Author: vputcha3

Wait….HE WHAT?

So after reading the Empathy section, I decided to eavesdrop myself. I went to the Tin Drum cafe the other day and like Daniel Pink said, I did not look at the people I decided to eaves drop on.

There were two people who were talking about astronomy. From what I recall, they were complaining about the ride to work. One of the people was complaining about how the traffic to work was so bad that he almost missed his first lecture of the day and the other was saying that he was already late to meet his intern. They then proceeded to argue about how Atlanta traffic could be much better.

Being from a major city myself (Detroit) and knowing how bad traffic can get, I was already partially in their shoes. But I never actually held a job. I realize the consequences for being late to work are a lot more severe than the consequences for being late to a lecture as a student in college.

But I imagined myself frantically looking at the clock and thinking, “damn, I’m going to be late!” while looking out in front me me and seeing that the traffic is not getting much better. My parents always said to me that better be early and sit rather than be late and lose an opportunity. This impacted me. I went to a private high school so my dad always had to drop me off at school. I didn’t really care much about getting to school on time as a senior, but I now realize what I put my dad through when he constantly yelled “I HAVE TO GET TO WORK GET IN THE CAR!”

The point it brought me to realize is that I need to make sure that I am not making others late when they rely on me or I rely on them. Also, I learned that getting into the habit of getting places on time is better when I learn it early on.

Anyway, back to the eavesdropping. After this thought, I tried to imagine who the people were. The first guy talking about lecture, I imagined as a German male in his early 50′s wearing a suit. The second I imagined as an Indian male in his early 40′s who was wearing jeans and a button up.

I want to say I hit the nail on the head, but I didn’t. The first guy was in his late 30′s and he was Caucasian and wearing a suit. The second male was Indian, but in his late 30′s as well. However, he was wearing a nice pair of slacks and a casual button up shirt. I was close!

img source: http://www.clipartoday.com/_thumbs/034/L/Listening_tnb.png


But What? I Don’t Want Any More Excuses!

The thing with me is, I already know there are a lot of things about my lifestyle that I wish to change. The problem for me is actually changing them. So at first, I thought this exercise would be a waste of time, but I gave it a shot anyway. Turns out, it really wasn’t a waste of time. Let me tell you why. I knew there were things about my life I wanted to change, but I never thought about how I wanted to change it. Well obviously I told myself, “okay I’m going to change this” but that was about it. These are currently the “buts” I have in my lifestyle:

I want to eat healthy and drink more milk, but I wake up too late and am too busy for it.

I want to spend more time studying, but my environment always distracts me.

I want to sleep earlier, but I always have leftover work I need to do.

I want to be more efficient, but I don’t know how.

I want to exercise more, but it takes a lot of time and the CRC is on the other side of campus.

Mainly, when I changed but to and….

I want to eat healthy and drink more milk, and I wake up too late and am too busy for it. So I need to wake up earlier to eat breakfast, manage my time better, and always look for the healthiest choices in the dining halls.

I want to spend more time studying, and my environment always distracts me. So I need to move to a place where the environment is perfectly suited for my better learning. The library may do wonders.

I want to sleep earlier, and I always have leftover work I need to do. So I need to make sure I prioritize and do anything important first and then be more efficient with it. If I manage my time right, I can get plenty of sleep a night.

I want to be more efficient, and I don’t know how. So I need to talk to someone who is good with efficiency and time management. I also need to be resolute when I know there is work I must get done. Prioritizing is also necessary.

I want to exercise more, and it takes a lot of time and the CRC is on the other side of campus. So I need to realize physical health is important for mental health and overall body performance. I need to manage my time better and have a set schedule on lighter days where I can go to the CRC and get fit.

It is ridiculous the effect one simple change can have. Once that but is changed to and, my mind starts thinking about solutions to the problem. It also starts to think, “wait, what am I doing? I better get back on track with my life!” I cannot say this solves all major problems, but it definitely does help in coming up with a solution.

