parking in Japan

I found a funny picture on pbase.com. It says in Japan by its law you can't register a car without proof that you own or rent a parking place. Excuse me sir, by parking place, what do you mean? Does this one count?

convenience fee

"convenience fee", the second funniest term that I have heard or seen this year, only next to "American refugee" which I heard in a comedy talk show. Today I go online to pay my water utility fee of the last week, about 4 bucks. Then it said that if want to pay by credit card, a convenience fee of 3 dollars will be charged to my account. What? I was not convinced. Sometimes I have emotional problem. How could machine charge for money? This must be a scam! or even worse it might be a pyramid scheme!!

It is so not convenient.

miss snow

church on Sunday

This morning I went to an American church. well, American church, this term sounds funny, I mean, I don't go to the Chinese church any more, after some careful considerations. Some people feel more identity of themselves when with same kind of people, some others feel more identity around different people. I am the second kind, so I decide to go to an American church just 2 blocks away. Took a shower, have a breakfast, walk to church, worship God and make friends. Very simple. This afternoon they have a Christmas carol and a college student party in the evening. I need some relaxation before a whole busy week starts.

my work

mac rules

Now I believe Apple Inc makes the best computers. They make computer into electronics category, not machines. You power it on and use it, it is that simple. Forget about virus, memory leak and check your hard disk during reboot. I don't hate Windows, actually it does a good job for computer game industry, but a lot of people do. Some of these people turn to Linux for the control which Linux systems give to them. Once you touched Linux, you have entered another side of the computer world, called "open source". That means everything is free under Linux, but installation of software is pain, pain and pain. If you go to some freelance websites, you will find a lot of people are paying for some scripts to help install software. Simply put, Windows is good for personal pleasure, but not the best solution for business server; Linux is vice verse. Mac balances both worlds, after it switched from PowerPC CPU to Intel CPU and installed Linux kernal under its own Mac OS. That means its user has access to the whole world of open source, while enjoy the convenience and multimedia functions of a traditional Mac. I like the new imac, which integrates a whole computer within a monitor, at a price just above $1000. Impressive. But, when determining which computer to buy, more often than not people will consider its function first, style comes only after that. I wish Apple could use the money earned from ipod, iphone and stock market to develop some more killer functions of electronics. For example, I want to talk to blog, not type, is it possible? Another request, for Google, could you buy a satellite from government and provide cheap satellite internet connection at a cheap price? say to beat the nazi comcast, who charges installation fee? 

nothing important

My present boss got his phd in University of Minnesota in the 90s, Aerospace Engineering department, same as me. Yesterday and today, one of his college buddy came to our lab for a small conference, who works for a rocket science firm in Minneapolis. oh I miss Minnesota, when I saw the news about the snow storm on TV. "That's so sweet" I thought. Yes it is, 75 degree down here doesn't feel like Christmas. I am ready for a big snow!

We got a 6 million dollar project about hurricane. 6 million is a big number in the name of science, but it is a tiny amount in the name of politics. Everyone talk like politician during the meeting. Too bad only the indian lady and me are the only slaves doing the scientific sexy research, to make it even worse, she is pregnant, which means I am the only labor worker in our group. These days after work my legs are shaking due to too much coffee and not enough sleep. I am ready to be self-employed! what? don't believe me? say it again, I am ready for a full-body massage!

Can't believe Georgia is running out of water, should bring some from Minnesota down to the south..

tired

need sleep badly

peopledata.com

peopledata.com

where can find every details about you! 

Well, don't get scared yet, it can't find out the most recent information, at least that's the case for me. The search found my previous cell phone number and home address, but since then I have moved 3 times .. hah, I guess I have moved too fast for the software to catch up. What about you?

"cups" coffee shop

My friend google map told me that there are only 2 starbucks in the whole city, and the closest one is 6 miles away from my place. So I have to switch from my favorite coffee shop to a local force, "the Cups" coffee shop. It has broadband internet, great!! A cup of small coffee is only 1.22 dollar, compared to Starbucks' 1.66. I am sitting in it right now, typing on my computer. There are alot of students here, and I guess most of them are from Belhaven college, a school very close by. I will come here often.

