And life goes on...

And life continues to be dynamic, ever-changing, and surprising. Since last post, I have transitioned to a new position, and I enjoy the work very much. Long story short, Ben and I are back together, but making sure that we are still happy internally. I've met up with friends that I haven't seen since graduation (or even before), as well as friends that I just don't see very often.  I'm still on my quest to see what makes me happy inside and to learn and become a better person!

1. Eat healthier
While I doubt that I have been eating healthier (I blame Halloween and all the candy that I have left over, as well as the awesomeness of fall desserts) but I have been cooking a lot more. I really enjoy cooking and I would say that it is one of my hobbies now. We tried to restart having 2-3 Fresh 20 meals every week, but it was hard coordinating our schedules, so we kind of went back to cooking for ourselves. I try to still plan about 2 meals per week for myself though so that I can have plenty of leftovers to bring to work.

And it is fall! The leaves are falling, there is a cool chill in the air, and it is time for all the delicious fall cooking. Ben and I went apple picking at Indian Ladder Farms (and bought cider and cider donuts as well...), and brought home 2 bags full of McIntoshes, Cortlands, and Galas.

Delicious McIntosh apple, ready to be picked!

The result of this apple picking was a dinner for 4 of a roasted sausage, apple, butternut squash combo that just screamed of fall flavors, and 2 homemade apple pies, one of which was brought to work the next day and eaten up very quickly!

I've just started to learn to cook Korean food as well. Made Kimchi Pancakes and Beef Doenjang Jjigae for a board game night with Kelsey and Ben (I dominated at Ticket to Ride, again). Then, used more of the kimchi to incorporate into mashed potatoes, for a very fusion-y dinner.

European, Asian, and American flavors in one dinner: Northwoods Fire seasoned strip steak, caprese salad, and kimchi mashed potatoes. My tastebuds were astounded from all the flavors!

The last of the kimchi went into making kimchi fried rice, which was good for 1 dinner and 2 lunches! Just yesterday, Ben and I steamed some mussels in a Thai red curry broth. It wasn't as spicy as we'd like, so next time we'll have to double up on the curry! 

I cut up a whole bunch of cilantro to top off these mussels. Mmm, but I do love cilantro.

So it looks like I am cooking plenty, the question now is if it's healthy. Well, I will certainly try to cook healthier, but keep it tasty! ;) 

2. Exercise more

Oh boy, I definitely have been failing this one. And I really have no excuses. So all I'm going to do is post some photos of a hike that we took to Newman's Ledge in the Catskills. It's funny because after these 1.5 years of living in this area, I have yet to hike the Catskills, I've only been going north. Well, this was my first time, and I have to say that it was gorgeous! Also a fun drive on the way there as I took some winding mountain roads next to Kaaterskill Falls.

Foggy day, so when we reached the ledge, we were above the clouds!

The other form of "exercise" that I have engaged in is walking... a lot. Thanks to my new Birkenstocks (yes, I am a hippie now), my feet did not hurt and I had no blisters after walking for 12 straight miles. Walked about 12 miles in a day around Washington D.C. with Hans, Kevin, and Sebastian. We saw all the monuments just a few days before the government shutdown.

Sitting on the back side of the Lincoln Memorial.

Watching the beautiful colors of the sunset on the pier of National Harbor.

 Also made a few trips down to New York City to catch up with some friends, some of which I haven't seen since graduation. Went to a showing of the Daily Show, sampled beer at the Brooklyn Brewery, visited the extreme-hipsterness of Williamsburg, had a fancy but delicious brunch at the Petrossian, and engaged in a sushi eating contest (I didn't win, but I tried pretty damn hard). Walked 8 to 11 miles each day! (Thanks Fitbit, for the info.)

Caught a viewing of the Daily Show, John Oliver's last show!

Friends since freshman year.

 3. Read more books
This is another place in which I am lagging behind. I'm still reading World War Z, embarrassingly enough. Also I have been reading a lot about finance recently as I'm starting to invest my money, and trying to be financially savvy! I've also downloaded Wool, a recommendation from Hans, on my Kindle, but have yet to begin... more to come...

