Testing

Not Quite Just Another Manic Friday

I woke up early Friday, just like the other past 4 days, still for that silly reason. The day began with the 2 seminars given by Dr. Bonnaud, of University of Rennes in France. He is a funny, energetic guy, with a not-to-heavy French accent. So it was pretty reviving to hear him speaking.

The first talk was about the CNFM (Comité National de Formation en Microélectronique) - a national tool for research and education in the field of microelectronics. It's amazing to see this organization controlling the way of French microelectronics research, distributing research fund from the Ministry of Education and the consortium of French semiconductor industries to the 12 university- based research centers across the country. The program was started with 20 students some 20 years ago, today it has more than 8000 graduates ranging from specialist i.e. student trained to use specific equipments to Phd.

They pretty much have very decent tools and a lot of experts working on the many different topics-other than the traditional Si deposition stuff-such as optics, sensors, radar, design, circuit, stuff with Si-Ge technology, you name it. The unencouraging part is the declining interest from students in general to pursue science pathway in the higher education.

So guys, if you want to study stuff about microelectronics, go to France, they are looking for students to fill up the nice facilities they have up there. Hi, Lissa!

Dr. B's second talk was much more interesting, technologically speaking. It was about the drastic improvement of the quality of polycrystalline silicon Thin Film Transistor achieved in their Groupe de Microelectronique. This kind of improvement is what we are longing for in our research group.

That last talk lasted until almost 1:15 PM. Which meant that I only had approximately 2.5 hours to start and finish the slides for our group meeting presentation at 4. My topic for today would have been about the leak fighting exercise we have performed in the reactor system. I was pretty much done with the slides, but suddenly, I found out that the meeting has been cancelled. Thank God, I haven't practiced talking a single bit.

Instead, J and I went to a 20 minutes tour (uh..uh..I want to watch some Gilligan's Island) to George Bush Library with Dr. B. He is such a fun person, furthermore, he was equipped with a v. nice digital camera. On one occasion, he asked me to take a picture of him and J posing a serious discussion up in the Air Force One replica, with seat belts on. Wasn't that cute?

Around 6, J, L, and me had a dinner date to one of the nice restaurant here in B/CS. It's called the Oxford Street, and it's not a franchise. You know how miserably I am trying to avoid chain restaurants. OS has a very nice interior decoration with antiques glass windows, hallways, short ceiling, and wooden furnitures. It feels as if you are entering one of those pubs in Europe. Well, I've never been to Europe, but based on what I've seen in movies, this is what I call an European looking set.

The food was not to pricey. For $9.95, I had a King Henry VIII, which was basically 2 of 7 oz. pork chop served with my choice of grilled vegetable and crab soup. The crab soup was fantastic, and so was the vegetable. The meat, on the other hand, was kinda overcooked.

This Friday, so far, was quite a busy day. But now, I have no big stuff planned to fill in this nice weekend. Maybe I should start writing some part of the thesis and go watch midnight show for Finding Nemo.

Memorable Quotes

Some cute stuff I found here and there and in the e-mails, and of course this is a working list. Here we go:

Hola amiga, como estas?
--G, everytime.

Thank God RUBEN won!!!
--My bro refering to American Idol final competition between Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken.

He thinks I am goofing of.
--HH refering to Dr. K, the advisor.

We have to do it quick.
--Dr. K, the advisor, refering to every alleged fixing attempt at the lab.

How the heck I know.
--B, refering to stuff he couldn't careless.

How cute!
--Xinda, refering to stuff she finds interesting.

heyyyyyyy, i am tired to be a poor girl all the time!!
--P, refering to the obvious stuff.

Tok tok tok, Any body home ??
--My father's two liners e-mail.

Do you know that Dillard means gay in French ?
--Big D, [Xinda: no comment].

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
-- Albert Einstein

Woody Allen

My usual bed time routine every night, if I am not too tired, is flipping through classics and old movies programs. Last night, I stumbled to a 1965 Woody Allen movie, Take the Money and Run. As usual, the story of neurotic middle age man finding romance and life.

