My Life at March 2006
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March 31, 2006(Friday)
I had the PhD Seminar in the morning, and then some professor who is also the editor of the Decision Science Journal came to IU for a presentation during afternoon and we are required to attend as well. Therefore, this is a long day with lots of thing to learn. I need more time to digest.
I went out for a jog outdoor. This is the first time that I jog outdoor after winter. The weather is really nice and I enjoy the run. This is also a time for all the information to sink in to my heart.
At night, we had Bible Study led by Jo. Then we also went to eat with them after fellowship.
March 30, 2006(Thursday)
Today is pretty normal. I just went to class and worked on the homework. Nothing much is interesting. We also practiced music at my home for 40mins for Sunday Worship.
The weather is extremely nice today: Sunny and warm. When Carmen and I worked home after she completed work, we both enjoyed the nice sunshine outdoor. About 10 days ago (the Tuesday after spring break), it was freezing and snowing outside. Now everything is nice and warm.
March 29, 2006(Wednesday)
I worked hard on the PhD project. Basically, I got the frame work of the result done. Now I spend a lot of time waiting for the Mathematica program to deliver the output. I think that Mathematica program is doing some complicated thing and I have to wait for it to generate the output.
At night, several of the HK CCF group people, Joyce, Jo, Joe, Chi Fu had dinner at our house. I also led them for prestudy for this Friday's Bible Study.
March 28, 2006(Tuesday)
I went to school as usual and slept on the floor (but with a mattress and book as the pillow) for an hour during the break. So that I hope that I would not fall asleep in class. I am also working on the homework as well and try to be as ambitious in finish the homework as early as I can. Otherwise, today is still a normal day.
March 27, 2006(Monday)
I got a few of the Queuing and Probability class homework done. However, I still find that there is a lot to be done. I decided to leave it to a later time, hopefully the professor would give us a bit more hints. And I also worked on the PhD project because after all this is the one that would affect my future the most (compare to the homeworks).
March 26, 2006(Sunday)
After church we had a meeting on the church constitution. The temporary church committee talked about the constitution and needs to CCF coworker to approve it. We actually expected to finish it last Sunday but then the coworkers have many opinions and that drags the process. It is good to have opinion but then I feel frustrated because the process is delayed greatly. I think that this is the thing about serving as a team.
At night, we went to prayer meeting.
March 25, 2006(Saturday)
I slept at about 3am last night but I woke up at 5:50 to go to Indianapolis again for the last day of conference. There are three sessions today and I went to another place to sleep during the first session. Then I have the energy to attend the next two sessions and it was pretty good. One of the sessions is about the concept of
"Supply Driven" and the other one is about internet usage (e.g. customer behavior when buying online - use blog or not, and website "facebook" that students spent a lot of time every day). Both of these workshops are relatively interesting and I asked quite a lot of questions (so that I don't fall asleep.)
I returned home at 2pm and I slept for 2.5 hours. And then I went with Carmen to do workout. I also tried to do some homework on the Probability and Queuing class but I still don't have clue on any of these yet. It is always difficult to first start to work on any problem.
March 24, 2006(Friday)
I left home at 7:30 and went to Indianapolis for the conference again. Out of the five workshops, I only attended two. Because I spent two of the workshops time to talk to other professors (networking!) about the expectation as a PhD student and also future role. Also, I spent one workshop time sleeping, because I am simply too tired so rather than falling asleep during workshop, I would rather hide in a place to take a nap. Actually, whenever I go to a new place to do training, or yesterday went to the conference, the first place that I look for is a hidden place that I can take a nap. It is not easy to find one but it is very important to me. Anyway, talking with professors from other school and also IU graduate really gives me good idea about what to expect in the future. The more I talk to other people, the more I find that IU is a good school and it is very difficult to get placed in school that is in the level of IU. Probably because the other universities that show up in this regional meeting is too bad.
I returned to Bloomington at 7:40 and then I went to fellowship directly. Tonight there is a talk by pastor from another church about dating and sex. We had really open sharing about these topics when we separated to male and female. And the sharing is so good that the girls went to my home to continue to share after fellowship. Therefore, in order not to influence them, I went with Chi Fu to Joe house to continue to share too! It is always nice to talk to peer (even though they are 9 years younger than I am) about the struggle and I returned home at 2am.
