Way Diary

Daily Evergreen Pullman

2009-08-29T06:24:00.001-07:00

Expenses keep some from home

International students tour U.S. or stay in Pullman for breaks due to high travel costs.

My name on local news...
http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/20291

Vancouver Film School and some other showcases

2009-08-29T04:39:00.000-07:00

Selling tons of stuff on ebay

2009-03-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

Selling:

IBM x22 docking station

CONAIR (CS4J) hair straightener flat iron

pc100 128mb laptop RAM IBM 144pin

3 cellphones
LG CE110

2GB 2 X 1GB PC3200 PC2700 DDR 400 RAM w/ Heat Spreader

Update Jan 2009

2009-01-22T19:37:00.001-08:00

Chinese tattoo style Ukrainian Egg with glassy egg holder. Maya 2009

Not yet Easter, but I draw eggs. Yet, I don't celebrate Easter.
I don't even celebrate birthdays, why should I celebrate Easter!?

------
Synopsis:
Shoreline is evaluating my transcript. I will get to Shoreline CC at Seattle by next Spring - Early April.

==Videos recommend==
1.
Patrick Yau proudly present: Road Pancakes

This one is my semester project.

2.
Patrick Yau proudly present: Kite HD

This one is my final semester project - Kite HD. I have spent lots of time to draw Adonis™ the bird in this short animation.
The wind is computer generated.

If you want to dig deep into technical details of both projects, here you are:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgfj675z_130hg2tw4fz&hl=en

3.

KFC Cruelty

KFC staff retrieve chicken wings from trash bin for the meals of customers (Chinese and poor video quality)

I will never ever go to KFC again in the future if I can choose to eat out.

4.
Cradle of Filth - From the Cradle to Enslave
Music Video

Click here for lyrics

I listen to that same song again and again for many times. From the artist point of view, this music is great. However, whether the song is conveying the Truth is yet another serious business.

==Updates==
=1. The transfer and the move
The exams of this awful Fall/winter semester has just ended on last Friday (yesterday in US time). I have no excuse for not updating you guys. Remember you can reply by creating new message on Facebook. If you response here your comments will be read by others. They are great audience of course.

I hate the classes here at Pullman! Some of the classes gave me a mind-boggling headache. The software that I use to write programs for assignments is so unstable. It seems compile wrong code with bizarre behavior. That thing is sure buggy.

I had to use that buggy software to finish the assignments and there is no other choice to replace that software.

My parents agreed with me to switch school, though the lease of my place that I have signed pose a problem.

Probably I will u-haul the things. One thing that is great is that I have a portable queen size air-mattress. I will sell all my heavy bulky traditional mattress. I have portable plastic tables too. I have the future moving in mind.

I don't like the weather in Pullman. The last time it snow, my home outside accumulate 2 feet of snow. Correct, I am so negative about it, because I have to shovel at least 2 hours a day - and up to 4 hours a day to clear up the snow on my car and driveway.

This year I only focus on academic only. I am not holding any position at school.

I am getting some advice from my professors about getting an 3D-animation degree. I have been doing a lot of researches online about the video art industry. And here is what I have found and here I got them summarized:

1.
This industry seems like an male dominant industry. Female counterparts may end up low wages and doing most of the boring work. Is that true? But hey, for the computer science field, isn't it also male dominant too?

2.
"The only thing i ever took away from the lectures is that if your in animation, you basically specialize in one aspect of what your good at. For example if your good at making eyes, your dream job will be "the eyeball guy." ..something around those lines, high specialization, there is no, do whatever you want type of thing, at least not with any of the big companies."

Source: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjZGlKixD5gvBhzk8P.WG38jzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20080917111624AAk6IIT

I am kind of surprise for what the guy says about the Video arts industry. But hey, for the computer science field, isn't it also you sleep under the desk when the workload is gonna to kill ya?

3.
I guess I will pick up trash, renaming files from those lazy guys who incorrectly named that quit the company 3 months ago... If it is real talented work, it can be that I am in the company a few years before I can get involve.

But hey, at least in Hong Kong, it is typical. Companies don't want to hire a janitor and it is simply saving operating cost to let the "prawns" do all the clean up work. I will be sucking-it-up.

4.
I am asking them if they have good animation schools that they recommend to me?

I have been searching online. The Art Institute of Seattle and related schools turns out having bad reviews and labeled by students that they suck up money from students all the time. I am really scared.

Source: http://www.studentsreview.com/PA/AIOP0_comments.html?page=13&type=&d_school=The%20Art%20Institute%20of%20Pittsburgh

=2. Perhaps no more crappy car because of the recession for the Santa?

I will get a 4WD for sure because the cars will get cheap in the next few months. I want to conquer the heights of snow.

Hybrid doesn't save money. Yes, hybrids save gas, but there will be a higher cost of repair when a hybrid goes wrong. I am not rich enough to buy a hybrid. Hybrids are quieter but conventional ones are quite enough.

If it is 2nd-handed car, I would prefer certified pre-owned car.

Friends typically recommend imported cars. I have heard Toyota is a great choice. I want a car that have higher clearance of snow, not to mention more safety feature.
I am thinking about the fuel economy of my second car and rather not to have a powerful engine that waste me more gas and end up speeding. At Washington, the fastest highway I can find can go only up to 70 mph for the speed limit - that means I can only go at most 80 mph. There is no need to buy a power car.

I think to make this kind of decision I will go shop around with my sister and several friends during Christmas - probably at Seattle, and buy it around first half of the next year.

You know I have got fed up with unexpected repair cost of used car, and I hope that my 2nd car will be rid of the repair problem.

My sister will have my car if I leave the US, so we both will use the suggested car for at least 4 years.

With my current Honda Civic 91 LX, it seems like a bad idea to visit elsewhere like Seattle. Though, I have yet to convince my mom that a pricey can be well worth it. My parents can afford it but in this kind of situation we are all prone to save money. Actually I prefer to get a even better car once I get my job and have income, may be a hybrid car, when the hybrid technology is mature.

A few months later it will be the next time to buy. Probably I want to exploit the weak US dollar as the trillion rescue program is about to roll out - when more layoffs are expected in next few months.

The good thing is that, computers and LCD monitors are getting cheap now in the US! 4Gb ram $25 at Tigersdirect now (It was $100 10 months ago for the same speed) - $389 for a quad core intel q6600, power supply, case, 4gb ram and board. CircuitCity is going on liquidation, pick up cheap stuff there.

So, will I go for Master of Computer Science after the Bachelor graduation? The answer is probably not in the near future. I think I will try go for Master of Finance first. And well, if I can find an internship/OPT, that is always preferred. However, in this kind of epic global economic situation, I don't think the market needs me for now.

=3. The Kill-all Solution
And also here is my kill-all solution for repair almost all the common software problems of typical computers:
http://sites.google.com/site/waywardwayfarer/computers/software-recommendations/the-kill-all-solution

It is also okay that you send this to others so that they can get help too. It is a free resource from me under GPL license.

=4. Recycling for Profit
Pullman garabage disposal, like other recycling companies in the US, only recycles materials that are profitable for them. Materials that are not profitable are white and mixed paper, plastic bags, and plastics that are not PET 1 and 2. WSU is still taking in white and mixed paper, so I am planning to dumb my paper in a WSU recycle bin. For a broken CFL bulb, they told to drive halfway to Colfax to dispose it, which I did. Imagine lots of people in Pullman don't have cars, how can they dispose things like broken CFL bulbs? It is so inconvenient. Therefore, many simply don't recycle, even though they are aware of this will hurt the environment. The recycling effort in Pullman is not good enough.

Costco
When you visit at Costco, you can see they are packing some electronics in a big plastic shell. This can take a lot of space during transportation, and wasting more plastic than necessary. Many packaging of Costco items is not recyclable expect the cardboard. They might end up using less packaging than other stores because Costco items are sold in big box; however, further reduction of packaging will help the environment. Well, profitability can stop corporations from choosing pricer greener alternatives; but it should not be the case with mechanise packaging - it should be cheap to change a smaller packaging.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

Lonely Angst Boy

2008-07-13T19:52:00.001-07:00

These are not poems. These are just strings of thought. There is no one to impress. Not even one.

Lonely?
I am unexplainably exhausted.
I think I am sick, Not coming down with cold though.
I think it is more of a mental illness.
Everyday I wake up, I feel like I have been drowned but somehow I have survived it.
I am alone, and I have get used to be alone.
But I don't think I am lonely. Um, may be I am, but I deny it.

No one to Impress, and thus Status Quo
I have no one to impress. To impress someone, it is kind of stupid.
Instead, effort is better spend on finding out who I really am.
Most people may feel themselves under the same situation, even if people have many friends,
they don't have someone to describe their real thinking and feel themselves nothing.

But I am something in the nothingness, somehow there is nothing to live for.
I don't need to have any goal. I just need to survive.
If I survive, probably I am surviving for others.
I am thinking if I really need to feel happy.
Happy isn't better. I think. More pain and suffering isn't good either.
The worst is that there is no one to impress. I am under no one.
I don't have to do anything for myself either.
That is very odd. Felt like I had been dead already. But not quite.
I am living for others. I survive because it is just because. It is status quo.
That is all life is about? Merely live, and be dead sooner or later. Very odd.
Why spending so much efforts to do so much? Just to impress?
Huh? You want to be filthy rich, or famous, or giving birth to a city-load of kids?

I had thought about suicide, but I have put that away.
Just because that is not the official branch of doctrine of mine, but I am thinking about it anyway -
Just because it is logically valid, though it is anti-world and anti-humanity.

Angst - it is hard to describe.
Living in the status quo, but there is not anything leading to self-destruction,
but there isn't anything to move me forward either.
As long as I am loving someone, I don't want to leave this world.
The world needs me - the kind of good thinkers who wants to spin off insanely good ideas to push the world itself forward.

Hi? Angst Boy
Trying to sort out who I really am...
There is a reason for me look so anal everyday.
I just simply don't want to be merely a programmer. It is a job analogous to a white-collar construction worker.

People downplayed a lot of things and become ignorants to peoples' need. Well it is all systematic.
Trying to figure out why it is so hard to get married and even to get a girl-friend nowadays.
I had been figured out why it is so hard to study my degree.
It is all sociological. Everything I did is totally against the flow.
And I am thinking to figure out how to get out of this terrible situation.

Looking for good friends that can last long...
Looking for a new me that go directly to the final ultimate solution, rather than solving the problem ad-hoc.
Thinking of why I can't be as direct as I want to be.
I want to conclude what happened to others, so that I can figure out myself.

Angst - It is my philosophical anxiety about the world and about personal freedom.
Trying to figure out why it is hard to do everything big in life besides the expected competitions.
That is why I have to read a lot, my explanation is getting better over time, and it really takes a lot of time.

Who I really am: an artist or scientist;
What I am believing: religion, all about faith; and science, all about human perception of the fact and Truth
--- The two big-time major league fights.

If
I could figured out what is missing in the society, I can supply that
missing supplement to the deficiencies to compensate efforts which are
beyond hard work. After that, I may succeed.

Computer science is a department lacking of smile.
Computer science is a department lacking of care and love.
Computer science is also a department that is boring and fitting into the stereotypical geek image.
With that cool white dim lightings in the building, it is all eternal lifelessness.
I refuse, and I had firmly refuse to be one of them.
I like my major, I believe I can be more than that.
But my classmates don't even look good.
See? It is the social aspect that they are missing.
If I am purely logical, how am I different from a machine?
I have refused to stay that way.
I am not cynical, but I am angry at human ignorance.
I want a new me with a new framework that can deal with the logical bastards in the department.
Just hate to be the only Asian in class.
I want to free myself from them.
The classes that they have taught at the senior level are "useless" to me, I think hardly I will use it.
First it does not interest me.
Second it just doesn't connect to the computing in real life that I have seen and exposed to.
That is almost equivalent to the catholic theology about angels - I feel like they made them up!
I feel like they are already dead as they have running out of ideas.
The minds that can only fit into the caskets,
I am the pooper who poops into the caskets, and I am "the outside."
I want to think outside of the box. I am free from them.
I have to painfully zen through it, more painful than simply pooping.
If
I see more stupid people playing ignorance and playing naive, either I
will make them all cuckolds so as to set their mind straight or I die.
[Laugh]
They don't do that on purpose, I know, but I am running out of patience for trying to outsmart their ignorance.

