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08/09/2008 New York State, the Empire StateAugust 10th, 2008, China, I finished up packing the night before. I definitely had a sense of them being over weighted. I was carying a backpack, a laptop, one big suitcase and a smaller one. Didn't forget to bring my passport with the new I-20, good; didn't forget to bring my ticekt info., good; didn't forget to bring my Credit Cards back, good good good; the only thing I forgot to do was to double check with my ticekt agent about my return flight, and this brought me some huge headache. Back on August 10th again, got to hongkong international airport at around 11:30am, got into a huge line outside of the Cathay Pacific counters, being happy about getting here quite ahead of the scheduled time (4:45pm flight); however life's always full of surprise.......it was my turn, and I handed in my passport with that ticket confirmation paper, it's just some crapy piece of paper. and they replied with, sorry, nothing about you was found on our company record. oh wait, there's some more, your ticket was freaking cancelled. oops.. sorry.. I was like what the freaking hell, could you repeat that again? I paid a hell load of 1300 bucks to get a round trip ticekt to fly home just wanting to make sure I could fly back to school on time.. and now you told me my ticekt was cancelled?.. >.< glad that my desire or dire head of flying back to the states (I didn't really know that I wanted go come back that bad.) well, there's only one way to solve this, since I can't called the LA office (it was 12pm in hongkong and it should be 9pm back in LA, no one would be there), I had to buy myself a new ticket. darn. should I be considering to bring in some "surprise" to my ticket agent? anyway, rushed to the ticket (not ticketing, I didn't have a ticket!!) counter, and asked if I could anyhow get on any of the flights that were leaving today for LA!!! well they looked over my record and found out that my travelling agent, who was smart enough (so "brilliant), to change my ticket on 1:15pm instead of 4:45pm without telling me!!! glad that they allowed me to change my schedule without charging me any extra, and actually I think they should give me back some refund, my flight was on a Sunday (weekend flight), my new one now changed to be on Monday :p, I paid the weekend fee...well I shouldn't complain too much. so. I got myself an extra day in Hong Kong. so I walked my mom around the airport, and we checked out some shops, and she wanted some handbag, and I forgot what it looks like now, it was, to her standard, too expensive, but I think I coud afford. darn lol.. anyway gonna bring one back for her later. and then sent her to get on bus to shenzhen. then I went off to meet huang xiaoxing. and we went to freaking dump my old cellphone and got myself a new one. out of my surprise, I could actually trade in my old one and got discount off the new one; thus now I'm officially back again as a Nokia user haha, my lovely cudly Nokia.
so 8/11, after another 14 hours flight, we had to change route, because there was a volcano erruption near Hawaii, I was back in LA. First thing first, I gotta get rid of my suitcases. since one of them belongs to my cousin, I'd better get it to him asap. then, I had to think about how to sell my mazdaspeed 3. honestly speaking, I loved my car, and I still love it now (well, if I had a evo.. things would be a lil different). people like sport cars, they just hate driving a stick shift.. so I sold it to carmax :(
another 4 days of socializing in LA, I flew to New York City on 8/15 >.> got a place (two bedroom apartment on the second floor of some tiny house) to lurk around in this devil city. went to wall street (such tiny street), ground zero, some churches, part of central park, empire state building (facing GC), city college, hunter college, BMCC, 8th avenue in brooklyn (supposed to be a tiny chinatown). school's started since 8/27. getting used to new professors, and new teaching style. also I have to walk around 20 minutes each way to and from the nearby subway station (or train, they're not always underground); ah, and the world's biggest department store, Macy's on the 34th street, got a new swiss gear suitcase from there. I'm a pretty big fan of swiss gear now. (should've bought that one online actually). yeah NYC is an ok city. I don't like it that much, nor do I hate it though. and subway...is for sure dirty and old ... it's complicated, this whole MTA system. and convenient, since it's operating 24/7 and buses too. I have to really set up my schedule for attending seminars, before I do that, I shall discover my real inerest first.
aha. also went to check out washington DC, winchester, and charlottesville (UVA). DC's pretty cool, UVA's campus is pretty huge. should've applied to UVA. quite, clean and nice little town.....