This morning I went to a chinese church. The experience was fine. I learnt a message: don't forsake anything God grants you, for example your name as the oldest son. Yes Lord, I can throw away anything that's earned by me, but dare not throw away those given by you. Only you can take those away. My name as the oldest son of my parents, my name as a husband, and my name as a research associate, these are given by you, not by my own effort. Amen.

This afternoon I went to a christmas carol. Good experience. Good sign I begin to make friends.

Jemima 1 yr old

happy B-day!

keyboards are disgusting

get in my apartment, kong fu style

Everyone loves "no hassle", you want a stable car, a fast-boot computer and, uh, go into your living place without difficulty. Well, the last one should not be a problem which you should take for granted. However, today I had problem getting in my apartment. 

10 pm I was at the door of my apartment, after unlock every locks, the door is still tight. After trials and failures, I called the landlord emergence number, which lead me into an automated answering machine. I have to throw my last bet: putting down my bag, I backed up several steps, and jumped-kicked the door. "Click", the lock seemed like not uphold anymore. And yeah I got into my apartment. What's the reason for that? The lock was offset a little. 

I think I need a friend here, in case I am really locked out and need a place to stay. I don't want to go to my boss and ask "can i get the hotel bill reimbursed because I was locked out of my apartment". Or, I can live in my car, totally. A hospital parking lot will be a good place, if it is free, since it has water and restroom and you can hide. 

second life

Today I have a feeling that I actually growed up, at the age of almost 26. Today TV CNBC has news about a computer game "second life", which caught my interest since not my computer games go into news section of a big TV channel. 

Check this out secondlife.com

It's a 3D cyber-world which you actually live there: you buy clothes, pay bill and can actually get a full-time job in the game. You are paid by $L which you can cash out into US dollars, that means you can open your business and make money. Indeed, a lot of people has done that. Many big real companies have settled "branches" in the game, like Nissan has put their new Sentra in the game. You can buy land, build home and sell it like real business. Besides all these jazz, to be honest a big part of people join the game for cyber-sex related stuff.

Wait, I still don't get it. Why people spend so much time in a fake world for fun? Is the real world really this boring? I believe I have spent too much time fucking my computer, so I just walk away from this game. 

If I have a second life, I want to be a trader who make trades of future commodity, stocks and forex, while playing poker. That would be fun.   

second day, already tired

This monday I went to the court house and got a plate and tag for my car. An interesting thing is that they don't accept credit card/check, only upfront cash. After 5 days down here south, I notice that there is less trust between people here than Minnesota, for example, banks don't make money orders. The banker told me, "only after we get paid, you can take out cash." My landlord told me, 20 days after rent due, my belongings will be thrown to street. hey, in the cruel city here, I can survive, can you?

Then from 10 to 9 I stay in my building which is in the middle of nowhere. My boss was originally from Iran, my coworker is an Indian lady, I am Chinese, so we are a little asian team. Maybe I shouldn't emphasis race too much. After the 2nd day at work, I am tired, mostly because of the Mac machine I am using. It is a Mac using an Intel 64bit CPU, which most of the software don't support. For example, installing a data plotting software requires installing five other software first. While many people hate this, a lot of people just obsess with it. There are two kinds of people who loves using Mac: those who love tweaking and those who love paying for service. 

This blog is becoming wordy, mostly because I don't have a digital camera. I want a very good one like Yuejian's.

this is great

The first day at work was great, I got an office, a Mac computer and a Macbook for my use. I took the Macbook home, to find there is a wireless internet hot spot in my bedroom. So I am using this free wireless internet now, maybe it is the apartment's public wireless. Thanks God I don't have to go through the process of setting up cable anymore. Surfing internet on my bed is one of my best past time. I saved 60 bucks per month for the internet, instead the bill goes into parking at school. Now I hate everything which goes like "per month", just hate it. Einstein said "the most powerful force in the universe is compound interest". Ok enough, or I will sound like a loser. Now I live like a loser, but I am really not. There are websites paying you 8 bucks for you to eat at fast food stores and for your review of the store. This is called "mystery shopping". I can drive 30 miles for a free lunch, can't believe my life style in Jackson?

