I have survived high tide in my program. Last quarter was the most intense working experience of my life, with the possible exception of whenever it was I was most involved with the Worker Support Committee at Pomona (spring sophomore year?). The results: I passed orals (I may post a rant about the orals system later, but anyway, I survived) and ( Read more... )

I finished ( Read more... )

I'm working on a model of retirement planning. I've got it basically figured out, but I think there are a couple of different reasons a person might spend time on their retirement plans. So I'm wondering, which one would motivate you more to actually sit down and do it, as opposed to knowing in theory you should?

Poll Retirement planning

This quarter was very very very very good for me. ( Details cut for length )

The problem with working so hard all quarter is that finals week seems surreal rather than important. As in ( Read more... )

Replication paper done. I adore LaTeX, but typing up tables is a nightmare. It took me all night, as in from about 7pm to 6am, to do it. Ugh. I ended up with no time to really edit the text from my draft. But still, that's another significant step along the path to my PhD accomplished. The next is to develop it into a field paper. And take orals to ( Read more... )

Really, I was incredibly lucky in having a good idea what I would face in grad school. Here's one to tell the next guy:
Econometrics/statistics is NOT primarily an applied subject. It is an intersection between calculus and linear algebra. Do not expect it to be obviously useful.

I'm trying to read a Macro paper, so obviously I'm writing in LJ ( Read more... )

Ridiculous numbers of friends seem to have decided to have babies at age 28 (which they act on if married/partnered and lament otherwise). It makes practical sense in some cases, but there's something I'm missing. Why 28? Is it just get-it-in-before-30? People seem to have the idea that 28 is the perfect age. ??? I thought the magic cutoff ( Read more... )

sporadic high-speed update # ... 3 ( Read more... )