Peter Thiel at Stanford

PETER THIEL 

Peter Thiel came to talk today at Stanford University about entrepreneurship and how his company that he started, PayPal, became more and more popular. I helped set up the event with BASES volunteers and we got the ball rolling!

BASES Peeps!

He first started with talking of California and Silicon Valley, how its become such a place of entrepreneurship and affluence. He jokes that "why would somebody move to Oklahoma from California".  He then moves to which businesses have been successful, those being mainly in the internet business. He makes sure to point out that companies need to look ahead and think of the future. From here, he moves into talks of past man's hopes, those of living on the moon, Mars or even Jupiter. After this is when he really moves into his main focus of his discussion: entrepreneurship slowing down in the past 25 years. 

Peter Thiel and I :D

According to Thiel, in the seventies and eighties, progress was quick. "There were far more drug innovations in the seventies and eighties then in the last twenty years..." Thiel's main worry is that people are not really moving forward, innovation is slow at the moment.

Setting up for the event!

He moves into the example of China, and of it being great and doing tremendous amounts of work, but it being bad at innovation. It will catch up to the US according to him because it uses the innovations of China. 

He reemphasizes "intrinsic growth" and his example that for something to go from zero to one, it takes a lot more effort then from going to one to n. What he means that for some sort of innovation to start, it usually fails or is really difficult to start from zero to one. Such is the example with Facebook. It started from the (1-n) field when other social networking businesses that came before Facebook *cough cough Myspace* started in the (0-1) field when the jump was much bigger and there was a lot more to use. 

Peter Thiel

He later took questions from people... These are some of my favorite. (and not word by word)

If you're going to take a risk, go big on your company.

Be passionate in your company, and take pride in it.

Don't be afraid for risk, and actually do sacrifice. 

Successful company's CEOs make under 120 grand!

So up here studying at Green

Things are quiet! QUIET! I can hear zombies outside, but they are being kept at bay thanks to these awesome peeps! But anyways, I'm working on CS assignment little schemer. I'm not cool like the other kids that finish it so fast, but I am attempting to finish it by today so I can work on my other CS assignment due Friday as well. Hmmm, I'm a little behind work but that's ok :D

Tonight I'm going to a BASES event in which Peter Thiel is coming to talk at Tressidor. For you guys that don't know Peter Thiel, he is the cofounder of PayPal and is the first primary investor in Facebook. He is an amazing individual whose networth is currently estimated at 1.3 Billion Dollars. That's a lot of dough! Amazing! Well anyways better be going to some awesome CS! ADIOS, and remember, zombies do not like light! Use a bike light! 

ZOMBIES!!!! Hide yo' kids and hide yo' wife, cause they're eating e'erbody out here!

No no, not the Cranberries!

NO REAL ZOMBIES!!!!

No one told me but apperently Dead Week means that zombies run rampent around Stanford University eating people's brains. Apparently so Stanford University is a big place for brains to gather and Zombies tend to garner around where there are a lot of brains. Why they show up a week before finals is fairly uncertain. One extreme theory is that due to the high amount of studying and less activity at the Frats, zombies have been able to finally catch up with the pace of Stanford Students. Approximately 50 unlucky students have been eaten and turned into zombies, among them being my RA Jordan... 

 And only a week before finals... I'm astounded. Only yesterday I was making my way through Main Quad, and suddenly these Zombies came running out after me. I managed to make it away in time. 

HOW TO SURVIVE DEAD WEEK

1. Stanford Police have managed to secure the libraries and dorm houses on campus, they are the best place to hole up.

2. Silence is key. If you're not silent, they will hear you... AND EAT YOU!

3. Always have non-perishables and water.

4. Always have an escape route. Make sure that you don't end up in closed spaces... Like the alley between Green Library and School of Education. 

5. AND.... CARDIO! ;)

Have fun Zombie Hunting!!!

Inception Deception!

INCEPTION!!!!!

Inception was awesome at Flicks today. Not a huge turnout of people, but everybody is trying to catch up from the "No-Work" relaxing break which was awesome! I mean, I did try and do some work but for the most part, didn't work out. But anyways to Inception... After seeing it a second time... HE WAS DEFINITELY STILL ASLEEP!!! The choice of words of when he went to see his family reveal how stuck he is still asleep. I think in my opinion that Mal actually woke herself up when she killed herself and that Cobb is still stuck in that deep sleep. Catch up to Mal man!!!!! 

