Daily // August 2007

 

August 30, 2007

Martina played well on center court this afternoon and fought through the second round 6-2, 7-5. She'll play her next singles match saturday. Yes, she's playing doubles as well, which is good for getting match play but bad for physical stamina. We'll see.

Meanwhile I got sick. During my 10-week internship I was well and healthy and now when I come home, I get sick. Urrr.

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August 28, 2007
Hingis moves to 2nd round

After playing just 5 matches since march, Martina Hingis fared well in the first round of US Open, winning 6-0, 6-3. I'm surmising that she'll reach the quarters. Well, maybe I'm a bit optimistic there.

Btw, this looks cool.

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August 27, 2007

Well, I know you all want to know what I've been doing these three days. Actually, not too much. I've been here and there, driving around, enjoying my time at home and with my family etc. Oh btw, Kevin, I hope you're settling down in 'Lee Shau Kee' hall okay.. Your room looks quite nice, but will you get used to being back to back with your roommate? Thats the question. Anyway..

Btw I'm experimenting with wordpress. There are many benefits if I switch from this static site to a dynamic blog, but should I?

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August 24, 2007

Lately I've been listening to many of 阿妹's songs. I never realized her songs were this good..perhaps I was biased against her since I assumed she was just a popular singer in mainland and taiwan. But well, I'm wrong sometimes (yep I hate to admit it). I'll try to put some up here in the future.

Meanwhile I'm still getting used to the comfort of being at home. I'm trying to sleep and wake up earlier though, since it's a healthy thing to do so, and not to mention that I'll be back in school soon.

Btw, it seems that iphone is unlocked. While I wish it's legitimate, I have to say it no longer concerns me (not at this point anyway). But it's awesome that a team got it unlocked after a much much longer-than-expected time.

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August 23, 2007

Good news to mac users (who are using safari 3 beta + msn messenger): Microsoft updated msn messenger for mac. Now I can finally close conversation windows without crashing messenger. You can get the new version (which came out 2 days ago) here.

Meanwhile I just want to mention that I slept really, really well last night. This is probably due to many reasons, e.g. the bed, the environment etc. You know that peaceful feeling after a good night of sleep? I haven't felt that for weeks (10 to be exact). I'm just glad I can catch up with some.

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August 22, 2007 Home

Hello everyone. I'm finally back at home, and I'm really glad I am. But bye for now, coz I'm also really tired.

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August 21, 2007 1

My last day at work was very peaceful, just like most other days. No, there was no farewell party or 'goodbye cake'. These things associate more with celebrations anyway, and I hope my departure is not something they'd celebrate.. After work we did head out to play pool for two hours, which was quite fun. I really had a meaningful 10 weeks here, and learned a lot from what I did, saw, and experienced during this time. Much thanks to my team and I wish them all the best.

Now what? Well, let's think about the moment and stop looking forward all the time. So we'll talk about that after I packed. No, after I get home tmr. Bye for now.

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August 20, 2007 2

It's difficult to imagine what tmr will be like as I say goodbye to my colleagues. I feel more solemn than glad that my 10 weeks at Thomson ends.. But everything comes to an end, right? And every ending makes way for a new opening. I'm sure that very soon I'll be more worried about the things I need to bring back to school than reminiscing my time here. Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

如果你也聽說 - 張惠妹

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August 19, 2007 3

Two more days of work! Then home at last.

Truth - Ito Yuna

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August 18, 2007 4

I never learn. Is this another bad decision?

I should also start packing tmr.

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August 17, 2007 5

After many hours of work, HKSA's site is finally launched (around 1am). This virtual deadline I made for myself existed because HKSA's having a buffet lunch gathering around that time, and our freshly printed business cards (which has our site on it) will be handed out. Let me also post the final sketch of our card here.

  

Now I can update my own site.. It's been too long..

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August 16, 2007 6

?

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August 15, 2007 7

Happy Birthday, Vivian.
4 more days of work. 7 more days before I head home. 19 more days of summer. Endless memories.

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August 14, 2007 8

I really need to speed up with hksa's site.. The amount of things to change/add is just baffling. So bye for now.

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August 13, 2007 9

I finally got access to HKSA's site after a chain of emails with Hopkin's tech support. It turns out that they have since disabled ftp and now require sftp for security reasons. Oh well. Meanwhile this is alot more work than I expected. Here's our current site: http://www.jhu.edu/hksa. Visit it often as I might update it soon without announcement..

