Resonance

The book Never Eat Alone suggested going to conferences to meet people: folks who share similar interests and passions, folks who can quickly become your peers, friends, and mentors. I found this to be very true at the APAMSA Western Regional Conference in UC San Francisco last weekend (Steve's very first conference! He's growing up!).

I met new people from different walks of life, including a physician and director of SF General Hospital's clinic. I even met some of my former students from way back when I taught organic chemistry at the SLC (Student Learning Center at Berkeley). I also breathed in knowledge from other folks, folks I haven't gotten a chance to meet, folks who are really at the forefront of Asian-Pacific Islander health issues, folks who run whole hospitals, clinics, and medical institutions. read more→

So, I'm thinking of starting a side business in graphic and web design, to earn more money for the *ahem*treofund*ahem* and in case I'll need it for the future. It'll be especially for folks in the sciences and health fields, but it would be for non-profits too. ;)

What do people think about these logos? And this, as a business card design? It would sure look nice on glossy cards, wouldn't you agree?

Side note: I'll be taking my very first official graphic design course at nearby Foothill College! :D Yay! read more→

I'm trying to decide whether I need a Palm Treo. These gadgets are amazing devices that let you take photos, listen to music, talk to friends and family, send e-mails, surf the net, play old-school Game Boy and even some DOS games, ... yes, the list does go on. But with a subscription rate of $600+ a year, it's a rather large cost to factor in to my budget. There are plenty of areas in my life where I could use such a device. read more→

My list of personal goals has grown ever since I graduated: one of them, public speaking. And, as I'm typing this on BART, I should brainstorm what my real motivations are behind pursuing public speaking. Getting up in front of a crowd wracks the nerves, so why do something outside my comfort zone? read more→

A new job, a new place to live, and, starting Monday, a new life! I am now a proud Software Engineer at TellMe Networks, which works on linking telephones to Internet services so you can access things like stocks, news, and traffic reports using a regular telephone instead of an Internet connection. The unique thing about their products is that they use a voice interface, so you have to speak to navigate around their menus. I have Tingting to thank for helping me introduce me to her friends, too. I can't wait to start work this coming Monday!

I also am almost moved out to Mountain View, which is arguably the heart of Silicon Valley. It's exciting to know that the Mozilla Foundation is down the street from me, TellMe is a short walk away, and that companies like Google and SGI are nearby. The thing is, it's hard to get around without a car since this place was built in a Southern California-like suburban sprawl. I spent a good deal of walking around yesterday trying to find a bookstore, but all the bookstores here are too small, too old, and a 20-minute walk away. The buses pass by every half hour. Here, the car is king. :( read more→

This past weekend, I helped Carolen get her life organized. We spent, oh, six or more hours poring over paper planners and Palm PDA. (Pocket PC's have a user interface from hell and we Berkeley students like to stick it to the man when we can, so we avoided it.) After much debate over the advantages and disadvantages of each, we concluded that although Palms were much more expensive than paper, it was, by far, the most flexible and most portable way to get one's thoughts down. read more→

The Missing Sync is a great piece of software for synchronizing Palm devices to the Mac. In fact, it's the only decent software for Mac synchronization. However, its interface is clumsy through excessive display of information that is either redundant or useless for the user's needs. For our case study, let's take a look at the synchronization progress bar. read more→

I should be happy. I should be ecstatic that I won't have to attend lectures on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday anymore, go through rounds and rounds of examinations, and attend office hours. I should be jumping for joy that I have done my time at Berkeley, that I am now classified as an "alum."

But when children reach the end of their school year, they all joyously proclaim,

no more pencils,
no more books,
no more teachers' dirty looks.

Somehow, "Bachelor Chan" does not quite have the same ring as "Master Chan," or "Doctor Chan." read more→

Last month, I tried using a pocket notebook to organize my time and my life, inspired by the productivity blog 43 Folders. They obsessively post about things to help keep life organized, heavily inspired by David Allen's Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity book. Some of them are obsessed with a particular notebook, called the Moleskine notebook (illustrated here), useful for not only keeping track of life, but as a haven for creative ideas, an exercise log, engineering ideas, storyboards for animations or even storyboards for one's personal day in lieu of a more formal task list. I thought I would give this a try too.

I had a beautiful set-up: a black bound notebook with ... read more→

Everyone loves urban-looking blotchy T-shirts, so to appeal to those who would normally by Abercrombie's $25+ T-shirts, I designed this for them. Created in Illustrator, with Don Hertzfeldt-inspired characters. A lot have been already sold. You can purchase a T-shirt from Upsilon Pi Epsilon. Greg Krimer, a friend, penned the tagline as an instructor teaching Scheme to Berkeley undergraduates. Carolen is my model here. :)