It has been nearly a whole month since I have written to this blog, and so much has occurred. Spring Break was great! I was at home in Dallas for a few days before flying back to Boston, then Columbus, Ohio for the 33rd Annual National Society of Black Engineers National Convention. This was my first time at convention and I had a great time. I acted as one of our chapter’s senators, so I took part in electing the new national officers. There was a huge career fair; it was great to see that Texas Instruments finally brought out a DLP HDTV to display. There was a raffle for it, but I still didn’t win; I guess I’m stuck with my HP LCD. Speaking of HP, they are trying to bring me to Boise, Idaho to intern with them. It seems like a pretty cool company, so don’t be surprised if you heard that I’ve moved to Boise, or Virginia, if the CIA accepts me. On top of the career fair, I got to see Richelle, although only for a few minutes at the end of each day. Senators’ days last from about 7 AM to 6 PM, not a whole lot of free time, and very tiring. However, a perk of being a senator was sitting in on the National Chair’s Council. This is a council of past national chairs (if you know your NSBE history, I’m referring to Virginia Booth, Gary May, Chauncee Lundy, and the like). It was great to have the opportunity to learn about what goes on at the national level of operations, the good and the bad. Following that meeting, I “shadowed” the Executive Director of NSBE, Carl Mack. Since NSBE is a student-run organization, and students usually go to school, Brother E.D., as he’s known, runs the day-to-day operations of NSBE and is in charge of the staff at world headquarters. He’s a great guy, full of passion, and I had fun hanging out with him. I was even able to attend the Golden Torch Awards show with him, where I got to go backstage and meet presenters, including the CEO of U.S. Steel and a few U.S. Navy admirals sitting on the front row at the show. As for Columbus, I didn’t see much of it. Although, apparently High St. (on which the convention center is located) is basically West Village in Dallas, lots of gays. The area around my hotel is pretty quiet. Columbus is almost like Pleasantville: they have signs at bus stops encouraging riders to respect themselves and others by not using profanity. And, here’s the kicker, the bail bond office is closed by 7 PM, which immediately tells me, no one does anything at night in the city of Columbus. Oh, I forgot the best part: the MIT chapter won Region I Chapter of the Year, National Chapter of the Year runner-up, and the National Academic Tech Bowl Championship! As an alternate for the ATB team, I received an XBox 360 and Microsoft Office 2007. I have a Nintendo Wii (and I just can’t see myself going back to pushing buttons on the controller) and Office 2003, so I don’t need any of this stuff. If you know someone who wants to buy these items, have him/her email or call me. Here’s the exact list of what I have:

  • Xbox 360 Premium console pack
  • Gears of War
  • Wireless Controller
  • Quick Charge Kit
  • Office 2007 Standard

That’s it for me. I will be back in Dallas on Friday, leaving on Tuesday evening, if anyone wants to get together (Hint: Texas Land & Cattle).