Sometimes I think it might be nice to open a bookstore/coffeeshop/hackspace and never deal with anything academic ever again. I'm having a really difficult time determining whether or not this is what I really want, or if that part of my brain is just inherently defeatist and doesn't think I can go to grad school/become a PhD/do whatever I want to do related to bio.
I'm not going to lie WuB, I'm not sure I want to do anything academic ever again and I have my PhD. There's so much crap you have to deal with whether it's PIs that expect you to work 60 hours as a post-doc, needing 2-3 post-docs to get your faculty position, or schools that expect you to bring in at least $X in grants (so they can double dip into them) on top of teaching/research just depresses me.
Mu wand is Black Walnut and Phoenix Feather, Ten and Three Quarter inches, Hard and I'm a Slytherin, which is what I expected (though I think Ravenclaw was probably more appropriate).
I'm not going to lie WuB, I'm not sure I want to do anything academic ever again and I have my PhD. There's so much crap you have to deal with whether it's PIs that expect you to work 60 hours as a post-doc, needing 2-3 post-docs to get your faculty position, or schools that expect you to bring in at least $X in grants (so they can double dip into them) on top of teaching/research just depresses me.
You make a pretty good case, right there. I've still got two years to think about the whole grad school/med school question, but I sometimes feel like just getting a job (most likely bio-related) that gives me the time and leftover energy to pursue the things I'm really interested in (see above) is preferable to another 5+ years of studying.
Taking time off to work or do something else with your life to prevent burn out won't hurt your ability to get into grad school (I have no idea about med school). I served on the admissions committee for my department and we always *liked* students who took time to mature and find themselves compared to people just finishing college. If they took the time to join the military/get a masters/start a business (though he floundered in classes his first year here from over-confidence)/get more research experience through work, they were more likely to succeed in grad school.
I also know a lot of people that came to grad school and discovered it wasn't for them. The class above me only had 1 guy out of 6 leave with his PhD. The others became a professional juggler, research coordinator for clinical trials, took over his family's business, pharmacist, and I have no idea what the last guy does since he transferred to another school but he hasn't published since 2004. Of a husband and wife combo in my grad school's class the wife dropped out with her masters and now does scientific writing/editing instead of research. One of my classmates left with her masters and is still figuring out what to do with her life. I know people that left with their PhD or masters and are teaching at HS or lower level too with no interest in stepping back into the lab.
Yeah, I'm going to try to get some research experience during my year off. I'm not pleased with my GPA, and I'd like to give schools something else to consider; also, it'll give me some time to figure out whether or not academia is really for me or not.
Same thing goes for med school applications, but I am profoundly (profoundly) disgusted with my fellow UIUC pre-meds, and that's kind of been a turn off from the MD/PhD path I'd been considering. I can count on one hand the pre-meds I've met that I enjoy spending time with, and I feel confident in saying I've met over one hundred. It's a bit depressing that a group of people can be so egotistical and pretentious about something they haven't even achieved yet.
I could buy a packaging machine and install it on the family farm in Spain...We could cut out the middlemen and be our own importers of luxurious Jamon Iberico. I'd fly out in the summer, buy up several hams, seal them and tag them in accordance with US Customs, and then ship them over.
You've got my details; we should discuss this further.
I could buy a packaging machine and install it on the family farm in Spain...We could cut out the middlemen and be our own importers of luxurious Jamon Iberico. I'd fly out in the summer, buy up several hams, seal them and tag them in accordance with US Customs, and then ship them over.
You've got my details; we should discuss this further.
Well, we need to settle upon details first: location, style, design, etc. And then we need to learn the restaurant code of wherever we're opening, and calculate expenses. Once that's done, Kickstarter would be a good first step.
Yeah, I'm going to try to get some research experience during my year off. I'm not pleased with my GPA, and I'd like to give schools something else to consider; also, it'll give me some time to figure out whether or not academia is really for me or not.
Same thing goes for med school applications, but I am profoundly (profoundly) disgusted with my fellow UIUC pre-meds, and that's kind of been a turn off from the MD/PhD path I'd been considering. I can count on one hand the pre-meds I've met that I enjoy spending time with, and I feel confident in saying I've met over one hundred. It's a bit depressing that a group of people can be so egotistical and pretentious about something they haven't even achieved yet.
Graduating in, oh, 6 days (hopefully...). If I could do it again, I definitely would have taken some time off to go work somewhere full time/pursue something else momentarily. Every year I've become a little more diligent and a little more mature, and I've come to resent how long periods of reflection have become associated with laziness/counter-productivity.
Oh, and I will frequent the shit out that Mead Hall.
Boston needs a Mead Hall for the pre-PAX dinner. That was my original suggestion for the location of that. Apparently Boston lacks a Mead Hall. You'll have a monopoly!
They seem to have acquired a place "called" Mead Hall. But that's not a Mead Hall.
Kickstarter is totally not supposed to be used for "help me start a business." They specifically say that in their guidelines. So you'd need to make it a discrete project with a start and end date. You might be better off going the traditional route first and looking for a few major investors.
That said, there are a lot of Kickstarter projects that somehow make it past the screening process even though they are flagrantly against the guidelines.
WUB? Wasn't it you who wanted to buy a huge amount of alcohol and transport it across state lines and were about to do this until you realized there's regulations governing these sorts of things?
