Ben M. Smith

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.

I can’t believe how fast the end of my time as a student at Rose-Hulman is approaching.  I’m still working on the whole getting-a-job thing (to make a long story short, Liberty Mutual Seattle said no, but I’ve got other prospects–I’m flying to Boston Tuesday for an interview), but for now, I’m going to focus on another area of my life: cooking.

See that picture above?  I made that, about a week ago, for dinner.  Pork Tinga tacos with avocado and Queso Fresco (fresh cheese–it’s mexican.  basically like feta, but less pungent).  Cooking is a release for me.  Regardless of how irritated CS makes me (which has been more frequent lately — clearly a week of spring break was not enough), no matter how stressed all the projects going on are making me, time in the kitchen is a way to calm down, re-focus, and relax.  I think that’s why the way CS cooks irritates me so much.

Let me set things straight: CS is not a bad cook, but he’s not a good one either.  It’s clear he could be a good cook, but his focus is in the wrong place.  Two of the people I look up to in terms of food (yes, I have those) are Alton Brown and Rick Bayless.  Both advocate the use of fresh ingredients where possible, and stress the whys of the the techniques you’re using as much as the steps of the recipe.  The crew at America’s Test Kitchen is good for this too (especially since they rigorously test each recipe until it’s perfect).  Between the three of them, it’s a great resource for an engineer that likes to cook–everything is precise and has a purpose behind it.  That’s where I try to focus when it’s my turn to cook for the apartment: fresh ingredients (and less of a reliance of canned/processed goods) and a strong sense of flavor.

CS does not think this way.  His only concern is cost and how quickly things take to make.  There’s been a number of times when he’s come home from Kroger with stuff just because it was on sale (a horrible way to just add more to the pile of things in the freezer that he’s bought like that.  apparently the freezer is a magical box which keeps things good forever.).  I’m fairly certain he’s never made a recipe that’s taken over 30 minutes to make start to finish (the one exception to this, when he wanted to make something “American” for our new suitemate to try, meatloaf, he used my recipe from America’s Test Kitchen.  He didn’t read the instructions ahead of time to see how long it would take, and I ended up making the meatloaf to ensure we had dinner on time.)  This focus on the quick and the cheap means we eat a lot of bland casseroles barely modernized from the 50s that consist of a lot of canned soup and hamburger.  He’s served green bean casserole, a perfectly alright side dish, as the only dish for dinner.  TWICE.  This goes directly against my two principles when I cook.  I don’t mind focusing on cost (we’re in college — I try to cook two dishes with similar ingredients over a two week period so I only need to shop once), but the time thing angers me — I take whatever time is needed to make something the people I live with will enjoy.  I don’t get that feeling when CS cooks.  We’re not forcing him to make anything for us — he signs up for when he wants to cook on a whiteboard in the room.  There’s no visible passion behind what he makes; there’s an attempt to impress us because he thinks so highly of himself, but its not reciprocated when the end product always looks so disappointing.  I don’t want to crush his desire to cook, but I just wish he’d listen to the feedback he’s gotten.

I’m not asking for anything as elaborate as the tacos above (which aren’t really that elaborate–pork slow cooked with tomatoes/peppers/garlic served with chopped up avocados tossed in lime juice and crumbled fresh cheese).  Just something that’s been made with a sense of love or passion behind it.

Not that I have a bucket list, but if I did, i could now cross this one off of it: eat fake meat.

Ever since I found out such a thing exists, I’ve been slightly curious as to what a “tofurkey” tastes like.  The last time I was home, around Thanksgiving, when shopping at Trader Joe’s with my mom, we passed the larger-than-usual selection of tofurkeys and picked one up.  I was joking that we should get one–my mom was adventurous enough to go along with it (and they were only $10 for the entire kit that includes the tofurkey with stuffing and gravy).  We didn’t get a chance to make it until Monday.  It was an interesting process, to say the least.

Cooking a tofurkey is similar to cooking a regular turkey breast.  You put it, along with some potatoes/onion/carrots (for aromatics/flavor) and a baste made from olive oil, sage, and soy sauce into a casserole/roaster and cook it the required length of time.  The box shows it sliced thick with sections of stuffing the middle of each piece, but they actually suggest you carve it like a typical turkey, thin shavings on the sides with the stuffing removed later.

I’m not sure what I was initially expecting, but I was prepared for the worst.  I’m not a fan of tofu as it usually comes–there’s something creepy about its sterile whiteness and texture that generally doesn’t appeal to me.  The tofurkey is actually a mixture of tofu and wheat gluten (seitan) that’s closer to a loaf of bread than the gross assumptions I normally have with tofu.  On the other hand, the company’s been in business for a number of years–if the product sucks, no one’s going to buy it.

I think the thing that surprised me most was the fact that the flavor of the tofurkey wasn’t all that bad.  I’m not saying it’s good–it’s a little dry and nothing to write home about, really, but had I not known beforehand that what I was eating wasn’t meat, I could’ve easily believed it was (especially with the provided gravy covering the pieces).  The other off part is the color–it’s a little too tan/yellow to be truly believed as turkey.  Would I get it again?  maybe, maybe not.  If nothing else, should we encounter some sort of meat-apocalypse where only fake meat products remain, I wouldn’t hesitate to go for the tofurkey.

