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Doctoral Dissertation or Master’s Thesis Template

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I’ve already mentioned one good tool for research papers, so here’s another that might be helpful.

Most schools have a set format for their dissertations and theses. My school was the same.  They provide a manual showing what they expect your formatting to be.  Many people have trouble with this. You must make a meeting with a specific faculty member in the graduate school and she will take a ruler and measure your margins, and go over in extreme detail the spacing, numbering, etc. of your document. Many many people get rejected and I’ve even talked to people who pay lots of money for other people to format the documents for them.  They don’t provide an exact template for any specific software, but using the google machine can help you find Microsoft Word or LaTeX tempaltes.  Personally, I like LibreOffice it is completely cross-platform (works on windows, mac, and linux systems)  completely free, open source, has lots of great plugins and it lives in the world between Microsoft Windows and LaTeX. It is GUI-based (WYSIWYG, visual) like Microsoft Word, but also much more powerful like LaTeX.   I dislike LaTeX because it is incredibly buggy and you have to program your text documents.  I program other stuff all day long, I am sick of that!

Anyway, I made my own template and write up a very detailed explanation on how to use it and my best tips and tricks for modifying the basic template if you want.  I also have a chart of suggested plugins to make your papers look amazingly good and professional. Again, I used LibreOffice, so it can be used in OpenOffice as well. This is specific to my school, so be sure you double check your school’s documents to see exactly what kind of margins and page numbering they require.  (Note it is in Open document Format and though I haven’t tested it, it *might* work in other programs like Microsoft Word).

Download my template here!

Adam-Atom

Add an Elegant Hanging Light the Easy Way

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For the longest time, we’ve wanted some kind of light above the sink in our kitchen. We finally settled on a simple DIY solution to this problem using the IKEA Hemma cord set. The cord set comes with a long electrical wire that has a normal 2-prong plug on one end, and a light socket on the other. The light socket has a removable screw piece to allow you to attach a lamp shade. The screw piece holds the shade securely onto the light socket end of the cord. The cord itself is quite strong and can easily handle a glass shade hanging from it.

The cord set comes with an open eye hook, but it didn’t work in our situation because there was no stud in the ceiling where we wanted to hang the light. We ended up buying a hanging plant hook kit. We had to modify the hook slightly because the plastic wire hanger that came with the Hemma was too small to fit over the end of the planter hook.

To fix this, I simply cut the end off of the hook with a small hacksaw. The metal was very soft and this took only seconds.  If you don’t have a hacksaw, you could possibly use heavy duty wire cutters to cut the end off.

These hanging kits are designed to hold hanging planters which are pretty heavy and come with the parts to install on either a stud or directly into drywall.  The drywall anchor is a spring toggle bolt, which is capable of hanging a lot of weight. This is a bit overkill for this project, but it doesn’t hurt. For other projects, you may want to check out which kind of drywall anchor would be right for you. To install this toggle bolt, I used a half-inch spade drill bit to drill a hole in the ceiling large enough to accept the toggle bolt when it is folded.

Once the hole has been drilled, simply insert the toggle bolt and screw the hook until it is tight against the ceiling.

We planned to power the light using a power socket under the kitchen cabinets by the sink but we didn’t want the plug just hanging down from the ceiling for two reasons; 1) Because it is unsightly and 2) because the Hemma wire was several feet too long. What we decided to do was to run the wire inside our cabinets and leave the extra wire on top of the cabinet. To do this, we used a larger drill bit to drill a hole bottom shelf and the top of the cabinets as close to the back corner as possible.

A 1-inch spade drill bit which was just wide enough to handle the plug.

We threaded the wire through the holes and tied a knot just before the bottom hole leaving enough on the other side to reach the plug under the cabinets. This knot should prevent any extra wire from coming through the hole.

To keep the wire out of the way and tidy inside the cabinet, we used small nails to tack it to the back side of the cabinet facing. This also help rout the wire neatly around the inner shelves.

We got a shade from a local Habitat for Humanity ReStore for $2.00. These stores are great because they have a wide variety of random construction pieces and furniture for great prices and the money goes to help Habitat for Humanity. The particular share we got was a bit too big to fit on the screw part of the hemma, so I filed down some of the plastic on the hemma’s light socket to make some room. I was only able to thread a couple of threads on the socket with the screw piece, but that was plenty to hold the shade.

All in all, the IKEA Hemma proved to be a great solution for us. There are tons of really great examples out there using it as well. It allows you to be creative and still coming up with a professional look.  If you have used the Hemma for a DIY lighting project, we’d love to see what you did! Leave us a comment with info and a link.

 

 

9 Must Read Tips for Purchasing Prescription Eyeglasses Online

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The first time I purchased glasses online, I was very uneasy because it was new territory. If you are ordering glasses online for the first time, or just want some tips to help make a repeat attempt go more smoothly, read the following tips:

 

  1. Get an updated eye exam.  It is no good buying new glasses if your prescription information is different from your last visit.
  2. Have your doctor measure your Pupillary Distance (PD).  This measurement from one pupil to the next is generally recorded in millimeters (mm).  Eye doctors will take this measurement but they will not share it unless you ask.  Ask for your PD measurement!  Write it down.
  3. If you do not already own a pair of glasses, try on glasses at the doctor’s office.  Write down the name and style of the glasses you like so you can look up the measurement specification of those glasses online later.  The alternative to this is to measure (in millimeters) the overall distance of the frame, the bridge width, and the width of each lens using a ruler.  Write these numbers down.  If you already have glasses, you can measure the glasses you already own or look up those measurements online.  For example, I found the specs to my previous pair of “Thalia Amada” glasses here.  To acquaint yourself with common eyeglass measurements, visit sites like this.
  4. Have your eye doctor print off your prescription information so you can put in your order right away.
  5. Set aside a couple of hours. No joke!  Adam and I perused through all the eyeglass selections for much longer than we anticipated.  We ended up using EyeBuyDirect.  There are also similar sites like Zenni Optical or  $39 Dollar Glasses.  We went with EyeBuyDirect because their final costs were the cheapest with the glasses options we wanted.  Read about our experience with EyeBuyDirect here.
  6. Find glasses that match your measurement specs. This is where I went awry with my first order.  I figured the 126mm total lens width of the glasses I wanted to order was close enough to the 120mm of my current glasses.  Wrong!  My driving glasses fall down to the tip of my nose if my head moves too quickly forward.  Pay attention to the sizes no matter how much you like the frame (or the price)!  The glasses you order will not look good if they do not fit your face.
  7. Put in your order using your prescription information.  Triple check the numbers you type in.  Adam and I checked each other’s information twice just to be safe. Yay for a quadruple check.
  8. Look for coupon codes.  After you place an order, EyeBuyDirect gives their customers a coupon code to share with friends and family that saves you $10 whenever someone uses the code.  Our referral code (for $10 off at EyeBuyDirect is: IFYIQIZN8A.
  9. Place your order and expect to wait.  Even ordering glasses through a doctor’s office can take several weeks.

I hope your experience ordering glasses online goes well!  Read about my experience here.

How to Make a New Swarm of Solderless WASP Kits

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Recently, we noticed our stock of WASP and WASP Solderless kits were running a bit low. Just in time for the World Maker Faire (be sure to stop by and say “hello”), we thought you might be interested in seeing what goes into making a new swarm of WASPs. This article is complete with lots of pictures showing every step.

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