March 23, 2006(Thursday)
After class this morning, I went with classmates to Indianapolis for "Mid-West Decision Science Institute" Conference. This is the first time that I attend a conference. Some of us are driving 1.3 hours one trip in order not to live in the hotel. I tagged along. We left home at noon and arrived there at about 1:30. At first, I am listening to other doctoral students (about 5 of them) present their project. They are presenting something that I have never touched. So this is surely a good eye opener to know what other students are doing at other school. However, I can not contribute or give them any critics. I am like a muted person sitting there, but I did not fall asleep ether.
At night there is some networking event with other school's faculty or students. I find that I am not too good at socializing at other people, but still I need to pretend that I am very interested or else I would be standing there myself. Also, I find that our school is really good in this region, because other people are coming from some no-name school that I have never heard of, and most of the people in this conference are from our school, or graduated from our school. So this is one of those rare instances that I feel proud to be an IU student.
At night, we also had dinner and talked about how to be a successful PhD student and finding a good job. I certainly picked up some good hints as to what to expect after I graduated. A sad truth is that, less than 20% of the faculty member eventually made the tenure track (i.e. get permanently employed) at top research school. That means, if I am lucky enough to get to good school, but I am one of those unlucky 80+%, then I may have to move house again later.
I returned home at 10:30 and it is so glad to see Carmen back at home waiting for me safely.
March 22, 2006(Wednesday)
I went to meet the professor about the PhD project. The math is so clumsy and I always feel like that I am not getting anywhere. I need to talk to him every now and then to keep myself motivated and see the big picture. He said that I am self motivated and hopefully I can have some nice paper. This is my hope too! Other than that, I am so far stay ahead of the school work so I am living a relaxing (even though it is worded as relaxing, actually I am working very hard and pushing myself very hard) life. This is also my prayer to God because then I would not feel frustrated when I devote the time to church committee. Of course, I will reserve quality time with Carmen too by reading the Purpose Driven Life book with her the second time. I am glad that she is very understanding to my schedule too.
March 21, 2006(Tuesday)
There was a snow storm November last year. And then throughout the winter there is almost no snow. However, after spring break, out of no where, there is a snow storm last night and today everything is white. Very weird. I am glad that we have safe commute today.
I went to class as usual, and I did not really fall asleep today during the Statistic class. Doing homework ahead of time surely helps. At night, I had a hair cut and then went to the tax aid session to complete the tax form for Carmen and I. It is not as messy as it was last time.
March 20, 2006(Monday)
I worked on the Visual Basic last night until 3am for the homework of the Queuing and Probability class. And then, today I was working on the statistic homework and also the project. I also went to do work out today. And I was occupied enough that I did not feel tired and so I did not have afternoon nap. However, I am sure that I will be tiring (as usual) tomorrow when I go to class.
March 19, 2006(Sunday)
I went to church in the afternoon and then had a meeting with all the coworker when we presented the constitution to them. I originally thought that it will be a quick meeting because they need to gather three votes to oppose to any line. However, they did not read it before coming to the meeting. And we have to go by each line and that wastes a lot of time and it ends up that we can only finish half of the constitution. Therefore, we are in a very tight schedule to complete the constitution, choose nomination committee and result in a new deacon board.
I went to prayer meeting at night and we had some food there. Lately there are quite many foods during the prayer meeting and this is good. Carmen stayed home to work on the church membership form (thanks a lot, honey) and she caught flu so she stayed home to rest.
March 18, 2006(Saturday)
I had a temporary church committee this morning to take care of the application for the church to become a non-profit organization and also the tax issue so that people can have tax deductible while offering money to church. This is surely a very messy and tiring application. I don't enjoy this at all.
In the afternoon, there is a sport fellowship. There is competition for basketball and badminton. I only played for basketball while Carmen plays for badminton. I am not good at scoring today and I missed a lot of easy shot. I don't know why. Probably because I have not played in a formal basketball (or any sport) game for a long time. I only play for fun. Therefore, I cannot handle the stress. I am not satisfied for my performance at all. However, on the other hand, I get to know more about some new comers and invited them to go to church more often. Therefore, from a fellowship or outreach perspective, I did a good job. Anyway, we had a fun time and I wish that we will have this more often. I think that I am a leader outside the basketball court, but I am not a leader on the court.