(Edit: Our needs are ignored.)

This is not the first time I have complains about Facebook

2008-07-13T17:56:00.001-07:00

Facebook is just getting ridiculous. This is not the first time I have complains about Facebook.

Enslaved to Facebook
"You know those kind of applications are very boring and turn us into slaves."
"My profile is less bloated because I have get rid of those junk."

See Annoying Facebook Application

Now I add one more, "Facebook is where the spam is. Your friends are SPAMing you."

Facebook Posting my Marketplace ad Online and I don't know about it
Without my approval, facebook automatically posted my ad which I posted on facebook. I found this as I google my phone number out there on the Internet.

(Edit: the Facebook Marketplace has an option checkbox to whether let your ad be posted on other housing searching websites, but this option checkbox is turned on by default. That is a checkbox that is buried in bunches of other important options, and that is hard to see.)

http://spokane.heyclassifieds.com/housing/sublease/864/summer_roommate_needed_nice_room_and_neighborhood_at_turner_dr

Surprise!

Facebook Ridiculous Account Removal
My sister's facebook account got removed a few months ago by facebook administrators even though she is a real person with only one account, mistakenly joining a wrong network with a similar name.

Facebook's Information Monopoly
Also Facebook is locking up information on the web, thus "owning" and monopolize the information. Facebook is not a substitute for a website or blogs. Facebook is locking up information about me on the web. And a lot of people don't care and don't know about it. The world, for long, has downplayed the Truth by naive ignorance. So now I post on the blogger instead, and let facebook importing my bloggers and my website through Yahoo Pipes, just to avoid Facebook's monopoly on information.

Also Others Bad Experiences with Facebook (PhraseBook)
Thanks for developing your Facebook application. We've disabled your account.
Where technology, politics, media and snowboarding collide.

http://www.idealog.us/2007/06/thanks_for_deve.html

SHIT!

Facebook is good, but its drawback is terrifying.

Ripoff by Technology Products? Here is what I think

2008-07-12T04:07:00.000-07:00

Referring to the article http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/controlling-the-living-room/

"By integrating high definition DVD playback and Internet access into their units, they are taking the first steps necessary to eventually make a deal with a cable company to put all their features into just one box; for want of a better word, a WiiDVDCablePVR unit." - http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/controlling-the-living-room/

That is essentially a computer, what?

What a fuss to buy all these chubby equipments, wii, tv, such and such. What a hassle to buy an universal remote and you need to train all the remotes. You get used to the old ten remotes, and now even one more remote to take care of? This universal remote, it is more complicated - essentially a computer, you have to get use to it again. Why bother? What a waste of money. I say I am going to use my blazing fast computer to do it all. I don't need all that crap. If you are that good messing around with the remotes all that junk, you had better to learn how to use a computer probably and make the greatest use out of it. If I were that MIT professor I would say "just use the computer," and of course this won't make a good piece of news.

Just clam all that into the computer. This is the same big old trend, sounds familiar? I don't need TiVo, I need a TV tuner. You don't need DVD, a computer will do. You don't need Cable, there are so much online show. PVR? Oh, it is "VCR" to me - ironically. One day I will make the computer cook an eatable gourmet dinner for myself - not so hard too.

No kidding.
Senior, Computer Science, WSU, US

Summer Cleanup

2008-06-19T02:00:00.000-07:00

I trust myself everything will fall into its own place if I do everything just enough. Right now, I am adding entries onto my website, and I want to focus on good health, academic, and internship.

Moving
I have moved to Turner drive from True Street and CCS apartment. I have moved 8 car loads of stuff, and threw away or recycled two car loads of trash which include paper, computing hardware waste with old manuals, and bags. I am selling computer hardware that I don't use on ebay. I have reorganized my boxes of notes accumulated this five years. I buy furniture that can fit into my car so that I don't have to uhaul too much. I have plastic foldable tables as dinning table and working desks. I will only have to uhaul the 2 seat couch and 3 beds.

I changed my address with DOL, Vehicle Licensing, WSU, the bank, the credit card companies, websites and the post office within two days. That was 5 hours of work for me calling them, going to their websites and may be also visiting them.

Sublease clean up
I got one girl living the new place. It took me two weeks to have another person to fill the master room. The first time it was a guy who called me rot because I forgot to give him my address and my cellphone was dead. The second time is I helped my friend to get along with his girlfriend so that she don't have to live in my place, but my friend fixed my car's alternator, and I fixed his relationship with his girlfriend. The third time is someone deposited money into my checking account and he is my roommate now. Therefore, I am residing in the living room and pay a relatively low rent, the girl stay in the smaller room, and the guy stay in the master room. Since the place is all furnished and well equipped, I provide them bed, table, lamps so that they don't have to haul their stuff around as much. Everything is clean and quiet here now in my place. Nice and quiet neighborhood.

Photo album of this new place:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2133931&l=d8ce9&id=27225579

New place and old place clean up
I cleaned the old place for six hours in CCS, and the new place too. The new place I am living now is still crappy by my standard, but others may think that it is a good place.

I have a lazy landlord. He is supposed to collect rent on Jun 1st, but he didn't come. I called him yesterday, and he tagged me a voicemail, but he didn't come.

I cleaned the entire house including window trails, window stills, window glass- inside and out. Replaced the incandescent bulbs with CFL bulbs. I am still mending the nail holes on the walls and windowsills and repaint around the old holes.

A window glass in the living room fail off last Sunday. I sleep in the living room, and that window glass could have landed on my face, but it just fall out to the outside. yea, if it didn't fall to the outside, it could have landed on my face while I was sleeping. I was lucky. I know that I need to seal the window with plastic wrap right after the window fall off. It is summer and the plastic wrap works. I cleaned up that windows glass a little bit outside, and seal the hollow window with plastic wrappings, duct tape, and packaging tapes. It has been four days, and the landlord didn't come.

I fix the bathtub too because there is a gap between the tub and the wall with bathtub adhesive. It works great.

My new vaccum works great. It is only $44, and I got a whole can of dust in 5 minutes of usage when I was vaccuming the new place the first time.

I am considering to use LED light bulbs!

Unless the LED bulbs are lower than $60US and at least as bright as 60 watt incandenscent bulbs, the saving in electricity bill would not be apparent.

Nevertheless, the price of LED light bulbs is getting cheaper and cheaper. $52 for a 75W incandescent replacement, good deal! You need to buy the high power ones and you need to know what to buy, or you will end up with some inferior joker bulbs. I have been to that case before, I am asking for a refund for that. The ones that I recommend are in http://www.earthled.com/evolux-led-light-bulb.html

These bulbs are in high quality and work for 11 years. They are not typical cheap ones that you find on ebay. The bulb cost is high, but eventually it will save money with its longevity.

For the same amount of lumen,
Incandescent consumes 60W
Fluorescence consumes 15W
LED consumes only 5-7W!!

Multi-Color LED Lightbulb w/Remote and dimmer switches
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/831e/
Only 5 Watts!!!

Finance clean up
Pay all the credit card debt, cancel all the credit cards that I don't use. Claim my health insurance, and now I got a check from them finally. Pay the rent in advance so that I don't to care about the rent anymore.

Communication clean up
I have revamped the new website, the address is still the same: http://hk.geocities.com/iiaiiappa I have delete and consolidate the blog entries. I moved underutilized blog entries to the website.

I have bought a new N wireless router and using Time Warner Cable. Everything is smooth here in the new place.

My cellphone Treo 650 was dead on Saturday Jun 7 2008, and so I lost a roommate. He is supposed to move in on Monday, but he doesn't have my address. and he didn't email me, but he just kept calling me when my cellphone was dead. He thought that I intentionally not answering his phone, and he call me rotted. Nevermind. On the bright side, I was given a second chance to raise the cheap rent a little bit for the master room of my new place because there were 8 people interested in this room.

My new HP IPAQ hw6945 can use skype! (costs $300 on ebay with GPS software, USB cable, and charger). I like the cellphone very much. One thing is the sound volume and echo is bad. I am thinking to buy Discovery 925 on Amazon.com so that the sound will be great on this cellphone.

I have a US phone number and a HK phone number on skype in addition to my cellphone number. I paid $84 dollars for a year of unlimited calling and skype voicemail box. It is a good deal.

Eating habit clean up
I serve myself natural food. Six sparrow sized meat everyday is okay, but more than that will be unhealthy. I eat whole grain.

I have been visiting a lot of bad chinese doctors in Hong Kong because of my enzyma. However, right now, my enzyma is almost cured because of my juice formula.

I bought a new juicer, two tomatos + one stalk of celery everyday and my skin is healing. I don't feel itchy for two weeks since I use my drink. I throw in half uncooked potato as well in the drink. That is better than the coke. Coke is what I called "the black water." Sweet but do nothing. My drink is way better. The juice that are available in the market is too sweet. Even the unsweeten apple juice has too much sugar in it because it still taste sweet. Therefore, if I need apple juice, I use my newly bought juicer, and that will save money buying juice and save the environment by not purchasing containers that hold the juices.

I don't need to look at that anymore:
http://www.cureyoureczema.com/Affiliates/AffiliatesIndex.html?hop=aucun&type=nohop

I am cured, I can have a girlfriend! lol.

For vitamin supplements and medications, I have my new plastic medical dispenser. I won't forget my pills again!

Computer clean up

I have recycled 9 pounds of computing trash. Parts of dell laptop that can't be sell on ebay, 2 wireless adapters, a wireless G netgear router,

Data lost and Recovery

I lost computer data last December and March. First, I figured out which drive(s) is not working. Second, I scanned all the drives with undelete software. These undelete software copied the recovered files to newly bought harddrives.

Third, I am opening all the files that have been recovered from the scan. These files can be unreadable - a bunch of garbage. I am throwing all these garbage files away. These files may lose their filenames, so I open the files, and figure out what that is, then give them filenames. These files may be duplicated, so I have remove duplicate files software to delete the duplicated files. These files may be not in the correct directory, so I move them in to correct folders.

Lastly, because I have multiple backups, that means I will have to compare the versions of files, and delete the old versions! When some of the files are recovered and I am no clue what those are, I put them into a folder together. May be some day I will need them. When some of the files are recovered and I am no clue what those are, I put them into a folder together. May be some day I will need them. Some of these uncertain files are semi-garbage, and some of them are mp3 while they can be text.

After all these, I will need to do a backup.

Well, I have a lot of backups of contact lists, so I will need to combine all the backups together and merge with the current contact list, and delete the old backups, And make one backup for the newly merged contact list. This newly merged contact list will be put into my new cellphone.

Academic Cleanup
I need to get an internship as a credit class. I am working on it. Very busy. I will get it. I promise.

Social stuff
I have been focusing on good health, living good, organizing and finding internship. It is okay for me to stay out of social life for a while.

Russian Night at Spokane with the folk dancers.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2133920&l=0b0d2&id=27225579

Thanksgiving turkey, The dog, Selling on ebay, zeitgeist, massage, moving, and snow tires

2007-11-27T04:09:00.000-08:00

Had a 20 pounds turkey cooked for a potluck and a newspaper reporter happened to be there. I will be on the news again for the third time. This time is the Moscow Pullman Daily news. Two of my Chinese friends how to cook turkey, and they assisted me to cook turkey. I surprised a lot of people during the potluck event because I just cook as good like an American household. Remember, I am a Chinese. The turkey's bone was then simmered with minced onion, chopped garlic cloves, and a few stick of chopped celery. It was a good broth. My friends taught me how to cook since I am in the United States. They make good dishes, I ask for instructions, and I copycat them. I am good at it. Copycat.

