The Mundane and the Crazy

New Post?!!

2011-10-17T21:07:00.002-05:00

Summer: Relaxed and exciting at the same time. Working for Abbott Vascular was one of the best experiences of my life. To be honest, I was a little nervous before the internship--I didn't know if I could measure up. But I was able to get some projects finished and got some important ones started, so I was pleasantly surprised at what I was able to accomplish.

Southern California in the summer was awesome. My roommate was this funky-fresh, tell-it-like-it-is Berkeley Bio-E student. The other interns were intelligent, fun-loving college students who all shared amazing work ethics, but still had a lot of levity about them. Sure, there were disagreements sometimes, but we were able to deal with them as engineers--with level heads and critical thinking...

School has been a mixture of extreme frustration and intense learning. I have some top-notch professors this semester, and also some professors whose teaching "styles" make me cringe during every lecture. It's difficult to imagine that an institution that can have so much of the good kind of professor can also have a few bad ones, but I guess that's life.

The SWE conference was this past weekend as well--that was pretty great. I love Chicago; it was great to be back with a bunch of bright young women and professionals. I enjoy my role in SWE--being internal vice president has a few responsibilities, but it's mostly a relaxed work-load. Also, I love working with the other officers, and helping us to bond. It's great to see a group of 17 young women work and succeed together.

Church stuff has been going well--we've been trying some interfaith kind of stuff, and I've taken a lot out of it. Last week, we met with members of Hillel to worship with them. A few weekends ago, we worshiped with Muslim students on campus. I feel that the more I learn about different religions and how different peoples' spiritual experiences are, the more connected I feel with the unknown. It's definitely eye-opening.

Books: Michel de Montaigne's collected essays and I Found This to be Funny. I tend to not want to invest all of my time into an entire novel--short stories and essays are kind of my thing. Both of these books have these and read fairly easily. I had to read Montaigne's essays for my French philosophy course, and even though he was writing in the late 15th and early 16th century, some of his views are still prevalent today. He's an entertaining writer, and his ideas span the gamut: he writes about sex, religion, education, and aging, to name a few topics. The book is huge, but even just reading a little made me think differently about these topics.
I Found This to be Funny I'm reading at a friend's request. I've been craving short stories recently, and this collection is both entertaining, intriguing, and well written. I'm enjoying reading a little every night before nodding off. Not all of the stories are funny, but there's truth in every story.

That's all for now--keep yer stick on the ice...

Procrastination station

2010-11-14T16:55:00.009-06:00

So some stuff has happened recently that has been pretty freakin' awesome. To put it in a list:

1). iHelp
2). Football concessions ending
3). Dropping ECE 205 and 206
4). The end of TAM 210
5). Society of Women Engineers National Conference
6). Job offers

So basically, I have more time than I expected today. Blog post? I think yes.

iHelp was pretty fun. I created an event for my sorority, Alpha Omega Epsilon. They are a pretty swell bunch of young women. We made cookies for local firefighters, and both the sisters and the firefighters seemed to enjoy it. The only kind of downside to it is that I think I hit a creative slump after iHelp: I kind of stopped creating new Philanthropic events for the sorority. But my co-chair and I are ramping it up for the end of November/beginning of December with a toy drive and some caroling, so we'll see how that goes.

Football concessions for our section of the Society of Women Engineers have finally ended, so now I can smell like things other than Johnsonville Brats on Saturdays. Seriously though, it was a lot of fun working the stand; I expected it to be a lot more mind-crushingly boring, but I had a great time getting to know my fellow SWE-sters. :) The funny thing is, even though I've been working the stand for a ton of Saturdays, this last time is the first time when my roommate called me out on the brat smell. Nothing like, "Gosh, you smell like brats" to greet you after a 7-hour shift at Memorial Stadium.

Earlier this semester, after a lot of though and deliberation, I decided that 18 class hours + SWE fundraising + A.O.E. philanthropy + iEFX advising +WIMSE event planning + Tau Beta Pi initiate things = one really crazy Claire. I needed to cut something out, but what? Although I loved the lab section and learning about the course material, I realized that this semester, I could not handle Electrical and Computer Engineering 205 and 206. I loved learning about all the cool things in circuits and what they did; unfortunately, the amount of coursework and the difficulty level of it was too much for me. Although I will have to retake it next semester (looking forward to and dreading it at the same time!), I am so glad I dropped the course--I feel like I have my life and sanity back.

No more Theoretical and Applied Mathematics 210 (statics)!! Need I say more?

The SWE conference was freakin' awesome. It was in Orlando this year. I had a terrific time meeting SWE-sters from other collegiate and professional sections, as well as getting to know UIUC's officer board better. The corporate suites after the opening day of the career fair were really swanky: several of them were raffling away iPads (who cares if they can't play Flash--they're free!). Plus, I walked away with two interviews--one of which was probably the best of my life, one job offer, and a ton of corporate free stuffs :) It was nice to take all the learning experiences back to the UIUC SWE section. However, it was awfully hard to leave the sunshine and palm trees...here's to cold Chicago for next year!

Over the past few weeks, I've also accrued a few internship offers. While this is exciting, it's also kind of stressful; I feel like I'm not only weighing the options for this summer, but also for a future career. I'm a little stressed about this, to be honest.

I've been thinking a lot about what I've been doing recently. Although I love SWE, A.O.E., WIMSE, iEFX and all those other crazy acronyms that I'm involved with, I'm wondering what exactly the point is and what my motivation behind joining them is. Although I do want to improve my leadership and programming skills, as well as develop myself professionally, I'm not sure that this is exactly the path that is right for me. I've found myself thinking about Peace Corps and Teach for America recently, instead of future technologies and new entrepreneurial ventures. The desire to truly help others in desperate need has grown to a fever pitch inside me. I see myself becoming complacent with the life I live, living in the protective petri dish of privileged university life. I'm wondering if this is just a phase, or if it's something I should confront head-on. Engineering is a noble profession, but I believe I might be in it for the wrong reasons. I love math and physics, and I'd like to be at least marginally wealthy. But with all the resources that I have, why the heck am I not doing all I can to help those who need it the most? Something to ponder, for sure.

