I’ve always been very skeptical about horoscopes, especially the ones which use broad categorization, such as the 12 chinese zodiac of animals, and the astronomy zodiac signs (libra, pisces, etc). How could everyone born in a particular year all have the same fate and fortune??

Nonetheless, these horoscopes never fail to amuse me. They are like the pieces of paper in fortune cookies. Only longer. Much longer. They are made so general that they can apply to easily 1 million people! Anyway, I decided to see what my fortune would be like for the year. According to the Chinese Astrological calendar, I am in fact a Metal Rooster! Here’s goes:

Your personality will tend to bloom this year — you’ll be less secret, less withdrawn than usual; you’ll look more for the company of others. The year will be most favorable to extolling your creative talents. The stars will incite you to exploit your hidden resources, and their usefulness will not be limited only to your affairs or to your home. Set your imagination free!

Beware, however! Your tendency toward compassion will be increased this year. It’s possible that it will induce you to take care of others to the point of imposing on yourself heavy financial or other burdens. Don’t let yourself be moved by the misfortunes that others will describe to you in a deliberately tragic manner. Assure yourself of the validity of what people tell you before granting your aid. Besides, remember that well ordered charity begins with oneself.

Don’t hesitate to warn competent authorities of cases of ill-treated children. This is not an act of base denouncement but of good citizenship. Take an active part in the campaigns of sensitization to these painful problems of our society.

What?? Come again!

Happy New Year!! 恭喜发财!!

And yes, here we are as we usher in the Year of the Dog, 2006. Somehow, it always feels different celebrating the Chinese New Year in a foreign land. However hard you try to mimic the festivity back home with decorations, steamboat gatherings, and even passionate new year greetings, it still lacks that special something - a homely touch. I believe you just have to celebrate New Year with your family around you.

Even so, after spending 4 years of New Year half a globe away from family, this year’s New Year feels different. I really like it this time. Maybe I wasn’t bogged down by any homework at all (unlike the previous work-drowning years)… Maybe this is my last year in Pittsburgh… Maybe it’s all the new friends I’ve made over here… I don’t know. Looking back at the CNY weekend, it’s really the most amazing fun-packed CNY I’ve had over here.

除夕 － Sat, Jan 28

This is the first ski trip of the season, and the first one on a CNY eve! Having skiied only one year ago, I was naturally excited! I wonder if I could still remember how to stop. At Seven Springs, the weather was amazing! A good 2 degrees celsius with sun blasting down on you on the slopes. We were all over-dressed. Usually when you ski, you get wet outside in from all the falls and the snow. This time, I was wet inside out, thoroughly drenched in my sweat after the first trail.

The ski resort had a couple of new attractions, the slalom trail and the half-pipes. Having spent the year 2002’s New Year in clutches before (it was another long story), I decided I had better keep my daredevil stunts for a day other than this New Year season. I really hope to try those before I graduate!

S and W were very good. Before I even realized it, we started sliding down the blacks. Adrenaline rush!! The thing about the black slopes is you have to keep the last 1/4 leg a full straight rush-down. Feel the wind in the face as everything starts to blur. Wooooooah. If you don’t fall that is.

My top 3 favorite trails:

1. Gunner (pure adrenaline rush, longest black slope)
2. Giant Boulder (a blue slope after the black, it has to feel good!!)
3. Boomerang (best view for a green slope)

2 hours after our last trail, we were back in Pittsburgh at the SSA CNY dinner. This dinner was interesting with a new item - the SSA Idol. I got the chance to represent my table to sing. E, our pianist was really good. Nothing less from an ex-民歌餐厅 pianist. “Start singing whenever you want, and I’ll follow…” he said. He really did! It’s been a while since I last sang on a stage. I’m glad I didn’t go out of tune.

To end the evening, we had a mahjong session at our place. We can never celebrate CNY without mahjong. M was the usual winner again! We have to find a way around his luck one day!! And, I was the big loser this time. Thank god we had a max cap of $10 on losses! I think it’s good to lose money for mahjong. Since the total level of luck we have may be a constant, I’ll be better off with my good luck somewhere else.

A fine start to a New Year!

A quick search on the web yields the following cool (rather unfortunate) domain names. Think twice about your url before registering. Even our #1 global brand can make a slip. Perhaps one day we gonna have to put spaces in domain names…

Pen Island, a site that sells pens: www.penisLand.net

Mole Station Native Nursery: www.molestationNursery.com

Powergen, an Italian power plant: www.powerGenitalia.com

Choose Spain, a Holiday Rentals Service: www.choosesPain.com

Cumming First United Methodist Church: www.cummingFirst.com/organ.html

Who Represents… A search service: www.whorePresents.com

Therapy Finder: www.theRapistFinder.com

IP Anywhere: www.IPanywhere.com (read: I pee anywhere)

Big Al’s Aquarium & Tropical Fish Supply: www.biGalsOnline.com

*** google search: www.goOgle.com ***

So that’s where the Antique Products Musuem is.

I am so enjoying my Negotiation class! Today I had my first formal negotiation exercise. Basically the class is divided into two, each of which takes on one out of the two roles in a given context. Each of us is given some confidential instructions to prepare with. In class, we will then come together as pairs (a buyer and a seller) to negotiate. To put it simply, we were supposed to “verbal-fight” and agree on a price for our business contract.

