2012: A Year In Review

Before I go out tonight to ring in the new year with a couple of my favorite people in the entire world, I thought it would be a decent thing to do to pause for a moment and reflect on all that has happened in the past year.  2012 was 180 degrees different than the year before...not better or worse, just different.  This year was spent on my home turf and close to the people I love, but was still full of life lessons and growth.

One of the biggest changes this year was the transition from student to member of the real world.  My life up to this point has been dictated by class schedules, homework, exams, etc., and it was a big sigh of relief when I finally realized I could come home at the end of the day and relax.  I no longer have to stress about a problem set due tomorrow or studying for an exam.  In a weird way I miss these things because these scenes were the settings of some of my best times in college, but on the other hand it's my first real break so my brain has thanked me for that.

The thing that has been keeping me busy this year is my job at Twisters Sports Center.  At the beginning of the year I sort of felt out of place, but now that my first (and very successful) compulsory season has ended and another optional season is right around the corner, I feel like an integral part of the program.  I have assumed a lot of responsibility over the last year and it has paid off dividends.  Seeing how far my girls have come is so completely rewarding and I'm forever thankful for my wonderful boss and co-workers.  It's nice to have the opportunity to do something I love so much, though I'm also thankful for the internship experience I gained at the beginning of the year with Intuitive.  A completely different setting than the gym, but also very interesting and full of life.  I learned a lot from the people around me and the opportunity to work in the lab at the forefront of the technology was great.  Unfortunately in the end things didn't work out as I planned, but I'm still searching and plugging away for a career in the engineering field.  The disappointment in not being offered a position with the company taught me a few very important things, mostly that the world doesn't stop when you don't get what you want.  You can choose to wallow in your disappointments or use them to move on and become a better, stronger version of yourself.  Engineering is something I will have a lifelong passion for, no matter how I end up using it in my daily life.  I also know that the persistence that comes from a difficult job search as well as the other life lessons I'm gaining in the gym every day will help me there as well should I ever have the opportunity to make that my career.

2012 was also exciting because it was an Olympic year and I had a front row ticket to all the action.  As a spectator, the journey took me to London in January, St. Louis at the beginning of June, and right here in San Jose for Olympic Trials on my birthday.  I gained so many wonderful family connections because of this opportunity and it gave Cale and I a chance to travel and spend some real time together.  The emotional roller-coaster of those couple of months was crazy, but talk about a premier example of someone who really did just what I mentioned above and has become better and stronger in the wake of the events as they unfolded.  I have such great role models in my life, not only in one person but in all the family/extended family, teammates, and friends I've been blessed with.  I know that because of this, 2013 will be nothing short of amazing.  I'm looking forward to all the experiences I will share with my loved ones and to all the opportunities that lie ahead for us.

Happy New Year, everyone!  Stay safe and enjoy the festivities :)

Christmas: 2012 Edition

Somehow Christmas always seems to come and go so quickly.  Hyped up throughout the final months of the year and then over before you know it.  However it's always a great time to be spent with family and friends.  This year my family and I were in the country once again and we settled back in to the routine we're used to.  Last night we went to The Crest in downtown Sac to see White Christmas before coming home to open a few presents and bake for Santa.  Every year we get an ornament for the tree and new pajamas to sleep in on Christmas Eve and this year it was funny because my mom and I pretty much got each other the same pajama pants.  Great minds think alike I guess and we were both excited to get comfy and have a good night's sleep.
This morning my brother came into my room to wake me up.  We came out and I started preparing brunch while we waited for my parents to get up and for my grandparents to arrive.  We ate first (after opening stockings) and then came back for presents.  My brother played Santa and was good at keeping the gifts evenly distributed.  He came away with a lot of camping gear and some clothes, my dad won out with a new camera (my mom and I splurged on him and got him the nice one like mine) and a few movies, and my mom received a new pan and a really nice coat from her sister.  I got both my parents and my brother photo books so it was fun to look through them together.

After presents we piled in the car and went up to Folsom to see Les Misérables at the theater.  I didn't really know much about it but it was pretty amazing.  It got to be a little long but all the singing was great and it was easy to follow along with the story line.  I would recommend it to anyone who's thinking of seeing it.  It was a wet day outside so we came home and made a fire while dinner was heating up in the oven.  We just finished eating and are going to continue our movie marathon with A Christmas Story and Elf before we wrap up and head to bed.  I got a nice robe to go with my pajamas and I'm excited to get that on and get comfortable.  Tomorrow my mom heads back to work but it will be nice for me to take the next day or two to unwind before heading back into the gym, etc.  Once we get back the optional season will be right around the corner, the next big thing to look forward to...the fun never ends in Carter-town!

