Cerulean Cordillera

Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

It took me a while, but I’ve organized and uploaded all good photos that I’ve ever took of UofT. Some were took in first year, some were took within the last week.

As I take more photos, they will be added to these galleries. For now, check them out!

The Many Colors of UofT – Blue
The Many Colors of UofT – White
The Many Colors of UofT – Green
The Many Colors of UofT – Black
The Many Colors of UofT – Yellow
The Many Colors of UofT – Grey

Too often, we students of UofT are too busy thinking about our courses, high GPAs, tests, exams, and stressful things, that the campus – which is supposed to be this romantic and stimulating environment – becomes merely this excruciating distance between our homes and our classes that we have to walk through every day. But that’s not what campus life is about, campus life is an unique and amazing chapter of our life stories, and it’s worth treasuring.

Just uploaded a bunch of photographs I’ve took back in London. Enjoy!

A Walk Down Memory Lane

I went back to London for a duration of two weeks in order to practice for and complete my G1 Exit Test. While there, I had some free time to walk around the neighborhood. This was the neighborhood I’ve grew up in, the neighborhood that left many memories.

Originally posted on Tuesday, March 17, 2009

It’s been a while. I have updated the articles page with photographs from the remaining two days of the cruise trip. Those two days were merely days spent at sea, so there’s not much new things to take photographs of. In any case, this closes the chapter on my week cruise.

<Edit: Since moving to WordPress, the “articles” page is no longer the location for the photographs. Photographs for days 1~5 can be found in previous blog posts. Photographs for days 6 and 7 are here.>

I’ve also updated the cool links page with a few more articles mostly about China and Tibet. One article, the one by Michael Parenti, has an overwhelming amount of citations and sources, whereas the other one, by Peter Hessler, is written with quite a neutral outlook. They’re quite a refreshing change from the media’s constant bashing of China’s Tibet policies. With the Tibet issue, I recognize that there are lots of things that we don’t want to see, like government creating an unofficial state of martial law by sending in lots of soldiers. However, I’m of the opinion that before you demonize the Chinese government, at least try to understand the situation as situations are often much more complex and harder to deal with than people think. The more articles I read on this, the less certain of the whole picture I become, and thus the less I want to make conclusions about it.

This past Saturday I visited a friend whom I haven’t conversed with for a very long time despite the fact that she lives just down the street. From the visit, several things were made apparent. Our lives certainly grew apart since university began. She still houses the same spirit of self-improvement that I no longer share. Actually, that’s not true. I think it’s our psychology that’s different, and thus our methods for tackling our own growth differs as well. I am not as strong or disciplined as she is, so if I try to handle things like she does, I will get burned out easily. This is why a better strategy for me is to maintain constant harmony with myself and allow my irrational desires to push me to grow at a natural pace. And with my rate of growth, I’m quite content.

It seems that we no longer have many things in common to talk about now. It’s kinda interesting actually. She kept on insisting me to relax, and don’t always be so serious, or something like that, yet I kinda wanted to point out that Innis in general is extremely clean, organized, simple, and square-like just like any office building. When I entered her room, I saw two computer screens in a neat room. One screen was displaying news from BBC, the other screen was on several communication streams including Skype. When I sat on the bed, she would be talking to people over IM not unlike a scene where an office worker is communicating with her client over the Internet. When the phone rings, it is immediately picked up in a professional-like manner. When we talk, her voice was quiet and efficient. In that kind of environment, it feels like waiting at a receptionist desk. Naturally, I got into my “serious” mode without even realizing, and later on when I tried to get out of it, it just didn’t feel natural.

I think most of my other friends would agree that I’m usually quite balanced between being serious and being goofy. That’s how I am naturally, but for some reason this becomes restricted in Innis, I guess tis one of the reasons why I dislike that building.

Hmm… Woodsworth rez is probably worse.

