Current mood: Feeling a million bucks

It’s amazing how getting back into the sports momentum makes one feels so refreshed and awake (the fatigue aside). After getting back from Vancouver, mm and I started the jogging regime and working out in gym.

Had my first golf and tennis lessons today. Not bad for a first lesson in golf, it got me all hyped up for the gentleman sport. As for tennis, I’m quite glad I haven’t touched the tennis racquet for quite a while (With the Pittsburgh weather, I don’t really have the choice…). I’ll have to re-learn all my strokes once again, while forgetting how I played last year. We’ll see how it works out. Bring on the good weather!!!

Lori Grunin has a very good writeup about the 15 most common photo-taking pitfalls, complete with examples and ways to correct them if any. Sadly, I fall prey to a number of these flubs, such as “It’s a complete blur!!” and “So far away“.

Scratch one up for a decent tripod.

Finally back at Pitt! We had a fantastic trip to Vancouver. Food and more food. At last we found a place to contend with Toronto for the best Chinese food place in North America…

Watch out for the photos…

I have used Weather.com and Accuweather.com, but none is as accurate as the almighty Weather Forecasting Stone!

For the latest project in class, we were given a room with a number of primitive polygons like a tube and a box, and we are supposed to color it up with textures and shades. Alot of people tried rearranging the objects to create the best looking room possible. I decided what the heck - lets drop the room and do something more interesting.

Here’s my composition piece on a scene in a sewer. The lighting contrast is bad, but what do you expect from a sewer anyway. Enjoy! Here’s a bigger version.

Two more months to graduation, and I will step foot into the working world for the next 40 years of life. How exciting does that sound! Honestly, after spending the last 20 years in schools, I somehow feel a tinge of excitement thinking that I’m going to start working finally. It’s like finally I’m able to see what I can do with what I have gotten from the school so far. It’s not so much I’m sick of learning, but rather, I’m sick of studying, preparing for exams and all. This will be one refreshing point in my life I’m sure.

As a usual routine, DSTA (the organization to which I’m immensely grateful for sponsoring my education) needs the returning scholars to update them regarding our interests so that they know where to deploy us. They sent me a document (aptly named ‘ADRIAN.doc’) and asked me to update that CV. There I go, updating the little nuggets of details. Thank god they let us update my photo as well. For the ’short description of your interest area/areas’ section, here’s what I wrote:

My primary interest is in the field of network and info-comm security. Being trained in the methodologies of Human-Computer Interaction, I also believe that human factors and the way people interact with the security systems play a significant role in the successful deployment of security. I hope to be able to research, design and develop systems, both secure and usable to users. An ideal workplace for me is one that provides a good mix of research and deployment opportunities.

In short, I want to do security and HCI. I wonder what I’ve gotten myself into…

In her latest Songs For Lover album, 顺子 did her own refreshing rendition of Billy Joel’s Just the Way You Are. Really love the lyrics and the chord progressions on this. I need to learn this on the guitar.
—

Don’t go changing, to try and please me
You never let me down before
Don’t imagine you’re too familiar
And I don’t see you anymore

I would not leave you in times of trouble
We never could have come this far
I took the good times, I’ll take the bad times
I’ll take you just the way you are

Don’t go trying some new fashion
Don’t change the color of your hair
You always have my unspoken passion
Although I might not seem to care

* I don’t want clever conversation
I never want to work that hard
I just want someone that I can talk to
I want you just the way you are *

I need to know that you will always be
The same old someone that I knew
What will it take till you believe in me
The way that I believe in you

I said I love you and that’s forever
And this I promise from the heart
I could not love you any better
I love you just the way you are
Repeat *

Just stumbled upon this amazing video at Robert Scobleizer’s blog. Apparently, someone claimed that this video was done by Microsoft marketing for an internal meeting with its designers. Why am I not surprised?

This really cracks me up!! For once I’m having fun with Unix commands. Here’s more.
—

% cat “food in cans”
cat: can’t open food in cans

% nice man woman
No manual entry for woman.

% rm God
rm: God nonexistent

% ar t God
ar: God does not exist

% ar r God
ar: creating God

% “How would you rate Quayle’s incompetence?
Unmatched “.

% ^How did the sex change operation go?^
Modifier failed.

% make love
Make: Don’t know how to make love. Stop.

% sleep with me
bad character

% got a light?
No match.

% man: why did you get a divorce?
man:: Too many arguments.

% !:say, what is saccharine?
Bad substitute.

% %blow
%blow: No such job.

No, no blood samples needed! Haha- that was my reaction when I first saw the word “dna”. I am usually not a fan of online personality tests, but this personalDna survey is really interesting. Apart from the usual yes/no, true/false questions, they have (spoiler alert!) these slider bars for questions and questions where you interactively place your response on a 2D grid. And then you get your own unique DNA color strip along with some cool advice if you want to be different.

Have fun with your self-relevation here.

For the interested folks, here’s mine.

“You are an encouraging leader. Your solid grounding in the practicalities of life, along with your self-assuredness and your willingness to appreciate new things make you a LEADER….”