Other than the said flick, I've seen or at least partially seen Mr. Allen's works on Love and Death, Hannah and Her Sisters, Mighty Aphrodite, and Manhattan. Most of the time, I was lost in the dialogues, but I believe there are some significants of his comedies. Looks like I really need some enlightment here.

Under-water

It was the gloomiest day on earth for as long as she could remember. She sat with her back on the metal guard on the one side of an empty long dusty road. Suddenly she realized, there was a large body of water on her side of the road. The water was dark and calm, she was curious. "It doesn't look that deep, maybe I should try checking it with one of my hands". She moved a little towards the water and put her right hand into it. "I couldn't reach the bottom, funny, it doesn't look that deep from here."

She then stood up and moved even closer. "I could use some diving". She entered the water, held her breath, and started diving down. "This is strange", she said. "I never had the guts to go into something other than limpid water".

Down, down, and further down she went, still she couldn't find the end. She was almost out of her breath, but she kept going down. "No, I have to find the bottom. Keep going, keep going."

Couple more minutes had been gone, she intentionaly ignored the fact that there was not a single bit of air left on her lung. She has come to like the strange feeling anf that she actually enjoyed the woeful journey. "Down..down..down...I need to reach the bottom..."

Insomniac

So, I just found out the answer to my question. What comes out of the lack of sleeping and nutrition? IMSONIAC.

I had finished the paper and the proposal on Friday afternoon and submitted it to the Proffesor by 5PM. Went to watch midnight Bruce Almighty for a celebration. By the time the movie ended, it was already a 27-hours of no sleeping and I didn't feel any urge to rest. So, I came back to the office, did a lot of social blogging, browsing, the usual stuff.

J, the officemate, showed up around 4AM Sat, apparently he has got some sleeping disorder of his own and decided to get some work done. Around 6:30, he asked me if I was somber enough to take turn driving with him to Houston's Chinatown for some groceries. Sounded like a good idea, I had always wanted to try how powerful a Honda Accord is and of course it was about time for some exotic food shopping.

Arrived in Bellaire around 9:00, we proceeded to his favorite supermarket, Welcome. I usually go to either Diho or the new Hong-Kong, they have more Indonesian stuff there. Welcome is not bad either, actually it has more good stuff compared to Diho, but the seafood market is definitely less than the new Hong-Kong.

People have certain shopping preference, don't you think? I guess Welcome belongs to the Mandarin speaking people, while Diho to the Cantonese speaking ones, and Hong-Kong is definitely a Vietnamese area. So, since he is a Taiwanese, it's just natural for him to choose that particular market.

So, I got the usual Indonesian stuff I needed then the seafoods, some green tea, a lot of Tofu, and also the vegetables I could never find in CS. It's nice to go grocery shopping with people from different culture, you would get introduced to the many possibilities out there. J exposed me to the many new stuff like the Rice-Crispies-looking egg cake, Kim-Chi-like vegetable, and this nice fresh home-made chive dumplings.

While he got some haircut done, I visited 2 oriental gift shops, but found nothing really interesting in there. Then we went to a Chinese bakery, also got some SARS update for the area from the owner. There was a rumor that this one man who worked in one of the markets died of unknown reason. It wasn't at all near to the SARS infected symptome, but still people got scared and they decided to close down the businesses for a day or two. Oh BTW, there was this little cute thing, while in the market, I was sneezing a little and immediately I got a meanest looking glance from this middle age man. His daughter was on a shopping car about 4 feet from me, then, he just pulled her closer to him in an instant.

Done with all the necessary business, we headed back to CS. Arrived at home around 2PM, ate some stuff from the newly acquired foods, and then went to sleep (finally...). I think my brother did some sort of Indian victory dance over the food. Yeah, he was that excited.

One thing I learnt from (a v. good) anime soundtrack

Money cannot buy it
'Cause it can't be sold
Flattery cannot change the course it's on
It needs no credentials
And it never lies
Distance cannot fade it
And it don't get old



.::You probably already know what it is. Mouse over with your answer here
If not, continue reading ;-) ::.



Can't be twisted, tainted, or comercialized
Doesn't get tarnish as time passes by
And it's pure perfection
Yeah, it never dies



.:: Need more cues? ;-) or mouse over for the answer here::.



