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.