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The Candidates’ Weekend at Olin College was super awesome. I got to meet a bunch of really cool kids who maybe will be my classmates next year. Friday was a lot of learning about the college, both in big presentations and getting to talk to students and professors. I listened to a few professors talk about why they would want to teach at a school as new as Olin and why they are so excited about it. I also got to talk with a student who is doing a lot of robotics stuff and is on the planning committee for the Boston FIRST Regional. Everyone at Olin is super psyched about the school, and the community environment is second to none.

Saturday was the design and build challenge, and the interviews. The design challenge was basically to build a boat that could hold weight fairly high above the water. Most boats tipped, but our boat lasted 6.5lbs before one of the outriggers folded and it tipped. The interview was pretty fun as well. We also did some group activities with our design group, one of which involved planning and giving a presentation in 15 minutes (”just-in-time presenting”, we called it). I’ll hear back from Olin in late March, but they’re currently my first choice.

Today, Chris and I went to Best Buy to see if they had any Mac Minis on clearance (they didn’t). Then we went back to Circuit City for the third time to see if they would sell us an open-box iPod Shuffle for less than retail. Finally, they were willing to sell us what we wanted at a fair price. $70 later, Chris and I walked out of the store with our forth iPod. The Shuffle fills a nice niche, in that it is a thumb drive and a music player. It doesn’t do either super-well, but it is the perfect device to take to school with you.

Chris and I have a fun naming convention for our iPods. We have an iPod photo named Clippy, an iPod black and white named Tux, and this newest Shuffle named Platypus. Each is a mascot for a software company. Almost as cool as naming our computers after Pokémon, right?