Goals 39, 63, 90 & 95: Spring Break 2011

This post is going to be much less exciting than the title leads on with the onslaught of completed goals. While I did much, I didn't take pictures, meaning everything is described in words of detail.

I took my spring break to myself, and in the words of Kanye West:

"I just needed time alone, with my own thoughts

Got treasures in my mind but couldn't open up my own vault,

My childlike creativity, purity, and honesty

was honestly being crowded by these grown thoughts"

-Power, by Kanye West

After lots of deliberation with potential trip mates, the choice to lone-trip arose out of murk. A veteran of solo road trips, I know they can be invigorating and reveal a wealth of experience and knowledge in even short trips. This sounded right to me, and I knew that it was an opportunity to really clear my mind. Anything that I felt to be holding me back or distracting to me, I dropped... or, it would be more accurate to say that I dropped myself from all of it.

Goal 63: Go somewhere without a destination

This is metaphorically, and physically speaking. I left Jemez Springs, and my father's cabin, on Sunday, March 13 with no idea where I would end up. I put my bike in the backseat. I drove northeast. Then I started eliminating distractions to let my mind wander. Facebook and the cell phone were easy, they have deactivation methods. It was everything else that I was worried about: ghosts.

I found a little town called Lamy, and ate an anchovy pizza in Estancia. Driving southeast I started to think about my camera. I've been using my camera adamantly for the past four years doing "Picture of the Day," and have always been excited about getting cool or exciting pictures for each day. But it's become more than that, it's become a crutch also. An excuse to tell less stories, or tell less of them. A way to avoid words. It's also affected my memories. If I didn't get a picture of it, or its picture didn't make the cut for the day, then it might as well have not happened. If the picture was bad, or boring, and shot without any passion, I remember that day with an equivalent interest, making some very exciting and fun times get pushed to the side of boring days with great pictures. Long story short, the urge to use my camera and document my trip became a bond that I released myself from. I decided I would only use my camera for one picture of myself every morning (for POTD continuity), if I saw any skybridges (no crutch here), and for any goals I completed (to make the post at least a little interesting, and because these pictures would only be at specific, pre-determined times, and I would not be searching for good shots everywhere).

I arrived in Dallas early the next day. I had never seen a city with so many skybridges.

The feeling of not having a shower was already starting to bug me, so I started carousing hotels, seeing if I could figure out how to get a free shower.

Goal 90: Go Swimming at a Nice Hotel I'm NOT Staying At

I was in the downtown Sheraton trying to find showers connected to the fitness center. The hotel was snazzy, and there was a conference going on, so lots of people were about. I checked every door I could find, and eventually found a patio exit that wasn't key-operated.

From the patio, I walked around and found this little fence.

That fence opened up to the pool area and fitness room. After exploring and finding that they had no showers, I grabbed a towel and went swimming.

The water was cold, and chlorinated. I could feel the sweat and light grime chemicalizing off. My hair felt like seaweed as I drove south. I followed signs to towns with names like "Gun Barrel City" and "Log Cabin." I found a huge, beautiful lake. When night fell I went to Austin, where South by SouthWest (SXSW) was beginning. I attended a few small shows, but moved on. I made it to S. Padre Island by the time I went to sleep.

I rode my bike around S. Padre Island, but it was windy and overcast. I drove on to Port Aransas where there were tons of people, and parked cars for miles. It wasn't a place for me. I ate fried seafood and went to a coffee shop. I had a few minor things that would be purely irresponsible for me to neglect, so I allowed myself access to the internet tubes, but ignored any personal, or non-immediate business. Comforted by the latte and the chair I claimed, I decided to walk on the beach a bit, and hopefully find some interesting people.