For the football game, Washington State won the Apple cup this year, to my surprise. I am not interested in going to football game. Recalling that last year apple cup it was freezing and raining and windy, Cougars was losing, and I was there. Even though Cougars win the Apple cup this year, the team did bad in general. Let them fire themselves. I don't care about it anymore.

It happened I sold more $100 dollars worth of computing and video recording equipment over the Thanksgiving holiday on ebay. This month alone I made $200 dollars. I had my camcorder broken last year with all other accessories working. I have my 4-year-old dell laptop broken last April, and it doesn't boot anymore. As I have experience on opening laptops, I took it apart and sell the components rather than trash it. The screen (see picture) alone should worth around $110 dollars. It worths more to sell it part by part than trading in a whole non-usable laptop with a company.
Trading in a whole non-usable laptop with a company may require buying a products with them. Because this old dell laptop having a non-working hard-drive and system board, it has no trade in value actually. Now, selling it part by part is the only option for me. I will ask my friends for broken laptop and sell parts online. It can be my real business. It helps income, but can't get rich by this scheme as this is all labor work.

All profits of selling computing components are reinvested on new computing equipments. Most of the shipping materials were reused in previous purchases including some used envelopes and used bubble wrap and used+trimmed anti-static bags. It is green.

List of sold items so far:
Panasonic Remote Control w/ MIC for PV-GS70/GS200/GS250
Battery FOR Panasonic PV-GS150 PV-GS250 CGA-DU12 DU12
5 SONY PREMIUM DVM60PRL MiniDV Mini DV DVC Tapes NEW
DELL TV Audio S-Video TV-Out Cable 70TVD 44CTV
T808 universal bluetooth keyboard suitable for PDA/Cell
logitech MX900 Bluetooth Optical Mouse
Panasonic PV-DAC14D Battery Charger for DU12 DU21 DU14
Battery FOR Panasonic PV-GS150 PV-GS250 BP-DU21 DU21
512MB PC2100 DDR 266 IBM Dell Compaq HP Laptop Memory
1GB PC2-5300 Toshiba Protege M400, R200, S100
256mb RAM Memory for Dell Inspiron 5100 8200 8500
DELL INSPIRON2500 3800 4100 4150 8100 8200 BATTERY USED
AC Adapter Dell Inspiron 1100 4150 5100 8200 PA-9 PA9
---

My haircut last night at 1:30am is my shortest DIY haircut. It took me only 30-minutes compare to two years ago my first DIY haircut took two hours. This picture shows my long hair and I was working in my working area at my new place. Currently sharing a room temporarily with my friend. Late December I will have my own room. What is good for the new place is that I have plenty of space to work with.

Pullman snow early this year. I haven't les-schwab-tired. I plan to do it on today (Tuesday morning). A few people has ask me about les schwab. The answer is: "For any given day they are open, go there at 7:40am, or may be even earlier. The shop is easy to get full, and it is full again today. They close at 4pm!"

A great movie for you to check out.
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

English subtitles

Chinese subtitles

Zeitgeist Addendum [ II ] trailer - released in Oct. 2008

As I found out, it is academic institution that emaciate your body, soul and mind. In the United States, it is the system making most of the people stupid. In the university level, it is the overwhelming amount of information that surprise you.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2005-02-02-college-cover_x.htm

Look at table 3 (at the bottom of the page of the following link). Average combined mathematics literacy scores of 15-year-old students, by country: 2003
http://nces.ed.gov/ssbr/pages/international.asp

I get a blood test with the university. Everything under test is fine and I paid $50. Then, because I pay $1300 a year for the WSU maksin insurance, it is time for me to claim the insurance. I have double checked with the university that the insurance that I bought in school covers massage 80% each time and up to $800 per year. That means I can go massage for around 20 times and one hour each session that costs me only $8 dollars (originally $47 per hour).

A massage therapist is far better than a massager. A massager is a machine. A massage therapist is a general term for people who do massage professionally on people. We call massage therapists as massage practitioners in Washington.

So, the massage practitioner did well on me and this is the second time. He relax my muscles by pressing trigger points and squeezing muscles to increase blood circulation and metabolism. He press trigger points to make my muscles and at the same time as the muscles relax they release toxins. In order to excrete the toxins, I drink a lot of water after the session (3 times as much water as a typical day). I can schedule a massage session without any medical reason and yes my insurance still covers for it. I have double checked the information. I will probably go again. Massage is a very useful skill. One day I will learn massage.

Two weeks ago I have moved for cheaper rent. I helped my old roommate at my place and myself to find new people to take over the lease at my old place. I know the new people in the new place a year ago, so in fact they are not new friends to me, but new roommates. I rented a Rug doctor from the grocery shop Dissmore to clean carpets and couches for my old place and my new place. The new place was actually way dirtier. Dogs and cats furs were everywhere if one inspects carefully in the house. This picture is cropped for my profile picture on MSN and skype. See the photo? Look like a galaxy in there. Actually it is one of the most disgusting things ever in my life. I dumped the sewage out of the container shown in the picture, and rinse the container for the second time. The water in the container was just as dark and dirty as the original sewage! What the!? Eww.

During the Thanksgiving, one of my new roommates girlfriend dropped her dog named "Lady" in my new place. My new place is a house. As it is a guys' house the toilet seat is filthy. So, what happened was this, the dog drink toilet water out of the filthy smelling toilet seat. OMG! My new roommate is unaware of the fact that sensible hygiene on pets can help owners' health in return. Gosh! The dog mouth smelled badly. My new roommates still think dog mouth is cleaner then human. Yes, in terms of bacteria, dogs may be cleaner. However, there is a potential cross contamination for parasites, stronger viruses and bacteria. They also claimed that the toilet water is actually clean. However, once the toilet water first get into the toilet seat from the pipe, the water is contaminated with the filthy bacteria-filled scum, so, the toilet water becomes dirty after all for the dog to drink from it. The dog was just pathetic.

Also, the dog woke me up at 8am in the morning for few days for it to go outside of the house for peeing. That is good for it not excreting in the house. Well, but the dog farts.

I cleaned the toliet seat (may be it was not cleaned for 6 months), and refilled the dog's water bowl with drinkable filtered water a few times, and the dog drink from it, and the problem solved. Now if the dog wants to lick me again, I will still have second thought.

The dog stole one pack of turkey bones on the counter which was wrapped in aluminum foil. The turkey bones are for the turkey broth that I have mentioned previously in this article. Okay, the dog wanted the bones, so be it. However, the dog insisted in eating the turkey bones in the living room and the pieces were scattered everywhere. I don't know how to train the dog to consume its food in the laundry room. I spend a hour with it to no avail. Darn it. Whatever. I cleaned the living room after it finished the bones.

My roommate's girlfriend picked up Lady back to their home yesterday. Now, no more doggie.

I was also messing with my new roommate's cat because I want that cat to get close to me. It is afraid of me. I read a lot online and feed the cat a bit of cat food with my scent on it. It helps. Hopefully, a month later I will see even better result than this.

I have slept on Monday night from 8pm to 11pm, so don't worry if I am writing too much. How is your thanksgiving?

Annoying Facebook Application

2007-11-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

so you now know I have removed fluff friends and vampires. You know those kind of applications are very boring and turn us into slaves.

My profile is less bloated because I have get rid of those junk.
If I need to click 200 days and every day spending 15 minutes for going for vampire god that is a lot of time.
and the fluff friend speed goes down every 30 days, so what a waste of effort to keep the speed up.

You know the facebook is less to manage if I drop those fluffy friends. The fluff friend application is featureless. If I am fully employed for that application, the progress of feature development can be a lot better.

In general those number games are really wasting time. Having errors in page loads and also slow page loads result in lots of frustration.

Finally, I should be more focus on my study. If I have appreciate how great other programmers are, now I should focus on myself and hopefully in the near future I will do great as well.

Facebook Fluff friends ID extractor results

2007-10-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgfj675z_92ddv3b2fh

Summer and Fall Updates

2007-09-12T03:51:00.000-07:00

I did a vacation to Oregon with friends in a Pontiac for 9 days. There was a car accident on the first day of road trip, no one was hurt. My friend's car repair cost has exceeded the car's value, so he will buy a new car and renting the Pontiac. The 16-year old kid driving with an expired permit while my friend's car had complete right of way, the mum is paying the rental car for 3 weeks. Also I was on my friends' tennis clubmate's Ferrari. I have been to Hooters, Oregon Beach and the infamous light tower in Reedsport, Oregon Downtown (the Chinatown too), Waterfalls at Historical Highway. I love to eat, I have to tell you. I gained weight (166 pounds) and now I weigh 155 pounds.

More about the car accident: The underage kid was driving with an expired permit and he T-boned my friend's car, while my friend's car had complete right of way, the kid's mum is paying the rental car for 3 weeks. The kid's car is not insured. My friend is going to sue him. The kid got 5 different citations with the fine amount of $1500 (The citations were like Emmy awards. Name a few: driving without a license, Reckless driving, driving with expired permit, driving with permit without a licensed driver...) Two hours after renting a Pontiac from e-enterprise, we ran out of gas for the car and lucky a couple buy us a jag of gasoline. I was guarding the car while my two other Road trip friends walking down the highway for gas. It was a three-hour delay for the road trip. On the way back, I have been driving from Tacoma to 10 miles away from Spokane without any assistance. Therefore, I am a stable driver now.

I have been to Chi-Alpha during the summer, it is a Greek community and a Christian group, and they are interested in meeting International students like me. A lot of them dance in CJ club in Moscow, ID. Wiley commented I am getting hands and feet together. I know some Lion dance, country dance, and country swing dance now, but I am just a beginner. They are nice and patient just like the Folk Dancers do. Well, these dances help my dancing and reflex in return; it is a very good thing. However, during the semester, I am not able to go to CJ club on Thursdays because my homework, labs, group meetings, classes, and insufficient computers are taking control of my life.

For the Folk Dancers, they are very kind. They know old rumors, legends, stories, history and cultures. They know the dances. It is experience, being humble, memory and coordination matter in folk dance. We accept our mistakes as having fun. Yes, making mistake is a part of the fun even in the performance. Folk dancing is not just consist of one kind of dance; it is comprise of many dances from currently existing and previously existed countries. This makes folk dancing extra-ordinary because of its variety. It can be challenging depends on what you are dancing. Just you let you know. The fun begins with more people to dance because folk dance is a group dance. Folk dances are tightly related to stories, history and cultures. Just the dance is NOT enough to people to enjoy. You can seriously live the folk culture as a life style like eating and drinking - which is a lot of dance lack of. Folk dances are not sets of washing machine procedures. I know. It is way beyond the dances - far away.

Entry Fee and Time (as of September 2007)
CJ club, Moscow, ID. Three dollars per person per entry on Wednesdays, Thursdays with Lucky Draws.
WSU Pullman International Folk Dancing Club, 10 dollars for yearly membership. Free entrance for members and non-members.

I have been to hikings 4 times, Camping once, bowling once, on the boat 3 times, 3 BBQ, go to 4 movies in theaters. By the way, I have watched 22 movies at home. I was putting myself on vacation pretty much because I know I have to work a lot harder in this deadly semester.

I got my driving license two days before my birthday, but I still need to negotiate with my parents for money for buying a car around $2000 to $3000. I have been lowering the budget for the car. I got 80, I passed. Two years of hard work. Thanks for Seung-hyuk lending me his car. Thanks for everyone who has helped out the process.
Deductions:
Backing, visual, wide turn - not used to the car 4
Right turns - wide turn 6
General driving performance - don't know why 4
Parallel parking - forgot assuming 1.5 parking spacing 2
park and start on the hill - forgot the wheel has to turn when parking 4

In addition, thanks for Pete, AK, and Ting for teaching me the driving. I turned out to. Ting thanks for letting me trial and error. AK thanks for your patient and being so logical. Pete thanks for your words "You can get us kill.", but I still not appreciate your chest bumps. They have spent so much time on me as my friends. Originally, I don't have the personality for driving. "I am very good at riding bicycle, why not a car?" I wondered. Now, I am a better driver. I have all I need to be cautious on the road. For now, my roommate is teaching me how to drive a manual transmission so that I may buy a manual car, which saves 15% of gasoline. The problem of having a manual car is that there is a possibility that my sister may come to the US for studying and she will need to drive a car, so automatic or manual? Well, I am still deciding.

