30 June 2011

Scold me for no reason

>> You scold me for fun, man
      Let me feel really down man
      Scold me for no reason
      Or a reason contrived <<

How do you expect I would like to do your favor out of my personal interest?

15 June 2011

Graduate on its own

A little conversation on the way back from lunch:

A: Oh my, it seems that everything I've done didn't work. What should I do?
B: It's okay. Just do whatever you usually do, enjoy your life like usual. There is a time when you will graduate on its own.

Perhaps it is an interesting hypothesis that the time you spend in grad school does not have any correlation with your effort, your talent, or your intelligence. It is simply a constant which value depends on your supervisor and his/her budget.

~AYS~
lamabangetnungguconfermentdoank

02 June 2011

4 Tipe Boss

Kecuali kamu adalah anak orang kaya banget yang begitu mulai kerja langsung dapet perusahaan sendiri, dalam suatu titik di hidup kamu, kamu pasti akan punya yang namanya bos. Nah, bos sendiri ada macam-macam tipenya. Berikut adalah tipe-tipe bos:
Bos yang Berwibawa, Menyenangkan, dan Pintar

Ini adalah tipe bos sempurna yang menjadi idaman semua pekerja. Bos tipe seperti ini biasanya ramah, punya visi yang jelas, bisa ikut becanda, kalo lagi serius dia serius banget, dan bawahannya respek sama dia. Bos tipe ini biasanya dicintai oleh para bawahannya dan para bawahannya bisa loyal banget sama dia. Kalo doi ultah, biasanya para bawahan dengan sukarela hati akan ngasih kado/kue/surprise.

Bos yang Menyebalkan Tapi Pintar

Ini sepertinya adalah tipe bos yang paling banyak ada. Orangnya sangat menyebalkan, banyak maunya, suka marah-marah, tapi harus diakui dia pintar sekali dan punya visi. Bos seperti ini biasanya disegani dan ditakuti oleh para bawahan dan biasanya para bawahan gak mau berurusan langsung sama si bos ini. Suasana kantor akan langsung tegang setiap dia ada di ruangan. Biasanya sih orangnya gak asik.
Bos yang Menyenangkan Tapi Kurang Pintar

Bos tipe seperti ini biasanya banyak becanda, suka melucu, bisa bergabung dengan bawahan, disukai oleh banyak orang, namun ketika berurusan dengan pekerjaan biasanya dia malah tidak pandai. Visinya tidak jelas, tidak tahu banyak hal, suka dikibulin bawahan, pokoknya kasian deh. Biasanya bawahan dari bos semacam ini terbagi dua: ada yang simpati tapi ada juga yang malah berniat jahat untuk ngebego-begoin si bos.
Bos yang Menyebalkan dan Tidak Pintar

Ini adalah tipe bos yang paling tidak diinginkan semua orang. Tipe bos seperti ini biasanya suka marah-marah untuk urusan yang dia sendiri tidak tahu solusinya. Selain itu, dia juga suka marah-marah untuk problem yang random dan marah-marahnya bisa merembet ke hal2 lain, bukti ketidak-profesionalitasannya. Bos seperti ini biasanya sangat ingin diakui ke-boss-annya dan dia seringkali secara implisit maupun eksplisit bilang ke bawahannya kalo dia adalah boss dan para bawahan harus menghormatinya. Ini adalah bos-bos yang paling sering berusaha digulingkan oleh bawahannya.

Ya begitulah kira-kira. Termasuk tipe yang manakah bos kamu?

Sumber: http://malesbanget.com/2011/05/4-tipe-bos/

16 May 2011

supervisor ~ fishing

Interesting way.. in how to relate your boss with fishing. :)
Got this idea from one of my collaborator while we were having a conversation during my experiment period (since he was a teacher from his home country).

There are several types of supervisor.. let's we describe them in a picture of these.. We want to get a fish, and our boss is the one who is supposed to help us obtain that fish. Several methods that are applicable for them are described as follow:

1. Boss "gives" you the fish.

2. Boss shows you "how" to fish, "where" to fish and "gives" you fishing equipments.

3. Boss shows you "where" to fish and "gives" you fishing equipments.

4. Boss "gives" you fishing equipments.

5. Boss "tells" you to fish.


So.. which type of your boss you have?

