Reflections on Grad School: Tools and Tricks I wish I knew all along

I've done it! I've gotten my Ph.D.!  Here's a few things I wish I had done from the very beginning. Enjoy Yourself. You're going to take 4-8 years investing in yourself. This is time you've set aside to educate yourself about a subject you're hopefully passionate about.  Along the way, you'll learn a tonne about a multitude of subjects! Besides...Read More

Tool of the Week: Google Cloud Print

Google cloud print is a cool tool that lets you print from any of your mobile devices, tablets, or computers to any of your printers, anywhere! It's awesome for me because if I get emailed a PDF I need to print, i can send it to my printer at the office with just one click. To set-up google cloud print,...Read More

Tool of the Week: Blocking distracting websites using the hosts file

Every once in a while i decide that I need to block a distracting website from my computer in order to remain productive. An example might be me compulsively checking Facebook  or google reader throughout the work day instead of staying on task and focused.  The key here is I need a simple barrier between me and the distraction to remind me I...Read More

Tool of the Week: Daily Agenda from Google Calendar

[caption id="attachment_1041" align="alignright" width="300"] Screen Shot of my agenda for today[/caption] I think I've already posted about how much I love Google calendar, but if not it's an incredibly powerful tool. Recently I discovered that you can have google calendar email you your daily agenda every day at 5 AM.  Its awesome. Just click the dropdown by any calendar, click...Read More

Tool of the week: Klok

Many people struggle with the constant distractions that are on the internet, and all around us... but in Grad school it can be especially hard with a culture of tweeting, Facebook, and tublring, it can be really hard to stay on task. On top of all that, Even if you ARE being productive, when managing multiple tasks it can be easy...Read More

Tool of the Week: Gmail, google Calendar, and Google Docs offline

[caption id="attachment_962" align="alignleft" width="214"] In a new tab, apps that will work when disconnected from the internet appear in blue, while others are turned gray. Be if you don't see app icons, be sure you're on the "Apps" tab at the bottom.[/caption] Sorry to post two Gmail tools in a row, but google offline is awesome.  After being gone on...Read More

Tool of the Week: Key Rocket for Gmail

Today I stumbled across a really cool extension for google chrome (A really amazing web browser for Windows and Mac), that works with gmail to make your gmail experience quicker and more productive. It's called KeyRocket, and anytime you do something in gmail that has a time saving keyboard shortcut, KeyRocket pops up (un-obtrusively) to tell you what that shortcut is for...Read More

Tool of the Week: Wunderlist

My friend Andrew introduced me to wunderlist when we were working on a project together.  At the time, I thought it was neat, but now I know that it's AWESOME. Wunderlist is a task management tool that syncs across multiple platforms and even has a smartphone version!  I use both the Mac OSx app as well as the iphone app....Read More

Tool of the Week: GitHub

In any sort of research, chances are you're going to have to write some code, be it in Matlab, R, or Javascript, or some other processing language.  Having the ability to share your codes with others, and truly collorabirate is extremly useful in being productive.  You could share your codes via a file sharing service like Dropbox, but at least...Read More

Tool of the Week: Evernote

Evernote is a free app for windows, pc, and smartphones, and is a great way to remember stuff. [caption id="attachment_584" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Evernote Screenshot"][/caption] For research: I love being able to quickly snap screen shots of plots and clip them to Evernote, with a description of what's going on and what i'm working on daily. I can easily e-mail a...Read More