Month: February 2020

Here is a heap of photos from a walk around downtown Columbus, and a weekend trip to the Cleveland Auto Show. It encompasses the past 4 weeks.

The Darby Creek Metro Park, located a few miles from my apartment, has many trails and amenities, but its main attraction is a herd of bison. The steel sculpture above sits near the visitor center. The public is kept away from the herd by two fences.

This Sasquatch photo is the best I could do. It was a bitterly cold day in the teens. But except for a few days like this, the weather has been in the thirties and forties. Only a dusting of snow, twice.

From outside, the state capitol building in downtown Columbus is modest, upstaged by skyscrapers all around it.

Inside, it is stunningly opulent. Everywhere are high ceilings, intricately carved marble, gold leaf, and murals/frescoes/whatever these are.

All but deserted on a Sunday.

The rotunda and the halls that branch off it are painted in pastels.

My roommate has the high ground.

This is the fanciest water fountain I have ever seen. Elkay, take notes.

A stained glass version of the state seal is on display in the museum, in the basement of the capitol.

The downtown is a mix of new high-rises and very old churches. We drove past some great buildings, which I will get more pictures of when it stops being so cold. It’s a surprisingly attractive city.

My three weeks at Honda have already been better than I expected. I’ve driven a prototype car worth as much as a Ferrari on the Interstate, alone. I have learned a great deal about what makes all the microcontrollers in every car work together for hundreds of thousands of miles without errors, and seen the detailed procedures that come into action when things don’t work as expected. I’ve helped to set up data collection systems for the road testing that Honda engineers do every day, and I’m working on a device to make that data collection easier.

Most importantly, the people I’ve met at Honda have always treated me with respect. I know nothing compared to the other engineers, who can recite part numbers and run through procedures from memory, but I am trusted with equally important tasks. That has been both exciting and terrifying. But don’t worry; every test I perform is reviewed by several higher-ups before the car is unleashed on the public.