At night, some of them went out for dinner and Carmen went out with them as well. However, I need to work on some church stuff and homework, hence, I stayed home and do some work and also clean the stove.
March 17, 2006(Friday)
I spent some times working on the PhD project until I can't take it anymore. I also went to the gym to play badminton and basketball with Carmen, and then with other CCF friends. After some warm up, Carmen improved her badminton skill tremendously and she even beat me (ok, I let her a bit)
At night, I was the singspiration leader and also led Bible Study at the fellowship. And then we went out to have snack with church friends.
March 16, 2006(Thursday)
Carmen and I took the driving test today. Our friend Andy from CCF took us there. First we practiced the road once and then we both passed the test. There is very few traffic and we passed it without a problem. During the middle of the test the examiner wrote something on the paper and I thought that I may have done something wrong and took the point out. However, Carmen had the same experience and we think that this is just a way to scare the candidate.
Afterward we went to Wal-Mart to buy drug because Carmen has a bit of flu. And then I went home to study and prepare for tomorrow's Bible Study. I also went out to practice music for tomorrow's singspiration.
March 15, 2006(Wednesday)
I slept until 11:10am this morning and I am all charged up. I spent some time to do the homework and the PhD project. We also went to the gym to do exercise to burn some energy that we ate during the last several days. At night, Jo invited us to her home to have hotpot with several other CCF friends. We played UNO card there as well and watched some movie. This is a good time to spend with brothers and sisters that we are not too close with.
March 14, 2006(Tuesday)
We woke up at 9:15 Indiana time. I went with most of them to the Museum of Science and Technology in the morning. We only got 1.5 hours but there are so many things to see, such as Chemistry, Physics, Navy, energy, farming technology, computer technology, air craft and so on. 1.5 hours definitely is not enough. In the mean time, Carmen and Jo and Chi Fu went to the Art Institute to see the Egyptian Art too.
We went to China town to eat Dim Sum for lunch. We were like a group of hungry people because we were hungry and also because we have not had Chinese food for a long time (There is no good Chinese restaurant in Bloomington). And then we want to visit the Christian bookstore but they are closed today. We were quite disappointed. We went to buy some Chinese food grocery instead.
We left Chicago at about 5:30 Indiana time and then met at Predue University (half way between Chicago and Bloomington, two hours drive to each direction) for dinner. I slept in the car most of the time. However, from Predue University to Bloomington, I played some Bible Quiz game with Carmen and Tan Yue and also we asked deep questions about each other (e.g. what is your weakness, what do u dislike me, what is the biggest fight in your marriage) and I think that this is again a very good sharing time. We returned home at mid night. And then I updated my website and slept at about 3am.
March 13, 2006(Monday)
We left home at 8:30 to Chicago with the following people: Shangmin/TanYue, Chunli/Helen, Jo, ChiFu, Wang Hui, and ZhongRen. We stopped by at Prudue University so that one of us can drop off the car at Chunli's house. Then we arrived to Chicago at 2:40 pm Indiana time. We ate the very thick pizza from Pizzeria Uno. We were very hungry at that time but the pizza is just too thick for us and we cannot finish all food. Therefore, we donated the leftover to the street people.
After lunch, we walked by ourselves. Carmen went to check out the clothes while I went to Border bookstore to read comic and fell asleep too. We gathered together and went to Chinese restaurant to eat dinner at night. We were happy to eat Chinese food.
We returned to the Super 8 Motel at 10pm Indiana time. Last time when parents went to Chicago with us, the situation of the motel is quite bad so we don't expect anything this time. However, surprising the hotel situation is pretty good. We rented 3 rooms for 10 people: 2 double rooms with a king size bed each, and a suite with two double bed and a sofa bed. The total price is about $210 for three rooms and that is pretty cheap for 10 people. We played some card game, and then we had some good quality sharing time about thing in the bottom of our heart, such as our family relationship with our parents (I encouraged them to say "I love you" to parents, just like people in fellowship previously encouraged me to do so 10 years ago), whether fellowship people are faked, how can we express ourselves and what we think about each other. Usually the group of us is just playing card game. This is a great time to have good sharing time. We slept at Indiana time at 3am.