I put my thumb out to hitchhike a ride with a beach-driver, and eventually got picked up. When we parked they were drunk, and two ladies walking by just then introduced themselves as Brooklyn and Kimba. Everyone walked and talked down the beach. It slowly became clear that Brooklyn and I shared some very specific, and exactly similar motivations and perspectives. She very actively sought out travel, and growth through leaving her comfort zone. She likes the same foods, had similar and the same goals on her 'bucket list' as me, and even partakes in eating off strangers' plates. As the day went on, it started to just be absurd as similarities were discovered. They called some guys that they had met the previous day, and we hung out at a bonfire for a while. One of them, called A.J., who had a thick Texan accent and attitude, told me an interesting story about wearing a confederate flag in Las Vegas that got him stabbed, and resulted in his shoulder blade being nearly cut off before his friends could save his life. I asked him pressing questions about what it was like to get stabbed because I was interested, and fairly sure I would never see him again. I thought about leaving that night, but decided the drive would be much better in the light, I knew I would be going through tropical areas.

I was parked in a Holiday Inn parking lot, so when I woke up I tried to find a shower again using a method I had thought up the previous day whilst discussing cool traveler tricks. I walked in and looked for people leaving, or house service rolling up on rooms to clean. I was going to walk up to house service and say "Oh! Sorry, can you come back in like 20 minutes after I take a quick shower? I was a little hurried checking out." Instead I just found an open door, propped open with a trash can. It was obvious everyone had left, so I went in. Unfortunately there was no shampoo, so I was still operating with mangy locks, but it was nice to have some hot water and soap.

I drove the coastline, and saw some beautiful bays and beaches. I stopped a few times to think and enjoy the tropical views. At one stop there were oysters lining the rocks. I boiled water with my camp stove, and walked the rocks in sandals, using a pair of pliers to pry them off. I slipped quite a few times, and after a small meal, left with bloody hands and feet. I ate a really delicious meal at a local BBQ joint and took a nap. When I woke up it was dark, and I drove till I made it to the next beach, Surfside, TX.

I could drive on the beach here, so I started to look for wood that I could make a fire with. I see a building-in-progress, and I decide to shine some light on it while turning around. Not paying attention to where I was going, I start hitting some muddy bumps, and I suddenly splat down to a stop. I'm stuck. Anything I say here would be an understatement, but I spent the next two hours digging with pieces of wood, and with my hands, and trying to flag people down. I give up and start a fire on the beach, smoke a cigar, drink some beer and let the thoughts flow.

After a few more hours, the second truck that came onto the beach had a tow rope, but still had a hard time getting me out. After I was out it was still hard for me to cool my nervous nerves that I would have to call a tow truck.

Goal 95: Cry until I laugh

Why do I act differently depending on who's around, and is this something that's reasonable/logical to keep up, or is the basis for this bunk? What do I want to say to the people that are starving for good words? What lessons are being taught to me that I need to learn? I let my mind take me deep as I dried the wet sticks I could find with the small fire. I considered eating a small crab I found.

My mind eventually made its way to my father. He's had such a life, full of adventure and stories, and such hardship! I remembered that he gave me my faith. He told me once that "Things will work out. They have a way of working out." Does he remember that? Does he still believe that? I thought of how inspirational those words have been for me. I laughed at the irony. I laughed in the face of despair and suffering. I laughed because that's all I could do, that's all anyone can do about it... then I cried.

I didn't sleep, only sat and watched the sun rise. I rinsed off as much mud as I could in the Gulf, and left driving along the coast, towards Galvinston. My car began to obviously vibrate at high speeds, probably mud in the tire. My hair made sure I knew it wanted to be washed, my eyes reminded me that I hadn't slept, my cuts and car were covered and filled with mud, and I wreaked of campfire. I had to ask a local store for fifty cents to cross a toll bridge.

In Galvinston I stopped at a hotel with no luck of a hot tub, open door, or even a free breakfast. I bought Whataburger and donuts, and had to go back to the car wash three times before I finally got the mud out of all the wheel wells. I rinsed myself as well for temporary comfort.

