Curve

What professor makes a 96.75% in class a A-?

Looks like I'm going to need to do some haggling with the admins to let me do an honors thesis. "The required GPA is 3.50, which I have if you use three significant digits!" Heh.

Things to do with what little time I have left:
-contact professors for recommendations/honors thesis
-research companies I would like to work for
-research grad schools --- done
-practice piano
-study for GMAT/GRE
-finish website
-finish mastering those recitals I recorded (!!!)

Ahhh where has my summer gone?

Trying to Move On

I miss you so much...

Short break

Time passes by so quickly during the summer... it's hard to keep track of the days.

I've been told that long posts are okay if there's pictures. I've been looking at getting a camera for the past month or so anyway, so that's fine with me. I just ordered a Canon Powershot G9, so once it arrives there will be pretty pictures to go along with my verbose posts.

Random note: This looks kind of fun...

Catching Up

I'm terrible about keeping up with my own blog, even though I religiously view others. One drawback of posting less often is that I often feel compelled to write a huge uber-post that covers what several smaller posts would have done better. I'm going to try and avoid that in hopes that I will start writing here more often, so let's just talk about my summer plans for now.

This summer I'm working for the Segal Design Institute, which is really just a fancy name for Northwestern's design engineering department, which received a significant amount from money by Gordon Segal, founder of Crate and Barrel, in exchange for his name. Basically, I work to redesign, test, and manufacture various EDC projects that the RIC felt sufficiently lacking in fail to pursue further. So far, I've worked on a jar opening device for people with only one functional arm, and a feeding system for a girl with very little manual dexterity/strength. The next project involves a bit more engineering design, and is a pair of swimming goggles for people with limited upper-body dexterity. None of the projects particularly appeal to me, perhaps because I lack the disabilities to make any of these products necessary, but it certainly has been familiarizing me with the shop tools. Perhaps I'll even make something I'd be willing to put in my portfolio! Having flexible hours is also a perk that I've been taking advantage of a little too much :-P

I'm also taking GEN CMN 102 (Public Speaking) and ECON 311 (Intermediate Macroeconomics) this summer. The main reason I'm taking these classes is because I really want to do a senior thesis (for whatever bizarre reason I cannot say), but can't unless I raise my GPA to a 3.5 by the end of the summer. Having taken a few too many unnecessary classes that destroyed my GPA (*cough cough orgo*), this is my last chance.

In many ways, this summer is my last chance to really shape up in preparation for next year. I had been putting off preparing for the future, thinking "Oh I have time, I'm taking 5 years with the BS/BMus program", but signs now point to me graduating in 4 years with a BS in Mechanical Engineering (hopefully with honors thesis) and Certificate in Engineering Design, so I need to start thinking about finding a job or getting into grad school. This is the summer to beef up my GPA, refine my portfolio, ace my standardized tests (GRE and GMAT in September), and do the relevant things that will land me a nice job/grad school. Oh, and I should keep practicing piano so I can give my senior recital this fall. And learn Chinese better. And get in shape. And maintain some semblance of a social/romantic life. Time really does pass by faster as you age... and yet there are still people that complain of boredom.

Shopping Guidelines for the Slow

So yesterday I had the opportunity to spend four hours observing the shopping habits of women, and I've come up with some recommendations to improve the shopping process in general for slow shoppers (not exclusively female):

1) If it doesn't scream "must have" to you, don't bother trying it on.

2) After verifying size, ask yourself, "How often will I wear it?" Keep price in mind and make your final decision.

3) If you have to think for more than a minute about whether or not to get something, you probably shouldn't get it. Why spend your money on something you're less than enthusiastic about?

4) Don't be tempted to buy something just because you've spent so much time looking for something/trying stuff on. Sunk cost is sunk cost.

5) If you're going to take forever anyways, at least try to involve your non-slow friends a bit. They'll feel less awkward waiting around.

This way, you'll not only end up spending less time/money, but you'll also have more clothes you really like and will wear around. Everyone wins!

Spring Break

Now that I'm on break, I have the luxury of sleeping in, eating lots of food, practicing piano daily, and worrying about my future. As distasteful as the last item is, I can't put off the future any longer. With still no summer internship in sight, I need to find something to do over the summer that won't seem too lame to prospective employers. I can't imagine they'll be too enthusiastic about a potential new hire without any internship experience in his fourth year.

