New Credit Card

I started feeling a bit sick Saturday afternoon. I think I'm better now but still feeling a bit unwell. Hopefully I'll get better before going to Boston. Boston seems cold... I've booked a afternoon/evening flight to Boston instead of a red-eye. So I'll be sitting on the plane for 5-6 hours and awake. Good thing I have a Kobo now. I can definitely keep myself entertained. I've been looking forward to having some time to just read. I do wish that the Kobo had a note taking feature like the Kindle. Oh wells... I guess this is what happens when you go for the cheaper version of things. I still like the fact that I managed to get 2 Kobos for less than the price of one Kindle.

I finally decided on a new credit card last night. I was going back and forth on whether I wanted a cash rewards card or miles. Then I finally realized that what I need is a card with no foreign transaction fees. This limited my search quite a bit. I finally decided on 3 criteria, which I posted on facebook:

1. 0% foreign transaction fee
2. No annual fees (ever)
3. And a Visa or MasterCard

I got some suggestions but no one seemed to be able to find me a card that satisfied all the requirements. I'm beginning to think that most people don't read the fine line very well. I remembered when I applied for my very first credit card, I actually did  quite a bit of comparisons to find the best rates. I managed to find a card that had really low APR rates but I guess those don't really matter if you plan on paying off your balance every month. And that first credit card only had a limit of $250. I cancelled this after a few months. 

The card I ended up getting this time is the Capital One Venture card. This is a card that gets me miles that I can redeem with different airlines. I think this is probably smarter than getting a card with a particular airline. Anyway, we'll see how well it works in terms of getting me rewards. I also spent some time putting a picture of Snowball on my credit card. I hope that will turn out well and that I won't be embarrassed every time I have to use it...

Post graduation life updates

Post graduation life is not as relaxing as I would like it to be. I feel like I always have a long to-do list, like the one I published on my previous post.

Friday was a busy day for me. I went to a seminar at Berkeley hosted by the student chapter of the Deep Foundations Institute. The talks were aimed at students so I understood most things. But some of the talks were so general that I didn't feel like I got very much out of them. Not as many people attended as they had planned for though. Could be because they didn't send out a reminder email. I met the boss of one of my friends from Stanford. It's funny because the last time we talked, he had just met my former boss. Small world. I met up with a friend from MIT and we updated each other about our lives. Turns out, he's been doing research with a professor at the City University of HK, the university that is right next to my office. He might come for a couple of weeks this summer. We can hang out everyday! Then I went with another friend to the Oakland Art Murmur. It was interesting. I wish I had more appreciation for art. I want to learn to sketch better and faster. That was one of the things they were trying to teach us at the d.school summer thing. That it's necessary to be know how to sketch basic objects very fast and use that ability to come up with a storyboard or as a first design for a product. I should start a sketchbook. I saw this book Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice at a small bookstore in Berkeley.

Turns out more of my peers invest in stocks than I realized. With these online discount brokers, you can get started even with a small amount of capital. And people seem to be doing pretty well. It takes time and effort but probably worth it if you're getting 10-20% from these investments. I also realized that living in HK would make it very convenient for me to do trades. The market is opened from 9:30am-4pm Eastern time. And since HK has either a 11 or 12 hours difference, I can do trades when I get home from work. A friend of mine pointed out that this would be like a second job! haha.

I've lost some of the productivity that I had the first week I got into this though. Mainly because I've been helping my brother with a scholarship application. That kid needs to do his own work! Too dependent on getting help from other people.

I haven't made much progress into looking at Chinese philosophy. I think I need something that sends me a daily zen quote. Or one of those desktop calendars that has a daily Confucius quote. Then I can think about the quote throughout the day. It's too much to read an entire book. I feel like I can't absorb so much at once.

Currently reading SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance. It's got some very interesting stuff, like the first book. I can't tell you what the first book was about though since it had such a big mix of topics. I think I've filed all that knowledge into different areas and don't associate them with one book anymore. I think the same thing will happen with this book. The topics don't relate well to each other. I draw a blank when I try to recall what the first book was about. It's entertaining though.

