My Life at October 2006
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 31, 2006(Tuesday)
Today Carmen is a bit sick so she went home early. I tried to work on the projects of the two PhD seminar classes that I am taking but I am not having too much idea yet. It is slow.
October 30, 2006(Monday)
I met with Prof Seb and he told me that, I am energetic and I can handle questions well last Friday. However, I am speaking too fast and too much and I am not clear. Therefore, I need to shorten my speech a lot. At night, there is a deacon meeting. This time I am very quiet (relatively) and sit there and smile. Occasionally, bring up several good points. It is good that we finish the meeting in 2.5 hours.
October 29, 2006(Sunday)
The Cantonese Sunday School changed time from afternoon to morning because some people say that they prefer morning time. However, it turned out that the same group of people came. Then Carmen was the translator of the sermon and at night we went out for dinner and also went to Borders Bookstore to read some comic.
October 28, 2006(Saturday)
Seems like the professors enjoy my talk yesterday as well. Here are some of the comments I received:
Prof Albright: (he taught me last year in the Probability and Queuing class, which I very enjoy. And he will teach me next semester for a computer simulation class)
Hubert, all I can say is, Keep up the great work. As for not having a life anymore, I think it’s the opposite with you. You seem to be as happy as can be with your research – you’re in your element!
Prof Patterson: (he will teach me next semester in a PhD seminar):
I thought you both did a fantastic job today. It is very apparent that some of our younger faculty (and Chris Albright, as well as others) are working intensely with some very bright students to produce impressive results. My conjecture is that you will represent the university and yourselves quite well as you go out onto the job market not too long from now.
Prof Soni: (he is the department head and he wrote reference letters for me to apply to other PhD program)
The seminar was very well done today. You two have set a very high standard for the rest of your colleagues. You have our permission to take Friday evening off!!
As for today, we went to donate clothes to charity. Then at night we went to Joyce and Nicky's house to have hot pot together. It is nice to have a small gathering with another Cantonese speaking couple to support each other. I ate a lot and I am full.
October 27, 2006(Friday)
Being attention-seeking is not always bad. Because this is the confident and also the "thick face" required when doing a presentation. I had my first year presentation today. I practiced it three times last night, once with Carmen. And I practiced it once this morning as well. Usually I do not practice and this shows that I really care about this presentation. As I stated two days ago, I have spent 520 hours on it. I want to do a good job. Ever since my first presentation in my first presentation in summer 1995 in UBC, I discover that I am really good at doing presentation. People usually comment that I am entertaining, energetic, passionate and funny. I got lots of public speaking experience in church and I do have a strong desire to stand in front of the crowd and talk. I am a bit nervous (or I should say, excited) before the talk and my pulse went from 65 per minute to 90 per minute. (My peak pulse is after intense running exercise which reaches as high as 182 per minute). But then once I stand on the stage, I am on my own and I had fun. Just like Hansel said, I am able to control the emotion of the audience. (Actually, I don't think that I am "controlling" their emotion. I am maintaining a level such that they don't fall asleep). I thought that I did a decent job in explaining all the concepts that I need to add. I am also really good at thinking some real-life experience on-the-spot. Therefore, my feedback is that my professors and fellow students said that I did a good job. I am bad at writing but good at presenting.
Usually after a big event like this, I got a lot to meditate and self-reflect. Therefore, it is a good time to go to workout. Running is a good thing to self-reflect and cool down my energy. Afterward, I am back to normal now. To reward myself, I read some comic.
At night, the fellowship singspiration leader spent more than half of the time sharing. Her sharing is good, but I am EXTREMELY impatient about her sharing because this is the singspiration time and she is NOT supposed to do this. It may seem funny, but I almost exploded. I have to calm myself down because of what she did. But her sharing is spiritual and good. Just that I am very impatient because she is NOT supposed to do that during that time. I am really annoyed. The fellowship time is about "flipping Bible fast" competition. This is similar to Bible quiz, just that it tests you how fast you can flip the Bible. Then we went out to have food with fellowship friends.
October 26, 2006(Thursday)
There is the PhD seminar this morning, the one that is usually long and boring and that I have no interested. The guest professor talks about the harsh tenure process, that only 10-15% of the assistant professor in top research school can make the tenure. During that time they need to play politic and be popular in order to win the vote. He advices us that treat our first job as a well-paid post-doc job and aim for our second job. I think that this better be my philosophy too because I don't want to disappoint anyone. However, when talking about the paper, I am quite bored and nearly fall to sleep.