Not to rain on the parade, but I'm sure manufacturing alcohol internationally and importing it in would be a tiny bit more difficult than even transporting it across state lines.
That said, kickstart it for real. I'd kick in $50 for my own mead cup goblet in a place of honor.
WUB? Wasn't it you who wanted to buy a huge amount of alcohol and transport it across state lines and were about to do this until you realized there's regulations governing these sorts of things?
Nope, that was Pete. And he already knew there were government regulations, it was just that the people who were going to sell it to him were not licensed to do so.
That was me. Driving across 3 state lines to buy 110 gallons of mead. They didn't have a liquor license, so we backed out.
As for the meadhall, New York has both farm brewery and farm winery licenses, which allow you to produce and vend in the same location, and also use the facilities as dwellings.
I'd vote for an Anglo-Saxon style meadhall myself. Kickstarting rewards could include stuff like "your name carved into the timber framing the hall."
And yeah, Kickstarter isn't really supposed to be used for business startups or equipment, but it often is. Kinda bullshit, really.
I can't imagine this costing less than half a million dollars.
1) Pete was the Mead Smuggler. Don't blame me for that. 2) We're talking about importing ham from Spain, not booze. It'd be done in relatively small quantities, which is something that's really easy to do when you've got a passport for both nations involved and a decent knowledge of the laws involved--As I, and most of my family (being immigrants), do.
Why would we brew in a different nation and then import it? Shit don't make sense, especially when Pete is a homebrewer, I'm interested in yeast breeding and extreme beer, and Pete's been talking about getting a brewing license for a long time.
Mead goblets as part of a Kickstarter, though. That is an interesting proposition.
I'd definitely want to set a "hall-thane" support level at like $10,000. Hospitality for life. Food, drink, lodging, for free, as long as the business is running.
I'd definitely want to set a "hall-thane" support level at like $10,000. Hospitality for life. Food, drink, lodging, for free, as long as the business is running.
"For life" promises are dangerous, but I can't see many people pledging at $10k+.
Mite b cool to give the Anglo-Saxon meadhall the industrial facelift (hewn timbers mixed with exposed steel girders, flagstone hearth) and put it in a building in the city. That's not all that far away from what BrewDog does with their pubs here, and you draw in the "I really love exposed brick" crowd.
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Black Walnut and Phoenix Feather, Ten and Three Quarter inches, Hard
and I'm a Slytherin, which is what I expected (though I think Ravenclaw was probably more appropriate).
I also know a lot of people that came to grad school and discovered it wasn't for them. The class above me only had 1 guy out of 6 leave with his PhD. The others became a professional juggler, research coordinator for clinical trials, took over his family's business, pharmacist, and I have no idea what the last guy does since he transferred to another school but he hasn't published since 2004. Of a husband and wife combo in my grad school's class the wife dropped out with her masters and now does scientific writing/editing instead of research. One of my classmates left with her masters and is still figuring out what to do with her life. I know people that left with their PhD or masters and are teaching at HS or lower level too with no interest in stepping back into the lab.
Same thing goes for med school applications, but I am profoundly (profoundly) disgusted with my fellow UIUC pre-meds, and that's kind of been a turn off from the MD/PhD path I'd been considering. I can count on one hand the pre-meds I've met that I enjoy spending time with, and I feel confident in saying I've met over one hundred. It's a bit depressing that a group of people can be so egotistical and pretentious about something they haven't even achieved yet.
Are you serious?
But it's a pretty fucking sweet idea.
You've got my details; we should discuss this further.
After May.
Oh, and I will frequent the shit out that Mead Hall.
They seem to have acquired a place "called" Mead Hall. But that's not a Mead Hall.
That said, there are a lot of Kickstarter projects that somehow make it past the screening process even though they are flagrantly against the guidelines.
Not to rain on the parade, but I'm sure manufacturing alcohol internationally and importing it in would be a tiny bit more difficult than even transporting it across state lines.
That said, kickstart it for real. I'd kick in $50 for my own mead cup goblet in a place of honor.
This also reminds me that I was thinking of a Lezard Valeth cosplay for the Tri-Wizard drinking tournament.
As for the meadhall, New York has both farm brewery and farm winery licenses, which allow you to produce and vend in the same location, and also use the facilities as dwellings.
I'd vote for an Anglo-Saxon style meadhall myself. Kickstarting rewards could include stuff like "your name carved into the timber framing the hall."
And yeah, Kickstarter isn't really supposed to be used for business startups or equipment, but it often is. Kinda bullshit, really.
I can't imagine this costing less than half a million dollars.
2) We're talking about importing ham from Spain, not booze. It'd be done in relatively small quantities, which is something that's really easy to do when you've got a passport for both nations involved and a decent knowledge of the laws involved--As I, and most of my family (being immigrants), do.
Why would we brew in a different nation and then import it? Shit don't make sense, especially when Pete is a homebrewer, I'm interested in yeast breeding and extreme beer, and Pete's been talking about getting a brewing license for a long time.
Mead goblets as part of a Kickstarter, though. That is an interesting proposition.
Mite b cool to give the Anglo-Saxon meadhall the industrial facelift (hewn timbers mixed with exposed steel girders, flagstone hearth) and put it in a building in the city. That's not all that far away from what BrewDog does with their pubs here, and you draw in the "I really love exposed brick" crowd.