Sophomore slump

2010-09-08T18:06:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I've been bad. Haven't posted in a while...
I decided to hold off on Facebook for a while. I actually made my roommate permission to change my password, and she did. It was pretty epic. Basically, since I have no Facebook for a while, I need another way to procrastinate while sharing my mundane musings with the world.
So...sophomore year. Too much stuff going on already, but that's normal. SWE, WIMSE, NRHH, CUCC, iEFX, FC, PES, more acronyms than YOUR BODY HAS ROOM FOR!!!!!
I like my new mentoring roles. When WIMSE peer leaders had to complete the Strengths Finder Test, it turns out that I was a developer, or someone who likes to mentor others. So being a peer leader and an iSA makes me as happy as a clam.
The WIMSE girls and iEFX students are no slouches. Every time I talk to either group, they never cease to amaze me on their innovative thinking, their interesting ideas, and overall enthusiasm. It's nice to be looked up to, but it's far more exciting and meaningful to me to hear their amazing stories.
I totally forgot about this, but my summer was jam-packed as well. Germany was definitely the highlight. Very relaxing, very exciting, and very informative. I learned more in a two week internship than I did at any other job I've had. Coming home wasn't bad either. I read two excellent books, and started a third: "Made to Stick," "Ethics for the New Millennium," and "The Global Achievement Gap." I highly recommend all three.
Coming back to school has been interesting. To be honest, now that I've been here for a year, the excitement's kind of worn off. I know what to expect now, and I know what's going on. Kind of just jumped into the daily grind.
On the plus side, my roommate is pretty awesome this year. Nothing like rooming with a nuclear engineer! :)
Hope you all had a relaxing Labor Day weekend! Now we'll just count-down until Thanksgiving....

Weekends

2010-02-21T14:55:00.002-06:00

Today, I realized that weekends have kind of a Catch-22. Usually my weekend activities consist of doing homework, hanging out with friends, and doing stuff with extracirriculars. But I find that if these things aren't balanced, the weekend turns out kind of cruddy. For example, last weekend I spent a lot of time with my friends. However, I wasn't able to get ahead on my homework and had to play catch-up for the rest of the week. This weekend, I finished a lot of homework, but didn't see my friends too often. This made me bummed out as well. The trick, I guess, is to have a good mix of both.
On a different note, this past week was not very good. Midterms were...interesting. I think this might be the first semester where I get a B in a couple of courses. That kind of freaks me out, because a lot of recruiters won't even look at you if you have a low GPA. But I think everything will work out ok. I tell myself that, anyway :)
I'm going to think positively this week, and focus more on learning more in my classes. I think that too much focus is put on just doing enough to pass an exam or to pass a class. What happened to the joy of learning? Personally, I'm getting a bit fatigued with classes. Haha, and we haven't even reached Spring Break yet! But if it wasn't hard, it wouldn't be college.
That's all the pithy insights I have for today! Until next time!

Why not?

2010-02-07T20:45:00.002-06:00

What if everyone had to talk in rhetorical questions?

Teamwork

2010-01-22T08:22:00.003-06:00

Today, I realized how important teamwork is. I realize that I'm not the smartest person on campus, but I have some areas that I'm fairly decent at. I feel that when I work in a team, it brings out the best in me because I use those areas to help benefit the team. But I also feel that I'm improving my own skills, because as other teammates make suggestions, I learn from them.
I realized that it's nearly impossible to be completely self-sufficient. And for the past few days, when I've had trouble, I've asked questions from more knowledgeable people and got the results I need. Although I've always been open to asking about how things operate, I've never actually realized how much other people account for my success, even on a daily basis.
Kind of on a tangent, as much as I believe in the power of asking questions, I also believe that there is a limit to that particular type of learning. I don't think one should blindly start asking if the answer is easily accessible. What's worked best for me is to struggle a bit, try hard, and if that doesn't work, ask someone. For example, when I was working on Physics 212 homework last night, I had to skip a problem because I couldn't figure out why I was getting the wrong answer. My instinct was to ask my friend down the hall about it, but I wanted to figure out what was going on myself. A few minutes later, I came back to the problem, found a simple mathematical error, and was able to answer the question on my own. I didn't waste her time, and I had the satisfaction on finishing a problem on my own. After all, how can one truly learn if all the answers are layed out in front of him/her?
In summary, teamwork is great. It's a good way to use the best skills, and it's a great way of building new skills. In terms of asking questions, if I'm truly stumped, I have no problem asking for help. But if the answer is somewhat attainable, I will work at it until I reach the desired results.

Nerdy

2010-01-15T22:56:00.006-06:00

Today, I realized how nerdy I truly am. I used to be obsessive over Lord of the Rings. And every good Lord of the Rings movie fanatic knows about Figwit, the elf who never talks but pouts (here's the wiki on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figwit). Well, it turns out that the extra who played Figwit is Bret McKenzie, from Flight of the Conchords(and the Flight of the Conchords wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_the_conchords). Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand comedic folk group with their own show on HBO. Conclusion: I'm a nerd and am not spending my time wisely at all.
I also realized how bad my spelling is. On the last post, I forgot to check my spelling; some of the stuff in there makes me cringe, literally (is "treasurer" even a word?). Oh well. Like engineering, you live, learn, and move on to the next thing.
Speaking of next things, next semester is only a couple of days away. Hooray (kind of)! I'm really glad to see my U of I friends again (woo hoo for out of state!) and I'm psyched for new and interesting classes like Physics 212, but I'm not packed, don't have my books, and just generally am spazzing out. But it's all good; in a few days, everything will work itself out. That's pretty much been my mantra all this week.
Oh, also, iFoundry stuff is really exciting this semester! I did a presentation for Mason High School students, which was cool. Also, I'm working on bringing in a presenter from IDEO, and we'll probably have a telecon this week! Amazing! Gosh, there's so much more stuff going on! A MechE graduate from Olin is coming in, interviews with Russ, the SWE Region H conference, etc. Also, in AED, we're lifting off on our mini design projects to get them ready for EOH! I'm a little stressed over it, but I'm way too happy and excited about it to let the stress be a bother.
Earlier last semester I mentioned in a post that I would try to channel my inner Winnie-the-Pooh. I think I'll try that again this week.

