The Petite Geek

Hiroshi Ishiguro tweets

2012-01-01T15:51:00.001+01:00

Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro tweets rather profound things. I've started translating his book here, but in the meantime, here are a couple of his tweets from today that I've translated into English.

hiroshiishiguro 石黒浩
価値　高校生に”自分に価値があるかどうかわからないんです”と聞かれて，”僕もまだ探している途中だよ”と答える．それ以外に答えがない．
Worth: I was asked by a highschooler, "I don't know if I'm worth anything." I replied, "I'm still looking, you know." Couldn't say much more than that.

hiroshiishiguro 石黒浩
自分　本当に難しい問題にチャレンジしているか？結果が見えるようなチェレンジはチャレンジではない．今の自分のままで到達できるゴールはたかがしれている．本当のチャレンジとは自分を変革を伴うもの．自分を変えながら全く新しい道を歩む．だからゴールも結果も見えていない．
Self: Are you really challenging yourself with hard problems? If you can see the outcome, it isn't a challenge. Any goal that I can attain as I am now doesn't amount to much. A real challenge is accompanied by reforms to oneself. As you change yourself, you'll walk along a completely new path. Thus, both the goal and end result cannot be seen.

hiroshiishiguro 石黒浩
自分　人間というのは常に進化してるはず．だから，もし自分も進化しているなら，自分が何になるかはなってみないとわからない．今から自分の将来がわかっているというのは，それは進化をやめたということではないか．チャレンジをやめたということではないか．
Self: Humans should always progress. Indeed, if humans progress, this means they don't know what they want to become, because knowing one's future from now means giving up on progress, doesn't it? Isn't that giving up on challenges?

hiroshiishiguro 石黒浩
自分　　自分が何者かがわかった時，ああ，自分はこんなやつ何だとわかった時というのは，それ以上自分が進化しないと認めて，あきらめた時なんだろう．
Self: When you understand what kind of person you are, when you understand that 'oh, I'm this kind of chap', if you realize that you're not progressing to someone/thing higher than that, haven't you given up?

hiroshiishiguro 石黒浩
無いものねだり幼少の頃の無いものねだりはただのわがままかもしれないが、大人の無いものねだりは、夢の実現や発明につながる。
Asking too much. Asking for frivolous things during infanthood is simple indulgence, but asking for frivolous things during adulthood tends to be related to realizing or inventing your dreams.

Robots that don't take people's jobs

2011-11-10T05:58:00.003+01:00

Let's face it. Robots are cool, but nobody wants them.

You hear it all the time: "Why don't you just ask a human to fold towels/entertain/vacuum/work on an assembly line? Do we really need them? Why robots, when I can just hire my favourite minimum wage immigrant?" The questions are hard, but true.

The business of robots is bleak. Outside of research and education, robots in Japan and abroad are now sold to companies as crowd-draws. What happens when the novelty wears off?

Let me tell you what I think:

What we need are more robots with super powers.

We've been using robots to replace people or do things we don't want to do. That's fine, and it certainly appeals to those of us that have the money and luxury to do so. Factories, the industrial revolution, and mechanized work processes have made our economy what it is today.

But everybody loves robots that do things humans literally CAN'T.

Let's look at some examples. Some of them are obvious.

Robots can withstand extreme conditions

Radiation

"Humans get radiation poisoning, robots don't"

Fukushima taught us that robots are key to dealing with mess-ups in nuclear energy. I heard a lot of horror stories about Japanese workers having to withstand dangerous radiation levels to cool the reactor, or else everyone would die. Radiation-proof robots exist. What's next is more dexterity and functionality.

Deep-sea

"Humans get crushed in deep-sea pressures, robots don't."

Remember the BP oil spill? The birds and fish washed up on to greasy shores? Underwater robots were used to cap the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. To my knowledge though, they were tough to manipulate even for the most experienced of technicians.

Space

"Humans explode* in vacuums, robots don't"

Space. The final frontier. There's a robot up in space right now who doesn't care that it doesn't have air. Still, he goes about his job, fixing the International Space Station, like a good robot. Ditto with the Mars Rover and its aloof, exploratory ways.

* or have their blood boiled, whatever

Robots aren't better, just different

Autism Therapy

"Humans bother kids with autism, robots don't"

Aldebaran's NAO and Keepon are a few of the robots being used for autism therapy. Robots teach kids with autism the social conventions that are obvious to most: an example is saying, "Thank you".

The problem is that humans come with all sorts of cues -- eyes moving, head tilting, mouth smiling, voice changing, hands pointing, etc. And all of these signs at once are overwhelming.

Because the robot makes simple movements, the child can extract the "gist" of the social signal without withdrawing into himself.

Germs

"Humans (and animals) have germs, robots don't"

One potential idea is companion robots for clean rooms. Children that undergo chemotherapy can spend up to a year or more in solitary clean rooms, away from dangerous germs but also away from the warmth of people. How about a robot to keep them company, tell them jokes to keep their spirits up, without exposing them to disease?

Paro, the seal robot, has also been brought into shelters in Northern Japan, post-tsunami. Where animal lovers have to be separated from their pets because they're not allowed in shelters, robo-pets might be the ticket to cuddle-time.

Sensory perception

"Humans have to pay attention to one thing at a time, robots don't"

The new ASIMO recently came out, with a functionality called simultaneous speech recognition -- it can listen to up to three (and in some experiments, four) people talking at the same time, and understand them all. Got lots of kids bugging you for stuff at the same time? Enter super-hearing robot!

It's tough to imagine these kinds of robot applications, because we don't do them ourselves. What other super-human robots can you think of?