I found Houston easily, and it had lots of interesting skybridges.

But that was about all Houston had, so I went back to Austin. SXSW was in full effect now. I went to a hotel to try to find a shower, but had to settle for a hot tub (which could hardly be considered settling). I found a Jukebox the Ghost show, and tried to find a way to sneak into it until they took down the sign that said "Wristbands and Badges Only." I found a Fader Fort wristband on the ground, and thought it was something to have. The show was really good. Afterward I ran into some friends, and we kicked it for the rest of the night bar hopping until we went back and I slept on their hotel floor.

The next day I left before anyone else woke up, thirty minutes after breakfast ended. I did SXSW research on the hotel computer and went to the Muzzle of Bees Backyard BBQ. Specifically in interest was Yellow Ostrich, who wholly swung my interest to come back to Austin. This turned out to be my absolute favorite part of the entire festival. Free beer, free sausages, free show, and a tree house. It was in some dude's backyard outside of downtown, and the mood was mellow to match the bands that performed. I was swayed to stay nearly all day rather than leaving after Yellow Ostrich.

I went on to see Savoir Adore, Mother Mother, and Her Space Holiday. Mother Mother had an awesome show, and despite their recently replaced singer, they played my classic favorite song, Polynesia. Her Space Holiday was kinda boring, and Savoir Adore had a poor venue. While on my way to a Bank of America to get cover for Datarock I saw about 126 bikes ride by, hooting and hollering. I decided to follow them (I'd been riding my bike around Austin this whole time, by the way). I thought we were doing a ride on the capital building or something, and it wasn't until I was just lost enough to get back that I found out this was just a Full-Moon Ride that happens every month with the full moon. Five hours later it was 4:00 AM, and I had seen the city skyline from about four different beautiful angles, panoramic views, I met a healthy portion of the Austin biking community, and I even found a small wrench on the ground (made interesting later).

I slept in my car, but still ate breakfast at the hotel my friends were staying at. I went back into the downtown to try and see Mother Mother again, but when I arrived I found out that I had just missed them. I was bummed, but I stuck around to see the next show, it was a "Canadian Blast." Some dude gets up on stage and effectively convinces me to stay much longer when he announces free drinks and free food, and starts to throw free Converse sneakers into the crowd. I know right... free Converse, what the heck? Well, I yelled out when he said size 11, and he specifically ran around the side of the stage to throw me a nice new pair of brown low-top Converse!

I left a couple bands later because I heard that the Fader Fort (the party that ran out of wristbands after I found one) was going to have some good secret shows, so I tried to get into it. When I arrived there was a savage line to get in. A group of people who knew someone almost got me in, and were all for it, but then the ring leader excluded me at the last moment. I gave up easily.

I went to see a huge outdoor show with !!!(Chk Chk Chk), and then saw Owen Pallett, and Braids. I saw a song or two from around eight other bands, but kept moving. I eventually found an electro show that was bumpin'. I stayed for two bands and bought a drink, but they had a ten dollar minimum charge. I wasn't going to buy another drink, that's absurd, so I left to go find an ATM (unfortunately I never found one the previous night before I got sucked up by the bike gang). I found one quickly, actually, as I walked up I picked up a penny on the ground, and then sadly read that it was out of order... It had other bank locations listed, but I knew that at least one of them was a walk in bank only. By the time I could register all of that, the ATM suddenly lit up, and was functional again! I couldn't believe it, and I went to pay my tab, and buy a t-shirt.

The rest of my night mostly just consisted of people offering me drugs, and me eating a lamb wrap from some middle eastern booth. I left Austin headed home, but only got a few hours out before I had to sleep.

Goal 39: Live Homelessly for a Week

I will say that this wasn't my first intention when I wrote this goal, but I think it works just fine, and makes more sense.

