First, i’d like to say that the last few days, i’ve been entertaining the idea of ONE MONTH OFF WHERE I CAN READ BOOKS FOR PLEASURE OR PROGRAM FOR FUN AND ENRICHMENT, like Bill Gates who takes a month off to some lodge or island to read.
I want that.
But i know culture, society, and my lifestyle can’t permit that. I think it’s important that i recognize this impossibility rather than continue with my wishful thinking. Because of this, i’m now motivated to complete my work such as academic readings/writings more efficiently to make time for what i want to do. Reminds me of The 4 Hour Work Week, by Tim Ferris.
Then i’ll have more time for design consulting 
I’ve started “Sherlock Design” as my own consulting. I’ve worked with 3-4 super early-stage start ups on user interface and user experience design consulting and it’s fun. Requires a lot of time, but it’s fun Because of this, i want to devour more books on design and best practices–i’ve even gone back to old courses at UC Berkeley to save all the course slides, purchased new mock up tools, made a box full of quirky, must-haves, and so forth. This feeling is incredible! I even went to Home Depot to buy white board panes to mount onto my closet door. Now i can easily let loose crazy ideas!
Around UC Irvine’s campus, i noticed a new design tactic used to increase recycling. Seems the main trouble was getting students to put the bottles/cans in the right container. Looks like that trouble won’t exist anymore In the picture below, the school used to just have the trash bin on the left and the recycling bin in the center. Notice how the trash bin is taller than the recycling bin. I remember trying to find the recycling bin, which is normally overshadowed by the taller trash bin…and many students would give up quickly by disposing it into the trash! And now they have a bin that’s equally tall but a strong blue top!
Speaking of new events, i saw on my Facebook NewsFeed about a friend who will be publishing a book! And he’s a junior at UC Berkeley (Michael Bloch’s new book “Learning from Precedent: Is Law School for You?”) This made me think to myself: 1) absolutely incredible! 2) Can I do that, too? Michael Bloch’s sister, Doreen Bloch, also published a book “The Coolest Start Ups in America.” Yet again, wow! Impressive! These two people inspire me and stir a feeling of “i want to see how far i can go in life! These questions and reflection remind me of the saying “Surround yourself with passionate people.” This article here is a great read about that idea, too!
Finally, to bring this post to a close, i’m having a fantastic time TA’ing a Software Engineering course. I vividly remember the tough time trying to pay attention, zoning out in my undergrad days. Now that i’m in charge of teaching, i’m using Prezi to make my slides AND i’m sprinkling cute pictures of puppies. Check out the pic below–one of my students posted that on Facebook!
Oh yeah: DefCon 2012 is happening