done. I need some more furniture, Ikea. here I come again... 10/08/2008 Home, Sweet Home( Part III)the last two weeks staying in China have just flew past. After watching the openning ceremony of the 2008 beijing olympics, or should I rather say, having spent more than 4 hours waiting to see Li Ning, the past chinese gymnastic champion to light the olympic tourch, I know it's time to go back to school, it's time to yet again suffer from the anxiety of passing three qualifers. /shrug, another 4-year-long journey has just begun >.< good luck to myself. let me briefly talk about what I've done for these two weeks. went to shanghai and spent about 7 days there with yangyang, was originally thinking if I could help him renew his visa, however couldn't make it on time; glad that we did somewhat talk about this visa thingy. so he kinda showed me around shanghai, I gotta learn about how take subway, we used it a lot. it was fun and hot too. we also went to the east china university of technology, however this time I didn't dare to ask for job information. after that I was invited to visit his home in quanzhou. so why not go? it only took us 65 minutes to fly from shanghai to xia'men. and since I was there, I figured it wouldn't hurt to pay a visit to xiamen university,from which yangyang's girlfriend graduated. and a roughly one hour bus ride, put us in quanzhou. although I could only stay in quanzhou for two days, I did get to see a lot of cool places. that was a very interesting trip >.< then for another 6 days or so, I stayed home, getting prepared for school season, buying books and stuff. back to the openning ceremony...it was cool, huge, involving, but ...a lil bit disappointing. hehe I don't think.. that the information Mr. Zhang wants to convery to our foreign friends was really on the transmission route... hehe it does look pretty though... :) May Luck be with China :) oh by the way, my ticket got changed again >.< it was supposed to be on Sunday at 1:20pm but since my travel agent failed to let me know. I missed that flight when I got to Hong Kong International Airport, glad that I could change to the same one on Monday at 1:20pm with no extra charge .. >.< well so I'm now gonna sleep in huang xiaoxing's bed >.<... Home, Sweet Home (part II)Three weeks have passed and another 3 weeks, I gotta fly back to LA, move to New York and find myself a room or studio before school starts. everything's still in a mess >.< /sigh glad that I finally had this high school reunion dinner run on last Friday >.< I got to meet 彭思函, 李梦苏, 郭娟, 胡云鹏, 李苏妮, 伍卓玲, 鲍剑 again. I should've included 黄晓星; since we met like on the second day when I'm back in China, so... I've had the Air Conditioning for only two days before it actually went broken. And then my mom and I went to guangzhou to renew my student visa. It was pretty funny that the visa officer actually asked if I've asked either one of my parents to go to the States. and I replied with a yes, and complained about my mom got rejected three times. She was like oops, well she would put my mom's name into the system, so it might help my mom get a visa next time. I was like yeah, fortunately I still have my doctoral graduation ceremony for her to wait for. I also went to get a visa for going to Hong Kong to get myself a freaking new phone, this Sony Ericsson K810i sucks so bad... darn it. I want either a N82 or a N95... Guess the only thing left is to take care of my back. Looking forward for my trip to shanghai, now this time 陈静杨is gonna be my host and guide, hopefully he will show me some interesting places (bars, clubs, etc. etc.) and I will have fun instead of sitting there and bore the crap out of myself. yeah.. life's still boring, and I've finished my books.. and I still have some to buy before I head back (some clothing for winter at NYC, and some books, softwares and such). well I will first enjoy my graduation trip, cause I've been needing a big break for quite a while... Home, Sweet Home (Part I)Woke up by a phone call at 8:30am telling me that my flight would be delayed till 3:45 in the afternoon, I suddenly realized that first I hadn't finished packing up everything, second I hadn't been able to sell my mazdaspeed3 (and in fact I didn't know that my flight was on 26th instead of 27th). Everything was a mess at that time (it's still messy now so..)Well, I'm glad that I made up my mind quick enough that I acutally made it to the airport by noon: packed up two more boxes of books to be mailed to the east cost, and two suitcases of cloths and stuff, one of them I took with me to China, the other one I left with Brian as well as my babe Mazdaspeed3. Then 13 hours latter I got to Hong Kong, it's been two years since I landed myself again in this crowded, busy and >.< whatever place. another one hourish bus ride, I finaly got myself through the land port. It's hot and humid in china >.< I can't help but sweat all the time.. darn it. There's one more thing about living in Bao'an. I'm not anyhow against the idea of living here, it's just that the time I spend getting into downtown shenzhen is quite annoying. I first have to take 606 to the Nantou check point, and then take 78 to the window of the world to get on subway to get my a** to downtown >.