My drive through Texas was mostly uneventful and filled with naps (I took three). Just before the state line I saw a dust devil out in the desert, and I decided to chase it a bit, and maybe drive into it if I could. I turn off and start speeding down this dirt road towards it, and I'm starting to get close, and I'm pretty sure I'm gunna make it. I see a sign that says "Speed Bumps." That's weird, on this dirt road? That can't mean actual speed bumps. I see a speed bump up ahead, but it's just a speed bump, not that bad, right...?

I was too far away to decide just how bad it could be because when I hit it, the bottom of my front end hits it, and I my Subaru Impreza goes flying into the air, literally. All four tires off the ground, ALL FOUR, and I shit my pants as gravity reclaims my Subaru Impreza back to earth. I turn it off, and run into what's left of the dust devil (not much). I quell the urge to have a heart attack as I check under the hood, and under the car. No fluids?! No leaks?! WHAT WHAT WHAT!!! My radiator was pushing into my engine, but it wasn't leaking! OH, I couldn't believe it! I drive away, no big deal.

By the time I'm back on the pavement there's a huge cloud of smoke coming from my engine. I pull off and look underneath to witness a fountain fluids pouring from seemingly every spot under my car...

That's it. I'm done. I'm in the middle of no where, not even to New Mexico yet. My car's totaled. How am I going to get to Socorro for school? How am I going to buy a new car? I call Allstate's roadside assistance. They can't find any flat bed tow trucks, or any towns open on Sunday, so they'll call me back. I roll my car back and realize that it's just one type of fluid, transmission fluid. I do some investigating and actually find a cracked transmission hose that could have easily sprayed the fluid all over the bottom of my car. Is it possible that this is the only problem? Sure. But I'm not getting my hopes up. ALL FOUR TIRES! I ride my bike up and down the highway, read, and drink a beer. The tow shows up, and I notice there's an AutoZone in the next town earlier. I want to ask him to let me just fix it up there, and see if it works so that I can avoid any tow overages, but it doesn't seem like the tow will be that much more than what Allstate will cover me for, so I don't say anything.

We get to Hobbs, NM just before sunset, and I race to replace the hose and refill my transmission. I flinch when the guy tells me that the tow will cost ME $183.00 (a total of $433.00). Thanks for letting me know dude, you're friendly and all, but you could have given me a heads up on that one. I have to reroute the new hose because the radiator denied any access through the traditional path. Remember that wrench I found on that bike ride earlier? It fit the bolts on the tube perfectly. I suspected it, and it was eerie. Once the tube was fixed and the transmission refilled....nothing. Nothing! No leaking fluid or anything! It worked! That's all it was, a 99¢ tube. I eat some Taco Bell in celebration, and get disappointed with the new beef.

Five hours from Hobbs to Socorro, and I'm feeling pretty good. Bored, but that's good. I keep an eye on my temperatures, and nothing is flaring up. I still can't believe it.

I'm around Capitan, NM when ¡SHITCRAP! SOMETHING JUST GOT IN FRONT OF ME! A HUGE ELK OR CAR OR SOMETHING I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING OMG WTF SHIT SHIT SHIT!!! I pull over RIGHT AWAY and am freaking out! That was SURPRISING!

When my front end got bent down, it made the hood much harder to latch, and guess who didn't think it a problem? This guy. I pry my hood off of my windshield, which is absolutely destroyed. The hood flew up so hard that it bent over my roof, and dented my entire roof down. There's not much I can do at this point, and I'm pretty much still surprised my car is even running. I force the hood to latch, and I drive another couple hours with a demolished windshield.

I've come home from ten day hiking trips cleaner and with less cuts.

Status:

Goal 91: Into Stanford

I've always done well in school, A's and B's. Mostly driven by a perceived obligation to my future self, I just did what I was told to, nothing special. Through high school, my attitude could be summed up in the adage, 'good, not great.' So I didn't worry about where I went to college. That apathy paid off big time by sending me to a college that gave me freedom, financial and pathwise.

