I met the new SDM class entering 2006 last night as they partook in Design Challenge 1, a critical exercise of the SDM January "bootcamp" where teams build robots to compete against one another. My reputation has preceded me. Granted that I have met some of the new students in the past, but for those that I have not met, I am quite surprised that most of them recognized me. I heard responses like: "Hey, you look different in person." "Have you lost weight." Anyway, for those whom I have met the first time last night, I can only presume that they have been reading my blog. Many students asked for my advice to DC1 and the January program. I have answered all of them with the same theme of taking things in stride. But let me reiterate the main points of my advice on this blog:

• The January program is first and foremost about cohort building and getting acclimatized at MIT.
• Don't burn yourself out by spending too much time on the Design Challenges.
• DC1 should be fun not punishing. Learn to work smart not hard.
• As far as designing a winning robot, be creative and keep things simple. You will be amazed how effective a simple design can be.
• Work as a team. Don't be a hero trying to do more than your teammates - it is not worth it.
• Sure, there are free loaders, but you will find many more outstanding people during the January program. The relationships that you establish in this initial period will stay with you for the rest of the program. People who are apathetic to networking and team-building are missing an important part of the experience.

1/5/2006 12:27:33 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [0]

School

After 2 1/2 weeks of reruns, the new season of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart was finally aired on Comedy Central last night. Yay!!! Looks like my nightly routine of watching the Daily Show is back...

In closing, here's a really funny footage that was recently shown on the Daily Show.

1/5/2006 12:35:41 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [1]

The Daily Show

Starting today I will be actively participating in MIT IAP. I am taking 2 for-credit courses - Electrochemical Processes of Materials and Graduate Writing Workshop. As a TPP student, I have to take the graduate writing exam which was administered to most incoming graduate students at MIT (oddly enough not to MBA and SDM students) at the beginning of each Fall semester. I received a decent grade and was not required to take the writing workshop. Nonetheless, I am going to take it since I will be using this class as a motivation factor to writing my thesis proposal. It is also a good opportunity to have my writing critiqued by a writing instructor.

My motivation for taking Electrochemical process is to understand the fundamentals of electrochemistry and how fuel cell or other new novel electrochemical processes in the industry work. This class should complement my knowledge on material science and nanotechnology that I plan to accumulate while I am at MIT. Besides I have heard that Prof. Sadoway is an accessible and animated professor. I am looking forward to this class. The first class starts next week but being an accelerated course, the students were already given assignments to work on earlier today. We were instructed to invest several hours to reading the textbook in advance of a lecture. The textbook, however, isn't cheap - it costs $120 (shipping included) from Amazon.com. Thinking smart, I checked the MIT library website for that book and found 2 copies available. I scrambled to the library to pick the book up. 15 minutes later, I found that they were all gone from the library. At the self where the 2 books were supposedly placed, I can clearly see an empty space of about 2 books wide in an otherwise untouched section of the self. Darn it, someone beat me to it. I eventually settled for a brand new one from Amazon.com.

1/4/2006 10:30:36 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [1]

School

I didn't get care to blog the last couple of days because I was busy making improvements and cleaning in my apartment. I wasn't particularly busy but I wasn't constantly on the computer or the Internet so the motivation to blog was nominal. As the house work dwindles down, I see myself settling into a more or less the same student routine. This means that I will start to blog more regularly.

1/4/2006 5:28:09 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [0]

Blog

After years of celebrating New Year's Day overseas or with a bang, I decided to just have a good dinner with a few friends at Rendezvous, a new restaurant in Central Square, and then just lay low by staying at home for the countdown. The truth is that since school ended, I have really enjoyed doing little and taking it easy. I know it sound anti-social; but for a change, keeping a low profile is great. This also explains why I haven't been blogging much. Apart from being lazy, there really aren't any new insights (I have not been reading or thinking) or interesting stories to share. :-(

This year, there will be no New Year resolutions for me. I figured that I (or anyone) don't really keep my resolutions anyway because by the end of the first month I realize that it is all about "everything in moderation". Happy New Year everyone.

1/1/2006 2:13:40 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [0]

Personal

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of the devastating tsunami that laid waste to coastal communities around the Indian Ocean. I was in Phuket, Thailand a year ago. I recall blue-sky and perfect temperature - relatively dry and mild for a tropical country - just before the tsunami struck. Seriously, I was paradise. Then the wave came and everything in this path was razed to the ground. I was farther inland and was able to run to higher ground quickly. Earlier on, my group that I was with had contemplated going to the beach. Had my group taken the path to the beach that day, I am not sure if I would be alive today. You can read the full story here. For now, let us mark the anniversary by observing a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the tsunami disaster.

