Sunny in California - Day II

Ah ha, it is kinda expected, but it is so nice to enjoy the warm weather here in California.

There is a huge shopping mall around my brother's place so I spent a lovely afternoon wandering in the mall. It is not like we don't have those stores in Seattle, but every store is wider, brighter, and comes with lower state tax. The only down side is their suggested retail prices are higher.

As a reminder, 4th of July sale is coming up. It is now a good time to shop. Express has“box deals" with items saved up to 70% off, so are other brands. Be sure to shop this weekend. My next target will be a new swimming suit. : )

Tribute to Two of My Leaving Friends

It is so sad to see you guys leave. You two will always be remembered. Thanks for bringing in so much fun in my life.

Saturday BBQ photos are now online

Finally signed up an online photo space to store & share my digital photos. I decided to go with Ofoto for unlimited space. My first photo set are bbq photos taken at Yee’s.

If you attended the bbq on Saturday, you might have already received a link in your e-mail. If not, click here to check out the photos.

My Future Trip Plan

I will be out of town during the following time

Camping Trip with Amy: June 24 to June 26.
Southern California with family: June 29 to July 12.

Yang, may I reserve your 27 or 28 for dinner, bubble tea or hang-out? Otherwise I will see you after I come back on July 12^th.

Digital Transformation

Before my introduction to digital camera, I sent in my roll of film to the shop, developed all the photos, and throw out the bad ones. I kept the rest in my photo album. This is me two years ago.

Before my introduction to photoshop, I picked the good photos, printed out the selection, and then saved printed copies in my photo album. This is me six months ago.

After my introduction to BOTH photoshop and digital camera, I spent much more time in post-production. To ensure the best quality, I spend more time taking and playing around photos than was before. That is me at present.

As I am writing this blog, my memory flashes back to a person who used a very high-tech digital camera on my 21st b-day dinner. I was amazing by the fact that he did not print out any of his digital photos and store everything in his computer.

You can call me a slow adopter. Viewing photos on a computer is quite different from flipping through pages in a photo album.

But I have changed. I no longer develop all the photos; I pick a few good ones, touch up with photoshop, and then change photos in my picture frame every once in a while.

Maybe I will become “fully-digital” someday. But printed photos will always be more memorable and valuable to me.

Maybe it is a good thing to dress up

I bumped into my classmate and her family at ToDai after graduation yesterday. Later that evening, she called and left me a message.

I called back today and found out her brother is interested in asking me out on a date.

Never gone out on a date with non-Taiwanese before. This will be a new experience for me.

Mahahahah… I would suppose my dress did catch some attention yesterday. : P

Next question: what should I wear on the date? I can’t find anything to top this dress. He probably will be a bit disappointed when I show up in jeans.

UW Graduation 2005

Click Below to See the Enlarged Size



Front: Amy, CinDy, Connie, Yee and Rida
Back: Tim (sorry for blocking you, didn't know I am THAT tall, LOL), Jeff, and David

My "hello" still doesn't connect well, so I tried ImageShack instead. Their thumbnail is kidda small, but you can see view the large size after the click.

Do I have a problem standing?

Has it ever occurred to you that standing alone felt weird? I can stand ok, but I don’t enjoy the feeling of standing there and doing nothing.

I would walk around, jog, or give a presentation when I stand. Otherwise I quickly feel tired of standing and look for a chair that is closest to me. I need a reason to stand up AND this reason must involve with some sort of physical movement.

Maybe this is just pure laziness.

Speaking of movement, I should go to IMA tomorrow. It is my last day to go…for free.

A Day Full of Surprises

After the lunch with my classmates, I drove to school to see my professors. The meeting was at 2pm; I calculated just enough time to arrive on time. Unfortunately, traffic was awfully stuffy today; this unexpected delay took away the possibility to find a free street parking around campus.

I checked the time; I should still be able to make it on time if I buy the parking permit. After I painfully took out cash out my wallet and handed over to the gate cashier, he told me the parking space is full.

Excuse me, how can the entire parking garage be full? There are at least four levels.

“How about the next level?” I asked.

“Nope, there is a graduation today. It is full. But you can try the northern entrance” he responded. Hum, it must be one of those stupid high school graduations.

By the time I turned to the northern entrance; I was already 15 mins late to my meeting. I grabbed my cell phone and called my professor about the delay, he is not answering the phone.

I got another parking permit at north end, but the parking lot is full as well. I was VERY worried at this point. Why did he assign me a parking with no space available?

