blog.zgraggen.name  All-day insanity or I have a blog too!

After the beer incidence I decided to apply for a StateID.
In order to get a StateID you have to fulfill certain criteria and gather many different forms. The main criterion is that you will stay longer than one year in the US. Gathering all the different forms (Affirmation form the University, lease, bills (proof of Residency), Passport, Visa, I-20, Social Security Number (SSN) number or a denial letter) is not difficult. An interesting document is the SSN denial letter. As a foreign student with no employment I can’t get a SSN. In order to get the StateID I had to go to the Social Security Office and get a confirmation, that I can’t get a SSN. This took me about 30 minutes.
Finally, at the Pittsburgh State Office I had to wait for over 60 minutes till it was my turn. After filling out another form and answering a few question and writing a 10$ check (I get slowly used to it) I received my temporary StateID. This temporary ID will be valid for 15 days till I get the final version. The clerk told me they have to check my picture in the database if I am not registered anywhere…

Jiihaa! After 3 hours I am finally able to buy beer

It is now about 10 years ago the last time I was denied to buy alcohol. Guess what… Last week I tried to buy some beer for my apartment but I had to leave the store empty handed again!
Then I tried my luck at the wine and liqueur store. There I could buy some hard stuff without showing any ID… is that not interesting how that works over here =)

Prost Guido

Anyway I decided to apply for a StateID which will make everything easier for me…

Okay, I admit I did not think that I will blog so early again… Maybe I got used to the workload or my time management improved either way I have a little spare time.
Therefore, I will tell you some more interesting stuff which I experience here in Pittsburgh. But, I will keep my post shorter than usual!

This weekend Pittsburgh celebrated the 250 anniversary and they promised to show the best firework in the history of Pittsburgh.
They used 17 diverent launch sites for the fireworks. Several of them where launched from roof of buildings in the town.

I am not sure if it was the best firework I have ever seen but for sure the biggest one!

Cool janitors:

Roof top:

Some youtube videos:
here
and here

At least for a long time…
I started this post over a week ago and added more and more stuff to it, because there is a lot to write about here around…

I will start with the bad news:
Verizon
I am trying get internet for about 7 weeks now. A tip for anyone who is looking for a internet connection in USA. Do not choose Verizon! NO-GO! STOP! I had so much trouble with them, and their service is really, really bad! Believe me, Cablecom seems to have the perfect service when compared with Verizon.

That’s it! Now all the good news:
Heads up on some more stuff David and I did last weekend.
Rib Festival & Baseball
his PGR experience
The 1st week er month is over
If you want some more insights what is going on at the CMU, you should check the blog from David regularly.

MSE/MSIT Wins Team Championship
This is a quote of a CMU which was sent to all CS students.

On the team championship front, the MSE/MSIT team of Guido Zgraggen, Harrison Strowd and Ryan Miller finished 3, 11 and 15 respectively to make it to the winner’s circle. They also had a lot of support on the trail with almost a third of the entrants from MSE/MSIT. Congratulations to Guido, Harrison and Ryan and the rest of the MSE/MSIT team!

Business Dinner with the eBusiness Program
David was kind enough to invite me to his business dinner in return for the MSE picnic. It was a very nice evening with good food (yes, as in Switzerland). Some pictures…
Thanks to David!

Loads of Work…
I was expecting a hard time around here, but… let me put it this way: My undergrad study at the HSR was a piece of cake compared to the CMU
And I am not the only one who is working all day… the CMU campus is as busy at the weekend as during the week with the exception of less faculties walking around.
The biggest advantage of this is, I will not get homesick. I really have no time for it =)

Anyway, I like my program and I am sure that I have made the right decision! As a result to the time management I will cut down in blogging… sorry guys!

Career
CMU has its own “Career Center” which can help by finding a job, preparing for an interview, and you can even borrow a suit there for a job interview.
At the moment I receive a lot of emails about companies who will come on campus and offer a information session. Mostly it is in combination with free pizza and drinks.

I also went to an etiquette dinner to learn how to behave at an “Job Interview Dinner”. But I did not learn much… most of the things I already knew. But for the American people most of the things were new

TOC - Technical Opportunities Conference (Job fair). I took this chance to speak to several companies (Google, Microsoft, Facebook, CIA, IBM, EA, Mitre, DrwTrading, Timken, Palantir, etc.)
Yes, you read it rite… I tried my luck and spoke to the CIA! After I told the “Agent” I have only a visa. He told me that they do not employ foreign people. =)

Extreme Energy Rush I am not sure how healthy this is… but it works Working hours

Record-Breaking Class
This is a quote of a MSE Mail which was sent to all MSE/MSIT students.

Students entering the MSE program in the fall broke a record even before setting foot on campus. The graduate software engineering professional programs received a record number of applications for the 08-09 academic year, and for the first time in history, a waiting list was established to accommodate the overflow of highly-qualified candidates.

CMU movie screening
Yesterday, I took some time off to see the “new” Indiana Jones - The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The screening was in a big auditorium with a good sound system.
Each weekend they show different selection of movies. Some of them are more recent like Wall-E. And this for just 1$ per movie =)

Have a nice one!

