A few thoughts here as a new homeowner (wife and I purchased first home less than a year ago):

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You need to be careful with this strategy, because people will notice. So much of grad school depends on teamwork and if you're that guy that leaves the other grad students in the lurch because you're out there wheeling and dealing you will wind up with a lot of resentful classmates. I'm not saying don't do it; I'm…

Also make sure you tell everyone that you have a special interest in that area. This way you become the guy that people always think of when that subject comes up. "I don't know anything about heuristic sprockets, but you should call Danny Rose. He specializes in that."

Remember that your professors and fellow students are your future colleagues, and cultivate those relationships. My mentor used to say that when somebody calls one of your colleagues to ask their opinion of you, the first thing they're going to remember is the last shitty thing you did to them. So be a friend to all.

About a dozen years ago I was visiting Naples, Italy. In Naples they make a cheese that they call provola. It's a kind of mozzarella that has the consistency of a hard cheese like cheddar, and it's quite good. Anyway, I walk into this cheese shop one day to pick up some of this cheese to bring back to the States.…

"Any Moment" is rape culture.

This is easy. It was Flight MH370. Call CNN.

I spent some time working in Hollywood, and as I was reading this I thought, "I don't see what the problem is. It sounds just like the movie business."

Yes, I've heard that referrals have gotten tricky in the corporate world. Like I said in an earlier post, I work in a small industry where we all know each other, or if we don't already, we tend to get comfortable with each other fairly quickly. Our referrals tend to be a bit more... chatty.

One other thing: convert your cover letter and resume to PDFs before you send them out. This way you can be absolutely sure that the beautiful formatting you worked so hard to achieve will appear on your prospective employer's computer screen exactly the way you want it to.

Here is why I like to see references on a resume: I work in a small industry where everyone knows each other. The first thing I do when I get a new resume is look at the references to see if any of them are friends or colleagues. It may be that the references thing is a big no-no in other fields.

I run a small department at a small company. We have no human resources department to speak of, and certainly no fancy filtering software for job applicants. In a given year I generally hire 1-3 new people. If you apply for a job in my department, chances are excellent your resume will cross my desk.

A single purchase of the Kirkland brand loratadine (generic for Claritin) will kill the membership fee—like, absolutely slay it. Last time I bought it I got a bottle of 365 pills for $11.00. At the drugstore, name brand Claritin costs around $1.00/pill.

They sell two organic whole chickens for like 20 bucks. I cook one, stick the other in the freezer. You should always have a chicken in the freezer.

The chicken noodle soup is delicious also.

This is one of my wife's pet peeve's as well. Easiest way to piss her off is to say "OMG, YOU'VE NEVER SEEN/READ/HEARD X?"

You smart guys do realize that the culture these kids are consuming is manufactured by people who are between the ages of 30 and 50, i.e. Generation X, right?

"When I lose my house, another person gets it."

I don't know about "crushing the poor," but if we're talking about the heroism of private enterprise, there are few movies as conservative as Ghostbusters.