So, I am going to buy a car. I am donating blood plasma (blood without cells) to help my family making some money. I can make $60 a week by going Pullman biomedics in downtown two times. It is very safe although 8% of chance they mess up a little that delays a donation. I can go there all year around.

If I have a car, I will drive my friends to Folk Dancing on Fridays. I consider having some parties during the folk dance. I am thinking if everyone pays a few bucks and we will have a food party it will be great. I will sponsor all the teas, Pepsi and cokes. I will go donate plasma on the day I want and I don't have to walk there during the winter. I can go to WinCo by myself and even Costco at Lewiston. I can go to CJ club on Thursdays. I can go to parties. I don't like the bus services in Pullman; well it is not Hong Kong, where you can reach a bus, a mini-van, or a MTR/KCR (Railways) for your desired destination in a few minutes at any time you want.

My half-year old Toshiba M400 Tablet PC was in repair and it took a month to repair and I had picked it up in Lewiston, ID. The authorized repair center in Spokane couldn't figure out the problem in 2 weeks. They changed 3 times motherboards, 2 times cpus, 1 time hard drive, and 2 times the 1 GB memory.

My laptop was at Fed-Ex for 2 weeks and they mess up 3 times. School has started! FedEx is so unprofessional in my case. I missed the delivery on Aug 6, 7, and 8. Then, Aug 15: the lady of FedEx says I have to pick up the package at Lewiston, ID and rearrangement for redelivery is impossible. But I made her agree to deliver the package the next day Aug 16.
Aug 16: FedEx missed the delivery and I am sitting at home for the whole afternoon.
I have received a postcard from FedEx that reads "Please provide us with an address or telephone number where we can reach you during business hours to make arrangements for delivery." This contradicts what I have heard on Aug 15. So I called FedEx again on Aug 16 for arrangements for delivery. The FedEx guy told me the laptop would be delivered on Saturday Aug 18.
Aug 18, FedEx miss it again and it made me sit at home for nothing twice.

To sum up, FedEx staff promised me to delivery the laptop on Aug 16 and 18, and FedEx miss both of them. The situation is getting ridiculous. The FedEx guy said it is impossible to deliver the package because the delivery team didn't work out. Hey. It is your problem. I am running out of patience. Blah. Blah. Blah. blah, blah, blah. Total BS that doesn't carry any weight. They only know how to talk fast. This is corporate America, so I swear at them on Aug 18 so that they arranged so called "emergency delivery" for me but it is not quite an emergency after all because they can't delivery it on Sunday. I think the FedEx guy was crapping his pants, so it is an "emergency delivery". I will have to sit at home on Monday Aug 20 8pm for the delivery. Bitch slap FedEx!

I have been trying out windows vista, but it is slow. I will add more memory. I am planning to buy 4gb of RAM. My laptop will worth $2600 (counting the service plan), which will match my status. I can still work it to the bone, and be in front of it except I am sleeping or doing daily chores. I have to. My laptop is dual-boot. I have a upgrade Windows Vista on my laptop but the xp that I upgrade from is a clean install with other junk. So, the Vista is running smoothly now. For Linux, I switched from Fedora to Kubuntu. I install Compiz-Fusion and I get my visualization that I wanted (eye candy) Here is the link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4Fbk52Mk1w) to see other people having this compiz-fusion thing on the Ubuntu, which is very great - Fancier than windows vista but not obstructive. And heck, it is FREE.

In this summer vacation I haven't been to any internship. This is the only regret that I have so far. I have made myself a video projector by following the instructions from tomshardware.com. It is working now at my home.

All the photos about my projector, Oregon trip, camping etc will be uploaded to my website very soon on http://hk.geocities.com/iiaiiappa

I have 8 more classes/one year to go. I have been identifying such a degree is a long torture.

This semester I am suppose to be in Cpts 402 but I have to drop the class because this class is only for computer science minor and for those who graduate this fall. I would have taken Cpts 430 (Numeral Analysis) instead if I know that. It is the result of bad advising. I haven't been in the Cpts 430 (Numeral Analysis) for at least 4 classes now. I have to work a lot to get things done.

Washington State University - International Education Week (IEW)

For those who don't know what is International Education Week, please visit http://www.isc.aswsu.org/

As the secretary of International Folk Dancers of WSU last year and the unknown of this year, IT coordinator of these two years and secretary of last year, I have arranged two opportunities for the dancers to have performance, fund raising, showoff and networking during the International Education Week. It is time for the Folk dancers to get together.

For those who don't know what International Folk Dance is, here you are the definition of Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_folk_dance

Demostration of Folk Dance on Youtube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxK0CuG1RXg
www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5a7nuhxbq8

22 Sept - Up all night 9 to 1pm and we will dance for 30 minutes, FREE FOOD and FREE to see others performance!
28 Sept - Party in the Park - Dancing at 1:00-1:30pm, we will have two tables. FREE again! Folk dancers will bring rabbit and cats! We are selling Ukrainian eggs. Bring whatever it sells! We know old stories, legends, rumors, history and cultures. We will have cultural costumes for people to wear to take photos! We are getting creative here, and show whatever we can show to the people. In addition, we will play games! Have fun.

Thanks for reading all these.

Passed the driving road test

2007-08-31T20:48:00.000-07:00

I got 80, I passed. Thanks for Seung-hyuk lending me his car. Thanks for everyone who has helped out the process.

Deductions:
Backing, visual, wide turn - not used to the car 4
Right turns - wide turn 6
General driving performance - don't know why 4
Parallel parking - forgot assuming 1.5 parking spacing
park and start on the hill - forgot the wheel has to turn when parking.

ww connections Mar 05 2007

2007-03-05T00:44:00.000-08:00

This semester I have to write a website program in ASP.NET, C#,SQL that retrieves, searches, edits the faculty information, and generates corresponding webpages with secure login in my software engineering class. It will be kind of like faculty version of myspace, but not that kind of feature rich because it is just a one person project. I have a bad name for this program: FacSite. It is quite good to incorporate my anger into the title of my program. It is not fun, and it implies I have to get through struggles after struggles, b ut it is good after it is done. Actually, I have no idea how I can get this semester done, but usually I got lucky. Usually when it is a huge program like this, I spend considerable of time for name of it. Hey, any good names in English for this program are welcome. I don't want the program name after my professor "Jack". Ew.

The last 8 weeks featured application to a scholarship (yes, I got one), president award (let's try, doesn't hurt), two career fairs. This week features two exams that are equally disastrous. I have sweaty palms and feet. A lot things need to get back to order (see "Facebook - Snapshot of the day, Feb 7" of this email).

WSU clubs celebrated Chinese New Year. On the news: http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/21433
I have been to Taiwanese Students' Association's Xin Neng Market, I consumed 5 bubble tea and 3 dishes in their buffet that cost $8US on Mar 24 2007. The Chinese Students and Scholars Association's new year gala is free. I have been there for an hour, and I watch Chinese Ku Fu performance and singing.

Mar 11 2007 is the beginning of daylight saving time, which is one hour earlier than winter time that Washington is using now. It will be 15 hours slower than Hong Kong.

Next week (from today), the week of Mar 12 2007, is spring break. No school for next week.
I am nominated to attend the Leadership Institute. Will be gone from Mar 23 to 25 for Cusick, Washington...
"Leadership development weekend for student leaders. This weekend is a chance to develop your leadership skills while meeting new friends."
Searching for internship online, like internship.

My Reading of this month that may be interesting to you
港女，你是……(chinese)
http://hk.news.yahoo.com/070303/12/22xs3.html
I used mosquito noise stopped my neighborhood's midnight party. It worked.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2006/04/04/mosquito_sound_wave_feature.shtml
I am with the folk dancers almost every week since last September
http://community.palouse.net/folk/

Taking a break for Videos
Mad-V's Magic trick shows (A Must see in you tube)

Fun with Treadmills

The things that I need to know (My reading for classes)
Operating Systems (My frustrating labs were in there)
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~cs460/
Embedded Systems (My frustrating labs were also in there)
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~cs466/
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~jamie/research.htm
Technical writing (Free practice on your English)
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/classware/ala.do?isbn=0073259381&alaid=ala_635849&showSelfStudyTree=true
Software Engineering (A book that talk about Software Engineering, but it is more about managing humongous project, risk management, teamwork and leadership), so you know there is a good book out there about teamwork.
http://esnips.com/doc/d244445e-27b0-46bf-82ba-ddf38b1483db/testing-PRESSMAN

Pullman Regional Hospital calling all piano players

2007-01-07T03:35:00.000-08:00

For all Washington State University students in Pullman who are piano players,

Citing: Pullman Community Update

We are looking for experienced and talented piano players to play on a volunteer basis at the hospital. The Pullman Regional Hospital Foundation recently received a beautiful baby grand piano dontated by Thomas Young of Virginia. It is housed in the foyer next to the BirthPlace and Health Resources Library. Easy listening or classical music conducive to a patient care environment is requested. Research shows that music therapy can play a role in health and healing. The schedule is flexible and players can play for one to two hours and specify a preferred time. If you are interested, please call the Information Desk at Ext. 7611.

A Review on Dell Inspiron 8200

2006-12-25T01:20:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

==Outcome==
I have bought the new Tablet PC - Toshiba Portege M400 on 24 Dec 2006.

==Consideration Trial==
When I saw my friend Chris having a Gateway Tablet PC, I think Tablet PC is a good idea. Since then, I have been thinking my next laptop will be a Tablet PC. I have been thinking buying a new laptop since summer 2006, as the floppy is not working, and the CD burner cannot burn anymore. I have visited Dell inspiron too. It is $300 to $500 cheaper, but what I am thinking is productivity. I want to maximize my productivity, so I have set my target solely on Tablet PC.

==Determination and Decisions==
Why Tablet PC? I don't want to take notes in paper any paper. Using a pen is easier than using mouse. I have tried to configure the Tablet PCs on IBM, HP, Toshiba, Gateway, and Fujitsu. I have also looked to Dell and Panasonic. It seems to be all the options available to me. I get triple points for my American Express when I shop in Dell, Gateway, HP, Toshiba and Panasonic, so I have been taking advantage of it.

A good computer is one of the major determinant of the fate of my grades. I don't want the laptop is too expensive, but I want a laptop that save a lot of hustles by not creating more problems for me (See my Dell Inspiron 8200 history log below). That is why I am trying to buy a really good laptop while still keeping the price realistic. I don't go for an extra 333Hz for $250US. I don't buy RAM more than I need because I know that ebay sells the battery and system memory in much cheaper price. I have made sure that what I have bought is matching the market price and making sure that the components are not overpriced.

Ebay -> No core 2 Duo Tablet PC, cannot customize model to the way I want.
tigerdirect -> Only have one Tablet PC
Gateway -> no fingerprint reader, all reviews I have read are saying bad Tech support.
IBM X41 -> Weird harddisk
IBM X60 -> Don't like to buy a docking station for the Tablet. More expensive than the one I bought.
Panasonic Toughbook -> Too expensive. I don't need a Tablet that kind of tough but slow.
Toshiba RC15 -> no SXGA
Fujitsu T4215 -> no 7200rpm harddrive option, and still more expensive than the one I bought.
HP -> no SXGA, no 7200rpm harddrive option
Dell's Motion Computing -> no Core 2 Duo Model, they should have adjust the price.