Here's Bret...

...and here's Figwit. Amazingly similar, no?

Workin' in the New Year

2010-01-13T17:05:00.004-06:00

Today, I went to work. I've been working at the same place now for the past 2 years as an environmental research technician. Now, what that job means, I don't exactly know either. For the past two summers, it's meant converting a paper database into an electronic database, helping people hang diplomas on their walls, updating Wikipedia articles, creating a database of all of the firing ranges in the U.S., shredding documents, etc. Basically, anything short of data analysis. Well, for the past few days, I've gotten to do some data analysis! At first it was kind of difficult because I was using software I haven't heard of, but once I got help from a coworker, it was really exciting! Don't get me wrong; I like helping to expand the electronic database. But helping a researcher analyze data from hundreds of audiograms was really, indescribably neat for me. It felt like I was doing something important and worth-while.
I've been reading this book recently called Be Happy At Work: 100 Women Who Love Their Jobs, and Why. In the introduction, the book's author, Joanne Gordon, explains that there are three main paths to happiness at work: love of the process of the job, love of outcome of the work, and love of fellow coworkers. Loving the process of a job means loving the everyday aspects of it, like a wedding planner who loves to help pick the exact right color for table cloths, or an engineer who loves to crunch numbers or who loves the design process for a new bridge. Loving the outcome of the job is basically enjoying what the work accomplishes, like a volunteer who enjoys the fact that his or her nonprofit is working to eradicate AIDS, or like a computer engineer who is proud to build top of the line surveillance systems for our military. Loving coworkers is just getting along with and having a good time with the people you work with (that was pretty self explainatory. Sorry). I'm only a bit into the book, but reading about women who love their jobs has inspired me to go out and find a job that I love, or love a job that I find. After all, sometimes I've found that a job can be much more enjoyable if a positive and enthusiastic attitude is maintained. I'm definitely excited to jumpstart my career.
This past week, I've been thinking about 2009. Really, I have no regrets. Sure, there were points that I could have improved on, such as my registration day fiasco. But I've had such a great year, and I've learned so much. AP Physics, Academic team, German class, AP English, Playdoh in calculus, Watching The West Wing in Government, Reading to kindergarteners, Beloved, the Profile committee, Graduation, Grad parties, the Intern lunch table, Summer Vacation, Hair, Moving in, WIE camp, Meeting floormates for the first time, iLaunch, Quad Day, Illinites, Career Fairs, iFoundry, the iCommunity, SWE and service, ENG 198, Meeting amazingly innovative people, Football games, Saturday Night Sips, Ghost hunting, Apple picking, Corn mazing, Care Packages, Habitat for Humanity, Drawing on the back of calc exams, Going to SOM, Turkey trot, Demented Gingerbread houses, Open House, Watching Hercules and Ghostbusters and falling asleep to Muppet Treasuer Island, Races to Late Night, OK Go, Karen's grad party, Aunt Helen's awesome house, Baking cookies, Getting sick and some sweaters, Being around and hanging out with friends I love and I care about and who can always make me laugh. Truly one of the best years.

All the best in 2010!

New Year's fun

2010-01-01T11:22:00.002-06:00

Today, I rang in the new decade with a few close friends. It was awesome, because they brought cupcakes and a Geiger counter. We watched "Inglorious Bastards." I was suprised that almost everyone died, until I remembered that it was a Quentin Tarantino film.
I hope this new year and decade goes well. With perseverance and a good attitude, I think it will. Keep hoping, keep striving. That's about all I got for today. Enjoy the new decade :D

Sick days

2009-12-29T19:28:00.003-06:00

Today, I took a sick day off from work. I was kind of bummed, to be honest. Work is good; it keeps me focused and alert. Plus, I get paid, which is definitely a plus. :) But unfortunately, I was running a fever today and was completely exhausted.
One of the reasons why I hate getting sick--besides the awful feeling of being sick in general--is that my mind usually is still on full-throttle. My brain reminds me of all the things that I have to do, basically of the mountain of work that I have ahead of me. But my body absolutely refuses to work on any of that. It's so lazy; it just wants to stay in bed all day and recooperate (I dont' think that's a word, actually). So it's like I'm arguing with myself, a little.
But enough whining. Christmas was good--got to be with the family, see a few friends, get some nice gifts. This year, like every year, it was my job to make all the cookies. It took way longer than usual, for some reason. I could only get out about a batch a day, and that was at full-tilt. But they got made, and that's what's important.
Well, that's about all I got for now. Hope you had a great holiday season!

Exams...

