Summer Forecast: Mostly Cloudy
The end of my sophomore year is quickly approaching (the main reason I haven’t posted in a while) and I’m pretty excited about what life holds for me this summer and beyond. As you may have noticed, I have a new counter on the right-hand side of my blog. In a little more than 2 weeks I’ll be on my way to Seattle!
Now, just a quick note, lest you get confused. It is Seattle itself, not my experience there, that I expect to be mostly cloudy.
The reason I’m moving to Seattle this summer is because I’ll be working for Microsoft as an SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test) intern. A lot of meaning and potential responsibilities come with that title, but the most simplistic job description of an SDET might be “I break Microsoft products so you don’t have to”. I’m not sure exactly what I’ll get to work on during the three months I’m there, but whatever it is I’m sure it will be both interesting and experience building.
Beyond my work at Microsoft (which will take up most of my time) I also hope to get to see a lot of the area surrounding Seattle. I enjoy Disc Golf, so I plan on trying out nearby courses while I’m there. Microsoft organizes tons of events for summer interns, so I’ll probably take advantage of a few of those. I’m not sure what events will be available, so I don’t know yet what I’ll be interested in, but it sounds like there are enough of them that I’m sure something will pique my interest.
I’ll be living with Tony and Jackie Ferrell while I’m in Seattle. Tony is a Rose grad, which is how I got to know him and Jackie. I’m sure we’ll have some fun adventures around Seattle. I’m also excited about exploring some of the project ideas Tony and I discussed while he was still at Rose. I’ll hopefully have more news on that later this summer.
Once the summer ends, I’ll be taking 4 computer science courses next fall. Normally students only take one or two CS courses each quarter (filling the rest of their time with “easier” electives), but for the courses I’m taking it was now or never, so I decided to do it. It probably means it’ll be the busiest quarter of my college career, but being able to take all of those courses should make it worth it. I also plan on auditing at least part of one of the courses online this summer. That should hopefully reduce my workload in the fall (though it will mean I’ll be even busier this summer).
And that about sums it up. As usual, I’ve probably overbooked myself this summer, but I always figure its best to get everything you want to do out on the table so you can figure out which things are least important and can be eliminated. As the summer progresses, I’ll be able to figure out exactly which things those are.
You are definitely going to have to keep up your blog while you are gone. I enjoy hearing the more personal side of what’s going on in your life.
FYI: Last summer had almost no rain, and record temperatures. It was over a hundred degrees for more than a few days, topping out at a whopping 108 degrees.
In Seattle where having an air-conditioner is about as normal as seeing a natural lake in Indiana (at least one big enough to put a boat on) even Microsoft was shutting down some of its air-conditioners for employees citing “overloading” and the need to redirect cooling resources to precious server rooms.
That being said, with a little luck, we’ll have a cloudy summer. Without it, well, we have more than a few lakes here.
Well that’s good I suppose, though I wouldn’t particularly object to a cool summer. I’ve had hot and stuffy summers all my life, so it would be nice to try something else.