The woeful negligence of this blog has partially been me over-committing myself this school year, as well as making good progress on my research project. The thing with research is it has its highs and lows for a million reasons. The plus side of being on the “high” side is I’m making progress. The down [...]

My Galaxy S3 died very, very suddenly and without warning on Friday. A visit to T-mobile and my own attempts at resuscitation were fruitless. I am on a very old flip phone until the repair center sends a new phone to me. One of the downsides of having a popular phone that was fairly recently [...]

Last semester, I realized that I needed to take a break from working on so many things. I didn’t take a true break, but I allowed myself more time to just do nothing. It was a good move. Having a more leisure schedule for work/research/outreach was wonderful. Additionally, because everyone else is on break, Boston [...]

It’s almost New Year’s Eve. Even though I know the calendar year doesn’t symbolize much for me (there’s still another semester on the horizon), I can’t help but be reflective on the past year as the news and everyone else I know seems to be doing so. Despite my hopes, 2012 has been one of [...]

One of my proteges asked what are the differences between grad school and undergrad. I thought it was an interesting question and a very long response followed. I began thinking more about it, and here’s how I would best describe the differences. Note that I’m thinking of more traditional aged students and this based on [...]

This semester I’ve made a conscientious decision to scale things back and do things that make me happy or that are imperative (work). Grad school (or maybe more accurate, life) isn’t always fun and you can get pulled into projects/committees/etc. that are not making you happy. Life is too short to be unhappy if you [...]

I have been working on a pilot study this past semester, which entail visiting other campuses and doing interviews. There are things that are more obvious to have along with me (batteries, a digital voice recorder), but some items are less obvious but still rather essential to me. They are: Comfortable, professional looking shoes. I [...]

Being a Gates Millennium Scholar comes with a ton of perks beyond the financial aspect, which is obviously significant; I don’t know how I would’ve gone to college. I’ve met some of my favorite people through them, and they provide amazing opportunities which include the chance to go to conferences. Last weekend I was in [...]

My pilot study goes through periods of activity and periods of inactivity. This wouldn’t be a problem except I cannot anticipate when one will hit; with doing interviews, I have to go when people are available. The pilot study was a good idea, as my methodology is slightly changing; for those who don’t know, a [...]

Over the past month, I’ve recommended that a few folks seek out the campus ombudsperson. What is ombuds? The ombudsperson is kind of an outsider to the university whose job is to provide impartial, confidential support for faculty, students, and staff regarding most issues pertaining the campus/campus life (academics, social situations, relationships, etc.). I thoroughly [...]