It’s possibly past or at least close enough to a midpoint since I set some goals in July.  Let’s take a look at how I’m doing so far; an update, of sorts.

Have a kickass senior project

I am doing amazing at this goal.  Our client is awesome–while he’s not always immediately available because of his heavy travel schedule, he’s always quick to respond by email and has even agreed to help us develop our public presentation materials (eliminating some of the worry of what we can/can’t say at these things).  I couldn’t have asked for a better team–we’re committed to working together successfully and we seem to be able to cover for each other’s weak points.  I feel like I could be actually “managing” a bit more — we’re not meeting as often as some of the other project groups.  On the other hand, we don’t need to meet as much–I can generally trust that what my teammates claim will be done will be done by the time it’s due.  Dr. Bohner is proving to be an excellent advisor–while he has the tendency to get off on tangents when we discuss our project with him at our meetings, he’ll be the first to poke us if something needs to get done and offers generally good advice.  I’m glad he’s a bit looser with grading than Sriram was with his teams last term–as much as I like Sriram as a prof, Dr. Bohner’s slightly more laidback attitude as our advisor is a better fit for us.

The tough part, development, starts when we get back.  I’m looking forward to it, though–we’ve broken everything down week by week and should be able to have all of the major necessary features done by the expo, with a few to add spring term before going for some of the more out there “if we have time” features and completing things

Run a puzzle hunt

This one’s completely fallen apart.  It was a good idea, but I find I don’t have the time, and I like being a participant of puzzle hunts much more than a writer.  I’ll add another goal to make up for this one being a bit of a bust.

Get a second-round interview with Microsoft/a job in general

Last year, I got a first-round interview with a Microsoft rep.  I got one this year too, although by phone rather than in person.  It was pretty cool–I got to talk with the head PM of Microsoft Project for an hour, and although I was mixed on how the interview went, I was positive for the most part.  Whether I botched the interview or whether they’re only hiring past interns because of the economy (a rumor I had heard), I didn’t get to the second-round, we-fly-you-out-for-a-few-days interview I was hoping for.  It hurt to get that e-mail; I didn’t even need to open it to know what it said (it came too quickly to be good news).  It couldn’t have come at a better time, though: I was at D’s house for fall break and had to push past the initial shock/sadness (there were tears over that e-mail, in all honesty.  Not many, and not for long, but they were there.) to resolve to enjoy that weekend, and it worked.  Que Sera Sera–whatever will be, will be.

My job search outside of Microsoft hasn’t been doing much better.  I got an interview with Epic on the spot at the career fair–that was really exciting, as that hasn’t happened before.  I enjoyed going through the interview process with them (unusual as it was), even if things didn’t work out — I’m not going to be a perfect fit with every company.  Google hasn’t responded to the application(s) I sent, although I have a contact with one of their people through a cousin, so I’m trying to see if I hear anything back that way.  I figured it couldn’t hurt.

My primary job search sources right now are the Career Services website and Craigslist.  I was wary about Craigslist, but the Software/QA/DBA section is surprisingly good for finding positions.  I have to sift a bit more to find things I qualify for, but I’m at least hearing back from more companies (usually with a “we’ll keep you on file” since they’re looking for someone on shorter notice) than I was with other search engines.  At this point, tenacity is the best thing I can have–if I keep applying, I’m bound to find something.  And if I don’t?  Just like last year, I’ve got a plan B started–it seems like it could be a rally good idea if I can find the customer base and get my feet off the ground

Cook at least once a month

This goal hasn’t been a problem either.  I’ve gone from thinking I was probably a good, not great, cook to realizing that I’m way above average compared to my (current) suitemates.  The years of practice have made me completely at home in the apartment’s kitchen, and while I wish I had some more counter space than I do, I’m really enjoying having the facilities.  One thing that hasn’t changed though, is people who use the kitchen and don’t clean their shit up.  I’m looking at you, CS.

Be More Social/Go Out More

I suck at being social.  I am all too happy to spend hours in my room reading/noodling around on the net instead of hanging out with people doing awesome things.  Unfortunately, I used D as a crutch–he was someone familiar and I could count on being able to hang out with him most of the time, whether in the room or going out to eat on the weekends or doing the radio shows.  With him having left Rose, I need to push myself to not completely alienate myself from others.  I’ve started some of the steps to change this already–even though he’s not here, I’ve still been getting together with the SNL group we started meeting with Fall term–but I need to do more.  I’m going to start by spending more non-project time with my project group–lunch/dinner on the weekends or something.  My academic life is great, but my personal life is in bad need of attention.  This is more of a long-term thing, but it’s a bit more reachable to the puzzle hunt thing.

and that’s where things stand.  More (on the start of winter term/christmas break) later.

My stupid mouth has gotten me in trouble.  I said too much.  Again.

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I’m all moved in, but my suitemates and I are still going through the stage of our co-habitation where we’re figuring out how each other works.  My roommate (hereafter known as D) and I get along great–over the summer we discussed what was and wasn’t okay and resolved to talk things out and be open with one another if something arose.  So far, that’s been going good.  It’s a little harder with the suitemates (CS and SC), but I think we’re getting there.  It’s tough, though–here’s what happened this weekend and why I feel amazing going into the first full week of classes.

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