Excerpts from DC Trip

Well, this DC trip was quite different from what an usual trip will look like. We didn't went to any of the museums for which DC is famous. Immediate question come to one's mind - what did you do then? And the answer to this is - we had fun. We had fun on the streets of Georgetown. It reminded one of my friends of Amsterdam streets. The architecture with the liveliness of colors and people roaming around makes it pretty special. We clicked a few shots with DSLR, hopefully will turn out to be good.

Next day, we went to explore C and O canal - one of the National Parks of US form DC to Cumberland, MD following Potomac river. That was pretty special. Got some beautiful shots of Great Tavern Fall. We ended up hiking 1 mile Billy Goat Trail. This was my first hiking experience - was totally worth it. After a tiring day, we had a great time at one of the relatives' place where we were fed with exotic Indian appetizers and Dinner. A near perfect day!

Final and third day, we decided to ditch DC museums and went touring US Capitol Hill. The architecture and the grandiose structure was simply majestic. Inside, we were allotted a tour guide and we came to know that most of the rooms became statue rooms because they don't know what to do with them. That was quite lame. Inside US Capitol there is an empty tomb because they are undecided whom to put inside after multiple failed attempts with George Washington.

That was all, we went to Union Station and had Lunch. Right now, I am sitting at Starbucks at Dulles International Airport waiting for my flight back home. Extremely tired and about to fall!

cya!

Moods in December

Just the thinking of "December" brings happiness, excitement and peace to the lives of people, especially in States. The moment you ask Americans, they immerse in a deep well of joy whenever you discuss them about their December plans. The excitement of meeting friends, family members and what not! Loads of celebrations, shopping on a spree and eating exotic cuisines like anything.....

Today, I am sitting in starbucks, writing this down. I don't feel that usually crowded atmosphere around myself. People who came here, I believe, came just out of habit. I bought a muffin for my breakfast and it was $1.69. I gave him $2.19 and asked him to give $0.50 in return. He barista got confused and said "I am sorry, I didn't had coffee this morning". So I took my $0.19 back and let him give the change which usually he is accustomed to.

There is a window on my left side of my table which directly opens up on one of the major streets. I see a lot of students taking 28X (airport flyer route). Most of them are visiting their families, some on vacations after grueling semester that ended last week. Even people catching local buses are so excited as if they are going on a dream journey. All this makes me feel like I shouldn't be working at this time of year [:(]. I recently came to know that CMU has a really bad reputation of being one of the most stressful university in the nation (undergraduate studies). I was preparing for my exam with 3 other classmates in Hunt library last week and there was a student with CS major sitting next to our table preparing for his exam. We were there for almost 8 hours before we decided to go home and get some sleep. We went home at 4:00 in the morning and came back at 8:00 AM and saw that guy is still there maintaining his concentration. That's too much for an undergrad  I believe, I don't know how much more hours he put in before calling it done.

Also came to know that there is a fb page called "Overheard at CMU" which essentially consists of one-liners coming from the mouths of students. It's like, if I heard something cool, I can post it there. One of the ROFL lines that I came across - "I only give a certain number of fucks every week and I am running out of them". Isn't that awesome!!

Yesterday, I was roaming in market for around 6 hours....shopped loads of chocolates and other small stuff for home. Will start packing soon for my 2nd trip to India. happy holidays!

2nd Semester over – Summers ahead

Just finished with my 2nd semester. I don’t know yet, how well it went. One of the ways of assessment can be based on the GPA that I score, which is awaited as of now. I don’t expect much either. Alternatively, I can comment on my research progress and judge based on that.

Well, for me, research just kicked in. I have been assigned my potential phd project right away when I returned back from India in January. I am making good efforts to grasp all the things that have been discovered by my seniors regarding this project. I must say, it’s one of the difficult and almost a dreamer for a manufacturing guy, in this time, when people are going berserk to realize features size in nano-scale.

The end goal for this project (based on my understanding) will be able to machine (using milling processes primarily) parts with feature size as small as 1 micron, repeatably and on different kinds of available materials. Sounds good!? Just to give an idea of the efforts involved, it will take approx. work of 4 phd students to realize this dream (4*4=16 years of work) I am just hopeful to reduce it to 3 ppl (third one being me..:))

PS: No, I don’t have any plans to live phd life for more than 5 years (Just clarifying). I said I am hopeful!

Made few good friends, RP- was my buddy for this full semester. He just graduated, I wish he finds a job soon. TT – my lone female friend; she’s a nice company, we hung out more than a couple of times in Pittsburgh.

Commenting on future – summers ahead – most of the friends will go away – intern, home or job. So, expecting some lonely times ahead. Well, I have planned a weekend trip to NY to meet old pals Mital and Harshit.

Let’s see how everything goes!!

-SN

one night at gates-hillman center

I have been scolded, for my deeds over the past few weeks, seems very legit; served as an eye opener for me.

KPA, one of the phd students in my lab group, whose project I am taking over, came to me and tried to explain the fact that I have been treated nicely by my prof. till now. He speculates a very strong reason behind it; prof. seems very busy now a days and he strongly suggest not to assume his leniency as if it’s a chilled out time. Sooner or later it will come to you and you will then need to defend.

In retrospect, and keeping my future prospects in mind, I went home early. Not to sleep and rest but to eat dinner and come back to school to study. I chose gates-hillman center coffee shop to sit for my late night studies. It’s a nice place; quite, ambient and away from distractions. I saw a lot of desi’s studying here, I assume last minute fight is still very much in our blood. I started working.

Half past 12, a sweeper came to clean up the tables and arranging chairs around. He looked as if he is on a mission, no measurable reactions or feelings that I can see on this face. He pulls chairs in a hurry, cleans them and arranges in order. I kept studying. Then suddenly, lights on one of the corners of the coffee shop went off. Students sitting there looked around 360 degrees but couldn’t figure out what happened. They continued to work on their laptops. I guess the load on their shoulder doesn’t allow them to waste time in figuring these thing out. Not to forget I kept studying.

I completed my reading of paper before than expected (30 minutes before to be precise). As I started thinking,about how to spend this time. I clicked on my blog and started typing. And I am still typing. This sweeper guy came once again with a vacuum cleaner. I believe he is going to run this machine, the sound of which will echo in this big hall (now almost empty). To my respite my 30 minutes are coming to an end….publishing and logging it off……

Quotes

"The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have" - Randy Pausch

"Before you speak, listen. Before you write, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you invest, investigate. Before you die, live" - Will Smith Twitter Page

"Do it right the first time, every time" - Prof. Prem Vrat class on Total Quality Management

"Even before you start forming a strategy, it's important to know the resources you have, using them efficiently is all together a different game" - SN