Can't ignore it 'cause it will not dissapear
Cannot kill it or just walk away
'Cause it's so essential
We can never hide

Sweet and simple and it keep us living
The only reason we'll never give in


.::By now, you should've known what it (mouse over, repeat do not click) is. ::.

So, have you found yours?

Pirated from: True Love, Brain Powerd OST.

It's Technically Over...

Shoot, the instant my officemate had left our office around 9:45 AM.....I felt a sleep! Boohoo to me, it was 2-3 hours shy from the targeted hours.

Suddenly, I woke up to the frantic sound of somebody trying to unlock the office door-- it was my officemate. Just as I went falling back to sleep, somebody else made the exact same annoying sound. And who in the Valhalla was that? It was...my boss. Blah...

Let's see if I can beat this 46 hrs record in the future.

.::.

Let there be light! Good morning, pEEPs !!!
and
Let there be dark! Good evening, PeepS !!!

Time for another update. Yes, it's still going.
But nothing new came up.

Later.

Huhuii

This is for all my supporters, Maters Dew & Ano, pink & Yasa.

40 hours, guys!!
8 to go...or till whenever it'll take me to finish that stuff.

Love ya, muah.

Still an Update

I'm still here. Just got back from a shower & some meal @ Sonics.

What's new?
.:.I got pictures ready to be scanned.
.:.My labmate single-handedly managed to kill the reactor I'm responsible for....It is becoming more and more annoying, first the mysterius leak, now this. Should I just shut him up next time?
.:.Okay, need to back to work now.

Yet another Update

If you think I'm already succumbed to bed now, you are v.² wrong. :D I'm even wilder than the goose lost in the Disney World.

Just got an old college friend dropped by asking stuff about the Dept. He starting MS in the fall, and did we gossip, a lottt!!

And Mother Dew...hello, I managed to pass your curfew last night ;).

Vital sign:
Still not hungry, skin still great, little bit puffy eyes.
How many hours now? Almost 35.

Later.

Update on the record.

So, I cheated. I ate a sachet of Swiss Milk-- chocolate means caffeine, right? I've got some more energy back. It's 29 hours, and counting for sure. Skin still looks great, no possum eyes, yet. Sanity still available. And when was the last time, I had a solid food? 2 AM Tuesday. And I'm not hungry at all. Metabolism got shut or the other way around? Hmm..let's see...what will be coming out of these lack of rest and nutrition.

Pillow pillow on the wall...

Hello peeps,

I think I have one of those blogging moments. ;-)
I've been working on breaking my records on the hours-of-no-sleep category. Official countings indicates that, it has been 24 hours since the last time the eyelids were unionized for some REM (*Oopss..is it just me or it really does sound so inappropriate?*). I'm still as wild as a goose in an amusement park that is full of visitors. Oh, and the amazing thing is, there has been no cafeine intake whatsoever, purely natural melatonin drop. So, we'll see when will I be crashed in on something, possibly here at my beloved desk.

What else? Actually, this is the second of the stunts I've been trying to pull in the last 3 days or so. I was up for a ground breaking record of 36 hours starting on Sunday, or was it Monday? I lost track of the normal pace, you are very welcome to do the math. Both stunts were back to back.

Ok, enough now, I think the quality of this post already following that of the Hollywood Movieline Magazine (v. bad, that is. Yeah like I've ever written something that makes literary sense anyway.) One more thing, somehow I sense that this post is kinda an unsuccesful attempt of imitating somebody's writing style.

So, we'll see, if I am somber enough to add some stuff later today. Possibly on the effect of sleep depravation on the "beauty" of the skin & eyes and, of course, on sanity.

Cheers,
xinda

Some stuff about religion

SoonerPride has an honest observation about religion related stuff nowadays. And..uhm..he put my counterpoint to the subject in there too. So, please spare some time to check his blog ;-).

Up date

Phew, the 3 identical circles I've been worried about for a few days finally left no visible trace of existence.