When I left the IFS my colleagues at work gave me tickets for a Pirates game. They called it “Kultur für Guido” but I am not sure if they meant the Baseball game experience or the “All You Can Eat (AYCE)” part.
Finally, the day arrived to use these Tickets. When we (David and I) entered the stadium we received a “Willie Stargell Collectible Plate” to honor one of the best Pirates players.

Dominik had done a good job; we had maybe the best places you can get in the AYCE section. The rest of the game is told very fast. Unfortunately the Pirates lost. But at least they did one homerun and therefore we saw some fireworks from a local firework company which uses these possibilities for tests. The funniest part of the whole evening was a wave which made about eight rounds in the stadium. This wave was started by some college guys und it lasted for several minutes (yes, it was a slow one).

For all those who are interested how much I could eat here is the list:
- A salad with farmer dressing.
- 2 Hamburgers
- A Hot Dog
- Tacos with cheese (it is more a spicy cream than cheese. Definitely not my favorite)
- Some Popcorn
- 1,5l of Soda
- No Ice Cream (They ran out, before I could start with the Ice cream )
=> Not too bad for 3 hours

THANK YOU IFS!!!

Firefly / Glow fly
While walking trough Pittsburgh at night David and I discovered several Fireflies. It was the first time in my life to see fireflies therefore it was a very exciting experience.
Unfortunately it is very hard to catch them on a picture =)

Iced Chai Tea
Last week I discovered that many food stores sell “Iced Chai Tea”. I drank chai tea a few times at goa parties in Switzerland. But last week I had my first iced one. And it was definitely not the last… I love it!

Geek Shirts
In Squirrelhill at the Walnut Street there is a fascinating book, shirt, fancy-stuff, geek shop which we discovered last week. Of course I had to buy some more geek shirts to expand my collection

Everybody mad jokes about how I will look like when returning to Switzerland. Some even said they will not recognize me anymore because I will be so fat.
I arrived three weeks ago in America and I had already some serious weight changes. Most of you will expect now that I gained some kilos. You are wrong!
In the last three weeks I almost lost 5 Kg even though I ate “normal” American food. I really have to watch out, that I not lose any more weight.

I wonder how this will develop…

I was not so busy writing posts in the last few days but thanks to David you can read what we/he did:
International and Graduate Student Orientation @ CMU
The Fence and Tropic Thunder
Davids own Apartment

Yesterday I attended the first day of the MSE Orientation. After the general orientation from the CMU, I am now used to the information flood.

I would like to quote a few things our faculties told us during this orientation.
Mel Rosso-Lleopart:

There are two kinds of mentors:
- One which waits at the cliff: “You have to stop now, one step more and you will fall.”
- The other mentor will wait at the Bottom.

You can make a guess which kind of mentor we will have They told us it is okey to make mistakes, as long as we can explain what/why it went wrong.

General comment about the MSE program:

I do not know why people sign up for such a torturous program. I would not do that.

Dave Root:

You pay a lot of money for this education so come into class everyday it does not matter how sick or tired you are or if your dog just died.

Concerning the different cultural backgrounds and egos:

The brain is like a parachute, it works better when it is open!

Today, the five studio projects were presented to us (25 MSE Students). Afterwards we had to hand in our prioritized choices. Of course our advisor will make the final decision depending on the work experience and lot of other factors besides our choice. One very important thing is that we do something new otherwise it would be to easy =)

Besides the courses which start next week. We will also start a boot camp for our studio projects. That is a “new” idea to get started in a team project with people which have different background. It looks like I will be very busy in the upcoming semester…

On Monday, I went to Kennywood a rollercoaster park nearby Pittsburgh. It is so near that I could travel there by bus which is free as CMU Student. Therefore, the only thing left to pay was the entrance fee. This park is comparable to the “Europa-Park” in Rust. The biggest difference is that it has open till 9 o’clock in the evening. I had a lot of fun the whole day.
As a side note I have to mention that a cheerleader competition took place in the park with loads of different teams. So besides the rollercoaster’s there were also good looking cheerleaders all over the place

Even thought I went alone, it was a great day and I had a lot of fun and I met many nice people. But queuing in a line alone could be boring so I was really glad I brought a book along. This is maybe a good tip for anybody going to entertainment parks on your own =)

Pictures can be found on my picasa webgallery.

It is been a while since I moved into my apartment but I think you are still interested in some details about it. After we received the keys on Wednesday David rented a car from Thursday to Sunday to go on a road trip to St. Louis. (I am sure he will write about it soon). But before he left we went together to IKEA, which is located about 16Km outside of Pittsburgh. There we bought all the small things needed for a comfortable living in an apartment. This starts with stuff for cleaning goes over to kitchen material and also things which makes living more comfortable such as a comforter and a nice pillow.
Back at the apartment we started cleaning, after more or less 4 hours David decided to leave for St. Louis. I carried on for another 2 hours. Over the weekend I invested another 4 to 5 hours of cleaning and organizing my apartment. Finally, I live now in my very first own apartment!
What a feeling

The apartment for David is not free yet so he is staying at my place. As soon as David has moved into his own apartment I will upload some more pictures.

btw: The reason I did not accompany David on his road trip were the third semester presentations from the current MSE students. They were so kind and invited me to attend. Now I have a better understanding what the faculty members will expect from us.