Damn Google

Guys, got to check this out ..

http://www.google.com/tisp/install.html

I googled "cable internet free installation", this is what I found, a toilet connected internet using a flush technology. I was excited at first thinking google does a great job to provide internet service, only later on to find..

I hate comcast for charging installation fee, I hate DSL for having to have a home phone service. Maybe I will bring my computer to my office and live there..

nonstop

There is an old computer downstairs in my hotel. It is better called an "internet terminal" instead of a computer, because it doesn't have anything other than "internet explorer". Even so, I have sticked to this computer for 4 hours nonstop. hmm, I think a $200 dollar computer can feed me very happy. What did I do online? Oh a whole lot of important stuff. like checking NASDAQ index of the stock market, foreign currency exchange ratios to make sure everything is ok, read blogs, facebooks, emails..

Financed a 2006 car. Kia optima Lx V6 2.7L. only 20 Miles per gallon in cities. Because I am gonna only drive 5k mile/year, so I was intentionly looking for something new and relatively high mileage. I will finish the title and plate on Monday, and it needs extra keys, home depot!

My GPS told me I had arrived in my destination

So I guess I am in Jackson right now, as my GPS said so. It better be right this time. It's so hot here, am I in south America? (double check my GPS), ok I am in Jackson. Here we go.

My luggages didn't come with my flight, so they are delayed. I felt like winning a lottery. They will arive in my hotel in about 20 minutes. I have rented a car, been to the dealership and decided to want something REALLY CHEAP as i am.

I got an crappy apartment right behind a luxury-looking apartment. Big contrast actually begin to make me want to live somewhere nicer.

so, why should i care about Euro/US Dollar ratio?

hi everyone, Pro tian will teach economy class again. Don't write on your notes yet, i want you to keep your heads up and THINK.

So, why should you care about Euro/US dollar ratio? Because it is directly related to inflation, employment rate and US dollar buying power. Let's be more specific: every American somehow owes debt if they ever use credit card. If the total national debt is, say 12 trillion dollars, the total cash amount should be at least 12 trillion dollars, otherwise the debt will never be paid off. When the debt increases to 14 trillion dollars, another 2 trillion dollars cash bills need to be printed. This causes inflation, ie, the true buying power of US dollar decreases. So, why is inflation rate of US dollar (~2%) relatively lower than other country, say China Yuan? It is because other countries buy US dollar bills to preserse their economy. It's like store some gold under your bed in old time. Those smaller countries buy some US dollars, just in case when their countries' economy system go poor, This keeps US inflation rate lower and debt system running. However, the smaller countries only buy most stable currencies that they trust, when Euro/US dollar keeps going up, more funds will shift into Euros and inflation rate increases. Euro/US can not go up constantly for too long, otherwise the investors will switch their funds from their business to this foreign currency exchange market, which will cause employment rate lower.


But don't worry, the US and European central banks and big companies will make sure nothing go wrong. What should we do to help the economy? I don't know, I am just a pro, not an advisor.
p.s. A little inflation is actually healthy. Actually inflation can not go too low, because that means there is not enough expend demand which is bad for economy.

us dollar/ euro

US dollar/Euro has reached a new low. If I was a US citizen, I will vote for a president who can bring us prosperity, not someone who can prove he/she is right. Why is the reason for billion-billion dollar iraq war if it didn't bring us cheap gas? I would never be a republican.

negative tax

What if we are paid by negative income? Do government owe us tax then?

Imagine an afternoon,

Boss: "hey Tian, your new monthly income is -$100,000."
Me: "Greeeeeat! Now I can make $15,000 tax every month!"

Isn't that great?

Wait, how to deal with the -$100,000 amount?