March 12, 2006(Sunday)
I woke up a bit later in the morning and then went to Sunday Worship. Carmen is the translator today. The speakers talks about how the Chinese wisdom/knowledge is useless compares to the cross of Jesus. He quoted a lot of old-famous Chinese line and a lot of old style Chinese name. That is definitely very hard to translate and she did a good job.
After church, I had the usual church committee meeting and we completed the church constitution. This will be sent out to the co-worker this Wednesday. And then we had prayer meeting at night. We also celebrated Shangmin and Tanyue's wedding one year anniversary too and cut cake.
March 11, 2006(Saturday)
Carmen needs to go to work this morning because people in her resident needs to move out during spring break and she needs to help the check-out procedure. I went to gym for workout in the afternoon. After I went home, people in the CCF asked me to play basketball so I played for about 2.3 hours as well.
At night, Carmen and I went to eat dinner at a Korean Restaurant next door. And then I read the last book of the comic "Detective Q", the one that Yuling purchased for us several days ago. I don't have a lot of thing that I really enjoy to do, but reading comic, especially this one, definitely is something that I really enjoy.
March 10, 2006(Friday)
Yuling stayed over at our home last night but then she returned to Seattle this morning.
I had a presentation for the PhD seminar. This is difficult as usual but since I have read the paper several times, I think that I did a good job. In the afternoon, I did some homework and did not go to the gym to do workout.
We went to church at 6 to set up for the outreach at night. Carmen was the song leader and I think that she did a great job. And then we played life game. I have played it once (about Mar 2001) in FCGC and twice in Venezuela (Jan. 28, 2003 and Dec 25, 2003). I think that I learnt this game about 1998 in Canaan. Today is the fourth time that I lead this game. I can't believe that I have implemented this idea to every church that I have been to.
The idea of the game is that people have to experience the essential of life during the one hour. There are different booth (education, love, family, friendship, religion and sport) that they need to raise their level. Afterward, they need to work (waiter, doctor, engineer, counselor, police, NBA star, pop singer, politician, tax collector) to earn money and each job have different prerequisite. They need to eat food every 10 mins, and from time to time I am going to call out someone's number and that person died suddenly. This is quite overwhelming to those that never heard about the game, but the game would become clear as life unfolded, which is similar to our life. Also, different people started off with different amount of money, which is similar to life too.
After the game, there is sharing and also small group discussion and it lasts for another 1.5 hours. I think that tonight the program is a bit overrun. Other than that, I think everything is relatively smooth. Praise the Lord for that.
March 09, 2006(Thursday)
There is no Statistic class in the afternoon. Instead, I had meeting with professor about the PhD project and I am working hard on this. Let's see whether I can finish most of the result by Spring Break.
At night, people came to our house to practice music for tomorrow's outreach singspiration from 6:30 to 9pm. In addition, our CCF friend Yuling went from Seattle to Bloomington and stayed over at our house tonight and she will leave tomorrow morning.
March 08, 2006(Wednesday)
I tried to work on the Probability and Queuing class today, but then the homework is just a bit too tough and I don't have a good idea how to do the homework yet. I think that I need to revisit the homework later. I basically looked at the homework, until I fall asleep (on the bed). And I brought some rough work to the gym so that when I am running on the treadmill, I am "meditating" the questions. But I still have no luck yet.
I also worked on the PhD project. I think that I have gotten most of the result. Therefore, what I am doing is that I am trying to double check it to make sure that I am not making any stupid mistake.
March 07, 2006(Tuesday)
The Probability and Queuing class lasted from 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours today because the professor did not attend the class last Thursday. It is very tiring but I still managed to stay awake. And then I fall asleep (as usual) in the Statistic class. The professor is teaching something that is relatively simple yet cumbersome. I think that I am fine.
During the evening, we went to the church to practice for the outreach. We will play the life game and we had a practice round today. It lasts for 1.5 hours and so far things are going smooth. And then some of the people in the Cantonese Macedonia group (my group) came to my house for dinner and some chatting time and they left at about 11:30.
March 06, 2006(Monday)
I work on the PhD project today. There is progress, but still slow. I hope to talk to professor this week so that I can have more idea before the Spring Break. I also worked on the Statistic homework. The material is not tough, just that I don’t have the heart to work on it yet.
