Elevator Pitch Competition

I have pitched my business idea in a type of business competition called an Elevator Pitch Competition, and I'm pleased to report I made it to the top 10 in my category - making me a semifinalist.

All semifinalists are invited to the finale event, but only the top 2 from each category are actually official Finalists who will compete again in tonight's finale.

I have to say that this whole event is definitely not run with an engineer's touch. To wit:

- all semifinalists have to show up to the finale, even though 48 out of 60 are wasting their time (inefficient)
- the 12 who DO compete as finalists don't know they are the finalists until their name is called (unnecessary suspense and stress)
- you have to check in to this event an hour before it starts, otherwise you are disqualified
- you have to have an official wristband
- your teammates are not guaranteed a seat
- if you ARE called up as a finalist, you have to sit in a designated chair on the front of the stage for the entire duration of the event (and it's long - two hours)

Now I realize the point of this event is not to be efficient and low stress - in fact I'm sure it's entirely the opposite. But it all irritates my libertarian sensibilities - unnecessary production and hoopla, that adds no value. But I have my best attitude on tonight, because I know my idea rocks, I present well, and I have a decent shot of winning some money.

It's much easier to have a good attitude when there's possible money on the line. :)

But I'm here now, waiting to check in at this ridiculous early hour, and I have to tell you - there is a red carpet. There are photographers. There is a designated paparazzi area with a branded (logo-ed?) background where important people will shake hands and the momentous occasion will be captured.

SO out of my element... where is my sister (the family's charismatic camera darling) for this sort of thing...? :)

3rd Place Poster Winner

Last week we had my laboratory's annual Symposium. My lab is actually a cross-departmental lab, and my advisor is one of eight or so professors in the collaboration (each with their own students and individual lines of research). The Symposium is a day and a half of talks by professors from our own lab, guest speakers in our field, a poster session from all current students, and a celebration dinner.

We just had a poster session this spring, so instead of requiring students to make a new poster, the head of the lab said that students could just re-submit the posters from the spring.

But I was traveling this spring to a conference in Korea, so I wasn't around to make a poster.

I really didn't want to make a poster this time around, so I just kind of snuck under the radar and didn't remind anybody that I didn't have a poster from the spring... therefore, I assumed I just didn't have a poster in the display.

There are prizes for the student posters. The attendees of the symposium can vote for their favorite posters, and the top votes get first, second and third place cash prizes. But because our symposium is small, and nobody really has an incentive to vote, the joke around the office is that the prizes go to the only three students that can convince someone to turn in a ballot for them...

So one morning while procrastinating from work, my labmate pushed his chair back, spun around, and said to me, "Miss Outlier - did you even turn in a poster?"

"Nope," I said, looking at my hands, "Didn't do one this year."

He laughed and replied, "I was gonna give you $20 if you won the competition this year, because I knew you don't have results to show."

Now that was a bit of a low blow to begin with, but he teases a lot so I didn't take it personally.

And guess what.

Instead of NO poster for me, turns out some dedicated admin dug up my poster from LAST year's symposium, and put that on display.

Guess what AGAIN.

I won 3rd place. And I didn't even solicit votes - I didn't know I was in the running!

Can I collect that $20, please? :)

Guest Posting at Engineer Blogs

Happy Monday, folks!

Today I'm guest blogging over at Engineer Blogs - I encourage you to go check it out. I'm honored to join a cast of awesome bloggers creating a community for us engineers!

If you've read the post and headed back - the same question applies to you. Where do you do your tinkering?

3rd Year, 306th Post

Well, dear readers, I've made it to my third year of blogging.

First post was Jan 6th, 2009.

200th post was Jan 24th, 2010 (about science fiction movie night).

As a side note, this past Saturday night/Sunday morning I attended my third Annual Science Fiction Movie Marathon. As with previous years, I couldn't quite last the whole marathon, but I LOVED it as always! The lineup this year was: i, Robot, 12 Monkeys, pizza break!, XMen, XMen II, and Independence Day. I was tired after XMen, and I'd already seen XMen II, so I wimped out and went home. But one of the girls from my dorm floor stayed for the whole thing! I've got awesome residents in my RA job. :)

And this post is my 306th post (I flew right through 300 without noticing).