I have also just finished reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and downloaded The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard). Very entertaining series. I was hesitant at first because they are translated from Swedish. But they're very good. Reads very well. The first book had a murder mystery that involved this huge cast of characters. But the book did a pretty good job of introducing them and giving them unique personalities. I really don't like it when I can't tell characters apart.

To Do List

If anyone would like to help me with my to-do list, let me know!

- Scan relevant course notes and homeworks so that I can access them in HK.
- Ship books to HK.
- Go clothes shopping. I need more work clothes and jeans. My jeans are very old.

- Find a US bank that has free incoming international wires
- Find a HK bank that has free outgoing international wires (do these exists??)
- Consolidate my bank accounts
- Open a Visa or MasterCard credit card

- Figure out an investment strategy
-- General personal finance advice is welcome
- Read the investing books that I borrowed

- Pack for Boston trip
- Schedule lunches and dinners with people

- Pack for Hong Kong!

Some updates

Snowball sits on the chair next to my door every morning waiting for me to wake up. So cute. That also happens to be my mom's chair. She's always surprised whenever she comes back and finds Snowball on our kitchen chairs. But I think he does this pretty often.

I've made some headway in reading investment books. I think I'm starting to have an idea of what to look for when comparing company reports. Have to put this to the test though. So much to learn! There are so many online brokers, a ton of different opinions and advice out there. And then there's the question of where to invest. Should I invest in HK or in the US? It depends on which tax system gives me the best benefits. So much activation energy needed to get this newest hobby going.

I've started scanning my old homework and notes. It's a long process. Probably would be easier if I had a scanner with a document feeder. I knew I should have bought one like that. Actually the flat bed one I have now is not bad. Scanning black and white documents is pretty fast. It's the stuff written in pencil that is a problem. I have to scan those as color photo and it just takes the machine a long time to scan. Maybe I should start wearing sunglasses while doing this. I don't close the cover for convenience and that light is pretty bright. I'm going to ship a box of books and notes to the office. That should alleviate the weight of the bags that I'm checking in. I can bring more clothes and other junk! haha.

I need to do some more serious clothes shopping. My family went to SF this past weekend mainly because my mom wanted to buy some shoes. But clothes shopping takes a long time and we weren't there for long enough. Anyway, clothes shopping with parents is not fun. I should do some clothes shopping in Boston though. No tax on clothes over there.

After holiday sales and last day at work

Wow, just spent a few epic hours at Walmart. We had just finished dinner and I was taking a nap when my cousin called and asked if we wanted to go to Walmart because they were having their after-holidays clearance sale. We didn't end up getting very much stuff. Got a cat scratcher thing that is supposed to dull the cat's claws for half the original price. We didn't even know it was on sale until we got to the register. It's essentially hard cardboard. Can you believe we were willing to buy cardboard for $25?? Anyway, the cat has yet to dull his claws on this thing so we'll see if it's even worth all the effort.

The head of infrastructure treated all of the infrastructure group out to lunch today. Very generous of him. We filled three tables. It was hard trying to keep the geotechs separate. We had too many people to fit into one table to begin with.

I left the office relatively late today. Later than everyone else in my group. Leaving gets harder and harder every time. Anyway, we got an email in the afternoon saying that we can leave at 3:30pm because no one seems to be doing any work. This was not true for our group. I was really rushing to finish up stuff but didn't managed to do everything I wanted to do. Still made pretty good progress though. People came to say goodbye as they were leaving. No one seems to doubt that they will see me again but half of them were wondering if and when I will be joining the SF office as a full time employee. .

This holiday season can be characterized by me eating a lot and getting fat. The house is filled with so much food!

