simply my life story...

the end?

2007-04-06T22:29:32Z

i've decided to end my livejournal days and replace it with a seemingly more "web 2.0-y" way of writing about my life. that means, nstead of writing long posts about nothing in general, i choose to tumble. and i firmly believe everyone else should tumble too. it's much simpler and faster than blogging (and i think it ends up being more interesting). i guess this will be the new way of seeing how i'm wasting my time. check it out!

continuing the job search...

2007-03-05T23:00:18Z

so google finally said no. and yes, i'm a little bitter, but given the increasing amount of bad press that i read about google, i'm getting over it. speaking of which, i just read that google is being investigated by for how they account for their income taxes (which allowed them to always beat out market expectations).
that means i'm still job searching (which is now on the list of things i never really want to do again). but i will hopefully land a job here at cornell (full-time, paid w/ housing) and on the side i can work at the HCI (human computer interaction) lab. and if i'm in ithaca for the summer, it should mean that anyone back in bay should road trip out to visit me.

time wasters.

2007-02-28T01:22:30Z

well, between having very little work thus far and waiting for Google to get back to me, i've found a lot of time wasters. on that note, i think Google is lying to me. my recruiter told me that they haven't given out any final answers, but i know someone who got an internship offer from them. not only that, the kid is a freshman. makes me feel kinda bad. :(

anyways, time wasters galore:

frustrating flash game

exploration of human emotion (very cool)

what are you doing right now?

blogging --> scrapbooking

interesting view of google (interesting to read through the comments as well)

and for everyone who has trouble scheduling meetings with groups:

Doodle

back at cornell

2007-02-01T04:51:05Z

PSYCH 416 - Modeling Perception and Cognition - Using MATLAB to make models of neural networks and make them learn stuff. Interesting and not too hard yet.
INFO 204 - Networks - Basic intro to networks and the fact that they're everywhere and why they're important
INFO 447 - Social and Economic Data - Learning how to use large amounts of data (aka the Census) and do something useful with it. I'm really not sure what this class is about yet.
Emotion Research - Emotions in Instant Messaging continued. My research professor is awesome. I swear he always recommends the same music that Pat has recently mentions to me (this being TV on the Radio and The Knife).
Eye Tracking Research - Looking at search refinements and how people use them.

In other news, I'm waiting to hear from Google (hopefully will by the end of the week) and I've got two other interviews lined up for other companies. Job searching really sucks.

why am i up this early?

2006-12-16T13:49:56Z

it's time to close and for whatever reason, jen has decided to make us meet at 9am, on Saturday, to close the townhouses, when the residents don't even need to leave until 2pm. i'm incredibly glad it's break, as I have a ton of books to read and movies to catch up on.

my things to-do list was nicely handled, although i finally understand the people who don't leave their room during study week. before this semester, i never could imagine studying/working for a week straight. but i did, and i didn't see anybody (but yi and christine) for almost a week and a half. i'm still waiting for most grades. i think i've got an A- or A in most of my classes, but finals count for more than they should.

on the other side of things, yi's taken his job with google and will be starting next august. i've got a phone screen with google some time in the next three weeks!

end of the semester

2006-12-01T04:03:35Z

tomorrow's the last day of classes! i'll be home on the 17th, which seems to be before most people.

it also seems that i have a horrible cough (similar to the one i had at the beginning of freshman year, that ended with me pulling a muscle). i don't feel too sick, but i sound awful.

things left to do:
first draft of project report
accounting homework
take-home exam for math
take-home exam for accounting
final draft of project report (6 pages)
final paper on privacy (10-15 pages)
first and final draft of privacy policy
paper on search refinement (5-8 pages)
final exam in psychology
ornament making/cookie decorating program

plus, yi's birthday is coming up and christine will be leaving at the end of the semester (tear).

the good and the bad

2006-10-30T03:06:48Z

two spots of sun and a very dark cloud:

+ i signed an apartment lease for next year. four bedrooms with the emilys and a girl named erica in a nice residential part of collegetown.

