Best of 2011

I thought I'd bring back the traditional of the Best of posts this year. I managed to accidentally skip last year, but here's the one from 2009.

2011 has really been a truly crazy year. I feel like I've turned life upside down and things are just starting to finally settle in a good place. The upside of this is that there are a lot of great things that have happened during this crazy year for me to reflect upon. Here's an assortment in no particular order.

1. Travel: Italy & Australia - I doubled the number of times that I've been out of the country in my whole life this year and added a new continent.
2. Graduating from Haas - How did the 2 years of b-school fly by already? I'm glad to be done, but do find myself missing the community, growing opportunities, and fun of Haas.
3. Starting my post-Haas career at eBay - So far so good on my re-entry into the real world. It has been a bit of an adjustment, but I'm getting to hang of it again.
4. Moving out of Berkeley - I have looked forward to moving out of Berkeley pretty much ever since I moved there. I loved my classmates, but am so glad to be done with all of the Berzerkeley crazies.
5. Surviving another Nike Half Marathon - ChuThis and I survived another Nike Half. Not our best race, but we made it and had a good time in the process. It's apparently becoming an annual tradition.
6. Winning the most team steps in a day prize in the office turkey challenge - this was both a great way to help me meet new people in the office as well as get off the couch and back into running shape. Hopefully, I can keep this up with my 2012 fitness goals.
7. Seeing the successes and life changes of my classmates and friends (weddings, babies, successful startups) - 8 weddings, at least as many babies, friends with newspaper articles, NPR interviews, successful startups (go Modify!), and so many others. It was great to share in all of your successes this year.
8. Making some really good life decisions for me - while never a fun thing to do, I'm really proud of how I have taken charge of my life this year and really worked to shape its direction instead of just riding with the tides. I'm on a much better course now and can't wait to see where I end up next.
9. Keeping in touch with old friends (no matter the distance) and making new ones - as we move and grow in life, it's really great to keep connecting with friends from the past in addition to meeting new people as you go.
10. More painting & creative pursuits- see my previous post...

All in all, it was definitely a very challenging year, but I have come out on the other side a better and stronger person. Here's to the new challenges and adventures that 2012 brings!

Fitting In

So you'd think after 3/4 of a year of business school, I would have felt like I fit in with the rest of my classmates before now. Honestly, aside from a little bit towards the end of Fall semester, I continued to feel like I was straddling two worlds and not really fitting into either one very well.

Spending some time with my classmates and other time on the other side of the Bay has made it difficult to feel like I really have a good idea of what is going on in Berkeley or SF. I think I say no to about twice as many events as I actually attend. I was really feeling frustrated that I'd spend a weekend in Berkeley and end up sitting at home because I didn't know what was going on or constantly trying to cram in as many SF events as possible into one trip to the city.

This week, however, I managed to spend a lot more time in Berkeley and also decided to go out and hang out with people even when that wasn't the best of ideas for me getting what I needed to done. I now feel like I have a group of people that keep me clued in on what's going on around Berkeley. Also, we've started going out only once a week, but the whole class goes so it's a blast.

I don't know I'm really any more connected with my classmates, or if I just feel that way because I spent so much time studying with them for my finals last week, but it's definitely nice to not feel like I'm constantly straddling two worlds, even if it is just temporary.

Remember To Do Things For You!

It is very easy to get wrapped up in life. Class, homework, social events, group projects, papers, research easily dominate our life. We continue to focus on the things that we need to get done everyday to meet deadlines and quickly forget about the things that we need to do to take care of ourselves and ensure that we are motivated enough to continue doing all of the things that are due every day.

While this is definitely something that I think we will continue dealing with throughout life, business school makes it quickly apparently that you really do have to do something for yourself otherwise you will burn out. I was definitely approaching burnout last week. I had been sick for at least a week, behind in most of my classes, constantly forgetting to do the things that I needed to for school and definitely not motivated to do any of it. Despite not having the time, I made myself go and work out and decided to prioritize seeing a ballet that I had been wanting to see for years and just hadn't found time for.