I read a lot of reviews and I have determine that Gateway Tablet PCs are cheap, but not stable.
Tablet PC Review

Laptop Magazine is a good resource, it talks IBM Levono, HP Tc4400, Fujitsu Lifebook, and Toshiba Tablets
Laptop Magazine

People in the forum saying that Toshiba Portege M400 is having a fan problem, I have acknowledge that problem and the solutions are follows:

I don't like to split my new Tablet PC in half, but good to know:
Alex Parker blog

This is perhaps the solution:
Toshiba User Forum

==Specification of the new Toshiba Portege M400==
Toshiba Portege M400-ST4035 Tablet PC - Toshiba Laptop

(Images, Generic Specification)
Intel® Core™2 Duo* Processor T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Tablet PC 2005 (Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Business)
1024MB PC5300 DDR2 667MHz SDRAM (1024MBx1)
12.1" Diagonal SXGA+ Wide View Angle Display (1400x1050)
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with 8MB-128MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory
80GB HDD (7200rpm, Serial-ATA)
Ultra SlimBay DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive
Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g), Bluetooth® Version 2.0 + EDR
Emergency Pen Bundled, 1 Year Standard Limited Warranty

Garmin GPS 18 USB Package is $129.00US (So I am not going to buy any GPS, and I will buy used car without GPS installed)
PPM40U-2DY01T
Total: $2500 US
Laptop itself without tax is $2188US
Free shipping

==How long will everything last?==
It will at least last for 4 years. I have read the review and search the tablet PC news really thorough. I expect the hardware are more stable than the Dell. The old dell laptop is still usable, but it is not up to par to deal with the software engineering and multimedia demands like video editing. I have been pushing to the limit for using the Dell laptop. In order to save more money.

I don't spend money on games, toys nor eating out, but I am willing to save the money to get my class have more opportunity to go well. I must consider the most important to get a class working is getting a right priority. Finding out the reason of what I am working for is my job.

Printer HP psc2175 will last at least forever until it breaks.
All usb 2.0 hubs, Cables to go switch box, Logitech Bluetooth keyboard and mouse will last forever until it breaks or new prevalence standards are not backward-compatible anymore.
Wireless devices will last forever until it breaks until the world doesn't support such wireless network anymore.
19" LCD monitor will last at least 6 years (5.5 more years).
Dell Inspiron and Shuttle Desktop PC will continue calculating proteins folding.stanford.org

Please read my Rules of Computer Investments to see how exactly I justify an computing investment.

==Review of the Old Dell Inspiron 8200==

The Bottom Line: At all times, Dell Inspiron in general are a good buy (I browse Dell website every once while). Inspiron 8200 is a four-year-old model anyway. If you can afford it, you should go buy new ones.

Pros: long lasting, big screen, intuitive notebook
Cons: heavy, thick, hot, noisy, no usb2.0

Experience Rating: 3.5/5

Total when I bought it: $1579.5 US (bought it in Hong Kong, no sales tax)
Year purchased: beginning of March 2003
Age of laptop when this review written: 3.75 year old

version 2.01 -fixed the typos and added new points that I has to say.

I myself is a computer science student. I need to do a lot of programming, and personally it used to be my own multimedia station. 3 years after purchase, I bought a new desktop to handle my multimedia demands. I browse websites a lot during my working-hours and non-working-hours. I used to open 30+ tabs on my firefox when programming in the visual studio and then I have to copy and paste the code to the Microsoft word. These applications are all memory hogs.

I didn't purchase any extraneous insurance or support plan, because I can fix any software problem.

Why I buy it: Dell laptop is cheap so I bought it. It is noteworthy among friends that dell laptops are stable.

==Hardware Love and Hate==
Love
(1) The screen is huge enough (1600*1200) for programming, it is viewable indoor, but you will have to try hard to read the screen outdoor. The screen is not reflective (no glass and I feel plastic on the screen), so there is no reflection of light (glare) going on at all for my Dell inspiron.
(2) Keyboard and touch-pad, and the trackpoint are good to use and no weird key arrangements. It is a pretty tough laptop as most of it is still working for me now.
(3) It has two speakers (stereo) and they doesn't play the bass as good as the new laptops that are equipped with Altec Lansing laptop speakers (But remember it is a 4-year old laptop for me). Every surface on the laptop like the laptop cover is good at resisting fingerprints except the screen.

Hate:
(1) I didn't realize it is usb 1.1/1.0 after 3 months I bought it, probably Dell didn't say it is usb 1.1 or usb 2.0 because I have gone through everything like fine prints at least twice when I was customizing the Dell laptop.
(2) Before I bought the Dell laptop usb 2.0 was out for a while already at the time. It is bulky (9 pounds). Heat are unbearable that has damaged some components. Noisy fans. You can clean the fans with a air cleaner container that blows the air to remove dust, but you are going to disassemble the laptop in order to clean the dusty heat sink after a few years (depend on your laptop's usage).
(3) Mic is so bad that it is always recording the noise that the laptop produces.
(4) The screen is easily to get dusty even I use anti-static cleaner solutions and micro-fabric cloth, but this dusty problem is bearable for me. You will have to clean the screen at least every 2 to 3 weeks.

Remark: Do not step on the laptop as it is not made to deal with your weight. My friend's inspiron (not the same model) got broken because she stepped on it.

==Software Love and Hate (mixed)==
*SpeedswitchXP and I8kfanGUI are third party programs to control speeds of fans and power options. Dell itself have no software to control the annoying fans.

*I have inspected all the files on the disc after the autorun program failed to try to give me an option to launch the CD burning program, I have confirmed that the CD burning software isn't on the recovery discs (blue for Dell resources CD and purple recovery disc). Also, there may be more software missing on the recovery discs the CD burning software. I need to warn you even the Dell website does not have the CD burning software but just the CD burning software update. As a paid customer, I have to buy nero instead. That is the embarrassing spot of Dell.

*The updated drivers/software are easy to find on the Dell website. Dell website let me search the website so I can locate the update page easily. However, it is hard to figure out what is updated the last time if I have forgot the version of the software update that I have applied.

==My Dell Inspiron 8200 History log==
2 months old - confirmed no internal wireless, purchased a belkin 54g wireless PCMCIA card. (I could have bought a Internal wireless card when I bought it.)

4 months old - (1) firewire is broken, resulting in having two attempts of buying a PCMCIA (PC card) usb 2.0 firewire adapters, but they didn't last due to dell's temperature. Abandon the attempt to use usb 2.0 and firewire on this laptop. (2) Also, I have found out that no CD burning software in the Dell resource CD. (3) Buy a new laptop cooler underneath the Dell laptop, which help a little because I have a proper surface for the Dell laptop to sit on. I am not dare to put it on my bed even there would be nothing on it.

2 year old - original AC adapter is broken. replaced with igo 90 (not a good product).
2.5 Year old - one battery failure (it takes 4 minutes from fully charged to 0%). Using the extra battery that was purchased during the purchase of the laptop instead.

2.75 year old - replaced igo 90 with the ac adapter for inspiron 8200 from ebay, manufactured by Dell.

3 year old - confirmed the DVD/CD burner combo drive cannot burn proper CD-R/CD-RW anymore, confirmed the 2nd memory slot is broken due to the overheat, resulting in the laptop cannot receive any memory upgrade on the 2nd memory slot. Disassemble the laptop to clean the dust-clogged heat sink and the two exhausted fan. Bought a Celeron D 3.06GHz desktop to deal with my multimedia demands.

3.1 year old - replacing 256mb system memory with 512mb, 30gb 5400rpm hard drive with 80gb 7200rpm.
3.6 year old - confirmed the modular 1.44Mb floppy drive is dead.

3.75 year old - planning to buy a new tablet PC to retire the dell inspiron 8200. The laptop is still working fine but slow when using demanding applications (like paint shop pro, visual studio, firefox), and the memory cannot be further upgraded as the system memory slot B is broken. It can be still working for me for years to go, but not for my mission critical tasks anymore.

A game of wish

2006-12-09T21:47:00.001-08:00

This will be a very accurate test on you. Follow these step one by one. Do not cheat! or your wish will be not be fulfilled. The mysterious anonymous guy who wrote down this message says: Anyone who follow the directions as listed here his/her wishes will become the reality.Remember: DO NOT CHEAT! The outcome of this game will be very interesting to you. CAUTION: Read the following one line by one line. Do not skip lines. It will take you only 3 minutes, you should give it a shot.

First, take a pen and a piece of paper. When you make a choice, the person you pick has to be someone you know. When the questions ask you to write down a number or a name of a person, it has to be the thing that appear first in your mind after you read the question. Every time you read a line you scroll down a little. Remember. DO NOT CHEAT!

一個很準的心理測試：按下面的步驟一步一步做，不要作弊，否則你的希望會落空（用３分鐘完成）發

送這個留言的人說：她的願望在十分鐘內變成現實，記住：不要有欺騙行為。這個戲的結果非常有趣，注意：按順序往下讀，不能跳躍地往下讀（只要花３分鐘，值得一試）首先拿一枝筆和一張紙，當你在作出選擇時，如果是人物，保證是你認識的，無論是數字或名字都是第1直覺，每次向下移動一行──記住：不要跳行往下讀

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1. First. Write down the number 1 to 11 in a row. (i.e. 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11)

一、首先，在一列中寫下１到１１的號碼（即１、２、３、４、５、６、７、８、９、１０、１１）

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2. Write down any two numbers within 3 to 7.

二、在號碼１和２的旁邊，寫下你所想的任意兩個數字 (within 3 to 7).

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3. Under/Next to the number of 3 and 7, write down two names of the opposite sex that you know. (CAUTION: Do you skip to the next step until you finish this. DO NOT CHEAT!)

三、在號碼３和７的旁邊，寫下任意兩個異性的名字。（注意：不要跳躍的向下看，不要作弊哦）

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4. under 4, 5, 6, write down your family members or friends names. (DO NOT CHEAT!)

四、在號碼４、５、６的旁邊，寫下朋友或親戚的名字幕（不要有欺騙行為）

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5. under 8, 9, 10, 11, write down the name of 4 songs.

五、在號碼８、９、１０、１１的旁邊，寫下４首歌的名字。

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6. Now, make a wish.

六、最後，許一個願。

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結果：

1. you must tell this game to the person who is having the number under the number 2.

１. 你必須把這個遊戲告訴給（號碼２旁邊寫下的數字）個人。

2. Number 3 is the one you love.

２. 號碼３是你所愛的人。

3. Number 7 is the one you love but cannot be with.

３. 號碼７是你所喜歡的但不能與之相伴的人。

4. The person in Number 4 is the one who cares the most about you.

４. 號碼４是你最關心的人。

5. The person in Number 5 is the one you understand you a lot.

５. 號碼５是非常瞭解你的人。

6. Number 6 is someone who is important to you.

６. 號碼６是你重要的人。

7. The song with number 8 is suitable for number 3.

７. 號碼８的歌適合號碼３的人。

8. The song with number 9 is suitable for number 7.

８. 號碼９的歌適合號碼７的人。

9. Number 10 is your thought.

９. 號碼１０的歌最能代表你的想法。

10. The song with number 11 is your feeling about your life.

１０. 序號１１的歌是你對生活的感受。

After reading the result, you need to post all this to two forums, online notes or bloggers. If you follow all the direction, your wish will become the reality, or sadly, your wish will not come true.

讀完這個結果之後，在一個小時之內轉載到2個論壇，如果照此做，了你的許願就會變成現實，否則，就會事與願違

A catchall interview about China, Hong Kong, the US and a Hong Kong international student of the US

2006-11-11T06:46:00.000-08:00

A catchall interview about China, Hong Kong, the US and a Hong Kong international student of the US

Disclaimer: This interview and/or any part of it do not reflect the stance or opinion of International Students' Council.

Patrick Yau is the interviewee of someone who is studying political science. The interviewer is doing the project of a class. Pat is trying the best to answer all the questions, but there is no guarantee that his opinion is unbiased or accurate. There is no guarantee that the predictions (extrapolations) will come true. No legal liability for anyone or any organizations to bear. Information distributed as is.

Some questions are supposed to be a bit funny, don't take it too seriously. There is no hospital online if you get your nerve.

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How many people live in Hong Kong?

