Cafe Reviews for the Dissertation Writer, Volume 4

Earlier this week Tiff and I worked at Cartel Coffee Lab.  In short, it was terrible.  The only place I won't go back to work.

There were still a couple pros/neat aspects:

• They had a really neat/funky table arrangement.  Two tall, pretty big tables near each other, but rather than having separate seats for each table, the space in between was occupied by what looked like a lower table.  It was like two benches joined together for a shared seating space.  There were normal bar stool type seats on the outer sides of the tables.  I thought they were kinda cool.  They had normal tables/chairs and bar/bar stool seating if that's too weird for you.
• It's near home for Tiff
• Real dishes, by now you all know how I love real dishes.
• Free wifi (when you ask for the password when you buy something...)
• It wasn't crowded, so there was plenty of space to work and plenty of tables available, though when you see the con list you might understand why.

Cons:

• The drinks were totally overpriced.  The small drink, was VERY SMALL.
• My VERY small hot chocolate was barely lukewarm.
• The menu was VERY limited.
• There was essentially no food.  Certainly none worth eating.  All they had was a basket of bagels, presumably leftover from that morning.
• The cafe itself was cold.  I don't want to have to wear my coat all night just to not freeze!  Not to mention my wet rain jacket isn't going to do all that much to keep me warm.
• The background music was way too loud - definitely louder than at other cafes.
• It's also super annoying when the barista's loud and obnoxious friends decide to come visit her at work.
• And it's only open til 10!  Assuming I've been able to sleep more than a few hours/night for the past 2 weeks and aren't dozing off left and right, I probably hit a good, productive stride around 9, and you're going to kick me out at 10??

Sorry, Cartel.  I won't be back.

Cafe Reviews for the Dissertation Writer, Volume 3

Last week Tiff and I had our dissertation date at Epic Cafe, just around the corner from where I live.  Here's the breakdown, with perhaps more commentary than usual, because once again, I'm waiting on spectra to acquire:

Pros

• Free wifi - though should this really be on the "pro" list?  I mean, what cafe doesn't have free wifi?  I probably wouldn't bother working at any place that didn't.  I guess I'll keep putting it.  Just in case we ever work somewhere about which I have nothing else nice to say?
• Real dishes - this isn't just me being a green/hippie freak.  I genuinely prefer real dishes to disposable.
• Epic has lots of food, including meal-worthy food (sandwiches and pasta salads and soups and such), not just sweets/snacks.
• Walking distance of work and home - this is literally like a 2 minute walk from home.  It would be hard to be closer to home.
• Local business
• Non-distracting music
• Couches!
• Super foamy hot chocolate deliciousness
• They'll reheat your drink when it gets cool before you finish it. :)

Cons

• It was quiet when I got there, but became really loud.  Like REALLY loud.  Considerably louder than Starbucks.
• A lot of their sweets are vegan.  Baked goods are meant to have butter and eggs.  I'm sorry, but vegan baked goods taste like crap.
• The couches and tables not at compatible working height.  If I sat on my feet I was at an ok height to work at the table, but if I sat on my butt I was too low to comfortable work with my laptop on the table.
• A lot of the tables are VERY close together.  Seriously.  No more than a foot.  I had to turn sideways and slide between them. This can be quite awkward when the couple next to you is having a conversation not meant to be had in public, or when the crazy old man next to you notices that you're doing Science.  Which brings me to a story.

So the crazy old man sitting next to me at some point looks over and realizes that I'm doing Science (I was putting a zillion little colored dots on a spectrum to label the peaks.), and asked if I was doing psychology.  Not sure how you get psychology out of that, but then he starts rambling about a psychology degree that he finished in 2007 (coincidentally, the same year I graduated from college, and this guy had to be at least 70).  Then he starts talking about some college algebra class he took in 1964.  I'm mostly smiling and nodding, because what else do you do?  You can't ignore a man talking to you from the table 12 inches away.

Eventually he leaves, telling me and Tiff that it'll all be worth it.  We reply that we certainly hope so.  (Really, really, really hope so.  There are a lot of days when I'm not remotely convinced.)

At this point the girl sitting at the table on the other side of Tiff asks if we're grad students.  She's not phased when I say yes.  After all, if she's an undergrad at U of A there's no way she hasn't had graduate students instructing far more than just her lab courses.  Then she asks what we're studying.  Tiff tells her we're both working on our dissertations for a PhD in chemistry.  Her reaction, given with a look of pity and horror:

"Fuuuuuuuuuuck."

:)

Cafe Reviews for the Dissertation Writer, Volume 2

Last week Tiff and I met for another dissertation date, this time at the Starbucks right by campus on University (as opposed to the one on campus in the bookstore, or the one about half a mile southeast of campus...).  I got the scoop on how her 6 month meeting went and worked on some more figures for my own.  Here's the breakdown for this dissertation writing venue:

Pros:

• Fireplaces!  A fireplace automatically makes a place homier and cozier and means automatic points in my book.
• Walking distance of home and campus
• Peppermint hot chocolate - my seasonal holiday hot beverage of choice :)
• Free wifi
• Decent food/snacks available in quantity and quality (though pretty much all sweet and definitely all overpriced)

Cons:

• No surprise, but the Starbucks right be campus was swarming with undergrads, some of whom were absurdly loud and annoying
• There are very few tables big enough for more than one person to work.  We got lucky this time.
• Definitely not local business (I'm generally in favor of supporting local businesses.)

