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Thursday, September 08, 2005
Two down, fourteen to go
Week two of graduate school has come and gone and I’m left with a few preliminary observations. First, a university roughly three times the size as one’s undergraduate institution will have an exponentially greater amount of automobile traffic at any given time. That being said, I predict that the market for new and used vehicles in the region of Tampa Bay will collapse within five to ten years because by that time every citizen will own at least one car, many times two to three vehicles. Late this afternoon I got the bright idea to go to the recreation center on campus and work out. I left at about 5:20 and got back to my apartment complex at about 6:05. The humorous thing is that I never left my car or entered the rec center. I got so fed up with the traffic that by the time I got to campus I decided to turn around and go back. I had already wasted what little free time I did have today driving to my destination. I did however discover my complex’s fitness center, which I had all to myself for the duration of my Stairmaster workout. Unfortunately this means that I’m giving up on the rec center for the time being not reaping the benefits of my student fees. Besides, the rec center doesn’t have a resort-style pool right outside the window that provides some pleasant scenery (that usually walks away before my workout is over).
Another observation I made over the past two weeks is that I’ll be using more printer ink and paper in one semester than I have in the past four years of undergraduate work. It’s not that I’m writing that much more (yet) but I have reserve readings that are in some cases entire chapters of books. My little Dell printer has been getting a workout and at $35 a cartridge, black ink is my black gold. Oddly enough, Dell is the only manufacturer of compatible cartridges.
Posted by Will at September 8, 2005 09:35 PM in Graduate School
Comments
Hey. I know this probably ain't much help, but the cheapest source of cartridges I've found is Laser Monks: http://www.lasermonks.com/. They don't carry everything, but they do carry some Dell models.
Posted by: Bob at September 9, 2005 12:09 AM
You are much better off, in the long run, with a laser printer. Its been shown that it is actually cheaper to buy new ink jet printers than to replace the cartridges. I bought a Samsung laser printer and have been much happier ever since. You'll certainly need a laser printer when you are printing out multiple drafts of your dissertation chapter drafts!
Posted by: Kerim Friedman at September 9, 2005 08:16 AM