Imagine,

Me: "Boss, when will the -$100,000 transaction post in my account?"
Boss: "Oh, same old question. According to our contract, your payment will be realized 100 years later."

Is that better? If I open a company "Negative Power, Inc.", will you join?

George Stobbart

"Sometimes I got the feeling that communication with Pearl was like sending signals out into space,
maybe if you waited long enough you`d get an intelligent answer back,but it was a long shot."
------ George Stobbart

Amazon Kindle, finanly the dream e-book reader, but ..

Amazon.com's new product came out on Nov. 19th and it is already a sold-out.

Great features:

1. papaer-like screen. electronic paper and ink.
2. 10.3 ounces
3. up to 2 weeks battery life

4. wireless internet

Draw-back:
priced at $399, new books around $9.99.

Famous comment:

"This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker.

It will be, but not at price $399. People don't want to pay $410 just to read a book.

Had thanksgiving dinner at Karl's house

Today Yuejian and his girlfriend picked me up to Karl's house for a thanksgiving dinner. This year they made a honey-lemon flavored turkey, and a bigger one than the last year's, a garlic flavor one. Which one is even better, this year's or the last year's? hmm, hard to say, but what did I say to Yuejian? "It's sooooo much better than the turkey sold in Coffman Union's." Really.

I put a banner on top of my computer screen: "The internet is for information only" to limit my daily mandatory web-browsing time. Now I obviously break it, but that' s ok.

don't get lost and robbed

Don't get lost and don't get robbed. The things that I should achieved at least in Jackson.

In order not to get lost, I need a GPS (global positioning system). Hopefully I will buy it on this black friday.

In order not to get robbed, I will need a potato cannon. But since foreigners can't hold guns in US, I am imagining that I can master a magic spell that turns a gangster into a sheep for 5 five seconds. 5 seconds are totally enough for me to do a lot of shit to him..

credit

So I checked the car sale ads again and found fine print of "Requires *** credit score" which I am 20 points below. Then I was worried, and asked Yucheng my friend,

"I am 20 points below their requirement, I think I am doomed."
"Come on. You are the one who buy it, so you should be the master"

Reeeeeeaaaaaaaaly????

I guess I was poor for too long and it changed my mindset.

Redefine myself.

answering phone

I was looking for an apartment in Jackson yesterday, and found plenty of them on google map. Even though it was a Sunday, I still called a number. A woman answered,

"Hidgeland apartments, how may I help you?"
"Can I ask for the price for a one-br?" I said.
"I don't have any information about the apartments, this is just an answering service." She said.
"errr, ok. But can I ask some generous question about the neighborhood?"
"I don't have any information sir, please call management tomorrow. This is an answering service." She answered.
...

Is she a robot? She must be a black-accent disguised automated answer machine. Then I found the neighborhood data on city-data.com, to find in the zip code area 75% population is black and 27 sex offenders reported this year in that neighborhood. Then I found a nicer area and still looking for an apartment.

2007 Chevy Cobalt LS, 29k miles, $195 per month for 72 months, 0 down. Deal or not deal?

2002 Kia Spectra, 59k miles, $4900, can be financed. Carfax shows an accident in 2004 with damage cost over $500. Front bumper covered with plastic. Am I too cheap?

Maybe I will go for the first one. Any suggestions?

The Sims 2

My wife Ying comes back from CA for a week and helps me pack and move. We played a very popular computer game "The Sims 2" together for a few hours before she got bored. Then I kept playing, trying to master and beat the game. Unlike other games which are so addictive when they starts and become repetitive after a few hours of playing, "The Sims 2" is the opposite: it does not look exciting at first, but you know there is a long way before you can master it.

The characters in the game are called the sims, who have six stages throughout the whole life-span: baby, toddler, child, teen, adult and elder. Their lives are driven by their "aspiration", and their performance is determined by their "mood". There are seven types of "aspiration" which the player needs to choose when creating a sims: Family, Fortune, Knowledge, Popularity, Romance, Pleasure and Grilled Cheese (Eating many grilled cheese sandwiches). Mood is determined by how well their daily need is filled. It can be interesting when a sims has to go to school when he is full of urine; or a sims needs to sleep so bad that he passes out on a couch in a night club.