+ i finally found a job that my major is applicable towards and have gotten my hopes up to get an internship at google. a woman from their User Experience Research team came to talk at cornell. turns out she's the older sister of a girl i know from the townhouses (currently living with one of the emilys) and she started the eye tracking research that i've gotten involved with. basically her job is what i do with the eye tracking research here at school (except she probably gets paid a ridiculous amount of money). anyways, i'm hoping that i can get an internship (talk about the strength of weak ties).

- carol, one of my co-RAs, has been put on probation by jen. i can't believe it! it's because she was written up for being "in the presence" of alcohol. except that it was exactly that. just in the presence and without the intention of drinking at all (the guy with the beer stopped by to hang out with her and her friends while bringing beer back to his apartment). anyways, they were being loud and the RA knocked, saw the alcohol and wrote them up. jen's put her on probation for that as well as "failure to confront a policy violation". apparently, as an RA in the townhouses, carol should have been an RA to her friends in the collegtown dorms. not only that, carol has to write an apology to the RA who wrote her up (which she doesn't want to do since she knows the RA and knows that he's gone out drinking with his residents before and is not the "model" RA).

keep on trucking.

2006-10-23T14:37:13Z

manny has been moved out of the townhouses, and i'm sad. with him gone and christine leaving, i kinda want to quit at the semester. i think the plan right now is to write many angry letters to Residential Programs complaining, and then convincing my staff they should all leave at the end of the year too.

classes are going surprisingly well. accounting = A (so far with two exams left). psych = above average (two exams left which count for more than the first one). HCI design = B (considering my prof can't "teach" design, i'm doing ok). internet politics = midterm due tomorrow on who controls the internet (final project = hopefully a privacy policy for cornell's law website). math for info sci majors = so-so (but the teacher is awesome - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ginsparg). eye tracking research = awesome (i just started last week).

on a happy note, i've found out many cool things about people that i had no idea about. one, my math prof worked at CERN with Tim Berners-Lee (the guy who developed the World Wide Web), and he became a MacArthur Fellow four years ago (and he's really good at explaining things). One RA I know went to circus school and learned how to pantomime (and she's the loudest girl in the world). Another RA is here finishing school while she takes a break from Olympic skating (she has her own wikipedia page! - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Silverstein).

and for anyone who will be home over winter break, yi is coming to visit! he'll be in the bay from Jan. 3rd til the 12th, and i'm soooo excited. surprisingly, he'll be in town at the same time char's boyfriend is coming to visit too.

busy-ness

2006-10-04T18:17:47Z

october has brought with it cold weather, rain, and about a zillion things to do, including...

1) prelim on friday in cognitive psychology. i have no idea what we've learned in the five chapters that we've discussed. second exam in accounting right after break. and a take-home midterm at the end of the month.
2) fall break - which won't really be a break since i have so much stuff to do, but i'm going to philadelphia
3) programs like crazy! i've got to get an open burning permit finished to have a bonfire, a supplemental funds form in to get money for a halloween party, dough to make challah tonight, veggies and water for "deltacise" program, pumpkins for pumpkin carving, and probably a few others that i can't remember right now.
4) revised project proposal, because my group did the first one in less than 24 hours. we need to focus, revise, and resubmit.
5) independent research form, so i can get two credits for learning about eye-tracking research
6) get a pilot study started for my emotion in instant messaging research

plus i am officially freaked out about having to find a job next year (and even an internship this year). however, yi's got an interview with amazon and ibm and is hoping to apply to microsoft too, in addition to the job offer from google. i wish companies were calling me on the phone wondering why i haven't submitted my resume to them...

...

