[M]etabrain [E]ntry [L]og - Braindump of the Mel. Seek coherency and relevance at your own risk.

Find Mel (100 points)

The fog was thick this morning. I looked out across the bay on my way to the T, and there was no Boston on the other side - just blank white mist. It thickened and fell as I was biking out from 1cc to get batteries for my new portable recorder, and I ended up sloshing through the streets of Cambridge clutching a package in one hand, blinking the rain out of my eyes, and streaming water behind me as I lashed my bike to the nearest post and went back up into the office. I love rain.

And then the random phone calls started.

Well, not so random. Apparently one of the questions in the Olin scavenger hunt this year was “Find Mel (100 points)*.” The probable backstory to this: at Olin I acquired a reputation for being everywhere at once and simultaneously impossible to track down. After two years of playing answering machine, my suitemates proposed posting a sign by the door:

1. No, Mel’s not here.
2. No, we don’t know where she is.
3. We also have no idea when she will be back.
4. Yeah, we already tried calling her.
5. We recommend you leave a message on the whiteboard.

I actually think it’s easier to find me these days; I actually answer my phone and have a home and office that I use. In any case, over a year after my graduation, this was apparently still an interesting enough challenge. I’ll also note that this was totally not my idea and I’d been given about 24 hours advance notice by Greg and Ellen (who, as far as I can tell, are responsible for the question in question).

The night I’d heard about it (read: yesterday), I sent Olin’s OLPC mailing list a “by the way, there’s a MassXO meeting Saturday morning” note by way of a subtle hint of where I might be findable for small slivers of the day. While criss-crossing Boston (I did not alter my usual habits or travel patterns at all for the event) I got 2 emails, 3 voicemails, caught 4 phone calls, missed and tried to return 8 more phone calls, and was ultimately found by 2 teams (out of… I have no idea. More than 2.)

I wonder how the rest of the scavhunt went, and who won, and how confused the freshmen on the 2nd team to find me were. (”Why are we hunting down this random person? Who the heck is Mel?”)

Just for fun, here’s a list of T stops you could have found me at throughout the day. This only counts stops I got on or off at or stops I locked my bike near, meaning I was actually in the immediate vicinity of the T stop doing something for a reasonably substantial chunk of time. All things considered, this was actually a pretty uneventful day without a bloody lot of travel.

1. 8am: Maverick
2. 9:30am: Kendall
3. 10:30am: Central
4. 11am: Kendall
5. 12:40pm: Central
6. 1:15pm: Symphony
7. 2pm: Heath
8. 3:45pm: Symphony
9. 4:10pm: Kendall
10. 6:30pm: Maverick

Saturday, September 27th, 2008 | olin | 1 Comment »

Getting back on Planet Olin

Sunday, June 8th, 2008 | olin | 1 Comment »

Olin’s class of 2008 has gradumacated. (Crusty silly people.)

Congratulations, Olin’s class of 2008. You’re probably getting sick of people saying “congratulations!” all the time, so here’s a request to boost the information value (read: decrease the predictability) of this post.

There was a whole lot of speechifyin’ today about how you, as engineers, are supposed to go out and build/invent/create/construct/make the future. My request is that you keep two words in mind while doing so: “viral” and “exponential growth.” In other words, part of “building the future” is to get other people to build it as well - and to build it their way. (The corollary being if you want it to be built “your” way, you’d better make your way their way as well.)

Mm. Going to Commencement this year was good in that I got to see people I loved that I hadn’t seen for a long time and celebrate a special rite of passage with a community that’s shaped each other’s lives in powerful ways. It was also good in that it gave me a sense of closure that I hadn’t gotten as much during my own graduation. Last May, I was in some sense being dragged kicking and screaming out of the nest. It was still home. This time I recognized that it wasn’t in a way that was more than intellectual. Olin’s a place that used to be a home for me, and in some ways always will be, but it’s not where I am now. It’s the thought that “oh yes, I did graduate.” It feels strange… and good, in a strange sort of way.

Forth Eorlingas!

Sunday, May 18th, 2008 | olin | 2 Comments »