Added to that insecurity is the fact that I still haven't decided what my stay at Northwestern will entail. All I know is that it will be some combination of the below, taking from 4-5 years depending on the path I take:

*BS Mechanical Engineering: This and the Design certificate are the only ones I've decided on for sure.

*BMus Piano Performance: What a tough one. I don't want to go through music history and stuff, but I've already fulfilled so many of the requirements. But, as they say in basic econ classes, sunk cost is sunk cost and shouldn't affect rational decision-making. I need to see if I can get a minor or something.

*Certificate in Engineering Design: They say design is what will set American engineers apart from our outsourced peers in Asia. Northwestern goes a bit further and says design will set apart its engineers from UIUC engineers, which come from a higher-ranked engineering program.

*Certificate in Managerial Analytics: the new Kellogg certificate program (if I can get in). It seems more and more important these days that engineers have some business acumen as well in order to survive and advance in the real world. DP professes to hate this type of engineer on principle, but I plan to be one he doesn't hate (a lofty goal indeed).

*MS Mechanical Engineering: Either through the 5-year BS/MS program at NU, or elsewhere if I can get in anywhere. My interests seem to lie in mechatronics and design, so I'll be looking at schools that are strong in those fields.

*MS Engineering Design and Innovation: It's such a new program (5 students so far) that I don't know what to think of it and how much the degree is worth. But it seems like a good combination of engineering, design, and business which fits my interests. Might even be able to finish in less than 5 years.

*Co-op: Only if I get an offer this quarter. If not, it's too late to do this anymore. Pro is that you get paid work experience and (if you perform well) usually an invitation to join full-time when you graduate. Con is that it takes an extra year and is usually paid less than industry average.

I'll need to do a lot more research before I decide in the end. For now, I shouldn't rule out anything, and I'll prepare with everything in mind. Which means continuing to search for internships, studying for the GRE (which, luckily, is like the SAT's older brother), building relationships with professors for recommendations, pulling up my GPA, continuing to build solid extracurricular experience and social skills. Sometimes I think it'd be a lot easier if I could just choose something and focus. It always pains me when JG says that you should do everything to the best of your ability in an attempt to make me practice more... because you could apply that same argument to everything I do and make a case for focusing more on that particular aspect of my life. It's picking and choosing that's the hardest part.

Now that I'm thoroughly stressed out, in other non-life-changing news, my parents gave me some traditional Chinese medicine which apparently can help me gain a couple centimeters to reach the magic 180. I feel like my epiphyseal plates have probably already disappeared by now, but hey, I wouldn't mind a couple centimeters. Also, I think I'll get my hair cut soon. Anyone know any good hairstyles for Asian men with thick, wavy, coarse hair? I'm kind of liking this but I also think that's just Collin Chou having a great smile.

No Rest for the Wicked

Whew! I just woke up a short while ago from my first time sleeping in my own bed for the last 5 days. Due to the inevitable barrage of end-of-quarter projects and "midterms", I spent nights sleeping in the Ford building and stopping by my apartment for only short periods of time to restock on ramen that I would cook and eat in Ford. The fun is by no means over, but I think I can rest a little this weekend. In the meantime, here's a picture of the Mechatronics project I've been working on (photo credit goes to Prof. Michael Peshkin)!



It's a 2-DOF user-controllable sphere for studying granular flow. Some big shots in McCormick are interested in using it for their research, which means we have to do a really good job making it robust and flexible. When I get done with my Steinway laptop concept project for Industrial Design Methods class, I'll put up some pictures too.

Now on another note: Greg Mankiw! The Harvard professor, former CEA member, and highly cited economist many of you may recognize from the cover of your introductory economics textbook has a blog where he brings up interesting little (economics-related) tidbits he finds. I highly recommend it. A few particularly interesting links from his recent posts: The Inequality Myth, Unintended Consequences, and Middle Class Tax Burden.

The Merits of DIY?