Once that solution is found, it is your job to work towards it. This exercise is not meant to be the solution, but is meant to create a path to the solution. I haven’t exactly been able to follow the path yet, but at least I now know what I need to do to get there. I may still need some help on the “how” to get there though.

img source: http://nbcprobasketballtalk.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/images.jpg?w=200&h=170&crop=1

img source: http://a2.l3-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/117/61b19d50a20d4224ad77eccdcae86797/m.png


The Creepiest Nightmare…

John was in his high school play where they were reenacting scenes from the movie 300. He went to sleep later that day and strangely started dreaming. Being a warrior in his play, he started dreaming that he was a spartan warrior fighting for Sparta. He was slashing and killing and chanting along with the rest of his army. Being overwhelmed by the opposing army, he was shot with an arrow and thus John woke up with a jolt. He looked around and saw numerous dead bodies and dirt turned mud by blood. He looks at one survivor and asks, “how did I get back to the battlefield?”
The survivor replies, “oh but you never left…”

This is my mini-saga. I definitely got the idea from one of the mini-saga’s written in Dan Pink’s book, but I did alter it. It wasn’t too hard to think of, but I enjoyed thinking about it. It is a little longer than the traditional mini-saga, being about a 100 words, but still a saga nonetheless. Many people feel like storytelling is for little kids, who need to go to bed. But often, many people forget who actually wrote that story being read. This being said, a story isn’t just a book. People tell stories every day. People make up stories when lying to their parents, having a press conference, or when making excuses.

I say it wasn’t too hard to think of because I tell stories al the time. I tell my friends back home about whats happening here, and I listen to their stories of whats happening up at Michigan. However, I won’t deny that it doesn’t involve creativity. To make a story appealing, theres needs to be a certain mood, setting, and tone. Say I was telling a story about how I spilled a bowl of soup on myself (yes I actually did). Would it be funnier if I spoke in a monotone, or if I threw in expression? Obviously if I threw in expression. That is the art of storytelling, and one can only improve that art with practice. Then with improved storytelling, theres more audience and thus greater following. This is a golden plan for many large businesses as Dan Pink states.

img sourcs: http://oakey.qld.au/assets/image/1278394778-image.jpg?width=151&height=151


My Own Aerospace Research (with some business)

I was very excited when I learned we could make up our own homework assignment. I was in school for over 15 years and never was I allowed to do this, or at least not as far as I can remember. Anyway, since we were doing professional interventions, I decided I should make my assignment based on my professional goals in life. My goals, restated, are to get an undergrad degree in Aerospace Engineering, and then get an MBA. So I thought to myself, I wonder if my homework assignment an integrate the two.

img source: http://www.vosc.edu.vn/Images/News/web-design(1).jpg

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I’ve always wanted to start my own business. So I got brainstorming. One of my favorite hobbies is web design. So I thought, why not perfect my knowledge of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS to create websites for people? I already have one potential customer in my roommate, but my dad also told me he knows people who want a website. I am already quite good with web design, but there is also a lot that I need to learn.

But then I got more creative (or so I’d like to say at least). I thought to myself, why not learn about aerospace engineering and astronomy while making my web design business? A big question here would be how can I possible do that being a first year student. But, I could ask some of the professors here if they want a nice website designed for their research or other academic knowledge in the aerospace field. I could even ask this during the interviews. While thriving my business with that, I can also learn a lot of stuff about aerospace technology while making the website for them as I would have to code all of their works into the website. Also, working with them on the website can give me a chance to ask them questions about some aspects of their research I don’t understand.

img source:http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/spinoff2001/images/28.jpg

So I got started. I was very good with HTML and CSS, but I needed to teach myself a lot of JavaScript. My cousin is a very successful web designer so I asked him for some pointers and he led me in the right direction for JavaScript. Over my breaks when I meet up with him, he said he can teach me a lot of the coding language. If going home to meet my old friends wasn’t enough for me to go back, now I have this too.

