Spring Break Travels, Sort Of

Although I haven't posted since Friday's Dragon Day 2010, the photo of the day (a.k.a. POTD) project is still going on. I will have a bunch of photos to upload by next week, but here, right now, is Spring Break, and I don't want to be bogged down with my computer—at least not until I realize I have a lot of work to do.

It is so refreshing to have a rooster wake you up in the morning.

Hi Sophie!

Still Kicking...

I kind of regret it now. It's senior year second semester. And I am taking 21+ credits.

I am managing pretty decently, but sometimes, it's nice to have some free time to hang out, some free time to do what I want to do.

Still alive though...

P.S. I am getting an iPad.

Figuring It All Out...

I think I have finally figured out my spring semester's courses. (Last Friday was the last day to add a class.)

In the books, I am taking 21 credits in my final undergraduate semester at Cornell. In addition to these, I am auditing 7 more credits, which consists of going to lecture and taking notes out of interest. The cool thing about this semester is that I only require 9 credits for graduation. Now, we get a chance to take things we actually care about. Learning out of interest is the best kind of learning, maybe...

ACTUAL CLASSES

INFO 2300 Intermediate Web Design

NBA 5530 Accounting and Financial Decision Making

SYSEN 5200 System Architecture, Behavior, and Optimization

MAE 4291 Senior Design Project

MAE 4230 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics

MAE 4860 Automotive Engineering

MAE 5010 Future Energy Systems

BEE 5330 Engineering Professionalism (FE Exam Prep Course)

PE 1320 Professional Instructional Golf

AUDIT CLASSES

MAE 4590 Introduction to Controlled Fusion

GOVT 3847 Weapons of Mass Destruction

(Yes, I'm also taking golf... getting pretty good at putting too.)

Winter Break, In Summary

This winter break was a pretty standard one, consisting of a lot of time at home and some time seeing old friends and the old New York City. The first part of break involved catching up with personal reading, the middle part involved a lot of cooking and eating, and the latter part involved some city exploration and tourism.

While I wasn't able to complete (but really, procrastinated taking care of) my to-do list, I picked up my camera again, and restarted my POTD project. This time, though, we've got more people involved, like Hans and Adrian. My "POTD 2010" set is on Flickr. Here's Han's. And here's Adrian's.

I visited Roosevelt Island, the Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio), the Guggenheim Museum, and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, all for the first time. I revisited my high school's neighborhood, Rockefeller Center, and Central Park, among others. I also experienced many instances of paying a little too much for second-rate food.

Here's a photo summary of the major destinations...

Roosevelt Island

Rockefeller Center

Guggenheim and Central Park

Winter Break 2009 Reading List

This winter break was largely uneventful. Aside from taking photos and prcrastinating school-related paperwork, what I've been doing is a whole lot of reading, some for the first time, others, a reread.

The Lost Symbol
Dan Brown. 2009.

The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language
Steven Pinker. 1994.

Andrew Jefford's Wine Course
Andrew Jefford. 2008.

Adobe InDesign CS4 Bible
Galen Gruman. 2009.

1984
George Orwell. 1961.

How to Win Friends and Influence People
Dale Carnegie. 1976.