Saket Vora

Grid Integration of Renewables finished Monday afternoon — it was more or less straightforward with a few twists, but I think I did fine.

That afternoon I did a phone interview with 42U — a company out in Boulder, CO for a role of energy efficiency research analyst/consultant. What really impresses me is how seriously this company takes social responsibility – they truly walk the walk when it comes to being responsible citizens and why tackling the energy crisis is so important — all the way from the CEO on down. And plus, their careers page has an Office spoof done by the employees. Hehe, gotta love the style.

Tuesday night was Energy Efficiency in Buildings, which went fine. Open book, open notes meant people were taking their time making sure things were correct. Again, a few twists but not too bad. What really made it interesting was what happened 10 minutes before the final started. I was nearing the end of my bike ride and turning into the sand lot where all the bicycle stands outside Bldg. 200 were when back wheel suddenly disagreed vehemently with me applying the brake during a slight turn. The bike skidded out beneath me and I took a dive forward. Hands were alright, but my jeans were ripped at the right knee and quarter-sized part of the knee was open and bleeding. FUN! Walking past the girl on her cell phone who saw it happen 20 feet away but didn’t do or say anything to me, I cleaned it up in the bathroom as best I could and then took the final.

2.5 hours later I’m back home and made a late dinner. Outside, some grad students from across the courtyard were bowling on the sidewalk. Yes, with a 10lb bowling ball and 10 real pins. One of them had the large wooden picnic tables on its side serving as a backstop. It was nuts. Even from across the courtyard in my far back room, it sounded just like a bowling alley….never a dull moment.  Amit came over to talk about the BUILD judging he did that night (more on that later) and we talked about the NCAA bracket and lamented one more about the sorry state of NC State sports. There’s always next year.

Last up is my fuel cell exam on Thursday, which is guaranteed to be awful.