Since July of 2010, my top posts were Underwater Hockey (2,006 page views, mostly from Google searches), Straight On (521 page views),  Tape Measure CAD (159 page views), and Logo Design (147 page views). I've had either over 12,000 total page views since last July (via Blogger Stats), or just over 10,000 (via Google Analytics). [I think the discrepancy is Blogger counting myself viewing my own blog.]

Blogger tells me I have 35 followers, and Google tells me there are 83 people subscribed to my feed. That's a very tiny corner of the Internet, but it's my corner all the same. :)

I was struck the other day by how much I enjoy the simple act of writing down what's going on in my life. I was trying to remember my thoughts on a particular event (and goodness knows my memory fails me often these days, even on what HAPPENED, much less how I FELT about it) that occurred in 2008. I thought, well that's easy - let me just see what I blogged about it. But alas! No blog in 2008!

And I am also taking some credit for still posting, after over two years. I've never posted less than 4 times a month. My best months were Feb 2009 (23 posts) and Jan 2010 (22 posts). Laugh! Can you tell that I'm a student, and not as busy over winter break? :)

Every so often on Facebook I see friends excitedly announcing a new blog. Sometimes WordPress, or LiveJournal, but usually Blogger. I always subscribe in my Google RSS Reader, and I enjoy getting the updates. But inevitably, they last a couple months and then I hear nothing. Or they delete them altogether.

So I'm proud of myself for lasting this long. I'm no dooce, for sure, but goodness, why would I strive for that? I'm trying to get a PhD here! I'm content to simply resolve to continue blogging. I've got a long list of post subjects in reserve, and if I can find time to write each day I plan to put up a mix of subjects - research, social events and adventures, cooking.

If you write a blog, why do you keep doing it? Has it gone the way you expected, or are you surprised at where you are now?

Hello to OnlineClasses Physics Geeks!

If you are visiting through this list of 50 Awesome Blogs for Physics Geeks, welcome!

I am honored to be among the list of blogs, which include some of my own favorites. Cosmic Variance is already on my RSS feed, as is Bad Astronomy.

I am sure I am not a physicist. The closest I come is perhaps trying to defy it - when trying to lift a mattress over a balcony, perhaps, or hoist an AC out of a window by myself.

But I do a lot of science, and the grad student experience is pretty universal (why else the terrifyingly accurate humor of PhD Comics?)

I also do a bunch of cooking, and I try to keep a steady stream of adventures in my life.

I'd love to hear who you are, and I hope you stick around to share in the ride. :)

Top Engineering Blog Award

To my surprise and honor, I've been awarded a "2010 Top Engineering Blog Award." I have never been awarded anything of the sort before, so I'm pleased to say that I have at least figured out how to place the award badge in the left hand column. (I was mentioned in Inside Higher Ed before, but that didn't require me to deal with .html badges!) Engineer I may be, computer whiz I am not. As I may have said before, if I can't hit it with a hammer, then I have trouble debugging...

I am also pleased to see some of my favorite other blogs in the list. Candid Engineer has actually moved her blog from blogspot to Scientopia now, and I hope you will visit her there. She was the first female engineer I ever found on teh interwebz. And, the first blogger to ever put me in their blogroll. There are also a bunch of new-to-me blogs on the award list, so I have a feeling that my RSS feed will be expanding, and my productivity levels over the holiday will be similarly decreasing.

I got sidetracked over the past month, and even over the past semester I was not able to write as much as I wanted. I have so many stories I want to share, and I find (perhaps egotistically?) that I miss it when I can't recount the experience. Even if it's not interesting for you, it's theraputic for me.

I've been hanging around blogging long enough now that I see new blogs spring up, and old favorites go dead. I don't want to be one of the ones that fades away, right when my life is most exciting. Sometimes I feel that I don't have funny or coherent enough thoughts to share, but my commitment for the next year is to share anyway, no matter how short or trivial. It means something to me, and if you enjoy and stick around then I consider it a bonus.