2009-12-17T20:46:00.002-06:00

Well, today was pretty interesting. I had my world religions exam, and I studied for my physics exam, which is tomorrow at 8am. That's going to be awesome, let me tell you. It's been a bit frusterating, trying to study for that exam. For example, there were office hours posted online, but TA's didn't show up to about half of them. I got a little peeved, because I felt that this was false advertising. As long as I'm on a rant, I wish that the physics exams only had variable-based answers. I feel that half the test is just a test of calculator skills, but maybe that's just me.
In a non-related physics rant, the people behind me are driving me absolutely nuts. It's some chick and her guy friend, and the girl has her music turned up ALL THE WAY! Now, as much as I enjoy overplayed, autotuned Top-Forty "music," I don't really appreciate it while I'm attempting to study for my last exam. Especially when she decides to sing along with it *shudder*. On top of that, her boy toy is taking up a computer, which, by the way, are meant exclusively for WIMSE students (who have to pay extra to use them). He comes up about a chromosome short, among other things.
As angry as I sound, I'm actually laughing while I'm typing this. The great thing about computer labs is that people are basically secluded in their own little bubbles, with no regards as to what the person RIGHT BEHIND THEM is typing. Oh, I am malicious. But really, the joke's on me. I'm the one wasting my time complaining, so I guess they've won the war.
I've done pretty well on my exams so far. The only thing that's really getting to me is the decline in person-to-person contact. Most of my friends left today or yesterday, for instance. It's kind of lonely, to be completely honest. But that's okay, because soon I'll leave for home, where I can hang out with old friends. That'll be just fine.

so funny...

2009-12-14T08:54:00.001-06:00

So basically, I found this new website called "Unrelated captions" (unrelatedcaptions.com). It's one of the most fantastic things I've seen in a very long time. But buyer beware: some of the content of the website is very bizzare.
Top: Richard Feynman. Bottom: Rowan Atkinson (a.k.a Mr. Bean, Black Adder). If you don't know these guys, look 'em up. They're pretty much 100% astounding.

Habitat Build

2009-12-09T00:42:00.000-06:00

The AED build with Habitat for Humanity was awesome! It was a great way to reach out to the community, and I'd love to have another build day next semester.

Habitat Build

2009-12-09T00:33:00.003-06:00

What AED did at the Habitat build

Exams

2009-12-09T00:27:00.000-06:00

Hmm...I used to have good posts on here, but that's what's exams will do to you. They are frying my brain right now, no joke.

2009-12-09T00:21:00.000-06:00

During the Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill trip, some of us took a detour to the Art Institute in Chicago.

2009-12-09T00:19:00.000-06:00

Well, this picture did have me in it, but then it was mean and cut me out. So it's part of Team Bunny, such as it is: without me or Pete.

2009-12-09T00:17:00.000-06:00

Team Bunny at the end of Semester Demo Day!

November

2009-11-07T08:19:00.002-06:00

Wow, I can't believe it's already November! Gosh, how time flies! iFoundry has been pretty cool over the past couple of weeks. We're going places with our Eng 198 project, and now I feel like I am more of a contributing member. Professor Price had a really interesting lecture on Wednesday. Also, AED is now working on small design projects, which is excellent, and I went to a fantastic presentation from IDEO on Wednesday.
There were a couple of interesting and similar points that both Professor Price and the presenter from IDEO brought up. Both touched on the point that a good listener has to be empathetic and curious. I've always admired people who generally listened to others, and I've wanted to be a better listener for a long time. So, this week I decided to give curiosity a shot. What a great idea that turned out to be! I had a real, in-depth conversation with a friend about her family history. It seems that everyday conversation is filled with short platitudes, so having a real conversation is a treat. Right now, I'm planning on having the same IDEO presenter come talk to AED during next semester, which should be very exciting! IDEO is a consulting design company, which should be perfect for AED folks!
AED is now working on smaller projects to present at Engineering Open House. They include building a better mousetrap, a better bike basket, and building a coil gun. It took us weeks to figure out if we wanted to do a project or not, and I think these relatively simple, small, and design-oriented projects are a great start! Group members get to work on what interests them, and so there's a lot more group participation at meetings. This is really going to be great for our group!
I accepted another responsibility this week. I was selected as the Chair for Community Day coupons for SWE. My job is to organize selling the books and putting up fliers. Also, I take care of the funds, and other related stuff. It's a good way to put my foot in the door for SWE.
Last night, AED had its second Youtube/ted.com party. We had one more attendee than the last time, so I think it was a success! It's a great group-bonding opportunity, for sure! After the party last night, I went with Matt and one of his friends on a ghost hunt at the local cemetary, and I was freaked out the entire time. I'm pretty scared when it comes to creepy cemetaries in the dark. But we didn't find any ghosts, unfortunately. After the unsuccessful ghost hunt, we went to Illinites to watch Justin Kredible and Andy Dallas. They're both magicians, and Andy Dallas was the guy from iLaunch. Justin's show was freakin' hilarious! Andy's show featured hypnosis exclusively, and I had the great opportunity to participate in the hypnosis. It was pretty cool!
So, this week, there's the SOM trip, which will be amazing! Also, I have a calc test on Monday, which won't be amazing. But in about 10 minutes, I'm heading over to my first 5k, the Turkey Trot! I'm really excited about it!
Well, that's about all the time I have for now. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice!