I got out of work early on Thursday and did a little bit of shopping in downtown SF. The BART was pretty quiet in the morning. I even got a seat on the train. It's usually impossible. The office was pretty quiet as well. I moved over to another desk to make space for the new person starting on Monday. Can't believe we're getting two new people at the end of the year. Anyway, the IT people had his laptop, computer screen, and Blackberry all ready in the morning. A couple of the other guys wandered by and were eyeing the laptop and phone, wondering if his was better than theirs. There was talk about swapping out his stuff. He can't miss what he doesn't have! haha. The guys at work are so funny.

I went running with my brother on Friday. We went around Lake Merritt in about 35 minutes (3.1 miles). We stopped twice but this was a lot better than last year. Last year, we walked most of it because my brother didn't have any endurance. One of my friends came over and we attempted to make bread. But her yeast didn't work (expired in 2005) so we tried going to the stores near my house to get some yeast. But apparently Chinese and Vietnamese people don't use yeast. All they had was baking powder. We went to 3 or 4 stores before giving up and going to Lucky's. So after about 5 or 6 hours of baking, we finally had some dinner rolls.

The family was invited to a dinner party in SF. The dinner party was held by a long time friend of my mom's. They have a big extended family and someone always cooks for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. We haven't gone for a long time. The kids are all around my age and it was kind of strange to see the younger kids all grown up.

We made our own turkey on Christmas day. We started kind of slow with just turkey and sweet potatoes. I made cake and pre-made pies. Eventually, people showed up and we had a good gathering of people to eat all the food. My cousin and I tried to play the Super Mario Galaxy game on the Wii but found out that we suck. Advancing through the levels was so painful... I think I ate too much food in general.

Snowball was really scared the entire day for some odd reason. We think it's the smell of the turkey cooking in the oven. He was hiding under the bed for a long time. My mom convinced him to come out with some dried squid but he refused to go into his room and hid behind the TV. But dad opened the door to the bedroom and he zoomed under the bed. So he stayed there until really late at night and didn't eat, drink, or use the bathroom the entire day.

It's back to work tomorrow. I need to iron shirts tonight. This will be my last week at the SF office. For real, this time. It should be a quiet week though. Pretty sure I'll see all these people again and keep in touch with them over the years. But sometimes I still wonder why I am giving up my spot here. Already too comfortable, maybe?

Random thoughts at a late-ish hour

Just had an urge to write something. We had a big food + friends and family event at my house again. There was a ton of food. Turkey, ribs, veggies, pizza, sushie, fruit, and a ton of other stuff. People dropped by throughout the day and we had a big crowd around early evening. One of my friends from Stanford dropped by for a while too.

Not many of my friends from MIT have visited my family in Oakland. I guess it was hard since people are from all over the place. But I didn't really have very many friends visiting during high school either. I think it makes a difference though, once you've visited someone at their parent's home, somewhere where they tend to be more relaxed and act like themselves. This reminds me of a comment that international students made in the book, "My Freshmen Year". Many of them said that Americans seem distant and never ask about how things are at home. There seems to be a separation of live - outside life and inside life. Somehow they don't mix. Or at least, they don't have to mix. Is this healthy? I feel like there are people who I've spent a lot of time with but don't feel like I really know on a deeper level. Something to think about, I guess.

Going off an unrelated topic, I watched Sherlock Holmes today. I've never been into the stories so I didn't know what to expect. I thought it was a pretty interesting movie in that there was suspense and had some intellectual value. I watched The Princess and the Frog the other day and that was pure brain-dead entertainment. Anyway, I bought a really nice collector's edition of "Great Cases of Sherlock Holmes" many years ago at the Bookmark Bookstore. For those of you who like bookstores, the Bookmark Bookstore is one that you have to check out if you're ever in the Oakland area. It's a little second hand bookstore near downtown Oakland. It sells books for really cheap and the benefits go to the Oakland Libraries. They have 2 sales a year (April and October) where books are discounted even more. You can come away with an armload of books for $10. Anyway, all this is to announce that I have one more book I want to read in the next week of break.

