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2005-08-30

 

Another Interview Season

Just got an invitation for interview, even though I am not looking for one. Gosh, I'm just back for a few days from my summer job... I guess this marks the start of job hunting.

 

I Don't Like Reviews

Not all, just some of them. Fixing a paper based on reviews is a depressing job. This is particularly true when the reviewer doesn't buy your research field at all, or didn't pay much attention to what you have written in the paper, or just want you to explain every little thing that could easily double your paper size while you are under a strict page limit constrain.

Why can't I write a review on the review, or simply reject the review?

2005-08-28

 

I'm Back...

to Houston now. What a boring trip. The route is Washington → Oregon → Idaho → Wyoming → Colorado → Kansas → Oklahoma → Texas, so it was mostly valleys or flat land throughout. Of course, nothing interesting could have happened in such route.

2005-08-22

 

Return Trip

So today is the begin of my return trip. This will either be my last blog entry, if anything happens to me, or you'll see something interesting here when I get home...

2005-08-21

 

Boss Gets Money

So my boss got some new funding, probably enough at least until I graduate.

It's amazing, though, to learn that
[Our] group will compare and test a range of software technologies that voting systems designers might employ to help identify software bugs and security flaws, both during development as well as during the post-production certification process... [Our] group will consider hardware technologies that might make voting systems more resistant to tampering.
Please, I'm begging, don't make me do any of these... I will use my trump, that I'm the only foreigner in the group, that my presence would be a potential threat to the national security, which would change the color of the Threat Condition.

(And yes, I am a secret admirer of the wonderful idea on coloring the level of national security threat; it's more fun than looking at rainbows!)

2005-08-20

 

Done a Great Job

Today, nothing emotional. Just facts.

Amazon like to employ graduates from some focused universities.

When I first got here, Rice was considered as a Tier 3 school for recruiting. Now, after I spent a few months there, we are Tier 1.

Isn't that obviously saying something?

2005-08-19

 

It's Over

Yes, it's over, it's ended, it's done.

I'm talking about my internship. Today is my last day in Amazon. No more daily scrum meetings. No more discussion on the understaffing problem and the difficulty of recruiting people up to the bar. No more panicking staring at and cooking numbers. No more annoying internal spams. No more...

Today is also the day I had the exit interview. This is when I found out that they will make offers for full time jobs to interns by September, and expect replies in a month and a half. This is a really bad news, as this would be way before even the application deadlines for most academia jobs...

2005-08-18

 

Dealmaker

I am always proud of the deals I find. Let me show you an example.

I've got probably the best shaver ever, Braun 8585 Activator Self-Cleaning Shaving System. Its only catch is that if you want to use its self-cleaning feature and leave your shaver with a nice scent, you'd need to constantly replace the cartridges of cleaning fluid, Braun CCR2. For a box of two, BestBuy sells for $9.99. The best deal is from Amazon, selling it for $8.99, with 50 cents for shipping, for a total of $9.49.

So what did I do? I waited until they have a Gold Box discount for me, combine with my A9 discount and employee discount, and have it shipped to Texas, where they don't charge sales tax. So this is the result:
Item subtotal$8.99
Shipping & Handling$0.50
Gold box discount (10%):-$0.90
Employee discount (10%): -$0.90
A9 discount (1.57%):-$0.12
Total:$7.57

Too bad that I have a certificate and so don't need to pay; otherwise I'll use my Amazon credit card and effectively get 3% back...

I'm so good at this, right?

2005-08-14

 

Dell the Worst

Despite my attempts to rescue, the keyboard of my Dell D610 laptop at work still refuses to cooperate.

So I turned to Dell. They don't have much information or available part on their web site. It was hard enough to find out a number to call. When I called, guy told me that they don't have any replacement keyboard in stock. He asked for my phone number and email address so that he could get back to me later.

Of course, he didn't call.

Then I called again, got another guy. The keyboard was still out of stock. So I asked when it would be available. Guess how long it will take. A fortnight? Wrong. A month? Still wrong. Three months? Dead wrong. The approximate shipping time is one year. Can you believe this, particularly when they still have new units for sale? So they just sell more new laptop to new customers, completely disregard those who have bought their products before?

The second guy also said he'd email me with more information. Didn't happen either.

Lucky enough, I finally got one from eBay. And it is working now. But I was shocked to look at the interior of the laptop. The materials are so cheap and the design is so poor that everything seems in chaos.

I used to buy from Dell. I have their laptop and LCD. But I don't see any more new ones coming.

BTW, if you're poor enough to need to fix a Dell, this is their hard-to-find number to order parts: 800-449-3355 x7269937. Good luck for its availability, though.

2005-08-12

 

Greedy Interns

I just don't get it. We interns are getting above-average remuneration and benefits here. Yet people are so greedy and have unreasonable desires.

It's near end of summer, and many people have to leave soon to resume college. The current hot topic for tech intern mailing list is what we can take away without being accused of stealing and having the paychecks withheld.

From backpacks to Seattle bus pass, from desktop to laptop to even VPN box. Anything you can imagine we can use here is on their target list.

What's wrong with those people? Do they have no decency? Don't they feel ashamed of their greed, that they would at least keep the thought to themselves instead of broadcasting it out?

2005-08-05

 

Free Lunches

Probably because my work is too hard, our VP has invited two young professors in operational research to visit us and give us some hints. It is easy for our VP to invite them, as they are actually his former students.

They indeed made some very good suggestions, forcing me to work on some summations on triple integrations on convolutions (this can't be confidential, can this?). But if you know me, you know this is hardly the reason I write about it.

In the last few days, I had free business lunches, and being in the International District, I had Thai, dim sum, sushi, you name it. I just wonder, why can't there be more people coming to solve my problems for me and bringing me free lunches?

2005-08-04

 

Free Car Rental

I was about to get a rental from Enterprise, as they were having a promotion for only $29.97 for three weekend days, when I realized that I could get free rentals from the company. Well, I knew about this benefit, but thought that as I chose to drive to Seattle, this is not going to be available for me. I was wrong.

The company is partnered with Avis for providing rentals. So instead of my deal, the company paid twice the price. Anyway, the point is not about the price, as I couldn't care less how much someone other than me paid. I also spent what I would pay on parking.

What I care, though, is that this gives me the chance to fool around with a Korean car. A Hyundai Accent, to be exact. I have heard enough good things about Korean cars (except Kia), that I would be tempted to get one, if I ever want to buy a new car.

My experience? The driving was fantastic. Probably better than an average Japanese car. The design is also convenience and comfortable. The only drawback, though, is that the interior materials give you a slight feeling that they are pretty cheap. But once you start driving, you'd probably forget that.

On top of that, according to this, Hyundai is on the top of the list in terms of reliability, my biggest concern, ranked right between [my favorite Lexus] and Mitsubishi.

With hybrid cars coming out from Hyundai soon, unless I become rich enough to get a Lexus, Hyundai would probably be the best choice...

2005-08-02

 

Sea Thai

It's probably the turn for a Thai restaurant. If you are really a huge fan of Thai food, you should check out Sea Thai. Probably it is the most authentic one you can find around. But a tip for ya: don't order from their white board, which are not really Thai; only order those in the menu. They also have good desserts at unbelievably low prices. But go there only if you like real, authentic Thai food. It is not like those Americanized Thai food in other places.

Another interesting reason to go there is that you might see their owner, a former engineer. Then, like me, you can chat with him about massive parallel computing and analog computers...

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