2009-10-20T23:24:00.002-05:00

Well, this week has been pretty weird. I haven't been at the normal level of busy-ness, so I think my brain's turned off a little. But more on that later.
Got the new project for Eng 198--it turns out that it's mostly stuff with circuits. It's pretty neat: we're planning on building an alarm clock with the arduino, and at when the time runs out, our project will play the "Imperial March" from Star Wars. To be completely honest, though, I am completely in the dark about that kind of stuff. It's humbling to go into class and not really have much to contribute. It's all good, though, because different people have different strengths. I'm sure that I can help somehow; an opportunity just hasn't presented itself yet.
So because I've been flaking out a little this past week (forgetting things, responding late to e-mails, etc.), a friend and I decided to go to a stress-relief fair. It was pretty fun; there were crafts, games, food, and activities about how to relieve stress. I made a stress-ball. Later on, I realized that I had left my calculator in Altgeld Hall. I was pretty glad that I had made a stress-ball at that point. Right now, I'm working on my to-do list for tomorrow, and I had to add, "Find calculator." Not cool.
Back to iFoundry stuff. The iCheckpoint was last week. It was informative. I keep wondering if AED should be doing a sweet project like all the other groups are. So I've been asking different folks about it, and they've told me, "If what you're team is doing works, don't mess it up," in so many words. So...I guess we'll just continue with service, our iCOAs, and more social events. After the iCheckpoint, I kind of felt that maybe I should be doing more as an iChair, like setting up committees and finding more project opportunities and the like. I feel like I let the team down. Guess we'll see what happens at the meeting tomorrow.
Woah, this post is kind of a bummer. That's not good. How about some news from other iChairs? Kevin Wolz had a really premium idea for iFoundry: he suggested that iFoundry students should give presentations about what they're passionate about, perhaps at a lunch or dinner function. The presentation content is only dependant on what the passion is, like running, chess, trains, etc. I think it's a great idea! I can't wait to learn about what people are interested in!
Ending on a good note: Illinites this Friday! And Halloween next Saturday! I'm so excited; Halloween's my favorite holiday!
That's about all I have time for now. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice!

Team Bunny strikes!

2009-10-12T18:49:00.003-05:00

Well, today was pretty swell. Today, I found that the Illinois housing website lists calorie content for every flippin' thing it serves--for each day of the week. Now, I'm not obsessed with health stuff or anything, but after finding that, I immediately checked out the government's new food pyramid site. It was really cool! If someone was neurotic about it, he or she could count calories for everything in the dining halls that he or she's eaten down to a T. It's a little strange, and it might be meant for control freaks, but I like it!
Our projects for Eng 198 were due today, and our project did really well. Granted, we have been working our rear-ends off on it for the past few weeks, but I was really pleased on how it went. Team Bunny pretty much rocked out. Tracey sent us candy, so that definitely improved spirits.
In other news, I had a math exam tonight. It went okay; I felt that I knew the material pretty well, but there was some conceptual stuff that I didn't really understand. Oh well....
Just got back from running at CRCE. Coming back was kind of interesting; you wouldn't think that people would look at you weird for walking around in a sweater, a hat, leather gloves, and short-shorts, but they do.
Those are all the pithy insights I have for today. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice!

Wednesday night's not really alright for fighting, just for being busy.

2009-10-07T23:51:00.002-05:00

Well, today was pretty fun, all things considered. There was an AED meeting at 5pm, and then a SWE meeting at 6pm, and then a band concert at 7pm.
The AED meeting was awesome. Among other things, parameters for the iCheckpoint were give out, so now we can get started on a cohesive and entertaining presentation. I'm really excited about next week's meeting; we're going over HAPI themes and what'll be happening next year. Ray Price was named the new Co-founder of iFoundry, which was great. After the initial presentation, we split off into our iTeams. AED headed for the Product Dissection Lab, which by the way is amazing. Something new happened in the meeting this week. Instead of everyone sitting down at a desk and staring blankly at me while I get in front of them and meander my way around the agenda, we all gathered around a table and had a discussion about what was going to happen next week. This was a far more effective way of communicating within meetings, so I think desks are out for good. For the iCheckpoint topics, we were able to split up into separate groups: one taking care of identity, social, and academics, and the other taking care of world of work and service. I'm helping with the world of work and service presentation. The toughest part of working in that group is trying to find a time when we're all available. For Pete's sake, we're freshmen! How did we get so busy so fast?
But I digress. We did agree on a meeting time, and then I went to work on our world of work presentation. It was really surprising, because my first instinct was to go to the whiteboard and draw diagrams. Dan Roam must have been telepathically communicating with me, or something. But the diagram that I drew looked pretty spiffy, so some of the group members suggested just building a few for our presentation, as opposed to the traditional powerpoint slides (I think sock puppets were also mentioned). I like that idea, but we'll see what happens as we go along. I'm excited that I'm learning new things, albeit inadvertently.
I left the AED meeting early to head to the SWE meeting. I was named SWE-ster of the Month, which basically means I went to a lot of different SWE stuff in September. They gave me a prize that included food, which made me happy. The prize also had a whiteboard and a sudoku book. I liked it. The Walsch group was presenting at the meeting, so I was depressed that I had to leave early and didn't get a chance to talk to the recruiters. The Walsch group builds many different kinds of buildings (basically everything except homes). Being a mechanical engineer, I love that kind of stuff. Oh well...
The band concert went well. I first arrived 15 minutes before check-in, when one of the volunteers informed me that the "ladies were to wear black, not white blouses." I rushed to the dorm, threw on a black top, rushed back, and made it with time to spare. Granted, I was sweating like I was in a sauna on the sun, but it's a small price to pay for looking professional and being on time. The third chair tuba player laughed at my story, and then handed me a towel to wipe the sweat off my face (I think that's a little too much information; sorry).
After that small incident, I played probably one of the best concerts of my musical career. It was an enjoyable experience.
I love being in band this semester because for me it's a great creative outlet. All day students are forced to memorize and optimize and hypothesize. In band, students just play. It keeps me in touch with my "creative" side because making music takes different thinking than calculus or physics. That's the main reason why I like it.
Anyway, I'm rambling a bit. That's about all I have for tonight! Until next time, keep your stick on the ice!

