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Time waits for no manbut ... could you exempt me? 6/3/2008 Acquaintance's 29
Wish you best. 9/16/2007 Cambridge Guide, with my pictureSchmap Cambridge Guide has included one of my pictures in their lastest version, I am very pleased to contribute.
9/9/2007 Let me "open the sky window and speak the bright language".Reading the blog of a friend of mine, I wish her all the best in her new position in her chosen field. In fact, I've been working in the same sector as her, but didn't keep her informed, I am definitly the guilty one. I only start to feel that my career just starts, and my friend has already moved on, and who knows where we will end up; but think again, does it really mater? And, my friend, my this very friend I am writing about, if you happen to be reading this blog, I want to apologize for losing contact with you for such a long time, but you are still my good friend, hope you understand.
Looking back to my past year, I didn't get what I really want, maybe I've wasted too much time to realize that. A colleague yesterday said, in this industry, you should be as close to money as possible. That's d*mn right, and I am sort of in the position with the maximum distance toward money in my company, this is clearly not good. Although I've been given the chance to do all the training I requested, CFA, IMC, SUN, and maybe FRM and CAIA too. But with the current role, I won't go far, in fact, I start to wonder if the current role will ever get me anywhere. I need to move on too, without a shadow of doubt. I would like to have a role model to follow in the company, a model that is knowledgable and I truely respect and trust, not just moaning about everything, or just getting excited by something but never get anything tangible done, or just "I won't bother". I had been very dispointed so far, and it seems I have to proactively seek one.
I'll "open the sky window and speak the bright language" to both my reporting manager and HR next week, may be risking my job, and tell them I am not achieving what I wanted and planned, what we do about it here?.
My friend, I truely wish you the best, as you always said to me, "wish you better than me", and you seem to be doing very well. Ver well.
8/12/2007 Saving the WebEx VideoI am sharing how I save some of the WebEx videos I need.
If a dynamic link for a video is clicked, the WebEx player should be fired up. If you choose 'File' then 'File Info', the actual link to the WebEx file is shown. Copy the link, paste it to a browser's address box and entry, the download should begin.
I couldn't find a way to batch download all WebEx wrf files, it is welcome to be discussed here. 6/29/2007 New Era, New Ministers : 一朝天子一朝臣The old Chinese idiom "一朝天子一朝臣" is literally saying "a new emperor, a new cabinet of ministers" to imply the inevitable change in hierarchy when your boss changed. Britain's Brown era started yesterday and today he already appointed 20 new ministers out 23 positions. Some commentators believe that Brown has slashed many Blair's supports' jobs in the cabinet; with Brown's words, this is just one of the many new changes on his new top priorities. Although I am no politician, I don't believe this would make any significant changes to the current UK society or economy; I sees this new cabinet simply as a gesture to regain the public confidence in Labour. As an insignificant foreign worker in London, my wish is, whatever happens, to live in a stable, safe, tolerant and just social environment with plenty of opportunities. Will UK continue to live up to my expectation? I decide to let time prove it. As for Tony Blair, with whom I shook hands once in Warwick Uni when Bill Clinton came to give a talk, my personal impression of him is that, he, together with Bill Clinton, are two of best world-class speakers. This is absolutely nothing about their political views, but about their body language and gestures, words and examples and statistics used to get their points across, tactics against opponents, ... , are all the killer skills of making public speeches. I am most fascinated by Blair's attack on the ex-Tori leader