Academically Challenged
After I graduated I did a foolish, foolish thing. I chose to start a Masters degree in Computer science. Note the emphasis on start. I can hear the virtual masses mocking me; of course by masses I mean all five of you. But wait! I have an excuse! I graduated just after the .com crash, seeing dismal job prospects I decided to stick around for some higher education. I had other delusions at the time: "a masters degree will help with my career!" Now I am sure that two extra years would have bolstered my career as a programmer much more than a masters. But really, who doesn't want to be the master of something. And have the paper to prove it!
I started as a young graduate full of enthusiasm, imagining the how great my research could be. The doors that it could open and even potentially a career as a professor! Don't fret friends, the delusion was temporary. Time wore on and my enthusiasm dwindled, my straight and narrow path to glory begin to meander leaving the potential greatness scattered in my wake.
Then I committed the ultimate academic mistake - fatal to my academic career yet with a net positive effect - I defected. I started to work in the industry.
Two years later I am realizing that my leave of absence is about to end and that it is time to get my ass in gear and finish what I started. I am also realizing that I haven't really even looked at my work in the past two years, so getting back into the swing of things is painful. That coupled with the seemingly magnetic repulsion that I have developed towards my thesis make it exceptionally hard to work on.
Here I am editing and reflecting on my academic past. I have definitely learned a few lessons:
- Ph.D. Comics is the closest and most realistic portrayal of grad life. Any future grad student should read every single comic strip to understand what they are in for. You can swear that you will be different than Slackenery, but better individuals have been wrong.
- The rate at which your research becomes obsolete is slightly faster than the rate at which you can research. This is even more pronounced for my own rate of research!
- Free food only comes second to free money.
- Graduate student labs rarely have windows.
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Campus life - you know, everything but the researchy-working stuff you are supposed to be doing - is absolutely awesome. I miss being on campus. Especially chillin' with a friend in the middle of Johnson Green eating frosties and listening to Aerosmith. The fact that we were illegally parked on campus in a place where there really isn't a parking spot only makes the memories sweeter.
- (Added July 17, 2007) It is beyond annoying when people continually harass you about your thesis.
- Lastly, try to keep all of your referenced papers in pdf form, indexed and searchable from your computer. Trying to find a bit of information from a single paper can be a bitch when you have to delve through a stack!
Time to get back to work, I really gotta get this monkey off my back.
Sunset II
I am slacking on the photo every Monday thing, I have no idea how some people can post an image every day and maintain the rest of their lives.
Sure it looks like a beautiful lake it is just a gravel pit, one that I have been kicked out of for swimming in.
Park Bench
The blurring effect that makes this picture so cool looking is not intentional, in fact it is the result of a thousand tiny mosquitoes collaborating in an attack on me. They attacked the moment I clicked the shutter giving the nice blur effect that makes it look almost like a painting.
Wings of Paradise
This is the first official installment of my photoblog, I will usually post the photos Sunday afternoon or Monday morning.
This photo was taken at the Wings of Paradise butterfly conservatory near Guelph, ON. This is probably my favourite nature photo that I have taken. I love the colours of the butterfly and the leaves, and the curves of the leaves really give the photo a smooth, sensual touch.