I did not do as well as I had expected. I did the one single big mistake of a negotiator - that is softening up to your opponent. I made the first offer of $40 to exert some anchoring influence. She responded with $7, a price so extreme and unexpected that it threw me off balance. $30 was my next offer, a mistake in itself simply because I just revealed how flexible my bargaining power could be with that $10 concession. She exploited this and brought the price up to $10. After a couple of bargaining, her minute concessions convinced me that the maximum she was willing to paying was between $10 and $20. Her best move was when she told me even at $24, they will be making a loss. Hearing that, I put myself in her shoes and empathized with her. Strangely, I feel obliged to help her. We finally agreed on $20, an advantageous position for both of us, though I could have taken a bigger slice of the pie. It was later revealed by the teacher that the other party could accept a price of up to $35. Ugh!

Time and again, I have seen my positions and emotions easily swayed by circumstances and what people say. I need to learn how to remain firm and decisive, once my game plan is fixed. He who hangs in there the longest wins.

Negotiation is really a game of manipulation. There are so many tactics you can employ, even in a simple price-bargaining situation. From the way you speak, the types of concessions you make, right down to the amount of pause you use before making a counter-offer, you hold the key to changing the other party’s perception, and thus the result of the agreement. As much as the “on-stage” performance matters, prior preparation to leverage on any bargaining power means a huge part of the success too.

10 strategies I learnt to conducting a successful negotiation:

1. Know your next best alternative if you fail the negotiation
2. Research on the other party’s next best alternative
3. Aim high
4. Make the first offer if you are confident of the price range
5. Counteroffer immediately
6. Don’t state ranges
7. Make few and smaller concessions, one at a time
8. Use an objectivee-appearing rationale to back your offer
9. Appeal to norms of fairness
10. Do not fall for the “even split” ploy

I am really looking forward to selling my car.

It’s 5 more minutes to the AFC championship where the Pittsburgh Steelers face off with the Denver Broncos! We are one step away from the SuperBowl. Looking forward to Tyrone Carter’s spectacular saves again.

The Steelers’ defence is certainly a force to be reckoned with. Lets hope their offense can match up! Go Steelers!!

[6:07pm] Final score: 34 - 17

Super Bowl XL in Detroit here we come!!

Have fun with creating your own subtitles for these Japanese commercial here in foshata! Some of them are totally hilarious!

Mine’s FSH3016 tagged under JA.

A pity we can’t save the video along with our taglines.

Cut the crap! How much for a night?

I’ve never seen a TV drama series more riveting than 24! The way it engages you in the plot and character development, the clever use of its soundtracks and effects, it is really crafted to take your breath out. Even though it’s showing Season 5 now, I only started watching this series in Dec 05. And obviously it didn’t take me long to catch up to the present season…

24 really made me realize making decisions is hardly the easiest thing to do as a leader. Having the clock ticking away barely helps. What is the right thing to do? It made me wonder if I’m put in the shoes of the characters in there, would I even do the same things. I really don’t know. For one, being a plain civilian seems easier.

Top 10 things I learnt from the show:

1. These people do not need to sleep.
2. They do not need to eat or drink (at least for a day).
3. Some people (read: Jack Bauer) are just born field agents.
4. In a faceoff, the side with satellite map coverage wins.
5. Terrorist threats can be neutralized, however complex they are, in a day (24 hours to be exact).
6. Their cars do not run out of gas.
7. If you are going to be in Counter-Terrorist Unit, do not have a family. If you do, protect them at all costs before going out on a mission.
8. They are top-scorers in the Negotiation class in college.
9. It is possible for one man to take down a whole team of more than ten men at a go.
10. The good prevails.

My course list for this semester:

• Maya - 12 units
• Negotiation - 6 units
• Golf - 3 units
• Tennis - 3 units

Being the hard-core workaholic that I am, I was initially uncomfortable with the sudden huge amount of free time I had at hand. As empty as it felt at first, I am beginning to appreciate the long overdue slow-down in the pace of life now. No more rushing to finishing a homework. No more rushing to finish up a project due in half hour’s time. No more rushing a meal to work on a stupid piece of code. I started to be able to do things that I always wanted to do in earlier semesters. Take courses I really want to take.

It feels good - and refreshing. Indeed my best semester ever.

Needing only 1.5 course more to pass and registering for 2.5 courses, I need to choose between a course that has always been my interest and another which may be useful in my future workplace. My second day of school has passed and I have made my decision.

Maya is the current state-of-the-art 3D animation software used to create the CG-effects-laden blockbusters we see these days. King Kong, Narnia and the likes were produced using this tool. It has always been my dream to create CG effects like those we see in the movies. Even having dabbled with a little of 3D Studio Max, another competing 3D software, 6 years ago, I still prefer to have taken a formal class on the subject. Here I am, presented with this chance to take such a class, a class worth at least $3k-4k at market price. The draw is compelling.

One and a half year ago, when I was asking myself whether bridging my two main academic interests (security and HCI) was even possible, i stumbled upon the field of usable security, the very field of research striving to make security systems and technology more usable. Lorrie Cranor (together with Garfinkel) wrote a book compiling some of the best papers on the topic. This semester she is teaching Usable Security and Privacy. This could even be very useful if I am going to work on security-related stuff in future. Even more, it allows me to put my HCI skills in practice.

The verdict? Maya.

I’m going to self-study in the latter course and put it in my resume anyway.