You can have babies, with human or,.., err aliens. You can choose the action "try for babies" with another person of opposite sex who is in a love relationship with you, or you can use a telescope and get "abduct" by an alien so that you can have a weird-acting alien baby. Unlike other games in which fun comes automatically to you, "The Sims 2" asks you to explore fun by yourself, which you may or may not like.

Another fun part of the game is that you can open your own business, but that needs other tweaks. There are many videos on youtube about many interesting life stories about different sims. This game is the second best seller of computer games of all time, only next to the original "The Sims".

Even though this game is interesting in all aspects, it lacks one characteristic of an exciting game: addictiveness. But since I will start work soon, I can not get addicted to computer games any more, "The Sims 2" might become a casual fun for me.

moving

So I decided to take the research associate job at Jackson state university in Mississippi. As a foreigner, aerospace engineer goes nowhere, so this is a chance to do a career transition, as I will do research on Hurricane on the new job. It's a pain to relocate and leave my friends, but life permits changes, isn't it?

I miss the Friday nights at the rock church. The first persons I met I believe are Sarah S., Christine, Lane and Gina. Then the salsa dance, then the Christmas ball, when Christine told me we didn't have to hold hands, oh this person got character I thought. Then Will came back from Israel, then the retreat to his cabin. Then Karl invited Yuejian and me to his home for Thanksgiving dinner. I thought I might have been in Minnesota forever, but I am tired of being poor.

People have to have something in common to be together, say 3 years. What we have in common is that we believe in God and the desire to communicate with each other. So we did. I have made many decisions during the five years, I hope this one will be a right one. At least I hope it will do good to my career. Getting too used to the U of M campus makes me not want to do anything, I hope moving to a new place will make me read more Bible and eager more.

About a month ago I experience a sudden heath danger at midnight. I didn't know what it was wrong: I felt dizzy for 5 minutes and it stopped before I decided to call ambulance. Since then I realize that everything has an end. If I will die tomorrow, the struggles I have today will seem ridiculous. Take it easy, I will leave Minneapolis and have a new start.

At the new place, I will rent an apartment, buy a new car, make new friends. I will use this blog as a journal.

draw on facebook

I tried out the drawing application on facebook today, here are the results.

job interviews

I have been through 3 job interviews, not all of them were fun though. They deserve a blog post. There might be some criticism and show-off, which should not be viewed as proud.

The first interview was at Fort Worth, Texas. It was horrible, and I had made every possible mistake during the interview. Long story short, basically I talked too much. Speaking of personality, how could people want more of you if they already know everything about you. So I changed my strategy accordingly in the latter interviews: I talked when it was necessary, and everything I talked had some relation to landing the job. Yes I talked too much, from the weather of Minnesota to the fact that there are some bugs flying inside my TV tube. Everything. So I fall into the "too nice but thanks" category. By the way, I lied during my presentation at the interview and caught right on spot, and I thought the secretary has a nice ass and stared at her ass at every single chance. The interview was supposed to finish at 4 pm. But at 3pm they all left with a "nice to meet you but has to go for Friday". I knew I was done.

After nights of insomnia, repent and tears, I went to the supercomputing institute for an interview about a supercomputing consultant job. It a user-support job. This time I treated as an exam and had a score of myself in mind. So I did not blow it this time. But God it was such a long day, eight different people interviewed me on one on in turn, with basically the same questions. I collapsed after I walked home. Yesterday they asked me for an extra interview on next Monday because "I live here so it is convenient"as she said. I don't know if it's a good sign, but I have to go there on more time.

So I was excited about the supercomputing job and smiled even during sleep, as if I was in my first love. In this unrealistic mood, I went to Jackson, Mississippi for another interview. I didn't really want this job, but I don't want to miss a chance either. So I was polite, a little distant during the interview, until he said that he offered me a job with well payment and benefits. Then I realized this is for real. So right now I am still confused, money or my first love?

