I'm in the "real" world now

The last time I wrote here was when I was finishing my volunteer year which was only 2 months ago, but seems like an eternity.  Since then, I have started working at a startup as an intern, started working at a school for IT part time, found a new place, moved to a new place, started working salary at my startup, and transitioned my IT job at the school to a consultant basis. To say the least it has been A LOT of transition for me.

More specifically, I am now living in Oakland California and working in San Francisco at a startup called InspiRational Tech. So far it has proved to be a major challenge for me, but if you know me, I love challenges. I am learning daily what it takes to grow a business, do sales, fix things I didn't build, market to large companies, and work with a foreign team halfway around the world. The job itself isn't as technical as what an actual engineering job would be, but it still requires so may skills I learned from my engineering degree like managing, planning, organizing, project mapping, researching, collaboration, and most importantly, thinking differently.

I'm traveling a lot with this job too so if you are in a big city, let me know and if I can make it there I will make sure to see you!

Now that we are hiring more people my manager has come to me and wants to me come up with my own goals for the company. She wants me to be happy and really excel at what I am passionate about. Since when do you hear that in the first 3 months of a new job, let alone your first real job out of college?

Note: At this point in writing this, I  diverged into a "Why am I passionate blog." I decided to leave this out and share it another day. :)

I'm excited about where I am in life. The horizons ahead look rip for the picking and hardships may will come, but I'm going to stay positive because you are the only one in charge of your life. No one else is and if someone does something that makes you sad or angry, their action is not the fault you're unhappy. It's your choosing to be unhappy about their actions.

My sister is getting married to a wonderful guy in a little over a month. I'm returning to Iowa to welcome him into the family and see my sister smile like she's never smiled before!

The Power of Words

Hello, I am a Computer Engineer. I like coding. I like math. I like numbers. I like theory. I like everything that involves few words. Have you ever felt this way? This has always been my greatest weakness and over the years I have worked extremely hard at overcoming this weakness of mine. I am starting to realize though words, spoken and written are extremely important to creating lasting relationships in your life.

I have found that I am best at writing my thoughts out, probably because I can truly think about what I'm saying (since I'm not very good and thinking and speaking). This has allowed me to convey many clear and concise thoughts to friends, family, coworkers, and professors. Writing allows me to express my brain because I cannot speak the randomness that flows through my thoughts. 

Others might be better at speaking their mind and talking through how they feel and others still, might be best understood by listening to another individual. Never-the-less, the message is the same, words are the building block of any strong relationship and deeply understanding another individual. Neglecting words in a relationship or using the wrong medium for your words can deeply affect a relationship in a negative way. I have learned both of these things in extremely hard way with some of the relationships that surround me.

Not using words, or as little as possible to communicate can allow for an easy efficient relationship for someone you are required to interact with, or at least it would seem like at first. But the longer words are not used to express feelings or emotions, the longer grudges have to boil into hatred and with no efficient medium to escape, the relationship is doomed to end in a negative way.

So as long as I use words to express how I feel, is a relationship is more likely to flourish? NO! For a while possibly, but what happens when there is a critical point in the relationship (hard decision, fight, depression, etc) and you choose a medium of words to attempt to communicate how you feel that isn't you best? 

Now I'm not saying ONLY use your best medium to express your words, thats just ridiculous, but rather be conscience of how you are expressing them, because when push comes to shove, words are all we have to our soul. Emotions, touch, body language, and gestures can be very convoluting without words behind them. All we have is to be impeccable with our words and hope for the best in our relationships. Plain and simple.

Sonder

Sonder. Probably one of the most interestingly beautiful words I have heard in a while. I was first introduced to the word a few weeks ago at a my closing retreat for my volunteer year. The speaker was going to talk to us about the St. Vincent De Paul Society, but what I learned from him is that everyone is stepping in and out of my life just as quickly as I am stepping into and out of theirs. The definition the speaker gave was: 

The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own-- populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries, and inherited craziness-- an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you'll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted way.

The word suggests that every person I meet, every person, has a life just as incredibly complex as my own and I have been told this exact same theme growing up. I was always told that we are unique and many times I have even told my friends that they are crazy, in their own awesome way. I was also told to think of others, walk a mile in their shoes, be a servant leader, and "how does that make them feel?" But sonder suggests a much deeper meaning to what I was taught growing up.

