The somehow ironic thing about our office is that now that we have windows in the office, we closed the blinds to block out the sun.

For two straight poset lectures, I actually understood everything taught in class. Amazing!

I think I really need to adjust my work habit...I say this all the time, and it's so difficult...

Things found on the back seat of my car: empty plastic water bottle, newspaper, napkins, dried french fries. This is what happens when I don't sit in the back seat... In addition, I found some sweet and sour dip sauce in the front passenger seat.

I can't do any work during the weekend...

I've asked a few people, and they all say that there are times when they just don't want to study anymore. I think I'm hitting that point just about now... (A "local minimum" so to speak.)

Friday: 9 hours, 5 cities, 1 flat tire, 3 almost-flat tires, 3 people, 2 with empty stomachs, 1 with fever, 2 bowls of congee, 20 jellos in 5 minutes, 2.5 hours to get there, 1 hour to get back, 3 accidents witnessed, 269.8 kilometres. So we were supposed to have some activies and get Francis home. But Francis was sick, really sick, so we scratched some activities and left with the "essential" ones like shopping at TNT and having dinner. The traffic jam was horrible. For once, I really felt strained from the driving, even though I wasn't sleepy at all. Anyway, once a month shouldn't be too bad...

I really don't like some other people's suggestion that I should drive more like Torontonians, whatever that means, as if driving like Torontonians is the only way to drive. Sure I drive slower than others and stop at traffic lights earlier than others, but is that really a problem? I saw at least three traffic accidents on Friday in Toronto, and I should drive more like them? Sorry, no...

(From something that happened last week...) Apparently when I say "no" to my mom, it means "yes."

Had a meeting with Wagner today to discuss the course paper and presentation. I showed him a paper I came across during research, and he was excited, and showed me that he referenced the paper in the course notes! (I guess that means I haven't been reading them...) He was also glad that I did that since he was running out of topics for the remaining contestants, eh, I mean, students. So we had a good laugh.

A supposedly 1.5-hour Bible study turned into 2.5 hours is not good..........

I feel that I lost something... Perhaps it is my interest in mathematics? Or my drive in serving God? Or my care for friends? Or my hope for life? I don't know...maybe a little of all of them.

I had an approx alg assignment due this morning, and for once in a long long time (maybe a year), I finally handed in a complete assignment that I'm confident will do better than average. That sounds pretty sad, doesn't it?

Best way to start a lecture: "Hi!"

Yet another windchill warning tonight, supposedly going down to -25 with windchill -35... According to the (redesigned) envcan website, though, it was -30 exactly two years ago...not a record breaker, apparently.

More snow! This is getting really good. The driving wasn't too bad today, but still pretty slow. Funny how one hour parked under the snow yields one extra centimetre to clear off.

Amazing Race today was bad. This is just a bad season, unfortunately. Fortunately, though, they might start the next season very soon.

Yesterday at around 4:30, I was searching for food in school. What I found, though, was Joseph, who was also searching, except he was searching for people to go out for lunch. Ok, sure, why not, and the meal ended at around 6:30. Yeah, he talks a lot (not that it is a problem, since most of my friends talk a lot). Actually, I still don't know how he knows me...

Many many things to write about, and not much time to write, so I'll catch up sooner or later... The past weekend was both snowy and extremely cold. That provided a chilling experience in going to church. The road condition was really bad, and my car slipped constantly. Black ice didn't help. Great test for my heart, but really, don't want to do that again soon... And then there's the -20 temperature and -30 windchill...yikes.

Finally finished putting up a selection of photos from the trip to Taiwan in the gallery.

Last Wednesday, I bought a bunch of bottled water from Costco, 24 bottles of 1.5 litres each, to be precise. Being the weak person that I am, I decided that they are too heavy for me to move into the house, so I'll just leave most of them in the car and do the moving later. Well, not unexpectedly, the water froze. And after I brought some of the bottles home for melting, I find gazillions of white particles floating in the bottle. So, not drinkable anymore...oops. At least I got the idea that the frozen bottles could be good for winter bowling...

Really cold outside today. I only expose the upper part of my face to the air, and it didn't feel good. Heavy snowfall warning coming up, so that should be more fun.