Ah, right. I got an AMD job, and it was quite an ego boost. PEY results for first round was released last week, and I was ranked #1 for two positions. When I went to the PEY office, the people there told me that you don’t see people with multiple offers very often during round one, and if you do see them, they’re usually for people with top marks in the program. My GPA right now, although on a rising trend since I rebounded from the fall during first year second term, still only reaches a 3.3. Yet, of the six applications I got a response from, I got four Interviews. Of the four interviews, each one of them went very well, and I got ranked #1 for two of them. It seems that my efforts got me results.

Since the beginning of PEY, I made sure to treat each and every job application as if it’s the job that I absolutely just have to get. To do this, I did my research and made sure to cater every cover letter to the position. It was important to show them that I understand what the job is about, and I tried to do that to the best of my ability. This included attending info sessions, talking to past PEY people, and doing online research on the company and positions. Every time I submitted an application, I would know that my application will be the one that looks a great deal more solid than the average application.

Apparently, doing this got me quite a few interviews. According to the career center, if a company wants to reject a student, then the company must indicate this on the PlacePro system, so I would know if I was rejected. I applied to about 20 places in total, got responses for six, and no responses for the remaining. Some of those companies probably backed out of the PEY system due to the economic scene, others probably haven’t reached a decision yet. Out of the six, I was rejected by two, but got interviewed by four. This can probably be roughly considered as a 66% interview rate, so clearly all those research was worth it.

Then I adopted a perspective of confidence. For each and every Interview, I was never nervous or fearful of rejection. I made sure I dress well. Upon meeting the person I made sure to shake hand firmly and project an image of confidence and professionalism. The thing with Interviews is that, if you can deal with the nervousness of anticipation before and when meeting the person, then everything after becomes perfectly normal. I knew that I was perfectly capable of tackling any problems or questions they might throw at me because I had confidence in my abilities and my personal growth in the past. Throughout the Interview, I didn’t treat it as them interviewing me to see if I’m good enough. Instead, I treated it like we’re both interviewing each other to decide whether we can work well and create something together. Apparently, once you’re in that mindset, talking was easy, efficient, and fun. At the end of each of these Interviews, I’d feel this awesome sense of self. It made me start thinking that if I ever need a mood booster, an interview would do the job.

And apparently this worked. Out of the four interviews, I was really only weeded out by one, and that was the interview where I was interviewed by four employers at once, and it was a management position. I believe I only lost that position because I lacked the experience or training. For the other three interviews (one hardware, two software), I got ranked by them all, as each of them sent me an email afterwards telling me I’ve entered their final selection pool. And out of these three, I got first place for two of them.

So, on Monday, May 18th, I’ll be beginning work at AMD’s Toronto office. The position is a testing position, but quite an extensive one. The idea is to make sure various AMD graphics chips are compatible with all sorts of operating systems, programs, and platforms. Not only will this offer quite some experience with computer graphics in general, there’s also a chance to work with Windows 7 before anyone else. There’ll be lots of challenges ahead, but I’ll definitely be able to overcome them. Meanwhile, this also means I need to obtain my G2 license before May 18th. I’ll also need to look for housing for the summer and next year.

I also attended an info session on graduate school yesterday. The session was hosted by Willy Wong, my old prof for E&M. Graduate school seems to be really tough both to get in and to stay in, but the idea of it is very awesome. Apparently the minimum requirements is a mid-B average. If I maintain my current level of grades, and improve a little in first term fourth year, I’ll have a chance, and if I have a chance, then my pro-activeness will make it an almost certainty. I’m still not going to make a decision about it until after PEY, when I have better knowledge of the industry’s conditions. However, I think it is likely for me to try for a M. Eng after getting my degree. And then if I’m still ambitious (I’m fantasizing now, lol), I might go for an MBA. Ultimately, I want to make a difference with my knowledge and skills, and I want to do it in my own natural way.

I’m getting hungry now. Recently I’ve been criticized by several people for not eating healthily and not exercising. These are things I will get to eventually, but for now, other things have higher priorities.