So cheers to an excellent 2010, and an even better 2011. Merry Christmas!

Hello to Inside Higher Ed!

If you are visiting from Inside Higher Ed, welcome!

(I've just been mentioned on the website here.)

If you'd like to hear what my career has been like, please feel free to peruse these posts.

To read about my Master's thesis, try these.

For all the adventures that this curious grad student has been on, these are my favorite stories.

And of course, I discuss research too. Look around and stay awhile. :) Say hi in the comments if you like, it's a pleasure to meet you.

Just had to Report

 I jogged 2.25 miles on the treadmill the other day. I have not run that far since I was 12 - when I used to tag behind my dad as he ran around the neighborhood streets.

Thanks to Jenny and Jaclyn for the key to this achievement - don't go so fast! My only experience with running has been as a wheezing, gasping, I-think-I'm-gonna-die activity, and the last few times I tried jogging I quit after half a mile. It turns out that if I go slow (and I mean, really slow - it took me 14 minutes to run a mile, which is only barely faster than walking...) then it works. I can breathe!

Figure: See? Just like this - happy happy joy joy...

So I am actually quite impressed with myself. I think I may try it again. I am prone to being competitive, even (especially?) with myself. Generally I try to do just a little bit better each time - so next time, maybe I'll shoot for 2.5 miles.

My mother likes to tell a story of me, back when I was 12, which goes something like this: Each time I would go jogging, I would make sure that I went just A LITTLE BIT FARTHER than the last time. There was an old coke bottle lying on the side of the road, and I used to use that as my marker. So one day I excitedly reported, "I went two miles to the coke bottle and then TEN FEET!" Hey, whatever works, you know? :)

And now my mind is already racing (ha!) ahead - if I can do 2.25 miles, it's not that much farther to 3.2 miles! That's a 5k! There's a 5k coming up here in Boston, and the sign up date is March 1st. Maybe if I stay on top of things and keep adding TEN FEET each time, I'll register...

Updated Wish List

Last January I wrote a list of classes I want to take, and things I want to do. My original "wishes" post is here, and reprinted below. I have checked two things off this list: archery class, and massage class. I loved them both, and I wished I could continue them longer than the semester. With the new year, it's a good opportunity to remember that there is more to life than school, and I should take advantage of everything I can while I'm still a student.

In that spirit, last year I ended the list at "Rock Climbing," but now I'm adding four more. That's about the right ratio, right? Cross off two, add four?

Classes I want to take:

- Martial arts
- Ballroom dancing
- Painting
- Pilates
- Massage - DONE Fall '09
- Pistol shooting
- Graphic arts
- Sailing
- Crew
- Archery - DONE Spring '09
- Fencing
- Rock climbing

- Skydiving

- Pilot's license training

- Scotch and wine tasting

- 5k run

Let the adventure continue this year... bring it on, 2010!

Meeting Goals

Today I happen to be very pleased with myself. I've always been a self-driven type of person, and it pleases me when I meet goals I set for myself (it's also good to meet goals other people set, such as schoolwork goals, but that's not as fun). Today I have met two goals at once - booyah!

You might recall I'm in a medical study that tracks how many calories I eat, and that monitoring has led to some weight loss. I've been continuing to try and make healthy choices, and I am pleased to say that I have lost (and kept off for a couple months now) exactly 20 lbs. Yea!

I feel much better, and my graph looks good too...

And, to make today even better, I have met my savings goal. I am fortunate to have parents who impressed upon me the importance of being prudent with my finances, so I have always tried to spend and save wisely. My goal for this semester was to gather $1k in savings, and as of this morning (with a few cents of interest putting me over the edge....) I have $1000.01 in my savings account. I know that seems like a small amount to anyone who has a real job, but it means a lot to me. My credit card is paid in full every month, I have a chunk of money invested, and I have started a (quite small so far) retirement account.

Onward and upward!

Consulting

I have recently added another new hat to the list of millinery I can wear. I have been fortunate to be called in to consult on an engineering project where my expertise can be used.

My first thought was - wait, I have expertise?