4. Learn new things/develop hobbies
Ah, I can definitively say that I am improving in this aspect! I signed up for a drawing class called "The Human Figure Given Life" at a local middle school. I have wanted to take a drawing class for a while, because as a child, I doodled a lot and was also sketching, but sadly never took any formal art classes or continued to draw after middle school. I was looking for an introductory general drawing class, but none of them really fit my schedule as I was traveling a lot for recruiting. However, this class is only 5 weeks long and also very cheap! And human figures is something I am not accustomed to in my drawings, so it is definitely a challenge for me! Here are some sketches that I am proud of so far:

A lot of times, we are given a photograph to draw from.

In this particular class we are concentrating on hands and feet, as they are detailed and lots of attention need to be put on them so that they look right!

After focusing on just hands and feet, we were given photographs of full human figures in which the hands and/or feet are displayed prominently.

I chose this figure because I thought the pose was interesting (also because I did not have to deal with the face, which I currently suck at).

I've also been better about taking more photos and uploading them into Flickr. Even if not everyday is the most interesting day, sometimes it is nice to just take a photo as a memory of a point in time. Even if it was very simple, just a reminder of the everyday things in life, fleeting moments, and memories of things I've done, places I've been. And of course, food that I've eaten.

Been back a few times now for recruiting, and I still miss the place dearly.

Well, that ties it off for this time. Definitely happy to have re-discovered how much I love to draw, and how much I love to cook. But still need work on exercising, eating healthier, and reading more books!

Until next time!

Back to the Beginning

Well. It is time to restart the blog.

My time in Oregon helped me focus on myself and discover ways to keep myself busy by setting personal goals. But once I came back, I neglected to follow up on my goals. It has been a difficult spring and summer. Once I came back from Oregon, work became very busy as I was traveling to Canada every other week or so. Things just weren't the same as when I left. As spring transitioned into summer, work took another turn and I actually had many weeks in which I had nothing to do at work. I was also worried about the off-program transition as the process was painfully show, and there wasn't a lot of communication about what was going on, so I felt very stuck. I hadn't been very happy in my relationships either. I felt as though I didn't have a lot of friends in this area, and was not very good about staying in touch with friends from college (and definitely not grade school). Then in July, Ben and I took a brief 2 week break in our relationship, and then he broke things off about a week and a half ago. So it has been a rough time and I am learning to recover and rediscover myself.

I will now try to keep myself busy with the same goals I outlined when I moved to Oregon, because I realize that I have been failing at them ever since I've returned. I hope that by working on these goals, I can boost my self-confidence and be a healthier, smarter, stronger person!

1. Eat healthier
Gave up the Fresh 20 ever since we came back, even though Lauren and I still live together. The problem is that once we returned, everybody had their own schedule. Lauren was often out during the weekends to visit her boyfriend, and I was often out during the week to be in Canada, and therefore did not want to buy groceries that would spoil in the fridge when I was out.

Lauren and I would like to restart the Fresh 20, because it felt good to eat, we didn't have to think about which groceries to buy, and cooking was therapeutic to us. Because I will be transitioning to my off-program role soon, I will no longer have the crazy travels to Canada or elsewhere, and I can settle down a bit and get into a good routine.

2. Exercise more
I had the intention to keep up a regular exercise schedule. I wanted to start out cycling at least twice a week. Of course I regularly found excuses not to - to spend time with the (now ex) boyfriend, not feeling like it, was going to Canada and couldn't, etc.

Went clipless with some Shimano SPD pedals and Garneau Monte Womens' MTB shoes.

Decided to go with MTB pedals so that it would be easier to walk around in MTB shoes. I'm not quite hardcore enough for road biking pedals/shoes yet.

There was one point where I did manage to go cycling on a somewhat regular basis and I could actually see improvement by tracking my route, average speed, mileage on Endomondo. But I tried biking this week for the first time in a month and I did not feel well. Not only was I out of shape, but I was actually getting sick - I lost my voice yesterday.

Been hiking only a few times ever since I returned. Not sure how I managed to do the 12 mile hike while in Oregon, because I get weak after only a few miles. During the break in our relationship, I went hiking with a coworker friend to Sleeping Beauty, near Lake George. Some gorgeous views from there. This weekend we are planning to go on a small hike closer to the Catskills.

The view from the ledge of Sleeping Beauty, overlooking Lake George. 

It was an extremely beautiful, clear day with a nice breeze and wisps of clouds.

I really have not taken advantage of the fact that I live in an incredibly scenic area, with lots of outdoor activities only a short drive away. I haven't been to the Catskills before, so now is the time to explore!

