ReviewT H E Y E A R 2 0 1 2 I N

Dear Friends,If you’re reading this, congratulations, you too have

survived yet another apocalyptic prediction. At the start of the year, I was optimistic about my free weekends, which I promptly put to work teaching robotics in San Diego and Or-ange County. For some reason, I thought it’d be a good idea to mentor multiple robotics teams at once. This was followed by the robotics competition season, where I helped host the San Diego and Central Valley FIRST Regionals, and judged the Vex Robotics World Championships.

After competition season, I realized that I missed sleep-ing in on weekends, and so I spent my summer focusing on research, having found a permanent home in the Waterman Lab to study colon cancer. Though I seem to be changing the goals of my proposed thesis approximately every two weeks, I do appear to be drifting towards something resem-bling a thesis proposal, and with all luck a refined idea may appear in the coming year.

All this aside, this year has been a fairly productive, and for the most part, upbeat. While next year will undoubtedly have its share of challenges, with luck I will catch up on my sleep at some point and have enough energy to tackle them. Hope that you and yours have a wonderful 2013.

George Chen

RetrospectiveA F I V E Y E A R

# boba drinks (& top stores)

149San Diego: Tea N MoreIrvine: Lollicup

Miles traveled

58288Approximately 2.34 trips around the Earth (at the equator)

Cities lived in

Los AngelesSan DiegoIrvineAlcohol consumed

209.533+34+13+35+94Measured as pints of beer or equivalent alcohol. Approximately 10 lethal doses.

Photos taken

187740% Analog, 100% Digital

Music library

40+48+47+52+54Totaling 53.2 days

Robotics events

62Books purchased

50Labs researched in

THREEApocalyptic prophecies

3Media appearances

4Disneyland visits

33Movies watched

95

MusicT H E Y E A R 2 0 1 2 I N

Most emberassing

Oppa Gang-nam StylePSY Featuring Hyuna

Most ridiculous lyric

All of “Star-ships”Nicki Minaj(All of it is just so bad I couldn’t pick one line)

Total songs

21591Songs added

602Podcasts followed

FIVE

Vendor shows

FOURMajor equipment malfunctions

3Equipment repairs

TWOlatest hour in lab

8:30pDays off

We’re allowed to have days off?Best vendor show swag

Staple-free

ScienceT H E Y E A R 2 0 1 2 I N

staplerContaminated cultures

1Students

2Publications/presentations

3Most # of meetings in 1 week

7Thesis defenses attended

SIX

Cover gallery

A amazon.com

B boingboing.net

C cakewrecks.com

D deviantart.com

E etsy.com

F facebook.com

G gizmodo.com

H hilton.com

I imgur.com

J java.com

K kottke.com

L lifehacker.com

M miceage.com

N nsf.gov

O ocregister.com

P pubmed.gov

Q questionablecontent.net

R reddit.com

S southwest.com

T themeparkreview.com

U uci.edu

V visionsfantastic.com

W westcoaster.net

X xkcd.net

Y youtube.com

Z zotero.org

Websites A-Z

Top 5 Twitter topics

1. #omgrobots

2. lab

3. time

4. weekend

5. work

Webcomics followed

12Internet-enabled devices

Three

InternetT H E Y E A R 2 0 1 2 I N

Blog entries

SixFavorite new webcomic

Zen PencilsDesign clients

4Websites built

2Tumblr posts by type

Photos taken

2501% shared online

16%All on facebook.com/gtchen

Most Likes on a Photo

75Instagram photos

ZEROMost photographed

DisneylandRoboticsFood

PhotographyY E A R 2 0 1 2 I N

PeopleMost photos in one day

296Lab photos

20Photos by Month

Best podcast

The MothNational Public Radio

Best new album

BraveDisney/Pixar

Most obscure album

LegendTwo Steps From Hell

Most played songs (2012)