REEM robot hits Bled, shakes hands

2011-10-30T22:25:00.001+01:00

Wandering around the Humanoids conference was a robot from PAL Robotics, Spain. The company is based in Barcelona and the devs were excited to show me their latest robot, REEM:

Tall, elegant, and quite captivating in design, the REEM robot gazed around the room, searching for faces. Upon detecting a face, it approached a user to shake their hand.

YouTube Video

The rep looked quite confident in shaking hands with the robot, but I have to admit, when it came to my turn, I looked like this ！(◎_◎;)

There's something about a robot the locks onto your face and approaches you in a straight-on, jerky movement.

The reps were really nice though and took my suggestions into account. My other impressions: the robot had a female voice, which didn't quite match it's broad-shouldered look (should I call it he? she?) and it had a cool luggage area in the back of it's base to transport heavy items for customers. It also was supposed to have a "oh, you want to go to so-and-so room? follow me!" function, but it didn't work the time I tried it.

Overall, looking forward to seeing what comes of the REEM robot. By the way, when I asked about the name 'REEM', it seems the company is funded by a source in Abu Dhabi who requested the name specifically, inspired from mythology.

Encounter with Jazz, the French telepresence robot

2011-10-21T00:10:00.001+01:00

Today I managed to fandangle my way into an expo at Porte de Versailles, where the Gostai Jazz was being exhibited.

Jazz is small :)

It's equipped with a bunch of sonars, and infrared sensors for docking. Coming from a robot audition lab, I was disappointed to hear that it only had one microphone, but a little test on their Jazz convinced me of the quality -- sensitive at a metre away, but little echo or distortion. Their engineers did a good job :)

The main selling point, they say, is the design. It just looks good, and customers want it in their office. I have to admit; like the NAO, it does have that "french touch".

Another neat feature was their automatic body-turning. Each time you clicked on the video screen to turn the robot's head, the body followed suit in a seriously smooth way. Nice touch! Reminded me a little of A.I. though, where the kid first turned his eyes, then turned his head... *evil grin*

The price for an academic edition is 8900€, which is relatively low thanks to the mass manufacturing for their business market. It comes with ROS bindings so if you don't know the Gostai programming language, Urbi, making modules is still easy.

Also, apparently the face tracking feature can appear a little frightening to customers. A robot staring at you wherever you go... Good feature or creepy? Food for thought.

Coping mechanisms

2011-06-24T05:05:00.000+01:00

How do you cope with difficulties in life? Turns out Kenzo and I are very different, and we realized our differences by creating this analogy:

Imagine you have to put your feet in a bucket of very very cold ice water. How would you deal with it?

One way is to yell "Oh my god, it's so cold!", scream and swear, take it at face value and bear the pain until it's over. This is Kenzo's way.

Another way is to try and convince yourself that "It's not so bad, it won't last so long, and hey, maybe it'll even improve my circulation". This is my way of coping.

Our difference here has caused many misunderstandings.

Consider that these two ways of coping are incompatible.

If Kenzo starts to say "oh my god, this is so horrible!", then my optimism starts to crumble, and my coping mechanism breaks.

If I start to say "it's really not so bad, we can't complain because look at the starving kids in Africa", then Kenzo won't be able to complain freely, keeping it inside until he explodes.

Neither is ideal.

Right now, we're immigrants in a foreign country. Every day is about coping. Making friends is hard, cultures are different, work ethic and methods are foreign, opportunities are harder to come by, learning is more difficult due to the language barrier.

How we deal with it is highly personal, influenced by how were raised or maybe even linked to our home countries. Sometimes I tell Kenzo his compatriots "like to complain", and he retorts that Americans are "unrealistically optimistic" :)

I don't think either ideology is better than the other. But knowing that there is a difference is a huge step.

True story about cowbells

2011-06-22T14:58:00.001+01:00

Me: You don't know the More Cowbell meme? Ok, it goes like this. I say, "You know what X needs?" and you say "What?" and I say, "More cowbell."

For example,
"You know what this election needs? More cowbell." or,
"You know what this salad needs? More cowbell." Ok, now you try.

Kenzo:
"Ok. You know what this cow needs?"

Me: "No, that's not quite..."

--Kenzo thinks for a minute.--

Kenzo: "Ok, I'll try again. You know what this cat needs?"

Me: (oh well, it's kinda better) What?

Kenzo: More cowbells.

Me: What? No, cowbell-L-L.

Kenzo: Oh, ok.

Me: No 'S', remember.

-- Riding on our bikes, I try to train Kenzo once more --

Me: Hey Kenzo, you know what this intersection needs?

Kenzo: (turns to look at me with a big knowing smile) It needs cowbell!

Me: MORE cowbell!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Nao's Caravan Palace dance

2011-06-05T02:31:00.001+01:00

The folks at Aldebaran came up with an awesome new dance for Nao for last year's World Expo. I finally downloaded it for my Naoki. Here's him giving it a try:

YouTube Video

The bad thing about tatami is that it's uneven. The good thing is that it makes for soft robot landings.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

5 tips for Wikipedia editing

2011-02-13T04:32:00.000+01:00

I think there are only 5 things you need to know to edit your first Wikipedia article. Here they are.

1. Headings: Add = = around big (top-level) headings, and == == around slightly smaller (sub) headings, and so on.
ex. Turkish Language

= History =
== Ottoman Turkish ==
== Modern Turkish ==

2. Adding emphasis: Highlight the word you want to emphasize, and click either the bold or italicize button at the top of the editor. This will insert ''' ''' or '' '' , respectively, around your word -- surprise!

3. References: Add the <ref> </ref> tag to cite your reference.
ex.

Breazeal states that Kismet is not conscious, so it does not have feelings <ref>Breazeal, Cynthia. ''Designing Sociable Robots''. The MIT Press, 2002, pg. 112 </ref>.