3. Read more books
Ever since I returned from Oregon, I have meant to read into how to invest my money, but I have been stalling and reading Ben's personal finance book very slowly. Now that I have plenty of time to myself, I bought a few finance books and also bought World War Z, which has been very interesting so far (I never saw the movie, so I have no preconceptions of what the book is about). Looking forward to reading more books!

4. Learn new things/develop hobbies
Going to sign up for a drawing human figures class at a local high school. I used to draw so much as a kid and always doodled during class. I feel that I need to explore my creative side, as nothing I am doing right now involves the left side of my brain. I bought a sketchbook and some pens when I returned so that I could draw things when I was bored in Canada, but I never really was motivated enough to do it. I hope that I will find things worth drawing now, and perhaps I can create some beautiful art that is worth framing and hanging in the apartment!

Although I don't have fancy photography equipment, I would like to start to take more photos again and put them on my Flickr. There is something nice about taking a good photo, doing some minor touch-ups in Photoshop, and then putting it online on Flickr, which is kind of like a photo journal. Memories are memories - the good, the bad, it will always be there but it is a good reminder of what life is like!

It's been a rollercoaster ride, lots of ups and downs, and right now in the rough ever since I came back from Oregon, but I am looking forward to focusing and working on myself, and accomplishing things I thought I would never do!

Progress check, February 2013

And ... I have reached the end of my six month rotation here. I can't really say that time hasn't gone by quickly, because it hasn't. And I can't say that I had the most fun out here. But I will say that:

Oregon is gorgeous. The geography and variety of scenery here are breathtaking. You can pretty much do any outdoor activity in this state. Portland is a foodie city with plenty of delicious restaurants. There is plenty of alcohol production for enjoyment: Willamette Valley vineyards that specialize in Pinot Noir, a sake brewery, distilleries, and of course, the craft beer scene is awesome since Oregon is a major producer of hops.

I will definitely come back... for vacation.

1. Eat healthier
I haven't been diligently tracking my weight, but last time I weighed myself, I was at 118.5 lb after dinner. I remember I used to be around 125 lb after dinner... so yay? Now, while I am losing weight, that doesn't necessarily correlate to being healthy, so I need to use some other metrics. Also, this was before I ate ramen for 3 nights and ordered pizza delivery. I was slightly depressed and needed some comfort food that I didn't have to work too hard to cook.

Now for some food photos:

Had to roast two chickens for the meal plan one Sunday and ended up using all the chicken bones to make homemade chicken noodle soup! It was good, but we didn't have a strainer or anything, so it ended up a bit chunky with bits of bone floating around.

When I visited Albany to look for apartments, Ben and I made lamb rogan josh, which is probably my favorite Indian dish. It really wasn't very difficult, just requires having the correct spices. Served with a side of mango lassis and on top of jasmine rice (lack of basmati rice in the house). Yum! Now, whether this was healthy or not, I am not sure, but it sure was delicious!

Not as good as Karavalli, but still very delicious!

And some highlights from The Fresh 20:

• Minestrone with quinoa (the only one I have a photo for - the others I ate too quickly)
• Chicken tortilla soup
• Spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce (homemade sauce is so delicious)
• Creamy butternut chicken fettucini with spinach and cauliflower
• Italian polenta mozzarella bake
• Creamy chicken and broccoli casserole

A twist on an Italian comfort classic.

Status: Still good... minus last week and having random cravings.

2. Exercise more
Since my last progress check at the beginning of the year, I've been skiing 8 times!

Bluebird days at Mt. Hood Meadows are very nice, and provide great views of the Cascade Range.

The Cascade Express chairlift was often closed when I was there, due to high winds.

But when it was open, there were great views of the peak!

Been trying to improve my skiing by not turning as much, pointing my skis to the fall line as much as possible, and improving my stance by leaning forward more and bringing my arms in front of me.

I also discovered that equipment makes a huge difference. My boots were too soft, too roomy - good for beginners, but an inefficient use of energy. A lot of my energy was spent in just moving my feet around in my boot, and not in moving the skis. So I went in to US Outdoor in Portland and was fitted by a very knowledgeable salesperson, who helped me determine the appropriate boot for my ability and size. Upgraded to the Atomic Hawx 80 W. Instant improvement. Much more control, my feet aren't sliding around, and I haven't been tired after an entire day of skiing! In fact, yesterday I went skiing and had 19 runs at Meadows. Mt. Hood Meadows has a cool system where you can track your vertical feet based upon when you check in at the RFID gates before you get on a lift. And since I'm an engineer, I like graphs :)

Yesterday, I did 19 runs from 9am-1pm (with a lunch break of 30 mins). 

