Goals 27, 38, 58 & 75: Another 'Semester' at Stanford

There's really no reason to be worried about not updating this too often, as I'm sure you only check to see if I've updated it once or twice a year maybe. Probably less now because I update it less now. This post marks me at 58% complete on the 101 goals, and only 136 days remaining. My odds are not too good for completing the entire list, so I might have to hedge some of the goals, or declare them prematurely. That, or I need to get my butt in gear this summer.

The last two quarters at Stanford have been exciting, but also challenging. I'm facing a lot that I never have before, and I'm not just talking about schoolwork. It's been an intense few months that has left me in a new place that I'm trying to navigate, but the waters are unknown, and there's a hidden reef. I've been on this trajectory for too long, believing these days would come but not preparing for them. Now it's as if the I've been duped, tricked by my own thinking into thinking I was unflappable, that I could prevail.

The trick there is that I can prevail on this course, but this was never intended to be permanent. I've enjoyed the scenic route, but now I'm afraid I'm lost; too far off the map to make it to my destination in time. They say the journey is half the fun, or something like that, but that means there's still another whole half out there when you get to wherever you're going. No matter how much fun you've had so far. 

With that, I guess I'll talk about some fun I've had so far...

Goal 38: Replace Something in my diet with Something Healthy and Natural

I admit right now that I haven't totally replaced anything in my diet, but I've gotten pretty close. Over winter break I had a conversation with Annie and Matthew about the morality of eating meat. Annie has been a vegetarian for 11 years or something impressive like that. Matthew thinks that animals were made to be eaten. The argument was put forth that if you can survive without taking a life, then you should... and I guess that made a lot of sense to me.

Now, I haven't fully replaced meat with not-meat, because most of the food I eat is acquired at group meetings and events. But what I have replaced is purchased meat. Meaning simply that I don't buy meat, and I always opt out of meat if asked before hand (to affect ordering). I go this route because I think my impact on eating a scoop of meat-food at an event is magnitudes less than if I directly buy it. I guess I'm just justifying myself though.

Goal 27: Make my Product Design Portfolio

For finding a summer job I created my portfolio. Feel free to take a look and tell me what you think. I like it, but I know it needs improvements. I got feedback from one place I really wanted to work at this summer that it was 'too busy.' So I guess I'll be revamping it next summer.

Download it here.

Goal 58: Gain and Keep Three Industry Contacts from Different Companies

I guess I could go into a bit here, but I don't really want to. Patricia is a contact from Walt Disney World that I took a course from called "Creativity and Innovation: Gaining the Edge." It was a really cool course, and I've been in contact with her ever since, seeing her every time I return to Florida. Jason is a contact from Sandia National Labs who is an extremely smart guy, and was my manager while I worked there. I loved him, and for some reason he loved me too. I was really sad to leave Sandia for Disney last summer just because of him. Adam is part of top management at SAP, and I met him through my tablet project at Stanford. I almost accepted a job from him at SAP for this summer, but decided not to because I had already accepted another offer. I will be keeping in touch with him about future opportunities and connections. Done.

Goal 75: Visit Disneyland Hong Kong 

So this is exciting, yeah!? Yeah. Because of my design project with SAP and Stanford for ME310, I was flown to China. I booked my flight a week early so that I could spend some travel time seeing the country before it became business time for the project. I went to Beijing, Hong Kong, Guanzhou, Shanghai, and Hefei. It was lovely.

I spent three days in Hong Kong, which is certainly my favorite city in China so far. One of those days was at Disneyland with Annika. 

Look at that. It was really hard to take in. It was so similar to the Disney I know, but then it was also quite different. Fewer coasters, slightly different rides, and a different feeling in general. It's strange going when it's not busy also. The parade was to be expected.

The castle, of course. The fireworks show was not as moving as Wishes or Illuminations.

Shoalin Goofy. Also featured is Annika and I in our matching panda shirts that Qingyi bartered down for us in Beijing.

The mountains that surrounded the park also made it a new experience.

Hong Kong

Beijing

Shanghai

Status: You know that part when Steve Zissou is wandering around the ship after Kingsly (Ned) dies, and before they pick up a homing beacon signal?

Goals 44 & 64: Back to School

They said the day would come, that the shuffling would have to end...

I moved from Orlando to Palo Alto in a swift 9-day coast-to-coast roadtrip (spending 3 days in New Mexico).

 I turned 24 in the process, which reminds me of a quote I read once but cannot find now that went something like:

"Everything you will become, you will be by the time you are 25."

Probably horseradish, but I still am going to do my best to become quite the person over the next year.