If it's not already there, add {{Reflist}} to the References section.

4. Link to other Wiki articles: Add [[ ]] around the words you'd like to link to.
ex.

Kismet's emotion system contains the 6 basic emotions as described by [[Paul Ekman]].

5. Lists: Use * to make a list.
ex.

The different varieties of poppies are:
* California poppy
* Alpine poppy
* Iceland poppy
* Oriental poppy
* Flanders poppy

That's it! Just hit the "edit" button on any Wikipedia page and start contributing!

Over-confidence and why it's wrecking everything

2011-01-07T00:35:00.002+01:00

I recently came across this interview (jp) of the CEOs of McDonalds Japan and GE. It talks about how Japanese culture teaches new employees to say on their first day:

微力ながら私なりに一生懸命、貢献させていただきたいと思います。まだ本当に自信もありません、力不足ですけど・・・
Although my abilities are poor, I'll try my hardest to allow myself to contribute. However, I don't yet have the confidence since my abilities are insufficient..

This is standard practice and the employee is appreciated for their humility.

Contrast this with the Western view. If an employee were to say "my abilities are poor" on their first day, everyone would look at them strangely and ask the hiring manager: "Why did you hire them? They don't even have any confidence in their work!"

As the article notes, the correct thing to say in Western (American?) thinking is:

"I'm so excited. I'm so committed."

I had the same conflict when joining my local community band here in Japan. I've played the flute on and off since highschool, and so when faced with describing my background on the first day, I had to choose one of the following:

"Oh, I'm really not very good, I'm really rusty so I hope you can still accept me!"
"I've been playing for 14 years. I'm really excited to be here!"

I was conflicted because saying "I'm not very good" may lead them to say "Maybe you're not up to our level and should try a different group." Out of fear of being rejected, I awkwardly chose the 2nd route. Gaijin smash.

But I think the real question is the following. What's up with the rest of the world* preferring that 2nd route of over-confidence? When you're leaning on the fence as to your abilities, do you choose to underestimate them, or overestimate them?

The article states that, in order for Japanese companies to match up in the worldwide game of business, not only do employees have to speak English, but learn to speak with that American culture of assurance.

I've heard this culture of assurance thing mentioned elsewhere. For example, take a look at Gail Carmichael's post on how to answer a question you don't know the answer to. Here, the question came down to (at least for me) -- how do you answer a question like a man? Isn't it a masculine thing to be uber-confident? If you want to get ahead, then don't you have to throw away that feminine hesitance and forge ahead?

Clearly, it's not a question of male versus female. As we've seen, down-playing one's skills is also a large part of Japanese culture. Here's my point: IT'S NOT A BAD THING.

If only the rest of the world (I'm looking at you, America) could take a lesson from Japanese culture and appreciate humility, make it a factor for success. A lot of groups would benefit, including women trying to rise to the top.

* I say "the rest of the world" but mean the rest of the Anglo-saxon, English-speaking world. Actually, I can only generalize for the U.S. because I'm American and know how it is. Things may be different in India, for example.

My GHC Memory

2010-07-10T06:44:00.004+01:00

I remember the day perfectly.

It was summertime. I'd left the windows open, white translucent curtains flapping in the breeze. I sat at my wooden desk, on the first floor of a thick stone building, protected from the heat. My good 'ol grey Dell laptop kept me company as always. These were the days before Gmail, so when my little Outlook icon flashed a brief pop-up in my system tray, I clicked it giddily. I loved e-mail.

And that's when THE e-mail came slamming down. It was from GHC. And it said:
NO SCHOLARSHIP FOR YOU

What! I jumped out of my seat. I read it over again. Sorry, not enough scholarships to go around, bla bla bla... I skimmed it once. Twice. Scrolled, looking for a waitlist. Nope, nada, zilch. And I sat down, feeling like I'd been hit by a truck.

I thought about the time I spent on the application, mulling over "Why I want to go to GHC'', trying to think of reasons that are better than "because it's real good". I thought I'd expressed myself well enough. I thought I was deserving.

But apparently not. I felt inferior, rejected by the very organization that supports women in CS like me. If even GHC doesn't think I'm deserving, maybe it's because I'm really not! My supervisor had already been really harsh on me lately, already making myself feel like crap. And this on top of it? I started to have major doubts. I'll be honest, I shed a couple tears. Let's not go into detail about this.

Eventually I picked myself back up, and went back to my laptop, like I always do, and started making a plan for how to finance the trip on my own...

... fast forward to October. I'm in San Diego, having succeeded in an elaborate plan:

I got a few hundred bucks funding from my department
I'd scoured for hours and found a really cheap flight
I found a roommate on the GHC blog so I could split the room cost
I applied to be a "Hopper" volunteer and blogger so my conference fee would be waived

Little did I know that all of this legwork and involvement would actually make this GHC the BEST EVER. Plus, I blogged, so 5 years later both you and me can still read about it:

The Deathly tired but Excited Arrival
On Meeting "Me" Clones
On Deciding What To Do With My Life
On Anticipating $240 to Stand Around And Look Pretty
On Getting $240 to Stand Around and Look Pretty and Stamp Stuff
On Deciding between HCI and Robots (this is hilarious now that I'm working on Human-Robot Interaction)
A Recap on the Best GHC EVAR

So yeah, what started out as being a frightful rejection letter turned out to be the best thing that happened to me. I've been to 5 GHCs all in all, including eventually getting the GHC scholarship, but this one in San Diego topped them all. So thanks, Grace Hopper Conference. You made the right choice.