Juarez Tamale Party

So far, this holiday season has been fantastic.  Last night was no exception; I went with Megan to the Juarez family tamale party, an annual event where everyone invited comes and helps make 200+ tamales, eats a whole lot of food, and enjoys good conversation, alcohol, and even some karaoke.  The Juarez family is very important to Megan (she tutored their kids and now is like an adopted member of the family) and I've gotten to know them better over the past year.  They are so warm and welcoming and there was a sense of comfort seeing everyone gathered around the table, hard at work.  One of the highlights of this party is the "Shot-Ski" which is exactly what it sounds like...a ski with five shot glasses attached to it.  Once filled, five people line up along the ski and everyone takes a shot together.  Every first time guest is required to take at least one turn before being allowed to eat anything and since I was pretty hungry I was "forced" to give it a go.  It was harder than I thought because everyone has to do it at the same time; there were a couple of people who got stuff all down their shirts, haha.

The party ended very late and I was crazy enough to hop in the car and drive all the way to Sacramento afterwards, arriving around 2am this morning.  I crashed in my bed as soon as I opened the door, only to wake up 5 hours later to my alarm.  I went for a run and then got ready for brunch with some of the Byers girls.  We went to Crepeville in downtown Sac and when I walked in I thought, "Hey, this looks familiar."  I think it's owned by the same people who have Crepevine located in downtown Palo Alto.  It was a good time talking to the girls, who I'll see again on Thursday for a potluck dinner at our old coach's house.

It's Christmas Eve and definitely a very different one than last year.  We will not be donning bathing suits this time around, unfortunately, but will still have fun getting back to the holiday traditions we missed out on last year.  I'm off to the grocery store to pick up a few last minute items and then it's cooking, movie watching, more eating, and just some good quality family time.  Can't wait!

"It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas..."

How awesome are my friends?  I mean really, whatever I did in my life to deserve them, I'm so thankful I did it.  Last night I was at work when I received a call from Cale.  Because I couldn't answer the phone, I quickly got a text message saying, "Come to Alex's right when you get off :) Christmas time!"  If that doesn't get you excited, I don't know what would.

I had already planned to stop by to play Santa and drop off my Christmas presents, but I was the one who got the surprise instead.  As I walked in the door, there were orders to drop my things and go into the bathroom.  I wasn't allowed to come out until "the problem" was fixed.  I was a little nervous as to what I was going to walk into but I opened the door and my breath escaped me; I found a beautiful dress hanging from the shower door with a pair of heels underneath it.  I was told I had to try it on and put on a fashion show...when I came out there were a bunch of "ooohh's" and "ahhh's" and I felt so pretty!!  I twirled around in the dress for the rest of the evening, which included me handing out my gifts (successfully I might add), catching up with a friend I haven't seen in almost two years, and just spending time together before everyone goes back to see their families this afternoon.

When I got back to my house I got to share the story of my evening with Megan and she had me try on the dress again...fashion show #2...but I was in such a good mood that I didn't mind.  It was an amazing start to the Christmas season and I'm all pumped and ready to get these holidays started!

Holiday Spirit

The past few days have been great, and full of holiday spirit.  Thursday night Allan and Ericka took the entire staff out to dinner, where we enjoyed good food and some laughs while opening white elephant gifts.  It was fun to be out with such a cool group of people and our bosses really spoil us with all they do.  It all made me feel really grateful to be a part of the family.

The fun continued last night when the team had a holiday potluck after practice.  The team parents all volunteered to bring something and we ended up with a lot of food.  Throughout the week we had done Secret Santa and so we got to present our final gifts and guess who had me...Allan!  I was really impressed with his baking and craft-making skills and I had narrowed it down to him and Ericka for my final guess.  It makes me really happy that he had me and seems sort of appropriate as we go way back :)  Anyways, after the presents were exchanged the kids got to run wild and it was fun to see the smiles on their faces as they just played around.  We organized a game of Chicken on the Roost and my partner and I came close to winning but were unfortunately booted out near the final round.  I burned a lot of energy and felt a little less guilty about the cake I ate about 15 minutes beforehand, but I came home to my roommates decorating Christmas cookies and proceeded to eat three of them while I attempted give them their make-overs.

My dresser is now covered with Christmas cards I received from some of the families at the gym as well as a couple from family friends.  Those, along with the lights around my window, make the room feel so cozy that I could stay in bed from now until winter is over...my own personal form of hibernation.

Thumbs Up!