Originally posted on Friday, February 20, 2009

Previous night there were two shows. The first one was a magic show which was quite entertaining. The second, a late-night adult-only burlesque show, I couldn’t attend because my photo ID are all locked in the room safe with my dad’s credit card and he was nowhere to be found. It turned out he was already inside the room, so instead, I just went back home and stayed on the internet for a while.

We woke up extra early in the morning to leave the ship and start exploring St Maarten. It looks like St Maarten is a bigger island than St Thomas of the previous day. However, it was also quite obvious that St Maarten is relatively poorer. Pretty soon we got to the beach, although nobody really planned to do anything on the beach aside from taking photographs. Then there were shops, where 90% of them were jewelry shops. After a bus ride to the French side, it started raining, so as a result we couldn’t do much, and returned. On the way back, the rain stopped, and we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping around for souvenirs and stuff.

In the evening they had another comedian, who wasn’t bad. St. Maarten is supposed to be the highlight of this trip, and it’s surprising that it’s such a let down.

I realized something… next time I want to watch a movie and can’t find a good one to watch, what I should do is download a collection of recent trailers, and watch them. I used to look at entries in Wikipedia or IMDB, but those descriptions almost always repel me away from these movies. Meanwhile, there’s a channel on this ship that just shows movie trailers and just about every one of them makes me want to watch the movie.

My sickness is now reduced to just coughing (rather violently, as it’s making the bottom of my ribcage hurt) every once in a while. All other problems seems to have gone, so that’s good… I need to start reviewing operating systems now, I’m too behind in that.

Photos of Day Five

Originally posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Hey guys! Sorry about not updating earlier. I fell sick somehow. I think it’s because of changing environments too quickly. I left Toronto, a cold place, to arrive at Miami, a hot place. Then I went onto the ship which takes me to hotter places yet at the same time the rooms on the boat are extremely cold. On top of that, my bed (an extra) was close to the floor and the rocking of the boat made it difficult to sleep on the first night. By the second morning, my nose was getting weird (as in stuffed). By the second night my throat started itching and hurting, and it got worse yesterday. The five hour walking in San Juan yesterday afternoon didn’t help either, so as a result I had to sleep early yesterday, and missed half of St Thomas excursion this morning. I think the worst part is over now…

But anyway, let’s see what happened. It seems that the shows on the ship every evening are quite good. The singers and dancers are good and the sound and lighting are good. They also got a comedian in who was quite funny, who did two shows. Meanwhile, I’m starting to become less and less impressed about food and service on the ship. In terms of food, yes, you always get food, but they aren’t always satisfactory. There’s always food on the 9th deck, but the only thing that’s 24 hours is their pizzeria, and their pizza is pretty bad. When the other places on the 9th deck opens, it almost always serve the same thing. Some of the popular food items are much too greasy, and the deli/asian corners have only a few options available.

Dinner at the dining rooms are quite nice, though. However, the whole point behind dinner is having an excellent dinner, and not a satisfactory one. Note the use of vocabulary. Excellent means the dinner is organized, the waiters are perfect, the dishes are well-made down to every detail, etc… However, the wait-time between the bread, appetizers, main course, and dessert is so long that you’ll feel like you’re wasting time, and at the same time, the food themselves may look amazing, but at times they’re neither tasty nor filling…

However, there are two things that are absolutely awesome in terms of the food on this ship: coffee and ice cream. I have no complaints about those at all, they’re awesome, amazing, easily accessible, and very satisfactory.

In terms of service… my complaint is that I tried to call the room steward twice now on different rooms in different times, and I haven’t yet been able to reach him by phone. I have no idea where he is, but considering that what I needed are related directly to my illness, I got pretty annoyed. Aside from this, all the other service is pretty good actually. Everyone is very, very friendly.