I came back to Minneapolis yesterday. On the Halloween night, an African girl walked up to me and asked me if I want to sleep with her. God, speaking of offer, thanks, but no thanks. (I hope my wife wouldn't read this but I swear nothing happens).

sunday

Will called me on Sunday and asked if I was going to the house church. But til 12:30 I had not had lunch and not showered or shaved. So I decided not to go, instead I went for grocery shopping with Yuejian. Then I played DotA, then I got sick of it and went to lab. Hours later, on my way back home from lab, I thought, 2007 is almost over, 2008 will come. What am I gonna be 10 years later? Best scenario, a job, wife, house, car, is that all? Then I got tired of my own limitation. I got afraid of numbers, like how much income I can make in 10 years, how many hours I spend on sleep, and so on.

What is the purpose of my life? Where does true happiness come from for me? I asked myself. Money, work, friendship, parentship, love/sex? I worship God because I want to be a better person. God, is your love unconditional or I need to work for it. If the latter, I am not afraid to work to win your love. Then, I come to a conclusion, Tian, you need to spend yourself on the things you are supposed to do.

Deep huh?

proactive

proactive: acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes

(Merriam-Webster.com)

There is a job opening at the supercomputing institute at the U. In the job requirement it says "it is expected that the person that fills this position will take a proactive approach in communicating the unique research potential of the computing facilities to the university community".

That's my problem. For example, when I play soccer, most often I pass the ball to another player's position. Wrong. It should go to where I want it to be, and it should be ahead of him. To be proactive, I need to have vision, plan and action. It's difficult, but I have to have them. Vision comes from experience and thoughts, plan comes from worry and action comes from determination. So, to be professional, what is needed to be successful in this job? This question I have to ask myself again and again before interview. Skills, knowledge of the market and patience. Yes, patience, I am not patient when comes to communication. Don't be frustrated when things don't work at first. It takes time to communicate.

Another view, proactive = professionally active. Yes I want to be proactive.

superantispyware

I have solved the computer virus an malware problem on my advisor's computer. The magic is called superantispyware. This software is awesome. It found 135 infected items on the computer, of which 80 something were hidden in the Windows registry which was not detected by Norton Anti-virus. Best part, it is free download and small, even though it needs to check and uncheck some options to enable full-computer scan. Some anti-malware software itself has pop-ups for updating virus definition, which is annoying. This superantispyware has no update-pop-ups. If your computer has pop-ups that recommend you buying something, consider this software.

Download link: http://www.snapfiles.com/get/SuperAntiSpyware.html
PC Magazine review: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2127210,00.asp
(only scored average in the review, but it did good job for me)

errata

The subtitle of my blog was "I will write everything happening in my wife..". It was wrong, not "in my wife" but "in my life". I just corrected it. Apparently I can't write everything in my wife, she is not pregnant and might have faith in future but not right now, sad to say.

I think I have decided to be a post-doc for my advisor. Is it a real job? Yes it is, but not a dream one. But I should be able to perform as I get paid. I found a sublease for a studio in dinkytown. A 2-bedroom is a waste for me right now.

bouncing around

hi, blog, I am typing on my professor's laptop in a small living room located in a big city -- San Fransisco. I can't type very fast because of tons of pop-ups and ads and virus. Yes, this computer is infected, I have to say. I didn't click on something, trust me. But anyway, I NEED to fix this computer before going back to school.

As some people know, I passed my Ph.D. defense on last Tuesday. After that, I drank too much and sleep too much, so I didn't have time to blog about it. Yes, the defense was fine. It was 1:30pm in the afternoon right after lunch. 20 minutes into my presentation, I almost fell into asleep, while still talking. Then I noticed 3 of the 4 professors have already closed their eyes and slept.. Yes I know it's boring..Then 40 minutes later they woke up and start shooting tons of harsh questions to me. Still brain-cooked, I failed to answer half of them. But thanks God, I still passed the exam. Then we went for beer afterwards. Then I played DotA til 4 am. Then I got up, prepare for the interview due the next day. Then I flew to Dallas/Fort Worth.

