Nedelja #4 / Week #4 - Headbutting the Signs

Time to blog again. I'm late... with a reason. I had a bike accident and avoided staring at the screen this weekend in case I had a concussion. More details to follow :)

Vreme je da se opet bloguje. Kasnim... s razlogom. Imala sam nezgodu s biciklom i izbegavala da gledam u ekran ovog vikenda za slucaj da sam imala potres mozga. Detalji slede :)


I can't believe a third of my internship has passed! Time flies superfast. I'm enjoying my time in Facebook and California to its fullest, working hard during the week, having loads of fun during the weekend. With every day going by I'm more and more certain that my decision of going to the industry and not do PhD/research is the right one. I have doubts about staying at east coast, though. It's still more likely, but I can bear with SF/Palo Alto. We'll see, there is plenty of time :)

First paycheck! California taxes are ridiculous so April is going to be a good month :) Poor student life is over... temporarily. Another reason not to go into academia :P

The highlight of the week - weekend! To continue tradition of exciting stuff every weekend, we went biking. It was supposed to be a 40 mile route, from the train to Golden Gate, over Golden Gate, to Muir Beach, and back. We got lost after Golden Gate and road was often uphill so it was too tiring to go all the way to Muir, but even the beach we reached was cool enough. Golden Gate Park is awesome and totally worth renting a car to go there and hike. We saw just a beginning of it, so I assume it's even more amazing once you are further from the city. View from the Golden Gate is spectacular. I want to go again when there is not much fog. To end the day, we visited Ghirardelli square. See details below :)

I've told this story trillion times already, so if I have it written, I can just refer people to the blog :) The dramatic part of the weekend was my accident on the way back from the beach. We were going downhill (i.e. pretty fast) through a tunnel. Once you exit the tunnel, there is a gentle left turn. When I saw it, I started gently breaking so I can turn without flying off the road. I am not quite sure what happened (I might have hit something on the road, or my wheels slipped, no idea), but at one point of the curve, I flew off the bike and hit the fluorescent sign with my head. Luckily, those things are designed to be safe to hit so it bent all the way down and I flew through it. The impact left a nice dent on my helmet, but it seems there is no permanent damage on my body. My neck and back are a bit sore, but no concussion or any other serious injuries. I ended up with a bit of a swelling on my lower leg, and a few scratches on my forearm and hips, but other than that, I'm fine. Sad part is I have to miss surfing lessons Facebook organized this weekend, to make sure my neck is ok, but oh well. Quote of the week award goes to my brother: "I'm not afraid, it's certain you don't have a concussion. I mean, if you have no brain, how can you have a concussion?".

Time to go to bed... 8 more Facebook entries to go...

Ne mogu da verujem da mi je vec prosla trecina prakse! Vreme leti superbrzo. Maksimalno uzivam u vremenu u Facebook-u i Kaliforniji, razbijam se od posla preko nedelje i provodim preko vikenda. Sa svakim danom sam sve sigurnija da je odluka da idem u industriju, a ne radim PhD/istrazivanje dobra. Imam dileme oko ostajanja na istocnojo obali. I dalje je verovatnije, ali mogu da se nosim s SF-om/Palo Altom. Videcemo, ima jos dosta vremena :)

Prva plata! Kalifornijske takse su ocajne, pa ce april da bude dobar mesec :) Siromasni studenski zivot je gotov... privremeno. Jos jedan razlog da se ne ide u akademski zivot :P

Najbolji deo nedelje - vikend! Da bi nastavili tradiciju uzbudljivih stvari svakog vikenda, isli smo okolo biciklma. Trebalo je da vozimo ~65km, od voza do Golden Gate-a, preko Golden Gate-a do Muir plaze i nazad. Izgubili smo se posle Golden Gate-a i put je cesto isao uzbrdo pa je bilo prenaporno da se ide skroz do Muir-a, ali je i plaza do koje smo stigli bila dovoljno kul. Golden Gate Park je prelep i vredan iznajmljivanja auta da se ode tamo na pesacenje. Mi smo videli samo pocetak, tako da pretpostavljam da je jos bolje kad se ode jos malo dalje od grada. Pogled s Golden Gate-a je spektakularan. Hocu da odem opet kada nema puno magle. Za kraj dana, otisli smo na Ghirardelli square. Detalji ispod :)