On Robot Avatars

2010-07-04T04:44:00.011+01:00

Last week I went to see Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro give a talk at my university. He's the guy that made a robot copy of himself:

As well as a copy of his daughter,

a news anchor:

And more recently just a beautiful woman who (because I know you want to know) is 1/4 non-Japanese.

In his talk he made a couple interesting points:

1. We can still tell the difference between the human and robot copy because of the small, unconscious movements humans make. They did an experiment where they revealed the robot from behind a curtain for around 3 seconds. If the robot sat perfectly still, pretty much everyone rated it as "robot". However, if they made the robot move her eyes to the side, much like an embarrassed woman getting stared at would, the majority rated "human".

2. When you're controlling the robot remotely ("telepresence", they call it), you really feel like you embody the robot. They tried putting a female operator behind the controls of Hiroshi Ishiguro's robot. She could see through his camera, similar to playing a first-person shooter. Then (the real) Dr. Ishiguro put his arm around his robot-clone. The operator squirmed and objected, as if he were really putting his arm around her!

3. His first few robots sit squarely at the bottom of the uncanny valley.

He was very honest and open about it. Actually Dr. Ishiguro was way cooler than the YouTube videos make him out to be :P

4. Read his book. *ahem* Haha, what a joker. But if you can't read Japanese, he recommends a movie called Surrogates (he has a cameo in it, but that's not why!). Indeed, I watched the movie and it truly paints a picture of the near future. What happens if humans get a chance to spend their days in a surrogate robot body? Can you imagine someone saying "Wow, you really look like your surrogate!" -- not the other way around. What if your main identity was not YOU? And how about surrogate "hacking": "I know this robot body looks Japanese, but it's really me in here, me, Angelica!"

And now for some perspective...

Robot telepresence is already being explored by -- of course -- the military, who use remote-controlled robots to disable landmines. On the civilian front, Willow Garage has a robo-telepresence project for the workplace, and MIT-lab have a small, crab-like telepresence robot that allow you to make gestures with its claws. At the Japan National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, HRP-4C both looks human (or like a famous virtual pop star with green hair), and can WALK. It's not quite at the telepresence stage yet though, as far as I know.

But I'd say there is still a big hurdle to wanting to "embody" one of these.

One big problem is navigating the thing. Who wants to use a joystick to move around? How much can you really see around you, even with multiple cameras? Maybe we could use an automatic buffer system so that the robot always stays 50 cm from the wall, but it seems more like attacking the symptom with a blunt hammer.

On the other hand, natural movements of the head and mouth can already be controlled using a simple video camera and image processing, as described in my video on the Kokoro Android from last year:

Or you could go directly to brain-machine interfaces:

Interface, interface, interface. In our lab we'll be starting to address some of these issues. It's kind of scary to think about where your research could lead the future though... when I got into robotics, I thought the idea of Artificial Intelligence was so far-fetched that I would never see it in my lifetime.

Now I see that it's not AI that'll be the next big thing in robotics. It's real people, real intelligence. Same implications?

The Batcave

2010-07-03T15:04:00.005+01:00

Exciting! In this rather nondescript, warehouse-looking space, in the building across from our lab, Kenzo will soon be building and testing his new mobile robot. The robot itself will arrive in a few months, but in the meantime, we need to make this place a little more... how to say... comfortable.

Last week we started with the floor. Dust and grime, paint and mold...attack! It took 5 hours of scrubbing...

(click for video)

and making ample use of the Wet-Dry vac...

(click for video)

But I'd say you can tell the difference!

Still have a long way to go, including laying down a new layer of wax. But the place definitely has potential! Hanging plants, anyone?

Yes, L and R sound the same to (most) Japanese

2010-06-19T16:01:00.005+01:00

Today's entry is a video blog post on perception, including an enlightening excerpt from my fave French author, Bernard Werber. Sorry for the crappy pronunciation!

I wonder what else we are raised to perceive or not perceive. Do Indians have a different perception of spiciness? Can Chinese speakers perceive musical pitch more easily? Hmm...

How to Speak American

2010-06-13T09:45:00.005+01:00

All of these are catchphrases from television or movies that have made it into everyday English conversation, at least in the states. How many do you know or use?

How YOU doin'?
That's what she said.
Holy ___, Batman!
Is that your final answer?
Soup (or whatever ) Nazi
No soup for you!
I KNOW!
Whatchu talkin' about Willis?
Fuhgedaboudit!
That's hot.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Silly rabbit. (Trix are for kids)
Oh no he di'n't.
Frak!
I have a bad feeling about this.
Smarter than your average bear.
Save the cheerleader, save the world.
Whoa!
Resistance is futile.
These aren't the droids you're looking for.

Japan is a Lonely Place

2010-06-12T03:53:00.003+01:00

Looking back, some of my best memories were made when hanging out with the Computing Science Student Society crew at SFU, and chilling with my co-workers at Google, Santa Monica. There's just something about enjoying life with people who are like you. That is, you laugh at the same things, you speak the same way, make clever word play and jabs, and mix it up with inside jokes and nerdy references. You watch a movie and laugh at the same places, get enthusiastic about eating at a particular place, oooh and ahh at interesting news. You feel connected. You feel like you belong. And it's just... fun.

Japan is lonely.

There is no word play, because communicating means using simple, easy-to-understand English. Cultural references need to be explained. Explaining jokes sucks. People ask where you're going to work after you graduate, because of course, you're not going to stay in Japan. You feel like you don't belong, and you'll never belong.

In no way am I disparaging my school and my lab. They're the only things that are making this bearable.

But I do miss laughing. The hearty, American laugh and enjoyment of life, silliness and camaraderie. The smile when I say "Holy smokes, Batman!" instead of a confused glance away. My own uncontrollable guffaws when someone imitates Darth Vader, instead of my ignorant and clumsy questioning about Japanese subculture.