The interviews was ok. Guys, there are tooooo many old people in Texas, as I noticed. The company I visited has only 13 people. Geez, Ocean's 13 almost. And they are all in their 40s and 50s, "mid-career" as they called themselves. Still writing computer codes, they somewhat scared me by the boredom of their career life. "Well, i am not sure I want to devote my life to computer codes", I said to myself. But besides that, they are cool people selling cool products.

Then I flew to San Fransisco to meet my wife who I have not seen for 1 and half month. 11:30pm I arrived at her apartment, still in suites. Seeing her walking closer, I felt the moment when we first met came back again. When I saw her, I noticed that I missed her.

out of town 09/27 - 10/08

So I will not be able to go to the Rock and the small groups, but I can still go to the Rock by the power of imagination.

DotA

Yes, as everybody knows, I play DotA!! The most exciting game without a monthly subscription fee. Yes, between the time period of preparing for interviews, defense, long-distance communication with my wife, such such problems, when I get an hour I will play DotA.

DotA is a gaming that you fight your opponent by killing and fight against your teammates by trash talking. If you play you will know what i am saying. The most noobish player on a team is usually the victim of teammates trash talking. Oh man, I can't describe it in words, those moments are hilarious. When I get involved, I might become angry at the moment, but afterwards I will just laugh when thinking about it.

Yeah, this is one moment two teammates begin to hate me because I creep (kill neutral monsters for experience and gold) too much instead of helping them. Then I finally decide to join them for a gank (gang kill). Then during a gank, my net was laggy, I was still creeping when my teammates get killed right in front of me. Huge hatred builds up among my teammates and also I have to defend myself then trash talks start... $%$$#%@^%**#$. But it is amusing now, ^_^

moving out

creepy, my landlord found out that i have rent one bedroom to others. so what's the problem? The problem is, in the rent handbook page 123 line 23 written in a fine print such such, meaning i am not supposed to do this.
I was asked to go to a court, state what is happening, and then fined 70 dollars/month.

too much, my roommates decided to move out, and they did. So i got a chance to drive a huge UHaul truck and helped them move out.

Will i still live there? the problem is, i don't know how long i am gonna live there. My advisor offered me a job here, but being a postdoc won't get me anywhere close to san fransisco. life is confusing right now. Will my advisor hate me if i get a job somewhere else without notifying him? No, no, no, tian, you should think what is your most needed right now and go for it. If I can not help yourself, how can I help others? or do I want to?

Talking to people is the most important skill, i realized, not write some who-knows-what codes. It's the human communication makes the society working and money circulating, not some damn-ass computer codes I have spent five years on. seriously. I talk to everybody in our department now, secretary, professors, janitors. Tian, if you grasp the art of talking, you will become the man!

The most confused renter, that is me, because I don't know how long i am gonna live here.

sally's

As a tradition of our lab, we go to sally's for a drink after someone get a degree. So we did yesterday after Ryan's Ph. D. defense. Yes, my defense will be on next Tuesday. Farewell, my student life! The five years that I have spent in graduate school in U of M contain a lot of highlights, some of them are "wet".

1. During my TA exam, ie, I taught a class and let the graders to see if I am able to do it well. I was teaching physics, something like Newton's law. So I pulled out a rubber-band and prepared to do a little experiment in front of the whole class and graders. However, instead of saying "rubber-band", I said "rubber". RUBBER, "Here is a rubber" "you pull it and it expands" something like that. There was one grader starting laughing, and another one has terrified expression on her face.

2. Faith. Bible gave me moral value and standards which now I treasure a lot. When I was in China, what I pursue was personal satisfaction and success. I did what I can until being punished for doing wrong. Life would have been dangerous if I kept that way of doing.


sry, I can't focus on the topic. And now that I am married, I should not have life freedom any more. Next Tuesday, my Ph. D. final defense. Next Friday, Texas Fort Worth interview, Next Saturday, meet my wife.