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August 12, 2007 10

So today I spent most of my time today chatting online. (Yes, I did.) I also worked on hksa's site, since I feel bad about not working on it for weeks. It's going okay. But I still don't have access to the ftp, which is quite an impediment.

10 more days. 9 at this moment actually. Should I think about packing?

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August 11, 2007 11

Rush Hour 3 was quite good..quite funny. I thought it has a slow start, but it really warmed up to an entertaining action flick towards the middle and the end.

Another Sunday, another week. Strange to think that I'm leaving this once unfamiliar place that I've got a bit used to. It's always like this, isn't it.. We are always leaving something when we begin to settle into it. This feeling of nostalgia has manifested itself countless times in my life. I just hate saying goodbyes..

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August 10, 2007 12
hors de prix

Priceless. It's the english title of the movie and also a good one-word synopsis for it. Here's a brief plotline:

Jean, a shy waiter at a luxury hotel, pretends to be a millionaire and awakens the interest of Irène (Audrey Tauton), an adventurer who makes wealthy men pay for her bills. When Irène discovers who Jean really is, she escapes. Problem: Jean is in love and goes after her, finding her at Côte d'Azur. Rapidly ruined, he adopts the lifestyle of whom he loves. Step after step they get closer..

Audrey portrayal as Irène was great; much better than her performance in the DaVinci code. Overall the movie is entertaining, playful and fun to watch; I highly recommend it.

As for tmr, I'll likely be heading to Rockville towncenter to watch Rush Hour 3. It should be fun.

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August 9, 2007 13

Tired.. More tmr.

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August 8, 2007 14

Temperature shot up to 39 C this afternoon, a record high since summer '99 in Washington. It's almost impossible to stay outside for more than 10 minutes. Anyway, fourteen more days.. It's ironic that I want the next 14 days to pass quickly so I can go home and the remaining 14 days of summer to pass slowly.

Next year on this very day the Beijing Olympics 2008 will commence. Where will I be then?

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August 7, 2007 15

So, among other updates from Apple, a new imac is announced today. It looks reasonably well, and it's great that isight is hidden under the black plastic bezel. The keyboard however doesn't look very ergonomic at all. iLife seems like a good upgrade, but is it worth the price?

Exactly 10 more days of work left only. Hmm.

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August 6, 2007 16

Today I missed my first bus by a minute..and it caused me to arrive late at work. But it's okay since my manager is quite lenient. Actually most of the time when I arrive, he's still on his way from Virginia..so..

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August 5, 2007 17
Legg Mason Tennis Classic

I think I mentioned the name of the tournament enough. Anyway, I actually watched two matches today: doubles final and singles final. Both were very good. The Bryan brothers won the doubles, which is expected, and Roddick defeated Isner convincingly in my opinion (6-4, 7-6[4]). Isner, though being 6'9 and thus blessed with a powerful serve, lacks experience. (Roddick wittily said Isner has "a very tall serve".) He'll improve as he plays more matches against the top seeds. You can see more photos by clicking the picture above.

A little bit over two weeks before my internship ends. Let me put more effort and end it with style. As for those uncertain about the future, take a deep breath and worry less. Like you always say, "que sera, sera".

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Tmr I'll be heading to the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in DC to watch the finals between Andy Roddick (no. 1 seed) and John Isner (wildcard). Roddick is pretty much expected to be in the finals, but Isner is an unlikely contender until he defeated several key players in the last few days. It should be a good matchup.

Note to self: you also watched Bourne Ultimatum today. You thought it's well-paced and well-filmed.

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August 3, 2007 19

Just a video to show today. After watching it you should watch this. Enjoy.

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August 2, 2007 20

Not much to say today. Good luck to Derek who'll be giving his presentation tmr.. I'll be back soon.

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August 1, 2007 21

It's finally August. I believe it's the first time in my life that I wanted July to end sooner. It's quite unusual but I suspect this will happen again and again in the future. It's not that I dislike my job, but when you're getting paid to do something, it becomes more of a responsibility. Let's do a countdown, shall we?

Oh, my internet at home is working again. Btw, this looks quite useful..

P.S. Total visits in July is 564 (17140 - 17704), averaging 18.19 visits per day. That's a great improvement. Thanks for your continual support.

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