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Return to UCSB

I just returned from another fun week at the Family Vacation Center. It is a family-oriented camp held in the dorms where I went to college at the University of California at Santa Barbara. We usually attend week 7, if you’re interested in joining me in 2025.

While there I revisited all six places where I lived over my five years there. Here is a map to help explain their locations. They are numbered in chronological order.

map
san miguel hall
1. I spent my freshman year (1983-84) in the west tower of San Miguel Hall. In particular, in room 5417, facing the lagoon. This is the first place I ever lived away from my parents.
santa rosa hall
2. My sophomore year (1984-85) I moved to the more prestigious Santa Rosa hall. What you see here is just one of six segments of the entire building. My room was one of them on the second floor behind me, room 2117. It has a nice view of the psychology building. By the way, the original five dorms were named after the five islands that consist of the Channel Islands National Park.
santa ynez
3. My junior year (1985-86) I moved off campus to the Santa Ynez apartments. These were technically located in Goleta, but on every form I filled out I put Isla Vista as the city, as I think Goleta is such an ugly name for such a nice place. Almost as bad as Oxnard. This was the first place I ever lived where I had to cook for myself, which was usually top ramen or a can of soup. My room was on the first floor, directly behind me in this picture.
santa ynez apartments
4. My what I’ll call my first senior year I lived in another apartment at the Santa Ynez apartments (1986-87). I know this looks almost the same as the previous picture, but all the units looked the same. Again, I lived on the first floor on the left side, if facing the building. My room was directly behind me in the picture.
el nido
5. This is my favorite of all my college homes, the “El Nido” house (which means “the nest” in Spanish), where I lived my second senior year (1987-88). To be specific, 6571 El Nido Lane in Isla Vista. I lived on the second floor with five other guys. This apartment was located just steps from UCSB and about 500 feet from the Pacific Ocean. When it was quiet (which isn’t often in Isla Vista) you could hear the waves. The apartment had a grass lawn and a big coral tree when I lived there. In case you’re wondering, I was four classes short of the total credits required after my first senior year. So, I took it easy my fifth year, taking just two classes the first and third quarters and none the second.
sabado tarde
6. This is where I spent three months after graduating, at 6572 Sabado Tarde (which means Saturday Afternoon in Spanish). My apartment was on the first floor, directly behind me in the picture. I subletted it for the summer of 1988. It was my intention to find a job befitting of a college graduate in the area, hoping to stay. However, that attempt was an abject failure. In the fall, I was forced to cast my net in the larger market of Los Angeles, which didn’t go so well either. The year that followed is what I call my “lost year,” which is perhaps a story for another day.

In closing, I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane. In a future newsletter, I plan to post some pictures taken around the campus.

 

August 1, 2024 Puzzle

Here was the puzzle asked in the August 1, 2024 newsletter

You have a Jeep that can travel 100 miles per gallon. The Jeep may carry up to four one-gallon containers. You are tasked with delivering a letter to an outpost 400 miles away in the desert. There is no supply of gas in the desert. However, there is an unlimited supply of gas and canisters at your starting point, which you may return to as many times as you wish.

How can you deliver the letter and return with only 14 gallons of gas? Leaving caches of gas in the desert is allowed, but only full canisters.

August 1, 2024 Puzzle Solution

  1. 1. Drive 100 miles out and leave 3 canisters. Then return home. Total gas consumed = 2 gallons.
  2. 2. Drive 100 miles out and top off your tank, leaving two 2 canisters 100 miles out. Total gas consumed = 3 gallons.
  3. 3. Drive another 100 miles out, to the 200-mile point. Leave 3 canisters. Total gas consumed = 4 gallons.
  4. 4. Drive back 100 miles, to the 100-mile point. Transfer one canister to your jeep. Total gas consumed = 5 gallons.
  5. 5. Drive back home. At this point, you will have one canister 100 miles out and three canisters 200 miles out. Total gas consumed = 6 gallons.
  6. 6. Leave with a full tanks and 3 canisters of gas. Travel 200 miles out. Transfer 2 canisters from the cache to the jeep, leaving one canister there. At this point the Jeep will have a full tank and three canisters. There will one canister at both the 100 and 200 mile points. Total gas consumed = 8 gallons.
  7. 7. Deliver the letter and return to the 200 mile point. Transfer the one canister to your Jeep. Total gas consumed = 12 gallons.
  8. 8. Go back to the 100-mile point. Transfer the one canister to your Jeep. Total gas consumed = 13 gallons.
  9. 9. Go back home. Total gas consumed = 14 gallons.
 

August 8, 2024 Puzzle

There are five lions and one goat in a pen. The lions are all awake and hungry. If a lion eats the goat or another lion, it will get sleepy and get eaten by another lion. The lions are all perfect logicians and do not share their food. The priority of the lions is first to stay alive and second to eat. What would happen? For extra credit, what would happen with n number of lions?