You've probably heard about the budget cuts over in the East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALC) Department -- maybe you read Angela's post. I heard from a few people, but I didn't know Berkeley has a site that lets me sign in with my CalNet ID to vote on the matter. Check it out: http://petition.berkeley.edu/
The last day to petition is tomorrow, Wed May 14th.
To every hard-working college student shaking their head in the wee hours of the night, rock on. Rock on :)
To every college college student procrastinating while shaking their head in the wee hours of the night, get busy :)
I everyone who slept tonight: I envy you.
www.pandora.com -- Free internet radio from the Music Genome Project.
Have you ever heard of BERC? It stands for the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative, a 2-year old graduate student club that brings together people interested in energy, climate change, and sustainability. With over 400 graduate student members, the most active mailserv I've ever seen, and creator of the huge UC Energy Symposium that just went down on March 7th, I always thought it was a shame they didn't have a place for undergraduates. It's going to change this week:
**Cheese Board** Pizza, Ping Pong, and Air Hockey
Wednesday March 19th, 5pm-6:30 pm
Mulford, Room 260, CNR Student Resource Center
As a loyal reader of Fresh Faces, you're invited to the BERC Undergrad Kickoff Night! We want to have a fun, relaxing, time while introducing undergrads to the incredible opportunities and especially the community that is BERC. This event is for EVERYONE, grad students, undergrads, faculty and staff. There is no agenda, come eat, drink, be merry, and practice your leisure sports because the competition will be fierce.
The event will be organized by Harris Cohn (CRS) and I (EEP) who were appointed VPs of BERC Undergrad earlier this year. The title is still fuzzy, but our role isn't. Our plan is to first create a mentoring program where undergraduates interested in energy, climate change, and sustainability, can pair up with graduates students in business, law, engineering, public policy, and the many sciences: social, physical, biological, & environmental. Second, we're looking for sophomores or juniors who might be interested in taking over our role and developing something larger for future years -- like a BERC study abroad program, or renewable energy projects in developing countries.
Feel free to forward this announcement to your friends.
Drop us a line if you have any questions. We're looking forward to it, hope to see you there!
Harris Cohn (harriscohn@gmail.com) and Tay Feder (tfeder@gmail.com)
About five years ago, I thought to myself: why don't networks stream their shows online? Don't they want more viewers? It took them a while, but they're doing it now. Most stations, FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, have started to offer their content online with ads. One site that has episodes and movies from multiple studios is Hulu.com, which just recently finished its beta testing and is open to the public. Netflix.com, also offers online viewing. If you or your parents use Netflix, you can log-on and watch some TV and movies online ad-free. Their content isn't as great as Hulu or content providers' sites, but the video quality is top-notch. In my mind there's no need to download illegal torrents / files from p2p apps and risk getting 'the letter' when there's a free and legal alternative...
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For though who don't know, on-campus recruiting happens in Fall for most full-time (for seniors) and Spring for most summer internships (2nd, 3rd years, and junior transfers). Although the majority of the OCR deadlines have passed, there are still some great job fairs. Here's one that I've been waiting for. I'll be at the Carbon Forum America Conference in San Francisco until 4pm, so hopefully BART will get me back in time!!! Hope to see you there!
ECO (Environmental Companies and Organizations) Career Fair
Wednesday, March 12, 2008, 5 - 7 pm
MLK Student Union, West Pauley Ballroom
Employers who will be at the fair listed online at: http://career.berkeley.edu/FairDir/fairDirDisplay.asp?fair_id=21
In the recent California storm, some of my family and friends went without power for up to four days. If you went without power for more than 48hrs, you qualify for some cash from PG&E. It's not much, but there's no reason not to take it -- is there? Also, if you lost a lot of food in your fridge or freezer, you can submit a claim requesting reimbursement for food spoilage. Check it out:
Food Spoilage http://www.pge.com/includes/docs/pdfs/customer_service/claims/claimform_santarosa.pdf
Safety Net The program provides a special, customer service staffed outage hotline, 1 (888) 743-4743 or 1 (888) PGE-4PGE, so you can speak to someone about your particular outage. Call and request a Storm Inconvenience Payment, which are provided in increments of $25, up to a maximum of $100 per event. Payment levels are based on the length of the customer's outage
* 48 to 72 hours $25
* 72 to 96 hours $50
* 96 to 120 hours $75
* 120 hours or more $100
So, my weekend was a blast. Basically, after finishing the GRE on Saturday, I've been happier than a clam -- that is, before the oceans started to acidify. Today, I participated in a fund raising event with my Martial Arts school in Danville. I used to practically live there, but I've only been there a few times this semester. I miss it!
A group of 14 of us performed 1,000 kicks for charity. We each sought people to sponsor us by pledging donations to the Bay Area Covenant House, a shelter for homeless youth in Oakland. Everyone who sponsored me pledged a flat rate donation, except a good friend of mine. Shout outs to Lucy, Brian, Dina, Dmitriy, Paulo, Donna, Kimberly, and John. Thanks guys!
Collectively, we raised more than a few thousand dollars, all of which will be paired with matching donations when the money makes it to the Covenant House in a few weeks. I'll add some pictures to this post later. Now, all I have to focus on are job interviews, finishing up final term papers, and studying for finals. It’s going to much more fun than practicing for a standardized test, that’s for sure!
#1) No calculator.
#2) $140x2 test fees = $280+TX
#3) $141.67 in used books
#4) Opportunity cost of countless hours of studying.