01 May 2011

Undergrad's enticement

PS: I think the post is more relevant to those who are working on computational studies or such.

A: Do you ever get stuck
B; No!
A: Are you sure?
B: Well, actually, I am stuck now.
A:. Okay, then at one moment, imagine you find a paper, pretty similar with what you are doing. All that remains are changing the numbers or formulas. Once you are able to replicate them, you’ll graduate, okay
B: But, how do I replicate them? I am laz, oops. stuck! Okay, may be I will email the authors of this paper to see if they can send the code.
A: Then your problem is solved?
B: Of course! I will graduate! Hooray!

Okay, let’s draft the email:

Dear Prof (well known, very senior Professor in the area)

Hi, My name is *male is worst *, I am currently pursuing PhD degree in *well known university in first world country* under Prof. *rival* and I am doing project on *alien stuffs for the addressee, familiar only to his “golden boy” PhD who had self-studied them*. Recently I came accross your interesting paper *come on, you’re bluffing, aren’t you* titled *I will rephrase it for my thesis title* and I found it is quite related to my research interest. (etc.. etc.. ask for the source code and thanks)

Note: Hey, you have to be very lucky if the addressee did not delete it instantly. Then, you will spend another fortune so they read your email, another for replying it and the last your ‘already dry’ fortune to receive what you want.

Okay, let’s make another draft.

Hi Professor (well known, very senior Professor in the area)

I am a student from *third world/developing country*. I am doing final year project on *general stuff* which is really interesting yet challenging task. Recently, I was given an interesting paper, titled *yes, it is really interesting* that is quite similar with what I am trying to do. Thus (etc.. etc.. ask for the source code and thanks)

Note: Good, he/she would give it once he/she opened his/her email.

Done. Remember to send an email saying how grateful you are.

04 April 2011

I just stumbled upon this article titled "10 Signs It's Time To Quit Your Job". Let's assume for a moment that PhD is a job... Let's try to apply this to PhD life, and see if it's time to quit your "job"!

1. You Aren't Learning Anything New : Well, I learnt quite a lot, but most of the things that I've learnt so far has nothing to do with my "job". But still, there are some things that I've learnt from this "job" that may be applicable in the real life such as how to pretend it's impossible to work any faster.
NO.

2. You Never Have a Day When You Wake Up Excited To Go To Work : Well there are those times where I am excited to go to my "office", but that's because I've met my supervisor the day before... and in those times I am excited I don't do anything (related to work), so technically it doesn't count as "to go to work". The rest of the day are !@#$%^&.
YES.

3. You Spend More Time Surfing the Web Than Doing Your Job : Obviously this no need further explanation. Every PhD students know this.
YES.

4. You Don't Like Most of Your Coworkers : I don't really have coworkers, coz my "job" scope doesn't include wet labs or any huge collaboration thingy. All I need is a computer, really. So I can't comment on this one, although I must say I think most people who are trapped here are nice people. They just make wrong life choices.
ABSTAIN.

5. You Aren't Making Enough Money to Pay Your Bills : Ok, I have just enough to pay my bills (for now), but this is because I'm single and banks here don't give student credit card... So too bad I can only spend what I earned... I still think I am underpaid, and if I am in U.S. I think I may be going to file for chapter 11.
What the heck, YES.

6. You Spend Time Looking For Other Jobs : I'm spending most of my time looking for other activities as well... Shall not elaborate further. lol.
YES.

7. You Haven't Gotten a Raise in the Last Two Years : Ok, once. But that is already stated when you get your enslavement contract, and the amount is exactly the same for the whole batch of mass-produced commoditifed cheap labor... Your boss cannot increase your salary further no matter how hard you work. So that raise doesn't count.
YES.

8. Your Boss Sucks : My current boss is the best boss I can have in the world! (Just in case my boss read this posting and realize it is me!)
NO.

