Back to school?

May 10, 2009 – 8:49 pm

I can clearly remember my mindset during my senior year of undergrad. I couldn’t wait to graduate and enter “the real world.” I was over $80,000 in debt, working 15 to 20 hours a week, all while balancing two majors. I was sick of being poor and sick of going non-stop.

So you can only imagine my excitement when I learned that I would be working at Google immediately after I graduated. I knew that not only did this mean that I was going to have a good paying job in an exciting and innovative work environment, but that this meant I also didn’t really have to enter “the real world” quite yet. Couldn’t get any better than that!

And it has been great. I’ve worked on some exciting projects, met some incredible people, made a dent in my student loans, and even finally had some free time to enjoy my life. What else could I need? Well as it turns out, that same ambition that pushed me through school and got me into Google is now telling me I should go back to school and struggle through it all over again. This means taking on more debt and probably working part time to support myself while taking on a full course load — the same situation that I couldn’t wait to get away from only a few years ago.

It’s taken about a year of thinking to come do this decision, but I’m pretty sure it’s the right one. My interests have gravitated towards UI design and I’ve discovered that a Human-Computer Interaction master’s degree can be very beneficial in that career path. Ideally, I’d like to complete my degree in a year. I’m shooting for starting in the fall of 2010.

I’d also like to use grad school as a way to fulfill another personal goal of mine, which is to return to the east coast. I find it a bit disheartening that with all the universities in Boston, not one of them offers an HCI program. However, CMU has the best HCI program in the country and I could definitely live in Pittsburgh for a year. I don’t think I could ever be a Steelers fan, but I’m more than open to embracing the Penguins as my new favorite hockey team.

So with my decision made, I’ve been studying like crazy for the GRE lately. I’ve got plenty of time to take the test, but I signed up for June just to get it out of the way. I also suck at standardized tests, and my vocabulary is sub-par at best, so I’m spending a lot of time preparing for it.

That’s why this is my first blog post in over a month. Don’t expect another one until after June 13th.

Oh, since I talked about my employer in this blog post, that means  you should read this disclaimer.

Posted in life | 6 Comments

Door Holding Etiquette

March 26, 2009 – 8:10 pm

I’m just curious how other people handle this situation.

Your mother taught you that it’s polite to hold the door for someone walking behind you, right?

But what’s the cutoff distance? At what length of separation do you pretend that you don’t notice the person walking behind you? 25 feet? Does that sound right?

I know it’s the polite thing to do if someone is walking close behind you, but it’s always a little bit awkward when there’s a significant amount of separation. The person will start walking faster or even jog to catch up so that you don’t have to hold the door too long. I know when someone holds a door for me, and I still have some distance to cover, I certainly pick up the pace as I think to myself “gahhh, appreciated, but you should have just ignored me.”

Obviously if someone has a physical impairment then there’s no awkwardness involved for any distance, but for all other situations I think there should be a universally accepted cutoff distance.

25 feet.

So I’ll just put this out there now: If you’re more 25 feet behind me as I’m entering a building, I’m sorry. It’s nothing against you. You’re just beyond the unofficial official cutoff distance.

Maybe I overthink things. Or maybe I’m just a jerk.

Posted in pointless | 5 Comments

Because it’s March…

March 24, 2009 – 10:34 pm

This is what I expect to see from Jonny Flynn on Friday this week:

Except replace the guy getting clobbered with Blake Griffin.

Posted in Cool, Sports | No Comments

Oh yeah, I went to Austin and it was awesome

March 21, 2009 – 7:08 pm

I went to Austin a few weeks ago. A good friend of mine from high school works for Samsung there and he’s been telling me for three years how fun Austin is. I decided it was about time to see if he was telling the truth.

And the verdict is in! Austin is awesome! So much good food! I’m feeling lazy right now, so I’ll just let some pictures do the explaining:

Texas Capitol

 

Ate at this Mexican place my first night there. Tasty stuff.

 

Played some BYOB mini golf at Peter Pan Mini-Golf. I don’t think the place had been updated since the 1970′s. I think there was lead paint peeling off the statues. Didn’t matter, it was BYOB!

 

Proof.

 

Ate at the Salt Lick BBQ. All you can eat BBQ. Bring some more beer as well as an appetite.

 

Proof.

 

Picture of 6th street.

Oh, and I can’t forget about the Alamo Draft House. Go to a movie and have food and drink brought to your seat while you watch!

Posted in Beer, Cool | 1 Comment

Dealing with phone spammers

March 12, 2009 – 12:45 pm

There’s been an epidemic, here in California at least, of phone spammers calling random numbers and playing a recording message claiming that “your car’s warranty has expired.” The recording then asks you to press 1 if you’d like to be connected to a representative, who will then try to sell you an outrageously priced extended car warranty.

A few months back I was receiving a spammy call every day on my cell phone. The calls finally stopped, but yesterday I received a call on my work phone line for the first time. This was the last straw for me. I decided to actually press 1 this time to speak with someone and have a little fun. Here’s how the conversation went.

Rep: Hello. This is [some fake name]. Would you … [some lame sales pitch].

Me: Uhh…I didn’t even realize that my warranty had expired.

Rep: Well if you could tell me your car model, year, and VIN number I can check for you.

Me: Umm…I’d have to go outside and check. My car is across the street. Can you wait a few minutes?

Rep: Sure, I can hold.

Me: Thanks, I’ll be right back.

At this point I set the phone down on my desk and did a quick search for some crappy hip hop music on YouTube. As expected, YouTube provided me with an endless supply of crappy hip hop results. I chose one and put one of my headphone speakers up to the phone and turned the volume up full blast. I let this go on for at least five minutes, assuming that the guy probably hung up after the first 30 seconds. At this point I was done amusing myself, so I picked the phone up off my desk to see if he was still there.

Me: Hello? Are you still there?

Rep: Yes, Sir. I’m still here.

Me: Okay good. I realized when I got outside that I actually don’t own a car. I have a bicycle though.

Rep: [click]

I really hope they call again today. I have a few other things I want to try.

Posted in wtf | 4 Comments