<. darn.. that's like a hell of 2 hours of a** shaking due to the bus driver's fast and furious driving style.. and I'm slowly getting used to it. Guess this' gonna be a good exercise to get me familiar with living in real city, frankly living in LA can't be categoried as city style living. You just simply stick yourslef into a car everytime you wanna go somewhere in LA. I'm definitely gonna miss my car.. my 6 speed manual shift, 300HP and 280 torque @ 2800 rpm turbo charged FWD ( you can for sure feel the turbo steering) mazdaspeed. being home is one 100% priceless, although I still have fights with my mom about stuff.. she just never understand .. /shrug. staying in a home without air conditoining in mid July shenzhen is no fun at all, however I guess I'm gonna stand it for another 4 weeks. wish myself a happy staying home >.< P.S.: I'm organizing a high school reunion in about a week or two. hopefully I can get it going. and thinking about living LA somehow makes me feel a lil bit sad, though I hate that city 5 years ago when I first moved there due to transferring to a money school. I still hate that city, but I love those people (my friends, my colleagues and my professors, they're good people). >.< gosh.... 13/06/2008 The End, Beginning of AnotherI went to watch this Prince Caspian (the second Narnia movie) and got so moved while listening to this song at the end of that movie. Guess I'm in a smilar situation now. Finally, having finished all my degree work and students' grading, although lost two keys below the elevator in building 8, accidentally slipped them through the gap of the elevator... gosh >.<, I'm official done for my Master Degree in Pure(ly boring) Mathematics, oh yeah!!. And I've also asked my international office advisor to transfer me out of the Cal Poly system next Monday, so practically after 6/15, I will have to say good bye to Cal Poly and prepare myself moving to New York City. CUNY, I'm coming.........
ok if you're interested, you can check out this song, the call by Regina Spketor .
"
Song by Regina Spektor
It started out as a feeling Which then grew into a hope Which then turned into a quiet thought Which then turned into a quiet word And then that word grew louder and louder 'Til it was a battle cry I'll come back When you call me No need to say goodbye Just because everything's changing Doesn't mean it's never Been this way before All you can do is try to know Who your friends are As you head off to the war Pick a star on the dark horizon And follow the light You'll come back When it's over No need to say good bye Now we're back to the beginning It's just a feeling and now one knows yet But just because they can't feel it too Doesn't mean that you have to forget Let your memories grow stronger ans stronger 'Til they're before your eyes You'll come back When it's over No need to say good bye " From the Narnia Soundtrack. It's kid movie, I will probably start reading the original books.
yeah for about to graduate!!! >.< .... oh yeah, again.. I'm stuck in school for ever... 27/05/2008 AMS GroupingThis list of the best 48 math deparments, selected by AMS (American Mathematical Society, http://www.ams.org/), based upon the scores from NRC in its 1995 ranking about math programs (including applied math), gives you a general idea about which one to choose for your doctoral study in the states. Also for those who're interested in applied math, you can check out this, SIAM(Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, http://www.siam.org/); computer science, ACM(Association for Computing Machinery, http://www.acm.org/); Actuary Science, SOA(Society for Actuaries, http://www.soa.org/); statistics, AmStat (American Statistical Asosciation, http://www.amstat.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=main). The following is quoted from: http://www.ams.org/employment/group_i.html. " Group I Public 25 Departments - Ranked between 3.00 and 5.00 by the 1995 NRC Study (List Last Updated January 2008) Institution Department City University of New York, Graduate Center Mathematics Georgia Institute of Technology Mathematics Indiana University, Bloomington Mathematics Michigan State University Mathematics Ohio State University, Columbus Mathematics Pennsylvania State University Mathematics Purdue University Mathematics Rutgers University, New Brunswick Mathematics State University of New York, Stony Brook Mathematics University of California, Berkeley Mathematics University of California, Los Angeles Mathematics University of California, San Diego Mathematics University of California, Santa Barbara Mathematics University of Illinois, Chicago Mathematics, Statistics & Computer Science University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Mathematics University of Maryland, College Park Mathematics University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Mathematics University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Mathematics