In the end, there aren’t that many things to do for me on the ship. There’s a spa on the top deck, but everything their cost money and are expensive. I wouldn’t mind watching some trivia games (they had one in the first day and it looks pretty fun), but since the first day it seems that the Rome Lounge (place where they play game events) has been made exclusively for bingo. It kinda makes you wonder why such a simple and childish game is being such a major event here. I usually don’t like to sunbath, but I wouldn’t mind swimming. However, the two swimming pools on deck are tiny pools meant for little kids, and are usually extremely crowded. Can’t blame them though, as it’s difficult to build a pool on top of a ship. There’s a casino, which seems to be highly popular, but that’s not for me. The various bars are not for me either, as I’m not one for drinking. There are lots of lounges and places where they play music and people socialize, so it’s awesome if you came with a group of people, and less awesome if you came by yourself.

In the end, I spend a lot of my time trying to get good photographs and explore the ship, and go to random events that look interesting. The evening shows were usually awesome. Of course, there are three shore excursions which means touring three different cities. If you want to see pictures of those, check out the links!

Photos of Day Two

Photos of Day Three

Photos of Day Four

Since I’m sick, I’m also behind on my review for the Operating Systems midterm that’s happening the day after the evening I get back… That’s starting to look a bit scary. However, some initial readings made it pretty clear that all I need is time to read the stuff… it’s not that hard to understand. It would be awesome if I can finish the cruise on a high note, be totally ready for Monday’s midterm, and find that I got an AMD job offer by the time I get back… that would be so awesome, lol…

I will see you guys later!

Originally posted on Sunday, February 15, 2009

Well, the trip started out with taking the plane from Toronto Pearson. This was my first plane trip since many years ago when I went back to China. My impression was… well… planes aren’t very sturdy, and it shakes often in the air. We took a flight from Toronto to Chicago, and then switched to the second flight to Miami.

The second flight was delayed for an hour, but it came eventually. Onboard we watched some kid’s movie about a town called Ember and two kids trying to get outside. It seemed like a Disney movie at first, although soon it started to look like a movie based on a Children’s fantasy novel. I have no idea where it came from or what it is called, but I liked it. The world needs more children’s fantasy films that are dramatic and dark at times (as opposed to Disney happy-go-lucky ones). By around 11:00PM Saturday, we arrived at Miami.

We stayed at Day’s Inn Miami International, a hotel roughly about four stories high. It was right beside a highway and the airport, so the night was an orchestra of noise. I slept without a problem, but apparently it bothered my dad. The next morning we missed breakfast, so we bought a few sandwiches at a gas station, commenting on the palm trees along the way. We checked into the cruise later in the afternoon. The process went quite quickly and not long after, we’re where we are now.

You know those cruise ships you see in thriller movies like Poseidon? Apparently this one isn’t that big (although it is one of the bigger ones available). Well, it’s hard to tell. On the top deck, you can definitely marvel at its size, as it is 12 stories tall and even more massive when you look at its width and length. However, inside the cruise you’ll see either hallways of staterooms, or public lounges/cafeteria/dining rooms/amphitheatres/etc… The biggest of these rooms are merely two-floor theatres or dining rooms, and there are no long and massive multi-story walkways (like the Eaton center) inside the ship. Clearly, Hollywood is exaggerating, although no one should be surprised.

The departure from Miami was fantastic not only because of the ship, but also because of the weather and skyline. There was a fair bit of clouds, hence making it so that the afternoon sun shone through the clouds onto water, and the vapor-filled air allowing for sunlight to appear in multiple shapes. Meanwhile, this massive ship makes its way out Miami Harbor (land on both sides makes the narrow strip of water seem as if it’s a massive lane for a massive ship) and into the sea. Plenty of people were taking pictures, playing around in the pool, and eating random things.

Food was everywhere. Not only are both dining rooms operating throughout the evening, the buffet area on deck 9 always had some sort of food and drink available, and the best part is that just about all food here is free (or rather, already been paid for). I finished lunch with a full stomach, and that continued until long after dinner. At 10:30 PM there was a comedy show, which wasn’t bad, and here I am, about to head to sleep.

Meanwhile, I realized that the Photoshop script I use to make my picture galleries don’t exist on this computer. When I upload this, I will try to upload the pictures onto a directory. If the bandwidth is too limited, then I guess pictures won’t show up on this site until after I return.

Click Here To See Photos

Hope you guys are having a nice reading week!