I'm about as multicultural as anyone I know, but the longer I'm away from North America, the more I realize that I am Canadian. I am American. And as cool as the pastures are overseas, the grass is definitely very green back home.

Reading Groups

2010-06-03T00:38:00.007+01:00

And thus ends the hell week. Three assignments handed in, and a presentation for my reading group. Helped with frog experiments, sent out the newsletter for DigitalEve Japan, and played softball. I thought it would all kill me, but I didn't even have to pull a tetsuya (all-nighter). Yatta!

I absolutely love the reading groups we do in our lab. We're reading Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning, also lovingly known as "PRML". Indeed, it's a tough book to get through, and "doing a presentation" is not just slapping together some slides about a topic you already know. To present a chapter from the book, you really have to:

Step 1: Read the chapter (how many times did I fall asleep...)
Step 2: Understand the chapter (deciphering an incomprehensible language has become my specialty)
Step 3: Decide what's important (less is more)
Step 4: Make the slides (pictures of bunnies help)

Also, for every single presentation I do, I start with a "hook". It's the most important part of a presentation. If you don't tell the people why they should listen to you, they won't.

Typically I start with a problem targeted to my audience. "Here's problem X. Has this ever happened to you?" They start nodding, and no matter how inane the solution, they will listen. Works every time.

Anyway, I'm just happy because, although my slides were in English, I managed to present in Japanese! It was the 2nd time I tried doing a talk in Japanese, though I had to fall back to English a few times. And, despite the language barrier, more than one labmate told me it was easy to understand. Yay!

Doesn't the bunny make EM for GMM look less scary? I think so.

Edit: Here is my full tutorial on Expectation Maximization and Gaussian Mixture Models. It also includes an overview of K-means. All pictures (except for the bunny) are from Christopher Bishop's Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning.

Expectation Maximization and Gaussian Mixture Models

View more presentations from petitegeek.

Back to blogging

2010-05-30T09:08:00.002+01:00

It's been ages since I posted about what I've been up to in Japan. I have about 20 drafts in my Blogger account pending revisions and proofreads. But I just don't have the time to make them perfect.

So now, on with lazy, random blogging. Huzzah!

Today I went to a labmate's concert in downtown Kyoto with a bunch of other classmates in my Master's program. That was when I realized that a) the girls in my class can pull off some kickass Lolita wear, and b) my labmate sings Anime songs at clubs. YES I AM NOW IN JAPAN. After the show, we meandered around to some local Karaoke places, but they were all full. JAPAN. In the end, I decided to head home early, stopping under a bridge to play my new Popolo ocarina, which I carry around my neck at all times. Here's a picture:

That's all. What ocarina song should I learn next?

An Ada Lovelace Day post about Kate Tsoukalas

2010-03-24T15:30:00.005+01:00

In honour of Ada Lovelace Day, today I'd like to tell the world a little about a good friend of mine, Kate Tsoukalas. We met about 4 years ago when she replied to a robotics team recruitment e-mail, and we quickly became good friends.

Her bio goes a little like this. Kate has a B.Sc. in Applied Physics specializing in Nuclear Science, and an M.Sc. in Computing Science in Data Mining. She's currently a Software Developer in Test at Microsoft working on the Windows Mobile team. She's won numerous awards and scholarships, has a US patent pending for her thesis work, was president of a computing science club at our alma mater, and was an invaluable member of a robotics team. She can also name off every Star Trek episode (both original and TNG), and can speak conversational Japanese. This girl is pure awesome.

But to me, Kate is, and always will be, the epitome of strength. She has always inspired me to do my best, because, is there any other option? One fond memory I have working with Kate was during an undergraduate robotics competition.

From the day we started development on a robot named Caprica (Kate introduced me to Battlestar Galactica at the time), Kate was there with me, plugging away at hardware installs, soldering, and coding ever so patiently. Late at night, when I couldn't take it anymore, Kate kept her cool and we worked through each problem one at a time. When we finally made it to the competition in Florida, Kate and I stayed up, making final tweaks and adding features, staying later than any other team in the hotel conference room which served as a robot maze.

The day of the final, we were tired, wired on coffee, and at 10 a.m. after an all-nighter, we finally decided we were done. The final competition was to start at 1 p.m., so we could have in theory gotten in a couple hours of sleep. Then Kate says this: "Hey, how about we check out that resort pool?" I looked at her and smiled. She is so hardcore, I thought to myself. So we jumped into our bathing suits and went for a swim in the palm tree lined pool, floated around in the warm sun, and then proceeded to have the best 30 minute nap EVER on the poolside lounge chairs. Kate is definitely the "work hard, play hard" kind of gal :) [As an aside, we received the Technical Achievement award later that day.]

[Kate and I working late the night before the competition - thank god for coffee]

Indeed, one of the other things that amazes me about Kate is her ability to keep that work-life balance. Aside from her full time job battling bugs and writing code, she makes sure to put time aside to see friends, read mountains of novels, go to the gym, and snap gorgeous photos with her Nikon SLR. (This is one of my favourites.) She's extremely thoughtful: she writes cards, pings you on IM to stay in touch. There's more I could say about this computer scientist, but I think she'll get too embarrassed if I continue, so I'll leave it at that ;) *waves at Kate from the other side of the world* You are an inspiration, Kate!

PS. Kate - in retrospect, our work together was some of the best in my career so far. If we ever get a chance, we should totally start a company together.

OpenCV with Python on Windows

2010-01-18T08:01:00.003+01:00

Well, it was inevitable. First I installed OpenCV with Python bindings on Mac OS, then on Ubuntu... and now it's time to run it on Windows. Yayyy...