2006-09-24T18:08:20Z

i thought my new boss (my new rhd) was going to be an ok change; turns out to be the complete opposite...

she thinks her job is 9 - 5, which means she gets to the office at 8 and leaves at 5-ish. the problem is college kids don't get up at 8 and they stay up until 2am. so when your job is to keep on top of a bunch of college kids, doesn't it make sense to keep the same schedule they do?

she cares more about her dog than her staff and the residents. i understand the dog is young (5 months) and cute, but seriously, it shouldn't really take priority over the students (both staff and residents). multiple times she's left/not met/been late because of the dog. in fact, she actually told me that she wouldn't have met with some of our residents if she had the dog (luckily, her sister was watching it).

she draws a very distinct line between fun and work. i think RA should be one of those jobs where you have fun and work. with her, it's very much "this is when we have fun" and "this is when we work". which makes it seem like she's only having fun with us to make up for work. it's like she's trying to buy our support!

she wants us to be independent, but at the same time, we need to run everything by her. and i can't tell if she wants us to be independent because she doesn't know anything and couldn't really help us if we ask, or if she really thinks we should be able to handle most situations.

she won't pull out any intimidation. i have a pair of residents who really need to be scared a little bit, and she refuses to do it. i think that if you know someone has been breaking the rules and their rule-breaking is a significant burden on the other people she's living with, go ahead and say you're going to kick them out of housing if they don't shape up. she think that if she just tells them they did something wrong and they say ok, then they'll feel guilty and won't do it again. has this ever worked??

she doesn't let our staff know about the whole community. i like to know about any incidents that happen, so i can know the townhouses as a whole and not just my quad. but my rhd doesn't think it's necessary and thinks that it will make us "target" problem houses. i mean, if a house has been caught three times in the first two weeks, i think it should be obvious that they havent' learned their lesson and they are going to continue to cause problems.

she's not on top of things on the administrative side. i'm in charge of our hall council. we have to send two representatives to the weekly meetings and submit a "constitution" about how our council works. if we miss meetings, we don't get money from them when we need it. my rhd decided not to tell us about the weekly meetings until two weeks after they started, and the deadline for the constitution passed (twice because she asked for an extension) without my knowledge.

and just recently, in the worst move ever, she's put manny (my favorite co-RA) on probation for the rest of the year. RA's have a 5 step discipline system. probation is step 4, right before getting fired (aka "termination"). it basically is a threat of firing for the whole year. he messes up once (aka misses a meeting, a deadline, or does anything else my rhd doesn't like) and she can fire him. step 4 is harsher punishment than i have ever heard of (which says a lot since i've seen RA drink with freshman, run from the cops while drunk/high, etc). why is this a problem? he didn't do anything wrong. on the list of 10 things that he "did wrong", i've done half of them too. the rest are gross misunderstandings (which he tried to explain but she apparently didn't listen). and what's even better is his appeal goes to another woman who already dislikes him and who he doesn't trust.

this will make for an interesting year...

featured article

2006-09-20T14:39:26Z

the cornell page made wikipedia's featured articles!

facebook.

2006-09-13T20:02:21Z

yes, i know everyone's talking about it, so i might as well jump on the bandwagon.

it's a bit ridiculous that if you search "news feed" (on facebook of course) you end up with over 500 facebook groups. is this really what people do with their time? on a similar thought, can people not pull it together and form one coherent group even on a social networking site, whose whole point is to form groups that can reach more people than in the real world? and even when facebook has "fixed" the problem (although i'm not sure how much privacy was the issue), they've really still just told you "get used to it and eventually you'll like it". and i have to admit, as ugly and obvious and cluttering the news-feed is, it makes my facebook time last five minutes instead of an hour. as for the mini-feed, i really don't look at my profile (i'm not that vain) all that often. so despite the 500+ groups and the protest (*cough* ridiculous *cough*), it's just another business that really doesn't care.