For the entire season, I've done over 149,735 vertical feet of skiing!

(It doesn't include my day at Mt. Bachelor)

Even though I've been skiing quite a bit, I would still say that there is a lot of room to grow in terms of exercising on a regular basis. Most of my skiing was done on weekends, so I need to find something close to home to do on weekdays after work - it will probably be biking, once it gets warm. I may consider buying a stationary bike stand so that I can work out in the winter.

Status: Getting better at skiing, need more variety of activities and more during the weekdays.

3. Read more books
Slowed down on the reading due to other activities, but still reading Life of Pi and starting Cloud Atlas. It seems that although I have lots of time to read, the time I actually use to read is when I'm on a plane.

Status: Not as great as previous months, but still better than six months ago.

4. Learn new things/develop hobbies
I'm continuing to take courses on Coursera. Currently I am taking Fundamentals of Personal Finance and Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering. The personal finance course has been very useful information, and just for learning various financial terms that one encounters throughout their life and what they mean. I would like to learn about how to invest my money, how to efficiently save for retirement, and what various kinds of insurance can do for me. The electrical engineering course I have not made great strides in, but it is to brush up on things that I should have learned while taking ECE 210, and also just know more because a lot of what we deal with in the field heavily pertains to electronics.

After looking at my resume and realizing that I no longer have some of the skills I listed, I decided to re-learn SolidWorks. It brings me a sense of enjoyment to design something and then create it. Except that I did it the other way this time. Ben gave me a jewelry box for Christmas which he made himself, and I decided to CAD it.

Opened jewelry box, showing the dividers.

Made of maple and purple heart woods. It looks better in real life.

I think that when I return to Albany, we could be a design-build team to design some cool furniture in SolidWorks and then do some woodworking to make it real.

Also, because my job has been requiring me to take lots of photos recently, I've tried to reacquint myself with Photoshop a bit more for some gorgeous photos around site, such as this lengthy paranoma that really requires detailed viewing to see just how vast the site is:

Try to count how many turbines there are. I dare you.

Using the new site camera: a Canon EOS Rebel T3.

Status: Much better! Learning things, re-learning things, I may have found a hobby that I like to do (CAD - for fun, not for work *ahem* Kevin *ahem*)

Of course, when I move back these goals will not change, and I hope that being back to a familiar environment with friends and family close by does not stop me from continuing my individual pursuits.

Progress check, beginning of 2013

We made it to 2013!

I meant to post at the beginning of two months ago, and then last month, but started to get overwhelmed because 1) I actually didn't get much done, and 2) we began to have a rotating schedule of 12 hour work days and so I became exhausted after long days and didn't feel motivated enough on my days off to write a blog update. And then 3) the holidays came up and I was having way too much fun and didn't post anything. So this progress check will have to include the last three months.

I didn't update my blog, but I trolled kids for Halloween!

I think that these goals that I have listed for my rotation will also be extended to count as my New Years Resolutions since I think they are good goals, and frankly speaking, I could work harder at them.

1. Eat healthier
Still continuing off the Fresh20 meal plan, which was actually featured on the NY Times here. The meals have continued to be pretty good for the most part. The best part is not having to think about a grocery list, or having to make grocery store runs mid-week (unless we run out of chicken broth or tomato paste, which has happened...), getting to try new ingredients and recipes I would have never thought of, and having close to no waste at the end of the week. Also, since our grocery store runs have a concrete list, we almost never wander and start buying things that aren't healthy or that we don't need. The only processed foods that we get are pasta, bread, and cheese.

Apart from the Fresh20, when my roommate was gone for a week, I had gone to the Asian market in Portland so I made Asian food all week. I made a lot of soup noodle dishes, including pho and a vegetable udon.

Homemade pho - delicious!

And homemade snickerdoodles - delicious, but not so healthy :)

  
Although I didn't bring my scale to Oregon (which I definitely should have), I can say that I definitely lost some weight from this meal plan. (And then I may have gained some back during Thanksgiving and Christmas.)

Status: Better... minus the holidays which shouldn't count (okay, and a few times that we made cookies)!


2. Exercise a lot more
Before the ski resort opened up on Thanksgiving, I will admit that I was declining in my exercise routine. I have never been fond of gyms... in fact I hate them. I think it has to do with memories from high school weigh lifting class for PE. I was, undoubtedly, the weakest kid in my class, and it was damn embarrassing. I tried to do some workouts at home with video, but could not get myself into that either.