Here's how I got OpenCV 2.0 with Python 2.6 working on Windows.

1. Install OpenCV2.0 from Sourceforge (This was already done when I arrived on the Windows machine, hence the hacking below).
2. Install Python 2.6 if you don't have it already.
3. Make some edits to your Environment Variables:
a) Add C:/Python2.6;C:/OpenCV2.0/bin_old to PATH
b) Add C:/OpenCV2.0/Python2.6/Lib/site-packages to PYTHONPATH
4. Test from within Command Prompt. Navigate to C:/OpenCV2.0/samples/swig_python. Try python delaunay.py

NOTE: This isn't really the recommended way to get things working. The recommended way is to install Python 2.6 and then OpenCV2.0, in that order. You could probably also reinstall OpenCV2.0 again after upgrading to Python 2.6, but I didn't want to.

I'm writing this in case you also got an error such as "ImportError: No module named opencv.cv" , etc. when trying out the swig_samples in OpenCV2.0.

Recording Audio on a Mac

2009-10-15T07:50:00.003+01:00

There must be a better way. I wanted to find a native "Mac way" to record sound on my Macbook. The only free way I found was to use iMovie:

Take a video using the button, add it to the project, and do Share->Export to Quicktime. Export the sound to .aiff, .au or .wav.

Isn't there a "Sound Recorder" function, or am I still thinking in Windows?

Speech recognition for language learning

2009-09-24T12:30:00.002+01:00

Last week I took a two-day mini course on how to use the Japanese open source spoken language recognition system Julius.

It can do both online and offline speech recognition, even over a network, out of the box. For example, if I say "かわいいね！” into the microphone, the words are printed to the screen. Neat, huh?

However, compatible acoustic models (basically, a mapping of wave signals to linguistic phonemes) only exist for Japanese. Meaning I can't do any English speech recognition with it.

So, what could I, a Japanese language beginner possibly do with such a system?

One idea is to jump on the iPhone development wagon and use it for language learning. Here was the scenario from this evening:

Kenzo heads to the 100 yen store to buy some dish detergent. He goes to the register to pay, placing his 105 yen on the counter. The clerk asks him something in Japanese. Kenzo flails around, says "euhhh... eto....", trying to convey "Je ne comprends pas, je ne parle pas japonais!"

Finally the clerk gives up and hands him his dish detergent and receipt. Kenzo walks out with his merchandise, confused. Repeat, every day he buys something from the store.

So, what did the clerk say? After a number of awkward experiences, Kenzo figures he's being asked if he needs plastic bag or not. But sometimes he says "いいえ”　(No), and the guy gives him a bag anyway! What's going on?

If only his iPhone could transcribe what the clerk was saying, so Kenzo could parse out the words in written form. It's always a lot easier written down, right?

Well, here's what the clerk said:

"シールでよろしいですか？”　- shiiru de yoroshii desu ka

Meaning "Is a seal ok?", referring to the little sticker they put on items in lieu of a plastic bag.

... Man, why'd I buy this Japanese cell phone with TV when I could've bought an iPhone. Bah.

Installing OpenCV on Mac OS X, with Python Bindings

2009-09-22T08:50:00.011+01:00

It's my first time developing on OS X, so I thought I'd document the process to get started using vision algorithms on a Mac.

Platform: OS X Version 10.5.8

1. Install XCode from the Mac OS X install CD.

2. Download and install MacPorts, a command-line tool to install software and deal with dependencies for you. (For some reason I received a "Could not find specified message for index 16" error when trying to install the version for Snow Leopard, so I installed the version for Leopard instead.)

Don't forget to run sudo port selfupdate once it's installed.

3. Install OpenCV by running the command sudo port install open cv . This installs OpenCV 1.0, which is fine for me, because that's what the Python bindings (next) are tested on.

4. Download ctypes-opencv source and demo files. Once that's done, navigate to the ctypes-opencv directory and install using sudo python setup.py install

5. Open your ~/.profile (created when installing MacPorts) and add the following line:
export DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/local/lib

Save and close it, then restart your terminal window for the .profile to be loaded.

6. Try one of the ctypes-opencv demos to check if it works: python houghlines.py

Running the camshift demo, using the integrated MacBook iSight webcam:

That's me thinking "Oh, OpenCV installation. Can start my research now?"

For Ada Lovelace Day: My Mom, The Cobol Cowboy

2009-03-24T06:09:00.013+01:00

In honour of Ada Lovelace day, we're to blog about the unsung heroes in the field of technology; specifically, those wonder women who are our role models, but just don't get enough credit!

Well, Mom, you are really amazing.

Delia L.

My momma graduated at the age of 20 with a Mathematics degree from Ateneo University, Philippines. She was a smart cookie who taught FORTRAN and BASIC to fellow college students as a T.A.

At the youthful age of 24, she moved away from her family, friends, and sunny tropical home to freezing cold Calgary, Alberta, then Regina, Saskatchwan, Canada. She worked as a consultant programmer and systems analyst there. I don't know much about this time in her life, but I bet it was cool seeing all that snow, the downside being... all that snow.

Luckily, in 1981, she got hired at Teledyne in California as a Senior Analyst/Programmer. She managed to wrangle her boyfriend to move across the world to be with her, and they got married. Hi Dad!

And then she had me. I had a lot of fun as a kid. We went to Disneyland like a billion times. Unfazed by my bouts of febrile seizures and chronic bronchitis, she continued to work as a developer for the government as well as at Honda, often as the sole designer, developer and maintainer on programming projects.

At some point she gave birth to my brother. At home. In her bed. (Ouch?) So, now she had to deal with a mischievous boy ironically named Christian and his jealous big sister who got in trouble at school sometimes.

