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 :)