I kicked off break with a ski trip at mammoth mountain with some friends from Viterbi Summer Overseas, which was EPIC!
I considered that training for dealing with snow on nature’s terms when I got back to Wisco, but it turned out to only snow once the entire time I was home actually, so that was almost a let down. Don’t worry, I still got to shovel the driveway…
ANYWAY, I did manage to read the “Design of Everyday Things” by Donald Norman and work on learning C++ (which Biomedical Engineers don’t usually learn – I just really enjoy CS) in an effort to prepare for some upcoming interviews I’m super excited about. If you’re at all interested in a design oriented career, you should definitely check out that book. It’s outdated in some ways, but it’s still amazingly helpful.
Other than that, I accomplished what I would consider to be a truly productive break by completing a Nintendo first party circuit. I played Skyward Sword, Kirby’s Return To Dreamland, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and 7/8 worlds in Super Mario 3D Land during what felt like a really short break. That was fantastic. In case you didn’t already know (ie you’ve never read any of my posts or tweets), I’m kind of a geek. If you are also a geek with a 3DS and you have trouble finding streetpass people- can you do me a favor and tweet @IAmWolfman (that’s me) with the hashtag #lonelyfanboy ? I’m really trying to get that started, haha.
I also got some pretty nasty food poisoning on christmas eve, but that just resulted in a Dr. Who marathon while I recovered, so I still count that as a win.
Now, enjoy some holiday pictures of my break!
I found some old pictures from a high school orchestra concert – so that’s neat

Can you find me?
We checked out the holiday display at a local bank:

Presumably this is the lion from the Chroni(WHAT)cles of Narnia
Here’s a picture of Happy Steve after opening all my presents:

This is a Target gift card. I'm not even kidding. At this point, my mom just buys the cheapest amount they'll let you put on them and gives them to us as standalone gifts because they're so awesome

This is City Hall (Milwaukee, WI). Such a neat (recently restored) building
I hope you had a great break too! I look forward to another fun semester of blogging and tweeting, and hopefully meeting some of you when you get to visit campus!
It’s great to be back!