Wow, what a day . . . . . . . . life direction, and more (long)!

I get bitched out by my supervisor for like 4+ hours!

Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration.

There was a 40 minute weekly group seminar and 35 minutes of me waiting in the faculty lounge waiting for "I'll just be a minute" him talking to a fellow faculty member. I didn't mind waiting, as I was talking to a friend / fellow grad student.

He calls me back over to see him, and I get up, and as I walk into his office, and he says, at once,
"What took you so long ?????", and I said "Well... I don't know what you are talking about, I was just saying goodbye to a colleauge about 20 seconds", and he quickly went back to discussing my research. Him and the prof are friends and chummy chummy, so he was he mad at me or what?

Throughout this 4 hour discussion, he thought I was wrong, and he was right. Which is good, which makes me "defend" the idea --- he wants me to ready for my defense in May.

This today, after he asked me yesterday: when do you plan to do your 2nd seminar? My answer was April-May area. One of my fellow master students in the lab (who started the same time I did) is doing his 2nd seminar March 6th. I have some results, and just need to get 1 more, before I'm ready, I suppose. Throwing together a presentation isn't quite as long as writing the thesis, which I figure I can write in 2 weeks with solid editing / organization hints from my supervisor. I gave him for the next 8 weeks or so (by the end of April), then. I think I can at least meet that.

Let's just say communication with my current supervisor is difficult, since we think on entirely different wavelengths a vast majority of the time. Lots of times when I've tried to present my ideas or preliminary results, he shrugs them off as insignificant. He tries his best, in his own way, and I try my best, in my own way, but... :)

I can't help to think my supervisor is a bit of eh... I don't want to say asshole, but just a hard ass, so to speak. After chatting with fellow students in the lab (one about to finish his PHD), I realize most everyone else thinks of him the same way: he's tough to get along with, expects a lot, and tries his best to make you a good researcher, even if he has to be a hardass, I guess.

So here I am, at a "CrossRoad" in my life. If I can manage to start a PHD (with a continued scholarship) and teach, I should do it. If I can finish the PHD in a reasonable 2 - 2 1/2 years of study (and I'll have to know by the end of 1 year of study), that would be ideal.

I was speaking with my friend Eric (my friend Joe's brother) while waiting for X Chen in the faculty lounge today. He's looking at the job market to (trying to finish up his Master's in Mechanical Engineering.)
While shooting the shit, he asked me what my plans were, and I told him of teacher's college, possible PHD, job.. blah blah. Then he mentions "Why stay in Windsor?" - family/friends.

Then he tells me of jobs in California, such as at Lockheed -- jobs requiring a PHD in EE, ME, comp science, etc or other technical field - which start at $110K a year. Wow- but I'm sure the cost of living is through the roof.

So, with said PHD plan, the job market is open to anywhere, even in most of Ontario, with good salaries. Post-doc positions at companies pay much better than academia (obviously.) I could also try to find a professorship, but those are hard to come by these days, but not impossible. Teaching high school physics/math would also be cool, as I would also have my teacher's certificate too.

I don't want to get ahead of myself, though... a PHD is serious business. They don't call you doctor for nothing (Ross.. you're not a real Doctor!).

It's like a much more serious, longer, and vigorous master's. Choosing a good supervisor, problem to focus on, proper motivation, and having research skills are a must.

So.. I have to consider said factors. Those "how to survive grad student" guides become more real.

So... I want to finish a PHD fast (2 1/2 years). This means a lot of hard work, but doable, maybe.