I think I might try to go running on Monday provided that it's not raining. I'm hoping my knee is healed now. Even my shin splints have all gone away, I think. I've been feeling shin splints since the second week of starting to train seriously so this is good news. I need to burn some of this turkey calories and get feel the endorphins again!

Time to read for fun

I think I've been averaging a book a day so far. And I think I need to maintain this if I hope to finish the pile of books I borrowed. I've realized the topics are so random that I don't even know which one to read next.

I started a book yesterday called, "American Nerd, the Story of My People". I had heard the author of this book speak (about the book) on a podcast. It sounded interesting so I borrowed it. Good thing I didn't buy it though because other than the first chapter, I don't think the rest of the book was very interesting at all. The author defines a "nerd" as someone wh likes rules and regulations and reminds people of a machine. He claims that the usual definition of social awkwardness applies to more than just "nerds". Anyway, half of the book was specific cases of kids who grew up in very chaotic households and therefore liked playing Dungeons and Dragons with other nerdy teenagers around the neighborhood because the game had very specific rules, unlike their lives. And then the book made a lot of references to Pride and Prejudice, which I read in 12th grade but didn't find it particularly interesting. So I didn't understand this author's particular obsession with the P&P crowd.

Today, I started a book called "The Looniness of the Long Distance Runner - An Unfit Londoner's Attempt to Run the New York Marathon from Scratch" and it has been very enjoyable to read. The guy is really funny and he basically writes about his training to run the New York Marathon. I thought it would be pretty dry to read about someone's "adventures" in the gym but I like his humor. He's a writer and has coupled this marathon with writing a book about it. He starts out his training in the gym and his "methodology" is to find out how much the daily charge of a gym is and then immediately pay for a year's membership. Then every time he goes to the gym, he would calculate how much it costs him. So if the yearly membership is $300, then the first time he goes, it would be like spending $300 for the gym. The second time, it would cost $150, and so on. He figures that by the time you get down to less than the daily charge, then you can stop going and have reaped some sort of benefit from it. His own first time to the gym consisted of using the shower because his hot water was not working. During his second time in the gym, he gets on the treadmill and successfully spend enough time that the digital display ticked off the first mile. And then (in his words),

"Just as I was feeling quite pleased with the effortless ease with which I have vaulted this first psychological barrier an annoying small voice inside my head says, 'How do you know they're miles? They might be kilometers.'
'This is Europhobe Britain', I retorted jingoistically. 'They have to be miles.'"

Of course, he finds out right after this that all the machines have been changed to metric. He actually does pretty well after a few months of training. His first half marathon, he ran in well under 2 hours (1:44) which is way better than I'm hoping to do for mine. Maybe I should've let myself trained longer before my first half marathon? Hm...

I haven't ran very much in the last week because my left knee is still bothering me. I was feeling better Tuesday morning but my knee starting hurting after about a mile. Maybe I should just take this whole break as a holiday from running? I'm worried that I won't be able to get back into shape when I get back to school and end up overtraining again... Oy...

Back Home!

We went fishing today! Didn't manage to catch any fish but it was fun. We have two fishing poles that we got a long time ago when we used to go to San Francisco to fish but haven't used recently. Usually you have to buy a fishing license to fish but the East Bay Parks have two "no license" days (July 4th and Labor Day) where you can fish for free. Anyway, we got all sorts of bait but apparently none of them worked. Casting the line was a challenge. There were a lot of people fishing but we didn't see any big catches. I think the serious fishermen came in the morning and were probably leaving by the time we made it over there (noon-ish).

I have one more week before I move over to Stanford. I've been repacking since I got home. I have so much junk. I've accumulated so much stuff over the past four years. And now there's so much stuff I want to bring over. I have a couple of boxes of notes and books that I feel like I need to have. It seems so weird to be packing all this stuff since I'll only be there for a (relatively) short period of time. Anyway, I hope this bookshelf that they provide is big. I think I'll need the space.

