The General Chat Thread (2024)

SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
Brill. You said what you were applying to do wasn't related to your degree so how did that bit pan out?
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I'll probably have to do both years full time, though I may be able to get out of the industry placement, but doing it might actually be more useful because I've not been employed in Australia. My BSc Hons degree was in Management Science with Chemistry. (The uncompleted PhD was in Organic Chemistry.) Degrees in the field I actually worked in didn't exist when I was at university, but then neither did the internet or programs like MS Excel. That only came out after I finished my degree.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Been busy these last few weeks and even busier these last few days....

Finally decided to go back to university and get a masters degree... the Aussie system is so very different to what I'm familiar with. It's been hard work navigating the system and getting identification and so on...
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Congrats on heading back to school, SatNav!

I very, very nearly went back to do a masters in 2021. My “career”, such as it was, had hit a brick wall and I was essentially stuck in a dead-end, entry-level position at almost 40 years old - it’s a long story. Anyway, I’d found a new masters program that was opening up exactly in my field, so I was planning to take a one-year educational leave of absence from my job and do that. If nothing else, I figured a change of scenery for a year would do me good, so I started to pull my application together.

Covid ended up delaying the program start for a year, and then I found the posting for my current job, applied and got it. Career unstuck and I’m happy where I am, but I do still wonder where I might be now if I’d done my masters straight after undergrad (which a lot of my professors were urging me to do).
 
I’m about to dial in to a weekly meeting that’s set for 30 minutes, but the organizer (my boss’s boss’s boss) usually drags our out 45-60 minutes, then tells everyone to keep the meeting going if they like and drops, and everyone stays on for as much as another hour.

Except me - I’ve taken to dropping 3.7 seconds after the big boss leaves. I can’t tolerate meetings that go on and on, with no real focus, and are just multiple people brain farting storming on top of each other.
 
TastyReuben said:
I’m about to dial in to a weekly meeting that’s set for 30 minutes, but the organizer (my boss’s boss’s boss) usually drags our out 45-60 minutes, then tells everyone to keep the meeting going if they like and drops, and everyone stays on for as much as another hour.

Except me - I’ve taken to dropping 3.7 seconds after the big boss leaves. I can’t tolerate meetings that go on and on, with no real focus, and are just multiple people brain farting storming on top of each other.
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I think I remember a recap of one of those which sounded like it must have been quite painful.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
I think I remember a recap of one of those which sounded like it must have been quite painful.
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As much as anything, it’s the fact that multiple people talk over each other - it’s like watching one of those political pundit shows where both guests and the host are all talking at once, but with 12 people instead of three, all getting progressively louder to be heard, and nothing really gets solved, because there’s really no concrete problem anyone is trying to fix.

It’s maddening.
 
TastyReuben said:
As much as anything, it’s the fact that multiple people talk over each other - it’s like watching one of those political pundit shows where both guests and the host are all talking at once, but with 12 people instead of three, all getting progressively louder to be heard, and nothing really gets solved, because there’s really no concrete problem anyone is trying to fix.

It’s maddening.
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You mean like parliament and congress?

Oh did you see this?
Body shaming, IQ insults and cross talk: House committee meeting devolves into chaos

"A fiery exchange between Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jasmine Crockett leads to chaos in the House Oversight Committee."
 
TastyReuben said:
I’m about to dial in to a weekly meeting that’s set for 30 minutes, but the organizer (my boss’s boss’s boss) usually drags our out 45-60 minutes, then tells everyone to keep the meeting going if they like and drops, and everyone stays on for as much as another hour.

Except me - I’ve taken to dropping 3.7 seconds after the big boss leaves. I can’t tolerate meetings that go on and on, with no real focus, and are just multiple people brain farting storming on top of each other.
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I just used the term brain fart too 😆
Although yours sounds a lot more painful!
 
JAS_OH1 said:
We Americans can relate, unfortunately. Ours, although they often pretend to be civil, they are more two-faced and underhanded than yours behind each others' backs.
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I think the popularity of 'House of Cards' here back in 1990 and the popularity of the subsequent American version says everything we need to know.

Even decades and seas apart, it's all the same awfulness!
 
The hotel we're staying in has had a recent pasting on trip advisor.
I wouldn't have booked it if there'd been a decent alternative available en route.
I think British expectations of four star hotels are sometimes unrealistically high and unforgiving especially in other countries.

So glad I did book it.
The place is spacious and clean. It's got the whole generous marble entrance and chesterfield sofa thing going on along with a good bar.
The staff are lovely, helpful and accommodating, bikers aren't always welcomed with open arms yet our helmets were carried to our room for us and the Spanish do not expect or sometimes even like tips, the linen is somehow crispy fresh and soft at the same time. I'd stay again!

IMG_2829.jpeg
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
The hotel we're staying in has had a recent pasting on trip advisor.
I wouldn't have booked it if there'd been a decent alternative available en route.
I think British expectations of four star hotels are sometimes unrealistically high and unforgiving especially in other countries.

So glad I did book it.
The place is spacious and clean. It's got the whole generous marble entrance and chesterfield sofa thing going on along with a good bar.
The staff are lovely, helpful and accommodating, bikers aren't always welcomed with open arms yet our helmets were carried to our room for us and the Spanish do not expect or sometimes even like tips, the linen is somehow crispy fresh and soft at the same time. I'd stay again!

View attachment 113650
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That looks lovely.

I like reading trip advisor reviews because some are funny, some silly and some downright petty so don't always pay much attention to be fair. As long as you like it and are happy that is all that matters.
 
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