I really need to catch up quickly...one assignment burned...

Due to my quiet nature (on the outside anyway), I think I'm an expert on phone conversations that last more than an hour. Multitasking is a good idea.

I can't believe I've only came back from Taiwan a week ago. That felt a lot longer.

A sign that my physical condition is pretty bad: the walk from the office to IP class in DWE was taxing.

I really love The Incredibles CD...

Woo...windchill warning...-23 temperature, -30 windchill. Been there, done that...in Saskatoon, that is, and worse. But then, I don't think I want to experience it again.

For the record, I don't find profanity to be funny nor "cool." What I do find is that it is highly annoying and disrespectful.

Completed 3.5 questions for the posets assignment that is due in about 7 hours. I don't think I'll be doing any more of that. Meanwhile, this overnight thing deepens the jet lag...

Lots and lots of snow for the past two days. Yesterday when I was going out, I had to clear off about 10-15cm of white fluffy snow off the car before I can go. Kind of fun.

I have a better idea of what's going on in the posets course, but not enough to do the homework, unfortunately. All those lattices and their mutants are quite strange.

I think I have a pretty rare mindset that there's no point in fussing over small amounts of money. Especially if it's just a difference of 8 cents.

I can't sleep.

The things I ordered through Amazon the other day which I received on Monday? They aren't that good... But The Incredibles CD is growing on me, though.

I'm quite pessimistic about the posets course now...I couldn't even solve the first problem, which is supposed to be an easy one.

That was cold. Well, not as cold as Saskatoon when I visited in December, but still, -23 isn't easy.

Finally, a highly highly annoying team is eliminated on The Amazing Race.

Meanwhile, I'm still way way way behind schedule.

I was supposed to start the catching-up process yesterday, but that was abandoned due to a series of (perhaps fortunate) events. Started with me getting extra sleep in the morning after having a headache. Then Peter came and we went out to lunch. At lunch, we bumped into Francis and her mom, so Francis decided to come to my home after lunch. At my place, we played pool and table soccer in the games room. We suck at these, so we went shopping, have dinner, and then go to fellowship. By the time fellowship ended, it was too late, and I was sleepy again. So then I was supposed to start the catching-up process today, but..........

Two days ago, with the help of fellow officemates, I finally had the courage to check my marks for convex optimization from last term. I got 80, which is a huge relief for me. I was expecting 60.

A story from the return trip from Taiwan. I went through the Canadian customs in the Vancouver airport. The customs officer asked me the reason for going to Taiwan, and I said I was attending a funeral. And right away, he asked, "did you inherit anything?" Boy, that officer had a really quick reflexes...

First day of school (for me) yesterday. Quite busy. The poset class started with confusion, but then I started to figure out what's going on. In the approx alg class, I was taught things that I learned several times already. In the mailbox, I received a form on Dec 17th (one day after I left Waterloo) that I'm supposed to hand in by the 5th. Oops. Met lots of people. Came back home to sleep only to be waken up by the phone twice. Just the usual, I guess.

When I left Taipei, it was pouring rain. When I arrived in Toronto, it was pouring rain. Somehow I am associated with extreme wetness. Also, for the flight from Vancouver to Toronto, while in Vancouver, we were told by the pilot that the temperature in Toronto was 17 degrees, which is unusually high. When we arrived in Toronto, we were told that the temperature dropped to 5 degrees, and that was a 4-hour flight. A couple of hours after that, it was snowing. Somehow I am associated with extreme temperature fluctuation as well.

The air is breathable, the noise is next to none, and people speak English. It's so much better here.

Finally back to Waterloo. The entire home-to-home journey took 28 hours, which includes 14 hours of flight, a 3-hour stopover, and a hot pot dinner. I have decided that I don't like long flights. Definitely very tired, and I slept for only 4 hours last night. It's going to be very wobbly going to school today...

I don't think I will go for hot pot again.

The new seats in Air Canada's planes are really comfortable. I actually slept for a little while on the plane, surprisingly enough.