Harder, better, faster, stronger

2009-10-05T20:40:00.004-05:00

Well, these past couple of days have been interesting, both in and out of iFoundry. I had a pretty fun weekend overall, having s'mores, watching Dr. Who, playing rockband, going on a cornmaze, and just hanging out with friends. The only real bummer of the weekend was my physics exam grade and unwanted visitors....
Sunday evening, the team I'm in for the Eng 198 project decided to meet to work on our project report. So we spent about an hour working on it, arguing over what narration we should use (you say 3rd person, I say first person, etc.), and generally causing mayhem at Grainger. Then some of the group members had a revelation that in order to finish writing the report, we needed to test the car. It was about five minutes after 5pm, and the lab was going to close at 7pm. On top of all of that, we didn't have a key to open the drawer to our project in the ESPL. Eventually, everything worked itself out. We were able to work with our project and fix some minor errors, with Pete Dragic's help, of course. He had a lot of great advice, and we definitely maximized on that. After helping with the Eng 198 project, I booked it over to the undergraduate library to work on a German project. And then I went home.
Today was pretty busy. In the morning, I went as a group with SWE to a kindergarten classroom. We talked a little about what engineers do. Then they went to work on building lego towers that could withstand an "earthquake" (being shaken by the SWE students). It was fun to see all of the kids working hard on with the legos, and I think some of them learned a little about what makes a structure sound. Even though it was at 8:30 in the morning, visiting the kindergarten class really made my day. At 2pm, I had lunch with some of the other iChairs, Karen, and Professor Goldberg. We talked about what the iCommunities would be doing next semester and how our class could participate still in the iCommunities next year. I like the idea of being just a "social member" for next year. Also, we talked about some of the problems with the iTeams, mostly regarding scope of projects and attendance. AED has been experiencing a bit of a drop in attendance, but that's okay. If folks genuinely dislike AED, then it's probably not a good idea to let bad vibes simmer in the meeting. As to scope, I think AED's doing pretty well. We're not overreaching, but we're getting things done. At first, we wanted to design a whole new product or put something into a design competition. These ideas, for now, are kind of on the back burner while we focus on our iCOAs, the iCheckpoint, and doing social stuff together. I think meeting in the product dissection lab will be a real benefit to AED, though. It can stimulate the creative process!
I'm getting a bit off track. Sorry. This afternoon, I also had Eng 198 at the ESPL. We finally got our car to run! I was so excited. To add to the ambiance, some of the other team members played elevator music and Daft Punk songs. Yeah, we're kind of strange.... At 5pm I had a physics lab, which was ok.
This week is going to teach me the meaning of time management. Wednesday night, to use one example, I am triple booked: AED meeting from 5-7, SWE meeting at 6, and Concert band concert at 7pm. Then there are meetings with AED folks, a German project meeting, a barn dance, classes, and other stuff. I am maximizing the potential of my iTouch Calender. But I kind of like being busy; it keeps me focused on what's important and keeps my mind off of trivialities. Well, I got a German midterm to study for and a World Religions essay to write. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice!

S'mores, Dr. Who, and iFoundry books

2009-10-03T00:03:00.004-05:00

Well, today I was checking my e-mail and got a list of all the other blogs that iFoundry students are doing. Curious, I checked out a couple of them. I realized that my blog, quantitatively speaking, is huge, which basically means I am a nerd and have no life. Ah, college life! On the plus side, WIMSE (Women in Math, Science, and Engineering) had a s'mores night tonight, and that was fun. I just ended up telling scary stories to my friends and marveling at the stories that they told. Also, I watched some Dr. Who with a friend this evening, and that was really cool. Um...as to iFoundry, I guess this would be a good time to briefly discuss my views on the course reading material. I like both The Entrepreneurial Engineer and The Back of the Napkin. I think they both have pretty interesting material and are somewhat entertaining to boot (not in the punting sense). They're also both easy to follow, which I appreciate. I have to admit, The Back of the Napkin is my favorite because it is pithy and has pictures. On a previous post, I ranted a little about how the coursework seems directed at people who have already honed their technical skills, such as upperclassmen or people already out in the work force. With the readings, that skewed perspective doesn't seem as prevalent. I feel like I can use some of the techniques in both of the books for group projects and other school stuff.
As a side note, I learned in World Religions class today that Winnie the Pooh is pretty much a Dao Master. He just "goes with the flow," so to speak. This week, I'll try to channel my inner Winnie the Pooh and see how far that gets me.
Well, that's about all the insights I have for now. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice!

History is mysterious...

2009-10-02T09:52:00.003-05:00

Well, I'm deciding to depart from the text a little today. This morning, while studying for a World Religions quiz, I realized that there is so much history placed in every person. Let me explain that a little bit.
These past few weeks there's been a ton of cultural events. Mostly, these events will focus on countries in Eastern Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and sometimes Eastern Europe. I haven't seen one yet about Poland, though. Both sides of my family are Polish, so it's kind of a big deal for me. So for the past few weeks, I've felt a bit rudderless on the culture front. But that's kind of beside the point.
When I was studying for my World Religions quiz, I realized something. My family is built from amazing people. Farmers, WWII radio operators, Franciscan monks, machinists, tool makers, teachers, and the list goes on. And almost every story I've heard about my relatives has been about their resiliance, their drive, their values, and their passion. My paternal grandmother, for instance, was studying to be a doctor (mind, this was in the 1930's) before her father became gravely ill; she stopped her schooling to take care of him, with no complaints. She was in passionately in love with learning; later, she was passionately in love with my grandfather (who later became a machinist). My great uncle (on my mother's side) was also a man in love with learning. When he was growing up, Polish families usually sent the oldest son off to become a monk. He did become a monk, but he also became a man of higher learning. He traveled around Europe, studied at great universities, and was often in Rome. When he would come back to my mother's home in Milwaukee, he would tell stories that fascinated her. He was also an exceedingly kind man; he took my mother on her first trip to New York City. To further illustrate, my maternal great-grandparents owned their own store during the Great Depression. My mother often says that my great-grandmother was so driven and so demanding that could have run a Fortune 500 company or could have been a high-profile lawyer. As another example, my paternal great grandfather and his family were forced onto a Nazi farm camp in Poland. His leadership soon emerged as he was singled-out by the other contained farmers in the camp as an unwritten leader because he kept morale high, and did what he could to keep people alive in the camp.
I guess what I've finally realized is that I'm not alone in my "culture quest." Everything I need is inside of me; it's my history, my roots that give me strength.
Sometimes I feel like I have a lot to live up to when I think about what my relatives have done. But then I realize that if they were great, then maybe I have some of that greatness within me. I think that an engineering education here at U of I can help me cultivate that excellence. My education will provide me with technical challenges, and I think that will be the driving force behind my growth and develpment into a person that has the determination and love of learning of my relatives. I hope that when my courage/values are tested that I can honor my relatives by taking the noble and right path.
Well, I don't really know what that has to do with engineering or iFoundry, but now it's stuck ingrained in your subcranium. Have a great Friday, and until next time, keep your stick on the ice!