Sad news. I think the Oakland Libraries canceled their subscriptions to the Primsleur Language EAudioBooks on NetLibrary. Those things were so useful. I was just going to resume my foreign language learning hobby too. I mean, they could have been more useful had they decide to subscribe to the text that went with the audio but still... Anyway, I think I'm going to explore some more languages, just for fun. Now that I'm in grad school, I'll probably be meeting a lot more international people.

Stanford has this really cool website where you can plan out your classes. You can enter the classes you plan to take and it'll show you which requirements (undergrad) your courses will fulfill, their schedule (if available), number of credits, and expected number of hours of work per week. I entered my classes for the autumn quarter and apparently 10 units is considered a heavy load. Anything above this is an "insane load", which I found weird since I think most of the other Masters students will be taking more than 10 units.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to classes starting and having somewhat of a regular schedule again. Of course, once classes start, I'll wish it were vacation. When I'm at home, time just seems to pass by so quickly, without me ever seeming to accomplish anything. I guess I probably should go through my pile of magazines before leaving though.

delayed again...

I had every intention of writing in my journal. Even have it in my carry on. But turns out, OAK got free wi-fi. So... there goes the writing. My flight is delayed again due to bad weather on the east coast. Our plane got here late. I think I have about 5 minutes before boarding.

So I think it will be 6 months before I come home again. Not sure I will come back for spring break. Depends on these grad schools I guess. Home was good. Really enjoyed seeing my family and friends and just chilling. So many uncertainties about the future though.. not sure how I should be feeling about anything.

I've eaten so much food this holiday. Went to 2 buffets in a roll. Ate soo much meat. My family went out to a hotpot/BBQ buffet where they provide the raw stuff and you cook them yourself. I'm really not sure what I ate but we all felt extremely full at the end. It's pretty fun. This morning, our cousins (our aunt and uncle) treated us to a Chinese buffet. There was so much food. Seriously not good to eat like that... I feel like I got stuffed.

random ramblings

2 more days and I'll be flying back to Boston. I feel like I'm forever packing and flying to places. I managed to do some packing today. Filled a suitcase with stuff. And then my brother taught me how to throw a football. haha. Anyway, I think this D-lab thing is almost at the point where we've done all that we care to do and just need to go there. Once we're there, I'm sure we'll find out how unprepared we are.

A new year is coming, should I make some new year resolutions? I feel like this upcoming year is very almost too unpredictable to plan. I hope I get into grad school and somehow find miraculous funding for it. But I guess new year resolutions are supposed to be personal. Exercise and floss more...

SF day

I had a strange dream last night about Cam and couldn't sleep well after that. Maybe it's because I met up with Stella today in San Francisco. Stella is doing her America trip. I found out she's never even been to NYC!! Anyway, we did quite few things today. We went to Pier 39, Fort Mason, Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, Lombard Street, Chinatown, Haight District. I'm so tired.

This vacation has been full of eating out, sleeping, reading, and not doing much. A lot of eating out actually. I really met to exercise but it's been so cold out lately. I think I freeze for the first 15 minutes of being outside.

Anyway, last weekend home. I can't believe I'm going to be going back to MIT on Thursday. So soon. I haven't done half the things I said I would do. And they're pretty important. I know I'm going to be incapacitated once I get back due to the jetlag...

Christmas

Every Christmas morning, we go through the same routine. My brother and I would wake up and call our cousins. We wait for them to come before we open presents. It's always a fun event. The presents were cool, as always. My mom likes the GPS but we're having trouble making it stay in one place. It keeps falling.

Anyhow, now that my brother's busy building things with his Erector Set, maybe I can get some more serious work done. I think these Erector sets are definitely a step up from Legos and K'nex. Each has their own distinctive features though but I the models from Erector are more sophisticated. At the very least, he'll get to play with nuts, bolts, and washers. At some point, I'll get him Mindstorm but he's definitely not ready for that yet.

