Diary
My Life at July 2009
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July 31, 2009(Friday)
I was working very productive and very hard on the computer VBA programming for the healthcare paper for 8.7 hours. In the middle of the day we went to visit our church friend Jessica (Mrs. Yeung) and her 2-years-old son.
July 30, 2009(Thursday)
The weather is pretty hot lately. Last night I read a research paper that (finally) gave me some idea; I brought this idea to sleep. When I woke up at around 5am to pee, I can't go back to sleep. So I keep on thinking about this idea. Eventually I just woke up and wrote this idea down. Then I also went out for 49.5mins jogging early (left home 7:21am) in the morning. The weather is not that hot this time in the morning and it is good to went out for a jog and digest the dissertation idea.
In the morning we went to Metrotown for walk, and also to enjoy the Air conditioning. Then in the afternoon Carmen and I went to watch "Harry Potter" movie. We have been following the past several Harry Potter already; we will for sure watch the next one when it comes out.
July 29, 2009(Wednesday)
Temperature is hot lately; makes us easily be impatient and be annoyed. Plus Cailyn is fuzzy and does not have long afternoon nap. This is definitely not a comfortable day. We went to Richmond's Christian bookstore and also mall to enjoy some Air Conditioning. This morning we also went to Central Park to let Cailyn to play with Garfield's family and Jessica's family.
July 28, 2009(Tuesday)
Nothing special except the weather is hot.
July 27, 2009(Monday)
This morning Carmen, Cailyn and I went to Granville Island for a walk. It is tiring (for me) to hold off Cailyn from grabbing toys from the toy store; however it is enjoyable (for me) to show the pigeons and ducks to Cailyn.
I drove dad to optometrist this afternoon because he couldn't drive after his "pupil" is enlarged. Then in the late afternoon Carmen Cailyn and I went to Carmen's parents' house and also Metrotown.
July 26, 2009(Sunday)
We went to VCAC for Sunday worship; it is good to see old friends again. Then I went out for a run 50.25 mins (one of the fastest) and then at night we went to Peter Pang's house for dinner.
July 25, 2009(Saturday)
We went to Fraserland church for the community day, for about an hour. However Cailyn is still too small to enjoy this kind of environment. Then at night we had a great gathering with friends from Canaan fellowship. We have known these people, ranging from 10 to 19 years. Time flies!
I also found out that the paper (my job talk paper) that was rejected April 21 (and we resubmitted again) was rejected again. This is certainly a very upsetting result, even though the acceptance rate for this paper is relatively low. However, after some reflection, I think that I am very blessed, with the blessing of being a Christian and also having a great family. I will continue to work hard though.
July 24, 2009(Friday)
This late morning all 5 of us went to Richmond Aberdeen center for some shopping and also lunch. Then in the afternoon Carmen and I went to her parents' house to do some clean up. Then we went to have dinner together.
July 23, 2009(Thursday)
Last night Cailyn had a scene with us again. She woke up around 2:50am and then cries really hard. Strangely, she just wants me to hold her. Furthermore, she wants to go out. At first we tried to comfort her; then we started to give up and brought her to have a tour at house. However she still cries even when staying upstairs. Eventually we have to bring her OUTSIDE and walk along the street for around 10-15 mins! Once she leaves the home, she stops crying. Eventually she went back to sleep at around 4:30am!
This morning Cailyn is quite fuzzy again. She does not want us to change her diaper or change her clothes. Once again, she wants me to hold her and then wants to leave the house. Magically, once we leave the house, she stops crying. Then we went to "Drink tea". We are trying to delay her afternoon nap from 11am (in the last several days) to afternoon. She was very tired during the drink-tea time (around noon-1pm). At first she behaves well; then she cries really hard. At first we try to ignore her but then the scene is too terrible so I have to carry her outside to the street to walk. And magically again, once I went outside, she smiles again!
For the rest of the day, Cailyn behaves well. As mom says, when she is good, it is very sweet; otherwise, it is a very tough situation!
July 22, 2009(Wednesday)
We went to Central Park this morning for a walk. Then in the afternoon we went to visit Dr. Cho, our family doctor (in fact, he is the family doctor for 4 generations of Pun). It turns out that Cailyn has nose bleed last night because she cries too hard. It is good to know that she is doing fine. However we don't know what to do in the future because previously we let her to cry; now we don't want to because I don't want to bleed again. So hopefully we can put her to bed a bit easier.