Well yes, it turns out after a lifetime of schooling I have learned a few things that can be useful to people actually working outside academia. Who knew? Miss Outlier, Consultant.

I have several points I'd like to make about this:

1) It is fascinating to work on a project in industry and observe the interactions between the engineers on the project, and the interactions between the engineers and management in charge of the project. The engineers on the project make decisions much quicker than I am used to in academia (where everything must be studied and analyzed before progressing). But in the real world, often it is quicker to go the "try it and see" method than to work out every detail from theory. And the management on the project (as opposed to my advisor who wants to hear the technical details) do not care about details except a few: progress made since the last meeting, expected completion timeline, and cost savings created by the project. Which is to be expected - managers have many projects in the pipeline, and shouldn't have to worry about the nitty gritty of each one. It's the engineer's job to get it done, I gather.

2) I am pondering: is this consulting something I should inform my advisor I am doing? I spoke with a labmate of mine, who works for my same advisor, and I found out that my labmate did some consulting last year. And apparently, my advisor was initially against it - he thought there wasn't enough time for my labmate to work on both research and consultation projects. Once my labmate proved that he wasn't neglecting research, my advisor was comfortable with the arrangement. But I haven't even broached the subject - perhaps I should? Any comments, internet?

3) In the real world, money is different. In the sense that I am worth some. :) And also in that people are not afraid to spend it to get things done. A lot more zeros get tossed around on the end of numbers than I am used to seeing. It's a little scary, but I have to remember that it's just a different scale. Because as a grad student, your time is not worth two turtles. But to even have a conference call on a consulting job, think about the salaries involved to have a handful of high level managers and a few engineers take an hour to work on something. The time value of money has just shifted drastically, and I'm learning to adjust to it.

When I see that first paycheck roll in I guarantee the adjustment won't be hard...

I Passed!

I am officially a PhD student, I have passed the qualifying exams.

Last night and today were very long days to wait through. I could only remember the exam questions I got wrong, and the questions I didn't know the answers to. I prepared myself for the worst - hearing that I failed and would have to come back in January.

But fortunately it wasn't necessary.

I went and saw the Star Trek movie yesterday as the post-quals treat I have been promising myself since the movie came out. (And, by the way, it was AWESOME!)

I went out with friends tonight to celebrate.

And now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to cry in the corner for a little while. Just because I finally can, because I don't have to hold it together anymore. It's been a long hard semester. I've completed my Master's thesis, I got As in my classes, I did research and submitted a paper to a conference, I studied for the quals, I upheld all my duties as hall councilor for my dorm, and I applied and interviewed and got an RA job for next year. I was there for my friends when they needed me, and I tried to keep my priorities always in the right order (God, family, friends, me, school).

I worked really hard, and I am so proud of what I've accomplished and so grateful to everyone who's helped me.

I guess what I'm saying is,

I PASSED!

Miss Outlier, M.S.

It's official - I am now and forever Miss Outlier, M.S.

Two copies of the thesis have been printed on the official thesis paper, signed by all appropriate higher-ups, and turned in unbound to the department for archival purposes.

Three copies have been printed on laser paper for myself, my advisor, and my parents. These are presently out being hard-bound in leather, and will be back before commencement.

I am thrilled.

137 pages, baby. I've done good work in my two years here.

Here's to the next two - or three....

Turn It In

I printed out my thesis today, all 124 pages of it. Turned it in is as a complete draft to the advisor, and set up a meeting with him Monday to go over his revisions. Assuming I did an okay job on it, advisor says we will have it signed by end of next week.

I can smell the finish line....

Pinch me, please

Because my life might be real.

To: Miss Outlier (ID#314159265),

This is to confirm that your order for a Cap and Gown has been processed.

You are now scheduled to walk at Commencement. You will receive an email when your regalia is available for pickup.

Order Date: Apr 20, 2009

Height: 5 ft. 10 in.
Weight: 12 stone :P

Degree: Master's

Thank you,

the Ones in Charge

_______________________

I'm graduating!

Green Light

Last week at my meeting with my advisor, I showed the data from (what I thought was) my last set of experiments before I could finish my Master's thesis.