University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Mathematics University of Oregon Mathematics University of Texas, Austin Mathematics University of Utah Mathematics University of Virginia Mathematics University of Washington Mathematics University of Wisconsin, Madison Mathematics Group I Private 23 Departments - Ranked Between 3.00 and 5.00 by the 1995 NRC Study (List Last Updated January 2008) Institution Department Boston University Mathematics Brandeis University Mathematics Brown University Mathematics California Institute of Technology Mathematics Carnegie Mellon University Mathematical Sciences Columbia University Mathematics Cornell University Mathematics Duke University Mathematics Harvard University Mathematics Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore Mathematics Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mathematics New York University, Courant Institute Mathematical Sciences Northwestern University Mathematics Princeton University Mathematics Rensselaer Polytechic Institute Mathematical Sciences Rice University Mathematics Stanford University Mathematics University of Chicago Mathematics University of Notre Dame Mathematics University of Pennsylvania Mathematics University of Southern California Mathematics Washington University Mathematics Yale University Mathematics " This is based on the NRC ranking, not the Usnews ranking. The latest 2008 ranking is coming out this September, you can check out this link here: http://www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/index.html San Franciscos Revisited IIMay 26 is the memorial day holiday for us; thus I spent my 3 days long weekend up in the Bay Area with my cousin Albert and my friend Eric, actually four, we left for San Jose in Friday afternoon, and luckily got to our motel before midnight thanks for a powerful GPS who would only tell us to get there by local (not on any freeway, it would just literally tell us to leave the freeway and drive locally >.<). Well this time, I wasn't driving along, since both my cousin and Eric were licensed a few months ago, I let them share the driving duty with me. Acting like a trainer, although I hated to, I (hopefully) showed them how to drive safely (reall?) on freeway, especialy I-5. They were getting better at driving long distance. They still need more practice, especially Eric. Well I'm not going to go too deep at describing how fun Eric was driving; because he was embarassed by it too much already (grin).
We went to check out Stanford and UC Berkeley. Those two have really huge and nice campus, left alone the fact that they're one of the top 10 (or 20?) universities in the states. We didn't have time to pay a visit to the Intel, Google, Yahoo!, and Carnegie Mellon (west) University. We spent too much sleeping in the morning >.>. it was very pleasant to meet up with Shanshan again. Welcome back to the states, and good luck living in UIUC ha ha.
Overall, this trip was fun and I goto check out some more new places.
Tired now, gotta go to bed :-) 10/05/2008 Recent Life ChangeI've just finished all five of those comprehensive exams for my Master Degree, not long ago, I should say. And I've also filled out the Culminating Experience form, kinda like a form saying that I've finished all requirement for my degree (12 4-unit classes with a 1 unit comprehensive exam course, a total of five comprehensive exams on analysis, algebra, topology, and complex analysis). Now looking back, I've really tried a lot of different stuff in Cal Poly, pure math(Mat 511/512/599 for analysis and probability theory, 517/518 for algebra, 521 for topology, 528 for complex analysis, 470 for combinatorics, 420 for differential geometry, 419 for matrix analysis); applied math(Mat 545 for modeling, 580 for optimization, 401/402 for numerical analysis, 509 for error analysis); stat, mainly random processes(STA 584 for queueing theory, 430/530 for random process, and 599 intro. to SAS). I guess now I'm really ready for my doctoral study up in New York City with the professors from Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Oh well, yeah I've accepted their offer, and for some reason they updated my fellowship offer from the chancellor one to the science one. So for the first and second years in CUNY, I don't need to teach, which is good, considering if I have to pass at least three out of six qualifiers (qualification exams for doctoral candidacy), and then two foreign language exams, and one more oral exams, and the two for the dissertation. Then I will be done for my Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy).
Don't know what else to say.... I now have this mixed feeling of sorrow and happiness, this should be it, the final release of my miserable 4 years of experience after I was forced to drop computer science as my first major >.< yeah I wasn't intending to do mathematics at first. hehe, well I'm enjoying math now though :) and I think I might later on spend sometime doing some AI related research .. >.< I sitll like programming, I will learn some mathematica later this summer. I'm already liking Matlab so much....
