From CSGSA

I Want to Know...

I don't know about you all, but there are a bunch of things that have been bugging me for awhile. This page will serve as a list of Good Questions that someone might want answered. Answers to these questions should be placed on an appropriate page, or possibly on a new page.

When a question answered, put a ⇒ next to it and then put a link to the answer!!

Grad students: please add to this list. Good questions deserve a Bronze prize. And more importantly, good answers deserve possibly a Silver or Gold prize.

Good Questions:

• ⇒ How hurt will we be by the state budget crunch?
  • Middling hurt. So far, there are no plans to cut grad student pay. But the faculty and staff are having pay cuts and furloughs, so they'll be bitter, and around less. Uni services, like the shuttle buses and library hours, are likely to be reduced.
• ⇒ How do I submit receipts for reimbursement for a conference trip?
  • Detailed answer available here
• Why is Soda Hall called Soda Hall?
  • Named after a couple with the last name Soda who presumably donated a bunch of money when it was built in the early 90s (I think there's a plaque on the third floor with one or two more details, like the donors' first names)
• How do I print from a department machine, i.e. argus.cs?
  • I think you mean "login.cs" now. It appears to have all of the department queues as printers on it. To print, you can use lp or lpr, e.g. lp -d lws384 filename.ps
• ⇒ Can I ship packages to Soda Hall without anyone complaining?
  • Receiving_Packages
• ⇒ How do I put money into my Buyers' club account?
  • Check out the Buyers' Club page for more info
• ⇒ Does anyone actually fail the Quals?
  • Rarely. Rumor has it that with the old format quals, the most common reason was that the student wasn't ready to take quals because their research topic was not well defined. (Note that old-format quals could be put off more-or-less indefinitely...)
• ⇒ When can I expect to find people playing volleyball? Is there a list I can sign up for?
  • sign-up for volleyball@lists.eecs.berkeley.edu
• How much do GSIs get paid?
  • (answer to this should probably be made private, more info on the About page)
  • why should this be private? It's probably public record anyway and would be useful to all of us. Next time I (Mr. Poster to you) am a GSI I'll put it down, though since that may be "never" someone else should.
• ⇒ If I want a dry erase marker, can I just get them from somewhere?
  • GSI's can get them from the front desk (or at least they used to be able to do so)
• ⇒ How can I send a fax in Soda?
  • If you have a printer in your office or lab that can send faxes use that; otherwise, for school related stuff, your grant admin can probably help (maybe the front desk too, but I haven't tried). Last resort, you can go to a copy shop and pay a couple bucks.
• ⇒ How do I get card access to the RadLab?
  • Ask a professor in the RadLab. It's good to be ready with some sort of reason for requesting access, such as "I occasionally need to talk to such-and-such, and am tired of ringing the doorbell".
• Has Berkeley made my ego (a) bigger or (b) smaller?
  • one data point: both larger and smaller. I realize I'm swimming in a select pool, but I also realize I'm a small fish in that pool.
• How can I get on a department email list?
  • e-mail La Shana
• ⇒ Where's the best place to print a conference poster?
  • One good option is [Canterbury Media Services], 510-649-3001, a short drive away near University and 580. They do a huge amount of work for people all over the country -- in fact it's uncommon for them to have walk-in customers so when you pay they'll have to use their own web page to process the credit card. They are fast, fast, fast, and calm, calm, calm, and they have multiple giant printers and a selection of stocks (plain, glossy, foldable). Really good.
  • The [UCB Scientific Visualization Center] is another good option. Their prices and hours aren't as good, and their poster width goes out to 42" only, but they're on campus and friendly.
• ⇒ What's the best way to bring a big poster to a conference, given that the damned airlines are charging out the wazoo for additional pieces of luggage, and a 4' tube is too big for carry-on?
  • I've carried on 4' tubes in the past.
  • (original poster here) I also got to carry it onto the plane, though it was an "exception" so I'm unwilling to trust it. The cheapest FedEx International rate was pretty reasonable, forgot exactly what, but it was way less than the large-baggage charge.
• ⇒ Parking around Soda - where to do it? Anybody got protips?
  • Parking page has been created (including the advice that was previously posted here)
• Where's a guide to Quals? Can we make a section for Quals, similar to what we have for prelims?