When Ben visited in October, we did go on a few hikes though, so that was very nice. We went up to Lookout Mountain for an excellent view of Mount Hood. And we went down south to Bend, Oregon, and visited the majestic Smith Rock State Park.

View of the year-round snow on Mount Hood from the peak of Lookout Mountain

A river runs through the jagged rocks at Smith Rock State Park

We went on Misery Ridge trail, which was pretty steep!

I tried to bike more, but unfortunately daylight savings happened. And then by the time I came home from work, the sun had set. And then I should have biked on weekends, but got a bit lazy. And when the 12-hour shifts started, when I was at home, I just wanted to bum around.

When it was still nice outside, I could bike after work

I guess I can count turbine climbing as exercise, because it is honestly tiring and I do get out of breath. We are climbing up 85 meter (about 280 feet) towers, and then using additional energy to stay warm because it is getting cold!

I'm about to enter the hub of a tower (the nosecone portion)

The wind farm on an exceptionally beautiful warm day

The view when I come to work in the morning is absolutely breath taking!

However, when Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort opened up, after Thanksgiving weekend we have been skiing every weekend (minus a day when... well... we were involved in a car accident). It feels good to go skiing again, but I sure have a lot to catch up on. I remember as a kid being fearless, but I feel like I'm getting old now and have lost a lot of my confidence, therefore hindering my ability. Well... no pain no gain, right? If I don't go skiing a lot, how will I improve? So, I'm still planning to go every weekend and available chance I have to get better, have fun, stay in shape, and make up for the East Coast's lack of snow last year.

Lauren and I are enjoying fresh soft powder, and my car is happy with new snow tires installed

Not too long a line for Stadium Express even when it is snowing some nice, soft flurries

The snow was already excellent on the first weekend we went, and now there are about 100" of base

Status: Okay, but I will need to go skiing every weekend, and then figure out something on weekdays. Need to work on cardio.


3. Read more books
Definitely improved greatly on this, probably because work can be boring, and there is not much to do in The Dalles. Since last time, I've read:

• Brave New World (classic, provoking)
• What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (mix of Malcolm Gladwell's articles; some were much more interesting than others, such as the one regarding birth control)
• Gone Girl (started off well, then flopped miserably)
• 1Q84 (I liked the premise and his style of writing, but it was way longer than it should have been)
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Again, and I've realized that I like the religion and empathy aspect of this book, but I like the ending of Blade Runner better) 

I'm currently working on Life of Pi and the The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business.

The Power of Habit is definitely a recommended read, even though I haven't finished it yet. But it has made me think about how I can condition myself to work on all my goals here, and create new habits so that they will become second nature! If I don't have to think actively about fulfilling these goals because they are just habits, the results will be quite rewarding.

Status: Much improved.

4. Learn new things
Ever since I've moved to Oregon, I've discovered things that I really want to learn when I get back to New York state, but cannot be done here. For example, I really want to get decent at ice skating, at least good enough so I can learn to play hockey. There are no ice rinks here - the closest is in Portland. Also, I entertained the idea of taking an Introduction to Culinary Arts class at the Schenectady County Community College, but didn't sign up. I will sign up once I get back. And possibly take a Wines of the World course at the same community college, since my biggest regret of Cornell is not taking wines. When I go back to upstate New York, I wanted to go on more hikes and explore more of the scenery, as I've realized that there is so much around me that I have yet to explore.

I tried for a few weeks to learn Python on Coursera... but somehow could not motivate myself to watch the lectures or do the assignments. And I really liked taking the introductory computer science course in college too. I think that there is a tremendous difference between listening to lectures and having assignments in person versus doing it online.

Status: Not much improvement, but at least I've discovered that I really do like cooking and want to further develop it as a hobby.


5. Develop new hobbies.
This might be copping out, but I think that this goal and the previous one are somewhat similar, so I will actually just combine the two. As I said above, from using the Fresh20 everyday, I've really gotten to enjoy cooking and wish to further develop my skills by taking a class when I get back to Albany.


I can't believe I have less than two months left here, so I better take advantage of the things I do love here - the skiing, the amazing apartment, the time alone to discover things and get a lot more reading done, the gorgeous scenery. I hope everybody had a great 2012 and are looking forward to a productive 2013!

The Columbia River Gorge area is incredibly beautiful and scenic