Chinese C-Function

At this point, I think you know what I mean by C-function. Here are some pictures from the latest C-Function... the Chinese C-Function!

Traditional Chinese dancing!

More Traditional Chinese dancing!
I found a traditional Chinese Mask! They let me take it home, thus expanding my costume collection!

A few pictures

I took a few pictures this week. Thought I would share!

Snowing in Boston! This viewpoint may look familiar (scroll down on that link to see a similar picture).

Post snow!

The MIT dome at night!

Around Town

My buddy Bill was in town to visit some local MBA schools including MIT. He joined me for a few classes and stayed through to the weekend. On saturday, we rocked Boston for the day. I haven't done the "touristy" stuff in a while.

Saturday started with lunch at the North End, a great place for italian food. We also stopped by the North Church famous for "One if by land, two if by sea".

A view of the North Church from a very old cemetery.

After lunch we stumbled across a very narrow alley with a fall out shelter sign. It's good to know the people living in that area will be safe!

This picture demonstrates my poor photography skills, but I think you get the idea.

We then headed over to Copley Square to check out the Boston Public Library. It's a beautiful old building with a very modern addition. I would suggest going just to see it!

On one of our subway excursions, I stopped to take this picture at the Park Street Station. Did you know that the Park Street Station was the first subway in America? I did! And now I have evidence.

Our last stop was at the Harpoon Brewery! We had a quick tour of their operations (it reminded me of plant trek) followed by samples! Very cool!

Olympics

I love the Olympics. Unfortunately, I have homework to do. For me, the two combine about as good as oil and water.

Wish me luck!

A Little Reminder

I stumbled across this book by Dallas Clayton tonight. While it is a book meant for kids, I think everyone can enjoy it! He was nice enough to publish the entire book online.

Enjoy!

How Could I Forget

In the excitement of becoming an uncle, I have overlooked a big event the other weekend. The LGO program is a well oiled machine in terms of brining in the new class. They have been doing this for 20 years now and it just works... trust me.

Part of the process of bringing in the new class is the admissions interview. While this is pretty typical of most schools, I'd like to think we step it up a notch. The prospective students travel from afar for a 45 minute interview with admission. A current students, we take this opportunity to give them a little more. There is a committee that plans an entire day for the prospective students to answer questions, give them a taste of class, show them around, and overall add value to their trip.

I recall that my admissions interview was my first trip to campus. MIT was just a figment of my imagination prior to that trip. Going through the day, the current students personified the program, answered all of my questions, and solidified my desire to be a part of this great academic program.

This year, it was my responsibility to help the next class, like the previous class helped me. Todd organized most of it, but called on me to organize a social event. After several discussions, class surveys, and trial and error thought exercises, we came up with a bowling party. It turns out, everyone liked the idea. Over 100 LGO current students, significant others, children, and prospective students show up for several hours of bowling and pizza.

It was the perfect event to get everyone together in a family friendly environment to enjoy each other's company. And just to level the competitive playing field, we went candlepin bowling, which is surprising more common than "big ball" bowling here in the Boston area, and much more difficult due to the small size of the ball. Rumor has it, many kids don't know what "big ball" bowling is until they are in the teens!

Superbowl Baby

A quick picture from the best superbowl party ever! Dave, Rebecca, William, and myself watched the game from their hospital maternity room. While it was a bit quieter than many of the other superbowl parties that I have attended, without a doubt in my mind it will be the most memorable.

The baby seemed more interested in watching me than watching the game.

Congrats Drew Brees on the win (graduate of Purdue)!!!

Peyton, I'm glad your parents taught you how to share.

Uncle Brad

At 7:30 this morning, I became an Uncle! My brother and his wife had their first baby.

I was lucky enough to see him on his first afternoon! There's not much I can write that does him justice so here are some pictures.

A bit sleepy. Just 10 hours old!

Eyes closed, tongue out! I taught him this!

All he needs is a tennis racquet and some Legos and he's set for life! Congrats to Rebecca and Dave, two great parents!

Watch out world! He's gonna be a good one!

