Missed the Lecture on Stanford

On eBay Park

The eBay Park on Hamilton Ave is a great place. I had full day meeting with buddies here, and it was nice. I found out some good food in the cafeteria – chicken with steamed rice. It is so nice to finally find some food I enjoy.

Meeting with Friend at Night

I managed to drive from Hamilton Ave up to Sushitomi Restaurant in Mountain View. Silicon Valley has so many small cities like Mountain View, which is basically one central avenue (Castro St). I have been to this area for three times, so is pretty familiar. The only problem with my drive is, I spent more than 10 minutes to get to CA-17 at Hamilton just because I missed the entrance from east to west, and have to get a U-turn in the Friday traffic on Hamilton. So the finally trip was more than 30 minutes.

Public Lecture on Stanford? I Missed It

What I planned for the night? I went to Stanford to listen to the lecture from Anousheh Ansari, called A Journey to the International Space Station. The lecture was held on the Stanford campus, at Kresge Auditorium, Stanford University.

Why I go there? Stanford is my one of my dream university, and since I am in town, why not visit the campus (again). I saw the poster about the event in a Iran grocery store near eBay campus yesterday, and decided to go. My friend Michael Stephanblome said something like “Why bother check out buildings in a city? Check out the people!”. It is very to the point that it makes much more sense to me to attend a lecture in person on the campus than wondering between the buildings.

Wrong Way! Took 1 Hour to Get There

Imagine how long I took to get to Stanford? One hour from Mount View. What a shame. I didn’t bring detailed map with me. I have no problem locating Stanford at all, but to get to the right Auditorium is just a big challenge. The campus looks like a maze for me. Finally, I got back to the Palm Dr – the famous entrance that I can recognize, made a U-turn at the end (wrong way), and then move east bound, until I hit Campus Dr. I followed the Campus Dr to Serra St back to El Camino Real (wrong way again) where I came from, realize it until I reached Page Mill Rd, and U-turn back to turn to Serra St, Campus Dr E again. Anyway, you know how hard it was (and how stupid I am).

Finally I spent about 10 minutes to park – how come Stanford had so many cars on Friday night! Do the student really study so hard?

Full! The Waiting List Seemed Full Too

When I get to the gate of the Kresge Auditorium, the lecture already started for 1 hour. It is about the story of Anousheh Ansari

, the first female private space explorer. I cannot mistake the auditorium since there are so many people outside it – looked pretty like a social event.

To my disappointment, the guard didn’t allow me to enter (no surprise – why all other guys waited OUTSIDE?). He said it is absolutely full – there was even no standing spaces. People outside were waiting for some one who leave, so they can enter.

This is to my surprise that a public event on campus attracted so many people, and they waited outside for one hour.

So, finally, I saw a nice auditorium, and get some idea about Stanford – I practically created many of the road on campus (without a map).

2 thoughts on “Missed the Lecture on Stanford

  1. If you are still in the Bay Area this Wed. and you know someone in Stanford, you may want to attend the following event:

    TechNet presents:

    “2006 TechNet Innovation Summit at Stanford University”

    Date: Wednesday, Novmber 15

    Time: 8:00 AM To 1:00 PM

    Location: Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University

    America’s top leaders in technology will discuss emerging industry

    trends as well as the public policies that will shape the future of

    our nation. Moderated by award-winning journalist Charlie Rose, this

    event will be taped for broadcast and will feature:

    * Brian Halla, CEO, National Semiconductor

    * Reed Hastings, Founder and CEO, Netflix

    * Jerry Yang, Founder, Yahoo!

    * John Doerr, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

    * Scott McNealy, Chairman, Sun Microsystems

    * Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft

    Open to Stanford faculty, students and staff. Tickets required.

    One (1) free ticket available per Stanford ID.

    Tickets must be picked up in person with Stanford ID at the Stanford

    Ticket Office beginning Wednesday, November 8.

    1st Floor, Tresidder Memorial Union

    10:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Monday-Friday

    12:00 noon – 4:00 PM, Saturday.

    More information: http://www.technet.org/members/innovationsummit2006/

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