9. The Company Isn't Doing Well : Going down 100 spots in 1 year, the president resigned, what else can you expect?
YES.

10. You are Stressed All the Time
YES!!! A BIG YES!


Ok so we have:
7 YES , 2 NO , 1 ABSTAIN

With 7 YES out of 10, this is a supermajority that can even allow U.S. congress to pass a bill without president's approval. So I think I need to rethink what I am going to do now...

How about you?

03 April 2011

(Do) I hate Monday?

Once I entered the working life, there was one thing that came to my mind, “I hate Monday.. Why there is such a day called Monday, when weekday starts?” Seriously, you know, I never had such a mind, well, at least not as severe as, what I am feeling now.

When I discussed it with one of my fellow, she said, “Well, you’d never been working, had you? It is natural. BUT, it should not be that fast.”

“But, PhD is also working. Moreover it is not different with what I am doing now”. I replied.

“No, PhD is a student. So it is different.” she said.

Later on, I got this “enlightment”, literally. I would not expect that the “possibly best” answer for my question would come this fast. Thanks to my ‘previous’ PhD supervisor who made me come to the office on Sunday. You know? The thinking came to my mind when I saw my office and PhD students’s one.

And I think the “possibly best” answer on why I hate Monday now is..

***
PhDs have no weekends. Why they should bother on what day or time it is (even what season or year it is). It does not make any difference. The work always waits you, whenever and wherever you are.
***

Now that I realized that though I hate Monday, I also happier to look forward to weekends.

NOTE:
Sometimes I go to my office on weekend to work on my thesis and I always find the same thing. The lights on staff office are off. PhD office and labs’s lights always ON!

AYS
~gataunasibthesisguasekarang~

02 March 2011

Professor = Smart?

If you think all PhD advisors are smart, it means you've never seen mine..... =)

28 February 2011

So the story goes like this..

For the past week, I worked full 7 days for a report that is to be meant for a school's biannual update. The report is actually a compilation of 3 persons' works (a Junior's, a Senior's, and mine), and at first, I was supposed to be the one who collate all the works. I was told this on last last Sunday (20 Feb) and Prof said that he "would like to see it by last February", which I assumed that today it should have been submitted to him.

So, since that last last Sunday, I totally put myself into making the report. Because I believe that the deadline is rather tight ahead. It was quite tiring work (making the report), because firstly, Prof asked a review of a current building design guideline to be put in the report, and since Prof never asked to whom, I assumed that's my work, and I found no previous work about that that I could copy (:P), so I gotta work on it, and secondly, after my colleagues' part arrived to me, I found even more troubles, because it seems that my colleagues did not see how the report is going to be "logic". So, my brain was totally working on "how" to make the report logic, and it really absorb my time. Collating works is totally not easy, esp when you really want it to be good. (Anw, this is the first time my Prof ask me to be responsible of such thing, so of course I'd like to use this time to boost my performance).

Well, days went by, (and I worked fully in Saturday and Sunday too, making table of contents, number of pages, creating abstract and such), after a few editing after comments from my colleagues (the junior and the senior), the report was submitted to the Prof by my senior colleague at 2 pm today (and I feel my body is having fever today, I know I'm going to be sick). And of course I know that my work doesn't end just like that. Since it is just submitted, I expect some update in my email regarding editing of report after Prof's comments.

So, as expected, an email came regarding the report from my senior. But I felt so angry after reading the email. My senior said:

************************

From: "Senior"
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 2:09 PM
To: "Me"
Cc: "Prof"
Subject: report


Hi "Me",

Can you please send me the report of Word format. Prof. asked me to check the English and I need to edit the report. Thank you.

Best regards,
"Senior"

From: "Prof"
Sent: 2011年2月28日 15:47
To: "Senior"
Subject: report

Dear "Senior"

Have you read through the report and sort out the English part?
Please try to do that first before I read it. How is your family?

Thank you.