I could probably write a book on all of the fabulous things New Mexico Tech has enabled me to do, and how that has gotten me here, but it would probably be boring, so I'll summarize.

Goal 91: Get Somewhere that was Hard to Get to

Here's the summary:

Boy goes to UMass and realizes there's quite a world out there

Boy goes to Disney World and realizes that there's quite a bit of competent competition out there

Boy comes home and starts to go to conferences, lead clubs, and go on more trips

Boy starts to work towards a goal of free graduate study at an excellent university

Teaching, research, design projects, and an internship at a national lab all set me up to be a pretty admirable candidate for graduate study. I found this out when I started getting travel grants to visit grad schools. I visited Purdue's Grad School Expo, then USC, which I must say, was truly necessary to understand the whole process. After all that, I tidied my resume and story up and sent it all off like a fisherman's net, and hoped that I'd get some good stuff.

I was pretty confident in my applications, but when it really came down to it, I didn't actually know at all. I had done lots of work, and had even mustered some last minute teaching experience. I had won a national competition and third place for a research poster, and I maintained an above-average GPA while I was at it.

Now, after you send off the applications, there's quite a bit of waiting involved. Some people get stressed over it, I never did. The first thing I heard was an email from the University of Michigan, inviting me to visit the school. Then Georgia Tech did the same. I was quite excited, because I took this as a good sign.

Then the rejection letter from USC came, and I was deeply perturbed, as I thought USC was my safety school. The other two, better ranked, harder to get admitted, were flying me out, but had not made any offers... This made me feel very uncomfortable about my top schools, Berkeley and Stanford.

I visited Michigan, and the next week booked a plane ticket to visit Georgia Tech. With such short notice, I was hard pressed to get a ticket under $400 (my reimbursement cap). I used Priceline's "Name Your Own Price" feature, and managed to slide a ticket right under the cap at $393.

The next day I get an e-mail from Stanford: They want to fly me out the next week; the week I had just bought a plane ticket to Atlanta for; the ticket that was totally non-refundable or changeable. But even if I had to eat the $400, how could I turn down a trip to Stanford? That was a good sign; an exciting sign. I make all the proper arrangements, and head to Stanford the next week on their dime.

Arriving in San Francisco, I was welcomed by a very good omen sign

This is one of those situations where you want to be careful to not get too excited. Who knows what happens from here, sure it's a good sign, but that doesn't mean much more than that. I take a tour and eat dinner with some other students, I meet Ibraham, whom I met previously at the UMich visit. The next morning we meet with the admissions chair before meeting with each of the professors.

"Soooo, are you comin!?" He asks.

"Well, what's the process from here? When will we find out?" I respond.

With a look that is but slightly blindsided, "Well, look at the fact that you're here as a good sign."

This is the church. Pretty beautiful, especially on the inside.

I meet with a few professors, then with Dr. Noe Lozano, the diversity admissions dean, who I had met at many conferences before. He tells a Stanford undergrad student that I had recently been admitted, and then tells me that he's putting my name in for a fellowship. BAM. How about that? I hear from students who have email on their phones that their acceptance email arrived.

The dinner at the end of the night, after the walking tour, and after a day of meetings, required that we stand for an hour, listening to people speak to us.

I'm in. I was accepted to Stanford, one of the most renowned schools, and the number one place in the world to study design. Not many people get in, even fewer are flown out. It was hard to get to Stanford for free.

So the rest of the time was used to tour San Fran, and Berkeley. My fellowship to Berkeley is second round, and will be based on whether a friend of mine accepts or denies. So I made my way over for a self-guided tour. I'll give you a hint at how much I liked Berkeley:

That's right, THREE SKYBRIDGES! I drooled.

The campus was also very lively compared to Stanford's campus. There were lots of people, street performers, and it was butt up against the city of Berkeley, where Stanford has it's own little bubble away from Palo Alto.

