Graduate life

Solace for a Business Student in the GFC

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:08:27 +1000

As I promised, I wanted to write you guys a little blog on one of my fruitcake heros, Jimmy Buffet.

esSAY WHAT!?!

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:44:24 +1000

It’s that time of semester: you versus the major essay. Essays are sneaky; they creep up on you and surprise you with their size, throwing their weight around the night before they’re due. I’ve had some mighty battles with essays over the years but I’m getting on top of them with two tricks of my own – preparation and structure.

Getting my slash fics

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:31:16 +1000

In this long overdue blog, just in time for Thursday’s Graduate Options Expo, I thought I should take the time to talk to you all about my research. The subject of my thesis, and area I intend to explore at PhD level, is slash fiction.

WARNING by childrenofthegrave_deviantart

Write or Die!

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 02:11:39 +1000

A perennial problem that is perhaps universal to all students is the difficulty of having to sit down and actually write something. A paper, a letter to a journal editor, whatever, many of us find it difficult to start/finish/write at all. Of course this problem is multiplied a thousand-fold when the document in question is a massive thesis. We’ve all had those days where we sit in front of the computer with a stack of journal articles planning to do a day of writing, before finding that there are so many other better things to do. Make a cup of tea. Check your emails. Do another experiment to (unnecessarily) check your results. Chat with your desk neighbour. Write for two minutes and then manically check your word count. ANYTHING but actually writing.

So are you stuck with your writing? Forget nailing your feet to the floor or bribing yourself with chocolate, Dr Wicked has a better idea. Why not replace your fear of writing with a fear of not writing?! Have a go at Write or Die, where they put the ‘prod’ back in productivity!

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lab.drwicked.com

A whale of a time

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:30:25 +1000

After my sojourn in Seattle, I headed north almost to the border of Canada for a wildlife conference. Right from the start it was a fabulous conference, and the most interesting I have been to by far (in fact, I barely missed any of the talks because they were all so great!). There were about 300 people there, and we had talks about rabies in squirrels, ebola in gorillas, the best way to rescue wildlife caught in oil spills (there is quite an art to this, I didn’t even realise!), toxic algal blooms and their effect on marine life, the social structure of orca pods in Puget Sound, beluga whales, toxicity from lead shot in birds, infectious diseases in Australian finfish, bison breeding programs, toxicity in Kakapo (that will teach them to destroy cars and buildings!), effects of a shipwreck on a coral reef, winter elk feeding grounds... and of course platypuses! My talk went pretty well (got a lot of questions and only counted three people that were asleep...) and I was excited as I came second in the student presentation competition!

Semester 2 Begins!

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:47:41 +1000

So starts Semester 2....

Culture Vulture

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:29:54 +1000

Being back on campus means you can get back involved with campus culture. Clubs and societies, gigs, parties and fun people are all still here, so get back involved for all the culture you need, then some!

Sleepless in Seattle- See the world with a research degree!

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:06:31 +1000

One great thing about doing research is the opportunity to go and spend some time doing your research at an overseas institution, and to go to conferences and present your work. The conferences are often in interesting places, and if you are lucky you will be able to apply for some sort of funding from the university (or from the organisation funding your research). I’m spending a year in the US on a Fulbright Scholarship, and last week I attended a wildlife conference in Washington State, which meant, hurrah, that I got to spend some time in Seattle, too.

Battling the books

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:10:50 +1000

One of the joys of coursework postgrad study has just hit me – purchasing textbooks. The wallop is multifaceted; financial, academic and physical blows combining for one knock out punch. So join me for this three round super heavyweight bout! BAM!

To intense, or not to intense?

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:05:07 +1000

Graduate study is all about choice. Be it majors, disciplines, delivery or institution, the world is your oyster as a grad student. As I’m uneasy making even the most miniscule decisions, this can be somewhat alarming. One option that I’ve been wrestling with lately is my preferred study mode, be it intensive or regular mode. With advantages and disadvantages to both, I’m still sitting on the fence. What better forum to push me onto a side than the Grad Life Blog?!?

Ode to an Allen Key

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:59:55 +1000

Greetings from the USA! I made it here safely and have been settling in to my new lab. I could tell you about all of the cool new lab toys that I now have to play with, or the interesting research that I will be doing here to finish off my PhD, but first things first... My apartment that I will call home for the next 8 months or so.

After more than 24 hours in transit, I dragged my slightly hallucinating self to my new apartment building. One small incident with my keys (which, it transpired, were not actually my keys) later, I crashed my way into the flat, dropped my two very heavy bags (a total of 300g under maximum weight, yessssss!), and found... a small mountain of flat- pack furniture and packaged dinnerware/bedding etc stuck all over with labels like “Gosa Vadd Schlewovski”.

The Time is Now

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:08:08 +1000

I’ve had moments during my graduate study when I’ve questioned my decision to return to Uni. Those moments generally come at 3.49am on the morning of an assessment as I stare blankly at rambling paragraphs that refuse to make sense despite several rewordings. It’s at these times, in between infomercials, that the importance of good time management resonates in my mind. Time management is a fundamental skill for graduate students, and is often the difference being questioning your return to studying and having an enjoyable and valuable time in your graduate course.

Challenging Technology

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:01:59 +1000

I’m technologically challenged. Whilst I’d like to think that I’m proficient at plugging in printers, printing to PDF and programming the clock, I often use the wrong cord, forget to change print settings and resort to updating daylight savings manually. Despite these limits, the single best thing I’ve done for my study is to buy a personal computer.

When a boy's editing cap loses its sparkle ...

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:37:47 +1000

As I wait for an editor I haven’t worked with before to yay or nay my copy, I thought I’d take this time in between commissions to write my blog and have a rant. I know it’s been a while between posts, but things have been crazy here. My saying that the stress would be less following coursework was a lie, vicious lie … I find myself remaining in this constant state of stress, hovering somewhere over certain oh-my-gosh-so-much-stressness. And then there's the worst ailment for writers’ headache, editing the copy of a writer who can’t write.

Always put off for tomorrow what you can do today (Part 3)

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:08:13 +1000

In time-honoured fashion, I bring you the final instalment of my list of top-10 time wasters. Now when you start your postgraduate program, you’ll have a head start over all of those other poor students who are also starting out and have no clue about how to really procrastinate properly. No, no, don’t thank me...