"Prof"

*******************************

My senior said he needed to edit the report. I found it so rude. How come he can just say he "need to edit" the report. Hello! Those are my words in the report that I have spent my time just to write nicely and in orderly manner. At first when I sent to him for him to see (I finished yesterday night (830pm) actually, so I have sent to others by then in "pdf" format, cos "Words" format seems messy), he said nothing about the language usage. Means, he WAS OK with what I wrote. But, just because Prof asked :"Hello, have you checked the language usage in the report?" And he said he wanted to edit it? NO WAY!! How if he really edit and change the words composition I have worked on?!?!?! And furthermore, Prof DON'T ask us to EDIT! Hello.. he just asked whether the report HAS BEEN CHECKED AGAIN. Ok, so I replied "nicely" to him saying that that's not what Prof meant. But he replied to me like this:

*****************
From: "Senior"
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 4:28 PM
To: "Me"
Subject: RE: report

As shown below in the email sent by Prof. , he asked me to check English first before he reads it. If you are very confident that there is no English errors in this report. Please tell Prof. directly that there is no need to check again for me. If not, please send me the Chapters 1, 2, 4 and 5. Thank you!

Best regards,
"Senior"
*****************

What the %$^&#$^%! Of course, I am confident. He even asked only my part that is to be sent to him. So, you think yours don't contain logic error?? I am the one edited the report, including your part, so that it would be logically sound, you know!! (ok lah, disclaimer: overall his part contain no logic error, because it is an excerpt of the paper he has written before, however i need to edit them to fit into the report). And furthermore, you have cc-ed Prof asking about the works to be sent to you at the first time (see above first email). So, I believe (if my Prof is "really" clever), Prof knows that it is me who do everything, yeah! But still, as my senior said, I said directly to the Prof that I'm confident about the report, and that I am the one who collated the report, bla bla bla. Huff.. no comment reply from Prof yet, I hope it really means good. #expectingfor"important"emailtomorrow

Hm, it's 530pm now. The conversation between the senior and me has stopped. Just need to wait for Prof's comments about the report. Still need to present this Wed, akh, no update yet! Works, works, works.. I hope that it is right for me to defend myself in front of my Senior #onlybosscancorrectme

***


Anw, has any of my friends here wondering how come from Prof ask me to collate the work at first then my senior is the one in the end seem to be responsible?

So, on last Friday morning (it means almost report deadline), Prof emailed (I translated to human language so that everybody can understand) like this:

*****************
From: "Prof"
Sent: 2011年2月25日 7:40
To: "Senior"; "Me"; "Junior"
Cc: "Another Senior Going to Write His Thesis"
Subject: RE: Design guideline

Dear "Me", "Junior, "Senior"

ALARM! ALARM! ALARM!
There is a change in current design guideline. We have to put it in the report.
*Panic**Panic**Panic*
"Senior", I assign you to be in charge of the whole report.

Regards,
"Prof"
*****************

Prof sent that kind of email after 5 days I have been working on the report and reviewing the guideline as what he said to me firstly. The review of the guideline has been finished by me, hey! And how come Prof can say like that, has he forgotten that he firstly asked me to do all the works?? How come he can ask somebody else to be responsible without even asking me?? Well, there was some kind of misunderstanding with him since the beginning of my PhD, so actually, though upset, I'm not surprised that he still doesn't trust me. So anyway.. I replied "to" my senior "cc-ed" my Prof the parts that I have finished working on saying that I'm still working on other parts and hope to be able to be sent to my-senior-in-charge by time.

Well, on that Friday, because I was really still working on collating the parts so that the report would be logic, I asked for discussion with the senior and the junior about the direction of the report (I was stucked then). And meeting the Junior, only to find out that actually the Senior is not in town since that last last Sunday, until the next ONE MONTH!! And my Prof still asked him to be in-charge, while I know that by middle of this month, the report has to be submitted to an organization, means that the in-charge will still be not in town. HAHAHA, I JUST LAUGH at that! This is EVEN FUNNIER than GAGS! Works can't stop following you even you are in holiday, hahahaha! Oh, no, I dun't wanna be like that one day, but I can't stop laughing!!

Disclaimer: the person writing this has no bad intention or bad relationship with the Senior, basically she was just angry about the way the world treated her works. #worksonlyonweekdays