I know where I am.

Posted by Steve Hanna on May 27th, 2007 filed in Random Tags: emo, icir

I have just made the move to Berkeley, California. In a few days I will begin working at ICIR and I am sure that the summer will fly by and I will find myself attending classes here. I don’t know exactly what I will be doing at my new job, but I am officially a visiting researcher in the networking group working with Vern Paxson. Needless to say, I am pretty excited.

As for what happened before the move, these past two weeks have been pretty amazing. I got to spend a lot of quality time with my family, something that I rarely am able to do. It turns out that I am way more fun an receptive to conversation when I am not stressed out, who knew? In addition, I spent some awesome time with my friends. We had some incredible times. When I left, it was not goodbye but more of a tacit understanding that we would all see each other again as soon as time permitted.

Speaking of no longer being stressed out, I graduated! Yes, I now am the proud owner of a bachelor of science degree in computer engineering from UIUC. It only cost me my soul and a hundred thousand dollars. Of course I am kidding, I didn’t spend all that much money. Still it is an awesome feeling knowing that my last four years have been validated. I know that sounds silly, but if I wouldn’t have graduated and obtained the much sought after degree, none of my hard work or long hours of my undergraduate degree would have meant anything (note: meant anything to a potential employer or institution of higher learning, I would have valued the knowledge and experience I gained regardless). The good news is, I walked away from this place with an awesome GPA. I was so worried about mysolid state electronics class, but this semester I toke home perfect grades. I felt this was a great way to end my undergraduate career perhaps it will give me some much needed confidence in graduate school.

Back to my journey, the move to Berkeley went very well. It just so happens that my new apartment and landlords are awesome(my old apartment and roommate are quite copacetic too). Despite the apartment being built right after World War 2, it has a nice cozy feel to it and it is actually very nice. I was worried about the move because I shipped all of my things either FedEx or USPS Media mail, but as of today, I have completely moved in and unpacked all my boxes. After a brief scare, my last box of books arrived yesterday. However, I am still missing a tube containing all my Thursday and Alkaline Trio posters (:-/ tear). I still need decorations and a few pieces of convenience furniture but I suppose that will come soon enough.

I mentioned my landlords being awesome but I really didn’t elaborate on it. Cindy and Chuck (the aforementioned landlords) welcomed me into my new apartment and then went over various intricacies of living in a slightly old apartment. After looking around a bit, I noticed my desk in the main room was covered with maps, brochures, coupons and various other things related to Berkeley and the surrounding area. When I inquired why they were there, Cindy told me that she knew that I was new to the area and she wanted to provide a resource so I could get acquainted with the surroundings and find things to do. I was pretty shocked, this seemed like a very nice thing to do. After our conversation, Cindy asked if I would like to go shopping with her later in the day so that I could get groceries and not have a completely bare refrigerator. I jumped at the chance and ended up spending the rest of the day unpacking and then picking up food. I was quite taken back by my landlords because unlike my previous landlords, they have shown unprecedented kindness and they have been extremely helpful.

Tonight I went out with Mike and Parisa. It was really great to have an opportunity to spend time with friends during this transitional period of my life. We went out to get some sushi and various other japanese food. The small amount of sushi I sampled from Mike’s plate was quite good. However, I stuck to some salted mackerel, which turned out to be really excellent. This vegetarian thing has been going on for about 5 months now and I decided that I would “flex” for fish on occasion. After we went to dinner, we headed to the movies to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End. Despite it being a long movie, it was really excellent and without writing a full movie review I make the claim that if you enjoyed the previous two movies, this one will not disappoint.

After the movie we all went our respective ways and I had some time to think about my current situation in life. Over the past couple of days, I keep getting this feeling. Whether it’s evoked by looking at the clouds that engulf the surrounding mountains hanging in the distance or when I walk down the street and I observe the motley crew of people engaged in seemingly vivacious activities, I can feel it. This place has a soul, a heartbeat, it is alive and I have just become a part of it. I feel alive and I can only guess what the future holds. Also, disregard the crappy imagery, I am an engineer, not a poet