Change is good...right?
My running stats for last week were better, but still far behind what I would like them to be.
Mon 4 miles, slow pace
Tue 10.8 miles, stationary bike
Wed 4 miles, slow pace
Thu (lazy)
Fri 14.4 miles, stationary bike
Sat 12 miles, slow pace
Sun (rest)
Week Total: 18 miles running, 15.2 miles stationary bike
I thought I'd be sore from the biking (especially in my quads) but I wasn't sore AT ALL, even though I was pedalling my ass off and sweating like a hog. It kind of pissed me off. But I ran this morning and my legs feel SO much better these days, so hopefully I can make a near-complete recovery and get my mileage back up where it should be.
So last week's prominent event was taking my first steps toward pursuing a degree in Neuroscience. I spoke with Dr. Neikirk on Friday about how I had been thinking of pursuing this path, and asked him what he thought I should do. He gave me some really great advice and after talking with him, I felt even better about making this decision so I was really glad I asked him. Some of the more important opinions that he gave me were to not go back and get a bachelor's in biology (which I had been considering, because I have such a huge deficiency there). He also told me that getting your master's degree in natural sciences is totally different than in engineering. In engineering, it's perfectly acceptable to get your master's, not pursue a PhD, and then go on to be successful in industry. In natural sciences though, everyone goes for a PhD, and a master's is just something you pick up along the way. He said someone who only has their master's and not their PhD in natural sciences is someone who "couldn't make it all the way through". So now I know that I'm going for a PhD, if I decide to really take the plunge into this field. I talked with the professor of my neurophysiology class today about this too, and talking to him made me feel better too. Both of them encouraged me to pursue it if I really want to do it, and not let things like the fact that I've never seriously studied biology get in my way. Oh yeah, and I haven't mentioned anything about this at all to my advising professor, because I don't trust her to help me make this decision at all. Isn't it ironic that the only professor I don't seek advice from is my advisor? Please, feel free to laugh at the sweet irony with me here.
Now the question remains should I really apply for the program, and if so when? The deadline for Fall 2006 is January 15th, which is soon. Plus there's the fact that my boss at Freescale still wants me to work for them full-time once I graduate (hopefully in Spring, probably in Summer). So I'm considering going to work for a year before applying to this program (if I ever get in) to take some time-off from school for a while and earn some money. But there's also a part of me that doesn't want to interrupt my education, and wants to go ahead and start next Fall. Its hard to explain, but I feel like I'm going to lose a lot if I quit school for a year. For now, all I can do is keep talking to more people and get a better picture of what it is I really want to do.
Okay, for closing this post I have a fun little analysis of the linked structure of Wikipedia, which I find absolutely fascinating. Very often, as I am reading Wikipedia articles I unconciously start following links as I read articles, and then somewhere down the road realize "Hey, why am I reading this? What was I initally rading about again?" So my question tonight is: how are sharks related to Bob Newhart? The answer:
- A famous historical incident of shark attacks were the Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916
- The Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916 inspired the creation of the movie Jaws
- Jaws was successful and three sequels were made, the last being Jaws: The Revenge
- Jaws: The Revenge was a god-awful movie which was nominated for worst picture in the 1987 Golden Raspberry Awards
- The movie that actually "won" worse picture in the 1987 Golden Raspberry Awards was Leonard Part 6, co-produeced by Bill Cosby
- Like Bill Cosby, Bob Newhart can be humorous without resorting to profanity.
Wasn't that a fun little example? Maybe I'll these more often in my posts. :)
Mon 4 miles, slow pace
Tue 10.8 miles, stationary bike
Wed 4 miles, slow pace
Thu (lazy)
Fri 14.4 miles, stationary bike
Sat 12 miles, slow pace
Sun (rest)
Week Total: 18 miles running, 15.2 miles stationary bike
I thought I'd be sore from the biking (especially in my quads) but I wasn't sore AT ALL, even though I was pedalling my ass off and sweating like a hog. It kind of pissed me off. But I ran this morning and my legs feel SO much better these days, so hopefully I can make a near-complete recovery and get my mileage back up where it should be.
So last week's prominent event was taking my first steps toward pursuing a degree in Neuroscience. I spoke with Dr. Neikirk on Friday about how I had been thinking of pursuing this path, and asked him what he thought I should do. He gave me some really great advice and after talking with him, I felt even better about making this decision so I was really glad I asked him. Some of the more important opinions that he gave me were to not go back and get a bachelor's in biology (which I had been considering, because I have such a huge deficiency there). He also told me that getting your master's degree in natural sciences is totally different than in engineering. In engineering, it's perfectly acceptable to get your master's, not pursue a PhD, and then go on to be successful in industry. In natural sciences though, everyone goes for a PhD, and a master's is just something you pick up along the way. He said someone who only has their master's and not their PhD in natural sciences is someone who "couldn't make it all the way through". So now I know that I'm going for a PhD, if I decide to really take the plunge into this field. I talked with the professor of my neurophysiology class today about this too, and talking to him made me feel better too. Both of them encouraged me to pursue it if I really want to do it, and not let things like the fact that I've never seriously studied biology get in my way. Oh yeah, and I haven't mentioned anything about this at all to my advising professor, because I don't trust her to help me make this decision at all. Isn't it ironic that the only professor I don't seek advice from is my advisor? Please, feel free to laugh at the sweet irony with me here.
Now the question remains should I really apply for the program, and if so when? The deadline for Fall 2006 is January 15th, which is soon. Plus there's the fact that my boss at Freescale still wants me to work for them full-time once I graduate (hopefully in Spring, probably in Summer). So I'm considering going to work for a year before applying to this program (if I ever get in) to take some time-off from school for a while and earn some money. But there's also a part of me that doesn't want to interrupt my education, and wants to go ahead and start next Fall. Its hard to explain, but I feel like I'm going to lose a lot if I quit school for a year. For now, all I can do is keep talking to more people and get a better picture of what it is I really want to do.
Okay, for closing this post I have a fun little analysis of the linked structure of Wikipedia, which I find absolutely fascinating. Very often, as I am reading Wikipedia articles I unconciously start following links as I read articles, and then somewhere down the road realize "Hey, why am I reading this? What was I initally rading about again?" So my question tonight is: how are sharks related to Bob Newhart? The answer:
- A famous historical incident of shark attacks were the Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916
- The Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916 inspired the creation of the movie Jaws
- Jaws was successful and three sequels were made, the last being Jaws: The Revenge
- Jaws: The Revenge was a god-awful movie which was nominated for worst picture in the 1987 Golden Raspberry Awards
- The movie that actually "won" worse picture in the 1987 Golden Raspberry Awards was Leonard Part 6, co-produeced by Bill Cosby
- Like Bill Cosby, Bob Newhart can be humorous without resorting to profanity.
Wasn't that a fun little example? Maybe I'll these more often in my posts. :)
posted by Tyler Olsen at 10:31 PM
2 Comments:
Lol, I like that Wikipedia links thing. That was cool.
As for whether to take a year off from school to work and then come back to get a grad degree, I would advise you to not do that, and just go straight for Fall 2006. If you go work for a year, it's very likely you won't want to/be able to/etc go back to school. In fact I was talking to my supervisor at work today and he said pretty much the same thing.
Yeah, I've heard that numerous times before and I've experienced it myself to a limited degree already. When I worked for Freescale over the summer I'd usually work my ass off M-F, then over the weekend I would do nothing but relax. And now I have a real hard time even now breaking that habit (ie, actually studying/doing homework on the weekends). It is certainly one good reason why I may want to just go ahead and apply for Fall 2006.
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