Happy October!

2009-10-01T23:32:00.003-05:00

Well , I was going to do a post on why I went into engineering in the first place, but that got deleted somehow. I don’t really know what happened, but it doesn’t matter; the post is gone, it’s time to move on.
I was told that I had to write a little on my thoughts about engineering at UIUC and iFoundry. So I guess I’ll do that instead.
I love the engineering program at U of I. It’s awesome! I feel like I connect with so many different people each day, and they’re all engineers. I hang out with engineers, eat lunch with engineers, and most of my friends that I’ve made at Illinois are engineers. It’s pretty swell. The extracurriculars are helpful in meeting people, too. For example, I joined the Society of Women Engineers this past September, and I’ve helped with football concessions, went to a barn dance, brainstormed fundraising ideas, and helped to start a lesson plan for a kindergarten outreach program. My professors and TAs are awesome, too. When I was in high school, usually I’d have one teacher who didn’t know what the heck he/she was doing, and that was frustrating. At U of I this semester, my professor’s lectures are informative and entertaining, my TAs are great at explaining the course material, and everyone’s relaxed about attendance. On top of that, there are quite a bit of resources available for extra help in courses. It also helps that I live in a LLC that’s filled with nerdy girls like me :) . Can you say, “instant study groups?”
I hate to be Pollyanna-ish, but I really do love Illinois. Combined with all of the great resources available, the high caliber of education, and the fun that I’m having, the scenery is the spray-paint on the steam-powered car. I enjoy riding my bike past the all of the buildings during the evening, when everything turns an oddly beautiful shade of orange. The archaic archetectural majesty of the buildings and surrounding oak trees strike me every day. Also, the Quad always looks glorious, even in the rain. And biking by Morrow fields...I could go on and on... :)
I think I was also supposed to put in my ideas about iFoundry. I like iFoundry (I think that counts for the stupidest sentence in this post). I appreciate the fact that it helped me meet new people before classes started. I also like having the intellectual freedoms that iFoundry affords us. Although the free-range educational style might be a challenge to some, I think it's a great way to really branch out and try new things, like inviting corporate sponsers over, or designing new stuff, or even making a video about AED. I'm really hoping that this will last into next semester and even next year. I'm not sure what we'd be doing in iFoundry as sophomores, but deciding that is half the fun :)
Three years ago I would have never imagined that I would be studying engineering, much less be out of state. Now I can't imagine being anywhere else, doing anything else. I know it might be a bit premature, but I think engineering is my passion. The possiblities for innovation and creation are endless.
My brain is pretty much mush now. I think I should go to bed. Well, until next time, keep your stick on the ice!

What at first doesn't kill you usually succeeds in the second attempt

2009-09-30T21:27:00.002-05:00

Today was interesting. It kind of felt like a throw-away day. I didn't do a whole lot in any of my classes, especially physics. No discussion, no lecture, no nothing. But I do have a midterm tomorrow...ah college!
iFoundry class today was another lecture; it was about labeling. I never really thought about it before, but it can make life and business a lot easier. After all, time is money. But what really got me interested is the whole idea that little annoyances should be eliminated. Yesterday, for example, I saw the Designmatters lecture from Michael Johnson, who works at Pixar. His ideas about software touched a bit on the idea that little annoyances need to be addressed, like the impracticality of old-school storyboarding. Personally, I'm kind of a "go with the flow" person, and I'm usually okay with the status quo, no matter how shoddy. Small trials of the day don't bother me too much, but they can add up sometimes. I think the whole idea of making people completely satisfied is amazing! Think about it: products that aren't just adding to the pile of mediocrity, but are redefining what is great!
The AED meeting was today, too. I was kind of proud of myself, because everything ran smoothly logistically. The pizza was on time, we had plates and cups, everyone knew where to go, and we had agendas. Hooray for being organized! Gerry Labedz from Motorola had some really great insights on design in industry, how creativity factors into the design process in larger corporations, and what we as students can expect when we enter the work force. He also expounded on the fact that products should be simply designed and practical to use. It was a really great discussion. I'm glad that Matt J., Matt G., and Sean took video footage of it. After that, Jim gave AED a tour of the lab, which is amazing! Tablet PCs, a 3D printer, a large-scale printer, etc.! I can't wait to learn how to use the amazing technology in that lab; Jim is actually planning on having a guy from Autodesk come and talk with AED on how to use the equipment. That should be exciting.
Well, that's about all for now. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice!

