Xi'an and the Terra Cotta Army

Hi Putz!
Hello from Shanghai!  As you may know I'm interning this summer in China, but i get the weekends off (kinda) to go travel.  This past weekend I went to Xi'an to see the Terra Cotta soldiers.  There are 8,000 soldiers in total to protect the dead emperor of China who's buried in a tomb near by.  The soldiers include foot soldiers, generals, and kneeling archers.  When the soldiers were found they were in pieces because the wooden roof above them had collapsed and the 5m of dirt above them crushed the soldiers.  All of the whole soldiers today have been rebuilt.  It can take a year to rebuild a soldier.  Pictures are below.

 

Eating Pig Feet in Shanghai

 

Plague explaining how a farmer found the soldiers while digging a well in 1974 and was the first to tell the government of its existence.

 

Tomb 1 filled with soldiers, the solders in the front have been rebuilt

 

Me with the soldiers 

 

Some of the soldiers being rebuilt, notice the details on their faces

 

What the soldiers looked like when they were found

 

The special kneeling archer soldier, the profile looks like the shape of the province where they are located 

 

One of the same bronze chariot and horses, its made to look like a turtle shell and carry the wealthy

 

Temple in the middle of Xi'an City

 

A road in Xi'an city, there's a lot of people in China

The kneeling archer soldiers broke less because they are short.  The remains of the wooden housing can be seen on either side of the soldier remains.  

Have a happy summer Putz!!

Nancy: Summer 2014 Updates

Hello,
Here are some miscellaneous updates.

I went backpacking with Judy, James, and Marcela, and saw some ponies. It was a 5 day long trip, 40 miles, over the Appalachian Trail in Virginia.

Last week I went sea kayaking out to an island at night and camped there

We built adorable robots for 6.01, but they aren't going to be using them :( sorry folks, we fell prey to murphy's law

The boat was moved to the tune of a few hundred dollars. We are still trying to get it titled and registered and work on it to finish it up so we can sail to boston harbor islands this summer with friends and go camping >__<

  

I've been learning diptrace and am pretty comfortable designing and ordering printed circuit boards now. Here are some tiny stepper motors that are so small you could eat them:

Here is a sneak preview of the next product I've been working on almost 24/7 for the last month for NarwhalEdu:

That's all for now. See you all around! Excited there's so much activity on the blog lately.

A Taste of Italy

As some of you may know, I have recently departed Boston to fuck around for half a year before moving to the bay area like all good little software engineers end up doing. My first stop was a post-graduation trip (for Angela, just a ... I don't know. Post-whatever-the-fuck-I've-been-doing trip for me) to Italy. I've been blogging over at http://bummingin.blogspot.com/, but I thought I'd review some choice highlights here.

1) Dicks. So many dicks. There will be even more dicks in the future in the post on visiting Pompeii. Like literal dick windchimes with little dick arms and wings AND THEIR OWN PERSONAL SMALLER DICKS.

Yes, Putz. You will be receiving this postcard shortly at some point.

2) Angela and I found our future selves on the streets on Venice. Oops.

3) We visited a place named the Doge's palace. Angela giggled every time. No we have no idea how it's actually pronounced.

4) LITERAL BLOOD IN THE SISTINE CHAPEL. EW. Also, anxiety attacks.

5) Gelato!

6) Food in general!

7) SO MUCH Italian history knowledge. And random facts about statues.

Love you all! I've only been drunk for about 30% of this trip, so you should be proud.

Waiting to hear about all your adventures! Love,
Maja

Oil Adventures

Yay!  Finally enough motivation to blog post.   First of all, if you're reading this send me a postcard from wherever!  I collect :)  My address is at the end.

I'm back in Houston for the summer!  Spent the week before in California but that's another blog post for another time.  Last Saturday, I played a beach ultimate tournament down in Galveston with a mixed club team in Houston.  The theme was 80's throwback and so we looked awesome.  As you can see for yourself.

Then Monday was the first day of work!  After driving an hour in the morning I finally got here.   Halliburton's Headquarters is sooo much nicer than I thought it would be.  This is where I'll be working:  The Technology Center.  I'm interning in the Wireline & Perforating Product Service Line which is basically used to lower tools and measure conditions down an oil well.

But!  For all of Monday and Tuesday I spent all my time in this building across this pretty lake going through Intern Orientation which was very loooonggg and all about safety and such.  This place is the epitome of corporate America.  The dress code is pretty strict but so far I haven't had to punch anyone for my hair.  There's also a fancy cafeteria and a gym on campus!  This place isn't Google - so still have to pay for the food, but it's still a lot nicer than I was expecting....I can see why it's soo lucrative to work here...  

My evenings right now are spent trying to find people to play ultimate with.  I miss friends.  You should write and share what you're up to so I can pretend to feel some closure of distance between us. 

<333

Neerja

5555 New Territory Blvd, Apt 12108

Sugar Land, TX 77479

The Beginning

Today Mark, Jaguar, and I went to the Haight Ashbury Street Fair. Jaguar and I have not been to Haight Street since our first day in San Francisco, when we wandered into the neighborhood and in the span of several minutes walked by two very old, very naked dudes, and a guy holding a sign that read "Smile if you masturbate!"

Hmmm.

Spatz is unaccustomed to direct sunlight.

Nothing about the street fair was too out of the ordinary, yet the juxtaposition of the gentrified population and the tiny, Bohemian booths amused me. I would break down the crowd's demographic as 80% yuppie, 19.4% elderly hippie, and .6% putz.

"None of these match my bandana."

Rockin' out, next to the local Whole Foods.

We also went to In-N-Out today. Spatz told me to order a "grilled cheese animal style," so I did. It turns out their secret menu is real. I didn't take any photos there, so here are more photos of the street fair.

There is a medical marijuana dispensary in
this record store. Also a bowling alley.

"How does this neighborhood have
so many head shops?"

Tomorrow is Spatz's first day at Apple. Maybe we will take a group photo together. We'll see.

<3,

katie