Unfortunately, life as an immigrant in the US is hard. We moved to Canada, the land of open arms, and Mom had *another* kid, giving him a doubly-biblical name of Abel Jacob, probably hoping it would give him twice the changes of being a good boy.

At the same time, she busted her hump at Telus as a Systems Specialist and project lead and made big bucks. Mom really brought home the bacon, so to speak, even though she doesn't eat pork anymore. We had a huge half a million dollar home with a bridge in it. And she still managed to work, part-time or telecommuting, whatever had to be done, to raise us rambunctious kids right.

We went on tons of trips around the world, including to Austria to see the 1999 eclipse, though we didn't appreciate it at the time.

My mom is a 29-year veteran of Cobol, knows UNIX way better than I do, has mad skillz in database systems I've never even heard of, and even programmed in ASSEMBLER for 2 whole years. That is hard core.

She speaks 3 languages fluently. Her English is better than mine (how come you know more vocabulary than me, Mom?) along with perfect Tagalog and Fookien.

We always thought she was a little nuts, constantly getting suckered into Amway and other pyramid schemes, clicks flashing ads on the internets, and wearing green socks with a red skirt. But now that I'm facing the imminent challenge of starting a family and continuing with a career in technology, I can't help but admire her intelligence, courage and determination.

My mom is a super woman.

Edit: She even corrected my spelling mistake. Oops, thanks proof-reader!

Mobile experiment

2008-12-29T17:24:00.001+01:00

For the next month, I'm replacing my laptop with this Google "Dream" phone, aka G1, aka gPhone. That's right, the Dell has gone byebye.

In this swaperoo, I'll be testing the limits of this tiny but powerful phone running Android. As the design on the back of my g1 indicates, I'm running the dev version of the G1, meaning that when I find that it cannot perform to the standards of my Dell Inspiron, I can write a program to fix it.

Current shortcomings already include:
1. Android development environment.
Talk about meta. When I think of something to write, I'd like to code it up right away. On my phone. It's been suggested that a full compiler would be too cpu intensive. A workaround could include an web interface to code and compile online.
2. A way to upload photos from a better camera. My laptop used to serve as my portal for uploading photos from my Canon Rebel or Elph. Still have to figure out a workaround - perhaps a double-ended mini-usb cable to plug from camera to phone? I wonder if Picasa could then get an auto-resizer to work on my g1. (Yoohoo, Picasa folks!)
3. Blogging. Woo, I've already overcome this hurdle. I'm using the Blogger email feature which supports attaching photos, and saving as a draft while offline. (At first I thought an app interface would be useful, but gmail comes to the rescue once again!)

Which brings me to my other point. Without a data plan, I'm limited to finding wifi spots for most mobile apps to work.

4. Android market offline apps. Just how many apps can I install, then amuse myself with on a bus while offline?

This baby will also be put to the true test of mobile: backpacking. Travelling in a foreign country where I don't speak the language will surely generate more need-based apps.

Speaking of which, I could never get the Wordmate stardict app to work...

Posting from my gPhone

2008-12-25T23:20:00.001+01:00

Testing mobile blogging. Happy holidays from Santa Monica, CA!

Elections 2008

2008-11-05T00:42:00.007+01:00

So, I'm American. And I have a camera. And I have no shame.

Today was my first presidential election, and I was gonna document it. For those of you who wonder how elections work, here you go!

Step 1. Go to your local church.

Step 2. Say hi to the friendly campaigners 102ft from the voting station.

Step 3. Do a little dance because you came at 1:30pm, after the lunch rush. No lineup!

Step 4. Wander up to a random expectant-looking person, cross your fingers that you're registered, and sign your name.

Step 5. Gather your materials: one scantron-looking voting ballot.

Step 6. Head to polling station and insert ballot into voting device.

Step 7. Flip open the voting booklet, and choose a presidential duo by marking the hole with a black dot.

Step 8. Vote No on Prop 8.

Step 9. Once finished voting on other various items, such as a high speed train from San Fran to LA, take one last picture for good measure. Fold ballot closed.

Step 10. Tear off voting receipt from ballot, and Insert Here, face down. OMG which end first?!

Step 11. Retrieve "I Voted" sticker, valid for a free red, white and blue Krispy Creme, Starbucks, or sex toy of choice!

Step 12. Don't forget your souvenir "What On Earth am I Here For?" Trinitarian water bottle on your way out!

Well, I hope this has been enlightening for you. Go Team America!

Israel - Part II

2008-10-31T14:25:00.003+01:00

Christopher only asked for directions once, but it was already night by the time he dropped me off at the Hetzbasheket campground. The glow of the lanterns barely pierced through the heavy darkness of the desert. I smiled. Here, surely, in the natural tranquility of the Negev, would I receive my long-awaited moment of inspiration.

"Hello? Is anybody there?" I looked on from behind the wooden fence, searching for movement from within the tents, then finally heard footsteps on the gravel.

"Hi!" A girl with blond braids and shining eyes smiled warmly at me.

"Come on in! The owner isn't back yet, but make yourself at home."

She swung open the gate and guided me to a large tent where her friends had been waiting.

"Are you hungry? Shall we make something to eat?" I accepted, surprised but thankful for their warm welcome.

In their makeshift kitchen, Emily explained that they had all just graduated from high school in Jerusalem. "Now it's time to have some fun! We'll be starting our two years military service in September..." I winced, remembering the kids at the mall who had been strolling around with assault rifles on their backs.

Still smiling, cheeks rosy, Emily showed me how to dice an onion by turning it only one time. Strange, imagining this kind, young girl with a gun in hand...

To Be Continued.

Entrance to Camping Hetzbasheket

Makeshift kitchen and living area.