now they're opening up to the public. and the groups have been started about that. and it may come as a rude shock to those news-feed protesters, but facebook isn't gonna change anything it's doing. facebook has 9 million users right now (second to myspace's 24 million). it's marketing to a group of people who will eventually grow up. it's like those teen/college clothing stores (i'm talking abercrombie and fitch, american eagle, etc.). they finally got the picture that after college, you don't want the same things, and so they make all these new stores targeting the "post-college" crowd. so why doesn't facebook do the same thing? why make it exclusive to people who had the priviledge to go to college? do you really think that if a business has the possibility of gaining almost double their market audience they're gonna care what half their users think right now? i mean, if i was mark zuckerberg and had a hit website, why not make as much money as i can off of it as fast as i can? and in that little advertising deal that just happened, it kinda makes sense that the new facebook/microsoft team might try and take on the google/myspace duo.

now if one thing about facebook has started annoying me, it's the privacy. now you guys know me...i would be perfectly happy being anonymous, mysterious, and having everybody think i was fabulous. but i don't think i've got that chance and i don't put up all the privacy on facebook that i could. but when facebook adds more privacy, i'd like to know. i don't want to be agreeing to more "terms of service" that gives my info to third parties (developers platform) and not know about it. i've also learned that you can basically drop off the face of facebook if you choose the most restrictive privacy settings. what's the point in only seeing the people you already see? how does that help in creating social networks? it means that you need to friend more random acquaintances in order to see their profile. and since i'm sure some people aren't very picky about who they friend (or often can't remember who that meet at which party), when it's public, they could easily be friending sex offenders and the like. people just have to realize that anything that allows you to have more knowledge about others' lives will allow others a peek into yours.

the classes and other fun stuff

2006-09-01T17:01:47Z

Financial Accounting: 8:40AM, but the prof is entertaining enough that i don't mind. looking at four exams, with the first in two weeks. pretty easy so far and hopefully it'll stay that way.

INFO 214 (Cognitive/Computation Psychology): too "out there" for me. i don't see the application, and really have a very vague idea of what we've been talking about for the week... something about the mind's representation of everything.

INFO 515 (Culture, Law and Politics of the Internet): reading a book a week is tough. 2.5 hour class is even harder. but the material is awesome. the first book is on how governments control, regulate, and basically create borders on the seemingly globally free Internet.

INFO 440 (Advanced Human Computer Interaction): HCI taught by a CS prof. Will most likely be interesting and I get to do another large project.

INFO 295 (Math for Info Sci): boring probability so far. prof is a physics ph.d., but (according to my friend) has done a significant amount of work in the Info Sci area (worked at CERN, etc).

Motion City Soundtrack Concert: fun. almost had a crowd-surfer fall on me. not an amazing opening band, but that's ok.

Student Staff Funding Board: Basically me and about 5/6 others get to decided how to give out about $20,000 to various programs around campus.

a day of rest

2006-08-19T17:05:55Z

freshmen move-in went quite well, despite the fact that i did the same job for nine hours, saying the same 3 minute schpeel about 250 times. went straight to holding my first quad meeting. icebreaker = give a trademark story in 3-5 sentences and make it good since this will be your first impression of everyone else. the icebreaker resulted in me knowing a little more about my residents (aka the boy who got struck by lightning, the boy who had a rock stuck in his head, the girl who ran over a cat, etc). on a better note, my quad is super friendly and they were out playing frisbee until about midnight (which is awesome for the townhouses).

on another interesting note, when i was giving out keys, i recognized the name "transue". i wanted to see if she was morghan's sister, but i thought "that's a stupid question because obviously not everyone with the same last name is related". turns out, it's true, and that makes me happy.

after what i thought would be my first night of real sleep (not true), i made my way to "dump and run". this is one of the greatest events on campus. it's a gigantic yard sale, perfect for picking up odds and ends at super cheap. unfortunately, this year lacked a nice stash of furniture. however, i still made it out with a dozen hangers ($0.50), two throw pillows ($1 each), a white board ($1), a small rug ($2), a basket for toiletries ($1), and a bag of plastic cups ($0.50). in addition, we have a nice touch lamp downstairs in our living room.

on the bad side, jen (my rhd/boss) felt sick on move-in day. went home, then went to the hospital to find out she had appendicitis. it was taken out this morning, but we're without her for the first few days.

i'm back!