Eng 198 and such

2009-09-29T08:22:00.002-05:00

Well, it was a very crisp day yesterday. Cool and bright and windy. It's a real sign that fall has arrived.
Yesterday in the ESPL was kind of interesting. For Eng 198, we are working in groups to build steam powered cars, and the last day we could work on the car was yesterday. So we started off pretty well; all we had to do was paint the wheels and assemble the car. Vince, Pete, and I started on the assembly while Matt and Sean worked on painting. The paint job on the wheels looked flippin' sweet: kind of a red and black deal. The rest of us were able to assemble everything except the front wheel, which was still drying (spray paint is kind of tricky to work with). Everything was running smoothly, until Matt discovered that the soldering of the spoke plate onto the front wheel was coming off. So he soldered it again. Later, when we spun the front wheel around its axle, it teetered like crazy. So Matt and Sean went to work on the front wheel by (I think) widening the hole in the spoke plate so that the hole in both the wheel and the spoke plate lined up. Since we had an extra wheel and extra sheet metal, I went to work cutting out a new spoke plate for the new wheel, just as a backup.
When we tested the fixed front wheel, it worked quite well. As a precaution, we put glue around the tips of the spoke plate, just in case the soldering came off again. We also added a super-sweet fin. After everything on the car was assembled, we spun the turbine to see how fast the car would go. The front wheel moved alarmingly slow. Although it seemed like this would be a problem, the TA who was at the lab assured us that the turbine would move very fast, thereby quickly propelling the front wheel.
We were actually one of the first groups finished with our car, which says a lot. We've hit so many roadblocks in the course of this project: locked cabinets, lost cameras, broken wheels, misplaced holes. I'm glad we were able to address and overcome these challenges.
We plan on working on our report on Sunday, but I'm definitely looking forward to testing how the car runs. It should be exciting!
Last night, I did some of the assigned readings from "Back of the Napkin" and watched Dr. Goldberg's lecture on the things we can learn from the philosophers of Athens. I have to say, even though both were informative, I feel a little out of place when I read them. "Back of the Napkin" tells of numerous experiences with companies that need assistance, while the lecture talked about how to creatively make a new product or new category of product. That's all well and good, but I don't really understand how that applies to what I'm doing. I'm a freshman in college, not a CEO or leader of an R&D team. I don't really have the technical skills to back up new ideas, either. I'm not saying that the ideas and skills that both the lecture and the book address aren't important; far from it, these skills are essential! But it does lead me to wonder, if we're going to teach these skills to college freshmen, is there any way that we could make these skills more pertinent to college freshmen?
That's about all the pithy insights I have for today. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

TEC Charm School

2009-09-28T08:24:00.002-05:00

This Saturday I went to a seminar that the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center was offering. It was called "Charm School." Instead of teaching 19th century etiquette and flourishes, TEC Charm School basically taught modern business etiquette and networking, complete with a business lunch session. There were about 9 different presentations, ranging from Men's Business Wardrobe to Desk Manners to Telephone Etiquette. My personal favorite was the Women's Business Wardrobe. The presenter, Michelle Matteson, was informative and entertaining. She mostly talked about how people judge businesswomen unconsciously, and later she explained how to use this judgement to our advantage. It was a great presentation.
Overall, Charm School was pretty fun. For $20, I got to see 9 different presentations, got a good breakfast and great lunch, got to network with other students, and got a t-shirt. The only thing that kind of bothered me was the length of the program: about 8 hours. But such are the ways of learning: nothing comes without a cost.
The TEC website is pretty cool. It has a lot of different competitions going on in the next few months, which can be of interest to iFoundry folks. Here's the url: http://www.tec.illinois.edu/tec/. Be sure to check out the Student Events stuff; they're pretty sweet!
Today's the last day to work on our project for Eng 198. Our group is doing pretty well so far; I think all we have left is to assemble the car. It's pretty exciting to see bits and parts come together to make a cohesive item!
Anyway, that's all I have for now. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

2009-09-23T19:30:00.001-05:00

"That is one gangsta pineapple"--J, my roommate

AED meeting

2009-09-23T19:04:00.002-05:00

Well, today was interesting. In Eng 198, we learned how to write--business-style. In other words, it was business time *cue music from "Flight of the Concords". Seriously though, we learned some sweet stuff, like how to conquer writer's block, and that business people are busy, so they want concise, pithy documents. My favorite part of class would have to have been the freewrite, because all I did was a stream of consciousness, with such useful insights as, "I like cereal" and "I wonder what my roommate's up to."
Also, we had an AED meeting today. At first, I was a bit dismayed because there was only maybe 12 people. But we were able to get some important things ironed out. I think there was actually a bit more group participation than usual, too. This could have been due to the small group size, but I don't really know for sure. Here's some of the stuff that we decided on:
1). Let's focus on the iCheckpoint before going into heavy stuff like a design competition or designing a product.
2). Let's work in Jim's new lab because it's awesome and we can get inspired from it.
3). Let's make a list of topics for Gerry from Motorola so that he'll have something to talk to us about when he visits us next week.
4). Let's mob ECS on Friday.
4). Let's go to iHop on Saturday at 3am.
OK, so maybe the last point wasn't really too important. But I think we are on the right track, as opposed to not being on a track at all.
Afterwards, I ate dinner with some of the other AED guys, and that was fun. I feel that I don't really get to hang out with them too often outside of class, so I was glad I went.
That's all the exciting things that are going on in my life right now. So until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Last Monday...

2009-09-23T00:08:00.003-05:00

Well, last Monday we worked on our projects again. It was pretty interesting. We finished the wheels, and Matt had fun soldering stuff. I'm pretty sure that the fumes that he was inhaling weren't good for him....
Anyway, I finished the wheels and the wicks early because I had help from the other group members last Monday. Funny story about that.... Our project was locked in a supply closet for a session, so we had to work on other stuff, such as the wheels and wicks and so on. It was a bit stressful, but I think it made a good challenge. We still don't know whether we want to paint it or not...but that's for another post. Team Bunny's on the loose!
In other news, the campus is now being taken over by (and I don't know if this is correct) soybean aphids. It also rained today. So a lot of people were wet and buggy. But on the bright side, the evening was pretty nice. Got to see the band practice.
Well, I have sleep to catch up on and an 8 am physics discussion. Fun times.
Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

1st post

2009-09-19T12:21:00.000-05:00

Well, it looks like this is my new blog. I don't really have anything clever or witty to write right now. Maybe something will pop up later. Who knows?