Ovu pricu sam ispricala trilion puta do sada, pa ako je imam zapisanu, mogu samo da posaljem ljude na blog :) Dramaticni deo vikenda je bila moja nezgoda na povratku s plaze. Isli smo nizbrdo (drugim recima, prilicno brzo) kroz tunel. Na izlasku iz tunela je blago skretanje u levo. Kad sam ga videla, pocela sam polako da kocim, da mogu da skrenem bez da sletim s puta. Nisam sigurna sta se tacno desilo (mozda sam udarila u nesto na putu, ili su mi tockovi proklizali, nemam pojma), ali sam u jednom delu krivine sletela s bicikle i udarila u fluorescentni znak glavom. Na svu srecu, te stvari su dizajnirane da budu bezbedne da se udare tako da se znak skroz savio i ja sam proletela kroz njega. Udar je ostavio fino udubljenje na kacigi, ali se cini da nema trajnih ostecenja na mom telu. Vrat i ledja me malo bole, ali nemam potres mozga ili druge ozbiljne povrede. Imala sam mali otok na potkolenici i nekoliko ogrebotina na podlakticama i kukovima, ali sam osim toga dobro. Tuzno je sto moram da propustim casove surfovanja koje Facebook organizuje ovog vikenda, da budem sigurna da mi je vrat u redu, ali ajde. Nagrada za citat nedelje ide mom bratu: "Ne plasim se ja, sigurno nemas potres mozga. Mislim, kad nemas mozak, kako mozes da ga potreses?".

Vreme je za spavanje... Jos 8 Facebook blogovanja...

The promised details / Obecani detalji

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Nedelja #3 / Week #3 - Flying Deck of Awesomeness

It's just week 3 and I'm falling behind my blogging... For a change, English goes first this time.

Tek je treca nedelja, a ja vec zaostajem s blogovanjem... Za promenu, engleski ovog puta ide prvi.

Anyway, it sucks that I cannot talk about all the awesome stuff going on at work, but it is super-cool. I got my summer projects and they are pretty sweet. My mentor is ridiculously awesome so nothing to complain there.

In other news, I moved to Mountain View... finally. My commute is now half as long and there are actually things going around now. I was walking around today, got sunburnt, but it was worth it. The neighborhood where I'm now is nice, residential area. There are lots of Mexicans, so I hear Spanish more than English. I walked into a Spanish store without English labels so I have no idea what are the awesome pastries I ate today. Oh, just for the record, they were 60c a piece! I found a nice park for my after-work jogs. The best thing I found - a Yugoslavian flag (along with the five-pointed star!) completely randomly in Mountain View.

Cool destination of the week: Santa Clara Great America Amusement Park. I've never been on a real roller coaster before and I have had a fear of heights, but I tried hard. I epically succeeded not to pee my pants in fear... and not to be afraid most of the time. The Flying Deck scared the crap out of me when we were in the first line. The first left turn is so sharp and that's where the metal platform underneath the feet stop, so for a split of second you think something went wrong and you are going to fling off, straight to the ground. Seriously, for that moment, I was so convinced something went wrong. But, besides that, the ride was amusingly uncomfortable... unlike ride on a stupid pirate ship which I don't even want to think about. People are not meant to hang upside-down at those heights... There is a fine line between amusing fear and sheer terror. Anyway, these are the two highlight rides, but there were many others, super-fun. Oh... and cotton candy! I didn't eat cotton candy in all eternity and this was quite good one.

OK, I need to go to work tomorrow so I'll end the blog here. I was too lazy to sort out the photos... again, but I will get to do it soon.


Bezveze je sto ne mogu da pricam o svim fantasticnim stvarima na poslu, ali su super-kul. Dobila sam svoje projekte za leto i prilicno su kul. Moj mentor je fantastican, tako da nemam na sta da se zalim.

Preselila sam se u Mountain View... konacno. Sada mi treba upola manje vremena do posla i nesto se desava oko mene. Danas sam setala okolo, izgorela na suncu, ali je vredelo. Kraj gde sam sada je lep, stambeni. Nije bogataski, ali je lep. Ima dosta Meksikanaca tako da cesce cujem spanski nego engleski. Usla sam u spansku prodavnicu koja nema ni natpise na engleskom, tako da nemam pojma sta je odlicno pecivo koje sam jela danas. I da, kostaju 60c komad. Nasla sam fin park za trcanje posle posla. Najbolja stvar koju sam nasla - jugoslovenska zastava (sa sve petokrakom!) potpuno random u Mountain View-u.

Kul destinacija nedelje: Santa Clara Great America Amusement Park. Do sada se nisam vozila na pravom rollercoasteru i imam imala sam strah od visine, ali sam se potrudila. Uspela sam da se ne upiskim od straha... i da se ne plasim vecinom vremena. The Flying Deck me je super-isprepadao kad smo sedeli u prvom redu. Prvo skretanje levo je naglo i to je mesto gde prestaje da se vidi metalna platforma pod nogama, takoda sam za delic sekunde mislila da je nesto krenulo naopako i da samo ima da izletimo i zakucamo se u zemlju. Ozbiljno, tog trenutka sam bila potpuno ubedjena da je nesto krenulo naopako. Inace, osim toga, voznja je bila zabavno neprijatna... za razliku od glupog piratskog broda o kome ne zelim ni da razmisljam. Ljudi nisu stvoreni da vise naopacke na tim visinama... Postoji granica gde zabavni strah prestaje. U svakom slucaju, ovo su dve najupecatljivije voznje, ali i ostale su bile super-zabavne. I... secerna vuna! Nisam jela secernu vunu sto godina, a ova je bila prilicno dobra.