Hymn of the WorldsCirque du Soleil

Fine by meAndy Grammer

Drive byTrain

Most common artists added

0 100 200 300 400 500

December

November

October

September

August

July

June

May

April

March

February

January

(and counting)

Movies watched

13Best movie

SerenityJoss Whedon

Most offensive movie

TedSeth McFarlane

Animated vs Live Action films

4:13Canceled vs current TV series

2:9Best TV series

Top GearBBC

Television and FilmT H E Y E A R 2 0 1 2 I N

Miles traveled

12035Approximately the distance roundtrip between Seattle, WA and Tokyo, Japan, with a layover in Honolulu, HI.

Major cities visited

Los AngelesSan DiegoSan FranciscoLas VegasMuseums visited

FIVE

Most miles driven in one day

387Best exhibition

Space Shuttle EndeavorCalifornia Science Center

Flights

6Disneyland visits

FOUR

TravelT H E Y E A R 2 0 1 2 I N

R E S TA U R A N T R E V I E W S

Best hole in the wall

Ramen HaluSan Jose

Best overall dinner

Maggiano’sSouth Coast Plaza

Worst food served on a stick

Country Fried SteakSan Diego County Fair

Most visited

Anthill Pub22 visits, UC Irvine

Best dessert

Carrot CakeExtraordinary Desserts, San Diego

Best hotel restaurant

Storyteller’s CafeDisney’s Grand Californian Hotel

Restaurants visited

75Regular visits (+5/year)

Starbucks

Anthill Pub

Koba Grill

In N Out Burger

Lollicup

85c Bakery

Gina’s Pizza

Yogurtland

Jamba Juice

All you can eat buffets

TWOBoba drinks

31

Money spent on pastries

$128Beers consumed

94measured in pints

Best beer

Summer Sol-sticeAnderson Valley

Least offensive beer

Mucho Aloha Hawaiian Pale AleButcher’s Brewing

Food and DrinkT H E Y E A R 2 0 1 2 I N

Weekend distribution

Tweets

1253Online at twitter.com/g_chen

Text messages

1628Minutes on phone

4271Totaling 2.96 days

Temperatures

109FDriving through Central Valley

55FWinter night in Irvine

Earthquakes felt

THREEMost $ paid for gas (per gal)

4.659Modes of transportation

BikeCarPlaneFeet

2 0 1 2 I NMisc

RoboticsT H E Y E A R 2 0 1 2 I N

Robotics events

17Jobs held

EmceeAnnouncerJudgeRefereeMiles traveled

4980Outreach events

3

Robots on fire

2Largest event

Vex World Champion-ships600 teams

Smallest event

San Diego Fair FTC Showcase6 teams

Furthest event

CalGamesWoodside, CA

FacebookT H E Y E A R 2 0 1 2 I N

Types of post

67+11+22Friend gender distribution

54+46Friend relationship distribution

38+38+17+5+2Likes per post

3.18

66.8% Links10.6% Statuses22.6% Photos

54.5% Female45.5% Male

Most activity

Wednesdays, 12pm

Common first names

Jennifer (13)

Andrew (12)

Total likes

2702

I N M E M O R I A M

TechnologyCell Phone

Samsung SGH-C417Years of service

EIGHTReplacement

HTC VividDigital Camera

Canon Power-shot A95Megapixels

FIVEReplacement

Nikon Coolpix S3300

Status wordcloud

38% Single38% Relationship17% Married5% Engaged2% Other

29+2+8+10+31+1729% Los Angeles 10% San Jose2% Other 31% Irvine8% Orange County 17% San Diego

COMEDY

DOCUMENTARY

ANIMATION

ADVENTURE

ROMCOM

Top Gear

Downton Abbey

QI

Doctor Who

Big Bang Theory

How I Met Your Mother

Chuck

FireflyIron Chef America

Worst TV Series

(Still) All of TLCAnd definitely MTV

Movie genre distribution

Television series watched by network