Working in the Lab needed a break

[tim_lou]

Ah.. been coding and waiting for plots for a couple hours. Time to chill for a bit...

What to do?

 

[mgb_phys]

www.ted.com if you have a fast link and a pair of headphones

 

[humanino]

Read articles relevant to your field. Find out something clever to do about the crap others write. Then send emails around to see if somebody else would like to do it with you. They'll work and you'll receive credit as well. Soon enough, you will not even have to make plots anymore.

 

[physics girl phd]

Time to chill: Go snowshoeing, ice skating or skiing! (this is why I went to Colorado for grad school.. and although I gradauted in 5.5 years, many students take this too far and take 7+ years to graduate!)

 

[tim_lou]

Read articles relevant to your field. Find out something clever to do about the crap others write. Then send emails around to see if somebody else would like to do it with you. They'll work and you'll receive credit as well. Soon enough, you will not even have to make plots anymore.

Sorry but I'm not at that level yet... (still an undergrad). It sounds like a good idea though to read some papers, but I needed some entertainment . I ended spending some time on youtube (and physics forum) and tried to study some more physics...

still... the programs haven't finished running and the plots aren't done yet.

 

[Crazy Tosser]

Sorry but I'm not at that level yet... (still an undergrad). It sounds like a good idea though to read some papers, but I needed some entertainment . I ended spending some time on youtube (and physics forum) and tried to study some more physics...

still... the programs haven't finished running and the plots aren't done yet.

No it's not that "you are not at that level". You just need entertainment. Don't make up excuses :P

Sit back and try to visualize space-time and all the particles in it, moving, colliding, interacting, and yet obeying laws of quantum mechanics, shrinking and slowing down and time because of special relativity, etc... If you get real good at that, you might even get an insight, write a revolutionary paper, and become a famous physicist :P

Welcome to CT's definition of entertainment lol.

 

[humanino]

No it's not that "you are not at that level". You just need entertainment. Don't make up excuses :P

Seriously, I agree. If there is something more entertaining than reading papers, give up research !

 

[Topher925]

When ever I needed a break in from the lab I would always go mac on the chicks working security or shoot the @#$% with guys in other labs. This was at an industrial lab though, if your at a university lab you may not have this option.

 

[rootX]

orisinal.com

But, I watch anime + (dinner/lunch).

 

[tim_lou]

When ever I needed a break in from the lab I would always go mac on the chicks working security or shoot the @#$% with guys in other labs. This was at an industrial lab though, if your at a university lab you may not have this option.

I usually end up just bothering my friends... and no work ever gets done that way. But today, I'm the only one, so no one to annoy.

I just went to the library and grab some books on QFT for some relaxing reading... read for about 10 minutes, feeling sleepy already (like I said, it's relaxing reading). Check to see how my program is doing... still running (hey, running is better than failing... those annoying segmentation faults). It's time to go home I think. Hoping that my code doesn't run into an infinite loop... tomorrow should be a better day when I get some results.

 

[humanino]

Hoping that my code doesn't run into an infinite loop...

Do not ever run codes blindly. Make sure you include monitoring at all steps.

A very handy feature you could consider to include into your code : display the percentage of the task done. Usually, I time the first 10% before walking out for a coffee break. I already know when my program should end (as well as, how much it will occupy on disk). Also check for memory leaks btw !

 

[Danger]

Do you have the number of a reliable hooker?