While the fireplaces are a huge plus in my book, this wasn't my favorite place to work.  Though I think there's a good possibility that it could be quite nice as soon as the undergrads clear out for Christmas break.  Finals start tomorrow, so not much longer. :)

We've got another dissertation date tonight, though venue has yet to be decided...

6 months

It's scheduled.  I'm still half expecting somebody to say never mind, that's a bad time, and back out, but as of this afternoon my 6 month committee meeting will be in 2 weeks - December 14th.  I've gotten a decent amount of work done since Thanksgiving while I've been in PA, but it's a good thing my labmate and I have another figure-making date planned for Thursday night.  Her committee meeting is actually tomorrow, but there's obviously more work to be done after this meeting.  It'll be nice to get some more insider-scoop before my own meeting. :)

Eep!

Retraction

Ugh.  I just ran into one of my committee members (and E's advisor) in the hall, and he asked when I was trying to have my 6 month meeting.  And then said he probably couldn't make it (keep in mind I told him a FOUR DAY window, and the exact time of this ONE HOUR meeting has yet to be determined, and no, he isn't going to be out of town).  And then he asked if I had a job yet.  No.  And then he asked if I had a post-doc yet.  No, and I don't think I want one anymore.  And then he asked why I was having my 6 month meeting already if I didn't have a job or a post-doc lined up.

Because I CAN be done in the spring, so I WANT to be done in the spring, so I WILL be done in the spring.  Get me out of here now please!!!

Miscellaneous Graduation-Related Good News and a Cupcake

I had a meeting yesterday with The Queen, and she gave me the green light to schedule my 6 month meeting!  Woohoo!  My outline is done, and I have a list of all the figures I think I need, so it's time to get going on those figures.  She also ok'd the rearrangements I wanted for my committee - including replacing one of my originals, and keeping another of my originals even though she's moved to another university.

The new committee member I wanted agreed to do it, and should be available the week my out-of-town committee member will conveniently be in town.  So it's looking like this meeting will be sometime the week of December 12th.

A while back I asked my advisor if she minded if I did some of my dissertation writing remotely.  Remotely as in at Boyfriend's place in Pennsylvania.  She was pretty busy at the time, but her response was really quite snippy and non-positive, despite saying that was fine.  She instantly drew comparisons to a completely and utterly different situation that really weren't fair, and frankly a bit insulting.  Other labmates in far more similar situations have done what I have in mind with success and complete approval.  But whatever, I made plans to write from PA after both Thanksgiving and Christmas anyways (may as well combine trips east).  Yesterday during our meeting The Queen said (much more kindly and politely) that she really is ok with me writing from Pennsylvania, she's just feeling rather empty-nest-ish about my leaving.  For real, her term, not mine.  Funny, no?  I can certainly understand the sentiment though - there aren't exactly a plethora of capable and competent junior students.  She also said that another analytical faculty member, completely unsolicited, asked her what she was going to do when I left.  Surprising, but also pretty darn nice.

Several weeks ago E and I baked cookies for a friend's second year seminar (the first good one of the year! but that's a story for another time).  As Dallas' advisor was taking cookies, she asked, "What are we going to eat when you two leave??"  Another analytical prof said, "What?!  They're leaving?!"  I told Dallas' advisor not to worry, that it would be an opportunity for a division-wide diet.

Speaking of baked goods, yesterday was my labmate/officemate's birthday, so for the occasion I made these Toffee Crunch Cupcakes from Annie's Eats.  They're divine.

I'm off!  Headed to the east coast tomorrow for the next week!  Woohoo!  Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Seminar Snoozer

So I went to a seminar earlier this afternoon, and it was actually a really excellent seminar.  The speaker was good, the data was good, her approach to science is good.  I was all great.

There's the one professor in my department who is notorious for falling asleep during seminars.  Seriously, it happens ALL THE TIME.  I'm pretty sure nobody's ever called him out on it because he's faculty emeritus at this point.  I'll admit that I sometimes doze off during seminars, however, when I do, I don't have the audacity to ask a question at the end.  This man ALWAYS asks a question, and it always falls into one of 4 categories.

• A reasonable question that very obviously refers to the first 5, maybe 10 minutes of the talk, which is generally concerning the broader implications or motivations for the research
• A completely irrelevant, off-the-wall question
• A question that was most definitely clearly and thoroughly addressed during the talk
• And rarest of all, a question that is actually totally relevant and insightful

Today's embarrassment fell into the 3rd category.  He asked a question that she must have spent at least 10 minutes discussing and explaining how they addressed the problem to validate their results.  GAH.  I really wish somebody would start their reply to him with, "Well, I've already discussed that, but briefly..."

It would be SO satisfying.