Last post from Taiwan

Well, this is it...(x4) For this last day on this tiny island, it started with a giant headache, then followed with a solo trip to Taipei Main Station and a giant walking tour at YuanShan. The "last supper" for the family was a giant Italian buffet, and it's supposed to be my birthday dinner. So I'm not supposed to eat dinner on March 14 this year, then. Finally met up with grandmother one last time, and she seemed a lot better now. Watched the Race that I downloaded, not too bad, I guess. And now, I sleep, pack, and go. I'm so overwhelmed right now with everything: the past, the future...yikes.

One comment about Taiwan: There are about 23 million people here on this tiny island. Compare that to the 33 million in the vast expanse of land in Canada, that's a pretty crowded island. When I see this sea of humanity here, I feel a sense of lost. I'm not sure how to describe it, but at least I know it's very overwhelming for me. Another somewhat related comment about Taiwan: Here, the cable has more than 100 channels, including at least 10 channels of 24-hour news, shopping, Buddhism, and movies each. I wonder who watches them all? There must be people watching each channel all the time, and if so, I'm amazed and once again overwhelmed...

Anecdotes: I go to the washroom a lot more often here; I missed too many friends here because they just happened to be out of town; I still haven't got over jet-lag; I only had one bubble tea; I think my lifespan has been reduced significantly due to breathing too much of the polluted air here; I bought 9 CDs and 3 CD wallets, and that's all I bought; I found out that the voice of the Ugly Stepsister in Shrek 2 is Larry King's; I don't know why the plane ticket's costs are still not charged to my credit card; dad looks a lot older; the last time the entire family of 4 got together was in September 2002, who knows when the next time will be; my room here is a mess; I haven't started to pack.

35 hours, 1 island, 4 people, 313 pictures (and many more deleted), 18000 twists and turns on the road, 3275 metres the highest elevation, too many washroom breaks, 620 kilometres = the trip around half of Taiwan. It was a scary scary trip as we spent a lot of time going round and round the mountains. My body wasn't feeling well. It was certainly very exhausting. The mountain cabin where we stayed for the night was pretty good. And by the way, driving down a set of stairs is not good. Some firsts: Seeing snow and experiencing 2 degrees in Taiwan.

During this trip, all I could think about was how to get a better picture and how this really isn't as beautiful as Canada. What I failed to realize was the marvelous work that God has done in this place.

Going back to Waterloo soon. Certainly I couldn't wait to get out of Taiwan, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to face the pressures in Waterloo...

Three things tangentially related to the funeral...

I think I might be the tallest one in the family, even though I'm not really that tall...

As if to make me more confused about the family, some people changed names...

Surprise! I have a nephew!

I have never dressed so well before...

Off to a two-day trip to the east coast of Taiwan.

People here kept saying about how cold it is, but I don't feel a thing...I thought it's pretty warm...

Three things about the funeral...

It was a lot more intense than I thought. I tried to use the "Puss in Boots" technique: "I cannot cry. You...cannot...make me...cry..." Eventually it didn't work. Especially when hearing grandfather's voice singing... I think I took it harder than I thought I would.

Apparently all the family members were there, but as family members, most of them are strangers to me. My parents didn't really want me to know these people before, I guess, being such a dysfunctional family.

The cemetary was really high up on the slope of a mountain, and it was very windy and raining.

Two days ago, went to YangMingShan to do a little bit of mountain climbing. Just a little, since I would probably die if I do any more. Went with Carl and mesister. The view wasn't good, though, as there were really grey clouds and possibly polluted air.

Yesterday, went to see The Incredibles. And it was so scary...but the last parts of it were very very funny. Visited Taipei 101 afterwards, well, just the mall adjacent to the 101. It was a really beautiful building, but I was told that I couldn't take photographs inside...so that was really disappointing. Anyway, the 101 is tall, that's all I can say about it. Too bad the observation tower isn't open until the 19th. Then again, there wouldn't be anything interesting to see from up there, I think.

Despite having my mom telling me not to say this, but I just have to say it. I really really don't like this place. I don't care I was born and partially raised here. I just can't live here. And that's final.

I really feel like I'm wasting time here. I basically did nothing for the day, and went out for a torturous dinner for the evening. At least I got to see Carl and Bill, so that's not bad. Going out with Carl tomorrow.

I was able to download the most recent episode of The Amazing Race, and it was not too bad, but the ending was pretty bad: my current favourite team was eliminated! Sigh...