At night we went to prayer meeting and I appreciated Carmen for being supportive and be a household of faith.
October 25, 2006(Wednesday)
Up until yesterday, I have worked on my first year paper since Nov 16, 2005. I have spent 516 hours on it, and in addition I have met with Prof Seb 40 times, each worth on average almost 1.5 hours. I will have my presentation coming Friday and will also go to conference at Pittsburg to present next weekend. Today I have another meeting with Prof Seb about my project and worked on it the rest of the time.
At night, Desmond went over to have a talk with me about his life and some religious questions. I am glad that I am mature enough to share with others.
October 24, 2006(Tuesday)
I tried to donate blood today. It is taken place in the Activity Room downstairs. However, when it is my turn for the nurse to enter my personal info, the computer internet connection failed. Therefore, rather than waiting for an hour, I have to go home so that I can go to class.
At night we had a surprise party for Jo because her birthday will be tomorrow. About 10 people went to my apartment and tried to surprise her, but then we failed because she went another route and she saw all of them hiding. Nevertheless it is good to have another gathering time.
October 23, 2006(Monday)
Nothing much going on, other than meeting with professors, working out, doing homework.
October 22, 2006(Sunday)
After church today, we went to pick apple at a garden with some of the church friends. This is a huge "forest" with about 1000 apple trees. Some are very short. However, most of the nice apples are being taken already. We have to use some tools (see photo webpage) to get the apple. But still there are some for us to play around. At first, we picked some nice one and put it into the bag. Then we have the freedom to pick some from the tree and ate it immediately. Then, without the need to finish the whole apple, I throw it to the ground. This is a very unusual thing to me because I always try to finish everything and I never throw garbage to the ground. However, consider that there are a lot of apples (most of them are rotten) on the ground and this may be some fertilizer, I left the unfinished apple to the ground. The weather was really cold outside. After seeing so many apples on the ground, I figured that I will entertain myself by treating them as baseball. I threw it as far as I could. I also tried to smash it to the ground, to the tree and to other apples. I also tried to step on the apple and squeeze on it. I also use that tool as a baseball bat to hit the apple as well. I got pretty violence at the end. But that was fun, considering that, as mentioned before, I always finish the food and never left garbage on the ground.
October 21, 2006(Saturday)
Today is my 16th spiritual birthday (previously mistakenly told others as my 15th birthday). So half of my life was spent in HK, the other half was spent as a Christian. This actually all started long time ago. Dad was born in a Christian family and going to church and attending church activities are natural behavior. While he was studying and working as businessman, he never hides himself as Christian. Mom graduated from Pooi To Middle School. The school is classified as Baptist Religious school. Then she continued studying in Hong Kong Baptist College, later called Hong Kong Baptist University. While they were studying in HKBC, they attended the Kam Kwong Church (in Wong Tai Sin) because Grandpa was the Headmaster in Kei Sing Elementary School and he was assigned to go to Kam Kwong Church as helper in there. Therefore Pun's family including Grand Pa, Grand Mom, Uncle three and dad were simultaneous having church activities & services there. At that time, Mom was his girl friend and she also went there. She was pro-Christian at that time because she was studying in environment related to Christianity. She followed dad to Kam Kwong church and accepted Jesus as her salvation God under Rev Chan Chi-Man. Their wedding church choir was from Kam Kwong Church and the wedding place was in Union Church, an appointed place for Shing Kwong Church's Kowloon service. Of course, when we moved to live in HK, we all attend church activities in Shing Kwong Church. (Hansel accepted Christ March 6, 1993 and Carmen accepted Christ during 1993)
I went to play basketball this afternoon. However, they have enough people so I am only able to play 45 mins and wait for another 45 mins and felt too frustrated and went home. At night, that was the bridal shower of our church friends Chunli and Helen. Chunli used to stay in our home previously. And now they are going to marry Dec 31, 2006. We had some sharing and also light games. Carmen was the host of the night and she did a great job.
October 20, 2006(Friday)
I had a meeting this morning at 9am about my PhD project #2. And then after some studying, the classmates (Greg, Valya from second year, Dan, Wenbin from first year) celebrated my birthday and treated me for lunch. That is very nice to have mid-semester break to have easy time with classmates.