5 reasons why my blog sucks

1. quite obviously, i don't update it often
2. the content is boring and deep, at least try to appear deep
3. yeah, the content. too much whining about my own life
4. why not update?
5. it just sucks

However, i think over again and get 6 reasons why i should keep this blog

1. it records many truth moments about my personal life. even though we all can not handle truth
2. it keeps record about how immature i used to be.
3. so.., when i made improvement in writing or living style, it will show from this blog
4. it shows my existence in blogsphere
5. it recorded my struggling sometimes. not beautiful moment but a treasure.
6. so people who read it might sympathsize with me

so, I will keep blogging.

love, pain and hate

long-term love, turns into a habit;
long-term pain, turns into a scar;
long-term hate, turns into a burden.

some updates

I remembered that someone asked me "why you Chinese couple get married and then separate?" Ok, I don't know the answer, but now it's my turn, as Ying will go to California for school for 4 months. Don't feel terrible for me, I am fine (no you should not be fine, I know I know). I know it is bad thing to say, but marriage sometimes is stressful. So I can have more freedom and be more concentrated on my own stuff.

Well, besides that, there are some good news. I will defend my Ph.D. in this September, after that I will work as a research associate in this university. I am still waiting for a response from NASA to work there, that might takes a few months. Then next month I will have another interview.

Bar or church?

my chinese blog

protian.yo2.net

My parents read this blog. It's a wordpress blog!

ah another website

I registered a domain name for myself, http://protian.net. I thought about other names, like tianwan.net, wantian.net, tian.com, etc. But they are either used or not meaningful. Then I found "protian" which means professional tian. You are welcome to check out my site, but it doesn't have anything except for the default theme.

I paid 10 bucks for this, with the hope that it could give me more freedom such as adding my own scripts to it. But to my disappointment, it only accepts HTML formats. I have a website at my own machine at home, which can be reached by my IP address, which changes everytime when I reboot my machine.. so it's meaningless, until I find a way to alias the domain name to the IP address.

The impulse that I feel to put up a website originates from pulling a resume on it. Then I discovered some cool stuff with which I can set up my own blog site: www.zope.org, www.plone.org, they are deep.

good weather

ah, today it reaches 83F, and I took a walk with my wife. It has been three months since our marriage and two months after she arrived in United States. Life is not too bad since then, but I can not say that everything was positive. But don't get me wrong, life is basically enjoyable. I am still looking for a job or maybe just an internship kind. Ying goes to English classes provided by Stadium villiage church. She was excited about that at first then it becomes more and more like just killing time. I will spend more time with her, yeah I am her husband and the only relative in this whole country.

There is a bad news, the company eventually pulled off my interview because this year's work visa has already expired for foreigners. But I am still confident, and Ying and I are not too pessimistic about this situation. Maybe I will postpone my graduation or just find an internship first.

I miss the people in Chinese language group and church groups, but now I am a family guy.

I will definitely write more

Yeah, I got married back in China in January, and now I am back, with my wife, to school in Minneapolis. I said I would upload some pictures, but not today. I will, trust me. How is marriage life? satisfactory. My wife, Ying (she wants to be called Jin which is her last name), doesn't have things to do right now, but she will apply for school here.

Marriage definitely changed me, in a profound way. I have more sense of responsibility and maturity. I am still the same Tian outside but "transformed" inwardly, and the same thing happened when I got baptized back in 2003. Marriage helps me understanding God's purpose of my life. I am not lazy any more, and labor work becomes pleasant.

I will have an on-site interview next month in Fort Worth in Texas. Hello cowboy city! I wish I could get that job which is in aerospace engineering, my background, and deals with computer programming, my interest.

We are busy moving to a new apartment. After settled down, I will have more social activity.

New year's resolution

find a job!
find a job!
find a job!

I'm still in town, haha, writing a paper due tomorrow. I'll go back home at Jan 18th, and my wedding is scheduled at Jan 28th. I am excited and a little nervous. I'll post pictures after we come back.