GRAVE DANGER
This weekend was excellent. Dinner with the extended family (12 total) and by brother in SF on friday night, then to Stanford on saturday to see Jer graduate.
Jer is one of my very best friends from Reed; he was my homework buddy for years worth of physics classes, as well as a mischievous partner for variety of extracurricular shenanigans.
I'd found the Product Design program wile I was at Reed and was convinced that it was the place for me. I talked Jer into applying as well. Despite his reluctance we both submitted our applications in the spring of 2000. He got in, I didn't. My art portfolio wasn't strong enough. Nor did I get in in the spring of 2001 after spending a considerable amount of time in the interim taking art classes and building things. Turns out the program is a little more aesthetic and a little less usability concerned than I am.
In any case, Jer spent 3 years there (one more than necessary), had a wonderful time, did a great project, and generally learned how to take over the world with an army of really pretty robots. It was awesome to see him and his presentation and all of the cool projects.
It also got me very nostalgic and thinking about why I'm programming instead of building things. Grad school full time looks more and more appealing, taking my time and taking fun classes along the way. Score one for quitting the secure complacent existence and taking a big (financial) risk.
Anyway it was lots of fun to visit him and the other friends who were there to see him and all that. And the career kick in the pants is something I need about 3x/week right now.
Another highlight was touring the lab where Jer worked. His lab was doing gravity wave research: building bits of an interferometer that will have two 4km long arms and use polished 40 kilo sapphires for mirrors. That was cool.
Next door to that is the room that used to be the terminus for the old particle accelerator before SLAC was built. The room is immense, concrete, underground, lined with catwalks, pipes, valves, and an overhead crane. The little hook on the crane is rated 5 tons. The big hook is rated 40 tons.
The very best part was the sign that read
GRAVE DANGER
VERY HIGH RADIATION AREA
when accelerator is operating
What fun!
Pictures to come soon.
Jer is one of my very best friends from Reed; he was my homework buddy for years worth of physics classes, as well as a mischievous partner for variety of extracurricular shenanigans.
I'd found the Product Design program wile I was at Reed and was convinced that it was the place for me. I talked Jer into applying as well. Despite his reluctance we both submitted our applications in the spring of 2000. He got in, I didn't. My art portfolio wasn't strong enough. Nor did I get in in the spring of 2001 after spending a considerable amount of time in the interim taking art classes and building things. Turns out the program is a little more aesthetic and a little less usability concerned than I am.
In any case, Jer spent 3 years there (one more than necessary), had a wonderful time, did a great project, and generally learned how to take over the world with an army of really pretty robots. It was awesome to see him and his presentation and all of the cool projects.
It also got me very nostalgic and thinking about why I'm programming instead of building things. Grad school full time looks more and more appealing, taking my time and taking fun classes along the way. Score one for quitting the secure complacent existence and taking a big (financial) risk.
Anyway it was lots of fun to visit him and the other friends who were there to see him and all that. And the career kick in the pants is something I need about 3x/week right now.
Another highlight was touring the lab where Jer worked. His lab was doing gravity wave research: building bits of an interferometer that will have two 4km long arms and use polished 40 kilo sapphires for mirrors. That was cool.
Next door to that is the room that used to be the terminus for the old particle accelerator before SLAC was built. The room is immense, concrete, underground, lined with catwalks, pipes, valves, and an overhead crane. The little hook on the crane is rated 5 tons. The big hook is rated 40 tons.
The very best part was the sign that read
GRAVE DANGER
VERY HIGH RADIATION AREA
when accelerator is operating
What fun!
Pictures to come soon.