After Berkeley I went to San Fran, proper, and did a little bit of touring.

These sealions were celebrating some sort of anniversary.

Alcatraz

Another skybridge.

Tall Skinny Building.

A street named after me.

I spotted a BANKSY in China Town.

At my China Town dinner on Stanford's dime, I had jellyfish, ox intestine, duck tongue, and frog legs.

Then the next day I came home. No biggie.

Status: Allergenic

Goal 10: NMX Prize

Goal 10: Win a Competition

Ever since I was in charge of NMT's ASME chapter, I've kept ties, and eyes, on the local and state level chapters. I was pretty excited when I saw that there was going to be a design competition at the state level, entrants were to be early career engineers and students. Well I just so happen to be a student, and I will always take an excuse to tackle a design challenge.

So I give my design partner, Austin Silva, a call, and we have a team. The dinner to announce the specifications of the design is full. This is a terrible start, because it means we have to get an e-mail with the specifications. As if I could accept such savagery. I let the coordinator, James McIntyre, know that I would like to stand for the dinner, and he allowed it.

I was busy doing venial things like taking a shower and brushing my hair after work, so I was fortunate to arrive just after the meet and greet portion of the night, meaning every person I saw was a stranger. I walked into the room that had been reserved at Chama Brewing Co., in Albuquerque, and many of those who HAD registered for the dinner made sure to turn and look at me so that I knew it was strange for me to be standing in the back. I said hello to the people in the chairs closest to me (about 2 feet away), and acted like I stand-crash fancy dinners all the time. The waitresses wanted to make sure that absolutely everyone in the room knew that I was standing back there, so they repeatedly asked if I was doing ok, or if I wanted to order anything.

"A chair? No thank you, I'd rather this situation was as uncomfortable as possible."

The Engineers Without Borders' Executive Director gave a presentation while the aroma of delicious filled the air, followed by James' announcement of the NMX Prize Specifications:

•The NMX prize is a team competition to design in extensive detail (on paper) a self-contained, Multi-Energy Source (MES) that serves as a life-saving device for people living in coastal areas following an earthquake, hurricane, tsunami, or similar disaster. Requirements are as follows:

•Maximum dimensional envelope: 1.2-m cube

•Maximum mass: 45 kg (including the mass of any stored fuels)

•The MES must be waterproof to 1 m, buoyant, with lift points and handles and/or wheels for easy transport.

•The MES must be fully functional after ten years of storage (-10°C to +45°C, average R. H. 50%)

•The MES must provide the following, operating continuously for ten days (functions need not run simultaneously):

•A heat source configured for cooking and space heating that outputs approximately 1MJ to boil 3 L of water three times per day; and approximately 1.8 MJ to raise the temperature from 2°C (dry bulb) and 30% R. H. to 20°C (dry bulb), 10% R. H. in a 76.5 m3 living space for 12 hours per day.

•Light: 500 lumens for 12 hours per day.

•24 L of potable water per day. Up to 9L may be produced by boiling standing fresh water from the surroundings. The remainder must be synthesized by desalination of sea water.

•6 kWh per day of electrical power with appropriate outlets for charging cell phones and lap tops.

•A manually-activated Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) with GPS capability operating in continuous digital mode at 406 MHz.

•The MES must be equipped to deploy a water-resistant wind break that acts as a minimal shelter for up to four people.

•The MES can use any combination of power sources and/or fuels that can provide the energy necessary for ten days of continuous operation. Radioactive sources are not permitted.

That's right, BUOYANT! I had to resist the urge to vomit.

His was the last presentation, and afterwards everyone was just sitting there, finishing their dinner...I guess that's all for me then. I slithered out the back the same way I came in.

So it was time to do what Austin and I do best: Go out to coffee shops and casually design. We got together about three times over the course of the one month time limit. We came up with our ideas, explored them, tried them out, and scrapped a lot of them.

