Portland, Oregon!! :D

Mood: Super Excited!! :D


Hello followers!

For anyone who doesn't know (and if you've read my blogs or had any sort of conversation with me the past couple months you know), I am currently Portland, Oregon!! :) For some this may not be very exciting, but this is my first time in Portland...heck, it's my first time on the West coast. So this experience becomes even more exciting. If I can be even more exact for everyone, I am currently sitting in the visitor's lounge at Google in Portland, Oregon. My main purpose for being in Oregon, as I have mentioned before, is the Grace Hopper Celebration (yay!). I am also here to try and pick some of these Googlers brains and find out how they feel about static analysis tools. So far, I've only been able to get one person (our contact, Phil) to go through the interview with me, although we didn't get to fully do everything because he had some other things to work on). Even though the interview had to be cut a little short, I was able to get some REALLY valuable information from him, especially being that he's not only had experience using various tools, but he's also helped develop a static analysis tool. I got to meet some other Googlers, and hopefully they'll get some time to be interviewed -- at this point it seems like I'll have to take formal or informal interviews in order to get feedback. *** Just a side note, just from being in Portland 1 day I can tell you if you love food, come here. At the airport I had a "Gotta Have It" burger...and let me tell you.. I'm glad I got it! -- 1/3 lb beef, pulled bbq pork, bacon, an egg, and all the fixings. Then today, Phil and one of his co-workers (I believe his name is David?) took me to a food stand down the street from their office where I had my first Asian burrito, and let me tell you...it will not be my last. Absolutely. Epic.***

On to other news...I'm a little worried about missing this week of school, especially since there is so much going on in the realm of team projects. I feel like I'm letting my teams down by being here (although they are not making it seem as if I am, I can't help but feel I am). I'm trying to do my best to keep in touch and work on assignments so I don't fall behind, but at the same time I'm here for a certain reason...so now I gotta figure out how to balance keeping up with the work/classes I'm missing and still being focused on the task(s) at hand. I will say this, it's so much easier said than done. I was so worried about my interviews today, I forgot I had an assignment due for software engineering...I got it submitted, but once I submitted it I realized one of the files were the wrong copy, so it's actually slightly incomplete.  And then, when I went to do the questionnaire, I realized that in Portland we are three hours BEHIND not ahead...so I barely got to finish the questionnaire because my time ran out. Lesson learned: keep track of time differences!!

Also, my networks class has about 3 upcoming assignments due, so that's another focus I have to keep in mind: a HWK assignment due Thursday, part of a team project due Friday..and then a Lab due the following Tuesday (which isn't too bad except for the fact that if I wait until I get back to work on it I run the risk of having the same issues everyone else always has when trying to work on the lab a day or two before the lab is due, and that is not being able to get a reservation to use the software because so many people are trying to use it (which is why I usually try to get my labs done WAY in advance). The only problem is, the labs are time consuming, and I don't' know whether between my other assignments and watching lectures I will have the time to finish before I leave to go home Friday. But hopefully I'll be able to figure something out -- maybe extension?? :D very doubtful. Oh yes, and we can't forget that I have things to get done for my research as well. This is going to be a busy week indeed..

Anyways, that's enough ranting for now...time to get some more work done (and hopefully some more interviews will come my way). I'll try to post something on here everyday letting you guys know what's going on here in Portland.