I ate a lot and went to do workout afterward. At night, fellowship was Bible Study. Carmen led it and I assisted her.
October 19, 2006(Thursday)
I did not spend too much time reading the PhD seminar on Manufacturing Strategy (the one that I attended class last Saturday) but then I still got over this class today, talking on some issue. It is like causal talking so this is not too intensive. I also got the result from the Game Theory Econ class mid term that I took last Thursday. I thought that I will get 90% but I only got 82%. It is disappointing. However, I do not feel too bad about this. It is because the highest grade in this 13 people class is 85% and the average grade is less than 70%. I got an "A" so I am fine. Also, I slept through some of this class and I did not spend too much time studying. Therefore, this is a decent grade to get.
At night, Carmen spent about an hour teaching me about the Bible Study that I will lead tomorrow. She is also the leader. If there are more than 10 people showing up, we will split to two groups and I will lead the second group. I have gift in leading Bible Study. However, my leading style is more sharing, personal reflection (and a bit like "sermon") and not really dwell on any historical meaning of any passage.
October 18, 2006(Wednesday)
I don't have to go to school at all today. I worked on the PhD project #2 for about 6 hours today. I also went for workout with Carmen. We also played Racquet ball, something that is similar to squash, but much more bouncy. I played squash with Hansel May 19 this year.
October 17, 2006(Tuesday)
Today is another long class day. Carmen also took some training at night from 5:30 to 8:20. I waited for her in my cubicle and then we went out for dinner.
October 16, 2006(Monday)
For this semester, all Mondays are like this: meeting with Prof Seb on my PhD project and doing work out. For the rest of the day, work on homework or the project. I felt mentally tired and stress lately because of this over-discipline life. I read comic and watched DVD for a while to relax. I am looking forward for a break!
However, today I also did other things. I vacuum the house. I used to do it every other week in Vancouver but now this is only my third time vacuuming the house here.
October 15, 2006(Sunday)
Today is a normal Sunday. I went to church for service and Sunday School. The speaker today talks about the "Purpose Driven Life" book; rather than a usual 45 mins sermon, he talked for 1.6 hours. Very long but I am glad that I can stay concentrated most of the time.
At night
I went to have a fellowship magazine meeting. I, as a fellowship deacon, initiated to have a fellowship magazine, using the idea that I learnt long time ago in Vancouver's Hebron and Canaan fellowship. I am glad that other people are very supportive about this idea.
October 14, 2006(Saturday)
Today is a Saturday that I have to go to school. The Operation Strategy PhD Seminar professor is from Indianapolis so he drove an hour to Bloomington most of the Thursdays to give us a class. However, twice a semester, he asked us to go to Indianapolis to take class there. And today is the first time. In terms of the content of the class, I strongly dislike it, because I am not interested in Operation Strategy (such as, job shop, manufacturing strategy, Just In Time, Total Quality Management and so on) and the methodology is empirical (collect data and analyze the statistic) which is strongly dislike. We are also required to read many paper; this week we need to read 13 paper and the five of us have to present one paper each. Actually I did not read the 13 paper; instead, I read the paper that I present in depth and skim through the other four papers plus the summary that the classmates sent out. It is because there is only so much that I can absorb, plus there are other things (such as the PhD project) that are more important than reading paper on some researches that I will never do.
Part of the purpose of this class is to introduce us to the faculties in the Indianapolis campus. This is a six hours class and for the first 1.5 hours, a very senior professor came and shared about his academic life. For the remaining of 4.5 hours, we presented paper. Even though I did not read other people's paper in depth, I still participate in the discussion. In fact, when I see a point (usually, these kind of points are quite general and not having a great relationship with the theme of the paper), then I drill, elaborate and spent the next 5 minutes in this point. This is also known as "BS" and I am pretty good at that. This also keeps me awake or else I will fall asleep during these 6 hours class. It also gives a good impression (I hope) to the professor that I am doing my job. Compare to other PhD seminars that I took, this class has the most reading and I dislike this class the most. However, in order to participate in the discussion, I really need to know the stuff if it is for other classes. However, since the topic is about strategy, we just need to share our experience and BS for this class. Therefore, I am glad that I do not need to commit too much for this class.
