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I'm writing this final post from my parent's house (it barely feels like home anymore) in New Jersey. I got back a couple of hours ago, but it still hasn't quite set in that summer is practically over. Words are probably incapable of describing how awesome my summer was (hence why I take lots of pictures), but I'll try to recap anyway.

The remainder of my final week at work was uneventful. I got to help on some cool things, and had no trouble finishing up. The tubing trip was really the highlight of the week. We all had to wake up really early and get to the office around 7am (which is EXTREMELY early for a bunch of software engineers working at a startup that usually roll in around 10am). They had breakfast for us as usual, and then we had ~2 hours of a bus ride to the American River. We got to the river around 10:30am, and the 70-80 or so of us there promptly started adjusting to the cold water temperature.

At first, there was a fair amount of effort on our part to get down the river. The current wasn't too strong where we started, presumably to make it easier for people to get situated in their tubes. After that initial part, the river did the rest of the work. It was one of the most relaxing things I've probably ever done. I did not want to suffer the consequences of being in the sun for 5 hours straight, so my friends and I applies copious amounts of sunscreen before getting in the water, and then again at lunch.

People organized themselves in various flotillas that congregated around floating coolers with drinks and snacks. Our packed lunches floated down the river in giant tubes with the operations people alongside us. There were some tiny rapids along the way, and some people wound up swimming in the river if they weren't careful. Luckily, I never did. To be safe, though, I decided to leave my camera at the apartment, so sorry for the lack of pictures here.

Lunch was fantastic, even if it was packed. I had a pastrami and pepper-jack sandwich with fruit, chips, cookies, and lemonade. We stopped to eat right around the middle of the trip, which was good for everyone to reapply sunscreen. I was determined not to burn since I already did that once this summer and it was painful. Afterwards, we continued along the river, where I was even in front for a little bit.

Eventually we made it back to the busses. Everyone was exhausted and pretty much passed out on the bus. I had a nice surprise waiting for me, though - while tubing, I received a call from Apple about a potential job opportunity. After some followup, I have a phone interview scheduled for later this week. Hopefully all goes well; I'm already getting nervous about it.

Saturday I woke up early to finish packing. I was sad to go and say bye to all my friends. I knew time could fly by, but never this quickly. On the way to the airport, I turned in my badge, bike, and keys. We drove away, and I hope I'm able to make it back there some day in some capacity.

I wasn't flying straight home, though. My flight was going to Seattle where I was visiting a friend from school who had just visited me last weekend. He was interning at Microsoft for the summer, and was going to show me around. He picked me up at the airport that afternoon, and we headed straight for Seattle to do some exploring:

Heading to Pike's Place Market

Space Needle

The original Starbuck Coffee shop

Where we sat to eat delicious peroshkis for lunch

This bridge floats since the water is too deep to build columns

After Seattle, we headed to various surrounding towns covered in Microsoft buildings. We first went to Bellevue, which is actually where the building is that I interviewed at in February. It has a great view of the area, and Bellevue is a pretty nice place overall as well. We then went to a bunch of other buildings, including the one where Calvin works, and it was all amazing. The buildings are all arranged in "campuses," and that's what it really feels like. There are athletic fields, cafeterias, shops, giant parking garages, and so much more that make it feel like it could almost be a college campus:

On Sunday we took a tour of the Boeing factory in Kirkland. You're not allowed to even bring cell phones on the tour, so we left our cameras at home. We regretted it since you can take pictures from the parking lot. The tour was pretty cool, and we go to see the floors of the aircrafts actually being made. It was on a Sunday, though, so there weren't too many people working. The coolest thing we found out was that certain airplanes are manufactured on a "moving-line," which basically means they are constructed as the airplane moves throughout the building (think moving assembly line).

The weekend there was great, and Monday morning I was back at the airport for my 5 hours flight back east. I didn't realize right away that I did not have a confirmed seat - I forgot to check in online. Luckily I realized this before the gate agent showed up, and was the first person in line to ask for a seat. I was pretty scared for a while, so much so that I was too nervous to go find something to eat. The next flight leaving was 12 hours later, and I did not want to be on the red-eye. It all worked out, though, and I got to sit next to a woman flying to Mumbai to teach art at an international school for 2 years, and on my other side was a man who runs his own software company in Boston.

