Last Blog Post

Hi mom, dad, and the random stranger who stumbled across this blog, A few things these past few days has inspired me to be a bit more active in maintaining this blog. My first proactive step is to switch from this blog to wordpress. Everything here will be imported to the new site, which I hear has much better capabilities!

Going to Chicago

I could never live in Chicago because it gets so cold, but I really did enjoy my visit about 2 weeks ago! Here are some of the highlights:


The Bean. Give people a huge distortion mirror, and they'll have a blast. It brings out everyone's curiosity and narcissism, two of the most irresistible and intoxicating urges.


More in front of The Bean--and the city is reflected in it!


The beautiful Chicago airport. Is this harkening back to the World Fair or simply because it's an international airport?


There are so many bridges across this river that runs across the north side of downtown Chicago. Along the riverside, there's also a nice riverfront pathway for walkers and joggers. :)

Woodstock Wedding

This past weekend, I attended an incredible wedding ceremony. The couple didn't stress about planning it or having everything "perfect"; they just did what they liked, everyone had a blast, and the wedding really reflected their values and personalities. For example, instead of a diamond engagement ring (for social justice reasons), they got an emerald ring that was both of their birth stones. Instead of having a cake cutting ceremony, they had a cake-shaped pinata, and members of the wedding party took turns hitting it. And the after party, instead of dancing, they set up lawn games in the backyard and had lots of frisbees flying around, competitive basketball arcade games, and even corn-hole. They were big kids at heart, excited to start their lives together, and it was so clear to all of the guests.

The couple said that the pre-party was "casual", so we dressed up in tuxedo shirts, black for the guys, and white for the girls.


Barn-wedding. It started raining as soon as the ceremony begun, but the ceremony went on as normal. In the middle, as they sstarted to exchange their vows, the weather suddenly cleared up and there was a moment of sunlight, it was as if God was giving tthem the green light, and it was so cool!


Pinata cake


Friend Chicken. YUM.

Beautiful spring weekend

What a wonderful weekend! It was the perfect temperature, and my friend from college, Maylene came and visited. Boston has a bike-share program called Hubway, which has usable bikes docked all around the city and is rentable for just $5/day! What a deal! We biked along the Charles River, and it was just perfect!



Dinner party!

Justin stuffing the chicken according to Jake's tyrannical kitchen commands.

Book planter DIY project

Made using a book from the thrift store, some rocks from a nursery, and the succulents Nari and Chi brought me from California!

Mt Auburn Cemetery

Mt Auburn Cemetery is the nation's first park-cemetery. Meant for the dead, but built for the living. I spent a nice peaceful adventurous afternoon there.




Wild animal siting! :P


Chapel inside the cemetery

Boston Post-Monday

Last week's events shook up Boston considerably, but the city's residents responded by coming together in the least cliche of ways. People tried to keep each other informed, and talked about the latest updates on the subway, on the bus. The police even decided to use crowd-sourcing as a way of identifying and capturing the suspects. Twitter, which I don't have, but my roommate has, was incredibly informative, as reporters on the front-line were tweeting instantly.

A tall MIT building that is visible from the Boston side of the Charles River changed its colors to show its patriotism.

Cape Cod Vacay

A little outing to Cape Cod for Cecil's bday weekend. :) I went down to New Haven on Friday for the celebration with his friends, and then we took a road trip that stopped at Newport (where there's giant mansions along the ocean cliffs) and various beaches in Cape Cod. A little bit cold, but on the upside, it was uncrowded!

Running away!

April Goals

I'm not doing quite so well with this goal thing (especially since it's already halfway through April) but I'm still trying to keep up with it!
March Goal Progress: I've been pretty good with salsa, going to lessons almost every week, and also going to the social dances on Fridays (so far, it's been my only Friday night activity). I didn't get as far with SQL because after that small portion of my project, I didn't need it anymore, so it was hard to justify work hours to devote to it.


Professional Goal:
VBA: VBA is a language used to build macros in Excel and Powerpoint. I've already started learning it (and master it!) by working on my current project. I wrote a code that allows me to format, copy, and paste charts, words, etc from my excel sheet to my powerpoint presentation, at which point, I have a separate macro that puts it into the exact same position each time. Horray for time saved!

Personal Goal
Bragging: I've realized that I don't give myself enough credit for the work that I do. Like many people, I'm my own harshest critic, and I'm trying to actively change how I judge myself. I've been reading "Lean In" by Cheryl Sandberg, and what strikes me from her book is how great the difference is between how men and women perceive themselves. Women just are so much more likely to be riddled with self-doubt. For example, men are more likely to reach for opportunities that they want and learn the skill on the job, while women only reach for opportunities once they feel ready. At Google, where people are encouraged to suggest self-promotions, men are way more likely than women to submit their own names. Men feel qualified for jobs when they meet 60% of the requirements, while women feel like they need to meet 100%. As a self-doubting woman, I don't know how men do it. But it would be such a blessing to have that kind of confidence (not arrogance, just confidence). So I start with a baby step, learn how to brag.