Clive Thompson has an interesting viewpoint on DIY projects and their implications for American innovation. While it reeks a little more of nostalgia than I'd like, he does bring up the dangerously ailing mechanical aptitude of the white-collar layperson and the practical knowledge that DIY projects tend to grow. Through my years here at Northwestern, I've tried to engage myself in hands-on student activities and personal projects in order to prevent myself from becoming a paper engineer who is utterly useless around the house. Let's hope this recent resurgence of DIY interest is the start of a new trend.

My next DIY project: mp3 player?

Hey Look It Is A ...?

I still haven't decided what I want to make of this blog. I make no pretense of being consistently funny, so it's not like people will come here to be entertained. I also know that contrary to the way I think it should be, the events of my life are not particularly important to everyone else, who unfortunately have their own busy lives to worry about. So what do I do with this thing? I just made it because EL suggested the title and I enjoyed its punniness too much to let the name go to waste (I also registered 'whatshihsaid' as a screenname, even though I probably won't use it). I guess it'll just kind of be a random blog. If I feel like talking about a serious issue, or sharing a doodle, or (heaven forbid) spout some general emo-ness, I'll put it here, regardless.

So a friend of mine has been dealing with some relationship issues recently, and it got me to thinking of my own situation (or lack thereof). I consider myself pretty good at friendship in general, but relationships is something that confuses me and keeps me away. I think the main problem is that I just haven't spent enough time around girls to know whether I like them or even what I want in a person in general. Not to mention, just a few years ago I was overweight, sickly, wore clothes two sizes too large for me, had horrific facial acne, and was reaaaally really awkward, and I figured anyone decent enough to be nice to me had to be either a obsessive social worker or a goddess in disguise or something.

I've made significant effort to improve myself since -- I lost weight and consider myself fairly healthy, tried buying clothes that fit better, got rid of most of my facial blemishes, tried new things, and am making progress in the conversation department. I think that last part still needs the most work though, so that'll be another goal for this year, to add to "get a 3.5", "stop sleeping through classes/exams", "get aerials and b-twists", and others: "hang out more with people".

Yet I still haven't figured out a reliable way of figuring out if I like someone or not. Maybe I just don't have deep romantic attraction to people? I might be too paranoid for that... for now. And it's a bad thing to be attracted to someone who has a boyfriend already, yeah?

Uh-oh, I just triggered my emo-alarm. Time to do some handstand-pushups or similarly sufficiently non-emo activity until it starts leaving me, and then chat with people. I have plenty of friends who are more than happy to smack the emo out of me. Yay for friends.

Facebook Never Lies

"Basically, it comes down to: I don't want him listed as 'single' on Facebook," says the girl who is listed on Facebook as being married to another female friend.

Maybe I'm missing something.

New Music Building

Northwestern has finally decided to construct a new $90 million School of Music building and Music and Arts Green by Pick-Staiger/Regenstein. Perhaps we'll finally have some facilities to rival that of other prestigious music programs across the nation. I remember visiting Rice University over winter break and being amazed by their huge Alice Pratt Brown Hall. Inside, they have a "1,000-seat concert hall, a 250-seat recital hall, an organ recital hall, an opera studio, 65 practice rooms, seven classrooms, rehearsal and small ensemble spaces, and 54 teaching studios." (copy-pasted from their website), housed in a long building with gardens interspersed throughout the building. $22 million dollars, it cost them. Granted, Evanston real estate prices are much higher than their Houston counterparts, but hopefully this will finally consolidate the music facilities and give our world-class students and faculty access to equally world-class resources. Too bad I'll be graduating before the building is ever completed in 2012. I guess I'll have to come back and visit occasionally.

Northwestern University's Music Administration Building

Rice University's Alice Pratt Brown Hall

Planned Music & Arts Green on the lakefront

Trying New Things

I went to my first dance workshop today with JS, MC, VH, PS, NF, and EP. It was taught by Gigi Torres a touring choreographer from LA, to "Untitled" by 112. Coming from just one year of ReFresH and no actual dance class experience, I was worried that I'd be getting in over my head, but even though the choreography was harder than anything I'd ever done before, everyone was friendly and supportive of each other, which inspired me to work hard and keep up. Seeing so many amazing dancers was also an amazing treat.

Gigi. And gasp! It's a video with me hiding in the back(wearing red)!

