My punishment for retreating West: push further East...

Wow, last post was September. What's with the slacking? Well I would say that the month of October 2009 is perhaps one of the most influential months in the determination of the majority of my life's path, depending on a few other factors later this year and next. After a lot of hustle and bustle with a bunch of companies and their interviews, it all boiled down to my original employer, JPMorgan, which was actually the first company I EVER interviewed with, for their internship last year. First time is the charm, just wish I didn't waste so much time on the others. I accepted their offer on October 9th, signing their letter as I was just leaving my own home of 18 years in Los Altos for lunch with family in San Francisco, then hanging out with my old high school buddies in Berkeley. It was definitely lots of mixed emotions, it was a huge relief to have a job, one which I think will have lots of promise for my career too, but on the other hand it was like signing an agreement to forfeit all my dreams of coming back to this beloved home in California that I even came to visit over my fall break. And now I will be even further, geographically, from the West than I was before. Rather than pursuing my goal of becoming a bright and successful Sand Hill Road entrepreneur, it looks like I am headed more towards joining the Manhattan crowd as just another Wall Street minion. Maybe I can still get back, maybe there's another chance for me yet. Or maybe JPM will, hopefully, assign me to a post out in Cali as they expand out West to replace old WaMu. Or I could learn enough finance to be able to choose where I want to go later. In any case, the fight isn't lost yet... just need more time.

Well, at least it's NYC and not Houston:


"In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York,
These streets will make you feel brand new,
Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York!
New York, New York"
-Jay Z, "Empire State of Mind"

In other realms, took the GRE yesterday, and am gradually trying to re-establish good terms with my research professors. I am still going to submit applications to the best graduate schools in the nation; something tells me I will regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't at least try.

Senior Design project is actually going well, and I'm actually enjoying being able to finally use my ELEC skills for something worthwhile. It's a gesture-control iPhone remote control that will hopefully be able to at least control your PC the same way a mouse does by the end of the year. Jaimeet, Max Paul, Tate Hornbeck, and I have been working on it since September, and so far it's promising. One of the things I will miss about engineering, being able to work an awesome projects with awesome people. Not to say finance isn't fun... sometimes.

Who am I kidding. I'm not just in for the ride. I want the challenge. Just bring it on, and I'll take it.

But first, some lunch...