We had all the aspects designed, but we had to do one final thing by the end of it: gather it up and put it in a powerpoint. An old friend from UMass, Martin Lynch, came to visit New Mexico the week just before the deadline. It was nice having him around because I didn't do any work on the project. Austin and I tried to pull the whole thing together the night before without success. I flew out to Michigan the next day, and our entry wasn't good enough, so Austin didn't submit it...

I was bummed...

But, what providence! An extension on the deadline? Yes! We are informed at 3 PM a few days later, that the deadline has been extended to 7 PM the same night! More than anything, it confirmed to me that they'd rather have our submission than care that it was late. I throw the presentation together, make a few touch-ups, and have my roommate, Adam Anderson, use his AutoCAD expertise to throw together a model for us. A few hours later we have a submission, and I submit it by e-mail (four hours after the extended deadline). This is what the render looked like of the assembled unit.

Three days later is the announcement of the winners at the Society of Professional Engineers' Luncheon. We are pleasantly greeted by everyone there, apparently the whole day was a conference type event. I met many of the people who spotted me in the back of the room at the announcement dinner. They greeted me with a smile, and it was good to know that I was getting rep as "that guy that stood in the back."

We sat down with the other finalist team, and we found out that it was between us and these two dudes, one a UNM graduate student, the other a Sandian. I felt very confident as I read James' mannerisms while talking to us. The first thing he said was,

"Really enjoyed your design."

"Oh great! Thanks."

I was then overly attentive to his actions as he described what the winners should do.

"When the grand prize winners are announced..."

(he motions at us, and is looking at the other team)

"...whoever does win. You will then get up and go to the podium."

(switching his eye contact to me)

"Then the runner up team will come to me afterward to claim their trophies and prize money."

Was that three strikes? It was definitely two:

1. Motioning to us when he says 'the winners,' then realizing what he did, and making a specific comment about how we didn't necessarily win.

2. Looking at the team that he isn't talking about, in regards to what winners and runners up should do. It wouldn't have been a strike if he switched his eye contact multiple times, but just once when he changes teams...not so subtle (not blatant, but not subtle)

The third, which was actually the first, was questionable:

3. "I really enjoyed your design." Very enthusiastic, very pleased to meet us. This could have been a strike against us, "Sorry you didn't win, I really enjoyed your design though."

So the jury was still out. Everyone was pretty talkative and curious about the projects until one of the judges brought our presentations printed out. The other team had some serious technical designs worked out with their fuel-cell technology. Circuitry diagrams, and the like, I felt most of my confidence slide off of the table. After everyone took a look at those, they mostly quieted up, although that might have been because we started eating.

James goes up on stage to announce the winner, and the drum roll starts...

"The winners are Austi..." THAT'S US, HOLY GOD WE WON!

I think he may have mis-pronounced BOTH of our names, but that didn't matter because I had forgotten what to do beyond standing up. Austin directed me to the stage, and I said 'Thank you' forty-five times or so before I was handed a heavy hexagon, and two $3,000 checks. We sat back down, the folks from New Mexico Tech who didn't even know that we were so awesome came over to congratulate us. I ate my lemon meringue pie.

Austin and I then took pictures with anyone and everyone who wanted to be pictured with grand prize winners. We took a victory lap, collected some business cards, and talked about how surprised we were, and why we won. Although the other team had really surprisingly in-depth designs of their hydrogen cell, it was complex, and overweight. We focused on the simplicity, and our design was very low-tech (which is ironic because they specifically mentioned that they wanted something high-tech), and conserved much of the energy it used. We met all specifications, at least the intention of the specifications.

Later, Austin and I will be putting together a polished presentation, and possibly even a prototype. We are now in contact with Technology Ventures Corporation, who specializes in hi-tech startups, and we are going to be invited to give a presentation at NMT. This was a good way to start my design triathalon, next up is the Genessee Towers Re-Vitalization, followed by ImagiNations 2011.

Status: So high.