Let's hope for a better, brighter, and busier tomorrow then :), at least let me look for it :P 19/04/2008 ZT, A statement from a classmate of WQY, a chinese traitorI really just have to write this.
Wow. Just wow. While I have physics and a paper to write, I really need to get this out. Grace Wang. She's really something.
She's quite useful to the media. Both sides are having a field day. The chinese TV are branding her as this terrible traitor while western media is holding her up as the lone voice of reason. They both are neglecting the truth, what Grace really is, beyond the 9 minute Youtube video and glorious interviews. When I first met her at a dinner, she immediately spilled her life story. I thought, maybe she was being a slightly socially incompetent fob and trying to make friends. I listened. What a good story it was. She told of how she was involved in a political group with some top lawyers in China. They were trying to get the truth out of the Tiananmen square incident. They wrote articles and blogs together on the subject. Then one day, one of her friends involved in the group disappeared. They called her, went to her house, tried everything, but she was no where to be found. Then Grace and her parents start freaking out. Grace's dad, at the time the ex mayor of Qingdao, afraid of Grace facing a similar fate, went to her files in the city government and threw them out. She got a new name, and quickly moved to South Korea. At the time, Grace told us that she already dropped out of her high school in Qingdao because she was unsatisfied by the best high school in Shandong province. She moved to Korea, and there she learned English by watching American films. While she was there, she also slept around with a lot of guys. Then she applied to Harvard and got rejected. The next year, she applies again, to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Duke. She gets accepted to all but Harvard. She chose to come to Duke because she got the Robertson. She then turns down the Robertson because she didn't want the restrictions set by the program. After the story finished, we were all pretty amazed. We were all thinking that this seemingly innocent Chinese student is destined for greatness. After we come back to my room, she proceeds to tell one of us about the guy in the dorm she had sex with. I was quite shocked by this. She seemed so innocent, and we had only been at Duke for less than 5 days. She says the guy was a virgin and now he wants a relationship. We go to the common room, she points him out, and he was playing pool at the other side of the room, totally not paying attention to her. Later on, Grace begins telling us many stories about herself. All she ever talks about is herself. As the stories piled on, they became inconsistent, and sometimes directly contradicting. People begin question her trustworthiness. Eventually, after months of lies and irrationality, people begin disliking her. For such a trusting and kind dorm like Brown to dislike someone, you really have to be special. And Grace is that special. Now we know she is a liar. She didn't go to Korea or even participate in anything political. She even told people that she wrote her own recommendations for college applications. She made up stories to make herself seem impressive for colleges, and now, the western media. She's overloading by taking around 6 courses. 2-3 of those are foreign language courses. She was angry that the academic dean wouldn't let her do more. Funny thing is, she's definitely not doing well in any of them. I've heard her practice her German, and it is atrocious. She also reads like a maniac. I don't really know what she reads, but it's Chinese literature/philosophy and political theory. She prints hundreds of pages a night to read, parades around with her stack of papers, telling anyone who would listen, trying to impress another person of her political acumen. She shaved off her eyebrows the other day. Because 1: all her boy problems will go away, and 2: pretty girls never make history. She also makes up stories about how people ask to have sex with her or perform sexual acts with her. Is it me, or is she someone trying to convince herself that she's destined for greatness? It would really take a really long time to really describe all my Grace stories and I don't have time for it. But all I can say is, she has been lifted up by western media as a martyr in this battle for Tibet. And she's drinking in every moment of it, because finally, she is being seen as a hero. What a silly, irrational girl. Oh how could I forget to mention, she wants to be president of China. 18/04/2008 ZT, Shared, Quoted, A Poem from A Chinese(not me)I wish I could write a poem like that. Well, it might not be that good compared to Shakespear. However it's pretty nice, and thanks Laura :) I quoted it from her facebook page. Now Here it is:
