website/content/now.md

---
title: Now
date: 2022-05-15T16:46:37-04:00
Description: Recent Happenings in Brandon Rozek's life
---

[*This is a now page, it's meant to showcase what's been going on in my life
recently. If you have a website, consider creating one as well*](https://nownownow.com/about)

## Professional

I started my PhD program back in August 2021.
So far, I've met many wonderful people including
but not limited to the folks at the RAIR lab which
I'm now a part of.

For my first two semesters I was a teaching assistant.
The first was Introduction to Computer Science and the
second was Principles of Software.
Both of these classes had what I would consider a large amount
of students (> 300), which meant that there were multiple TAs
splitting the class into smaller lab/recitation sections.
Honestly those labs and recitations were the best part of the TAing experience.

In Summer 2022, I will be at IBM Research in Yorktown Heights, NY.
I'm looking forward to having more research dedicated time.

## Personal Life

Living in Upstate NY, this is the coldest winter I've been through.
There are many of you in far colder places, but I was not mentally prepared for the
constant 15 degrees Fahrenheit weather.
What helped keep me warm:
- Window Insulator Kit (lowers the amount of heat escape)
- Thermal underlayers (top and bottom)
- Soup (Nice and warm)
- Heated Blanket (much cheaper than a space heater)
- Snow spikes (for hiking in the winter)

Now that we're approaching summer again,
I look forward to going on more hikes.
You can check out some of the trails I completed on my
[AllTrails profile](https://www.alltrails.com/members/brandon-rozek/completed).