first? hmm.

booyah

oh, I’m so pleased I gave up. for me it was a sleep issue, but it has helped in so many other ways. I still drunk occasionally, but I absolutely notice it when I do

yup - giving up has been a great choice! mostly I don’t miss it, but an extremely hard few weeks makes a glass of red in the bath sound very tempting. Here’s a herbal tea cheers to you (or whatever your muddle aged person drunk of choice is!)

edit: drunk of choice was a totally appropriate typo so I’m leaving it

edit edit: props to you for giving up, for whatever your reasons were

roast cauliflower is a surprisingly great meal in and of itself

it has been a rough few weeks, team. I kinda wish I weren’t off the booze, which means it’s probably a good thing I am.

edit: before anyone’s concerned, I’ve been off the booze all year, I’m just saying

Can’t sleep, so watching good ol’ SVU.

excellent news.

this is a difficulty for people who go straight from undergrad to PhD. It can also be a slight warning sign (but absolutely not always) if a phd grad has no experience at all, because usually phd students need to supplement their scholarship/RTP, and supportive supervisors will give good students a boost with some casual work to give them experience/time on the books.

But yes - I often encourage students to get some experience, one way or another, while studying. Often, the type who go straight from one degree to the next are precisely the type who worry that taking a few hours out to do paid work each week will negatively impact their academic performance, etc, and they need to be gently reminded that a well rounded application is stronger than a straight H1 student who has never seen or done anything!

oof. Advertised for a junior/entry level position in my team (academic research), got 74 applications, many with PhDs. Rough.

Brie is a mild cheese

when I say car replacement, I mean if I factor in my daily exercise time etc, as an overall factor, not that it is like a car…

so several months ago, I sought advice from this sub on ebikes, and got some great input from a few people (Calhoon? thornburywitch? taleya? I can’t remember, but they seem likely…). Just wanted to say that a few weeks ago, I bought one (a kalkhoff as recommended by, I think, Calhoon?) and it has been perfect. Affordable (to me, I recognise that is not the same for everone), low end ebike, perfect for the commute from home to work. it is SO MUCH FUN to ride.

I love her (her name is Debra, just FYI).

model: https://everybodyebikes.com.au/products/kalkhoff-endeavour-1-b?variant=44691780796568

almost a total car replacement for anything in a…say…25k radius!

eh…I’m old enough that social media wasn’t really around when I was young and doing stupid things more publicly. Now, my job makes me pretty public anyway, and there are very, very few people in the world with my exact name, so if you google it, only a few of us appear and the most public one is me. All professional pages, though.

also 45, with a couple of guesses

I have had a very rough week and I appreciate this content.

so, I have no feelings about Celine Dion as a singer… but as a person who can’t sleep, I am finding her documentary fascinating and admirable

champ!

nobody else still up?

oh wow, congratulations mate - amazing news and a great end to a long journey

edit: or rather, what a great way to take the next steps