What Do You Want from Us? - A Poem Dedicated to the last 150 years of this planet, by a Silent Chinese. When We were called Sick man of Asia, We were called The Peril. When We are billed to be the next Superpower, We are called The Threat. When We closed our doors, You smuggled Drugs to Open Markets. When We Embrace Free Trade, You blame us for Taking away your jobs. When We were falling apart, You marched in your troops and wanted your "fair share". When We were putting the broken pieces together again, "Free Tibet" you screamed, "it was an invasion!" When Woodrow Wilson Couldn't give back Birth Place of Confucius back to Us, But He did bought a ticket for the Famine Relief Ball for us. So, We Tried Communism, You hated us for being Communists When We embrace Capitalism, You hate us for being Capitalist. When We have a Billion People, you said we were destroying the planet. When We have tried limited our numbers, you said It was human rights abuse. When We were Poor, You think we are dogs. When We Loan you cash, You blame us for your debts. When We build our industries, You called us Polluters. When we sell you goods, You blame us for global warming. When We buy oil, You called that Exploitation and Genocide. When You fight for oil, You called that Liberation. When We were lost in Chaos and rampage, You wanted Rules of Law for us. When We uphold law and order against Violence, You called that Violating Human Rights. When We were silent, You said you want us to have Free Speech. When We were silent no more, You say we were Brainwashed-Xenophoics. Why do you hate us so much? We asked. "No," You Answered, "We don't hate You." We don't Hate You either, But Do you understand us? "Of course We do," You said, "We have AFP, CNN and BBC..." What do you really want from us? Think Hard first, then Answer... Because you only get so many chances, Enough is Enough, Enough Hypocrisy for this one world. We want One World, One Dream, And Peace On Earth. - This Big Blue Earth is Big Enough for all of Us 13/04/2008 Support the 2008 Beijing OlympicsIt's been a while since I have time to write something here. Busy dealing with homework and replying to school's offers and stuff. I've also set myself up with a schedule of 5 classes to take and one class to teach for this spring quarter. I turned in my graduate application already. So I'm looking forward to graduating this Spring :) wow...how excited
Back to something serious, I don't want to get political. I hate politicians and politics, which's why I study math. Well I just want to emphasize: Tibet was, is and always will be part of China. Ok, now time for some Q and A section:
Q1: Chinese government is full of lie?
A1: Still looking for Weapons of Massive Destruction in Iraq?
Q2: Chinese people do not have liberty?
A2: April 16, 2007 in Blacksburg, Virginia; September 21, 2007 in Dover, Delaware; October 10, 2007, in Cleveland, Ohio; Feb. 8, 2008, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Feb. 11, 2008 in Memphis, Tennessee; Feb. 12, 2008, in Oxnard, California; Feb. 14, 2008, DeKalb, Illinois; I guess that's one "important " freedom, being able to buy guns off the Internet.
Q3: Chinese government suppreses Tibet?
A3: Was the Ameircan goverment and its staff watching MLB games during the Los Angeles riots of 1992?
And how about the that largely peaceful immigrants rights march on May 1st, 2007 in Los Angeles?
Q4: China does not have democracy?
A4: The last time you met with President Bush and told him not to invade Afganistan and Iraq is when?
Q5: Boycott Beijing Olympics?
Q5: American invasion of Panama in 1983, Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. 28/03/2008 the new 2009 Usnews ranking for Graduate SchoolsThe ranking just came out today (03/28/2008), if you're interested, you can go to this following website to check it out: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad. It's only for gradaute school by the way. I just wanna post some about the math programs (general)
rank Name Score
21 Duke, Durham, NC 3.9
21 JHU, Baltimore, MD 3.9
36 CUNY, GC 3.5
36 GIT, Atlanta, GA 3.5
36 UCDavis, Davis, CA 3.5
36 UIC, Chicago, IL 3.5
55 Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA 3.1
55 Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 3.1
55 USC, LA, CA 3.1
64 Arizona State, Tempe, AZ 2.9
64 CGU, Claremont, CA 2.9
64 Iowa State, Ames, IA 2.9
64 LSU-Baton Rouge, BR, LA 2.9
64 Univ of Kansa, Lawrence, KS 2.9
64 UM-Amherst, Amherst, MA 2.9
And some sub-categories.....