So anyway, I went to Disneyland (for free because I was still a castmember at the time). The greatest thing about it was going to the new Little Mermaid ride, which I worked on extensively back in Florida. It was such a trip! Like fast forwarding into the future, I saw it all put together, finished, where I had been watching the gradual completion at WDW.

I arrived in Palo Alto after a short stay with my friend Chandra, who I met in Sweden. When I got to Palo Alto, I called housing to find out about how I move into my room. Fun news, my room wouldn't be ready until Friday morning...it was Tuesday.

I didn't know anyone in the area, actually, since I was just getting there, so I had to call people I thought had people in the area. Well, my network won me three places to stay over the next three nights, one with a friend of a friend, one with a sister of a former co-worker (and friend), and one that I had met on my visit day to Stanford. Didn't had to sleep in the car once!

Goal 44: Start Grad School or Begin a Career

Well then I started school. My first class was ARTSTUDI 160, a course on visual language. The teacher was intimidating, saying things like "This will be the hardest class you ever take." At first I scoffed, thinking these were probably mostly first year undergrad students, but then when nearly everyone raised their hands in response to "How many of you are graduate students," the sir was not surprised in the least...in fact, he expected everyone to be graduate students... He spent an hour and a half going over the syllabus thoroughly, explaining the difficulty with each project. I was effectively frightened, and was more than happy to not get in.

My final schedule consisted of a class that took me to factories and manufacturers in the Bay Area every Friday, a design class, and a product management class. Here's some camera dissection at IDEO.

The rest, in brief, goes like this:

1. Started classes

2. Joined a dozen clubs to get free food everyday

3. Attended classes I wasn't taking

4. Watched classes online

5. Ran out of time for all the extra stuff (except free food) when paper bikes kicked into gear

Goal 64: Build Something I can Fit Into

That shit is a bike. A bike made of paper. It has a converting feature, allowing it to go from sliding to rolling, and its chassis is a tank. Here's a time lapse of the whole thing being built.

Our mega-team was victorious, winning 2 out of 3 in the paper bike rally of 2011. 

(New Orleans Skybridge)

Status: Tired of writing...

Goal 34 & 73: Farewell Friends

My time at Walt Disney World was amazing, spectacular, shufflicious, and all too short. My crew there was easily the most energetic and exciting group of friends I've ever had. As the summer came to an end, I transitioned from coast to coast, from industry to academia, paid to poor. But there was plenty of fun before all that..

The shufflin' crew's very own Sydney Moeller planned a trip to Savannah, Georgia one weekend. A beautiful place of Southern charm, we were all drawn to the Craft Brew festival that would occur there. I didn't buy an advance ticket for $10 off online, which ended up being an advantage, because Jimmy managed to find his way in without using his, so we split the cost of one. Once inside, we drank the finest brews from around the country.

After a while we were feeling pretty confident, and started touring behind the scenes of the conference center. I found an inspiring doorway.

The brewfest was quite nice, but there were more important things to be done whilst in Savannah...

Goal 34: Get Crabs at THE Crab Shack

For many years my parents have told me about The Crab Shack in Savannah, and I've always wondered what it might be like to actually go, with the garbage can holes, and the platters of crabs. If we were going to Savannah, I simply had to go.


We ordered blue crab, dungeness crab, and snow crab, and they arrived on platters of delicious. We spent over an hour devouring the crabmatter. Dungeness crab is what I grew up on, so I'm drawn to it as the delicacy of my youth. It has substantial meat in the legs, and is sweet with a savory finish. Snow crab is the most common, and tastes very sweet. It's delicious, and I've sometimes compared the taste to fresh shrimp. Blue crab...well, um...I dunno. In all honesty, I don't remember the blue crab, except I know the legs were small, and had appropriately sized chunks of meat, resulting in a relatively low efficiency scour.

The next day we went to the Lady and Son's restaurant, the one chef'd by Paula Dean. I buffet'd the crap out of myself.

We also went to the beach to play some baller volleyball, and we toured around Savannah. It was a great final trip to take with the crew. Once we came back, it seemed like the final weeks flew by. They were filled with shuffling everyday, 80's nights, dinner out, goodbyes, and even....

Goal 73: Go Paintballing

A group of co-workers invited everyone out on a paintballing expedition. It may have had something to do with Livingsocial, or Groupon, but I don't recollect.

I had a rootin' tootin' 'ol time, shootin' up the place.

A nice overcast day, by the end of it we were all soaked from sweating through our clothes in the humidity.

(Savannah Skybridge)

Status: Overdue