2006-08-11T02:24:41Z

it's the beginning of the year again and there have already been many ups and downs.

+ no delays on my flights
+ great staff (great housemate, christine)
+ great weather (beautiful, 70's, no rain)
+ unexpected fancy invitation to unspecified lunch event (very mysterious)
+ 12 glass cups for $9
+ location of house in the building
+ permission for 8:40am class (financial accounting!)
+ free laundry for the week

+/- new rhd (way more about this later)
+/- training

- slightly smaller room
- loose carpet preventing me from moving furniture
- not being unpacked yet
- general stress before classes have even started

one more thing.

2006-05-30T17:36:34Z

if you havent seen this you are missing out.

whoa.

2006-05-30T17:34:20Z

all i can say is i want one:

party button

the skinny

2006-05-29T16:23:03Z

i read an article today about sacrifices people would make to avoid obesity, and it was crazy. people are willing to give up everything from a year of their life (or 10) to sobriety to children to marriage to a limb. it's kinda scary and very surprising. anyways, here's the article: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1990648&page=1

halfway done

2006-05-28T21:05:30Z

it's the end of sophomore year, and what an end. while first semester ended on a low note, the year has ended with a hop, skip and a jump. finals were stressful, and i'm hoping my hard work paid off. as of now, i only have one grade (A+ on my research project and the ability to continue in the fall).

closing of the townhouses (and good-bye clark). busy busy busy, with only one set of "lost" keys in H block. on a good note, i acquired a blue vase, a new lamp, a dish rack, a mirror, and two large boxes for free (thank you dump/run donations). i managed to come home with only two bags too.

and a short trip to philadelphia. awkward, yes, at some points when i did not understand (what i felt to be) 60% of the conversation most of the time. challenging in using chopsticks more than i am used to. and playing lots of videogames, tasting water ice, lots of walking in the city.

and now i'm back, with nothing to do for two weeks.

countdown til finals

2006-05-12T20:12:09Z

study week has been long and quite productive. i can't imagine what it's like to only have a day for studying. but at the same time, i feel like i've been working forever and i still have everything to do. i've finished most of all my papers (two need finishing, one needs revising) and studied like crazy for philosophy. after talking with the emilys and hannah though, my papers are nothing compared to their 15-25 page papers. pictures are coming off my wall and winter clothes have gone into boxes too.

i met my new faculty advisor. i've been advised to not take so many classes and trade the AEM class for a class in the business school instead. sounds intimidating, taking classes with graduate students.

clark is officially leaving, having turned in his resignation on monday. even though i knew, i kept thinking that maybe he would stay for one more year. i can't even imagine what a new RHD will be like.

Things left to do:
Philosophy final
Final Draft of CHI research paper
Critical Design paper
Internet paper
Economics (macro) final
Packing!!!
RHD interviews (?)

this is the end

2006-05-06T21:21:02Z

the last few days: super stressful with all the work, but it's finally all finished now. presentation of research project = A+ (and i thought A+'s were just myths now). now all i've got is two finals (philosophy and economics), two papers, and the final paper for my research project (hopefully it will be good enough to get published).

slope day: fun! although i only got to spend an hour on the slope (and acceptance's performance was less than spectacular); it seemed everyone was pretty chilled out. and the weather was nice (no sunburn for me though). spent the afternoon throwing a frisbee with yi (of which i wasn't horrible, but since he plays all the time it made me more self-conscious). and finally watched crash (a bit too racist for me).

the day after: went to the mall to check out laptops with yi. went grocery shopping. looked online at laptops. productive, but not too much work.

in response to pat's post

2006-05-04T18:23:24Z

i'm very excited for my classes next year. they are...

1)INFO 295 - Mathematical Methods for Info Sci (required)
including graph theory, discrete probability, Bayesian methods, finite automata, Markov models, and hidden Markov models. Uses examples and applications from various areas of information science such as the structure of the web, genomics, natural language processing, and signal processing.