Geometry:
16 JHU, Baltimore, MD
Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
25/03/2008 Spring Break and School's AdmissionSpring Break just began yesterday after I passed my life, accident and healthy insurance agency qualification test >.< winter quarter is now officially gone :) grades were up yesterday, gonna talk to the international office to see when I can get their scholarship for spring, because I'm gonna sign up for 4 classes this spring..two more comprehensive exams then I'm done with my master degree. thinking about revising my graduate contract again. I'm done with all the course requirement just the two tests for analysis are left. wanting so much to finish 529 (complex analysis II) so that I will be well prepared for doctoral courses. I have to take some applied math classes (that's why I'm taking STA 430 random process in this spring, and I'm gonna sit in Dr. Rosin's Graph Theory class, gonna audit it, not gonna sign up for it, can't pay for any more tuition), freaking tuition waiver from Cal Poly only covers the in state tuition, I have to pay for the out of state portion, which's expensive. gonna (hopefully) enjoy my spring break. I've been waiting for this break for too long.
Schools yeah, schools. 2 amission and one offer so far. not gonna go to CGU for their MSFE proram. Johns Hopkins University gave me a chance to study at their applied math and statistics department, only admission no monetary support /sign. offer from the City Univeristy of New York, Graduate Center. 18000 USD stipend per year for 5 years, no teaching responsilbity for the first and fifth year, I will have to teach during the second, third, and fourth year, and if I teach, I will also be entitled for another fellowship paid in the in-state rate alongside with my salary from teaching. however tution is only waived at the in-state level. hehe
hard to decide hehe hopefully I will have some more great news by the end of this month, because both schools are pressing me to reply by 4/15... >.<
happy spring break to myself :) 11/03/2008 CGU again, this time MSFEgot an email today from Albert Ramos indicating my acceptance into their MSFE program, one of the only three in california (I heard, probably just MS), I went for an interview for that on last Tuesday. I was wanting to try their dual degree program, one ph.d in math and the other in MSFE. no news about funding was followed up though, so probably not going there. no money no talk. anyway, still waiting for news .. give me some news ... please (cross my fingers)
got another 100 on my 402 midterm (the second one), now I'm pretty much on my way to get another scholarship from the international office. hopefully I can save up to get myself an 2009 (not 2008) lancer evolution X :P (or XI)
9 more days later, wow, my adorable spring break. have been waiting for this one for toooo long.
good luck to myself :) 07/02/2008 Happy Chinese New YearFeb. 7th 2008 is the lunar new year for all chinese people (probably eastern Asia too). The 5th week for school now. just finished one midterm for 402,and two more to go (420 and 528) and have to finish the ring qualifying exam before the end of this quarter. also finished grading my students' first exam, got a class average at 71.4 (not bad considering there's one student who didn't show up to take the test). hopefully I will get them well prepared for final, since I'm not that one who make the final exam, nor the one who grade their final, I only get to grade part of the final exam. good luck kids, and to me too. 5 more weeks later, this winter quarter's gone >.> darn time just flies past me..anyway :) happy new year, get to keep up some holiday spirit :) 27/01/2008 古法秘制: 雪碧鸡腿昨日, 于CGU与闫兄, 陈兄煮酒论英雄. 兴高采烈之际, 突觉腹中空虚, 遂四处寻觅饱腹之物. 吾曰: 何不一试可乐鸡腿, 此法中西合璧, 网络间广为流传, 变法之多, 已不可一一道来. 众人欣喜, 惜寻遍冰柜未见可乐芳踪, 感慨成事在天. 然天无绝人之路, 吾突发奇想, 可乐乃蛮夷之物, 蛮夷好胖, 尚有百事, 雪碧, 7-up等众多甜且不实物, 何不以雪碧代可乐? 吾之可乐鸡腿, 已使得出神入化, 达炉火纯青. 区区一雪碧, 能阻我九重天之神功? 遂以古法秘制酱汁, 熬出雪碧鸡腿, 众人尝之, 无不欣喜若狂. 独乐乐, 不如众乐乐, 吾将次古法与众看官共享, 高与不高, 请各位自行定夺.
材料: 葱(切段), 蒜(切片), 姜(切片), 鸡腿(若干, 切小, 或在上横刀若干次), 李锦记烧烤酱(若干汤匙), 油, 糖(少许), 生粉(一汤匙), 雪碧(diet亦可), 酱油, 老抽.
步骤:
1. 热锅, 下油, 待滚, 下葱蒜姜, 爆炒, 加烧烤酱, 再爆炒.