in the Commons. FYI, there is a Tony Blair Office web site for people to keep updated with what the post-Downing-Street Tony has been up to. * The following pictures is from LabourHome - 10 Years Later 6/27/2007 Nice camera, my nice CanonMy Canon 30D is a very camera, you may have seen various reviews on the net and in megazines; in case you haven't and are curious about it, check out dpreview. With the separate EF-S IS USM 17-55mm F/2.8 lens, pictures are stunning. In addition to this lens, I am still hoping for the King-of-Portrait fixed focal lens EF USM Mark-II L 85mm F/1.2. Like YouTube being bought up by Google, dpreview, the world's most popular digital camera review site has announced to be acquired by Amazon. I personally see this as part of the concentration process in the cyber universe, which is the same as the process happened in the modern western society. Firms, especially those massive multi-national corporations, have engaged in numerous mergers and acquisitions to capitalize and super-size them in order to stay globally competitive. Internet giants like Amazon, Google and Ebay are going through this process to remain the top players; do you and me benefit from this? 6/25/2007 Will Hunting10 years on, Good Will Hunting* is still shaking my heart. I've been always wondering, how would it feels like to have the intelligence of Will Hunting, solving difficult problems in Harvard and MIT just like Mozart plays the piano. Obviously I will never know. Am I being jealous? Maybe. As Shakespeare once wrote, "Nothing is so common as the wish to be remarkable", and I am just another common guy out there with the simple will to be, somewhat, remarkable. 10 years back when I was watching Will, wished I were there, in Boston, in Harvard and MIT; thinking that, with my diligence, I could have had the chance, but I never did. Do I really want that? So what do I want? A very simple question, as asked by Robin Williams. Purely the fame of the grad school, not the knowledge and great minds there? That sounds pretty sad, really sad. Will was right, do I really want to spend 70 thousand dollars to plagiarize books that I can get from a public library for free, then get the degree and leave? If so, what a pathetic man I am. Surely, I still want that, maybe indeed I am pathetic; but perhaps, there is a little bit more to it, as a dream, a dream from childhood. Isn't that something worth fighting for? Raining again, Britain's June seems reluctant to allow the true summer arrive; rain drops gently tapping on my window, the world outside has become grey and blurry. Closing my eyes, I wish, truly, a real storm is coming; I'll be prepared, to walk out of my room, into the next storm of my life. * Good Will Hunting 1997, see my favourite films 6/8/2007 有人辞官归故里，有人漏夜赶科场宁静夜，突然有一种很想写一篇中文blog的冲动。 最近公司裁员，人心惶惶，一些一同加入的朋友竟不知何时已悄然离开了公司，有点感伤。想起这几年，我为之燃烧过青春的三家机构都在我加入后开始裁员。而我这些年，都在为了父母的期望，对情人的承诺，和自己小小的梦想而挣扎着，叹息着，努力着，而又屡屡不得志。 孩时的梦想很简单，当朋友都说要当科学家和老师，我只想当一名司机。当年这个简单的梦，至今，依然是个梦。不同的只是，经验的多了，认识的多了，历练的多了，受的伤多了，城府也深了，想法多了，但梦少了。初中时，和其他四位好友在校际表演上唱着“捉梦的少年”，跳着“星星点灯”的舞步，现在希望着我可以“年少情狂”多一次。 星期六参加了 CFA 一级的考试，这已是我的第二次考试了，如果再肥，真不知如何交待；如果真的再肥，也许只是一种所谓“不是你的就不是你的”证明吧。不想了，只不过是所剩无几的梦再少了一个，习惯了。 1/18/2007 2006, Fat-Man YearIn 2006, I 'fat-man'ed the first time in the UK. But I'll do it again in 2007, I'll beat it! 8/17/2006 Need to update myblog.I really need to update my blog, it is so outdated! I will do it ...
In the mean time, let's have a look at Golden Gate Bridge. 6/11/2006 Let's punt a puntPunting a punt isn't easy at all! On the river Cam, punts are out everywhere in this summer. As a Cambridge student, it would be such a good feeling to be able to punt a punt on the Cam.
To punt, a stick is struck to the river bed and used to push the punt forward. In theory, to turn left, strike the stick to the left so that your feet will push the rare part of a punt to the right and subsequently turn left. In practice, it is very difficult. It is because the resistance of water is huge when you try to lift up and re-strike your stick. Therefore, it is more common to use the stick to steer the punt after each strike, and correct the direction of the punt.