#5) A Yale study shows the explanatory power of GRE scores is only 1% for graduate psychology students' academic performance (grades, faculty evaluations on students). The correlation for women was NEGATIVE. [1] University of Texas and Blowing Green State University studies indicated that GRE scores were poor indication of graduate performance. [2,3]
#6) Did I mention you can't use a calculator? Why the hell is my ability to multiply and divide large numbers a fair estimation of my preparedness for graduate school?
#7) It's a test of endurance (hint: when you finish a section, don't hit continue and you'll get an extra break).
#8) ETS has added two questions types, but don’t incorporate them into the practice tests.
#9) ETS no longer tells you if you’re taking an experimental section or if it’s real. Sure, it’s great for their testing, but last time I got two quantitative tests. If the second one was the last test (which it was), and if it was real, then I was at a further disadvantage after 3.15hrs of prior testing.
#10) I'll still need to take the GMAT later. A great example of how a one-product monopoly can provide greater customer surplus than an uber-lame oligopoly. However, even if GMAC and ETS merged, I bet the tests would be kept separate :(
#11) You are videotaped, and your fingerprints are taken.
It’s 2:05AM and my stomach is growling. I have class at 9:30AM and if I’m late, my last problem set -- worth 6% of my grade -- will be marked down one letter grade. No, I didn’t just leave Moffitt doing last minute work. I did the problem set last week. I have a term paper due tomorrow – but I’ve already turned it in. I’m on top of it. The work is complete. So why can’t I sleep?
I’m NERVOUS!!!
The opportunities made available to me at UC Berkeley are beyond my wildest dreams (although, to be honest, I never dreamt about them ^_^). This May, I got injured and had to stop competing in the martial arts until I healed. Shortly thereafter, I got in a bit of a car accident while on a new scooter (read: don’t get one). While training 24 hours a week, in order to stay on top of my competition in the ring and class, I had to say no to all of those exciting academic and extra-curricular opportunities that pop up. So, once I had healed, I realized I could say YES, YES, YES!
Somehow, this has resulted in me taking 19 units this semester, auditing two additional classes, taking on three jobs, and being involved in numerous other programs. Beyond that, I’m taking the GRE next weekend, applying to four very special graduate programs and interviewing for two full-time jobs that would start next year. Surprisingly, I’ve been able to fulfill my commitments thus far in the semester. Unfortunately, as the semester’s end nears, the cumulative requirements of my involvement seems to be peaking, ACK!
Here is where my blog title, honor, gets involved. Wikipedia has a nice long article on honor. I was taught, however, a more simple definition: the ability to recognize and fulfill my obligations – both to others and oneself. Additionally, my capability to do this is most important when times are at their toughest – it means the most to come through for people when my life is at its hardest. To everyone stressing out – remember this. If we can follow through at our best now, during the semester’s peak, we will surely be ready to handle life under lower levels of stress. This is our time to shine!
Continue reading "Honor: Why you should not enroll in 19 units and work three jobs." »
I've got a lot of great ideas for blog posts. The obstacle, however, is that these epiphanies usually come when I have lots of work to do. Actually, now that I think about it, I *always* have work to do -- usually with impending deadlines of 1-2 days away. So, how can I make time for all the small stuff -- like blog posting?
My idea is to separate your to-do list in half: one with priorities and deadlines, and the other with all that small stuff you never get around to doing. When you find your brain fried and in need of a break -- pick up your 2nd to-do list and get a cracking! (PS. TeleBEARS phase II is coming… Don’t forget!!!)
Did you ever notice that Tele-BEARS begins right in the middle of midterms? After you finish your next midterm, you may to want start planning for next semester’s classes – if you haven’t already.
I remember my first year of college when I picked out classes based upon when they were scheduled, so I could wake up at 11am. For my second semester, it seemed half of my classes were already picked for me.. and by my sophomore year, all my classes were determined by (1st) the curriculum and (2nd) the professor teaching. It’s my personal opinion that quality of the professor teaching is the most important criteria next to the topics covered in the class – that is, if you have an option to choose. You will be spending a whole semester with them so you better enjoy the lectures!
Tay's Tip of the Day: Zamzar.com will convert Office 2007 file formats (.docx, .pptx, .xlsx) into Office 97-2003 formats. Ever want to download a YouTube video before it get's taken down by Google? Zamzar can also convert YouTube video URLs into video files you can download and save on your computer.
If you happen to be an OpenOffice user seeking interoperability with Office 2007 file formats, I recommend Novell's distribution which includes a plug-in that works with Office 2007's Open-XML (docx).
Are you considering declaring an ESPM major? ESPM stands for Environmental Science Policy and Management, and the department offers four majors: Conservation and Resource Studies (CRS), Forestry and Natural Resources (FNR), Molecular Environmental Biology (MEB), and Society and Environment (SE). Before you declare you need to attend a workshop before or after Tele-bears (I recommend before)...
What is SPUR?
It’s used by horseback riders, or those pretending to be on Halloween.
It’s a technical term in biology for an elongated sepal used to distinguish species within particular genera (ask your botany teacher, not me, I'm an economist paraphrasing wikipedia).
It’s a subsidiary summit of a parent mountain.
It’s a chain of steakhouses in South Africa (who knew?)
It’s an annual literary prize awarded by the Western Writers of America.
It’s a city in Texas.
Best of all it's a TLA (three letter acronym) for...