A sign of spring

Snow Crocus

A weekend of amigos y amigas

This past weekend was a snowy weekend (hopefully it's the last one, though I bought a sled before the storm so that I could make the most of it), and it was also an awesome weekend because I intentionally/unintentionally saw a lot of old faces in this new place!


Met up with Ethan & friends for karokee! Picture taken at one of the divest bars I've been to.


Met up with Rewon (#Ray's new entrepreneur flame)for a picture with a creepy bear lurking behind us.


Bumped into Maddie, one of my Freshmen on the T!

Dinner parties

Pretty much what I want to say is that dinner parties rock. They are engaging, good opportunities to meet new people, cost-effective, and super delicious. It's the perfect combo-fecta that I wish all social activity would achieve. This past week, I had Lily and her boyfriend over to make dumplings, Jake over for a 3 course meal (I 'learned' how to make steak.), and then last night, I went to a friend's house for a potluck. I guess what I'm trying to say is I like making eating a social event and I like having a diverse array of options at my meals which can become difficult when I'm cooking for one. I even made some crunchie and salsa friends! (Not separate crunchie friends and salsa friends, but salsa dancing crunchie friends!).

March Goal

Another month, another opportunity to set a new skill goal! Life since moving to Boston hasn't been the crazy social fun time that I secretly hoped that it would be. Nor has my job been the incredible learning experience (at least not in this first month) that I also secretly hoped that it would be. My days are spent sitting in my office with Excel and Access, and it's been hard to feel connected to my work and consequently devote myself 110% to it. Because my supervisor and the other guy working on my project are remote/traveling, there's a very difficult lack of structure and because I just started, I'm frequently at a loss as to what my next step should be once I've completed a task. Thinking and reflecting on my personal goals, however, has given me a sense of structure. For example, because I made learning Excel and Access my February Skill-to-Learn, all that time on Access and Excel has not been wasted. For March, I'm going to set a skill goal for both my personal life and my professional life.

Personal
Learn Salsa: I started taking weekly classes at a local dance studio. My first time going was the best time that I've had in a long time! The studio that I'm going to, Salsa Matei also hosts a Friday night dance lesson at a local club. I'm hoping that between lessons and the dance club, I'll become a salsa pro in no time!

Professional
Learn SQL: I started learning SQL last month because a small portion of my project requires it. SQL is a query language that allows the user to dissect and analyze large data sets. Sounds useful!

Skiing in Vermont

SO MUCH SNOW!

TextHack

I spent this morning trying to figure out free alternatives to my current texting plan, which is at&t's unlimited plan at $30/month. The other option is to not have a texting plan, but be charged $.20/text message received or sent, but this would only make sense if I receive fewer than 150 texts per month! I didn't have a text plan till 2010, and now that I have one, it seems like I could never live without it...which is totally UNTRUE! Fortunately, I have an iphone, which covers free texting between me and like 80% of my contacts. Things that aren't covered:

1)Group Messaging with GroupMe
Solution: Just download the app!

2)Friends without iphones
Solution: Google's SMS function which allows you to text other people from your computer as well as receive SMS when they text you back. But What if you're not online?In case someone texts you while you're offline, it stores the text like it would an offline chat message (I tested it this morning--you just have to be OK with a slight time lag). What if there is an emergency?In case of emergencies, they should call, not text. I also downloaded the gmail app to my phone (testing it out, but I can see how it could get annoying if my phone buzzed every time I got an email) so if I miss an SMS because I'm offline, I'll be notified immediately on my phone.

Amy Poehler

Parks and REc, starring Amy Poehler (aka Tina Fey's best friend/girl crush), has been my last hurrah before delving back into structured real-people responsibility life. And it has been AWESOME! I think I might find Amy Poehler funnier than Tina Fey...I don't know what I'm saying, but I'm pretty sure it's the truth. Something about Amy Poehler's well-intention-ed, over-achieving, idealistic, stubborn steam-roller character resonates with me. I'm also having a hard time writing this post because I'm moving to Boston tomorrow! HOLY CRAP!

I just remembered why I started writing this post. It's because she's in the process of writing a book and I'm really excited about it! Someone get it for me for my birthday in 2014!

The Things I'll Miss about Fort Myers

Saturday yoga by the waterfront. The sign warns yogis taking calming breathes that while everything might seem beautiful and serene, hungry alligators lurk beneath the surface and might eat you alive at any moment.


Going to watch the birds return to their nightly nests. There must be over a thousand ibis, heron, egrets, anhingas, cormorants all up in this tree.

Bossypants

Got the idea from a friend, who read it under the pretense of a "professional development" book that qualified for a work reimbursement (corporate perks yay!). Reading Tina Fey's autobiography only convinced me of how much I love and respect her and obviously, at this point, my narcissism also kicks in and convinces me that we're more similar than I thought! For one, we were both awkward looking adolescents who now look much better as adults. We're are both apprehensive about cruises because both of our first experiences on cruise ships were complete disasters, defined by internal ship failure and near death experiences. Lastly, nothing brings two girls closer together than similar first-time gyno stories! See what I mean, me and Tina, we're like two slices from the same pizza.