Regarding my complaint about the lack of exercise, thank you pink and B! for the hitting-the-gym call out ;). If I have every penny for the many times I've been making promises to my self about this exercising stuff. Into which B boldly replied (by pharaprasing Miyamoto Musashi on the Book of Five Ring), ..make it a part of your normal daily life.
I'll keep it in mind, Sir!

My brother and the road trip gank landed safely here in CS this morning around 7. Within 15 minutes of arrival, they were all online in the MSN. Talking about Generation I ;-).

End-of-Semester Health Report

Huhu..where is my mommy (and a better health insurance and a one tough self control)?

1. I've got three of 1-cm in diameter, reddish-swollen-circular thing on the skin on the back of my right palm. Supposedly, I got bitten by an unidentified flying object (of the insect family, that is). It has been 3 days now, the bumpy circles is not getting any smaller or becoming less colored. My ring finger looks as big as my thumb {err...I guess that's one of the effect of mass gain over the semester}.

2. I hear that I've got a slight infection on the left ear. Hope this has nothing to do with stuff in #1. {I'm such a paranoid big baby!}.

3. I eat too much.

4. I eat too much junk.

5. My last sporting activities include barefoot frisbee and wimpy badminton.

6. Last but not least, something that's not supposed to be exist in the first place grows uncontrollably fast.

On the bright side, haven't got any of those allergic attacks for 2 months now. Yippie...

Dear Columnist

Who is your favorite celebrity? Two of my favs are both magazine columnists. Joel Stein of Times and Stanley Bing of Fortune. I haven't got a chance to say something to Mr. Stein, I guessed he would be too busy anyway with the new wife and all. I did sent Mr. Bing an e-mail, though. Beware of the purely unwitty content.

Before, you read the e-mail, here is the link (*Thanks, Nok!*) to Joel Stein's latest entry.

Date: Wednesday, August 21 2002
From: Xinda [xinda_huhu@msn.com]
To: Stanley Bing [stanleybing@aol.com]
Subject: Your dear fan

Hi Mr. Bing,

Just read your newest Fortune article, that's an amazing idea to begin with.
I'm in the process of trying to loose some pounds, so besides doing the ballet inspired work-out I definitely will try your tips.

Oo..the elephant book is handy too.

Regards,
xinda


And he did reply (assuming it was not an autogenerated response or one of his secretaries' "personal" touch) in less than 3 weeks, although w/ only 2 words...


Date: Monday, September 9 2002
From: Stanley Bing [StanleyBing@aol.com]
To: Xinda [xinda_huhu@msn.com]
Subject: Re: Your dear fan

Thanks, Xinda.

Bing

Daddy-Long-Legs

Against the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People that I've been trying to implement, I spent a grand total of 4 hours on a graduation BBQ of a friend. It was fun, we had some barefoot frisbee and badminton out in the open space and lotsa food. Thanks to the "wicked weather" in some parts of the continent, outside temperature in CS was not that high that particular afternoon.

The Armenian BBQ was a blast. Try this:
1. Grill some green peppers, eggplants, tomatoes and onion.
2. Chop it into smaller pieces, put some salt and olive oil.
Voila, best salsa ever! Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to interview the cook for the heavenly grilled chicken recipe.

After pretty much swamped, I still needed to get back to the writing. But I couldn't resist to turn on the TV and found out that Daddy-Long-Legs would be played in a couple of minutes. From 1919, a silent movie (my first ever) revolved around an orphan Jerusha Abbot-nicknamed Judy, and her anonymous benefactor/would be lover. The movie had been on a remade twice, in 1931 and 1955. But somehow, I got more satisfaction from the silent version. No distraction from the dialogue so you are forced to associate more with only the visuals. Maybe it was Pickford's performance that glued it all.

Shoot, my stomach is growling now. Mommy has warned me not to eat any of those Ramen. ...what could be my linner?

PS, on a totally different subject:
Don't you think natural bluish-green eyes make the opposite sex way more attractive? It's a psychological thing, since you can clearly make some "contact" straight to the pupil. Actually any colour lighter than black/brown will do, I just find the blue-green combination much more exotic. OMG, I indeed posses some flirtatious behaviour.

