Saturday, April 30, 2005

Email analysis



Notes:
Peaks in April (due to Carnival?)
2005 is higher than 2004. (Due to being chair of CIA?)
2004 is higher than 2003. (Due to being assistant chair then chair?)
500 emails per month in April 2005 is insane.
September higher in 2004 due to recruiting and getting CIA rolling?
May is very low (due to being home or busy with finals?)
January is the lowest it seems. No buggy in January.

Congratulations to the new CIA Officers!

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Something I never expected

Xinhua, a Chinese newspaper, has some amazing body paintings on their site. They're the astrological signs.

(NSFW, unless your boss is really cool)

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Forget LA

I'm not flying to LA to see Paul van Dyk this summer, instead I'm going to catch his show in Central Park on August 20 on my way home.

That will be one hell of a capstone to the summer.

(Note on comments)

I'll continue to allow anonymous posting as long as people leave their names on their comments.

I don't want to force people to sign up for blogger to leave a comment, but it's getting pretty creepy...

Minor: done

This morning, at 9:30, I handed in my electronics formal lab report and 2 labs, thus concluding 33-228: Electronics I.

I am now done my physics minor.

It feels pretty sweet

Monday, April 25, 2005

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Idiosyncrasies

We're all a little atypical - we all have ticks, things we do we can't explain. Things we know are illogical, but we still do.

I, for example, never put on socks again before I wash them. Even if I've only worn the socks for 5 minutes, they get washed. Which means each week I wash something like 21 pairs of socks.

I've enabled anonymous posting on this post. Go ahead and post your idiosyncrasies.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

When I was a child

When I was a child, I looked around the world and said things like "wow, I could never be the type of person to have a good job, amazing opportunities, or be in the Olympics."

I realize now that the world is smaller than we think. Someone I know in high school won a gold medal in the Olympics last summer and also the previous Olympics. People we know are doing the amazing. I have opportunities now that I never would have believed could be possible for me two years ago.

We are the people we never thought we could be. The world is, ultimately, small. We can do anything we set our minds to.

In that vein, I've decided to go and get whatever I want as much as I can. I no longer believe anything's too big for me to make a difference, I no longer believe in being artificially constrained. I still want to go to the Middle East for a semester, I want to go to a festival in Los Angeles just for a weekend.

The world is waiting - fill your backpack and do the unimaginable.

recap

Our women's A team posted a time during exhibitions that would have gotten them 4th overall. Bummer, and sorry to the ladies for the failed pushbar. Our men broke 2:20 during finals, which is awesome!

I'm considering flying out to LA over the July 4 weekend for the IndepenDance Festival featuring Paul van Dyk. Tickets are $35, airplane tickets are about $300. If I fly in on the day of, the concert goes all night, and I could maybe stay at my aunt and uncle's and use them for transportation.

It sounds amazing... however, I can't float the cash today. And I'm not sure I really should be floating the cash for this. And my parents were planning on coming down to NC that weekend.

I've decided to drive by Niagara Falls on the way home after finals, as I don't have anywhere to be immediately at home. I've also purchased tickets to Modest Mouse and O.A.R. (in addition to the Dave Matthews Band tickets I've already got) so it sounds like a rather music summer coming up.

Learning, constantly learning, about everything.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Friday, April 15, 2005

Raceday, 2005

So today rocked. Our men's A team posted a second best time for races since CIA re-formed in the late 90s. The 2003 team got 2:18:something. Today we got 2:20:30. Good enough for second day.

We had an issue with Firebird's bar, which comes under the "Don't expect to get something installed Truck Weekend and have it work perfectly on raceday." Our women's A will race an exhibition tomorrow with everything working perfectly.

I was pretty out of it today, went from rolls to pancakes to the alumni advisory board to sweepstakes, back home to nap for a few hours.

Tomorrow, we do it all again, for finals. I miss not having responsibility, being able to watch from the chute while other orgs roll. But it was nice to see our time go up and know we'd be out second day.

Raceday wasn't as crazy this year as it was last. 6 dqs for men's (including 3 failed brake tests, Pioneers intentionally roster DQing due to not enough buggies) and 2 failed drops for women. Sig Nu actually rolled in the chute (not all the way over, the pushbar halted rotation) and broke their pushbar. Their driver was, thankfully, alright.

Much love to Pioneers, who won't be racing tomorrow. You guys have big hearts.

Tomorrow: finals, return U-Haul, shower & change, midway (checking out booth. Today was owned by buggy), awards ceremony, and party.

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Spoke too soon...

I said that out of the 4 most important computer science companies (Apple, IBM, Google, Microsoft) I only didn't speak to Microsoft about this summer. I spoke too soon. Miccrosoft, unsolicited, has asked me if I am interested in a contract position.

Still at design comp, raceday tomorrow, finals Saturday. i'm really excited.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

What this world needs

What this world needs is not more pundits who are convinced their view is uniquely correct, but people who are open to thinking, adapting, and dialogue without rote rejection.

We need more people who aren't out to win or push their agenda but who seek the truth.

Saturday, April 09, 2005

My other car is a U-Haul

Truck weekend, 2005. I have now rented a 26' U-Haul. It's my first diesel experience, and I have to say I wouldn't enjoy it as a daily driver. Sloppy truck shifter, sloppy steering, feels a little bit bigger than my car...

My car is right next to the truck right now, and I wish I had my camera here, for a perfect picture titled "My other car is a U-Haul."

This is what all the buildup is for, this is when it all matters. Raceday on Friday.

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Distance

Lots of people have asked me why I chose Carnegie Mellon for college. I could always answer the standard PR line of "CMU is ranked first for Computer Science (by US News and World Report)."

But there's more to it. One thing that's huge to me is that CS is its own special thing here at Carnegie Mellon; it's in its own college, it has unity because it's the only undergrad major in the SCS. Carnegie Mellon also has people who come to CMU for music, or art, or achitecture, or business. MIT may have great humanities, but almost no one goes to MIT to major in humanities or arts.

Carnegie Mellon is also really good at interdiscicplinary activities - doing computer science for more than just the sake of computer science.

Another reason is distance. MIT is a 2.5 hour car ride from my family's home (it's certainly no longer mine). I didn't want to be able to think of Harpswell as a safe haven if something happens, of a place to go if I need a doctor, of a place to go if m parents wanted me home for Easter. I needed to go away without a safety net, maybe with the ability to fly to Maine if something drastic happens, but still not a weekend trip. I wanted the challenge of being independent all at once.

(Let's also be honest, I might not have gotten into MIT)

I dropped my sister off at the airport this morning; she has been here since Monday evening. When I am in Harpswell in May, she'll be gone on an exotic vacation to Indonesia. If she doesn't come visit me this summer, I may very well not see her til Christmas. It made me feel rather distanced from my family.

I am hungering to go further out of my comfort zone, for longer, where it's too expensive to call home and simply impossible to go home for a weekend. I want to test who I am, not what the environment around me allows me to be. I hope I get the opportunity to prove to myself that I can excel in any environment.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Update?

You want an update? You are interested in my life?

Here's the 3 minute list.
  • Applied to TA Calc in Qatar. Very anxious to hear back about this
  • My oldest sister (Danielle) is visiting for a few days - she's very self sufficient (and I'm busy) so she's entertaining herself while I'm busy
  • I'm getting excited for Extreme Blue and Raleigh. Way too early.
  • Spring has sprung
  • Carnival is in 9 days, so the people who are doing buggy are irritable, busy, tired, and stressed


3 minutes up. Word.

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Dave Matthews Band

I just bought tickets for Dave Matthews Band in Raleigh June 29. Should be fun, surprised they aren't already sold out though!