Achievements

[Bear]

*Beats Don with Hammer for being annoying*

[Don Alexander]

To, erm, get back on topic...

So, in terms of study, I guess I have brought it to something.

At the moment, I'm working on a PhD in physics. More specifically astrophysics, and the topic is called "Gamma-Ray Bursts" (if anyone is interested, Wikipedia has a really good article that I can vouch for).

In most natural sciences, doing a PhD means doing original research, writing papers, getting published - and, in the end, packing everything into a thesis.

Therefore, I'm by now a published scientist. So far, I have four first-author papers out, where I lead the study. Three are really long. One of them, my first, has almost 70 citations by now. I'm also a co-author on another two dozen or so papers. All in all, these papers have garnered over 540 citations so far.

What I'm proud of most, I'd say, is that I am co-author (very minor in the first paper, but major in the second one) of two papers that have appeared in the journal Nature. for those who don't know, this is the most prestigious scientific journal in the whole world. It covers all topics, which means it's mostly biology and medicine (since these are huge fields), and astrophysics articles appear maybe once every two issues. Getting into Nature is extremely hard, they reject over 90% of all submitted papers and choose only the most groundbreaking ones.

Furthermore, in our small community (maybe 1000 people worldwide work on GRBs and associated phenomena), I'm quite well know already despite still being a student. I have an encyclopaedic memory of bursts and often control and correct online tables and other people's papers. I've been referee a half dozen times or so; usually, you need to have a PhD to even be considered referee. My nicest moment so far was to be invited as a speaker to the first GRB conference in Nanjing this year - usually, if you want to give a talk at a conference, you need to submit and abstract and pray they choose you (overbooking is usually several to one). Luckily, the conference organizer is a main co-author on my two latest papers. (Thanks, Bing! )

So, enough bragging.

And if I ever get my PhD, I'll be sure to tell you.

@T2B: Well, here it is. And don't forget the chocolate and Bailey's for the beary-mod.

[Scaramouche]

Awesomeness.

Wicked. I am interested in GRBs, and considering doing further education in astrophysics. Or history. Or both.

[Don Alexander]

Awesomeness.

Wicked. I am interested in GRBs, and considering doing further education in astrophysics. Or history. Or both.

Thanks, Scaramouche!!!!

[midgetshrimp]

@ Asaryu: Sounds like how my mother grew up. Her mother was, as I've heard, a raging alcoholic and would try to suffocate my aunt with a pillow in her sleep. An action my mother would have to break up. Eventually she told my aunt to sleep somewhere else, because she wasn't going to help her again if she kept being stupid. Or something like that. There are also great stories about my uncle being chased down by my grandmother. In a car. With a hammer. Fun stuff. All of them drink (both aunts and the uncle) like the Irish heritage they carry dictates, though my mother usually mixes hers and drinks rarely. So far, none of my family has tried to kill me that I can remember. I can't really wrap my mind around that. The worst my siblings did was lock me in the bathroom, or fart on me. I actually found the master key to the house last night above one of the door jams. I probably hid it there 15 years ago.

Uh... achievements... I won the Pinewood Derby in my Cub Scout pack once. Won a regional spelling bee when I was in 7th or 8th grade. Was part of a championship high school soccer team in 2004. Got selected as co-player of the year for soccer in my senior year, after I had my knee mangled in the last soccer game of the regular season. I wrote the goodbye speech for my graduation, and I guess tons of people cried or something. I was just so damn hungry and thirsty, I hadn't had anything to drink or eat all day and I was close to blacking out for the first time in my life. Wearing a suit under the grad gown didn't help the matter. Nothing about college has been an achievement so far. A bunch of other sports related things throughout my schooling.

Besides that, I think an achievement would be that no one has actually seen me pissed right the fuck off. I mean, everyone has seen me upset, angry, or mad. But no one has seen me go over the edge. Only one person has witnessed it, but that was over Yahoo IM, so the full effect of me shaking with rage was never really understood. The only other times it has happened... once when my big sister snuck out when she was supposed to be watching my little sister. I had been over at a friends house, and I biked home around 7. It was already dark, and my little sister (she had to have been 6, at the most) was walking around calling people's names. No lights were on in the house, and she was scared and in tears. Even at 12, I was shaking with rage. I can't remember what I did, but I'm pretty sure after she was asleep, I had a few words for a couple people. The other time was at work. To make this short and simple, she is so stupid and stubborn that I couldn't take it anymore. I know some stupid people. But this woman is unbelievable. And when I told her that I was going to do something so I didn't have to deal with any more of her mistakes, she took all of the supplies away. She's 46! I'd expect that kind of behavior from like, a dog wit a bone that I just berated. I had to work with her for about a week, and I snapped at around the halfway point.

[Don Alexander]

Achievement: I have made 10% of all posts in the complete Ma3 forum.

I really should go home and to bed now.

[Asaryu]

I have maanged to waste at least 3 out of the 7 hours I have spent at work.

[Dirty n Evil]

I have maanged to waste at least 3 out of the 7 hours I have spent at work.

Bravo, Asaryu!

[Don Alexander]

Last Wednesday and Thursday, I wasted 95% of my time at work in the forum...

[thaldin]

I have maanged to waste at least 3 out of the 7 hours I have spent at work.

Hehe, I do that a lot now... and I happily blame you all *smirks* =)

[Don Alexander]

Hehe, I do that a lot now... and I happily blame you all *smirks* =)

Thaldin, your new avvy is splortashious. Koda, right? Got any snow yet?

[Bear]

Last Wednesday and Thursday, I wasted 95% of my time at work in the forum...

This week, I phoned Don's work to tell them why their internet bills are so high

[Don Alexander]

Last Wednesday and Thursday, I wasted 95% of my time at work in the forum...

This week, I phoned Don's work to tell them why their internet bills are so high

Naaa, they should actually be happy, because I was not downloading pr0n instead!

[thaldin]

Hehe, I do that a lot now... and I happily blame you all *smirks* =)

Thaldin, your new avvy is splortashious. Koda, right? Got any snow yet?

Yeah that's how I like to remember him... Now he's over 60 lbs, takes up pretty much half of my queen size bed, and is only 6 months old hehe

We should be getting snow soon hopefully... we've dropped to the low 30's here in Western WA and precipitation is a constant here ..

I'll definitely be getting pictures of him in it

[Phoenix]

Achievement: I have made 10% of all posts in the complete Ma3 forum.

I really should go home and to bed now.

In other news, I've figured out why you don't get laid...