So this was all my brainstorming, but that is certainly not all I did while coming up with this idea. I also started to learn my code, and asked one of my very good family friends, who is currently in the process of getting his MBA after getting an Econ degree, about finances. Finances are a huge part of starting my own business and he filled me in on a great deal. He is currently at the University of Pennsylvania and told me to meet up with him when I visit there.

img source:http://www.malki-obiavi.com/adpics/4e8abe623ea1627d26d7b2383.jpg

I feel like this would be a huge help for me in my professional career. Starting a business is great for my goal in getting an MBA and I can also learn a very good deal about astronomy and aerospace if I can manage to get a few professors (not only from Georgia Tech) who want a website made for them. I find it to be a great “kill two birds with one stone” situation for me. Now, all I need is to perfect my web design skills, get potential customers, and come up with a logo.


Lift Off! (Kind of) Mostly Just Interviews

When I first read about this assignment, the first thought that came to my mind is how will I find such people in my immediate contact that I can actually contact to interview. But one person automatically came to my mind. The other two were a little more challenging to find, but a little research did the trick.

The first person is Dr. Lakshmi Sankar.

img source:http://www.ae.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/images/portraits/sankar-l.jpg?1257911674

Lakshmi Sankar has an undergrad, grad, and phd all in aerospace engineering. I feel like he would be a very good person for me to talk to since I am very set on that field of study. He is a professor here at Georgia Tech and is also one of the leading members of the aerospace teaching faculty. He is also a member of the AHS, which is a group I want to join sometime next year. I have talked with him before and he is a very amiable person. He would be a great candidate for me to interview considering the field of study I want to pursue.

Another possible candidate for my interview is Dr. Stephen Ruffin.

img source:http://www.ae.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/images/portraits/ruffin-s.jpg?1257912960

When I read Dr. Ruffin’s biography, I was very impressed and also intrigued and interested. He has an undergrad, grad and phd all in aeronautics and astronautics from Princeton, MIT, and Stanford respectively. That all impressed me but what intrigued me was that he is the Director of NASA’s Georgia Space Grant Consortium, Head of the Aerothermodynamics Research and Technology Laboratory and Chair of the Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics Group. NASA has always been a dream of mine. My main goal in my life is to complete my education and work for NASA. Spaceflight has always been my main interest and Dr. Ruffin is a lead for me in that aspect. On a side note, I also want to know what aerothermodynamics is.

My last candidate for a potential interview is Dr. Robert Braun.

img source:http://www.ae.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/images/portraits/braun-r.jpg?1257893909

Dr. Brown is a professor at Georgia Tech like my other two candidates and also has up to a phd in the field of aerospace engineering. He is a professor of space technology, which interested me the most. I have always loved spaceflight, which I mentioned above, but I never quite figured out how that technology works, as there are no forces acting on the flight in outer space. He has worked on numerous space expeditions such as Mars rovers, the ISS, and some moon expeditions. He also was the chief NASA technologist, which as I mentioned earlier before. I would love to interview a candidate with such similar accomplishments as I have goals.

Some questions:

Why did you decide to pursue the field of aerospace engineering?

At this point in your life, would you have liked to choose another major in college?

Did you switch your major, and if you did or didn’t, why?

Do you enjoy the field of aerospace engineering? why?

What initially drew you to pursue the field of aerospace?

What qualities do you think are most important to be a successful aerospace engineer?

What qualities or hobbies do you think are most important to enjoy the field of aerospace?

What do you do in your job on a daily basis and do you enjoy your work?

Do you have any words of wisdom for a rising aerospace engineer?

Along with a few specialized question based on who I end up interviewing.


People Who Inspire Me

Well, I want to do an MBA after my aerospace degree, so I thought it would be right to include both engineers and businessmen in my list.