Crashing is inevitable. When two inexperienced punter heading towards each other, crashing is the general result. The more you are afraid to hit, the more likely you would hit the other punt.
Another danger is the stick would be well possible to get stuck in the river bed. When this happens, you have very little time to pull it out. If you hesitate in the split second, you might probably fall in the river. The depth of the river Cam varies very much. It could be deeper than your height under some bridges, such as the Mathematical Bridge in Queen's College; it could also be as shallow as only a feet.
But it is great fun. The first time I punted, I crached to the banks, other punts and bridge piers, i.e. everything possible to be crashed into. The second attempt was exciting. I was hit by a tree, and punting along a 'famous' zigzag route but with less crashing. When I finally master it last night (yes, night punting after 10p.m.!), it was such a great fun! Try it my friends! 6/9/2006 Meeting the Prince of WalesMeeting the Prince of Wales is indeed very unexpected. As you may already know, and in case you don't know or don't care, the Prince of Wales is Charles Philip Arthur George. I think meeting him did change my view upon him.
Internationally, maybe to the Chinese to be more specific, he is most famouse for having an afair before Diana's death, having a handsome and popular son Prince William and the other naughty son Prince Harry. Maybe less people know that he is the 21st person who holds the title of Prince of Wales in history, the first Prince of Wales who went to university after school instead of going straight to the army, the first Prince of Wales who was awarded a degree (2.2), the first English-born Prince to make a serious attempt to learn Welsh.
I met him very briefly under a completely unexpected circumstance. I attended the Cambridge Overseas Trust's invitation to overseas scholars in Cambridge at Trinity College. Prince Charles was a member of Trinity College, as well as a primary trustee of the Trust, and hence, he came to give a short speech of encouragement and congratulation. I was not keen at all to meet this Heir to the Throne. In my mind, he was just an unfaithful husband that live in an outside world and knows little about the poor and the hard-working people.
However, meeting Prince Charles did change my view somehow. He is just a man that have all the basic needs that all the others have to fulfill. He is much more close, humourous and friendly than I expected, and he was one of the person that strongly believes and encourages the scholarship should be also open to Chinese students. Now there is a thought. Although he is still living an outside world compared to mine, at least he is trying to be involved with us; He is trying to make a difference in the UK, though whether he succeeded in making one is another issue.
The Prince of Wales is closer to the society than I thought. Maybe because after the death of Diana he had more public space and air to express his political, educational, and social views. And my biggest hope is that, if next time he comes, please come with Prince William.
Some facts are cited from:
5/28/2006 My lovely ThinkPad is finally back! Continue to support ThinkPad!After three weeks I sent my T40p back to IBM/Lenovo for repair, it is finally back to me, with a brand new, nice, shiny LCD panel. White is finally white again, and not yellowish any more!
To be honest, I have strong interests and confidence in ThinkPad. Absolutely not because of Lenovo, but the great performance and service it had demonstrated to me in the last three years. The repair was actually extremely quick, if you take the waiting time for parts into account. My model was rather rare with a 1400x1050 resolution, they waited 3 weeks for the LCD to arrive, and took them ONE day to repair and send back to me. I was amazed. I hope Lenono can keep up IBM's standard and continue to deliver great service. 5/24/2006 What is Computer Science? A personal view.What is Computer Science? I've been asked many times, and I also asked myself many times in the last 7 years. I didn't have an answer, and I still don't, but I have a view.
Computer science is electronics. Since John Von Norman in the 1950s, the morden computer architecture has been established as cpu-memory-input-output, and most amazingly, this principle didn't change even after decades. Modern electronics and silicon application has greatly improve its power. It is the engine of a car.
Computer science is software engineering. A significant area of computer science is building applications for real users to solve problems with processing power provided by the hardwares. It is the gear box of a car to control and utilize the power of the engine.
