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On How Much Do You Spend on Transportation Each Month?
I own an '08 Honda Civic Hybrid. It costs about $80 per month to insure and another $40 or so for gas - typically one round trip to the office (90 miles) per week, and three round trips to the gym (15 miles), plus random weekend errands and road trips. All maintenance is covered for the next two years/20000 miles, and then I expect to set aside 200 per month for maintenance expenses and saving for a replacement a few years down the road.
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On WWYD: I Want to Go to Grad School ... Again
@rabbitrabbit Yep. I did a graduate degree in Computer Science in my thirties and went to a private school that was theoretically three times the price of a state school, but I worked 20 hours per week as a TA and covered my tuition entirely for 5 out of 6 semesters. I still needed about 45k in loans because I was an adult with a mortgage and didn't want to go entirely back to starving student mode, but I'm OK with that because the salary increase upon graduation made it a good investment. One other thing you could consider - are there any opportunities to do freelance consulting in your current field while you go to school for your new one? I found that working while I was a student was easier in my thirties than it was in my twenties - I was a lot more disciplined and self-driven, and could see the dollar signs at the end of my degree.
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On Online Learning: A Case Study
I did both my undergrad and masters in traditional environments (I'm a dinosaur who wrote my college papers on an IBM Selectric and then a Brother word processing typewriter), but in the last few years I've taken some online classes and had mixed results. I think they can be great for really specific topics - my masters is in Computer Science and I took some online courses to get some exposure to other languages that we didn't cover (Perl, Oracle DB, etc). Those were great for me - the instructor acted more like a tour guide than a teacher, but I already have a solid background so these weren't a problem. I cannot imagine trying to teach or take a first semester programming class online, or a foreign language, or literature. Those things require real conversations with actual human beings to get any depth at all.
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On I Spend a Lot of Time Thinking About Hair Removal What About You
@angry little raincloud When I was in electrology school (it's a branch of cosmetology here in CA) we offered low cost electrolysis by students so we could get our practical hours in (this was 20 years ago, I think I had to have 200 hours on top of school work). There was a guy who came in and had to have his scrotum done. He was a professional bicycle racer (there is a better term for that, probably) and he had a massive problem with infected ingrowns in his nuts from the tight shorts, sweat, and pressure from the bike seat. If he didn't do this he was going to lose his fertility and possibly his nuts. It was not a pleasant experience for anyone involved.
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On I Spend a Lot of Time Thinking About Hair Removal What About You
@breezee, @comments, I used to be an electrologist. I got into it because I developed PCOS as a teenager and basically had a full, manly beard by the time I was in college. I was fully licensed and had a business in Berkeley, CA for several years in the early '90s, until the lasers put me out of business and I had to go get a real job. Couple things - 1) waxing does not make your hair come back thicker, but it can cause serious ingrowns if you are prone to them and not careful. Because of the way hair grows in cycles, after the first time you wax it can be substantially less painful if you maintain it on a regular schedule. Functionally, threading, sugaring, and waxing are all forms of tweezing. The way they differ is in speed, accuracy, and comfort level. Waxing and sugaring are not recommended for people who use retinoids or some other topical facial meds because they can pull your skin off with it. Check with a dermatologist about threading - most people should be fine because the threads only grab hair, not the skin like waxing does. 2) Lasers are a massive improvement over electrolysis if you are a good candidate. Lasers will work the best on people with dark hair and fair skin - basically you need to zap the follicles which can be 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep in your dermis depending on where on your body the hair in question is. The greater the color variation the easier it is for the laser to "see" the follicle. It hurts like you're being snapped with a rubber band. There are topical creams that can help by prescription. It's not bad though - if you can take waxing you can take this. 3) Electrolysis is expensive and painful, but can be the best option for people with darker skin, lighter hair or for serious eyebrow shaping. The way to tell if your electrologist knows what they are doing is to pay attention to what you feel as they are working. There are three possible pain sensations - first when they put the needle down next to the hair shaft - if you feel a poking or pricking sensation their aim is off. Everybody misses every once in a while, but if you feel it on every hair, find a different electrologist. The second one is a slight zap or buzzing feeling when they hit the electricity. This is normal and what you should feel, and it will be worst on your upper lip. Chin and eyebrows hurt, but I could take it for hours without a problem. The third thing to notice is if you feel them pulling the hair out - once the follicle is zapped by the electricity the hair should just slide right out. If you feel a tweezing sensation, they didn't do it right. A few misses in a session are normal, but if it happens every time, move on. Also, people prone to keloid scarring should not do electrolysis. If you are prone to it, you'll know already.
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On How to Make a LinkedIn Profile That Will Actually Help You Get a Job
@Wilgrims I got my job through linked in.
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On Your Morning Cup of Coffee
@Mike Dang Interesting that Stumptown is doing AeroPress coffee - because it really does a convincing "fake" espresso. I bought an AeroPress for $25 as camping equipment a few years ago and discovered quickly that it makes the best coffee I've ever had at home. Basically it's a giant syringe designed so you push your hot water through your coffee and into the cup - so it's using your arm power (not hard, I just lean on the thing) instead of steam like a real espresso machine would. It's a GREAT alternative to a home espresso machine or coffee maker. Cheap. Super easy to clean too. I make Americanos or Flat Whites for breakfast every morning. Works great for Vietnamese style coffee too.
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On Recruiting Via LinkedIn
Yep. I was hired as a paid grad student intern at Sun Microsystems in 2005 (the dark ages!) via LinkedIn, which has directly lead to my current position, after being hired permanently by Sun when I graduated and then a corporate buy-out a few years ago. I get headhunter emails from big tech companies at least once a month, and 90% of the time they are for completely appropriate positions given my background.
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On I Want to Live Alone
@fake coffee snob Yup. I started with the full cost of the apartment, and then figured out what the per night rent would be, and then worked out an agreement on how many nights per week they wanted to sleep there and then rounded up a smidge to account for utilities. So, based on the $1100 rent, I'd do 550/30, which is $18 and change, round up to 20x16 if they intended to sleep there four nights a week. Rent would be $320-$400 depending on utilities, if I furnished the room or they did, etc.
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On The Self-Governing Office
@stuffisthings It definitely doesn't work for a good number of people, but a lot of people LOVE it. You take turns "driving" and a lot of the really time consuming, typo based bugs magically disappear. Good pairs can push out quadruple the work with fewer bugs. It's a great way to mentor too.