I’ve finally moved into my new apartment, got Internet hooked up, and will be getting 2 pieces of furniture this week. There’s a tendency for me to take a while to settle down onto a new environment, and this will be no different. However I am somewhat relieved to be living alone. While I love having roommates it’s about that time in my life that I need my own place.
Beyond all this moving stuff, research is slowly back ok track. Thanks to all those friends who have given me encouragement and the occasional nag here and there. I’m going to try and use this space a bit more over the coming month.
Until my next update, cheers to you all!
CHI was an amazing experience. Yes, yes, it was in Florence, but beyond the amazing location, the conference itself was incredible and quite overwhelming. As a student volunteer, I got a chance to meet some very cool students studying some amazing topics. I was pleasantly surprised at the diversity, both culturally and academically, of the people.
Of the sessions, I found that the Special Interest Groups (SIGs) were the most valuable to me. These sessions focus on particular topics that are valuable to the CHI community. For example, I participated in 3 SIGs: Usability, History of HCI, and End-User Programming. Rather than just have a string of individuals presenting their own work, there was discussion and feedback. Since I’m a newcomer to the CHI world, the sessions gave me a chance to absorb some of the more cutting edge topics people were working on, and also ask some questions. The format was much more intimate than paper session; everyone had a chance to speak, and give their 2 cents. Some of the people I had a chance to interact with I had met at other events, while others I have only read about. At no point was anyone overly critical and even my rather naive questions were answered with patient.
One particular person I was truly impressed with is R. Henry Lieberman. I had read his work in the past, and just getting to talk to him was amazing. He has the uncanny ability to look at problems and different types of research from angles that others wouldn’t even consider.
When I had a chance to talk about my own research, everyone had great things to say and gave some of the most thoughtful comments.
Another group of people that made a good impression on me were the people from Microsoft. Every time I visited their booth they had great people to chat with. All of them had great energy and were very passionate about their work. It was very eye-opening since most of my past experience were from people looking down at Microsoft. Interestingly, Google’s presence at their booth was very lacking. There were quite a few recruiters, who, while very fun to talk to, weren’t able to answer some of the questions I had about life at Google and give me a more in depth idea of the work they are doing. Another group that I didn’t see was Yahoo. I did get a chance to talk to Aviva Rosenstein about some of the work they do. From just interacting with these reps, I really want want to work for Yahoo or Microsoft.
Overall CHI was an incredible experience. If this is how all conferences go, I really need to get my stuff together and write some more papers.
Well, it’s almost the start of another year at Penn State. This should be my last 4-5 months here. Over the past 7 years I’ve accomplished quite a lot in this little town, but I do think it’s about time to leave.The new year has also brought on some goals that I won’t accomplish “resolutions”. At the top of the list is getting up early to go to the gym. Being as it is Winter, my sleep cycle is completely non-existent. I’ve been meaning to get up in the morning at 7am, but my body won’t move if it’s still dark outside, so there’s a lot of hitting the snooze button. Getting home at 10:30pm every night doesn’t help either. Good thing is I’m finally eating better and actually taking time to cook most days. Hope it lasts.In other news, I got a car!!! This little 95 Mazda 626 is my first car. Not the best thing in the world, but it gets me around and that’s all I really need right now.
Ahh yes, tis the wonderful time of year when I make my yearly pilgrimage to my parent’s house in Morgantown, WV. I’ve only been here 4 days and I’m pretty sure I’ve gained a few pants sizes. The weather here is unusually warm and I’m quite peeved that there was no snow for Christmas (heck, there’s no snow anywhere). While the usual Morgantownish sorts of things have been aggravating me, there are always certain things that come as a surprise.
Every year my parents and their friends get together to celebrate fake Chinese Christmas. This holiday usually involves dumplings, spring rolls, and hot pots. I tend to avoid this gathering every year due to the lack of people of my age. However this year, the food called to me and I decided to go eat and escape as soon as humanly possible. This year, however, I was pleasantly surprised; my 2 old friends, Bo and Cindy, decided to make an appearance. Both Bo and Cindy are children of friends of my parents. During my high school days, we spent many a weekends together in Bo’s basement playing ping pong and pool, and watching movies. I must say, lots of interesting memories. Anyways, I haven’t seen them in about 4 years, the last time being another Christmas party. Bo, who is about 4 years younger than me, is probably the most changed. He’s quite a bit taller and in much better shape than I am. Cindy on the other hand, hasn’t changed at all. Quite an amazing feat for someone who is as well traveled and successful as she is. We had a great time catching up and for a couple of hours it was like we never left and it was just another weekend in high school hanging out.
People rarely get the opportunity to whole heartedly relive past lives, but for me that night was just that. For those few hours all my worries were replaced with something that I haven’t really experienced for a while. Once you leave home, it’s hard to go back to a state where you don’t think about your responsibilities and look towards the future. But every once in a while it’s good to clear your head and just spend time with old friends.
For the 2 people who actually read this, Merry Holidays and see you all in the New Year!
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