Search results

Might as well use this thread for job-related bitching. Had performance reviews recently, and the official party line was that people who had been working for < 6 months of the past year aren't eligible for raises. Somehow, I got 2% for "exceeding expectations" in my first few months, but the...

OK, the opinions expressed here is what I figured. My parents went to all of their reunions even though there was a bit of travel involved, so I figured there would be a large "go to reunions" bloc out there. Atlanta was where I went to grad school. I live on the west coast now.

I got a message on Facebook from some people who used to be in the "popular" crowd back in high school about a reunion. My immediate reaction consisted of slight sadness yet indifference for a few reasons 1. Facebook exists now. Anyone I cared to keep up with is my friend and I can see...

I do random things for my gf that play off our own inside jokes. It's also a semi-long distance relationship, so once when I was away for awhile, I mailed her a pillowcase and told her to sleep on it for a few days and mail it back so I could "have her scent with me". To give a more broadly...

RE: Modern art, I went to Centre Pompidou, which is supposedly a famous modern art museum, and it was so bad/confusing that I actually saw people staring at and taking pictures of wallpaper because they couldn't figure out where the fuck the art was.

Jesus, man, 3+ rounds of interviews? This had better be an awesome job. Otherwise, they are wasting a lot of people's time (including their own). I think for my current job there was like, one round, unless you count chatting with a rep at the career fair to be a round.

Virginia Democrat (Candidate) Calls For Forcing Doctors To Accept Medicare And Medicaid Patients Granted, this is just some idiot who's not in Congress proposing something ridiculous, it is thought provoking because I have heard anecdotes of many doctors refusing to see Medicare/Medicaid...

Yeah when I got out of grad school I could hardly stand the first year grad students. Can't imagine what it must be like trying to relate to first years a decade from now. Regardless, I can't condone hating on the guy for dating young. I have a moment here and there when I see the throngs of...

Google Maps says 7 minutes. I actually think it's too short because I was used to hellish commutes back in grad school where I would just zone out and listen to the news on NPR. Now I basically have just enough time to listen to their hourly update.

Heh, they haven't changed the salary one iota since 2010. One of the reasons I keep pretty strict working hours...

Welp, just found out insurance costs are going up by 6% for all plans at my company, and they are passing it along to us rather than absorbing it like has happened in years past. Well, technically mine is not going up since the high deductible insurance is free, so my deductible is going to be...

Grats man, good luck. You're in Atlanta, right? I've only been gone a few months and I would still move back there in a heartbeat, but alas there are no semiconductor jobs.

So what's the consensus on this? There's a good chance my gf will move in with me in the next year, but I am not looking forward to having a rent conversation. We both earn the same amount, so it's not an ability to pay, but it just seems weird to be living somewhere, affording it fine, and...

Attrition? I don't know, the supply has a very long tail, at least for coins. I found quite a few silver quarters back in the 90's and a wheat penny like 3 years ago (switched over to basically all card payments since then so the chance of me finding any in the future is nil) As for the...

None. I played WoW fairly consistently (first ~3 years as a hardcore raider) through about 2 months into Cata, but the casual weekend raid I played with fell apart, and fuck raidfinder. Tried to play MoP for a month but I just couldn't get over pandas, so I'm waiting for the next expansion...

Nope. Isn't even a semiconductor. It's way better as an interconnect material. Copper has a really bad time doing the interconnect job now, at least at the lowest metal layers, and as a result, something like 50% of power consumption in CPUs is now due only to these wires.

I used an Arduino back in school to do some on-board measurements of frisbee throws for some random class project. Worked out awesome; would have used it for other sports but I was too busy at the time.

So my32" Samsung 6300I use as a computer monitor already has some white splotching on the right-hand side after 6 months (side note: yes, I know I'm an idiot for buying a $700 32" screen, but I wanted a thin frame with a 1080p screen). What companies are known for build quality these days? I'm...

That's crazy. Then again, this particular part of the law has always been about getting healthy people into the insurance pool, not benefiting healthy people really. Sort of a digression, but insurance smacks of a regressive tax to me because people with more money can afford the risk of...

IMO, the problem with online dating is that you start to commoditize the other sex. Something went wrong? There's always another. I have seen my friends make this mistake, but to me, it takes some hard work and sticking your neck out to get from dating to a relationship. Not saying that you...

