Just finished cleaning the bathroom and kitchen and re-vacuumed parts of the house. The bathtub was clogging and the repairman who came wore his boots all the way into the bathroom! So I ended up vacuuming the floor and washing the bathroom. Feels good to have a clean house.. :D
CZ came back Wed night and will be leaving for Tahoe later this evening to ski. I got to hang out with him yesterday, which was really nice because I don't think we've had much chance to. I got a haircut, the first one since sometime last Nov I believe. It is now short and nice, perfect for the current Cali weather.
We also caught two movies: Shooter and TMNT. Both were brainless, but pretty entertaining. I would say that Shooter was the better of the two. TMNT just seemed too different from the childhood cartoon I remember. They just don't make cartoons like they used to anymore. Everything now is about state-of-the-art 3D animation. No wonder I like anime so much; they are closer to the cartoons I loved so much as a kid.
I am so happy to have a clean house. Yeah!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Calorie-Loaded Day
Wow. Let me count what I have eaten today.
Breakfast: Simple bowl of Post cereal + Mandatory cuppa cafe
Lunch: Shin Ramen with Dumplings.
Dinner: Porridge (lots of it) with 8 chicken wings (surprised I finished)
Supper: 1 pack of Honey Dijon Kettle Chips (all 9 oz of it)
I also had a can of coke from the gas station along the way to pick my friend up from the airport.
Breakfast: Simple bowl of Post cereal + Mandatory cuppa cafe
Lunch: Shin Ramen with Dumplings.
Dinner: Porridge (lots of it) with 8 chicken wings (surprised I finished)
Supper: 1 pack of Honey Dijon Kettle Chips (all 9 oz of it)
I also had a can of coke from the gas station along the way to pick my friend up from the airport.
Random Chatter
One thing about Stanford that really impresses me is its efficiency (or perhaps inhumanely tight academic schedule). Final exams can be graded and final grades decided within a week. Typical mid-terms only have a turnover of one weekend. Perhaps Cornell was just inefficient?
Grades for this quarter ended up better than expected. In some sense I am happy that all the work paid off. Interestingly, the first A+ I got in an EE class comes from my CS architecture class. Maybe this is a sign that I should take the next class in the series. Maybe it is a sign that I am more suited for architecture than circuits.
Anyway, I am not as happy as I thought I will be, nor as happy as I might have been in the past. Maybe expectations are changing eh? I remember TT telling me that after winter break, he realized that grades aren't that important. I cannot remember what he said was important though.
Been trying to plan my parents' trip this June. We should be visiting Vancouver and the Rocky Mountains. I was looking at some online tour package which looked quite promising. But I just noticed that it departs on Friday. Darn.. we were going to arrive on Mon or Tue. Maybe we will end up driving ourselves.
Let's see what I have been doing the past few days. Vacuumed the house. Placed a fix-it request to fix the living room lights. Played with the new MacBook Pro and sent it in for repairs today (the trackpad seems a tad strange so I decided to get it replaced). Cooked kong ba for last night's potluck dinner. Watched American Idol last night for the first time; it was pretty entertaining. Filled up the tax forms (should be getting a few hundred dollars back.. yeah!). Ah finally hopped onto the Facebook bandwagon.
Things left to do: settle next quarter's classes, buy textbooks, write a few postcards/cards, check up on IEEE membership, order cap+gown for graduation, apply for graduation, and confirm my air ticket back to Sg.
Grades for this quarter ended up better than expected. In some sense I am happy that all the work paid off. Interestingly, the first A+ I got in an EE class comes from my CS architecture class. Maybe this is a sign that I should take the next class in the series. Maybe it is a sign that I am more suited for architecture than circuits.
Anyway, I am not as happy as I thought I will be, nor as happy as I might have been in the past. Maybe expectations are changing eh? I remember TT telling me that after winter break, he realized that grades aren't that important. I cannot remember what he said was important though.
Been trying to plan my parents' trip this June. We should be visiting Vancouver and the Rocky Mountains. I was looking at some online tour package which looked quite promising. But I just noticed that it departs on Friday. Darn.. we were going to arrive on Mon or Tue. Maybe we will end up driving ourselves.