Computer science is mathematics. This is more fundamental. Algibra, logic and concurrent thinking .. without them, neither your "gear box" nor your "engine" would function appropriately and accurately.
Computer science is also history. Many people are predicting the future of our commercial world and technological development, and the past events are the often our best indicators. Thinking of the rise and fall of IBM PC over the last 20 odd years ...
Computer science is business studies. IT is one of the biggest businesses in the big wild jungle. Is Moor's Law continuously applicable to the technical advancement of IT? Are you an early adpter, or a lagger, in the "cross-the-chasm" chart? Why is Fujitsu deployed Toyota's production thinking to its IT Service division worldwide? ... A mere techqie seems not be able to survive this brutal business world.
Computer science is policy. Computer and ICT is powerful, and maybe even harmful. Appropriate policies, as well as regulations, must be in place for us to master ICT this double-blade sword. Unethical uses, hacking, and Intellectual Property Right (IPR) infrangement are some of the many issues.
Computer science is a common misconception, because it is mostly believed by others to be programming; however, I disagree. Programming skill for computer scientists is like mathematics for engineers, in other words, merely a tool that facilitate other areas of it.
Finally, computer science is a supporting science. As I see it, none of the functions of a computer is ultimate, and inevitably be in the role of providing support to another need, such as the process of seeking information, entertainment and academic research. Do you agree? 5/22/2006 Be a qualified bloggerToday I found a discussion about how to be a qualified blogger, and the two main points made are quite acceptable and obvious:
I am not qualifed then, because my previous dates were in last Dec! What a typical lazy blogger, but I am improving, :-)
IPR has long been a serious problem in the Chinese community and the cultural value in this new era. However, I also consider this 'twisted' value, or attitude, towards IPR is totally understandable under the current economic and political environment in China. I do believe more and more Chinese would come to recognize and appreciate the importance of IPR and the immoral of IPR infrangement. China is developing at a stunning speed, so needs the minds of the Chinese people. It, however, inevitably takes time. 5/21/2006 Blogging again!After reading the stories from Chern's blog, I was very inspired by his determination of blogging in English. I got to know a lot about his life and the changes in his life from his "Lighthouse" blog. I asked him what motivated him to do so, and he made an excellent point that it is the readers and their comments that keep him going. Yes, I decide to blog again, for my readers as well.
I also enriched my MSN space with my recent photos, favourite books, music, films, TV programmes and internet links.
Hope you all find it inspiring. 12/4/2005 Day and NightDay and night, job and app. I start wondering whether I paid to come to Cambridge to do full-time study or full time job hunting. Well, of course I know which, but it seem that I am doing the other one.
Back from Harry Porter, so so, ok lah, understandable, better than reading books, that's all my comments. Watched 'the exorcism of Emily Rose', mm ..., I still think 'Dark Water' (Japan version) is the master piece, no match!
The world small:
1. My new course mate knew my 10-year old friend ...
2. My previous course mate is my current course mate's gf ...
3. My university friend become my high school mate's friend's gf ...
In conclusion, small! 4/28/2005 FragileOh no, please, not again. 123 is my summary, remember? You must cherish what I have given you, it is very fragile, and you have many many coming years to protect it and do not break it. You promise? The WWW theoryApril shower was so unpredictable, and my LG 3G phone had been screwed up by that tiny single rain drop. So interesting, Chris has shown me their Polish Unpredictable-WWW theory about the UK. Well, as you bet, it is not the World Wide Web, but Weather, Work and Women! ... ... 4/15/2005 Oops, I did it again ...God, what have I done! Am I still a sincere person? I know the level of my stupidity is fairly high, but I didn't lie, I just simply need to survive and shine, no same mistake should be made twice. But something is not right, my mistake makes me worried day and night. Alright, alright, now I learnt and next time I would not be so silly but bright. |
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