Race Up Boston Place

Today was the day... 41 flights straight up! I competed with about 1000 other athletes to scale up the "One Boston Place" building. While not quite as organized as the "Bop to the Top" in Indianapolis, still a very well run event. The biggest difference I found was the overall space... for some reason, there isn't quite as much space in Boston (that's a joke).

They haven't posted official times yet, but my unofficial time (according to my watch) is roughly 5 min and 5 seconds. Assuming this is correct, I have slightly improved over last year's time in Indy (when accounting for the difference in building height). Hopefully I'll be in the top 25!!!

Thanks to all who supported me through the fundraising efforts!

Now for some pictures.

Here's the race crew shortly after arrival. Adrienne and Mike Donohue and myself!

Waiting in line to go!!! They start racers every 15 seconds to avoid a rush up the stairs.
The start!!! The red "X's" on the table are where you scan into the timing system with a chip on your right arm. You do the same at the top to scan out.
Finished! Thank God!!! Notice the people on the floor behind me.
Obligatory muscle pose!
The view from the top looking towards the harbor.
View from the top of Boston Commons. The Prudential and John Hancock building are in the background... along with some snow flurries!

Next post... Uncle Brad!

Escalator

I don't know why, but I really like escalators. I always have. Here's a picture of one of my favorite escalators. It's in the subway station at Porter Square and it's HUGE. If I weren't with a group of people, I would have played on this for quite a while.

I also really like water fountains... the decorative kind, not the drinking kind (well, I guess those are nice too). Someday, I would love to see a waterfall down an escalator going up! Some may say it's like ice cream on pizza, sometimes two great things don't mix, but I would argue that in this case... they can!!!

First week back...

First week back in class, and it's surprisingly nice. I feel as though I'm taking a more manageable course load this semester. Combine that with classes that I find more interesting and you have a great stage set full of scholastic achievement waiting to happen... assuming I don't get too distracted by extra-curricular activities (which in case you aren't aware, is VERY easy to do).

My classes this semester:

Engineering:

2.62 Advanced Energy Conversion

2.739 Product Design and Development

Business:

15.402 Finance II

15.871 System Dynamics

15.900 Strategic Management

As I'm sure I've mentioned previously, MIT likes numbers. Building are numbered... Majors are numbered... uhhh, that's all I can think of right now but I'm sure there is more. Looking at the class numbers, the digits before the decimal (2 or 15) represent the Major/subject. 2 is Mechanical Engineering, 15 is Business. The numbers following the decimal are for the specific class. I haven't figured out the order thought. Most schools it goes by grade level, but here is seems to be more like subjects. Many of the Mechanical Engineering energy related classes are 2.60 - 2.80 or so. Sometimes there are 3 digits, sometimes just 2. Maybe someone will explain it to me someday.

As usual, here are some pictures from being back on campus!

Here is an 8am class that I considered taking... until I realized it was at 8am 3 days a week and is not required for my academic program. It's simultaneously broadcast to a classroom in Singapore for a group of students there. They can be seen on the left screen. They had mics and could participate in the class. Pretty cool experience.

Here are a bunch of LGO's on the "other side of campus".
We had our first C-Function of the semester. This one was a Mardi Gras theme! There was a great Mardi Gras band followed by a DJ for the evening! I snuck upstair to snap this shot!
Here is a night picture of the new addition to MIT's Media Lab. This is where a lot of cutting edge technology is invented. It is so cutting edge, that you won't see most of this stuff for YEARS if EVER! Very cool stuff to see!

Back in Class

School started today. I attended my first class since my last final on December 15th. We'll just say I'm not quite ready for all of this.

Two classes down, two course packs and a book on the "to buy list", 1 homework set on my radar. I guess class is ready for me.

The fun part of being back in class is seeing everyone. With a 6 week break, everyone has great stories of where they've been. Part of the 6 week break is designated IAP (Independent Activities Period) by MIT. It's time to work on real world applications of what you are learning. Many people travel the world working on projects... or they just travel the world.

So far I've talked to people who have been to:

South Africa

Veitnam

Mexico

Brazil

California

Florida

St. Joe - Virgin Islands

China

Japan

Cambodia

Thailand

Dominican Republic

I think that's about it. I'll keep the list as up-to-date as I can.