Looking fly for Flicks!     

So happy that my CME group also finished our group assignment on time... AWESOME SAUCE!!! This is the first time I've ever gone to class actually feeling good and awesome! Thanks group!!! 

Upcoming... INCEPTION!

CME first, Inception second :D

So I'm up again on the third floor with Nick doing some awesome homework so I can hopefully pass my finals in two weeks so that I don't lost my scholarship funding! That would really suck. If you are thinking of going to Stanford, be really careful your first year. I was so used to always taking the hard classes at my old school b/c they were pretty easy since it was a public school. I should've realized that the hard classes here are Stanford hard. Even worse for me, they're engineering. I jumped from AP Calc AB to CME 100. Not smart. I missed a ton of fundamentals that I needed for the class. Luckily tutoring is awesome on campus. The tutors are usually grad students specific to the subject. My CME tutor is Mavis, who is a first year grad student in the CME department. She's really awesome! CS 106X is also killing me slowly. In super slow bites. I thought X would be cool, and it is, but people are really intense in the class. I feel so intimidated by all the intensity in the class, but it also makes me work harder and push myself more.

But after I finish all my studying today I'm going off to see Inception at Flicks!!!! YEAH! So at Stanford, we have this program called Flicks that basically plays movies that have just come off the silver screen, but aren't out on DVD. It's FREE and its AWESOME! So this should make the end of the Thanksgiving break awesome! Woot woot!!!!!!! :D

And on the sixth day there was more work!

CME and haircuts, oh my!

Yeah, so today was a pretty awesome productive day! yeah! Instead of going to the football game with the band, which I only regret a little, I finished a CME (computational math for engineers) P-set, which had been bugging me for a while. You just gotta love surface integrals! MMMMMM!!! Nothing like taking a surface integral over some f(x,y,z) or even better f(r,theta,phi). Yummy times ahead definetely for CME!

But then the most exciting thing happened today. I knew I needed a haircut and was going to go to the Stanford Hair Styling, but then I learned that it was a whole $20 for a haircut there. A WHOLE $20!!! I'm not made of money! So instead I finished the haircut that I started on two days ago and cut all of my hair down to my short length with only these pair of scissors and this comb an. Truth be told, I did mess up on the bangs, but it looks mostly OK! Overall consensus for myself, not a bad decision. Now I'm sporting a semi-OK haircut and still have my $20. Yay!!!!!!

Communism at Stanford?

Edgar

 =

I thought he was one of my friends, but no! He was a secret communist, trying to hurt society and corrupt the minds at Stanford University. He secretly endorses Cal, trying to get others to go to Cal, the dark side where nothing comes back from. NOTHING!

 While we are in between moments of time of work, or play :D, we hold random debates in which we argue out our views and moral matters of our society. This is one debate on whether it is best to monetize everything society has, and put a value on every service done. I personally think its right as everybody does their fair share to get their fair share, but again as you can see, its debatable. 

YAY!!! CHERRYBOMB FINALLY!

CHERYBOMB ARRIVAL!

 So about two weeks ago I had ordered Cherrybomb, a movie that stares Rupert Grint (I <3 him) and various others (not so important). I was so so so soooo excited to get it but today when I did receive my movie, I learned that I could not play it on my MacBook Pro unless I switched my drivers to a different region (Cherrybomb is from the lovely UK). I became absolutely devastated, sad, depressed! But then the light shone in the form of.... OPENSUSE LINUX! I totally had forgotten that I have one of my computers running Linux. So I put in my disk into my linux computer and viola!!! I have now a working version of Cherrybomb for my viewing pleasure!! I"M SO EXCITED!! I smell an awesome movie night coming up. Especially with my mom's awesome care package that she sent in with granola and popcorn!! I love you mom (she is the best person ever!) !!! :D 

And then there was baking!!!

BAKING!

We baked some awesome delectables tonight at Otero, including, but not limited to awesome brownies and cornbread!!!! Things were pretty awesome! Thanksgiving was pretty awesome! And now we are sitting down to enjoy Goodwill Hunting. Mmm! It's awesome! This is what goes down at Stanford during the break! :D 

Kevin baking some awesome cornbread!

