The Lab Monkey Thread of Joy and Despair

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RadioElectric

What's up with it?

Honestly? Haven't got a ******* clue. I don't know Matlab at all, and it's a program I've just been given. When I try to run it... nothing happens. :dontknow:

Reply 301

Athena

Why oh why do I keep being sent on stupid pointless courses? All this transferable skills training is giving me is a desire to jump off the room of the sequencing pavilion :mad:

Reply 302

Cirsium

Could be worse. You could be paring down a list of over 800 papers to make a reasonable reading list. I'd much rather just aimlessly wander around ISI until I find things that sound interesting. *is glum*

Reply 303

RadioElectric

Bekaboo

Honestly? Haven't got a ******* clue. I don't know Matlab at all, and it's a program I've just been given. When I try to run it... nothing happens. :dontknow:

I've only got experience of running it on a Mac. When I run it is has to work within an X-Window environment. Can the IT staff at your university not fix it?

Athena

Why oh why do I keep being sent on stupid pointless courses? All this transferable skills training is giving me is a desire to jump off the room of the sequencing pavilion :mad:

It's a requirement, apparently. It pisses me off too.

pure_joy

Hey guys,
forgive the intrusion to your little thread, but I'm very curious of your opinion on something. From your experience, is it the university or the lab that matter more for a PhD? I got a place at one of Oxbridge 4-year programmes and I'm still waiting to hear if my BSc project supervisor gets funding for me. The first option is Oxbridge, the second is an excellent lab where previous PhD students got papers in Nature Neuroscience. Which would you pick and why? It's tough choice, I've got a very strong preference for one option, but it would be nice to hear an objective opinion.

Well, it totally depends on what exactly you mean, but here's my advice based on some woolly assumptions.

It'll probably be the lab, for two reasons:
1) A high-quality lab, wherever it is, will have "better" academics at it with more contacts etc. This makes it a good choice, functionally-speaking.
2) A good lab will have better support and a better atmosphere. If you're spending three years stuck in one place you're going to want that to be the nicest place you can find.

Reply 304

Athena

This is just a vague musing, but does anyone ever feel that by doing a PhD, they have put their life slightly... on hold? You know, getting married, buying a house, having children etc. Even if you have no intention of doing any of those things in the next three/four years anyway!

Reply 305

arkbar

Athena

A lot of people do have kids/get married during their PhD, in the office next door everyone but one person had a kid last year.
But yeah, I get what you mean, it's weird still being a student and having the mentality and my other friends are going up.

Reply 306

cpchem

Athena

My life is definitely on hold, and I'm not even a PhD student. I was in the CRL for eleven-and-a-half hours today, only leaving to cross the road to the lecture theatre to attend the colloquium...

Reply 307

apotoftea

You guys should know - anyone want to explain 'cluster analysis' in simple sentences to a library monkey? Please?

Reply 308

pure_joy

apotoftea

You guys should know - anyone want to explain 'cluster analysis' in simple sentences to a library monkey? Please?

As in looking for protein co-localisation when doing imaging?

RadioElectric

]It'll probably be the lab, for two reasons:

Yeah, well, that's true, being around people I like working with is great, I was just wondering what's better career- wise.

Reply 309

apotoftea

pure_joy

As in looking for protein co-localisation when doing imaging?

Nope, more just in general :o:

I've got an interview tomorrow that will probably mention it (despite it being an Arts subject) and just kinda need to know the basics having NEVER used it for research before.

It is basically about grouping together samples by selecting chosen categories for samples to go in? So a cluster of say a key word or theme?

Reply 310

Elements

apotoftea

You guys should know - anyone want to explain 'cluster analysis' in simple sentences to a library monkey? Please?

Do you mean cluster analysis in the statistical sense then? Because unfortunately I would know all about that. :s-smilie:

Reply 311

apotoftea

Elements

Do you mean cluster analysis in the statistical sense then? Because unfortunately I would know all about that. :s-smilie:

I guess so but stats wouldn't fit with what they're trying to achieve research wise :s-smilie:

I'll PM you :smile:

Reply 312

Cirsium

Athena

Pretty much all the time, yes. I have no intention of getting married before I've finished my PhD and spent a year doing something else... but by then I'll be TWENTY SEVEN :eek:

RadioElectric

I've only got experience of running it on a Mac. When I run it is has to work within an X-Window environment. Can the IT staff at your university not fix it?

Sorry, I explained poorly. Matlab opens - my program won't run. Or rather the one that wouldn't run now does, but now the next one also won't. And the error message tells me nothing. Huff.

Reply 313

ponjavic

RadioElectric

Which is what I was doing when I last used a pipette... do I know you?

Just started playing with fluorescence and my supervisor's been pointing out the atrociousness of some people reusing pipettes :biggrin:

Reply 314

TheQueenOfComputerScience

Bekaboo

Pretty much all the time, yes. I have no intention of getting married before I've finished my PhD and spent a year doing something else... but by then I'll be TWENTY SEVEN :eek:

I'm getting married in December in my second year of the PhD, I don't really see it as much of an interference tbh!

Reply 315

Cirsium

[QUOTE="TheQueenOfComputerScience"]

Bekaboo

Pretty much all the time, yes. I have no intention of getting married before I've finished my PhD and spent a year doing something else... but by then I'll be TWENTY SEVEN :eek:

I'm getting married in December in my second year of the PhD, I don't really see it as much of an interference tbh!

Quite apart from my own reluctance to get married halfway through, there's the other contributing factor that it's not professional musicians need to live in London, not Bristol, so unless I find a way to transfer my lab 150 miles east, I've got no chance of living with D for the next 3 and a half years!

Reply 316

TheQueenOfComputerScience

[QUOTE="Bekaboo"]

TheQueenOfComputerScience

Ah thats crap! Luckily J has a computer company so with virtual office type technology he can basicly contract people from anywhere nowadays. A few years ago I would probably have been in the same position as he would have required to live in London for best staff.

Reply 317

cpchem

Argh... I've spent twenty-two-and-a-half of the last thirty-six-and-a-half hours in the lab... and it's not looking like the work's going to relent...

Reply 318

TheQueenOfComputerScience

cpchem

Argh... I've spent twenty-two-and-a-half of the last thirty-six-and-a-half hours in the lab... and it's not looking like the work's going to relent...