OK, moram da idem na posao sutra, tako da ovde prestajem s blogom. Mrzelo me da sortiram slike... opet... ali trebalo bi da to uradim uskoro. Dvojezicni blogovi su epski fejlovi... Skapiram da ne znam na kom jeziku gore pricam...

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Nedelja #2 / Week #2 - The Wedding Crashers

Mogu da se potrudim barem dve nedelje uzastopce da iskucam nesto :) Google Analytics kaze da postoje ljudi koji citaju pa ne ide da razocaram svoje obozavatelje :)

I can try to type out something for at least two weeks in a row :) Google Analytics says there are people who read so I don't want to disappoint my fans :)

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Ova druga nedelja je prozujala jos brze nego prva. Ne kapiram bas kako je uspela toliko brzo da prodje, ali dobro. Treba mi jos malo vremena da se fino uklopim na poslu i provedem vise vremena radeci nesto nego kopajuci okolo kako da uradim. Interesantno je, samo vrlo intenzivno. Meni licno je najveci problem sto stalno u glavi imam tajmer koji odbrojava do 12. avgusta i osecam kako bi trebalo vise da radim jer nema vremena za gubljenje.

Van posla, proslog vikenda je obidjeno parce San Franciska. Zapravo, otisli smo na Angel Island da vozimo bicikle. Odvukla sam lose vreme iz Bostona u Kaliforniju tako da smo malo iskisli, ali sve u svemu, beshe zabavno.

Danas nas je Fejsbuk vodio u Alkatraz. Malo sam razocarana jer sam ocekivala da atmosfera unutra bude mnogo depresivnija. Cini mi se da su pokusaji restauracije i transformacije u turisticku atrakciju malo ubili autenticnost. Posle toga smo imali epski photo scavenger hunt po San Francisku. Scavenger hunt je igra gde organizatori daju listu objekata/stvari koje treba slikati/pokupiti. Tim s najvise pokupljenih pobedjuje. Danasnja varijanta je bila slikanje po San Francisku sa stvarima koje idu od klasicnih tipa Golden Gate do malo neuobicajenih kao sto je policajac na konju. Najkul deo zbog koga i entry ima naslov "The Wedding Crashers" je deo kada je nas tim skidao s liste stavku slikanja s zenom u vencanici. U jednoj od ulicica kroz koje smo prolazili je neki taze bracni par radio profi slike. Mi im naravno upali na vencanje i zdipili mladu na 2 minuta da se slikamo :)

Sto se drugih novina tice, konacno se izvlacim iz Santa Clare u Mountain View. Dve nedelje 50-minutnog putovanja na posao su bile dovoljne. Osim toga, primljena sam na MIT-ev masters, tako da ostajem u Bostonu jos barem dve godine :) Nije da je to neki podvig, ali, eto, da se spomene. 

Moji ocni kapci stupaju u strajk zbog prekovremenog rada, tako da se ovaj blog nablizio kraju. Slike Alkatraza cu da postavim u toku naredne nedelje i ubacim u blog za narednu nedelju. Tol'ko za danas :)

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This second week has zoomed by even faster than the first one. I don't quite get how it passed so fast, but oh well. I still need some time to properly fit in at work and spend more time doing something than digging around how to do it. It is interesting, but very intense. Personally, my biggest problem is that I constantly have a mental timer that counts down until August 12th and I feel I should work harder because there is no time to lose.

Outside of work, last weekend, we visited a piece of San Francisco. Actually, we went to Angel Island to ride bikes. I dragged the bad weather from Boston to California so we got a bit wet in the rain, but it was fun.

Today, Facebook took us to Alcatraz. I'm a bit disappointed because I expected much more depressing atmosphere on the inside. It feels like the attempts to restore the place and transform it into a tourist attraction killed the authenticity. After that, we had epic photo scavenger hunt in San Francisco. The tasks ranged from classical stuff like Golden Gate to a bit more unusual like a policeman riding a horse. The coolest part which is the reason this entry is titled "The Wedding Crashers" is the part when our team checked off taking a photo with a woman in a wedding dress. In one of the alleys we passed through, there was a freshly married couple taking professional photos. Of course, we dropped into their wedding and stole the bride for a couple of minutes to take a picture :)

In other news, I am finally getting out of Santa Clara to Mountain View. Two weeks of 50-minute commute were enough. Besides that, I got into MIT's Masters program so I'm staying on Boston for at least two years :) It's not a feat, but I should mention it.

My eyelids are starting a strike because of overtime work, so this entry is close to the end. I'll post the pictures of Alcatraz next week and insert them in the next week's blog. That's it for today :)

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