It's a new dawn

Life has been quite a jumble lately. Among my responsibilities as a continued consultant for my previous research, I have been finding myself almost shockingly occupied.

First, I've done a couple fun things like: a bit of a night out in mpls, seeing Ratatat live in mpls, going to a Vikings game (been years), going to the Twins game that resulted in a division clinch, after said clinch.. celebrating with the team and getting some high-fives n such, getting involved with a nearby ballroom studio, and continued doing graphic design work..got business cards too.

I've also managed to continue getting part-time pay for my further research work. Along with that I am also getting more involved with Peragen Systems. I have visited the site twice now and we're so very close to start-up. Additionally, I am now going to be working in Aspen to model the process as it is currently, then eventually scaling up. This involves me working in dtwn mpls in AMEC's office - a real engineering consulting firm. Who knows where this will all lead, but I never expected it that's for sure.

I'll leave this post with a clip of what I may consider one of the better rounds I had at my last comp (at least for smooth). More available on my youtube channel.

Well hello there

So It's been about 7 months - been meaning to add a few updates. First off I graduated! I'm a chemical engineer now.. sorta.

Anyway as a followup to the last post, I competed once more and the results were outstanding. Details are best seen here. Summary is that I received 5 1st place ribbons, 17 overall.

In other news I created an online portfolio back in late May. The site is to highlight some of my better works. I have also come across a few more design projects (for money!) Including another icon, a quick webpage, and additional work to be completed. Check out the site if you haven't already. Chris Wedding Design

I'm now in Minnesota doing a little bit of work and a whole lot of slacking. Getting sort of involved with a start-up company as well as continuing research. In my free time I dance at a nearby studio and chillax.

One last thing, with the new addition to the Big Ten.. here comes a rough idea I had for a new logo. We'll see what they do though.

**Edit** Out of boredom I have revised this design just slightly.

Ok, well for some reason or another I think I'll try to post more often. Just want to get my name out there a little more I guess.

Ballroom Dancing

In case you were unaware I am somewhat of a ballroom dancer.

I have now attended two competitions this past school year. My most recent one was at the University of Michigan representing the MSU Ballroom Dance Team. My personal results for each dance:

With Anderson, Sherri
Place Event
1 Newcomer Waltz
1 Newcomer Tango
ROUND 1 Bronze Foxtrot
5 Bronze (W/T)
5 Bronze Viennese Waltz
1 Newcomer Quickstep

With Kalmbach, Marla
Place Event
6 Newcomer Cha Cha
6 Newcomer Swing
SEMIFINAL Bronze (C/R)
SEMIFINAL Bronze Swing
ROUND 1 Bronze Mambo

With Forgacs, Claire
Place Event
5 Newcomer Cha Cha
SEMIFINAL Newcomer Rumba
4 Newcomer Jive
ROUND 1 Bronze Samba
SEMIFINAL Bronze Jive

I've made it to the iPhone

Hey, I guess I don't post here very often. But I thought I'd let the world know, a logo I designed for an iPhone app is now up. The app just recently launched and it's crazy to think that something I worked on will be available among ALL the iPhone users.

Here's a link that shows it, I also have made a few changes so the main logo might be updated soon.


GameTrac

I should also mention to check out the MSU Ballroom Dance Club since I designed the whole website and I have also been updating it here and there to include information about the competition team (which I am on). There is also a blog that you can find on there. It should be updated more often and I'm going to make sure of it now.

Well that's all for now.

Home Vacation

I went home to MN for 6 days and I have some pictures of my adventures. Enjoy!

July 2nd, went to The Taste of Minnesota and saw Staind and Chevelle perform. At the end of the concert Aaron Lewis showed up mid-crowd and played a few last songs. Pardon the quality, I had only my cell phone to take pictures. The concert was pretty fun.

And a video

On July 3rd I sort of spontaneously decided to check out some guitars and ended up getting one!

It's hard to tell from the pic but it's a dark blue. I really like the feel and I can try some new things.

Later that day my dad and I went out to the Twins game. It was a long battle.

The good ol' metrodome. Probably the last time I'll go to it (for a Twins game).

The Twins were down 7 to 1 and came back to tie the game. If you look closely below you can see that it is a very long game here tied in the 15th inning. The game ended up going 16 full innings and unfortunately the Twins lost. I was so tired for being there 5+ hours but I couldn't just leave the game at a tie!

At home my sis had me take care of her new pup Chloe during the week. She's a lovable lil one who's very nice and playful.

Also during the week, no photos though, I did play some bingo and messed up missing out on a $248 pot (one number too late). I played some roller hockey, hung out with Kyle and Brianna a bit. Played some Wii Fit. Had my sis' annual 4th of July/B-day BBQ party. Removed and repaired siding on the house. Ate a delicious and fancy ribeye steak, with blue crab cakes and lobster bisque to start and creme bruleé to finish.

Now I'm back to work, but summer is halfway over. We shall see what happens next!
Also paid $966 this morning for repairs on my car :(

Twins vs Cubs

Last Sunday I made a day trip out to Chicago and met up with my buddy Matt. We hung out then went out to the baseball game. Here are a few pictures of the trip. Click the panoramas for a full view.

Wrigley Field

The old fashioned scoreboard

the infield a bit closer

After the game we wandered around. There was a blues fest going on.

and me pretending to play guitar

For Hire

I've come to find myself in a bit of a bind lately. I'm trapped in a little bit of uncertainty. Pardon my ambiguity here, what I'm trying to say is that I still haven't found a summer internship.

After a handful of callbacks for interviews, I've come up dry each time. I've been trying to figure out exactly what's going wrong and what's keeping me out of reach of any potential job. So far, I've only come up with one thing: I must not interview well.

This conclusion arose when I realized that my resume was getting attention and interviews. This meant I had some good stats to my name. I get the interview, and within some time I am rejected. In the meantime I hear of my colleagues, my friends getting the job as I sit disappointed in myself. I don't want to say they aren't as qualified as I may be, but I don't see what makes them so much better than me. Hell, they even tell me (truth or not) that they don't understand why I can't find a job. I can only imagine that my academic and preceding experience just wasn't enough? It's like they want something more out of me that I don't feel is of the same importance as my actual skills and performance.

Anyway, aside from that, the bind it creates is something of a torturous and familiar path. Mid-April approaches once again, I am without a solid summer internship. Yes I have my current research position, but that isn't supposed to last me more than a couple weeks out of school. With this uncertainty, I have no idea where I am going to be placed this summer. I could potentially stay in EL if I am able to stick around for research, or I could be forced to go back home. Going home doesn't mean I have a job, and if I do find some income.. it will most likely be unrelated to the industry. This means I will be screwed out of the experience that my peers are getting in the industry giving them an upper hand when it comes to full-time positions post-college. When I lack that experience it traps me even more in the future and I could be caught out of college with no job. Given this economic situation, if I can't start out soon I'm screwed. When I'm out of college, well that means another thing: student loans. I have a tremendous and growing amount of student loans to be paid off as soon as I graduate. If I'm cornered, I won't be able to pay them off.

Which raises an additional concern, academic performance! Yes I've always had a significant hold on my academics, but I need to keep them strong for at least this semester. If things slip out of my hands (namely biochem) it could hold me back from necessary scholarships. This means more loans, and less money that I'll have after graduating. So in essence, it all matters. Some people say I'll be fine without an industry job, or I'll be fine if I don't do well in this one class. Maybe they're right, but I would rather not risk it.

Either way, my point of this is to vent a little about how frustrated I am in trying to figure out my near future which logically affects my long-term future oh so directly. Good night.