7 million

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Do you miss home?

If I go back home every year, I don't miss home. However, last year it is first time I am in Pullman. It was so cold and I got winter depression and I just want Hong Kong. It is the International Students' Council and International Center that make me feel warm in Pullman.

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America is the greatest country in the world, why would you miss home?

This question was asked in a wrong way. Which country in America are you talking about? How can you be so sure that America is the greatest country? I am not touchy about what is the greatest at all, but this question denies the consensus of the world about who is the greatest or who are among the greatest. For example, John is good at hunting, and Harry is good at swimming. I can't say John is the best person.

The US does not have all I need, and Hong Kong does not have all I need. That is why I move back and forth between these two places. In addition, let me give you an analogy. If someone stuck in his well all his life, he would not be able to conclude logically that his well is really the biggest in the universe because there are lots of wells out there that he haven't visited before. Visiting other wells is what we called "global perspective". Unique properties of countries/cultures are truly what making each country/culture great.

Not good: "America", which can imply the two continents of the Earth Better: "The United States of America", "the US", "the United States"

"American" is okay since we don't have a name for the people of the United States of America.
Well, all confusion about the country starts at there. Some of us say okay, and some of us say it is bad because it is culturally biased.

Some has been saying that the word "American" is enough to show how the mainstream doctrine that the people of the US think about themselves, no Canadians and Colombians. Languages do incorporate with cultures. A verbal language and the history of the language reflects how the culture which use the language thinks.

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How is Cantonese different than mandarin?

The tone is different. Some slang are different. Formal written form are the same for both of them. However, informally, if you want to capture the filler words that is unique in Cantonese, there are words for them.

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Did you ever find it difficult communicating with mandarin speakers who were visiting your Cantonese speaking city?

Yes. Because I don't learn mandarin well and they are speaking too fast.

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Is Hong Kong very smoggy?

Nope for most of the time. Indeed it is very humid and hot in summer that most of us don't enjoy it.

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If so, what is China doing about it?

If you meant pollution, Hong Kong is negotiating with local governments around Hong Kong. A few days are particular smoggy. However, if the sky is not smoggy doesn't mean there is no air pollution from China on that day. It depends how the wind blows (direction and strength).

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You said that people in Hong Kong can have more than one child. Why is this so?

Hong Kong people rules Hong Kong. And the mainland people rules mainland China. Some of the policy in China just doesn't suitable for Hong Kong at all. In fact, the special administration region (SAR) administrator (or the governor, I just forgot the proper title for it in English.) encourage middle class Hong Kong citizens to give birth to more children for more tax deductible, just like the situations in other developed countries and cities.

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Are there any other cities in China similar to Hong Kong?

If you talk about government structure, only Macau people rules Macau like Hong Kong does. If you talk about the extent of development, namely ShangHai and Beijing, and there will be a lot more than the above two.

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China has many polluted rivers (like the US did in the 1960-70s), how do you think this might affect China's future?

Things will get clean up for sure. I am optimistic about it. Or China will just doom again.

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What other pollution problems do you think China is facing right now?

Air pollution. etc. See the question in this interview that is answering this.

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What do your parents think of you attending a school in the US?

Gaining global perspective, finish the unfinished business in Computer science.

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Do you like America? (if you say no, you may be subject for deportation) <-kidding

Let me assume it is the two continents. Yes, some aspects of where I am at now are better than HK such as education systems.

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What are the best and worst things about this country?

Bad (these are the things I really hate):
Too stupid to still have cars as the best way of private transportation.
The gap of the rich and the poor is way too big.
Racism and discrimination from non-trivial to very trivial ways.
The US people think they are always number one and they have to be number one.
The US hangs around everywhere like crazy as if I don't like I am in the US (too arrogant in some ways). China and Hong Kong don't do that.

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What would other classmates in China think about you being here?

Could be: that guy is too stupid and rich to go to the US for study because he can't survive in the education system in Hong Kong.
Could be:that guy is going to be the bottomless pit for money (I have receiving some scholarship right now so it is not too bad at all.)

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What does the Chinese Government think about you going to school here?

Exactly as: A bridge for Chinese government to the US government to make trade and building good relationships.

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Do only students with wealthy parents attend school in the US?

Nope. Middle class can afford it.
Very fortune hardworking student may be able to apply scholarship, but not many of them.

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How much pressure was there on you to complete high school with good grades?

A LOT! God the day I failed to promote to the last grade of high school sound like the doom of a few years.

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Did you find there to be much competition in China to attend state-run schools?

Yes. Search the statistic and you will know.

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What are considered the best schools in China?

Can't translate the name of those schools.
Search the web. The consensus is out there.

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What are the most popular degrees to get in China?

MBA (stupid), accounting in China. Otherwise, I don't know much about China.
In Hong Kong, MBA (stupid, stupid!), business, accounting, finance major. (Not as much science students are graduated than business does in Hong Kong. Hong Kong currently is for money, not for science. However, HK is attempting to change (with the failure of dotcom bubble of HK in early years of 2000.)

HK is infested with MBA and MBA now in HK doesn't worth to do as much as years before.

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Are Chinese schools often compared to schools in other parts of the world? If so, which ones?

Can't translate the name of those schools.
Search the web. The consensus is out there.

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Did your parents pressure you to attend any specific college in China or the US?

nope. Even to take part of higher-education in Hong Kong/China is hard.

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How did you end up studying at WSU?

In fact, there are not many undergraduate International Student in WSU Computer Science department. International Students are really the minority in my department at Undergraduate level. Last year, there isn't a single Chinese in my class for a whole year, and Asians are at most two or three in a class (and they are not International Students!). I feel so lonely that I want to join something that can represent International Students. I don't feel supportive and often I can get homesick. I know the trade off, so I am still here in the US.

It is not even easy to get my parents to let me study in the US. I have been struggling about whether one day I will graduate because I am not doing well in high school. Still, I am doing fine. I spent my time tinkering and figuring computer software and hardware. Now, I even try my best to hang out with people in International Center even though I am very busy with my schoolwork. I get myself open-minded and aim myself *fiercely* in developing people to people skills. I came from very very long way.

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What are you studying specifically?

You had better fill in the blank.

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Do you think you're the smartest person in your field of study?

Nope and not yet. Language barrier and teachers' accents are the bad things.

Please refer to:
http://iiadiary.blogspot.com/2006/10/confession-of-non-native-english.html

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What are your strengths and weaknesses with your field of study?

I am so proud of my English but this is still my weakness.
I have been in the United States three and a half years, and that is not very long at all in my own sense. I learned BAD English in Hong Kong. From the first day I am in the US, I have to catch up the speed of the instructors and TV shows, and I have to fix my accent, and I have to correct my grammars. It is more than twice as hard to fix wrong stuff than starting out fresh. That is why I have teased Alison about her Chinese (Mandarin) speaking because I think she is having a way better second language teacher than I have before and I cannot afford to speak fluently with my "suppositively" third language. I never meant to be mean. I think that I am doing much better now with English, but I still needs plenty of work but not as urgent as before.
The skills that I have learned in Computer Science is a hard and blurt skills. There is no people to people skills involved. It is very frustrating.
I am very good on picking details provided I have fully acknowledge the criteria of such critiques and suggestions.

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Do you think most Chinese students who graduate in the US want to stay here or go back to China? Why?

Unless that a Chinese student has a sliver spoon in his/her mouth, after years of studying, and you know that -- to get a job!

For HK computer science like me, I would stay here for high paid job if any. HK silicon valley was a joke, it slumped. Well it is getting better now.
Most Chinese students would work anywhere that is the most beneficial for them unless:
1) they are homesick
2) having family issue
3) not enough money
4) sense of belonging
5) immigration rules
6) or they are working internationally in big companies. (not an exhausted list.)

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Will you get a graduate degree?

Of course, and 90% chance I will get it in the US. That is in my purposed time line.

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Are there any student groups who feel that a communist government is not ideal for China at this point in time?

Not yet. As long as the China is doing okay and thriving, not many students would complain about China.

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Do you agree, disagree, or have no opinion regarding your government?

They are doing fine. But the communist government (especially the local governments) has to get rid of bureaucracy. Sometimes people cannot open their business because they don't have any acquaintance in the local/central governments. China will improve and there is no need to worry.

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What do you think about Americans being able to vote and elect their officials to office?

Stupid people usually vote stupid presidents.
Smart people usually vote good presidents.
Well, smart people can still get blindfolded by politicians.
I witness a lot of Americans vote base on reputation, sense of belongings and emotions. Rich candidates may advertise on the television without difficulty. It is not a good thing.

Well, some Americans think they are running out of good candidate choices.

Television advertisements for elections are not allowed in Hong Kong.

Democracy doesn't solve the problem, it is just a supposedly better system that prevalently used in other countries, that is it.

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What do you think about the Chinese government not allowing protests against their domestic policies?

This is considered as bureaucracy and the government should get improved. That is why Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau are different from other Chinese cities in some ways - the freedom of speech.

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There are thousands of protests in China each year, have you ever participated?

Nope. I used to live in Hong Kong.

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Are there any protests in Hong Kong?

Yes sure.

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Why or why not?
Freedom of speech! petition and protests are allowed in Hong Kong provided that the order of the society is not disrupted.

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Does the Chinese government ever do what the protesters want?

Sometimes, but not all the time. Chinese government wants to save its face.

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Do you think Hu Jintao is a good president?
Yes, in some ways.

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Why?
Good insight is what China needs and he has it.

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Have you seen any of his policies take effect?

Not yet in full throttle, but it is good and alright.

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What, in your opinion, are the biggest problems facing China today?

poverty and too many people. Economic and social gap between the rich and the poor widen.
Cities are competing without cooperations.
Pollution, poison food/medicine, and fake food/medicine.
Security.
Poor building and working environment (mining accidents in China always happen in HK news.)

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How popular is an American in China?

I cannot tell. I don't know whether Chinese would discriminate against foreigners. At least, Chinese there at least would make foreigners feel strange about themselves. Chinese don't reinforce the idea of racial equality as much as the Americans do. It seems like making trade and making money are all China about. Alternatively, perhaps most Chinese don't bother someone's race.

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When the US invades and destroys the red menace known as China, will you join your American liberators in our glory? (<-kidding)

There is no point in doing it. If it isn't democracy doesn't mean such alternative system doesn't work. I don't see the US is having good president all the time though. It is "none of the US business". The US isn't necessary to become a Borg. In addition, China is not as red as before (capitalism), that is why China has its own currency.

Science and Technology: Can America Compete?

2006-11-10T23:25:00.000-08:00

Extra Credit one, cpts 355

a. Who was the speaker, when did he speak, and what was the general topic.

Speaker: Norman Augustine

Date: October 24 2006 4:00pm

Place: Kimbrough Concert Hall, WSU

Topic: Science and Technology: Can America Compete?

b. Here is what he said the problem is

On the talk he said that there are two crucial risks to America and they are terrorism and economic competitiveness. He suggest that the K-12 education, research, higher education and economic policy. Public K-12 education students are particularly weak in math and science compare to other international schools.

A majority of America’s leaders do not have scientific backgrounds because of lacking scientific and technological advancement.

The low representation of women and minorities in science and engineering leads to the shortage of American students interested in scientific fields that further leads to the shortage of researchers.

There are way less graduate students in the United States compare to some other countries.

c. Here is what he said the solution is

Seek ways to attract more students to science and engineering. Do not throw away the talent base of women and minorities.

Lastly he asked academic institutes like Washington State University to speak up to convince the public there is a problem on researches and higher education, and also other problems of the country that he has mentioned in the talk.

d. Here is my opinion about what he said, and were his arguments supported

America can be the wrong word to use in the topic. Does the word “America” on the topic title imply the area of Canada and the US, or just the US or the North America with South America? It is very important that this question is not come from a nationalist. One point we should notice is that China don't say it will dominate over all others with its technology or economy, so it should be the same for the US. The world is getting better now.