In no way what I was taught grow up was wrong, but it is a child's view on the outside world, where sonder provides a deeper, more meaningful, adult way of viewing the world.

Working with the poverty this last year, I really experienced sonderness because I was able to be apart of the growing process of another individual. My most vivid memory of this would be the first time I was told to sit in on parent teacher conferences. I had no idea what to say, I expected the parents to be against me,  be in their own snobby lives, but it was completely different (though I am told this is not true with all parent teacher conferences). Parents would come in and truly want to work with you on how to help their child excel, but not just to educate them to get a job, but rather to educate them so they didn't have to live the hard life they have had to live day in and day out to make ends meet. You could see the emotion in the parents eyes urning for their child to have a easier life, no matter the costs. The realization that each random passerby is living a life just as vivid and complex as my own. The parents of the Tenderloin truly showed me that. 

An epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground. I had a student that was constantly forgetting important materials for class almost daily. She would take her homework home and then forget it because she left it out, or took a different backpack. COME ON! It's not that hard to remember, and not only that shouldn't her parents make sure everything was in her bag before going to school!? Her epic story (later told to me by another teacher) invisibly unfolded negatively in my eyes because I didn't know she lived with her mother and her mother worked at night and was not able to check over her homework and backpack every night. The extra help the student needed (only a 4th grader) at home was not there and I didn't know that. After realizing her invisibly epic story, I was able to come up with a plan to help her start remembering things... oh yeah, it worked too.

There are billions and billions of people in this world, just think how many you interact with everyday, even if it's just eye contact. Since I learned about sonder I have been trying to keep a smile on in public places, because you never know just who you might effect that day, hopefully in a positive way.

Dear Mom

Dear mom,

24 years ago you entered my life.... Or more appropriately, I entered yours. Throughout my life you have been my moral compass. I have always looked to you for everything. Whether or not it seems like I pay attention to your advice or if I actually know how to wash my clothes, I have always listened to you. Probably about 8 to 9 years ago I decided I wanted to be an engineer but your philosophy of the importance of teaching stuck with me. You taught me that education, no matter how smart you are, is extremely important and is the key to a better life. I relearned this lesson in college, but I know because of you I knew this all a long.

Today mom, you are retiring. After 38 years of teaching, longer than my life, you are retiring. I am just starting my career and I think I know so much. I cannot believe how much you must know. In laymans terms, you are a smart lady. Throughout my life I wanted to be in technology development, a job "on top of the world" and one that can truly reach millions. Yet, I find myself volunteering this year at a school, teaching kids. Mom, you must have taught me well.

I cannot speak for all the kids you taught over the years, but I can say that for me, your son, you have taught me that education is extremely important. Because education is truly the liberator to success and life. Mom you taught in the midwest, an area that isn't in poverty, starvation, suppression, or a minority, but mom, you made a difference. You allowed for countless students to be educated about family, taxes, common sense, and most importantly, life itself.

Many times I know you came home tired, stressed, and depressed, but mom, I can tell you that you made a difference. You made a difference. I remember many conversations with you ending in "kids are idiots! They just don't understand!!" but mom, I know they do. Maybe not now, maybe not in a few years, but they will. They will look back at your lessons and think about the lessons about life that you taught them and realize that, "hey Mrs. Nennig really knew what she was talking about."

Teaching is exhausting mom! I would have never understood this if I hadn't been in a school system for a year. Want to know a secret mom? I am sooooo tired after teaching one year. Suddenly all those naps you would take before making me dinner in my younger years is starting to make sense. You are a superstar.

I cannot decide if this is rambling or if it is speech from my heart, but one thing I do know mom is that you deserve a rest. Take pride in what you have done and what you have accomplished in your years of teaching, because I know I am. I was extremely proud to tell my teaching friends that my mom was retiring after 38 years of teaching. I might not be in education for the rest of my life, but I can tell you I will never forget what you and the education system taught me.

To say the least, you amazing. Thanks for serving 38 years. That's a lot of lives changed.

This is a pretty short and simple blog post. Last week I had the honor to go to some of Google I/O. Unfortunately  because I had to still work during the day, I couldn't see the sessions live. BUT I did get to eat some food, meet some people, see a bit of the expo, experience new technologies, and go to a few after parties.

