Wow, I can’t believe this is my final semester at Vanderbilt! Where did all the time go?
I’m also sorry I haven’t updated my journal in freakin’ forever. I want to get back into the habit of updating because how else am I going to remember my thoughts during these periods of my life as anything other than a blur if I don’t update my nice stream of consciousness blog using lots of run on sentences.
I also find it amusing how the top reason people visit my website (ariwilson.com) is because they did a search for a piece of software that doesn’t exist other than as a set of specs and a few technical diagrams I have on my computer :).
So what’s new? Uh, what’s not new?
- Got a beautiful blue Honda Civic thanks to the generosity of my grandmother. Drove it cross country twice and up to Chicago and back once. How did I put 10k miles on it in a year?
- Did some research last summer on garbage collection. Met some awesome people, had a great time at HMC. Almost makes me wish I had gone there. Certainly a humbling experience seeing how many people know their shit cold.
- Took a bunch of graduate classes at Vanderbilt. Passed Spinrad’s algorithms class. Stressed a hell of a lot the last three semesters. Worked half-heartedly on my MS thesis.
- Applied to graduate school. Didn’t get quite the GRE scores I wanted. I guess more review other than reading a practice test the day before would have helped. Got into UCLA’s CS PhD program. Decided I didn’t want to go to grad school immediately.
- Applied to jobs. Interviewed on campus with Echostar, National Instruments. Visited National Instruments HQ in Austin, TX. Had a great time, got a job offer. Also had two phone interviews with Google. This semester, I had my on site with Google in Santa Monica as well as an on site at Microsoft. Got job offers at both, decided to work at Google: it’s closer to home.
So anyway, I’ve got a job and thus I’ll be back in California this summer and next year (probably from then on, too: the South isn’t that great). I’ll probably be going to Europe this summer in June, probably first on one of those packaged tour type things (17 days). Maybe I’ll get a chance to ride the Trans-Siberian Railroad with Li too :).
Anyway, I wanna know how my friends are doing in their lives as we all approach the end of college. Is everyone taking a job or going on for more school? Leave some comments folks!