The class is from 9:30 to 4pm. We went out for lunch. And afterward, the professor drove us around the Indianapolis campus and showed us the university. And then he brought his family (wife and a 5 years old son) and treated us (from his own pocket) for dinner (for Italian dinner, it costs about $25 per person, or almost $200 for the whole meal!). I strongly dislike the class content, but then this professor is good because he treated us for dinner and introduced different faculties to us. I would definitely ask him to be my supervisor if I am interested in the kind of research that he does (but no). We left at 8 and returned home at 9:30.
October 13, 2006(Friday)
Today it is my last I-Core teaching day of this semester. I find that, in general, female students pay much more attention than male students. But then, they all talk in class and I don't feel as respected as when I was teaching Cisco classes. I tried my very best to make it as interesting as possible. However, when I am demonstrating them how to do calculation in Excel from the class computer, people starts to talk among themselves. There is nothing that I can do to control it.
At night Carmen led songs and she did a great job, better than usual. And we had a talk on "How to find God's will" by a HK Philosophy PhD students Daniel. In fact, he is our pre-study leader and he really covers thing in depth.
October 12, 2006(Thursday)
I had my first midterm this year, on the Econ class, the one that I sometimes fall asleep. Unlike other students, I did not study much. I basically tried to understand in class (when I am not sleeping) and read briefly about the book. However, being born a test-taker, I actually enjoy (how many people say that they enjoy taking test?) taking test and got challenge. I studied (only briefly) until I found that I understand the big picture. The rest is how I am going to perform during the test. I have a pretty great record of taking test. And I will see how I am going to do in this test. Also, this is not good for me to spend all the time to study for this class because there is other thing in life that I need to focus.
I had meeting with professors about my PhD project #2 and went to prayer meeting at night. They got some light dessert during prayer meeting because this week there are three people (Tanyue, Carmen and I) have birthday so we got to have some food.
October 11, 2006(Wednesday)
There will be an Econ game theory (one which I have fallen asleep several times) mid-term tomorrow. Therefore, today I spent majority of the time to study for the mid-term. Moreover there is a tutorial section 9-1030pm tonight (the only timeslot that we are not busy) so I went to attend as well.
October 10, 2006(Tuesday)
Today is another long class as usual, but I did not fall asleep in class. At night, Nicky, Joyce and Jacky came to our house for dinner. Jacky shared about his decision processes of continuing for Master degree or go to work. I shared about my perspective of working. Strangely, among the people in fellowship here, they have lots of education background (PhD) but not many of them have working experiences. Therefore, my working experience is valuable to them. He also shared about his relationship with his girl friend.
October 09, 2006(Monday)
Today is birthday (again). If I look back to last year's wish, quite a lot are fulfilled. Carmen found a job, I have a decent project that is towards the end. I hope that, next year by now, I will have my second PhD paper (nearly) completed and passed the qualifying exam. I hope that I will have idea about my dissertation and start my literature review. In terms of health, I find that getting old is not avoidable. I did exercise three times a week and yet I find that my running condition is not as good since I returned to HK this summer. I hope that next year this time I can maintain my speed. As of the family wish, still going through a decision making process and I hope that thing will clear up next birthday. Of course, I am sure that Carmen and I will be more household of faith than now.
At night, I cooked dinner for Carmen because today is her birthday. I usually only cook during the big celebration, such as Valentine’s Day, anniversary or birthday. For the rest of the days, I am studying as usual. We also talked to our parents and our sibling.
October 08, 2006(Sunday)
Today is an evangelical meeting during Sunday Service. Previously the outreach concentration is for the more activity oriented youth. This time there is a Chinese pastor came to Indiana to preach and we invited them to have a sermon at our church as well so that we can attract some people who are not as much activity oriented. There were 70 people came and about 10 of them are non-believers. At the end there are 4 people accepted Christ and that is good.
We went to buy pizza and then went to Sunday School. Afterward, they celebrate our birthday and cut cake. And then we went to have dinner together. This is a long day with church friends. It is certainly relaxing, but given my upcoming schedule, I need to work really hard!
October 07, 2006(Saturday)
I spent about two hours reading the PhD seminar on Operation Strategy and I slept at 3am. I do not enjoy the course. Not the content and not the methodology. I wish to get over the course work so that I can focus on my research later.
