knows someone who's a grad student at one of MD's field stations and she really likes it. I'm gonna get her email for more of the inside scoop. We'll see how it goes.