Have you been to a Chick-fil-a? Easily the best fast food experience in the country, and the food is generally pretty good too. The people working there are friendly and respectful; I actually got to know some of the managers at my local one (try doing that anywhere else), and every month or...

Allstate did this to my then-new car when I got in a minor wreck. After the wreck, a front headlight apparatus was replaced with an aftermarket one that didn't fit right at all and the light would lose electrical contact all the damn time, meaning I was often without a turn signal on one side...

Heh, I'm the exact opposite -- I will always buy the American one, usually without regard to price. This doubly applies to anything metal or of high price because my Chinese metal tools completely rusted over in less than 5 years of being in a closet in Georgia. Furniture too. I went around...

My father called me the other day asking what was a good free antivirus program. I know dick all about this stuff but I was like "well Microsoft makes something called Security Essentials now. That would at least get you some small amount of protection until you buy something." He calls me...

Any good made in USA stuff comparable to casual Banana Republic/J. Crew button-down shirts/pants? The closest I found was Brooks Brothers, but they only make their fancy stuff here. Jeans probably won't be that hard

This is the only fair way to deal with an undesirable shift, well that or start paying more as an incentive to take the evenings. I work in a 24-7 environment, and engineers would not put up with permanent night shift, so we do a weekly on-call rotation so that, should something arise, someone...

Yeah, when is this trial supposed to end? Gonna stock up on groceries :P

If you want to get really mad, read (TARP inspector general) Neil Barofsky's bookBailout The greed isn't really isolated to bankers. In my mind, if they built houses now like they did in the 60's, they would be much more affordable. I grew up in a 1950's ranch house, 1050 square feet, 2...

Not a homeowner, but wouldn't reducing the amount required to trigger PMI payments cause a commensurate increase in home prices as some families find out they have more "buying power"? The price of the home is irrelevant without taking into account the sum of the interest, insurance, taxes...

These two interviews happened at the same company but in different groups: 1. Got an e-mail through my grad school department from someone saying their old internship boss had an opening. I sent my resume off and was contacted for a phone interview. He started the interview with technical...

Too late for this thread, but agreed that Atlanta sucks for tourism. Not that much to do that any other big city doesn't have. World of Coke, GA Aquarium, High Museum if you like art, and Stone Mountain are the things I would consider taking visitors to. Atlanta has a surprising number of...

I don't hate rich people; I hate the pernicious strain of rich practiced by people in the Bay Area. After the 100th time being held up in line at the ice cream shop (I'm 6'1" and 160 lbs, I can eat what I want) by one of these fuckers taste testing every goddamn flavor while chitchatting with...

How is it ironic? Even a retard can spot another retard. You live in Dallas, IIRC, which is a pretty diverse city economically, so you could theoretically escape the yuppies if you so chose.

Seriously... as a science guy, the software boom has made it pretty much impossible to buy a home or start a life in the Bay Area. I was looking at apartments in the southwest corner of the bay, but being around so many nouveau riche douchebags in company t-shirts and jeans with sports cars was...

Nice, props for actually following through. I was skeptical, but it seems like you have implemented many things that you proposed.

Had a cousin pick up a gluten allergy somehow after she had her kid. Don't know the details of what it entailed though. She's not a hippie by any means (rural midwest), so it must be real. On a quasi-related note, not sure if this is an allergy or what, but it seems like when I hit up...

Negotiating compensation as a new grad seems impossible. I recently got a tech job on the west coast (new PhD). I had a few contacts inside the company, so I knew the exact salary they were offering going back about 5 years. The pay they offered me was decent for the area (~120k), but it was...

I went there and left empty handed because everything is way too frumpy for a guy of a normal BMI. Ended up buying a suit from Express, and it is stylish as hell, tapered at the midsection, and required no tailoring save for the cuffs. I will only be wearing this suit for very special...

Sort of a rant, but what's the deal with newer homes being over-sized and on ridiculously tiny lots? This is especially prevalent out west. Just finalized a start date for my first job out of grad school (Pacific NW), and just a day or two of looking at houses online has convinced me that I...

Ah yeah that makes sense; thanks! I asked around at my old work and that's apparently they way they handle per diems for interviews rather than doing reimbursements (I just came back from an interview)