My Life

Just thought I should update my blog while I have some free time.
School is beginning to get harder and busier. Lots of work and studying, but in the end, it’s rewarding. TA-ing is not as easy as one thinks, and seeing students skip my tutorials is disappointing, but I do enjoy it and i actually learn from my tutorials.

The past 2 weeks were not that greate. One is my algebra assignment. It was on the Sylow Theorems, and naturally is about classifications of finite groups. It’s so annoying! I spent hours and hours doing it, only to find out today that the due date has been extended for a few days. I’m somewhat happy with my answers, so I will not look at it again unless I absolutely have to. To worsen matters, the phone line at home keep having problem. At one point there was no dial tone, and then later would cut all incoming calls. Then the DSL signal was lost on Friday. No internet for the weekend. Henry had to use dial up for hours to download his lectures so he can catch up. Good thing Ah Yee’s laptop is at home so I can use her dialup account. Anyway, Simon for lent me his portable internet on Sunday (thank you), but when I got home the internet was fixed! The good thing is that they seemed to have upgraded our line. Now my connection speed is 3 times what it used to be. The plan is 5Mbps, but Bell said our area is old and far only, so we only get 1.5Mbps. But actual speed was only about 900Kbps. Now, it’s around 2.8Mbps. Sweet!!!

Inside Out

I watched a really interesting video today regarding a sphere the professor linked on the course website. Apparently, you can turn a sphere (ball) inside out topologically. I didn’t believe it at first, but watch the explaination in the video.

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-6626464599825291409&hl=en  

I am looking forward to class today!

Vertical Monitor Setup

I got an old stand off an old Samsung LCD monitor that has height, title, and rotation adjustment and attached it to my Acer AL1916W (after some modification to remove two metal tabs that sticks out…thanks Henry). Now I can work with a rotated monitor and get a portrait view. Sweet! Check out the pictures!

Sharing at Car Service

I’m at the car dealer, waiting for them to replace my brakes. Being who I am, I brought my laptop along, as well as an ethernet cable so I can go online. It turns out the ethernet doesn’t work, but they have added WiFi (last time I came, there was none), so that’s why I can go online. Since I have about 1.5 hours, I might as well update my blog.

What’s happening in my life? I am now working at Canaforce in addition to TCCSA. Four half days, not bad. Learned a lot thought. In the past, I have always avoided learning SQL (Server Query Language), but I had to write a database and again, being who I am, I really don’t want to use MS Access and would like to go open source. Thus, I’m stuck with learning SQL. I can’t really say I know it well, but at least now I know how to issue basic commands.

I applied for to be a don at Chestnut and New College. Chestnut didn’t even reply. However, I got two interviews with New College. Sadly though, they rejected me at the end. On the contrary, the Math Department offered me a TA position. I was notified just last night by email, so I don’t know which course I’m TA’ing, but I’m happy nevertheless.

There is a song I found recently. I really like it. Listen to it here. Let me know what you think of it.

That’s all I can think of to share. I’m going to watch some videos and a DVD now.

Pictures!

My convocation pictures are available in the Photos section. Enjoy!

Super Mario

Watch this video:

  http://watch.break.com/278074/Super_Mario_Bros_is_Frustrating_Part_1/

This is so funny; I don’t know why, but it’s funny.

My Renovated Room

Finally an update to my MSN Space!

First, my room is renovated. In addition to new white shades I mentioned last time, and a new floor. I posted some pictures of my room as promised. I usually don’t have the laptop on the corner part of my desk, it’s just for today, just to make my desk look cool.

…Week after Week…

It has been a long time since I updated this space, so I guess it’s time to do so.

I still love my monitor. My desk configuration has changed slightly, with different lighting mainly. Also I got rid of those blue curtains in favor of white shades. Now my room looks much nicer. Also, I got a new micro stereo system, MCM118D/37 (black version) from Philips. It’s not powerful at all, but sufficient and I love it. I will try to post pictures soon.

About school. It has been quite busy. Weeks just fly by. I am always like: "It’s Friday again?". "Groups and Symmetries" is by far the lightest and easiest. "Mathematical Logic" is just plain annoying, with weekly quiz or midterm. "Topology" is somewhat difficult, with weekly assignments, but I find it interesting and I enjoy it. So it’s not all that bad. Also, I got to work on my Grad school application. I don’t want to rush it.

So yeah, that’s about it. Stay tuned for my next update.

Dream Setup

Just a slight update on my summer jobs before I get onto my blog about my Dream Setup. Success Tutorial did not "need" me for the summer camp. Apparently, they have a long-time tutor who was interested in teaching, but the coordinator didn’t "know" when they "hired" me. So now they say they will try to find me a permanent class. I really hope I do get to teach.

Anyway, yes! I finally have my Dream Setup of my work space. What is my Dream Setup? Dual monitor with my laptop. At last, the Acer AL1916W 19" wide-screen monitor have come down to my target price. It actually came down once before, but I hesitated and when I finally decided to get it, and it was sold out. This time, I reacted fast, and got my hands on one. I have wanted this monitor for the longest time. It was very expensive when I first saw it, but now, it came to the right price and it’s a deal.

The new monitor is pretty big. Not super-huge, but big. Bigger and wider then a standard 17" LCD. Originally, I just wanted a standard 17" LCD, but this one is that much nicer. The dot pitch is a little larger then the 14" widescreen on my Presario V2000, but then one of the reasons I wanted another monitor was because I wanted to see the subscripts in formulas and larger dot pitch means bigger fonts. The first thing I did was to check for dead pixels. None! I was worried about them, but I found none. Yay!

The color is a little different. The Acer AL1916W is richer, warmer, but more yellow. I am still trying to fine tune it to match the Presario V2000. Maybe the color difference is due the the fact that it doesn’t have the shiny screen like my laptop does. As others on the net say, the Acer AL1916W is really a bright monitor. I have both the contrast and brightness set to zero, but it is still bright in broad daylight.

So far though, I love my new monitor.

Summer Job

Finally, a summer job for me!!! After month(s) of searching, I am finally hired!

Initially, I wanted to be a finance intern because I think it will complement my Mathematical Finance well. However, none of the firms replied to me. Also, I heard most companies are looking for Commerce people (…I don’t understand why…).

So I started to apply for tutoring jobs. I love to teach math. At first, no one replied either, even those who were listed at the UT Career Website. A few weeks ago, I applied to Success Tutorial. They actually called me and interviewed me. Appearently, they had a recruitment process; I didn’t know, I just handed in my resume. Then today, they say they will hire me. Yay!

So now, my summer is booked solid. I will have the tutorial job in the morning, the tech-support job in the afternoon, and the airport job at night. Hope I will survive.