2. 割好鸡腿, 下鸡腿, 继续爆炒几分钟
3. 加雪碧, 酱油, 糖, 之鸡腿的一般, 盖上盖子, 焖至雪碧滚
4. 再加老抽, 些许雪碧, 继续焖
5. 大约20分钟后, 加如生粉收汁. 若颜色不够金黄, 加入些许老抽.
6. 起锅.
便可大口喝酒大口吃肉.
暂且无相片, 因都已穿肠过.
若内功不深, 请勿模仿. 03/01/2008 Happy 2008I have went to disneyland on new year's eve and wanted to check out the countdown and fireworks with my friends. however due to high winds, the fireworks were cancelled, we could only do the countdown; and what was more interesting is that the countdown started one minute earlier, because the ESPN zone was re-broadcasting the countdown in NYC a minute earlier. I went there with my cousin, jingyang, david, karen, karen's friends and cousins, and hera. it was somehow fun and exciting. the number of people who went there is less than last year. we went home early, and played majiang for the whole night, and went to check out the 119th annual tournament of rose. tons of new rose floats and this time beijing has one float in the parade. a good beginning of 2008. 30/12/2007 Las Vegas Revisited and MoreI spent Christmas with my cousin and my friends in Las Vegas and we also went to check out the Death Valley National Park nearby (only 3 hours drive form Vegas) and Hoover Dam (45 mins drive). Those two places are absolutely some fanscinating places to go if you're interested in scenic views instead of gambling, and watching shows in Vegas. It was and I think it's still chilling cold in Vegas right now. We booked a room at the New York - New York, sitting at the southern tip of the strip area. to the north of Excalibar, facing MGM Grand across the street, next to Monte Carlo. It's not bad, the room's pretty spacious, just a lil old, and you can try out the roller coaster winding around the hotel and at least some hundred feet above the ground. First impression: whenever you go to somewhere popular, you have to stay in a line waiting. goto buffet, you wait, go to in and out bugger, you wait (even including the drive through), go to get tickets, you wait. crazy. The death valley national park on the other hand is not that crowded, coz it's big. It "has more than 3.3 million acres of spectacular desert scenery, interesting and rare deser wildlife (I don't see that much "wildlife"ness there though), complex geology, undisturbed wildernes, and sites of historical and cultural interest. Bounded on the west by the 11049 feet tall (3368m) Telescope Peak and on the east by the 5475 feet tall (1669m) Dante's View, Badwater is the lowest point(-282 feet/ -86m) in the western hamisphere( the land point, there's one lower underneath the michigan lake). The unique wildlife, geology, archeology, and the colorful historical events of Death Valley attrat researchers and enthusiasts from all over the world. the 1994 Congressional Act that brought about the change in status from Death Valley National Monument to Death Valley National Park has led to greater awareness of this area." (from a book of 17 postcards I bought in Death Valley, some gift shop). It was a fun trip, we went to check out Zabriskie's Point, and Badwater and then we went out of time. And while we were on our way back to Vegas, we got a flat tire when we were driving through the Natural Bridge. Glad that a family from Vegas helped us change the tire :) Hoover Dam, however, is man made wonder. With its help, Vegas became what it is now. It produces water to irrigate and electricity for gambling >.<
Now we're home and safe. Next time I hope I can camp in Death Valley, there are at least 18 more places of interest I haven't check out yet..I have to get ready for my GRE general test now. got back my subject test score not long ago. Hopefully I will finish applying to graduate school before 2008 >.> 08/12/2007 Here Comes the Winter BreakJust went to kinko and make some photocopies of 680 pages of my final project. First time ever I wrote that much in latex. after i turned in my final project for 401 and 580, I was bascially done for the whole quarter ha ha ha.. have to rewrite my lesson plans for math 12 which I'm teaching in the winter... lol my supervisor was so mad at that we didn't write some good ones. anyway happy winter break!! 04/12/2007 Finals' WeekJust finished the 401 and 580 finals, turned in the final project for 401, still working on the project on minimizing a distance function of two objects orbiting around same on two very close together ellipticial trajectories. have one homework due on thursday for 470, and one final for 470 on that day too. need to finish writing up my lesson plans for math 12 next quarter. we will have the last meeting for sme 501 tonight... don't know what kinda food I should bring... kk gotta get back to my lesson planning :) |
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