Obviously, one of my most inspirational people are the Wright Brothers. The wright brothers had no college education, but they were brilliant inventors nonetheless. The studied the way birds flew in order to shape their airplane wings into a a shape that enables lift. They did this using only the tools in their bicycle shop and close observations of birds. After numerous trials, they failed and failed. But one day, they were able to fly their plane for 13 seconds; the first plane ever flown. Afterwards, the duration of their flight kept increasing. After years of modification, their general idea is the main aspect to flight and now planes can fly for hours at speeds of up to 2000 miles per hour. Their engineering intentions and creativity really caught me. Many people notice that birds flap their wings to fly, but no one except the Wright Brothers noticed the shape, tilt, and position of the birds wings. This out-of-the-box thinking is key to new inventions and problem solving.

img source:http://faculty.etsu.edu/gardnerr/wright-brothers/brothers.jpg

Another inspirational figure for me was Philip Condit. He is almost exactly what I want to be when I graduate from Tech and later my MBA program. He studied aeronautical engineering from UCal Berkeley and then got an MBA from MIT and a masters in aeronautical engineering from Princeton. He went on to become the CEO of Boeing, which is exactly what my dream is. He was just the average CEO, but did work on the 747, 727, and 777 models. Although he did nothing extravagant for the company, his educational and professional path exactly matches what I want to do (even the company he worked for), which is why he inspires me.

img source:http://media.katu.com/images/031201phil_condit.jpg

The third character who inspires me is Alan Mulally. During the early and mid 2000s, Ford Motor Company and the Big 3 in general were in a huge crisis. They were unable to sell cars and all three almost went into bankruptcy. At that point, Alan Mulally became the CEO of Ford. He worked through the company and is widely known to have saved the company from bankruptcy. Under his supervision, the company was the only of the three that did not have to be bailed out by the government to stay in business. On top of being one of the best CEO’s in the world, he also got a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Kansas. Alan Mullaly is the epitome of what I want to be, a CEO for a very reputable company after earning an MBA and a bachelors in aerospace from Tech. The only difference being I want to be CEO of Boeing rather than Ford, although Mulally did work for Boeing before becoming the CEO of Ford; so that does account for something. But Mulally is one of the figures I look up to most in my life.

img source:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Mulally_in_Brazil.JPG


Future Aspirations

I have always been inspired by people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Alan Mulally, and many others. It appalls me how one person with a group of executives can run a multi-million or billion dollar company and make so much profit off of it. These people have all have a few things in similar, mostly that they are great thinkers, great businessmen, and great leaders. But I have also been inspired by the problem solvers who make these CEO’s plans work. Some of these companies employ engineers, who require a lot of problem solving ability. I went to a friends workplace while I was in high school and I got to witness first hand the problems these people had to solve. I immediately loved both engineering and business after that visit.

I want to pursue an Aerospace Engineering degree during my time here at Tech, but afterwards, I want to get a Masters in Business Administrations. Between my two degrees however, I want to work at a reputable aerospace company like NASA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin. After working for a few years, I want to get my MBA.

img source:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/NASA_logo.svg/220px-NASA_logo.svg.png

img source:http://www.parabolicarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/boeing_logo.jpg

My goal is to get into Stanford’s or Harvard’s MBA program after I graduate from Tech. I have always loved business as much as I loved engineering. Though I did built items out of wood during high school, there are also numerous times I would steal my dad’s Money magazine just to read what the great leaders of the day were doing. I also tried numerous times to start a company, but needless to say that didn’t work out too well. I am still trying however and now that I am getting more of the general gist of the business world, I’m starting to realize what it takes to start and manage a new company.

img source:http://www.eduinreview.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/stanford-business-school.jpg

img source:http://www.brandchampionsblog.com/.a/6a00e54ef2b6e288330105367d1107970b-800wi

With my AE degree from Tech, and my MBA from stanford, I want to be able to work in an executive position for a good aerospace company. At this moment, I really like Boeing, Airbus, and NASA, but I also do not know much about the companies so that part is still up in the air.

Mostly, I want to see how my undergraduate career pans out before I make too many predetermined judgements about the rest of my future. I don’t know whether I’ll like aerospace after taking the classes, or if I’ll like business once I get myself into it. From where I am right now, that seems highly improbable, but no one really knows what the future holds. However at this moment, my plan is AE from Tech, work for a few years and save up money for an MBA from Stanford or Harvard, and then I plan to become an executive at a reputable company.