I had worked very hard to get all my data into pretty graphs, and I thought I had some very solid results.

I put up my slides, and spent a while discussing with my advisor the possible interpretations, and explaining some of the deficiencies I knew were in the data. In the end my advisor was very interested. He finally sat back in his chair, set down his pencil, and declared "Well this brings up some very interesting questions."

*face palm*

Oh, no.

So I had a list of new experiments I had to run. I was so discouraged, because I felt like I'd never be done with this thesis. Does advisor REALIZE I'm studying for qualifying exams at the same time here?? So the long shot was I had a night of feeling sorry for myself, but I picked myself up and busted my rear this week to get the other experiments done.

I stayed up way too late last night analyzing the data, formatting graphs, and organizing literally hundreds of measurements. At the end of the night (or, as it were, wee hours of the morning) I had many pretty figures for the thesis appendix. I took what I had learned from all my analysis and distilled it down into one, simple, holy grail plot. It concluded, pretty much, that my thesis was valid.

And then I dreamed last night that I went to my meeting with my advisor, and I couldn't find my holy grail plot. In my dream I thought, oh gees, I know I saved it, now what folder on my laptop did I put it in? And search as I might, I couldn't find it, and the folder trees were never-ending.... such a nerdy way to dream!

But the good news is that I indeed do have the plot, I did indeed show it at my meeting today, and I now have the green light to finish writing my thesis and graduate.

Hallelujah.

Now it's a race to see if I can do that without dropping the ball on all the OTHER things I'm supposed to be doing...

Gainfully Employed as an RA

I got an RA position for next year!

The dorm I was assigned to was not what I was expecting at all - wasn't one of the three I was agonizing over in my head. In fact, this place is one of the interviews I was considering calling to cancel.

I know why I got the offer from this place. It's the only all-girls dorm on campus; it has two wings - in one wing, the RAs get an apartment with their own bathroom, and the RAs are often married and live there as a couple. In the other wing (where I will be) the bathrooms are communal, and the RA's quarters are not apartments but a single room the size of a dorm double.

So this wing requires that the RA be a single female for several reasons: it's a girl's dorm, boys aren't allowed in the communal bathroom, and a married couple couldn't fit in one room very well. And of course, being the charming sort that I am, I couldn't help but shoot to the top of the relatively short list of single female RA applicants. :)

I should have thought of that. I am sure I could have gotten one of the other dorms, I know I was at the top of their choices. And those would have had an apartment for me. Aw, sadness... I am tired of living in a dorm room, that's why I wanted out of where I am now. I was really looking forward to having a living room. And my own furniture.

If only I had thought to put down this dorm as one of the places I would refuse to work... I had that option, you know. But I honestly never expected that I would get the offer from here - I had no idea I impressed them that much.

So what's the bottom line here - that I am too charming for my own good? Silly. That single females are in too short a supply here? Well, yeah, but not my fault. Or that I got my nearly last choice on place to live?

Of course not. I'm choosing to focus on the positive here:

The place I will be living is the cleanest and prettiest on campus. It has a gorgeous view of the river and of the city skyline, a rooftop deck, and in-house dining options for when I don't want to cook. It's as close to my office as I can get without living in lab. I haven't gotten a chance to meet my resident girls yet, but I am sure we will enjoy getting to know each other. The room I will have is no smaller than the one I have now, and I've gotten along fine for two years. The room does come with my own small kitchenette as well as a roomy kitchen for the floor, and I don't need to buy any furniture.

Now if only it weren't for that communal bathroom... but hey, at least I don't have to clean it!

Straight On

The last day of the archery class I've been taking was last Thursday. And I couldn't announce this randomly in lab because I'd look like a jerk, but here on the internets -

I kicked butt!

We had two competitions during class. For the first competition, you shoot seven rounds, with each round further back from the target. The last round was the distance of a full basketball court away from the targets. The winner is the one with the highest score for the seventh round.

The first few targets were easy - we were close enough I could see the target clearly, and I could correct if I was off.

On the fourth round, the targets started getting a little fuzzy and I couldn't see where my arrows landed on the target.