There is a lot of excitement for Google Glass, but not so much in the sense that most would think. It seems like glass technology will make a huge hit in the sports, adventure, and other crazy things you only wish you had a camera for. The thing that sparked my interest the most was for endurance sports. Currently, you wear a watch or have a head unit you put on your bike to see your stats of speed, distance, heart rate, calories burned, etc. What if though you never had to look down at your watch or head unit? What if you just glanced down slightly in your sunglasses? This is the type of product I saw at Google IO that really make me smile. I cannot wait for this to happen.

Along with that there was a ton of talk around Android and Chrome, actually that's basically all the conference was about. Despite the fact that Google Glass is their newest hardware, it really wasn't talked about in the sessions. As a Android Developer I was really excited about this and the features that they are rolling out.

As always you will find lots of pictures of my experience below!

Robot design

Once a month the 4th graders go to an art studio and work with a lady to create an art piece. This last Wednesday was their last day going for this school year. The art teacher asked them to do something crazy, make a robot. But not just any robot, a functional one, one that serves a purpose. I thought this was a cool idea for the kids and that they would use their imagination to make something exciting. Though it seemed like some of the kids got the idea, most had a really hard time with this concept.

 Many students thought a robot had to have a head, face, legs, and needed to be just like a human. I thought this was a very interesting concept, why did a child think that a robot that is built to do anything, have to be like a human? The only thing I could come up with is: they couldn't distinguish the difference between a robot and an alien. Theoretically, an alien, would be living, breathing (something) and need to preform many different types of functionality, and would have to consume nutrients in some way shape or form. A robot though is very much similar, but extremely different.

In many cases robots and technology are created for a very specific functionality. In most cases the use of arms, feet, touch, taste, and hearing, are not usually needed in a robot's design. If you are creating a batting robot, why should your robot need arms and hands to hold the bat when the actual arm could just be a bat? If your robot picks up trash, why does it need hair? Why does it need 2 eyes? Why does it need lips?

Most of the 4th graders could not find this distinction between robots and aliens, and they needed to have "humanized" robots. Most of their reasoning was because the robot was not "evil." Or "it needs hair because the people won't be scared of it." Craziness..

Technology design is designed around functionality, which is exactly the reason humans evolved the way they did, in other words "survival of the fittest." So what's the difference? Some would say technology is the next step in evolution and humans are nearly a catalyst for the evolution of the universe. It's pretty far out there but it has some merit. Never-the-less, here is some of the artwork from the 4th graders!

The story of the train

There once was a man and woman who were happily wed in their early 20s. The man loved the woman with all his heart and loved everything about her. Of course throughout their marriage they fought, had disagreements, but nothing that ever lasted long because they loved each other and truly worked at it. But there was one thing that the man just could not take, a train. The woman had been out thrift shopping one day and had found a model train. There was nothing too special about it; it was old, had the coal car, and classic smoke stack. The conductor box was red and the engine was a bright blue. After bringing it home and showing the man, she placed it on the window sill above the kitchen sink.

After the man saw this, he immediately took the train down and put it in the cubbard under the sink. For some reason, he just could not stand that gaudy train. The next day the man came home from work, and sure enough the train was back up on the window sill. Frustrated  he took the train and put it back in the cubbard under the sink.

This routine continued for the next 20 years, some days the train would stay up on the window sill for a few days and sometimes it would stay under the sink, but the battle continued. As the couple grew older, the woman became sick and soon the woman passed away. The man came home from the hospital that day and saw the train, once again up on the window sill. The man looked intently at it and gave a small smile because he knew that would be the permanent place of that train for the remainder of his days.

What do you hate in your life? Will you still hate it when it's gone? Will you hate it when you loose something that you love? The man loved this woman so much that even though he hated the train, it reminded him of her and he was happy. So even though he hated the train, it brought him joy because it reminded him of her.

I recently had this happen with country music. If you know me, I hate country music, but for the first time the other day, I truly enjoyed it. I was with friends going up to stay at a cabin and go on a float trip. Apparently after you get out of the city, everyone turns into a country loving crazy person. And as annoying as the music was, it made me smile because it reminded me of the midwest, our music, line dancing, my friends, and just simple living. As long as I'm away from the midwest, I think I will tolerate country music because it makes me smile.

Oh and I'm going up to the Boundary Waters at the end of July. I couldn't be happier. :)

Boundary Waters 2006. It has been 7 years since we have gone. It is time.