Did I mention I want to do all this before I turn 30? It’s ambitious, but whats life without a few challenging goals? Whatever it may be, I just want to work at something I love doing. To me, theres no point making the money if you don’t enjoy what you’re working for. If I find my true passion and it is not business or engineering, I will definitely switch to it in order to make my future happy and worth working for.


Awkwardness

So on friday, our group met up at the CULC and we started discussing what our plans were for our invention mob. We decided that we were going to make a website for our project and knowing some basic HTML, I volunteered to code it. Along with that, we noted to still continue the awkward “sitting at a random table of the opposite gender” to add to our mob. We also discussed to do another bake session to see what more strange things we could get people to do.

img source:http://static.tumblr.com/miucgie/kkiliv0xe/awkward-front.jpg

Since our meeting, I have successfully coded a home page for our website. Along with this, I also sat at random tables whenever I was alone at the dining hall. More details on these encounters will be put on our website. That was our overall plan for the weekend and I believe it was mostly successful. There is still some work to be done but our group has the entire project planned out so all aspects of our invention mob will be in place very soon.


Dissecting a Joke

The other day, I was video chatting with a few of my friends from back home who are at the University of Michigan. We always have a lot of fun whenever we hang out, be it in real life or virtually. But one of my friends is probably the most humorous of all. Although the joke he made was before I had read about this particular play exercise, I vividly remember the joke and the way it was performed.

Thinking back on it, I realized that the first thing that caught my interest was way of introducing the joke. He first silenced everyone and with an “okay guys so the other day…” This gave me a dramatic feel for the joke even before it started and caught my interest.

img source:http://909sickle.com/s/so-i-get-out-of-my-car-the-other-day/frames/so-i-get-out-of-my-car-the-other-day-001.png

The next thing that I remember was his tone of voice mimicked a real life situation with a little extra sarcasm to exaggerate the situation and make it seem more extreme than it actually was. His tone changed throughout the joke whenever he switched characters or situations. This added to the overall nuance of the situation and gave a better and more realistic feel to the joke as if I was actually there when the incident took place.

The last aspect I remember that caused the joke to be funny was my friend’s facial expressions. Throughout the joke, he changed his facial expressions so much and so accordingly to the situation that it made the joke more realistic and made me just laugh at his face in general. Another important aspect is timing. He was very good at recognizing when to pause and when to rush through the sentence.

img source:http://vputcha3.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/cartoon-1.gif?w=300

In my opinion, those are the aspects of a good joke: introduction, tone of voice, facial expression, and punch line timing. Although most of this is blended and hardly recognized because of the extent of the laughter that follows, it can be seen when the joke is dissected.


My Inspiration Board

I did not exactly use this exercise on a project I was working on in school, but used it more in a project I want to do. I am a decent web designer and one of my friends asked me to make him a website for his sports lessons. He is a really good tennis player and gives private lessons to other players who want to improve their game. My friend asked me to do this for him two weeks back and just told me give it to him whenever I finished. Being the web designer I am, I immediately wanted to make the website flashy and fancy all the while maintaining the tennis theme on all the pages.

img source:http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/164065/164065,1223881436,6/stock-photo-cork-board-filled-with-various-types-of-blank-paper-isolated-on-a-white-background-18804157.jpg

Needless to say, I had nowhere to start. I kept thinking and then I read about this exercise. It was different to me. I have heard of brainstorming but this was a different kind of brainstorming, it was easier to make connections with physical objects than just names. I erased everything I had written on my whiteboard and used magnets to hang stuff up instead. One of my first ideas came from when Djokovic beat Federer in the US Open when he was two sets down. I printed the article out along with a few pictures and put it up on my board. After this, I looked through my tennis bag to try ti find items that would increase the ideas on my inspiration board. I ended up finding some old grip tape, a dampener, an article about my high school tennis team in  a newspaper, and some old string. I put these up on the board as well.

I do not see much of a connection yet, but I will keep adding onto the board and hopefully a good layout for my website will come to mind.