Just another manic Friday

Do you remember one of those days? In the morning, curled up on your flanel blanket, puffy pillow, and mattress. It feels like heaven if you could proceed to have a few more minutes of cat nap. But then you suddenly remember, you are facing that life or death problem at work. You have to get it fixed. Off you go....to the bath room, cause you need to freshen up and to excrete some of those bodily stuff to properly start the day. And then water pressure is just that good, it makes you want to stay in the warm flow forever. You wake up to reality, again, you need to be hurry, cause 30 minutes has passed. You go cursing on yourself, get dressed up, forget the breakfast ritual, and go half-running to work.
Anyway...

My brother and 4 other fellas are on a road trip to Colorado and New Mexico. I wish that I could go. I've never been on a road trip with friends before. Maybe I'll backpack to Europe some day, anyone interested on joining the club? We could spend 4-5 weeks around France, Netherland, Spain, Germany, on a bus. Getting to know the real culture, avoiding the "touristy" place (well not really), eating the local cuisine, and probably meet that special someone along the way? Okay, enough with day dreaming.

So...I am the queen of the apartment for the next 7 days, boo-yah!. It's not like I will get half n!*ed or anything, but it is just nice to have the place by myself, and maybe I could get some "introspection" done. Oh and also I have to start some extended spring cleaning. You should see my bedroom, mmm..maybe not. It is way too messed up. I haven't even slept in my own bed for about one week now. There was a leaky cauldron mysteriously flooded the carpet in the apt's hallway and my closet. I ended up have to put everything out of the closet, so that the carpet cleaning people could dry the soaky things with industrial blowers. You know that there is this proven observation that the number of junks you own is exponentially related to the number of years you reside in any particular place. And I am way to lazy to start putting things back to their place.

On a much happier note, Happy graduation Dini and Inok. I promised to get your graduation gifts later next week. In the mean time, here is "The Spirit of Aggieland", for you two bleed maroon and for sure will continue to do so.

Some may boast of prowess bold
Of the school they think so grand
But there is a Spirit can ne'er be told
It's the Spirit of Aggieland

We are the Aggies - the Aggies are we
True to each other as Aggies can be
We've got to fight boys, we've got to fight
We've got to fight for Maroon and White

After they've boosted all the rest
Then they will come and join the best
For we are the Aggies, the Aggies so [true]
We are from Texas A.M.[U.]



I think I should celebrate the day with McD's square fishy thing (Yeah, my life is that pathetic). Bye-bye folks, see you tomorrow.

What a great song!

A friend who'd rather be call-signed B introduced me to Yoko Kanno's compositions. I especially couldn't stop listening to this song "Cloe", one of the Chikyuu Shoujo Arjuna soundtracks.

Its sheer fusion of instruments such as piano, strings, and synthesizer as well as the singer's innocent angelic voice creates a sweet celestial atmosphere, everytime.

Midweek Pic Trivia




The two fellaz are:
[a] rehearsing a killing tango for the World Dance Competition
[b] engaged in a martial exercise in the upcoming Matrix II
[c] part of an unrelated illustration of a tech feature story

Courtesy of: www.salon.com

--Updated:
During the wee hours of the morning composing the d*!#ed paper, I have found that listening to this radio has been quite a mind opening. It is way too quite here at the office. Gotta get some of those interesting debates to stay sober.

Crawfish Boil

This past Sat the Graduate Student Council of our department held the one and only social for the semester: The Crawfish Boil. The event was strategically dated in the weekend of the final exams, so everybody could get a little study break.

Crawfish aka Crayfish aka Procambarus clarkii, is a spring harvest, fresh water , crustacean like "delicacy". Louisianna peeps were the first ones infusing their Cajun style cooking to serve this lobster wanna be. For simplicity, we chose just plain boiling the crawfish with some Cajun spice and lemons. The catered menu also included sweet corn on the cob, sausages, coleslaw, and the yummiest ever veggie lasagna for the vegetarians. {If all vegetarian foods tasted like that veggie lasagna, I would definitely be a vegetarian}.