So imagine my surprise when I walked to the target to retrieve my arrows, only to find I had made a bulls-eye! And, sticking out of the back of that arrow was my next arrow, which split the first one for a second bulls-eye!



W00t! The teacher said that was the first time she had seen an arrow split on the bulls-eye in fourteen years of teaching. Technically, you are supposed to use the same arrows for all rounds, but she made an exception for this case so I could get a new arrow...

By the seventh round of that competition, all I could see was the yellow spot in the middle of the red target, and the only way I could tell I hit the target was by the "thwack" sound. It was rather entertaining, actually, holding my breath as I walked toward the target, watching the little feathers come into focus...

And I won! I had the best score on the last round. My best arrow was a nine - only one ring off the bulls-eye. Actually, when I shot that particular arrow, I heard somebody mumble with a laugh from down the line: "she must cheat..." so I knew it had to have been a good one! :)

The second competition we ran was a one-arrow, winner-take all round. Standing from a close distance, whoever shot the best with one arrow won.

Well that's just too easy. I could see both the target AND my arrows.



I was the only one to make a bulls-eye.

The teacher dismissed us with a speech congratulating us, and noted that the last winner-take all round was shot from the same distance we started at on the very first day of class. That was pretty neat - we all remembered how difficult it was just to hit the target on the first day, and now I considered it easy to make a ten.

My arms and back have become so much stronger; I notice it in my posture (and in the sore muscles the next day, ahem). I have calluses on the insides of my fingers, and my fingers on the hand that holds the string have become stronger. My ring finger especially is now fatter on the left hand than on the right - a bit strange. I never thought about the fact that the poor little ring finger never got much exercise before this class!

So yay for learning new things! There is an archery club on campus, so I hope to go over and continue to improve. As the teacher said during her closing speech, you readers can all say "you knew me when..."

Unexpected Surprise

I serve on the government of the graduate dormitory where I live - I am the equivalent of an undergrad RA (residential assistant), except for graduate students. This is mostly a social or facilitator role; my job is to know everybody, foster community, and use money I am given to throw dinners, study breaks, and organize the occasional outing for my residents. I love doing this, as it indulges just enough of my outgoing side while still letting me retreat at the end of the day to my own room. I have become friends with the other members of government over the year I've been doing this, and so I end up volunteering a lot to help with other dorm events. I also have a selfish side - the events we throw almost always include free food (and good stuff, too, not just pizza), and I have learned that the volunteers get to eat as much as they want beforehand if they help prepare the food.

So we serve brunch twice a month, and if I make pancakes I get to eat however many I want before the long lines show up. Yum, strawberry ones! And once a week is coffee and dessert hour, and I get to steal a slice of cheesecake if I chop pineapple and apples and bananas. Last night we had a one-time event, "Chocolate Feast." Well you know I'm going to volunteer to help for that one. We had boxes and boxes of Godiva chocolates, a huge chocolate fondue fountain, cakes and cookies and rich creamy hot chocolate... oh, yum. Of course we also had lots of fruit, which is what I helped chop and peel and prepare. My specialty is pineapples - nobody else likes to do those, for some reason.

In any case, it was sublime. I got to pick several Godiva chocolates, and sip my dark hot chocolate in peace. Then at opening time everybody showed up and surrounded the fondue fountain, and in order to conserve resources we could only let people have one Godiva chocolate and one piece of gourmet cake.

But I digress.

The other half of my office's responsibility is to go to monthly house meetings. These are generally painless and only 45 minutes long, as opposed to student government meetings in undergrad which could easily last two hours (mostly of arguing, if the law students showed up). Tonight we had an unexpected item on the agenda: appreciation gifts. I was pleased to see some of the hardest working officers be recognized with gift cards, and clapped politely for all the nominees.

And then they called my name! I was floored, I didn't think I was doing anything above and beyond my position. But I got a nice little speech about me before I got my award, saying I did a great job involving my residents, contributing new ideas, and giving extra of my time to volunteer.

It was absolutely lovely to be recognized for something I enjoy doing, even more so because it was unexpected. If only there were more such awards for being social and eating macaroons...