2)PSYCH 214 - Cognitive Psychology (required)
introduces the idea of cognition as information processing or computation, using examples from perception, attention and consciousness, memory, language, and thinking.

3)INFO 515 - Culture, Law, and Politics of the Internet (secondary track - social systems)
topics include free speech concerns, Internet governance, domain naming, copyright, privacy, and security are highlighted as well as a variety of policy issues such as acceptable-use bandwidth usage on campuses, protocols for DMCA compliance, and the balance of classroom and distributed learning.

4)INFO 440 - Advanced Human Computer Interaction (primary track - human centered systems)
focuses on the design of computer interfaces and software from the user's point of view. the goal is to teach user interface designs that serve human needs while building feelings of competence, confidence, and satisfaction. topics include formal models of people and interactions, collaborative design issues, psychological and philosophical design considerations, and cultural and social issues.

5)INFO 445 - Seminar in Computer Mediated Communication (primary track - human centered systems)
topics include virtual teams, videoconferencing, and others as they emerge. this is taught by jeff (my prof for info 245 and info 450) and he also says we'll focus on digital deception.

6)AEM 240 - Marketing (for fun)
explores the components of an organization's strategic marketing program, including how to price, promote, and distribute goods and services.

the countdown

2006-04-29T20:25:04Z

For everyone's information:
Classes end May 5th
Finals end May 19th
Leaving Cornell on May 22nd
Coming Home on the night of May 26th

Things to get done before leaving:
Research Project (paper and presentation)
Final Project (short paper, longer paper, poster presentation)
Philosophy final paper
Philosophy exam
Economics exam
Creating an Information Society exam
Bonfire/Movie program with Vince
May/June/July/August Birthday Party

privacy and politics

2006-04-22T15:25:36Z

first, because i've just about told the whole world already, yi got the google internship! they're in the process of sending him the offer. i'm so proud of him.

anyways, in one of my classes, we've been talking about privacy and surveillance. this is one of those issuses that i never worried too much about (since i'm not a closet terrorist or anything). but we've been reading some articles all about how stores and places keep databases of information about you and can match that between other information databases to come up with interesting conclusions. i learned that in PA, the police monitor everyone's alcohol purchases (because they swipe your id when you buy from a store and the info goes into a police database) to help predict alcohol related crimes. what's also intersting (and worrisome) is that for your id, you don't really know what information is on it and if it's even correct (because it could've been entered wrong).

so in class, they brought in a card scanner and hooked it up to the computer, so we could all see what's on any card that is scanned. we learned that cornell ids only have our student id number. PA driver's licenses have pretty basic information too. we did not run credit cards (that was too much information according to our teacher). however, we did run two ids from other schools (vanderbilt and somewhere else): turns out the number that comes up is the student's social security number. intersting, isn't it?

on another note, in ethics and international relations, we've been talking about whether or not there is an american empire. and whether we should move towards a bolder empire (unilateral, more military aggression, basically what Bush is doing) or a cooperative empire (multilateral, less military aggression, not so many decisions by just us but as a collective group of nations).

condom roses and other things to put on my resume

2006-04-15T21:35:48Z

absolute sex was orgasmic. it will probably be one of the best programs thrown together in such a short amount of time. besides, the amazing quartercards yi and i made, we had lots of prizes (of which i got a sexy ice tray), chocolate dipped strawberries, sparkling cider, a great soundtrack, the victoria secret runway show playing, and wonderful banners in the font 'groupsex' (each letter is made up of people in different positions). i spent a long amount of time making condom roses, but after hours, i finally got the hang of it.

yi is at sectionals for frisbee. he find out about google next week wednesday. i'm so excited/nervous and worried.

i trimmed my bangs. i can't decide if i want to keep them or let them grow out. i also can't decide whether to let my hair grow out or keep it short (not really short, but above shoulder length). any suggestions?