Diary of a grad wannabe: Day 3...

After a good Tuesday where I got a desk, got briefed on what I'll be doing for the term and starting to find out what to do with my computer situation. Abaqus needs a static IP for the license to work, it's also a Windows only software. The available towers are old and controlled by the univsersity, not so desirable. Still working this out, but it might work on my Mac on boot camp, here's hoping!

Day 3 was nice. Started off at home with more readin on OpenSees and doing practice work. I headed into my office where we I got a bunch of papers to read over and get acquainted with the soil-structure interaction project. There was one paper in particular that will be very helpful because it studies the surface vibrations of trains on structures using Abaqus.

What was particularly great today was my discussion today wit Sriram about grad school. He knows that I'm interested in continuing education, but that I don't know where yet. Asking where I'm interested in going (I mentioned Berkley, Cornell and Austin for the US, and Waterloo, UBC, and UofT for Canada), he give his open opinion which resonated with what Rob had told me a while ago. Apparently one of his colleagues from Cornell is due to arrive in Waterloo at the end of October who does stochastic structural analysis. Apparently he's super nice and I'd get to see if I'm interested in his work. I'm told I should also check Michigan, Standford, and Illinois, this is a corner of the states that has so many colleges that it just confused me a bunch and I gave up (so this helps). Like Rob, Sriram made an indication that he'd like me to stay here but that it's my choice. What was really great of Sriram was his attitude that he'd help me with my application even if in the end I chose not to stay at Waterloo working for him. I guess that's the kind of nuturing behaviour that would attract people to stay.

[Thursday's update]: I got boot camp to work on the Mac so I have Windows 7 and Lion on one omnipotent machine. Also I got locked out of my office again and I locked my bike but failed to lock it to the bike rack. It was still there though. I supposed I was distracted today.

Sorry and I need to point out the shoes I found. I don't wear heels unless it's a special occasion, and even then! But when I was in Uptown Waterloo once I saw those and I had liked the style but hadn't found a pair I liked. I waited until they brought in my size and I'm so glad I did! They're lovely and they smell great! (and look pretty darn awesome too!)