Seattle II

Seattle summarized in three good things: seafood, sculpture gardens, and hipness Seattle summarized in three bad things: overcast, rainy, and cold

It was so foggy we couldn't even see to the top of the Space Needle!


Metal tendril sculpture next to the lock


Troll under the bridge: another sculpture. The abundance of sculptures btw, is because they have this 1% rule where every 1% of any public budget has to be dedicated to the arts. Reminds me of how SB once installed larger-than-life painted ceramic fish sculptures on every corner of downtown.


Matching from their expressions, to thick frame-less glasses, to beige overcoat with those loop buttons, to brown corduroy pants, to leather gloves, to...okay, so the subway ride to the airport took a while...


Bad Yoga in Sketchy Places: Namaste, Warrior II, Eagle, Crescent Moon, and Upward Dog

Seattle

Before I left for Seattle a friend of mine said it was basically hipsters and good food while another one said it was just overcast. Both were right.


Tesla shop!

So Good They Can't Ignore You Book Review

A few days before Xmas, I found a surprise present in the mail from Anthony (one of this blog's few followers, so HI!) with a book titled "So Good They Can't Ignore You" by Cal Newport. Cal Newport is a comp sci professor at Georgetown/published work-habit guru, and the book revolved around the thesis that Working right trumps the right work. It fits well with the Asian ethic of hard work paving the road to success. After dispelling the "passion hypothesis" (ie, we all have some kind of natural passion that we must follow in order to have a fulfilling work life), he goes on to propose that fulfilling work comes after we have spent enough time to meticulously learn a craft/skill that is "rare and valuable" (for example, coding).

I have always believed that hard work is necessary for true success that I can be proud of. Passion is also important to me, but I can buy the argument that at the entry-level, very few people have true passions, and the ability to learn interesting new things and become really GOOD at them can lead to very passion-filled work life. In a generation where the passion-hypothesis is prevalent, I can see the contrarian lining of his stance. But having been raised in an environment that's always emphasized hard work in lieu of self discovery, I found it less novel than a good reminder of another side of the coin.

What I found interesting was how meticulously Newport treats his "practice" habit and the type of lifestyle he encourages in order to discover the "missions" that can make work fulfilling. For example, he emphasizes tracking and improving upon your own study/work habits (something I don't do) to become a more efficient and effective worker. He is constantly taking "little bets" to explore new opportunities and to gain experience and insight at the same time. He also proposes setting aside time for "deliberate thinking", the type of thinking where you're learning something new and difficult that makes your brain feel uncomfortable and reluctant to continue. It's kind of like exercising and trying to push a little bit past your comfort zone. Like all good advice, when you hear it, it sounds obvious, but still you have a hard time following it (ie: eat more veggies). While making spreadsheets that track all my time is a big step for me, trying to incorporate more "deliberate thinking" can be useful and a good small step forward.

I didn't have much of a new years resolution this year other than continuing a healthy lifestyle, but with "deliberate thinking" I see a very good opportunity to incorporate learning into my new year's resolution. Here's my resolution:

For each month of the year, I will choose a new difficult topic to pursue that can help me become better at my new job. For the month of January, my goal is to review and master Multivariate Statistics. Perhaps, it'll also help to refresh my memory of R and SPSS.

I had a great time today revisiting Six Mile Cypress, a boardwalk within a few minutes drive from my house. It was a lot of fun to play the "guess the animal" riddles on the boardwalk. They are meant for little kids, but my parents were just as funny as little kids because they didn't know many of the answers (and I was very amused)! I guess the animals you learn about growing up in China is very different from the States/Florida.


The cypress part of the "Six Mile Cypress" boardwalk


Searching for interesting things. The highlight was a 15ft alligator (across the lake) that we spotted with our binoculars and also spotting a black boar (who knew they lived in swamps?!)and chasing him for as long as I could while on the boardwalk.


Awwww


My submission for membership in the elite club, "Bad Yoga in Beautiful Places


Dad, haha

Orange you glad?

Picking oranges with the fam


Two Suns in an orange tree


The guy at the cashier stand asked us if we were with the nail saloon...so racist! lol

A Hip Old Folk Vacation

For New Years, Cecil and I decided to meet up in Clearwater, FL, a beachy retirement town about a hundred miles away from Fort Myers.
We had a great time living it up like hip old folks, including going contra dancing at a senior rec center, gambling at a gritty BINGO parlor, and swinging dancing on New Years.


My boyfriend, the BINGO gambler...check out how old the other people are in this room! The game was also more intense than I thought because there are multiple bingo sheets that you play all at once.


Swing dancing to a big band


Balloon drop



Sometimes our age difference becomes apparent at the most random of times. When the DJ started playing the Electric Slide, I was like say wahhhhat? and Cecil was like all up on it.




Kissing my sweetie on New Years Eve, I guess I can get used to this holiday tradition. :P