Let's see what I have been doing the past few days. Vacuumed the house. Placed a fix-it request to fix the living room lights. Played with the new MacBook Pro and sent it in for repairs today (the trackpad seems a tad strange so I decided to get it replaced). Cooked kong ba for last night's potluck dinner. Watched American Idol last night for the first time; it was pretty entertaining. Filled up the tax forms (should be getting a few hundred dollars back.. yeah!). Ah finally hopped onto the Facebook bandwagon.
Things left to do: settle next quarter's classes, buy textbooks, write a few postcards/cards, check up on IEEE membership, order cap+gown for graduation, apply for graduation, and confirm my air ticket back to Sg.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Last Spring Break...
Hello, I am back!
Someone commented that I always blog about work. Another commented that I am always talking about work. So I will refrain from talking about work as much as I can... as soon as I give a quick update (which will inevitably contain references to work).
The quarter has come and gone. Spring break officially starts today, and I am bumming around here in Stanford. One of my house-mates is back in Ithaca, while the other two have left on a big road trip. By big, I mean the length of time (8 days) and number of people (9). Honestly, I feel kind of bad that I am not going with them; they did their best in persuading me to go and I suppose I did not give them a very good reason. Oh well....
So other than trying to save S11, another reason might be that I just don't get much utility from traveling. After almost 4 years in the US, I equate traveling to fatigue. There is definitely the fun factor, and it is the last chance to travel together with a big bunch of friends. After we get back to Singapore after graduation, work and family will prevent us from doing anything like this. So perhaps, I will regret my decision in months to come. But for now, other considerations are more important.
Back to the issue of graduation, 4 years has passed by surprisingly quickly. This last year must be the fastest of all due to the pace of life here. A recurring dinner topic among us is how we will cope with going back to Singapore permanently. There is general grumbling about starting work and worries about being paid (real) peanuts. But I think a bigger worry is the reverse culture shock.
I think I should be able to deal with the loss of space; at least everything will be within 20-30 minutes if I drive. The loss of privacy should not be an issue. I am used to having my own room and being free from parents. Going back means that I will be sharing my room with my brother again, but that should be fine I think. Anyway, it will be as big an adjustment for me as it is for them. I am not so sure if I can deal with the different working style though. Keeping my fingers crossed on this....
I was going to go on about the woes of my posting back in my company, but since that is about work, I shall defer it to a later point. Instead, let's end with a picture!
New Gem in My Room
Someone commented that I always blog about work. Another commented that I am always talking about work. So I will refrain from talking about work as much as I can... as soon as I give a quick update (which will inevitably contain references to work).
The quarter has come and gone. Spring break officially starts today, and I am bumming around here in Stanford. One of my house-mates is back in Ithaca, while the other two have left on a big road trip. By big, I mean the length of time (8 days) and number of people (9). Honestly, I feel kind of bad that I am not going with them; they did their best in persuading me to go and I suppose I did not give them a very good reason. Oh well....
So other than trying to save S11, another reason might be that I just don't get much utility from traveling. After almost 4 years in the US, I equate traveling to fatigue. There is definitely the fun factor, and it is the last chance to travel together with a big bunch of friends. After we get back to Singapore after graduation, work and family will prevent us from doing anything like this. So perhaps, I will regret my decision in months to come. But for now, other considerations are more important.
Back to the issue of graduation, 4 years has passed by surprisingly quickly. This last year must be the fastest of all due to the pace of life here. A recurring dinner topic among us is how we will cope with going back to Singapore permanently. There is general grumbling about starting work and worries about being paid (real) peanuts. But I think a bigger worry is the reverse culture shock.
I think I should be able to deal with the loss of space; at least everything will be within 20-30 minutes if I drive. The loss of privacy should not be an issue. I am used to having my own room and being free from parents. Going back means that I will be sharing my room with my brother again, but that should be fine I think. Anyway, it will be as big an adjustment for me as it is for them. I am not so sure if I can deal with the different working style though. Keeping my fingers crossed on this....
I was going to go on about the woes of my posting back in my company, but since that is about work, I shall defer it to a later point. Instead, let's end with a picture!
New Gem in My Room