Also, something really funny happened. My brother and I were building something from the set when the cat started poking around. Snowball was really interested in all the little things in Victor's box. He likes marbles and how they roll around and make sounds on the floor. So he really wanted in on these erector pieces. The funny part is that this happened the last year too! I think he was really interested in a Binonical set last year and even sat on the cardboard. Or maybe that was 2 years ago? Anyway, the cat seems to always be interested in Victor's Christmas presents. So cute. Victor, of course, does not think this is cute at all and is worried that Snowball will run off with a piece.

And there goes another semester...

Wow, I can't believe this semester is over. I did an unbelievable amount of stuff. 5 classes, one of which is D-Lab and 2 CI-Hs, worked part time, and applied to grad school. Some people take 3 classes when they apply to grad school. But I guess those people are applying to PhD programs and it's a little more serious.

I feel like I've learned a lot though. My two HASS classes were very rewarding. 500 years worth of East Asian history. Ability to understand basic linguistics stuff. Granted we didn't go into anything in detail but I think I got enough background now to do some self-studying. I think I understand the world a lot better now that I've taken this East Asian history class. And linguistics is so useful. I'm glad the American university system is not like England's. I don't think it's healthy to specialize so much.

In a little more than 2 weeks, I'll be leaving for Sierra Leone. We have to transfer twice and make 3 stops before we get there. It will not be a fun flight. My flight home was delayed an hour and then we had to make a stop in Utah to refuel. At some point, I got so tired, I just slept. I got back home at 2am Pacific time. I was totally out of it by the time I got back. And I was coming home where I knew my parents would take care of stuff. I can just see the 7 of us being extremely tired by the time we get there and have to deal with getting from the Lungi airport to wherever it is we're going.

Anyway, we're so not ready. I feel like there are a lot of little details we haven't taken care of yet. Luggage, who's bringing what, how much cash to bring, gifts, etc. And then there are bigger things like learning Krio and Temne. And rammed earth project wise, we need a packing list, some more calculations, specs of the test structure, and some surveying skills. Woah, better get started soon...

At some point, I need to think more seriously about this summer. I think ideally, I would want to get an internship in either geotech or environmental consulting. I talked to the course 1 internship coordinator the other day and he gave me some good contacts, including someone working in consulting for creating constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. That would be awesome to work on. On the other hand, there are things like the Kawamura Fellowship where they basically pay you to visit Japan. It sounds like a really cool opportunity to do company visits, see the country, do homestays, and such. I think I'm even qualify to do this since I can show "genuine interest in Japan."

Of course, this all depends on what I'm doing next year in terms of grad school. Now that I'm back in the Bay Area, I should really try to meet professors at Berkeley and Stanford. I should get moving on that too...

Anyhow, home is good. Snowball is still as fat as ever. Brother is playing basketball now that flag football is over. The house is stocked with plenty of food. Friends want to meet up. My two weeks home is starting to fill up with appointments. I've been home for a day and all I wanted to do is sleep and mope around. Sigh...

GRE

I did it! I took the GRE and got fairly decent scores on the verbal and quantitative sections. Since it's a computer based test, I got the scores immediately. I'm glad I found out immediately because I would've spent the next few weeks doubting myself otherwise. I honestly did not think I could do as well as I did. I went in not expecting anything because the recent practice exams that I have been taking have given me such mixed results. I knew I had improved on my vocabulary but since we're only given 30 questions for the verbal section, it's really a matter of luck. If you happen to know the words, then you're in luck. If not, then... well... too bad... Anyways, I think after a month and a half of studying flashcards on BART and doing practice exams after work, I managed to give my verbal score a 100 point boost. I did not need so much help with the math since the math itself wasn't challenging. But I did learn some idiosyncrasies of the exam that helped me a lot. For example, even if they say "approximate" for data questions, the correct answer will always be exact. So if the answer that you came up with is not one of the choices, don't round, check for mistakes instead. Now I can only hope that my writing score is also decent enough. I think it will be okay though since I was really worried about the Issue essay and thought that I managed to write a pretty good one.