Yet more baking!!! MMMM!!!!!

Oh sweetie pie!

Pregaming, the Thanksgiving way

Pregaming at Otero!!!!! 

So we decided to pregame Thanksgiving dinner today, and by pregaming, I mean precook some wonderful heart cookies and wait for the Dining Hall's supposed spectacular Thanksgiving Dinner. So this is us cooking at Otero's awesome sorta kitchen. It was pretty fun and spectacular. Now we are just hanging out to some Taboo in Natalia's room. 

30 MINS TIL THANKSGIVING!

And on the fourth day there was an after-dinner dinner!

So today my friends and I have decided to make our staying on campus during thanksgiving more fun by having our own after-dinner dinner at Wilbur. So Stern Dining Hall (ewww) is throwing us a Thanksgiving Dinner today which is sort of exciting except for the fact that its Stern (ewww). But there supposedly good times ahead for Thanksgiving dinner tonight. Sarah Quartey did inform me earlier today that there will be Prime Rib, Turkey and Ham tonight along with tons of potatoes! So let's see if Stern will get a better score today. Maybe. Maybe not. I personally hope for something good. But the best part will be the after-dinner dinner! And yummy cornbread, sweets, hot chocolate and great fun for us all! Happy Thanksgiving Everybody and pictures coming later! :D

And then there were haircuts!

Tuition High at Stanford?!

Then do what I did and treat yourself to a surprise haircut. I needed my mullet gone! It was nasty! Gross! Indespicable! So what is a Stanford student to do but give themself a haircut in the defense of saving money and looking good! So I embarked on this classical venture today using a pair of my friend's scissors and a trashcan to catch my hair. Here were the results of my up to do.

Smart choice? Perhaps not! But better looking then a mullet? Perhaps not again... But it did sound like a great idea at the time being :D 

And on the third day there was...

PANIC

So today as the third of work has led for me to go crazy! Crazy enough to sing! XD But this is consuming my afternoon slowly in greedy bites! CME vs Katy Perry. Sadly, those surface integrals have nothing on Katy Perry! Nothing!!!

 vs     

Glee in the Lounge!

Omgz! I haven't watched Glee forever and everything is so crazy now! Poor Kurt! My bet is on some sort of shootout going down at the end... Please don't let it all go down! Don't let it! Suicide is not the answer!!!

And on the second day there was work....

So now on this beautiful tuesday I will commit my soul to the limits of integrals, differentiation in the third dimension, and possibly hopefully running campus drive! It should prove exasperating and quite diffucult but damn time I go run. Computer Science just commits your soul to work here at Stanford. It is nice to get out and get some fresh air and really feel the breeze in between my long locks of hair. I'm just really excited to finally get there and feel the rush of pavement underneath my feet. Well, anyways, I best be going. Work is calling my name sweetly from the compounds of this dorm room I work in.

So up on third floor...

Tried to do some homework, but like any typical Stanford night, got caught up in a conversation with Nick Hartly about his RBA, or research paper, on which he was talking about the...

 "About the pervasiveness of indirect discriminatory language towards the LGBTQ population and the parallels between such language and hate crimes."

As quoted by the great Nick himself. Now I'm heading back to some fun triple integrals and surface integrals. Oh how these thin me out! <O_x> 

First day of break...

So I'm not going to lie... but it is kinda lonely still being on campus during the break. True there are a lot of things to do and a lot of work to do, but it's weird not seeing people in classes or seeing a ton of people crawling around campus. I do admit it is nice to get work done, and actually have time to do things like start a blog about my normal life here at Stanford University. So I guess today I chilled out to some sweet music and did my laundry, always a good thing. Maybe later today I'll go to Palo Alto. We'll see. We'll see :D

In the words of one last past...

See the Future... Power the Future! 

These words I live my life to now. They are the motto of what drives my soul to do more. Mmmmm.... This reminds me. I have a ton of homework. CME 100 is a really hard class, I must admit. Triple integrals, line integrals, surface integrals. I've never even dreamed that classes could be this diffulcult. I must admit, coming from such a low income background, a low income high school, to Stanford is a jump, a change so immense that it causes me to tremble, but only a bit. Just a little itty bit. :D