Context:

I’m trying to make a system for studying, researching, uni work basically. I have a windows laptop, an ipad and an android phone. I’m trying to use Obsidian as my working place and my source of truth, with a plugin i create flashcards directly in obsidian notes and import them into Anki. Since i’m studying math and computer science i try to write while reviewing my flashcards, on my ipad. On ipad, besides reviewing flashcards i take math notes, i do homework, i do exercises, so, i’m using OneNote to have quick access on my laptop to what i write by hand. On my laptop i take quick snips to ask LLMs questions when i get stuck or to have them review my work for mistakes. I tried to picture the workflow i’m trying to achieve.

The problem is:

I want to have easy access to my obsidian notes on my ipad. Now, naturally the first though might be obsidian sync or other similar service, but, i keep in obsidian also textbooks, as i said, i’m trying to keep obsidian as the source of truth, and making notes and referencing them directly to the pdfs in obsidian is very useful. Now, textbooks and other pdfs start eating up storage, there is a 10gb version of obsidian sync, but i’m still gonna ask if that’s the proper approach, it will probably be enough i think?

But, if there is a free alternative i would appreciate it since i’m a student. And if my way of using obsidian as a reference manager is wrong and it will make my life hard in the future i appreciate someone bringing it out. Any feedback and suggestions to my workflow or anything else are welcome.

Let's see how low we all fall and what precious treasures we sacrificed to planning gods to avoid those Saturday morning classes.

Hello!
I’m a third year student and I really admire one of the TAs in my class (PhD student). We share some research interests, and have chatted about them. She is really the only TA i’ve connected with. Would it be out of place/inappropriate to gift her one of those minute plastic ducks you see online, in exchange for her help at office hours?I am not trying to get better grades, this is meant for branching into mentor relationship
Thanks

At the beginning of this year, I genuinely thought I might not be able to finish my degree. Not because I lacked the ability, but because of everything happening around me.

I was hospitalised with an illness while still carrying the grief of having spent much of my graduate school experience at a cancer centre, caring for someone I loved who is no longer here. I was trying to navigate bereavement, my own health, ongoing caregiving responsibilities and the intensity of graduate school, all at once.

There were moments when it felt impossible to keep going. I remember coming to this subreddit earlier in the year, essentially in tears, because I was convinced that everything was going to fall apart. I couldn’t see how I would get from where I was to the finish line.

Thankfully, my circumstances were recognised as exceptionally unusual, and I was granted additional time and consideration under the relevant regulations. That flexibility made a real difference. It gave me the breathing room I needed to continue, rather than having my academic future determined by circumstances largely outside my control.

And today, I’m so happy to say that my thesis was awarded an exceptional first-class mark. I’ve also come top of my faculty cohort and am on track to make the Dean’s List.

I’m finding it difficult to put into words what this means to me.
I come from an ethnic minority background, and I continue to have caregiving responsibilities alongside my academic work. There have been so many things competing for my time, energy and attention that simply aren’t visible on a transcript or reflected in a final mark. To have achieved this through the quality of my academic work, despite everything that was happening in my personal life, is something I’m incredibly proud of.

I think one of the hardest things about navigating difficult circumstances during university is that you can begin to mistake your circumstances for your capabilities. When you’re struggling to meet deadlines, concentrate, or function at the level you know you’re capable of, it’s easy to convince yourself that you’ve somehow become less intelligent or less deserving of being there. Sometimes, you’re not failing academically because you lack ability. Sometimes, you’re a person going through something extraordinarily difficult and trying to do academic work at the same time.

I’m sharing this because I wish I could go back and tell the version of myself who was crying on this subreddit at the beginning of the year that things could turn out differently from what they feared.

I’m also grateful that there were mechanisms within the university system that allowed my circumstances to be considered. I know not everyone is fortunate enough to receive that kind of flexibility, and I don’t take it for granted.

If you’re currently struggling through graduate school because of illness, bereavement, caring responsibilities or circumstances that have made you question whether you can continue, I hope you give yourself some grace. Your current circumstances are not necessarily a reflection of your academic potential, and needing more time does not mean you’re less capable.

I’m still processing everything, but today I’m letting myself feel proud. After a year in which I genuinely thought I might not make it to the end, I did and I did better than I ever imagined I could.
I wish I’d known at the beginning of the year that this was possible. Things will be okay :(

Assuming I could, which isn't a given, should I switch jobs?

I'm in my 13th year at my institution. My most measures, they are good to me. I teach the same 2/2 course package. My salary is fair and lets us travel, save for retirement, etc. I like my research and I like my students.

I do NOT have any friends on the faculty. I'm friendly enough with folks but I'm an outlier here for a variety of reasons. Imagine I'm a Muslim at a Catholic college. Or a white woman at an HBCU, that sort of thing. The mission matters to me but not like it does for some others and this shows up in various ways.

For example, we're in the process of hiring new folks and after watching a candidate give their spiel "briefly" summarize their research for 15 minutes of a 25 minute interview, I thought, "well, this person cannot concisely summarize complicated ideas into digestible chunks for students. Hard pass because they'd be a bad teacher." My colleagues said, "they're so enthusiastic!". Not said, IMO, is that the real truth is that they're well liked because they love Jesus! and we should hire them for our christian college, etc.

Anyway, I've begun to feel more constrained in my oddness here. Just that I don't belong.

But we're comfortable. We have a community, our children have friends, we have friends, we aren't too far from family, we're in a major city, etc. So while I could be much happier in my job if I went someplace where I was not such a minority or I was better aligned with my colleagues otherwise, it would come at a substantial personal/family cost. At a minimum, there would be major transition costs. And some of those could be more longstanding. Maybe our well-adjusted teen would become surly without his friends, etc.

Thoughts?

TL;DR - Lateral move being considered for a better professional fit but worried about personal/family costs to uproot. stay or go?

When on job application a sample syllabus is required, should it be a syllabus that I used on the previous job or should it be a new syllabus?