I did do a bit of work on websites and stuff, and finally figured out how to make the gallery thing work. Now I just need to get the mailing list to work...

Help! Get me out of here!

So...mom is forcing me to get contact lenses, and I said no, and she didn't listen...there was a big lunch, and I never knew that when they say "Ice Rose Tea," they put actual roses in the tea...I still could not breathe outside, and seriously, these people like to talk about healthy living and stuff, but really, get rid of the pollution would be a great help...I think I might be free of jet lag, which is quite a surprise...got a new jacket, even though I didn't want it...

Ah, the gallery is not working for the new website. The server people made some changes, apparently...so, the photo gallery will have to wait... Meanwhile, the photo blog is still being updated. (I don't know how to migrate that one to the new site, though...)

Just got back from a trip outside. This city is so chaotic... And I can't breathe. Don't think I'll venture outside much... Meanwhile, I got a USB stick for Roger, and mom decided to get an mp3 player on the spot. Hmm...impulsive shopping...

Notes from the short visit to Vancouver: The trip from the hotel to Gini/Gina's place was really quite adventurous, might I say Amazing Race-like. I accidentally found Mo in their house by phone, and they couldn't send anyone to get me, so I had to go there on my own. The first idea was to get a taxi, but the receptionist couldn't get one: all the taxi companies were busy. It was New Year's Eve, after all. So then I hop on the shuttle back to the airport, and caught a taxi there (which was pretty easy). When I asked the taxi driver how much it would cost to get to the nearest skytrain station, he said around $23-24. Well, it turned out to be $23 and change. So that was pretty accurate, and I was happy. The skytrain was free, so I was even happier. This would be the first time that I've been on the new Millennium line, so that's was pretty cool. Got to the Sperling station, they came and pick me up, and I was there. The evening consist of mostly fun and games, so I didn't have a chance to talk to them about what's going on with them. Too bad. Went to sleep at around 2, and woke up at 6, at which time they drove me back to the hotel. Got to the hotel at around 6:45, the shuttle to the airport leaves at 7:30, so I got just enough time to eat the free breakfast, shower, wash, and pack, and then go to the airport. Just barely enough time, though. By the way, it snowed. At the airport, the line was not long, I was about 15 or 20 back from the front of the line. By the time I was done, though, there was a huge line behind me, like around 100 or so people. Glad to have came to the airport early, I'd say. And I got a nice aisle seat that had only one seat to the right, so that was nice. Too bad I didn't ask for a window seat, because then I could have taken some pictures of the beautiful scene outside. The plane was really really big. Well, I haven't been in a Boeing 747 in more than two years... Sat beside a Japanese, and we never talked, of course. Ok, that's about it for that, and I wrote too much.

Maybe I should have talked to Tyler, since apparently we have some common interests...

Greetings From Taipei!

Well, here I am, in a land far far away. The plane ride was sort of bumpy, but it was ok. I just felt that my Jan 1 was cut short, by quite a lot, as I am now in the evening of Jan 2.

I'm tired. Not a surprise, of course. 12-hour plane rides are not my type of thing...

Things have changed a bit here, but something that's not changed is the crowds of cars and people. I was whisked away to, where else, Costco, right after I came out of the airport. That was more people than I could handle seeing in one tight location...yikes. More later.

Greetings From Vancouver!

This is my stopover for the flight to Taiwan. It has been a pretty smooth flight so far, with a new plane and spiffy new seats. The trip to hotel was relatively ok, but the trip to my current location is a bit of an adventure. Started with a shuttle to the airport, a taxi to the Granville skytrain station, taken the skytrain to Sperlin station, then have Gini & Gina's mom come and pick me up. And now I'm here. Woohoo!!! Tonight is supposed to be an all-nighter, but I have already been up since 7AM EST (i.e. 4AM here). The New Year in the East has past already, and now I'm here for the west coast new year. Going to be so easy to sleep on the plane tomorrow...

Before the flight, it was another "extreme" trip to downtown Toronto to get passport and go shopping. Found a big Bruce, which led to the slightly amusing line from the cashier: "gift receipt for Bruce?" Anyway, that was tiring as well, so yeah.

Ok, happy new year!