It’s that time again. The posters (and post-it notes, in one case) have come down, my life is in boxes again, and the school year is done. I’m graduating. I’m excited about it, but it’s not really showing externally. I think I’m dealing with a sensory overload of sorts — there’s too much input, so I can’t process any output just yet. Rather than feebly attempt to recap the last month freehand, let’s revisit the goals I set at the beginning of the year (and revised midway through) to see how I did.
Have a Kickass Senior Project
Mission Fucking Accomplished. I couldn’t be prouder of the final product my team produced for our senior project client. Our client was blown away by the work we did, out adviser was blown away that our client was blown away, and in the end we all got expensive steaks at a very nice restaurant in Terre Haute. Did we get top senior project, as was my ultimate goal? No, and while I don’t entirely agree with one of the projects that received the award, I think we got something better. The week of final project presentations to the juniors, my project adviser (who I have as professor in another class), wouldn’t stop talking about how great my project went. It came up at least once in every session that week. I may not have gotten my team on the best project plaque, but I left an indelible mark in our adviser’s memory, and that’s just as good. I can’t wait to see what’s done with our final product — we were 85% of the way to a professional iPhone app. The extra 15% shouldn’t be hard to finish on their end.
Get a Job
When Liberty Mutual didn’t work out, I was bummed. It was the closest I had gotten, but it didn’t go all the way. I think I knew in the interview, though, that the job wasn’t entirely right for me. Following up on a job I had applied to using the career center’s website, I got an interview for a QA position with Veson Nautical. The interview was with a Rose alum, and while things seemed to go good, I had that same feeling of not quite fitting things. I think my interviewer felt the same way, but he suggested another role at Veson they were hiring for. I agreed to an interview — the position had the mix of software skills and technical documentation skills I was looking for. I interviewed for that position a week later, and it went really well. I knew coming out of the phone interview I was being flown out, and it was confirmed only a couple hours later. I’ve never had things go that fast with a company. In mid-April I flew out and interviewed for the position. I ended up talking with about 1/3 of the company by the end of the day, and had a really good feeling that I had found the right place, even if it wasn’t Seattle like I had been working towards. After about a week of waiting, I got an offer, which I accepted. I have a job now! In an exciting locale! Everything is coming together and it feels great. Now to find an apartment.
Cook at least once a month
This wasn’t a goal so much as a reminder to keep being awesome even when CS’s cooking got me down. I made awesome tacos, shepherd’s pie, chicken soup, and all sorts of other wonderful recipes. Going to keep this up as I start living on my own, probably with even more frequency. I should start taking more photos of what I make, though. That’s a good new goal: more food photos.
Be More Social/Go Out More
I’m still working on this. SNL Saturdays are good, but as I move to a city where I’m unfamiliar with most people, I need to start doing more to meet people. Here’s to another year of going outside my comfort zone.
And that’s it, for now. More blogging when I’m less consumed by packing and moving. And graduation.