If someone were to ask me in high school to make a list of things I'd never do, joining a dance group and attending a dance workshop would be up near the top of the list next to things like "eat feces", "shoot small children", and "lose my virginity". But somehow, by virtue of living in the right place (Shepard) with the right people (MC next door yelling "come to practice!" every week), the impossible became unlikely and then reluctantly possible (in the case of dancing, not the other examples listed). *sappy* It's really amazing how much ReFresH changes some people -- we really do feed off each others' energy. In my case, trying something new not only opened the door to a whole new set of friendships, but improved my coordination and (most importantly) kept me from turning into a saggy lump of fails-at-life. You guys are awesome! */sappy*

How To Sing Lower

Get sick. Yesterday when I woke up my vocal range had shifted down a major third to a low B. Today, I woke up and stunned myself by hitting a low G. I amused myself for a few minutes by humming the bass portion of Chapter 6's rendition of "Your Smiling Face" (in which the bass hits a low G#), then realized that it doesn't bode well for drunken karaoke tonight. Plus, getting sick has all sorts of nasty side effects like congestion, headaches, spotty vision, missing midterms (I thought last quarter was the last one!), and being unable to sing. Yeah, that kinda negates the whole lowered vocal range.

In other news, dollar chicken noodle soup at Cozy Noodles for Saturday lunches is amazing. Makes me happy. Unfortunately, now I have to clean up my apartment for a ReFresH potluck tonight. And I'm the designated driver, too, since we live out in the middle of ghetto-land. Well, I can enjoy other people's drunken revelry (as long as they don't trash the place).

ReFresH Apartments

Late post-Celebrasia post:

Well, it looks like my housing issues are settling themselves. Turns out EL was considering living with another friend too, so I wouldn't be destroying her housing plans by living with ReFresH people. We got a group of eight people hopefully getting two 4-bedroom units at 2157 Ridge. The groupings appear to be MC, VH, NK, CL; me, JC, KQ, DW. This could be pretty fun.

Celebrasia went really well. People really liked our Kung Fu segment, although we weren't listed on the program. It amazed me how much attention Jeff's pink silk attracted -- Girls: "Oh my god, it's so cute!" Guys: "Are you for real?" Travis: "Show me your pink, Jeff!". I hope the Kung Fu performance isn't a one-time thing, and we start getting more people to perform. It's silly to have to bring in professionals or, worse yet, groups from other schools if you can do it with Northwestern students. ReFresH also went well. I think I was able to put more energy into my performance than before, and a few facial expressions too! Still have to keep working on it though... at least I'm not as stonefaced as Jeff :-)



Update 20080216:

My e-mail's been exploding recently. 30 facebook notifications the day after Celebrasia. 34 e-mails about housing. 31 e-mails about tonight's potluck. Makes me feel loved (ha!).

Epic Fail

Here's a post to start off a new lunar year! I wonder if blogging is my back-up response if people aren't available to talk through stuff. A lot's been weighing on my mind recently. Some highlights:

Grades: This was supposed to be the quarter where I finally get all my acts together and emerge a newer, smarter Jon. I even set up my class schedule so that I could ease my transition into the brotherhood of smart people. Well, that goes to show you can't get rid of idiocy that fast, no matter how much you wish you could.

Co-op/Internships: I need one! Please! I'm still trying to sort out my 5-year plan, whether it ends up being co-op or BS/MS. My future still seems so uncertain, though, which bugs me.

Friends: I've been disappointed in a lot of people lately, myself included, but at the same time getting to know other people better. I'm partway in so many groups of people and trying to figure out where I belong is confusing me. This is especially tricky in the case of...

Housing for next year: Who am I living with? Why are other people so picky? Why am I so picky?

Family: I worry about my brothers maybe more than I worry about myself sometimes. I hope they don't resent me for being overbearing and hard to deal with at times. I figure I'll be one of those stressed-out Asian parents that push their kids to overachieve. Maybe it's because I wish I did get more discipline. That's no fault of my parents, though, that's me just not taking in what they had to teach me. Although, as a prerequisite to parenthood...

Relationships: Another year passed. Still a Zero. Someone'll show up in the end, I hope.

Well, I really shouldn't be up this late -- Celebrasia is today, and there'll be a lot of work to do! But I just finished downloading Enchanted...