I watched a couple movies on my laptop, but was always eager to get off the plane. My dad met me at baggage claim where we waited for my luggage (for quite a while, actually). We finally made it to the car and drove back, seeing this on the way:

Mt. Rainier during takeoff from Seattle

I'm not really sure what I'll be doing this week. The main purpose for coming to NJ (at least in my mind) was to finally see my whole family, have some downtime before going back to school, take the motorcycle written test, dentist appointments, etc. I'm heading back to Boston on Saturday and going to Six Flags with a couple of my roommates from school.

I guess there isn't much left to say. I had an amazing summer, one that I will certainly remember fondly for the rest of my life. All I can do now is get ready for senior year, and hope that I'll end up somewhere I enjoy even half as much after graduation. There's plenty of work to do in the meantime, though. Thanks for listening - we know return you to your regularly scheduled internet time wasting activities.

Time Flies

I literally cannot believe I only have a couple days of work left. Friday is the company rafting trip, so I'm not counting that as a work day, even though most people might say it seems like I've been on vacation the entire summer anyway.

Last Friday, my friend Calvin from school came and visited. He is interning at Microsoft outside of Seattle for the summer, and since we're both on the west coast we figured it made sense to visit. To pick him up, I reserved a Zipcar with my new membership. This service allows you to rent cars for about $8/hour and they pay for gas. This was perfect for picking him up at the airport, especially since there is a location just across the street from my office. Most of the cars at hybrids (saves them on the gas costs), but that caused me some trouble since I couldn't tell the car was on at first. To make matters worse, the emergency brake was also enabled, and it took me forever to find it. Eventually, I figured everything out, and headed towards the Oakland airport.

After getting some leftover food at the office, we heading back to my apartment to sleep. We had plans to go to San Francisco on Saturday with another friend from school who I also work with. After we ate lunch, we hoped on the train and then took a bus to the north end of the peninsula. Ghiradelli Square was there, and we wandered around for a bit. Unfortunately, the line for the chocolate shop was ridiculously long, so we decided to head over to Mission Street and find some good food. What we didn't realize when we first got on the bus was that they give you a slip of paper that allows you to transfer busses within the city. They're supposed to only be good once, and expire at a certain time, but we were able to use it all day.

It took us a while to decide, but we ended up at an Indian restaurant where we split a bunch of appetizers and naan. The food was delicious, so much so that we had to refuse dessert (and I LOVE dessert). We walked off some of the food on the way to the bus that was going to take us back to the train station. We got really lucky and got on the train with just about a minute to spare before it left.

Back in Palo Alto, we went back to the office. Some of the employees moved into a new apartment together, and were having a house-warming party that night, and I needed to double check the address. While there, I saw some friends who were getting ready to drive over, and they gave us a lift. Thank goodness they did, since it was further away than I originally thought. We got there around 9pm, and there were already about 10-15 people there. More showed up as the night went on.

I introduced Calvin to a bunch of people there, and we played a card game called Resistance for while. It's like the game Mafia, but much more involved. There was also plenty to drink, and at one point, Calvin and I were having an in-depth discussion with one of the neighbors (a physics PhD) about string theory, dark/anti matter, supersonic split theory, and all sorts of cool things. Things like this can only happen in Silicon Valley, and I will really miss it when I'm gone.

On Sunday, we headed over to Stanford where Calvin knew a friend from high school. His friend is pre-med and doing genetics research over the summer, and plans to get his MD and PhD eventually. He took us around and showed us his apartment and a bunch of the academic buildings, which were surprisingly busy for a Sunday (although maybe not for a place like Stanford). Some of the buildings there are awesome, and the campus as a whole is gorgeous. If I decide to go to grad school, Stanford is definitely on the list.

We headed back to the office where I gave them the grand tour. They were in awe of everything there, and seemed most excited about the massage chair in the game room. We couldn't stay too long, since I had to drive Calvin to the airport for his flight. We'll actually be seeing each other again soon when I got up to visit him this weekend. So far, we've planned a tour of Boeing, in addition to me seeing all sorts of cool things at Microsoft.

I don't have any big plans for the rest of the week, other than figuring out how to get all my stuff home. I shipped a bunch of books home, and my laundry will get returned tomorrow. I'll be gone all day Friday on the rafting trip, and will pray that I don't get sunburned. My flight leaves around 12:30pm pacific time for Seattle, and I return to NJ on Monday night. This summer has probably been the greatest I've ever had, but I'm still looking forward to seeing my friends at school, although not really looking forward to more homework.