My task, as usual, was to buy beverages. My partner in crime for beverage shopping, James, delegated the whole business to me, and I ended up taking Feng to Albertson's. Since the occasion would be held at Dr. Hall's backyard, our alcohol license were automatically re-lived. So, it was up to me and Feng to pick the winning R-OHs for the day. The list went like this:
-Local: Miller, Bud, Shiner and Rolling Rock (the later was the cheapest good beer--totally Feng's suggestion for the sake of budget tightening)
-Imports: Becks, Heineken, Michelob, and Red Killian
-Ladies': Sky

I hesitated a lot for totally we only bought a total of 72 bottles, 30% less than the usual shopping. Of course we also bought the sodas and H₂O, plus Buppy will also serve a lot of those special sweetened iced tea. Anyway, with the thoughtful concern at the current Texas economic situation, the hiring freeze and all, I decided the beverages quantity would be enough.

So, we picked up some trash bags and couple of bottle openers, and then went ahead to the cashier. As usual, the cashier was like, "Uhh..ahh...you could buy alcohol with A&M's money? Cool."

Arrived at Dr. Hall's, Brad, Kiran, Renee, Jonathan, and these 2 dudes I know nothing about already finished arranging the chairs and tables in the yard. Dr. Hall has a well-built deck with tables and chairs, so for sure we would have enough place for everybody to sit to devour those red steamy creatures.

A lot of Profs & their families came. The Holtzapple brats, John, Matthew and Mike, were there. Too bad that cutee Matthew got bitten by those nasty fire ants. And where is Mom and Dad when you need them, right, Matthew? (He is only 5). Dr. Shantz's Hayden was also v. cute and v. energetic. He has this cute lisp.

So the food was great, the chat was enjoyable, the babies were cute. If there was one thing I hate about the party was that the crowd had this "hesitation" to mix and mingle. So you know, Americans w/ American, Chinese w/ Chinese, Indian w/ Indian, Korean w/Korean. Our table was the only one with people from different countries: India, Russia, China, Korea, Indonesia, Jordan, West Africa. Sigh...

Btw, it turned out I should have bought like 2 dozens more of the R-OH. Good lesson learnt, I'll be ready for the next boil.

Pics will be posted as soon as I could develop, scan, and upload them to the GSC web.

Weekend Pic Trivia, aka "newest" feature on Xinda's blog

Is there anything unusual in this picture? (Courtesy of: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Spoon

On a v. sentimental mood...here we go.


Spoon in spoon
Stirring my coffee
I thought of this
And turned to the gate
But on my way
Crack lightning and thunder
I hid my head
And the storm slipped away
Well, maybe I'm crazy
But laughing out loud
Makes it all pass by
And maybe you're a little crazy
And laughing out loud
Makes it all alright

Laughing out loud

From time to time,
Minutes and hours
Some move ahead while
Some lag behind
It's like the balloon that
Rise and then vanish
This drop of hope
That falls from his eyes



D.M.B

Romance and the City

I am a good listener, well at least that what I perceive my self to be. And I have been in listening sabatical for the Tripple O knows how long. Suddenly, triggered by a union news from one of our HS classmates, two of my closests girlfriends resonated their romance-related problems to my attention.

As for my own story, it has always been very2 pathetic. I will not disclose anything specific here, yet. (Like anybody could care ;p)

Reality TV program will have enough material drawn from these two's engagement. Even one of the said girlfriends could be an interesting movie character, as her adventures are so unrealistically unbelievable (uhm..is this a double negative or what, oh well, I have a point there). Nothing harmfull, of course.

Even though I am aware that it is illegal to practice the self-learnt psychology, I couldn't help to give an advice, or two. Mostly indirect, drawing from my own "experience". Coincidentally, I had had a dream {* somebody should start laughing here*} that I was in the similar situation the other said girlfriend facing. And I told her that I chose to follow my gut, in the expense of a lot of parties; for in the long term, that was the right thing to do. Did she listen to me? I hope not. Who am I to judge her beau, right?

As for the first mentioned girlfriend: I can only salute you & your magnet, Miss. My only response would be: keep Semper Fi, phoey, no, not Semper Fi...should be the one with the "seize the day" translation.

Ja ne, be back in a couple hours. Folks in the southern states, beware of these killing machines.