12/26/2005 12:21:47 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [1]

Personal

Moving is a time consuming undertaking and I hate doing it with a passion. Yet, I have moved twice this year. I was overconfident and made a miscalculated decision to move earlier this year - just don't ask why I did what I did. Nonetheless, I couldn't have asked for a better time to move than today. There was absolutely no problem getting a moving truck and parking it right outside the apartment building. Best of all, today's spring-like climate was perfect for moving - not too cold, not too warm. I also have helpers, who are essential to a successful move. Thanks to Michelle, Milt, and Brian B., we were able to transfer all my stuff over to the destination in record time. Thanks guys.

Afterwards, Michelle, Brian B., and I went to Michelle's family's house in Reading for Christmas dinner. It was great to finally meet Michelle's family after hearing so much about them. This year's Christmas movie at Michelle's family was Fantastic Four. The movie, like any superhero comic adapted movie, has enough entertaining value to keep me occupied while I digest my Christmas dinner but I don't think I would rent the movie on my own - you seen one, you seen them all. Nevertheless, the food was delicious and time spent at the Hayes was great. Well, it's almost (or past) midnight now. So merry Christmas everyone.

12/25/2005 12:01:45 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [3]

Personal

I am a huge fan of Ikea as I like furniture that is affordable and has modern design appeal. In the past years, I have driven over 150 miles to Connecticut and New York to visit the Ikea stores in those states. I am very excited to finally learn that an Ikea store has opened within a 20 minute drive from my house.

Last night, Camille and I, along with his dad and brother who are visiting the States from France went to the newly opened Ikea store in Stoughton. After hearing that traffic to the Stoughton Ikea store has virtually come to a standstill in the first 2 days of its opening on November 9th, I anticipated a similar experience last night especially during the peak of Christmas shopping rush. On the contrary, my first trip to the Stoughton Ikea store was the most pleasant experience ever. There were no traffic around the store. in fact, we found a parking spot right next to the entrance. With very few customers shopping that night I was able to easily browse through the merchandise in the store. Best of all, there were absolutely no checkout lines. I went straight to the checkout counter. Overall, I really like the Stoughton store. The place is huge and the merchandise are well organized. Knowing that the store is open till 10pm and that there are very few people during the week, I am going to start shopping at Ikea after 7pm.

12/23/2005 12:26:29 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [3]

Personal

I was paying for my groceries at the checkout counter of a local Whole Foods Market when I heard the following:

A young checkout operator singing: "People are people, so why should it be..."
The cashier in her late 40's said: "No, no, it's more like 'People, people who need people...' Hmmm... Who sings that song."
Me (to the cashier): "Well, the song that you had just sang is by Barbara Streisand."
Me (to the checkout operator): "Ah, the song 'People are People' is by Depeche Mode."
Checkout operator: "That's right. I think there's a generation gap between Sylvia and me."
Me (shrugging): "Well... I bridged the two disparate generations."

Anyway, this is probably the my only highlight of the day. I really don't have any exciting anecdote to share since school ended last week. Also, I have been really tired the past couple of days - as if the whole year of cumulated fatigue from my busy schedule has finally taken its toll on me. That's why I am staying put in Boston this holiday season to catch up on sleep.

12/22/2005 12:55:15 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [2]

Personal

For the past year, I have always felt guilty for not being productive. I have to finish an assignment or read something to prepare for a class. Even though the fall semester is officially over, I am actually having difficulty adjusting to the free time. That said, I am glad that I am finally done with this semester as I have finally completed all SDM core courses. From now on, I only have electives left to take, something that I looking forward to.

Last week has been a lot of fun as some of students in my SDM cohort organized several socializing events to celebrate the end of the semester or the end of the program (for the some of us who are done with the program). From basketball to singing I'm Going Be (500 Miles) at Thirsty Ear, I really enjoy the time with my fellow SDMers. Things are going to be different next semester. I will miss some of them.

12/19/2005 11:54:39 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [7]

School

Yesterday we had our last lecture in ESD.10 - Introduction to Technology and Policy. I learned several things from this class but nothing groundbreaking. I have to admit, I did have high expectations coming into this course but at the end the course just fell short of my expectations. I feel that the course is a little introductory for my liking and there are times that I didn't feel super excited about this class. I think the delivery of the course can be improved. Overall, this is an okay course. I hope my feedback to the professors who seem very open and constructive would help them to improve this course next year.

Afterwards, the students stopped by at Building E40 for the TPP Holidays Party. The food was great. Thanks Yoko and Sydney. It was good to meet all fellow TPP students once last time this year before we part ways for the holidays.

I came back home to catch a quick nap before going back to MIT for a game of squash with John, a PhD student from the Mechanical Engineering department. I met John in i-Teams and we have been playing squash for about 3 weeks now. Since I brought a pair of indoor shoes, my lateral feet movements have improved and I have been playing a lot better. John and I played a competitive game today. It was a great way to say goodbye to John before he returns home to Michigan later this week.

12/15/2005 1:00:54 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [3]

School