One of my favorite classes at Stanford was ME203, where I made my menorah.  It's one of those opportunities that not too many people get, to work hands-on in the manufacturing lab and to produce a piece that really means something to you.  You gain first-hand knowledge of the mill and lathe as well as the proper techniques behind sand-casting and welding.  I remember being so proud watching my menorah come together and the feeling of accomplishment when presenting it on the final day.  I missed the chance of going to the student presentation day last year because I was inconveniently placed in Australia (it's normally open to the public), but this year I got to attend and it was great to see all the creative ideas people had.  There was a wide range of products: a hanging chair, a display stand for all the medals won by a man in the US Army (who's now a second year ME masters student), lighting displays, and even a perfusion bioreactor!  Of course this list does not include the majority of the cool things I saw, but those are the ones that stood out...besides of course Alex's tennis racket string aligner.

I kind of can't believe it all came together because I even remember sitting and talking about initial ideas even before the quarter began.  This idea was one among many and something that was glanced over initially; I don't know if either of us thought it was actually going to come to fruition.  Now, after 10 weeks of brainstorming, CAD drawing, prototyping, milling, lathe-ing (EDIT:  I've been told by a self-proclaimed expert that the actual verb is "turning"), refining, and polishing, the product is finished and was presented on Monday.  It came out so well and it actually works! It's kind of scary to look at because it has two cones that stick out the end, but it's very well made and was easily photographable (I would know because I took about 500 pictures of it along the way, haha).  It's awesome/kind of sad that a whole quarter of work comes down to a 5-minute presentation and then it's all over.  Oh well, you can keep the product forever and hey, I'm still using my menorah to this day!  It's the fifth night of Hanukkah tonight so I will be putting 6 candles in it and lighting them when I get home from work this evening.  And let me tell you, that moment you realize you're all done is one of the best feelings in the world; the picture I put with this post proves that (the top picture was two years ago the night I finished my menorah and then the bottom one was just on Monday...thumbs up!).

Another cool thing going on is that starting next quarter I will be coaching the beginning gymnastics class Stanford offers its students.  The previous teacher (Abhi, former member of the men's team) is now too busy because he received a fellowship...aka he's ridiculously talented and awesome...so I'm taking over.  He and I met yesterday and talked about it and now I'm just going through the formalities to become an official employee of the Stanford Athletic Department.  Yeah!!  You may now address me as, "Miss Stanford Professor," hahaha, just kidding :)

Chrismahanukwanzika

It's that time of the year again, and I'm so excited!  Yesterday I came home from work and lazily got ready to head up to Sacramento for the (sorta) annual party my parents hold at their house.  While I was doing so, Carly said she wanted to come and it was GREAT to have company on the drive.  We talked the entire time which made it all super easy and arrived right after 6pm.  There were already some people there, all of whom were beyond welcoming.  That, in addition to the sights and smells of the holidays, just filled me with a sense of warmth.  The first thing we did was call my brother to light the menorah (last night was the first night of Hanukkah); we had to do it twice because the candles burned out the first time...ominous in a way.  After that there was non-stop talking and eating as more and more people filtered in and we all quickly entered into a food coma.  My mom made everything except for the bagels and lox ("everything" includes kugel, matzah ball soup, ham (ironic), lasagna, chili, a Mexican casserole, challah, and a variety of other dessert-like things) and it was a very impressive spread.  Everyone wanted to hear about my time in Australia and the more I talked about it the more I had the urge to go back for a visit.  This time last year, my parents were packing up to come over for graduation; it's crazy where a year takes you!

Carly and I played dreidel with one of the little girls that was there and we both got our butts kicked; she was a first time player and took home all the coins.  Everyone began packing up around 9:30pm, though it took another hour for them to actually get out the door.  I heard multiple people remarking on how they needed to be rolled to the car because of all the goods they consumed, but there was not one person who left who didn't have a smile on their face.  Even Carly and I, who drove back down here last night, left feeling awesome and ready to conquer the road.  I think it was just what we needed to get into the holiday spirit.  "It's the most wonderful time of the year..."

Happy Holidays and thanks Mom and Dad for being such amazing hosts!

Throwback Thursday

It's an honor to be highlighted on this week's edition of SWG Throwback Thursday, though admittedly a little strange to be considered "throwback."  Every week the team picks an alum to feature and I was the fortunate one chosen this time around.  The team manager, Tori, called me on Tuesday and we chatted for a bit so she could kind of get to know me and all that I've been up to since graduation.  I feel like a lot has happened, almost too much to fit in one page.  It was also interesting to try and put my feelings towards SWG into words but I think it all came together nicely and I'm excited to share the final piece: Throwback Thursday.  Thanks, SWG!