At night, we went to a violin recital by a CCF friend Yuan Yuan. She is the master of music student here. I think that, if I remember correctly, the last time that I went to some classical music concert or violin solo concert was when I was 7 years old and my parents brought me there so that I can get interest in violin. They failed at that time, but did not fail in the long term because I still rank violin as my number one music instrument and I practice it every day. Violin means a lot to me and I have so many related-memories with violin.
March 05, 2006(Sunday)
Today is church day. In the morning, I went to the fellowship co-worker meeting. We spent most of the time discussing whether the temp church committee would have all the authority to make all church related decision. Or they (I am in that committee) only have the duty of making the church constitution. We finally agreed on this and elected the committee member again (but ended up with the same group of people, myself included).
This afternoon I am the worship leader for the first time, since I left Venezuela. It is very interesting for them because I am leading in Cantonese and I need a translator. Then we went to have the temp church committee meeting and we finally finish discussing about the church constitution. It only takes us four times, which is way shorter than I expect. We, especially I because I am the person initiate and also responsible for the church constitution, are very satisfy with our quick accomplishment.
We went to prayer meeting at night as usual. And that is the end of the "church weekend" and now I am onto my school work again.
March 04, 2006(Saturday)
The statistic class for next Thursday will be canceled and moved to this morning. I had a hard time staying awake though. I then worked on homework afterward in the evening, and spent some times with Carmen for a walk and shared a lot of thing about life. It is important to have quality sharing between spouses, or else the marriage would not be good.
At night it is the surprise birthday party of Chunli, who is the fiancé of Helen of CCF. We also help them for pre-marriage counseling (actually, it is just a prayer partner relationship). My job is to occupy him somewhere else until all the guests arrive. We asked him to help out to make the booklet for the outreach. And then at night, we went for the surprised party and played some game. And then some of them also went to our house to finish with the outreach "passport of life" booklet. Also, one of them has served in the army in Singapore and he shared about his experience about serving in the army.
March 03, 2006(Friday)
The PhD seminar about Inventory management is just so hard. We read the paper but completely missed the whole point and the depth of the problem. I think that this is just not good. We really need to work harder. It seriously made the last term's PhD class, which I have to struggle due to the amount of work, seems childish. Last term's class is about supply chain management. Most of the math, prove, logic is not difficult. It is just that we have to read so many papers. However, for this term, we are supposed to read as many paper but I just read and focus on one per week, yet I still missed the point.
Besides inventory management, filling in the tax application is tough. It is just clumsy. I went to the tax aid session today. If it is not because of the volunteers there helping me, I think that I would not be able to do it at all. I really appreciate my dad previously filling out all the tax form for me.
At night for the fellowship, we made craft to prepare for next week's outreach. We also briefly talked about the preaching gospel concept that we talked about last week.
March 02, 2006(Thursday)
There is no class in the morning because the mother of the professor passed away after last Tuesday class and therefore he canceled this class. I also talked to another professor about the PhD project that I had worked on in the last few days. There is a lot of thing to be done and I hope that I can have a paper nice enough that it can be used as a dissertation. I can either use three separate papers or one huge paper as my dissertation and let's see how far it goes.
At night, we had a music practice for this week's singspiration. They practiced at my home and I will lead the Sunday worship. I think that I am the first Cantonese speaking person leading the Sunday worship. I chose some one English, one Cantonese and two Mandarin song. However, it sounds like that they don't really like the English song and asked me to change it. In fact, they are not too satisfied with the Cantonese song, but I explained to them that we have a Cantonese group, so we can go ahead with the Cantonese song. I can see some tension already. I hope that I am not doing stupid thing, because the most important thing right now is to get the Constitution passed. I hope that I am not distracted by other thing.
March 01, 2006(Wednesday)
I worked on the PhD project again today, for about 6 to 7 hours. Very long time and I need to be very careful because it is very easy to make stupid mistake. I also started to edit the Church constitution from Venezuela Baptist Church and make this for the Bloomington Chinese Christian Church (BCCC) for about 1.5 hours too. I think that today is very productive.
I also tried to open the online banking account username/password. After putting all the information, such as Social Security Number, bank account number, it says that, to complete registration, please call a phone number. It is very suspicious. After I called the number, the person made me to hold for more than 10 mins and eventually I hang up. I am really afraid that this is another stupid bank fraud again, even though I type in the website myself. Afterward, I called the same phone number and eventually set up the online banking info. I am glad that it is over.