20 minutes late on the clock. “I might have to reschedule this meeting” I told myself.

I got my parking money back and decided to park in the bookstore. My professors might have already ditched me by then. Last time I checked my watch before I walked in the Communications building, I was 35 min late.

Surprisingly, they were still there, chatting happily. I apologized and quickly set up my laptop as they finished up their conversation.

“So, Cindy. Bring on your presentation. You got exact 12 minutes left” one of the professors asked.

“Huh, what presentation? I thought I am here to show my graduation project, a website, that’s all” I was in shock.

“ Just briefly talked about your business plan and showed us the website”

“…….” I almost fainted.

I didn’t realize this is the comment that I was supposed to defend my project..like a dissertation/thesis debate before graduation.

The worse part is that I didn’t prepare at all. I thought it is a casual meeting between the professors and the students.

I randomly made up something, and played around my website. The whole presentation took no more than 5 minutes via a totally unprepared manner. Later on they asked some questions and made suggestions for the project.

The whole thing ended before 3pm, as they are rushing through another meeting.

“Congratulation, Cindy” you passed. We actually already signed the paper before you arrived today.

Yyyeahhh, I thought so. I wasn’t really expecting a formal presentation in the first place.

So, I guess I am officially done with school.

Done Done!

Check out my newly-designed cap. Yup, that little green furry thingy with pink strips it is. My parents probably hated my design but they were afraid to hurt my feeling to say so. If I am in a good mood, the design probably will stay the same until graduation.

It better not rains on Saturday; otherwise my green fur will absorb all the water….oh no, please please don’t do that to me.

Before I messed up my cap



After the damage is done

The Better Version of Me

Dear Yang
Don’t want you to feel left out in the first photo-viewing group, so Amy and I picked this photo specifically for you. (I like all my photos, but Amy suggested this one, hehe)

I will share the rest with you after you come back.

P.S. "Hello" is acting weird today. I can’t upload any photo there and would hate to waste any of my dante space. I might need to pay for web space after graduation. This sucks.

Finally Arrived !!!!!

It is here…it is here….

My portrait album has finally arrived.
Other than the fact that I don’t look “fit” enough, it is all good. (time for some work-out).

Amy: do you want to be the first person to see this? I can show you the whole thing when we meet tmw : D

Gee, why can’t you tell me earlier?

Just as I am enjoying doing absolutely nothing in final’s week, I received an e-mail from the professor who is making “additional” suggestions for my project this afternoon.

Each suggestion takes a few hours to complete. The most ridiculous part is that I “specifically” asked him whether it is an important feature in my business plan back in early March.

His response, back then, was “No, this will not be applicable to your project.”

Apparently, he changed his mind today. It is ok to make changes, but I will be highly appreciated if he can be more decisive in terms of his expectation for this project. Working under pressure is not a pleasant thingy.

Finally, I noticed a trend. I feel hunger and eat more while putting my brain to work. I have been eating like every 2 hours since I started working. I must have consumed a lot of energy in the process. Um, never thought study and diet can go together. (that is if you can focus and forget about your hunger).

All right, it is time to search for some food.

Almost Done

Finally picked up my cap and gown today; I am one step closer to finish so-called student life. Not sure if I am toooo happy about that .

Prior to the pick up, I had to visit my professors who are in charge of the approval of my dissertation (that stupid travel website I have been working on for the past two quarters).

Fortunately, both committee members liked my project. Man, they better like it otherwise I can’t walk next week. . How bad would that be to order cap and gown but not able to wear it >.<

I will need another 2-3 days to fix some minor errors then I am officially done. Then I will devote the rest of my energy to decorate my gap. I am thinking about a long & sharp feather or something in that nature. This gotta be fun.

Accident Happens

Bumped into a little squirrel on my drive home today. I was going to make a sudden stop but was afraid cars behind me could not react on time. (My insurance doesn’t cover for animal-related accidents).

My car slowed down (but not to a complete stop); it appeared to me that little squirrel (or squirrel-like animal) stopped for 0.1 second, and then it “intentionally” chose to ignore me and run under my car.

I wasn’t sure whether I run over it or not. I kept checking the rear mirror to see if that squirrel was still in one piece. I couldn’t locate the victim. Nothing. There was no bloody tire track, either.

One question immediately popped up in my mind after this incident. If this squirrel is dead today, will I be sad because I accidentally killed his/her life, or because I have to spend hours washing my tires ??

Geez, little squirrel, watch for traffic next time, ok?