July 21, 2009(Tuesday)
17 months old Cailyn is behaving like a "terrible-two" (a term describing two-year old baby always making trouble). She likes to challenge the boundary (e.g. when we ask her to write on paper, she purposely writes on other places, such as floor or toy, and see what is our reaction). She also refuse to do what she does not like; e.g. when we ask her to drink water, she just does not drink water. Finally she has a temper; e.g. today when I was holding her, she grab my eye-glasses and throw it away when she is crying really hard.
At night when we put her to bed, she sounds extremely desperate for us to hold her and wants to go out. As desperate as someone dying and need a helping hand. Finally, in order to calm her down, I brought her for a walk at house. Then suddenly both of her nose bleed. This is her first time and we are very shocked. We do not have a good explanation why, except that may be she scratch her nose (but she did not scratch her nose before so that may not be likely), or the weather is hot and dry (but we have fan and humidifier on).
Then immediately Carmen Mok (from next door) drove Carmen and I with Cailyn to hospital. However during the drive, she falls asleep. Furthermore, at the Children hospital, the waiting time is 1.5+ hours. The doctor may need to wake her up to weight her, etc. She had a hard time going to sleep so we don't want to disturb her. Therefore, we decided to go home and see the doctor tomorrow instead. (And the cost for seeing emergency doctor is $850!). We need to monitor her tonight and hope that things will be fine.
July 20, 2009(Monday)
This morning we went to Central Park for some walk. Then in the afternoon Carmen and I went to parent-in-law's house to do some clean up and also check people who install the hot water tank. Cailyn does not want to eat solid food today and she is quite fuzzy.
July 19, 2009(Sunday)
We went back to VCAC and met some old friends. Then I went out for a jog; this time I felt much better because the weather is not as hot.
July 18, 2009(Saturday)
I took care of Cailyn most of the day so that Carmen has some free time to meet with Carol and have an afternoon nap. I basically lie on the sofa or floor while Cailyn plays her toys (and occasionally getting interrupted). Then at night we went to visit Peter Pang. He has three daughters so that there are lots of female at that time. It is good for Cailyn to have some times to play with cousin of about her age.
July 17, 2009(Friday)
Another normal day; we stayed home most of the time.
July 16, 2009(Thursday)
This morning we went to Carmen's parents house again. Then I went out for a 55mins jog. It is hot and makes me feel tired. Then I had dinner with Ricky Tsang and then Carmen and I had some walk at Metrotown while parents taking care Cailyn.
July 15, 2009(Wednesday)
Today is another relax day. This morning we went to Carmen's parents house. Then we went to the park and Crystal Mall. We had dinner with parents at Crystal Mall. So far life in Vancouver is relaxing and enjoying time with parents. I plan to get back to some work soon.
July 14, 2009(Tuesday)
Cailyn woke up at 5am this morning! She wants to go back to sleep but she can't. She ended up staying with us at our bed for about an hour. At that time she is extra sweet and is willing to kiss us! Then we went out to have breakfast! There are so many choices while Bloomington has no choice. We went home to have afternoon nap and then we went out to buy grocery at Metrotown again. At night, Carol and Liam went to our house for dinner.
July 13, 2009(Monday)
We have an alarm clock that would automatically tune to the radio time every night. For some reason, the alarm clock sometimes gave a totally wrong time. Unfortunately it happens again this morning. I remember very clearly that I have the right time when we go to bed last night. However when I woke up this morning at 6:15, the clock says that it is 11:15pm. Ridiculous! At that time I saw the sky is a bit blue but then the alarm clock says that it is 11:15pm (and we went to bed at midnight) so I know that something is wrong. I am very thankful to God that we woke up on time. Else if we miss the flight because of this, this would be very silly.
We arrived to the airport at around 8:30am. We supposed to fly from Indianapolis to Chicago to Iowa to Dallas to Vancouver. We are stuck with this iternary because we use the AA point to purchase the ticket. However there is maintenance issue with the first flight; therefore we may miss the remaining of the flights. The attendant helps us to change our ticket so that we fly directly to Dallas and then to Vancouver. That saves us a lot of hassle and we are happy with that.
Compare to our trip last October, this time it is very tough to take care Cailyn. Mainly because last time she does not know how to crawl but now she knows how to walk! Therefore it is so tough to keep her entertaining. She always wants to move around. Furthermore she is not willing to go to sleep on the plane. Therefore, it makes the whole trip much more exhausting. However we are glad that at the end we arrived Vancouver on time and see parents.
