A New Computer

For many years after working, I bought several notebooks, for both the job and home use. The growth of using notebooks increases a lot recently mainly because its convenience.

While I was writing programs for my thesis, I found that my notebook was running at an incredible slow speed. Indeed, the primary reason was I had installed several heavyweight applications on it, but the time consumed by my programs was much longer than I could accept. The worst part was that when all of the applications and programs were running at the same time, they just used all of the 2 GB memory the notebook had and it hanged there for a long period without any response like it slept.

The decision was clear that I needed a new computer, instead of a notebook, which must be a desktop since I needed a powerful one.

At first, I was trying to find a huge computer market selling PC components in Manhattan, and the largest store was J&R in which hardwares I need are a little expensive. I also thought about just buying a desktop from Dell, but the price was even higher than buying all the components in J&R.

I then, luckily, got two website Newegg and TigerDirect from my classmate Cho. Both of those websites have competitive prices of PC hardwares, and I ordered what I need from Newegg. Nevertheless, the website does not accept credit cards issued by non American banks!

I must say it is a very bad idea to do so for Newegg. How can you authorize the payment but at the same time say that the credit card isn't accepted? A deeply negative impression on Newegg.

Anyway, Cho was glad, I hoped, to ride me to MicroCenter, a super huge computer store located in Long Island. The story has a happy ending: I built my new desktop from scratch that has high performance for a relatively low price.

Thanks for you help, Cho.

Prospect Park

I like the fact that my apartment is in Brooklyn, though it takes a while to go to Manhattan when riding the subway. I can not pronounce the name of the neighborhood of my apartment, but I know it is near Pratt Institution.

However, if you drive on the road and ask me the direction when seeing me on the street near my place, the only answer will be "I am not familiar with this area."
Most of the time I go out is to for school, the route is so simple that I never notice the names of streets around the apartment.

I have tried to explore the area in the past several months, after living here about two years.
Walk to different streets, purchase stuff in stores that I've never been to, and enjoy some fabulous views.

The further step is to visit other areas in Brooklyn, and Prospect Park is the first station.
I heard the neighborhood, park slope, a long time ago, while I lived in NYU dorm. Most people praised the living quality of the area. After visiting prospect park, I become one of the witnesses who prove how nice a place it is.

Basically, it's a quiet and clean district, where locates some restaurants and grocery stores. The park itself is huge and full of people, mostly parents and their children. Don't know how much the rent it is over there, but it can be the first place in the list for living in Brooklyn when considering.

Note: Allergy to grass may consider not going to the park.

Busy is an Excuse

Having been busy for a long period, finally I have a chance to update my blog.
I know some may say it's just an excuse. Yes, it is.

For the past two months, I was taking two courses, Project Management and Financial Management, and at the same time I still had to work on my thesis. It was tough to arrange time to finish the assignments for both courses.

I especially want to mention the Project Management course in which I and other nine classmates were in a team to execute a project from planning to implementation.
Without a doubt, we faced a plenty of difficulties from the beginning to the end, but the whole process brought out an extraordinary achievement.

We did some documents, for instance scope document, risk management documents and WBS, and then dived into execution phase which included conducting research on Non-Profit organizations, developing a tool, and forming a recommendation for our clients.

I spent some time writing Visual Basic for Application codes in MS Excel because the project team had decided using it as a tool to generate a recommendation based on our NPO research. To the end, I would say it is the greatest course I have taken so far.
(Well, Strategic Marketing is also excellent, but in terms of team output, my vote goes for Project Management.)

Right now, I have completed all credits for my degree, and the only thing left to get the diploma is my thesis. Hopefully, it will be done before the one year deadline.

What will be the next step after graduating?
Not sure for now, I am also trying to figure it out.

A Joke about Cat

Usually, before meeting with my thesis advisor, I send him some pictures of the work I've completed.
Coping the screens and pasting them to my notebook Desktop,
I then attach them to the email for my advisor.

This week, I attached three pictures which are supposed to be the result of a tool I designed.
But when I arrived the office of my thesis supervisor,
he told me that the cat is really cute.

Yes, I did something stupid, sending the cat picture instead of the result I should email.
Fortunately, the cat picture was one of them, and the other two were correct.

I received the email by my advisor after getting home.
The content was really funny,

"I am pretty sure that the cat is not part of the application, no
matter how cute it is :-)"

Where are the cat pictures from?
They are sent by my sister who has 7 cat right now.

The picture below is the one that I sent to my advisor.
It is still a baby cat, born at about 20 days ago.

Good Morning! Brooklyn.

Having come back to the United States for two weeks, I still have serous jet lag.
The time I am used to is with Taiwanese clock, 13 hours difference from Eastern time of America.
So, I sleep from afternoon to night and get up around midnight.

It's not a big deal before my class begins, but it might be harmful for the body
because the periods I sleep break into several pieces.

Drinking coffee? It doesn't work.
I also drink pepsi and mountain dew, but just can't sleep in the regular time.

Finally, the clock of my body functions normally today.
But I get up pretty early, which is not a common habit for me.
Usually, no matter in Taiwan or America, I go to bed around 12 or 1 at midnight,
sometimes even later, and get up around 10 in the morning.
I know it's not a healthy habit because many researchers have reported that
sleeping after 11 p.m. makes our bodies rest for less time,
but working at night seems to be normal for programmers,
which means that I feel more energetic in the night than in the morning.

Anyway, the picture represents I am awake 7 o'clock in the morning,
which is incredible for me I think.
Yes, I like getting up in the early morning because it's quiet, the air is clean,
and it seems to have more time a day for me.
Really, I hope I can enjoy the moment in the morning more often.

Play basketball

During the time I went back to Taiwan for winter vacation,
I almost went to play basketball with my brothers and their friends every afternoon.

I like to play basketball very much and used to play,
since my foot nail got hurt, I had not exercised for about a year.
Actually, if you are also a basketball player, you know sometimes
it's very easy to get hurt, especially playing with someone whom
you are not familiar with.

But it's just so hard to stop playing it, I always have strong achievement when
defeating opponents. The feeling is like a challenge, which you need to prove to yourself
that your skill is better than others.
However, playing basketball requires a good body shape, perhaps in weight or height.
It's impossible to get fun when a player, say 160 cm, tries to win a 200 cm player.

Team work is also important in basketball. Say Michal Jordan,
he still needs teammates to win the championship.
The time playing with families and friends is valuable because you need to
cooperate with each other and will understand each more.
My father used to play basketball with me, and I enjoyed the atmosphere and
had a good time.

I hope I will have enough time to exercise even after having a job in the future.
Get some fun but don't get hurt.

Elementary school

The picture is my elementary school.
It is rebuilt as several totally new buildings, and the style of those buildings is
a beautiful compound architecture from traditional Chinese buildings.

When I studied in elementary school, the number of students was 100 or so.
Yes, this number included all six grades because the school is very small.
Every time I go back to play basketball, I think I am lucky that I had chance to study there.
The environment looked like a tiny forest, where has a small river and
many fields including different agricultural plants.

I and my classmates often went to catch fish in the small river,
and played hide and seek in huge fields.
The life was so close to the nature that we had some courses outside the classrooms.

I know many parents would like to send their children to the most competitive schools
for study. But if I had a chance to choose where to study in my childhood,
I would have made the same choice to study in the same elementary school.