Terrell Russell: This Old Network

I’ve been home from California for nearly a month now. On the way back, I visited the aliens in Roswell, rode a bike in Kansas with a friend traveling the other way, jumped in front of many monuments, and had the dirt of a rainless summer washed from the car as I approached the Appalachian mountains. It’s been a packed few weeks of catching up, filling out paperwork, political discussion and fervor, planning a wedding, and making lots and lots of lists.

PARC / WikiDashboard

I had a wonderful time at PARC this summer. I worked with Bongwon Suh and Ed Chi in the Augmented Social Cognition group very closely and I feel we got some quality work done. I’d never been in a corporate environment myself before this summer, and while I realize that PARC is not the average corporate environment at all, I definitely have a newfound appreciation for the depth of knowledge and pace of development happening inside. PARC is a great place to work and I would highly recommend their summer intern program.

Daily Porsche Count

One of my developed habits while being in the Bay Area this summer consisted of counting the number of Porsches I saw each day. The Daily Porsche Count, at first, was just a joke as I realized I’d seen three or four in about fifteen minutes my second or third day out there. I was living in Palo Alto and also spotted a Maserati, multiple Lotuses (Loti?), a couple Lamborghinis (one red, one yellow), and of course, the latest entrant, the Tesla. (The Tesla showroom actually went up while I was there, and they are incredible (both the showroom and the cars). )

Over the summer, I realized I had started counting the Porsches every day – and the average was definitely around 4 or 5. But sometimes I’d reach that quota before breakfast. It was a rare day I saw zero. The biggest Porsche Count was 21, the day I rode my bike across the Golden Gate Bridge and over into Tiburon.

The other interesting observation was that on the way home, via L.A. and Tucson, the Daily Porsche Count dropped (as expected). What was unexpected was that the Daily Corvette Count increased proportionately as we headed to L.A.

Additionally, the only Porsche I saw on the drive back to NC was painted on a barn in Kentucky advertising a no-longer-in-business pit stop down the road.

Follow-Up: I saw four yesterday in and around Chapel Hill. Maybe I’m a little more tuned to their existence now…

Wedding

I mentioned it above, but hadn’t mentioned it before – I’m getting married.

This takes over your life for a short while. There are lists upon lists. Spreadsheets and registries. Deadlines, supplies, and shipping. Gifts, Flowers, Suits, Photos, Dress, Vows. What a process.

Good thing we’ve been working together for a while. We have a fairly fine sense of our strengths and weaknesses, tone and timbre.

1 barn. 233 confirmed family and friends. Many cakes. A few surprises.

What fun.

Tags: parc - porsche - summer - wedding - wikidashboard