Nevertheless, there is a real concern about the US education system and its economical structures, but getting phobia is no good. There are multi-national companies around the global and it is just no good for the US iteratively thinking why such and such not happened in the US or he/she/they are not Americans.

Some of his arguments are fully supported. The data he provides is proving that the US is relatively weaker than it used to. Numbers are showing fewer students are aspiring engineering. The budget cuts on education and researches slow down the development of new technologies and the numbers are convincing. However, one thing I hang up on is that we cannot just compare the number of graduate student graduate in the US against other countries, because China and India have bigger populations.

In my opinion, more e-trade, humbly learning and exchanging ideas with other countries may help alleviate side effects of this transition. As the worlds are going to merge, and at some points of transition the US is losing some strong edges is unavoidable. I foresee a lot of things will happen around the global. Years later everyone will do as good as the US and no one is willing to "stab" on the US, and the US is going to live with the rest of the world. The US will change, but the world trade and peace promises that such changes will not make the US a loser by any means. As the situation of other countries is improving, you just can't expect the US is always the number one. I believe the US is having the power to change, but its leaders have to be smarter to get through this transition and at least the US need to have an upper hand on its economic situation and technology. The US can be as rich/powerful as before even though not everything it is a number one.

Liberal thinking and big fuss that can be boring.

2006-11-01T01:59:00.000-08:00

Here you are discussion of a framework- a demonstration of a liberal mindset. Things that I am discussing sound very easy and perhaps can be listed as common sense. Here I sounds like a dictionary on perceptions. Nevertheless, not everyone is willing take it for granted nor everyone can execute and understand it fully.

A few months ago, I have invested a few days on rappers like Eminem, D12 or 50 cents. I have to let you know they are usually about sexually explicit and violence. It is a good way to train up the speed of interpreting English and learning slang in English, but don't take it for granted by default as rap lyrics usually insults a lot of people, may have a full load of stereotypes and just simply rude. I don't have to say anything and you know what to do with this. I am not disagree with gangster rap, but we should know the lyrics are not for real world that we live in while we enjoy it. Personally I do enjoy rap music, and I am not encouraging discrimination or agree on anything about rap lyrics. Let rappers do their kidding and rappers are just creative and imaginative. Good for them to make up good kidding. Rappers can get sued because they meant it for real or public thinks they meant it for real.

A good mindset is required to accept opposing stance or unreal stance. How is the reactions that is against rappers and the book Da Vinci code? They are analogous. How should we prepare our kid to have a good mindset? Then, the next question will be: are things like rappers and Da Vinci code are for kids? Also, have we draw the right line on what is accepted for kids? I think the line is just roughly right. How do you think?

The word "enjoy" doesn't have equal meaning to the word "agree." Don't mess up. So why not enjoy reading Da Vinci code be objective and critical about it? Christians' reactions on Da Vinci code is normal and good because their reactions are foolproof for the world because not everyone have a good mindset. People can act the same old/wrong way even though others yell at these people not to do this and that for a better way that make sense. The reasons why it is so can be like: 1) These people want to keep their benefits. 2) These people are tired or lazy for new changes. 3) These people want to save their faces! 4) Not enough time of them to get change yet, or not the time for them to change. 5) what has provided for them to change is not enough or it is up to others to change first so that they can change. 6) speculating, be ignorant, be uncritical, or unaware of such change. 7) get a wrong idea of what is going on. Because of above-mentioned reasons, I can give you an example that it is just bad to see that racists become more racist and non-racists become more non-racists.

My job in International Students' Council is to change people from the old way of communication to the new way of communication, and it is just a lot of PR, thoughtful thinking and hard work. Are they tired of new changes? Why some people don't want to change? I can guess and then act appropriately.

What a full loop on a discussion of changing people. The examples of racists and my job in ISC are not the same in nature and incomparable for their scales, but they are just logically parallel*. My conclusion is: Never ever it is recommended to change people too much at a time and leave too many people behind. It is not up to me to change anyone. If anything that is not possible for me to change, then make/find some ways to improve it, decorate it, and live with it. There is no need to yell or scream or "stab on" anyone if it is not really a big deal (The idea of peace). No aspiration of utopia, no tinker for perfection, but we attempt to get there real close. Who knows one day it turns to an utopia as easy as 1+1 with the help of "Compton"? (The idea of don't give up and kind of work on it if you can't make it perfect and wait for any mighty people that can make it perfect.)

(It is safe for me to make big fuss and crazy remarks as many as I want to make sure it is elaborate enough so that people won't pick on me too much. The following is the approximate and perhaps boring description of what I am thinking. sleep now, throw up on me or skip it.)

*old geezer that stay in my mind, the most boring of all and it is likely a lot of people will say so: Provide that I can get enough knowledge and guts and yet up to par, I can't help do research on finding stuff that are logically parallel with computers like this example, if someone succeed then he/she will fulfill my wish. This wish probably is just similar other computer scientists wish. Everyone including me will be glad if someone figure out that. Computers nowadays are so lacking of common sense, and I am "mentally frustrated" with computers nowadays and also various kind of arbitrary programming languages. Sure many others think the same way too. If such a wish is fulfilled, such findings can lead to the end of the programming industry and later no one has to work (Yea, I don't want to work, and no one wants to work.) It is quite predictable that such findings and inventions will not be revealed in the near future though. It is so clear that our science nowadays is not there yet. It is so clear to everyone that I want to work now because I don't want to work in the future. I won't be upset if there is no luck on such wish. Work for someone that can find it out after x centuries later then.

Halloween, homework and free lunches

2006-10-31T01:47:00.000-08:00

I am still in the middle of "grinding the faces of the homeworks".

The Halloween was the last week's Friday, and I have won some chocolate "eyeball" as I guessed right about the weight of the pumpkin is 9 pounds (compared with my laptop is also 9 pounds. I am a cheater. Not going to use calculus for guessing number of pumpkin seeds in that pumpkin and number of candy in a glass jar, so I guessed wrong and didn't take the grand prize for the pumpkin. Above-mentioned are all Halloween traditions.) and watching others painting on small pumpkins in the International Center (Too busy and don't want to spend efforts to get a pumpkin painted).

As there are talk shows and activities at school, there are free lunches/pizzas along with these activities. Now I have 10-15% of free food from the school as I attend activities and it is just entertaining when I want to slack off a bit for a rest.

On Monday (30 Oct), Jodi the International Center director asked me about ku fu fighting in ancient China, and I shared what I know with a few others, they are quite curious about Tao and Buddhism, monks and nuns, and something like how "the champion of martial arts (fictional)" works.

Finalized the WSU ISC website.

2006-10-24T02:05:00.000-07:00

If you don't know what I am talking about, I have been remodel the International Students' Council, Washington State University website. It has been done recently. http://www.isc.aswsu.org For this website, I feature blogger's blog and google calendar (my subject to change) in this website. Photos, contact list, executives description, and "support for international students" has been added to enable the website being more supportive, up to date and informational. I am lucky that I have the guts and the power to change the communication system for the International Students' Council. The communication system is quite primitive. For such a big council we should a forum and have a few automatic email lists (newsletter). No big deal if I can't introduce more new stuff for the Council apart from the website. I will not waste any of my energy if I want to stop. Political challenges ahead.

See also my last customer - http://mhocp.catholic.org.hk up and running for months without my customers changing the html code itself. It is just revolutionary.

Think big. Win big.

The confession of a non-native English speaker-series 1

2006-10-24T02:00:00.000-07:00

This is an article which is not intended to be a final product. A clean up and peer review is necessary to make it final.

The confess~~ion~~ of a non-native English speaker

Series 1-Level of fluency

Native speakers of English, do you know how hard it is for non-native speakers to speak/use perfect English? How is it like to be a non-native English speaker? Take some time to appreciate how to walk in a non-native speaker shoes? Of course there are a lot of bumps that non-native speakers encountered that native speakers haven’t thought of. Hey, non-native speakers, which level of the following are you in? Read the tips and first-hand experience from Patrick Yau- a non-native speaker from Hong Kong, and now the secretary of International Student Council. He is trying to identify the learning stages that any non-native English speakers must stumble upon.

===================

In my opinion, we can divide the trend of English learning for non-native speakers into four stages. The following is the thing that I really want to share with non-native speakers and the people who think poorly of non-native speakers, and thus ignoring them. Let’s see what we non-native English speaker must do first in order to speak good English.

Pulling-the-Words-together level

If you are not good at English, prepare what you are going to say first. Substitute the words that you don't know with the words that you know. Keep your sentence short and say it slowly so you can pronounce better. Proofread your sentence that you are going to say. Try not to stutter or making grammar/logical mistakes.

I have been in this level. Everything that is new is tough, especially English! Yay! This is life!

Practice! Bash with your mental dictionary! And try every way to learn English words.

Voice and Accent-clearance level

Removing some of the obstructive accent can be beneficial because you make yourself more understandable. Sample the way people speak in televisions. Raise/lower your voice appropriately to make it sounds native. Speak slower to reduce your accent; if you are speaking slowly then you allow your audience to have time to guess what you are attempting to say.

A remark: Someone would say keeping one’s accent makes him pride of his native country. It is up to anyone to make their English a bit more understandable.

If you are not fast enough in listening, then you will have to listen to the gibberish in pieces. Break the sentence down, and you can only do that with Songs/TV shows/Internet videos. Fix the accent word by word, and don't be afraid if your attempts to imitate have failed. Try it again and again, and sooner or later you will be alright. Don't be shy. You need to talk. Listen to what you have spoken, then find a better way to say a thing, and seek improvement on other aspects on your own.

Setting up standard and self-monitoring mechanism

Setup standards for the quality of your speech, you have to make sure that you can be as accent-free and in certain level of fluency as possible all the time. Make you don't get below the standard at all time, and raise the standards if you improve. Standards are very important because you don't want to speak badly and speak well, making people trust your "speaking system", and your speaking system has to be stable! For example, I am supposed to fix the "th" sound (THurst) and the "sed" sound (teaSED), then I will have to focus on the "th" and "sed" sounds when I am speaking. Remember listen to yourself when you speak!

Remark: Some people may assume you speak bad English if you look too “International”. It is nothing bad about being too “International,” and we should give them a surprise and turn their stereotypes that they believe in upside down.

For a listening standard, you should know your listening capacity. Actually there are a lot of words that can stick together as a phrase and every good non-native speaker has to know roughly what these phrases mean. That is why you need to read the dictionary! If someone using a particular phrase in their speech, because you know that phrase, then you don't have to listen word by word! The same thing applies to listening sentences. i.e. If someone using a particular sentence in their speech, because you know that sentence, then you don't have to listen word by word! Listening Word by word is slow and you should try listening sentence by sentence!

If someone is having a light accent, try to "map" their sounds to characters. For example, his "th" sound is bad and he said it like "ke" instead of "th". To deal with this, let’s be smart. Try filtering this pronunciation annoyance on the fly with your brain and your ears.

If someone is having a think accent, listen it word by word and guess it. Then put back the sentence together. Ask him/her to slow down and use short sentences.

A standard can be also like this: You have to make sure that even if you are very very tired, you can still listen to others and speak well.

In my case, I have listening standard, speech-length standard (how much can I speak at once without the assistance of your draft on paper and other people?), how fast can you listen at a time?, how much your attention span do you have when you listen other people speaking?, how accent-free are you?, how grammar-mistakes-free are you?, how precise and concise of your speech?, how much others can understand you?, how nervous are you if you deal with critical situations while you have to deal with it in English only? How overwhelm are you when you listen English? (If you feel it hard to listen, you may get overwhelmed. Can you think of any related topics and details about the thing that you have listened?), how much energy do you spend when you speak a sentence/listen a sentence?

Standard can be raised over and over again to keep you doing great.

Let’s use qualifiers, so that people can understand you more!
Instead of saying: "I appreciate the fact."
Use this: "I appreciate the fact seriously."