It's amazing how these two small things really changed the shape of my entire week. No, technically I didn't have time for either of these activities. The mental and physical break that both made for me was crucial for me being so productive this weekend.

This just goes to show that when you're tired, worn out, and overwhelmed, you need to take time for YOU!

Haas Tech Club Blog Post

It has been a busy couple of weeks and I haven't had much time for blogging. I thought I'd share a post that I wrote for the Haas Tech Club blog about our trip to the most recent ChicMeetsGeek event.

Check it out here. Happy Reading!

My First Bay to Breakers

Yesterday, I did my first Bay to Breakers ever! I've been wanting to go for the last 2 years, but something has always foiled that plot. This year that didn't happen. For weeks, Tara, ChuThis and I have been planning our very cute Zeccohero costumes to support T's Zecco.com team.

We looked awesome with silver capes, silver bandannas, pink and silver running shoes, pink fluffy wands, hot pink mini skirts and Zecco t-shirts. We even got the boys to dress up as well.

It was a nice walk, partly sunny and partly foggy in traditional SF fashion. There were elaborate floats ranging from cruise ships and roving beer pong to shopping carts and kayaks filled with the essentials. Because we didn't walk super fast, we didn't get to make it the last mile because that part got closed after 11:30am so we didn't make it all the way to the breakers, but that was alright since we didn't technically start at the bay either as we met up with Zecco just after Van Ness.

All in all, it was a great day. I really enjoyed the walk and once you got to Golden Gate park, the crowds thinned out nicely as well. I will be posting pics, probably to Facebook soon.

Making Dreams Come True

A year ago when Alpa moved into her new condo, she noticed that there was a guy who lived across the way from her who liked to cook in his boxers and occasionally roamed his studio naked. She has long called him her "Naked Chef." She has spent the entire year watching him from her couch and ogling from afar.

On Friday night, Jessie and I wandered over to Alpa's apartment for a chill evening of girl talk and go fish. The Naked Chef was at it again finishing up his dinner in his kitchen and doing dishes in his boxers as usual. We girls watched him and giggled and gave Alpa a lot of crap for not having met him yet after a year of watching him.

Jessie then managed to catch his eye and wave at him. He saw us and waved back. I suggested that we tape Alpa's phone number to the window and see if he calls. This was a suggestions that I had made many times before, but previously no one had listened. This time, Jessie sprung into action and we started looking for paper. In no time, we had Jessie's phone number cut out of binder paper and taped to the window.

Less than a minute after we finished pasting the number on the window, the Naked Chef called. Ironically, his name is Jesse too. Jessie cordially invited him over for a drink.

Jesse came over and through our conversation with him we discovered that he too was an IT consultant and lives in apartment 302. He likes surfing and is from Canada.

After all of this time, I'm not sure if it was anti-climatic for Alpa to finally meet him, but he's still pretty cute in person. Just a good guy who loves working out and enjoys SF.

The mystery around the Naked Chef is now solved and Alpa as now thanked Jessie and I for making her dream come true of meeting her Naked Chef.

Now the bigger question, does the Naked Chef still cook naked after all of this?

Toasty Weekends in April

This past weekend was one of those gorgeous weekends where you know you made the right choice to live in the Bay Area because there's absolutely no way that anywhere else is as gorgeous. It was a busy weekend for me because I've felt behind in life and so I tried to use this weekend to catch up.

I spent a lovely Saturday hanging out in the MixMatchOffice for their monthly coding day. It's very nice to chill on a comfy couch, listen to great music and hang out with cool people while having the garage doors open and enjoying the warm breeze and sunshine. It was a very productive day too which was nice.

How about going out in San Francisco at 10pm and not needing a jacket? Yeah, that almost NEVER happens! It was so gorgeous.

Yesterday evening ended with a lovely dinner at J's parent's house in their garden. So nice and peaceful.

All in all, a relaxing and productive weekend.

On a side note, Congratulations to Paige who was crowned the Master of Funk this weekend!!! You go girl!