Today we went to Nicky and Joyce's house for lunch and then we had pre-study with a group of Macedonians. At that time I went to a separate room to study. And then we went with Nicky and Joyce to watch the movie "The Departed". This is the Hollywood version of the HK Movie "Infernal Affairs". I had a good expectation of this movie because the yahoo HK news says that this is better than the original. However, after seeing it, I disagree. I think that the plot is not as good and the characters are not as well developed. All of us think that the original movie is better. This is not only because of the "first impression" but also because some of the story lines are not elaborated. This only worth about 65% while the original movie deserves 90%. Nevertheless, this still worth the money to see this movie because this fulfills our curiosity and expectation for this movie.
Carmen and I went out for dinner and then we went home and I studied for the rest of the night.
October 06, 2006(Friday)
I spent about 5 hours today reading paper about Queuing literature. As of now, the queuing technique will be the main technique that I use for modeling my second PhD paper. The first PhD paper has lots of high-school but very tedious algebra. I need to be extremely careful when doing the math. I hope that I won't have to do this kind of tedious math paper again. My second project is about queuing and the math is very difficult and advanced. Therefore, there is lots of me to learn but I am enjoying it so far.
At night, the fellowship is a combine groups for Mid-autumn festival dinner. However, in the middle of it I have to leave because I have to proctor for the undergrad business class. I feel bad for the students and myself because we are spending time taking the exam Friday night.
October 05, 2006(Thursday)
I woke up early today at 6:30 so that I can go to school with Carmen this morning. She wakes up every day at 6:30 to go to work and I usually wake up 11am if I don't have to go to school. Today I certainly wake up 4.5 hours earlier than my usual biological clock. I had a long class today. Same as last Thursday, the PhD seminar for Operation Strategy lasts for 4.5 hours. And then there is a 1.5 hours Econ class. However, since Carmen prepared a HK Style milk tea for me this morning, I did not really fall asleep in any of the class. I am very participative and generated a lot of discussion. This also helps me stay awake too.
At night, Jo and Joe came to have dinner at our house. I also worked on PhD Project too.
The toilet of the first floor of our apartment is clogged. And the bath tub and the ground of the washroom are floating with some bad smell brown water. That is very disgusting. In order to solve the issue, the apartment maintenance people have to come to our apartment (we are living in the second floor) and take out the toilet. Then they have to find out what causes the clog and remove it. It turns out that some residence above us put some paper towel into the toilet and flush it. Then this clog with some disgusting pooh (or whatever dark smelly brown thing). It takes about an hour for them to take the toilet, clear the clog and put the toilet back. I feel sorry for people who lives on the first floor directly below us (which we know who they are because they go to church as well) because their house would have some smell. And I am glad that the problem is solved now.
October 04, 2006(Wednesday)
I had meeting with Professor today, went out for running and then keep on studying. Carmen took a class in dreamweaver at night and afterward we went out for dinner too. I have to sleep early tonight because I need to go to school the whole day and wake up early tomorrow.
October 03, 2006(Tuesday)
Today is another normal and busy day of school. I asked lots of question and very participate during the PhD seminar because I will do a project for this class that hopefully will last until I can write a paper of it. However, I still fall asleep involuntarily in the Econ class. I don't know why.
At night I went to the deacon board meeting. It takes me the whole night, leaving home at 7 and arrived home at 11:45. So I need to do something to catch up the studying.
October 02, 2006(Monday)
I read papers on "Queuing with Blocking" until 3am last night. This is for my second PhD project and I think that I had fun reading it. Today I met with professors about my two projects and also worked for a long time about my projects. After a relaxing weekend, now I have to get back to intense studying again.
October 01, 2006(Sunday)
Today is the first day that the Bloomington Chinese Christian Church have communion. I think that the last time I had communion is about 10 months ago, since I started to attend Chinese worship on Sunday. I am one of the two deacons helping out to serve the communion while the church president (since we do not have a pastor) serves as the chair for the communion service.
Afterward we attended the Sunday School. We discussed about whether salvation is forever, whether or not sinning would make one lose his salvation and what happen to those that never heard of the gospel. We generate lots of good and open ended discussion. I am happy about that. Afterward we also discussed about our music worship. We discussed that whether or not we should sing more traditional song, or we should have a set of songs for the leader to choose from.
At night, I got back to the study mode again, after a weekend of light studying.