Culture level

If you don't fit into the English/American culture at least in some way, you will do badly in conveying your real personality to others. If you used to be quiet, some people might think that you are not sociable. Chinese people may not greet each other every time, while English people greet each other up to 3 to 4 sentences. You need to know how people in this English world deal with matters. May be you are very nice to people, but still you are not very well accepted in a lot of groups, then you have to think the problem that you have (Are you too slow in listening? Thick accent? Bad attitude? Body languages? You interrupt people while others speaking too much?) Also, please consider body language! Some cultures do not mind body language as much as American does. Body language is very important in American culture. Although a typical American can't read your mind, they can read your body language and he can tell that you have shown him any signs of your ignorance, arrogance, dumbness, frustrations, enantiosis and skepticisms. Be careful!

Moreover, native English people can keep their way of saying things short if they want to. Always use the way that they used to describe a thing. For example,

instead of saying "I walk to there and I walk to here repeatedly.”
say this: "I walk back and forth from here to there."

Reword the sentences that you are going to speak, so that it looks polished and elegant.
Instead of saying "I have take this pen onto the computer.",
say this: "I have grab this pen onto the computer."

How to have a fast catch up on American mass media

If you want to truly integrate with the American culture, you should read a lot about it. I meant a LOT of about American cultures. Even you don’t have time to read the books or TV shows that they are talking about, you should read something like wikipedia on the Internet. Anyone will be impress how detailed mind you are if you reveal that you haven’t watch any of the TV shows, but you indeed understand what those American guys talking about! Why it matters? Because sometimes it is how American socialize! In all, wikipedia and the Internet is all you need to catch up things in the United States and perhaps this technique is applicable to other countries too.

Lobbist/Debating level

If you have to convince others into your plan, then you have to do something that is beyond speaking and talking.

You must be quick enough to build arguments for your opponents/competitors/"the one that you want to persuade". Sometimes you need to hide some facts; sometimes you need to reveal all the facts; sometimes you need to show your stance, and sometimes you don't. Fluent English speakers can make these decisions on time. They don’t think English (the language they speak) is stopping them from expressing themselves at all. People may not notice that he/she is a non-native speaker because his/her English is too good (especially for those non-native speakers that have removed a lot of their accent). Showing people his/her confidence is very important because this gives the audience an impression that everything is in control. Non-native speaker at this level tries to avoid being looking like a loser by means of his/her body language and manipulating his/her very own voice. A firm voice can make people feel you are trustworthy. A cheerful voice can make people happy. In all, your voice somehow implies your personality.

Non-native speakers at this level have good ability to control the atmosphere of an ongoing discussion. Detecting the atmosphere, then reacting and attempting to change the atmosphere properly is important because this reflects how successful he/she is to fulfill his/her purpose.

We do not need be a psyche to reach this level, but leading a discussion properly, and giving wordy speech instantly is the fair game of this level. This is a part of social skills that people cannot miss if they want to do good leaderships and entrepreneurships.

TIPs

Here is the non-exhaustive list of what I did to my English:

l I read programming manuals, if I don't force myself to read it, I cannot be a programmer as today.

l I read the online dictionary. The new words are referring each other in an online dictionary. It is just faster and nicer than reading dictionaries that are printed on paper with small font size.

l I fix the accent word by word, like cutting down the trees one by one amongst the English forest.

l Close a classroom door and being alone, and read alone the newspaper to fix accent.

l I listen to interesting shows that I am interested in. In the contrary of what people usually think, English songs are good but often they are not written in good English grammar. And English songs are bad because you might mistakenly use those vulgar language or insincere speech before you know what it means. For example, recently I use the sentence “I don’t care” to mean this: “I don’t think it is important, and this is alright.” However, saying "I don't care" means that "you are boring and annoying, so that I am going to ignore you."

l Ask others to confirm that my audience does understand me.

l Expose myself an English-speaking community and try not to adhere to my own ethic group.

To native speaker: remember that every-single non-native speaker has come from a long way to speak proper English. Bear with us! I am serious!

Patrick Yau Pak Wa
Wayward Wayfarer

International Student Council Secretary

Smith Gym 214

Observe, think, high-octane!

Any opinions, questions and concerns can be forwarded to Jodi Simek and Patrick Yau Pak Wa

Patrick Yau Pak Wa, who is a non-native and non-naïve English speaker while his major is Computer Science. Dealing with geeky terms is his usual activity; however, it might be consider as an unusual activity for some native speakers. He is a non-native speaker from Hong Kong, and now the secretary of International Student Council.

Receiving scholarship, and the GPA is falling.

2006-08-26T01:02:00.000-07:00

Spring 2006

(B-)2.7 cpts 223 and math 315
(B )3.0 cpts 317
(A-)3.7 cpts 224
(A )4.0 ee 234

I am not good with math. My mind is just not for math.

after 2006 Fall 3.78 -> after 2006 Spring 3.6

Despite the GPA is falling, most people would agree that it is the nature of these classes making the GPA down.

2006-2007
International Transfer Award $5000/yr
International Merit Award $4000/yr
RAMBLE, MAX & JANET Scholarship $1000/yr

Thanks for the generosity of donors.
-----
Course: Computer science 223
Prepareness: Managed
Health preserve: D
Exam self-assessment: Managed
Exam strategy rating:
Timing: Good
Results in Final:
88 out of 100 (The 4th place in the exam)
Results in Project:
The project is terribly a disaster. The windows file system fat32 is weirdly supported by linux. Linux is case-sensitive for filenames while windows doesn't. As the result, the final project doesn't compile and I have received bad scores (part 1 30/100, part 2 40/100, part 3 100/100).

Comments:
Dr. Kelly Fitz is no longer teaching after this spring 2006 semester (may be for temporary). The previous TA Chris Mallery is teaching. There has been a lot of people want to pass this class, and not everyone can fufil their wish.

I thought Kelly is assuming we are only taking one class. There has been too much work for a 3-credit class. I thought Kelly is assuming all his quizzes can be completed in 10 minutes, and he is wrong. 3 questions, 3 pages, in a 10-minute quiz!? The worst is that in some occasions the questions in quizzes and exams are not really conveying a clear meaning. I understand what he is doing, he is limiting one solution per question for easy grading. Plus, quizzes may cover the stuff that isn't introduced in the lecture, and most instructor don't do this. You may argue that it is an reading quiz (I told you to read the book in advance, and I am quizzing you.), but the difficulty is the exam level, which is not acceptable. So, there are 2 quizzes having no one completed in time, and it still get into the final grade, and this creates stress. He loves to make one hard quiz and one easy quiz, so it is hard to predict how much resources should be put forward to quizzes.

If he is looking for genius, he should teach in some top 0.5% percentile school (and I don't believe in genius. I believe that there are "key people", but not genius!). This can be why the computer science department is now so small because there is a little bit more than handful of people get certified (Anyone has to pass this class in order to certified.) I don't know, may be it is the way things are.

He doesn't like my English, and I don't like his ambiguity (Smile).

Let's look back at cpts 122. When I was in cpts 122. There is no lecture notes (you made your own), but I am told to read the book, and the book is a good book. For cpts 223, I have to read the lecture notes plus some chapters of the blue and red book (Data structure C++ and accelerated C++). It is lucky that the Dr. Fitz lecture notes are doing a good job. One thing that should be notice is that in Dr. Fitz lecture, it is very hard to focus on his rapid speech with the light turns off during the lecture. He repeats the points that we have been understood, so it is very hard to distinguish new material with old material. Thus, this makes students doze.

Chris's teaching style is kind of like Jack. Both of them are speaking slow but concise, which is good for me, and good for others too for their attention span. People who don't have good attention span screws up in Dr. Fitz class. Nonetheless, I recommend everyone practice attention span because it is vital to success in any classes.

Is it the nature of this class making the exams so hard? It is not the material hard, it is the timing. I found out that cpts 122 and 223 have to make sure that students having good fundamental. I am free in cpts 121 and very busy in cpts 223. cpts 121 is like a programming introductory class, and I almost have to sleep in that class.

The solution to the problem can be like this: If you want the cpts 121 easy for non-computer science major, go ahead to make a new class for these students. A lot of students from chemistry, math department take cpts 121 and that is it. It is not fair to make a programmer to learn programming again, and it is certainly wasting time. Then, introduce the harder material that appears in cpts 122 and 223 in Cpts 121 for CS and CE major. This can make cpts 223 less stressful.

It has been very hard for any cpts 223 instructor to cover everything in the lecture due to the abovementioned timing issue, so people usually blame it is the "nature" of the course.

According to Andrew Stefik, a PHD student in EECS WSU. The failure rate of cpts 223 in some semesters is 85%, but this is not the case my semester. I predict the failure rate is around 65% in my semester (spring 2006). These percentages are roughly calculated as "the number of people dropped the class after the first week + people who failed the class" divided by "the number of people haven't dropped the class after the first week".

This class has made students stay up late in the sloan 353 (3:00am in the morning) to get their programs working, and made students having goose skin when the tiny quiz scores were out on the website.

This is my first hand experience with cpts 121, 122 and 223. Okay, I surrender you the fact that I am really stupid. If you don't think so, let's pretend I am.

Final Grade: B-
-----------
Course: Math 315
Prepareness: Incomplete due to Energy exhaustion
Health preserve: F
Exam strategy rating: C (This is what making the worst out of the best meant.)
Timing: F. Incomplete forever with stuff that are impossible to manage
Report:
It should have been straight forward to get through the exam. However, forgetting a fact of about some math operation can lead to a disaster like this.

It is the situation that the housemate not paying the rent and bother me the whole night planning strategies to get him pay before the penality deadline. It is condemned to trigger this kind of events during the final. The final is seriously affected by this event.

This is not the fault of the instructor (Alex), the problem is from me.

Making the worst out of the best. (This has gotten into my motto list as I encounter craps so often.)
Final Grade: B-
------------
Course: Computer science 317
Prepareness: Managed
Health preserve: C (Stress)
Exam self-assessment: Managed
Exam strategy rating:
Timing: Uncontrolably bad (due to cpts 223)

Comments:
It is not hard with this class, compare to cpts 223. It is hard to understand Sirshira teaching sometimes. I have to read poor handwriting and accent during class. She is very busy too, but the TA is not. We have a good TA, but I predict everyone got graded down because of the homework. The homework is hard, even for anyone who spend hours on it to think about possible solution. The homework is 30% of the grade. It is typical for everyone to score something like 22/30. Well, I can copy homework from solution, I choose not to, and poor homework grade in result. I have no time/energy most of the time until one day before the exam, I asked the TA about the concepts, and this creates stress. The TA almost taught me the whole thing. The second exam and the final have been like that. Without the TA, I could have fail this class. No kidding.

Final Grade: B
------------
Course: Electrical Engineering (EE) 234 (Microprocessor system)
Prepareness: A
Health preserve: B (overnight stay up required, slept before)
Exam strategy rating: A+
Timing: A. Declared revision completed 2.5 hours BE
declared fairgame certified 2.5 hours BE
Report:
Instructor Tim Hanshaw is easygoing and noteworthy. This can be a reason why students switch to Electrical Engineering from Computer Science, because they want to see more of him.
Final Grade: A
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Course: Computer Science 224
Prepareness: B-
Health preserve: B (overnight stay up required, slept before)
Exam strategy rating: B
Timing: B. Declared revision completed 2.5 hours BE
declared fairgame certified 2.5 hours BE
Report:
Andy, I don't know the reason that I thought I screw up in the final exam. There are too many linux command switches to remember and I don't remember quite a lot of them. Perhaps Andy do understand it because most people don't. This is a two credit class but it has been a lot of work. I do well in homework, without the homework grade, I would get into B- (another disaster).
Final Grade: A-

Get certified

2006-08-26T00:14:00.000-07:00

Get certified Computer science www.eecs.wsu.edu

cpts 360 System Programming 1
cpts 355 Programming Languages
cpts 434 Building neural networks
cpts 451 Introduction to Database systems

Previous TAs becomes classmates. Even the locations of the classes are different.
It is expected to be sit with graduate students for two years before my graduation.