Anyways, now that that's done, I can't believe my summer is over. I didn't get to do anything other than work and study. I can't believe I'm flying out tomorrow (later today). It just all seem so unreal. I guess it just never ends. Now that I'm finished with taking the GRE, I need to actually apply to grad school: fill in applications, write essays, ask for letters of recommendations, pay application fees... And I need to start studying for another test: the FE/EIT. This one I really need to pass the first time. It would not be good for job interviews if I don't have this by the time I graduate. And since I'm taking it in April of my senior year...

Speaking of tests, I think I will also take the GMAT. I've been asking civil engineers about the value of getting MEng and MBAs. I think I've gathered that the MEng is important especially in structures and geotech. As in companies won't even consider you as a real candidate unless you have one. And down the road, when management roles are up for grabs, the MBA can be a deciding factor in who gets the job. So now I'm planning to do one of those part-time MBA degrees. One of the engineers I talked to said that she once considered switching to doing business and her sister convinced her that if she wants to do an MBA, she should go full-time because of the networking. But I don't want to switch, or at least, I don't think I do. But having the MBA would be really useful so I think the part-time degree would be a good thing.

And then, most likely while studying for this MBA degree, I would also be studying to pass the exam for SE (structural engineer) or GE (geotechnical engineer). These licenses are not necessary but hey, neither is the MBA. I know, it's not the same, but if you want to go far, these (usually only one of them, not both) are a must. So it never ends.

Last week

Last full week at home, last week at work. This Saturday, I have a wedding to go to, which I have yet to purchase a wedding gift for... On Monday, I take the GRE. And then I fly back on Tuesday. Right now I'm taking a break from practicing for the writing part of the GRE in order to.... write more.

This summer, I finally got to do what I've been wanting to do since senior year in high school, work for an engineering consulting place. I'm pretty sure this is the type of thing I will be doing once I finish with school. I'm still not sure what I want to specialize in. Everyone at work has asked me about what I want to specialize in at least once. I still don't know. Actually, I don't think it matters all that much. I value the people that I work with much more than the projects or the things that I'm working on. I want to work for smart people. Everyone at work are trained to design, have taken similar classes, and can do calculations. But there are definitely a few that stands out in their ability to plan ahead, using their judgment, and produce results that are unquestionably superior. Seriously, it's not that difficult to design a box. But it's the way that you present your results, the way you answer your emails and inquires, and the problems that you anticipate that counts. I really hope that the first group I work for is filled with people who are smarter than I am. So that I can learn to think like good engineers.

Yesterday, I got an invite from the manager of the civil/highway group for a farewell lunch with some of his group and his interns. We're all leaving this Friday. I think I will be eating out a lot this week. This lunch is on Wednesday. Their group goes out to lunch on Fridays (more like every other Friday) but I'm sure they'll go this Friday also.

Anyways, I'm pretty sure I gained a few pounds this summer. All this sitting and no exercising is no good. And watching the Olympics doesn't help either. It's true that you get pretty anxious while watching Michael Phelps win by 0.01 seconds. But it's no comparison to swimming yourself. Just kidding!

Snowball... sitting

Isn't he cute??!!! He's sitting up!

People on BART

This is something I found really bizarre when I first started working. People waiting for the trains would line up! I guess part of it is due to the fact that the trains always stop in a definite spot. The black spots you see on the ground is where the door will be. So people line up while they wait in order to go in first and get a seat. I found it really weird. I've never seen anything like that before other than maybe the commuter rail in Boston. But BART is not really a commuter rail. It's sort of something between a subway and commuter rail.

Anyhow the thing that I found really annoying though, is that everyone lines up regardless whether or not they will be taking the next train. The station at work has 2 platforms, one going to the East Bay and the other keeps going south down the peninsula. There are 4 different trains going on the East Bay platform and most people need to take a specific train. There are electronic boards that update you on when the next trains are arriving. But people line up regardless what train is coming. This is really annoying, especially during rush hours because if you want to get on a train, there are people in front of you that would move towards the door but then stop. I would always think that they're waiting for people to come out before going in but they're not! They're just waiting for another train. And you would have to go around them to get on the train.