July 12, 2009(Sunday)
I am trying to do some literature review for the paper; however there isn't much progress. Furthermore, I tried to think the topic of another paper but I have no good clue either. So hopefully by the time I return from Vancouver, there are some good breakthroughs.
July 11, 2009(Saturday)
Today is a stay-home-take-care-Cailyn day so that Carmen can buy the grocery, pack stuff for Vancouver and do some exercise. However at that time I still try to run the simulation program simultaneously. All I need to do is to press a few button and wait for it to run for the next 10 mins.
July 10, 2009(Friday)
After three days of meeting, finally there is no meeting today! However I still work hard on paper. Furthermore, I played badminton with church friends for almost 3 hours; I won't be playing this for the next couple of weeks!
At night I led song in fellowship and also led Bible Study. I thank God that I have the gift of leading in church.
July 09, 2009(Thursday)
Today I had another meeting (third day in a row) with professor about papers. There are still lots of work to be done and we make sure that it will keep me busy for the Vancouver trip.
July 08, 2009(Wednesday)
There is another meeting this morning with professors about the healthcare paper that I submitted earlier. We had a revise-and-resubmit; however the heuristic does not perform well when I tried to compare with the result from the simulation. Therefore, there is lots of work to be done. My advisor said that, rather than spending time writing this paper, I should be focusing on the dissertation. Therefore, he suggests another professor to be the first author and I just remain as a role of "research assistant" and do some background computation. It is true that this is a more efficient way to organize the work, because otherwise they would just criticize my writing from time to time and getting no where. Hope that with this new arrangement, we are able to get this paper to somewhere.
July 07, 2009(Tuesday)
I did a lot of "admin" thing this morning. I went to the Motor Branch to renew the car plate (which has expired for a while). Then went to dispute a traffic ticket. Then I purchased some computer software and went to Carmen/Cailyn to buy some grocery. It feels good after doing so many things. Then I had a meeting with professor about paper and worked on it a bit. At night, Jacky had dinner with us one last time because he will be leaving Bloomington before we returned to Vancouver. We have known him for 4 years and it is good to know that he will leave for a better place.
July 06, 2009(Monday)
Our car's window on the driver side had problem a few months before and was fixed. However it had problem lately. Therefore the body shop helped us to fix for free. I brought my car there and jog back to the gym to do some exercise. For the rest of the day, I am studying because I want to get as much done before I leave Bloomington.
Cailyn had a "night terror" (constant crazy crying) after her nap for 30 mins. I can't do anything to comfort her. Then after she calm down, I hug her and played with her for the next 40 mins.
July 05, 2009(Sunday)
I had a long night again last night working on the paper. Then today I am the worship MC. Afterward there is a meeting for the Cantonese group committee. Finally we had a hot pot at our house to celebrate the birthday of Auntie Cherry. I was busy washing and cleaning up the whole time.
July 04, 2009(Saturday)
We went to grocery shopping in the morning. Then I was working on the paper most of the day.
July 03, 2009(Friday)
I was working on the paper last night for about 3 hours until 2:20am in order to catch up some work. Then today I also spend several hours on the paper. Hopefully I will have a better paper. I played badminton and also went to fellowship at night. However I mostly took care Cailyn at the fellowship time.
July 02, 2009(Thursday)
This morning Carmen went to check the baby; now it is week#9 and so far everything is normal.
I stayed home most of the day to take care Cailyn. She seems to be "bigger" and "mature" since I last see her 4 days ago before I go to the conference. Cailyn also becomes more challenging nowadays. We asked her only to sit and not to stand on top of the "large cow toy". However, recently she purposely challenges us and stands on top of it. I gave her a harsh look and she responded by saying "no no" and "hit hit" and then sit down. After about 30 seconds, she repeats the whole process by trying to stand on top of the toy again. She makes sure that I am paying attention at her by making some noise too!
In the afternoon I had a meeting with my professor about his feedback to my presentation in the conference. He thinks that I only did an average job. I appear to be too intense; he thinks that I am a relax and more humor person. I guess that I am taking the presentation too seriously and let it to stress me out. Next time I should be more relax and show my real self. Furthermore we also discussed about the paper that I did earlier. He gave a lot of constructive suggestion that would greatly improve the paper. However that also takes a lot of work too.
July 01, 2009(Wednesday)
I left the hotel at 7am; took a flight to Atlanta then to Indy and finally back home around 5:30. As I am closer to home, I get more nervous and excited to see Carmen and Cailyn. Carmen has been doing many housework in the last couple of days and I am glad that I am home to help out. At night we went out to buy some food.