The Cambridge Chat Thread

OP

Catsmeat

****, ****, ****. I was casually reading a page where somebody mentioned the word "student loan", which, on a subliminal level, linked with the CBI story this morning on the BBC news. To see my face in that moment, it went from 'relatively neutral' to 'slight confusion', to 'oh, ****'. So, I went downstairs to where I keep my student finance details and, there it was, the signed declaration that I should have posted back to student finance months ago for 2009/10. Looks like I might be living in a cardboard house, this year ...

Meh - Caius will give you money :yep:

Catsmeat

academics (trust me) worry about their value and intelligence, as does every other individual walking around that old, sometime irreverent city.

Hahah. I think Part I Social Anthropology is just about the finest example of discipline-wide academic insecurity issues :rofl:

*coughs in the direction of Leach and Levi Strauss*

ukebert

When you say "proper lighting" do you mean those ridiculously inefficient fairy lights or have you bought some proper lights? :dry:

I have two bright lamps and a lava lamp to go with them :dontknow:

I suspect I'll have to buy something else this year though, as Old Court lighting is notoriously dire.

Reply 2123

TheUnbeliever

16

If I send something to my Cambridge email address now, will I be able to retrieve it when I arrive, or are they not completely set up until we take some action after coming up?

Reply 2124

OP

ukebert

Check ukey's PMs :poke:

Reply 2125

OP

TheUnbeliever

If I send something to my Cambridge email address now, will I be able to retrieve it when I arrive, or are they not completely set up until we take some action after coming up?

Once you arrive they make you log onto the network and retrieve your own passwords and change stuff. Your account might be active before that though :dontknow:

Reply 2126

Chess Piece Face

I just realised that I was so absorbed in typing this message that I missed "Sailing By" and the Shipping Forecast for the first time in quite a while :frown:

alex_hk90

The show was called "How to Control the Nation", so I would say it worked since he made so many people watched his show on a flimsy promise.

Good point.

Craghyrax

Are you kidding? I think the Careers Service must get like promotion on every extra student they help. At least that's what you'd think from how desperate they seem to get people to sign up with them.

Heh, OK. How is the Careers Service? I'm conditioned by school to think that careers advisers in general are useless, but obviously at Cambridge it's a different ball game.

visesh

My friend managed to get a pair of karrimore eVents for ~£50 last year, which was a bloody good deal seeing as i just spent £100 on some saloman gore-tex boots.

Cool - mind if I ask where? :smile:

ukebert

Hah. My walking boots were previously dictated by price and now by whatever fits. I eventually found some in Cambridge, in the shop up that street with the buildings in it by Sainsbury's. Mine are Scarpa and so far (I've only walked in them for a little over a week, but including a few long walks) I've been very happy with them. I've always had leather boots, as goretex doesn't really let the moisture out from what I've heard, and anything else is too expensive and not readily available. Leather is higher maintenance, you have to proof them regularly and make sure that you store them at the appropriate temperature and so on.

Price is my main concern at the moment. I'll take a look at that place as I was wondering where to get some in Cambridge (any suggestions by TSRers are welcome). Keep in mind that I'm a complete tenderfoot (no pun intended) about this - for example, when you mentioned proofing leather regularly, I realised I wouldn't know how to go about that. :o:

You might have to give me a tutorial :p:

ukebert

Bah. I'm not feeling particularly cheerful at the moment. My personal life is a nightmare at the moment, which I won't go into, plus I'm back from my last trip of the holidays, I have to start the work that apparently has taken some people weeks of continuous effort, my room is so cluttered that I'm doubtful that I shall ever be able to clear it and to cap it off I find myself profoundly uninspired not only by this year's lectures but also the Part IIA ones.

(Looking at some of the previous posts, I think this old adage could apply to many of us.) :smile:

Reply 2127

OP

I'll let somebody else answer the Careers Service question, as its roughly another five years before I'll take any interest in their provisions...
As to good places to shop in Cambridge; Open Air (I think its called) on Green Street is great. They have good staff who will probably give you great advice and product info and help you find boots that fit and stuff. There's a cheaper looking place on Bridge street, but I doubt they'll have that selection.

Millets usually has some very basic stuff, but not much variety. And there's an ok sized Blacks at the Grafton. At least these two do student discount.

Reply 2128

Chess Piece Face

Craghyrax

I'll let somebody else answer the Careers Service question, as its roughly another five years before I'll take any interest in their provisions...
As to good places to shop in Cambridge; Open Air (I think its called) on Green Street is great. They have good staff who will probably give you great advice and product info and help you find boots that fit and stuff. There's a cheaper looking place on Bridge street, but I doubt they'll have that selection.

Millets usually has some very basic stuff, but not much variety. And there's an ok sized Blacks at the Grafton. At least these two do student discount.

Thanks for the advice! :smile:

Grr, I'm really going to make an effort to sort my sleeping pattern out; in the last week I've kept waking up too late, saying to myself that it's too late to start work effectively and then resolving to work the next day. Mind you, the fact that I'm typing a message like this at 1.19am isn't a very good start. :rolleyes:

Reply 2129

Zhen Lin

12

Y__

Do you happen to have a link explaining the details? I thought that while it was theoretically possible it still required an enormous amount of captured data, making it impractical for all but the most criminal endeavours.

Here are some links: [1] [2] [3]

Reply 2130

Lidka

I'm back from India. :biggrin:

And cannot wait to start term. :woo:

Reply 2131

OP

Lidka

...cannot wait to start term. :woo:

Reply 2132

Catsmeat

Craghyrax

Meh - Caius will give you money :yep:

This myth ranks alongside blood being easy to extract from a stone :rolleyes:

.

Craghyrax

Hahah. I think Part I Social Anthropology is just about the finest example of discipline-wide academic insecurity issues :rofl:

*coughs in the direction of Leach and Levi Strauss*

That in itself is enough to make most students feel insecure.

On a more positive note, today I should receive my new excavation equipment. This includes a trowel holster. It really does.

Reply 2133

Lidka

Craghyrax

I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but I daresay I'll be cured when freshers' week starts. :p:

Reply 2134

OP

Lidka

I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but I daresay I'll be cured when freshers' week starts. :p:

My dissertation is hovering over my head like the Sword of Damocles :dry:

And I refuse to count how few weeks I have left

Catsmeat

This includes a trowel holster. It really does.

....

Reply 2135

Melz0r

16

Catsmeat

To use a well-worn but appropriate saying, you would not have been admitted to the university if you were not deemed capable. Equally, there are thousands upon thousands in the same position; I feel inadequate and am now a finalist, academics (trust me) worry about their value and intelligence, as does every other individual walking around that old, sometime irreverent city. The trick is to diffuse that paranoia, turn it into something constructive, something that you can use. It's a strength, in a curious way.

Thank you.

I feel a lot better now, the lecture list just gave me the willies, not least because I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND IT.

Reply 2136

Catsmeat

Melz0r

Thank you.

I feel a lot better now, the lecture list just gave me the willies, not least because I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND IT.

I've never understood the bloody thing either. I just roll up to the Department at the start of term and tend to get by.

Reply 2137

Chess Piece Face

Lidka

I'm back from India. :biggrin:

And cannot wait to start term. :woo:

Welcome back! :wavey:

Reply 2138

Melz0r

16

Catsmeat

I've never understood the bloody thing either. I just roll up to the Department at the start of term and tend to get by.

I understand it now but I'm not sure if that's a good thing, I've realised that on Wednesdays I have German grammar lectures at 9AM! :eek3:

Reply 2139

OP