Anyhow, I just think it's really weird how people line up. And annoying..

Is it almost the end or almost the start?

Last Friday at work:
Me: It's so quiet today.
M: Yeah, it's Friday. Most people are sleeping in their cubes.
[M pokes his head around as if too check on people in their cubes. So funny!]

So only 2 more weeks at work. Having switched cubes in the middle of my internship, I've come to realize that where you sit makes a big difference. In my previous cube, I near the wall and therefore very close to all the offices. I could hear the conversations of all the managers and higher level engineers as they complain about the project and how people use fancy words to describe "kindergarten" concepts. Now, I'm in the middle of my section and almost surrounded by the structural engineering group. I hear a whole different set of conversations and have gotten to know these people a little more. Part of me still likes the first cube since I felt like I was in touch with the progress of the projects. Now that I can't hear my manager's phone conversations, I feel less in tune with the bigger picture and just focuses on my own work. I feel like my summer would be a whole different experience if I had not moved that 20 feet.

I went out to the field on Wednesday where we hired a company to check for the Hayward fault. We climbed around in a trench and walked around to see where the alignment will be. Almost satisfying to actually see the project site. We really didn't do much. Also checked on a archeology group who were checking the site for Native American burials. They had 2 test locations and were digging a 1x2 meter box, going down in increments of 10cm, screening all the dirt, and going down to some depth. Everything is done very precisely. I didn't realize how scientific the work is. That was interesting to see.

Anyhow, non work related stuff. We watched the replay of the opening ceremony on NBC on Friday. It sucks that no one else is allowed to broadcast and since we don't have cable, we can only watch what NBC shows. I mean, we can find this stuff online but it's not the same as watching it in the living room, on the big screen, and sitting on the nice sofas. Our computer screen is only 17" and it is located in my room and the only sitting arrangement would've been rolly chairs or my bed.

Anyways, the opening ceremony was amazing. Very, very well done. Now that I've worked on fine tuning AutoCAD drawings for a few weeks now, I really appreciate the amount of work that must've gone into making these performances happen. Making sure everyone does what they're supposed to do must have taken a lot of work. Coming up with the idea is nothing compared to all the tedious planning, directing, and executing. There must've been countless revisions to get those all those drumers to get the countdown right. Computers can only do so much. Someone had to think about every single drumer and their every movement. I mean, for our AutoCAD stuff at work, we have to check every line, every word, and it doesn't even involve any people, just lines on a computer. Man, I almost feel sorry for the British who have to host the next Olympics. Everyone will be comparing.

GRE

Word of the day: Nice - adj. exacting, extremely or even excessively precise; done with delicacy or skill. He had so nice a sense for chocolate that he could identify the source of the cocoa bean used to make each variety

I just started studying for the verbal section of the GRE and it's sooo hopeless. The words are so hard. I got the ETS book which has previous exams and each sub-section of a section has questions in increasing difficulty. I can answer the easy ones but once it gets harder, I have no clue what to do. Can't even guess. That's how bad it is. Very sad. Need to do some major studying here.

I got a Princeton Review book on the verbal section of the GRE. The exam is computer based and that the computer is trying to judge your level. If you answer a question correctly, it'll give you a harder question. But the way it works is like tuning a microscope. It gives you average questions first and does the coarse adjustments. Once it has some idea of your level/score, it'll do the finer adjustments. Which means the beginning is the most important. Getting things right or wrong will affect your score by 40-80 points versus only 10-20 points by the end. So scary. One good note is that I seem to still do well on the reading comprehension questions. I shouldn't get my expectations up for those yet though since I've only done 2 passages.

Piff, haven't even started studying for the EIT yet... worried.