Emily and her friends.

Israel - Part 1 (English)

2008-10-29T15:44:00.007+01:00

I'm finally getting around to translating my story from French to English. It's exhausting trying to choose the right words, equivalent in sense and mood. For example, "Officière isralienne" inherently gives you an image of a female israeli officer. How do you get across this same detail about her being a woman, without it sounding contrived?

"The female israeli officer. The israeli officer lady." Hmmm.

In any case, here is what I came up with for installment #1. It's not great, but at least it's better than Google Translate (though less hilarious).

Next up was me. I readjusted my backpack, walked up to the immigration booth at Ben Gurion airport, and presented my passport.

"Travelling alone?"

"Yes."

The Israeli officer examined me through narrow eyes, furrowing her brow with a suspicious gaze. Here I was, a good little 24-year-old Canadian girl. I did not look like a terrorist.

"And what is the reason for you visit?"

"Reaffirm my faith," I responded seriously.

She smiled and lowered her eyes, as if she was trying not to laugh. Me? I frowned. I should have guessed then that this pilgrimage was not going to go as planned...

…

After four days in Jerusalem, I had meditated in front of the Mount of Olives, prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, and visited Jesus' crucifixion site. I'd accumulated 13 post cards, 3 wooden camel figurines, and a pair of fake leather sandals. Unfortunately, I still remained the beholder of 0 divine interventions.

So I surfed the internet at the hostel, in search of inspiration. From the corner of my eye I noticed the red shirt of someone waiting. I turned and looked up.

"Sorry to take so long eh," I said to the man beside me. There was only one computer for the whole hostel, and I was taking my sweet time.

"Oh no, no worries. I just noticed you were looking to go to Mitzpe Ramon, right?"

"Ah... yes, well I'd like to, at least."

I glanced at the screen, where the rust-colored tones of the Negev desert, 3 hours south, displayed invitingly.

"Alright. I'm just gonna look up the bus schedule and I'll leave the computer to you, ok?" I continued.

"Well that's the thing. I'll be heading down there tomorrow. Want a ride?"

I examined the source of this kind offer: tall American fellow about 27 years old, shirt the color of poppies, wavy, jet black hair, hazel eyes, and a warm, benevolant gaze. I'd met Christopher the night before, but was still wary of this unexpected generosity.

Bang bang bang ! Outside in the bazaar, the metal doors of the merchant stalls interrupted our conversation, indicating the daily closing time. "Vultures," I muttered under my breath, remembering the insistant merchants. As much as I'd hoped for an extraordinary religious experience, the more this city seemed to be but an artificial tourist destination. I had to get out of there.

I turned back towards Christopher.

"So. Shall we leave tomorrow morning?"

To be continued...

Jerusalem Hotel, computer in the background.

Christophe.

2008-09-10T05:15:00.002+01:00

Alright, you got me. How could I not post? Coming back to live in California is not quite as I remember from when I was a young child of 8 years (I remember "fishing").

Things I have learned so far:

1. Everyone in LA has a Blackberry.

2. I don't think I really want to go out after dark.

3. Canadians stick out like a sore thumb even without the flag sewn onto their backpacks.

4. Santa Monica is EXPENSIVE.

5. I've fallen in love with that warm, Pacific breeze.

Unfortunately, I can't divulge much due to an NDA and my findability on the web... sigh. It would make for such good blogging. What I can say is that Google Santa Monica seems to be a hip, happenin', welcoming place, and I am happy to be here!

NYC Retreat

2008-05-01T23:03:00.010+01:00

Guys, I am having an amazing time in New York.

Last night. Metropolitan Opera. Orchestra seating. $20. YEAH.

Prior to that, I visited a friend at NYU who showed me, among other things, Jeff Han's former office. (Sorry for the poor quality, it was a shoot and run!)

Cube in front of NYU that SPINS on its CORNER.

That park in I am Legend where Will Smith blew up the zombies!

And today at Google, I learned that ... uh, actually I can't talk about it :( They do have a great view of the city, though.

Tonight we had a fabulous 7 course dinner at the Spice Market across the street. Amazing food, amazing discussion with the wonderful girls at this retreat.

(Yeah, that menu is a list of what we ate, not "choose from the above")

My room is spectacular. There are bathrobes that are silk and cotton double-sided, a CD of new age lounge music playing as you enter, and shampoo that leaves your hair feeling like you should be in a Pantene Pro-V commercial.

So, thank you Google for the scholarship and all-expenses paid pampering.

More details on the Google Blog. My name is 2 paragraphs away from a post written by Marissa Mayer *small shriek of delight*!

Happily bouncing

2008-04-19T06:50:00.002+01:00

AHHHHH. That's a good ah, like after taking a gulp of Diet Coke.

Exam: finished.
Classes for summer: chosen.
Life: good.

Now alls I got is 15 episodes of Evangelion to watch (ie. ROBOT ANIME!!), Hirigana homework for my Japanese class, and a conference paper deadline to make! The conference is in Juan-les-Pins! YAY!

Also, I got 23,75/30 on my Israel composition. Not so much yay :( There were big "Je ne comprends pas??" all over it. Bummer.

Microsoft CAPTCHA Hacked

2008-04-17T01:59:00.004+01:00

Researchers in the UK have hacked the Microsoft CAPTCHA:

I accept defeat, although I use the word "hack" with the bitter implication that hand-crafted, special-purpose CAPTCHA breakers do not address any artificial intelligence problems.

Israel - Part III (Final)

2008-04-08T20:52:00.016+01:00

Je passai les trois prochains jours sur le camping, méditant tranquillement pendant des heures, tentant désespérément de faire apparaître une force divine. Je tâchais de trouver l’éclaircissement tant recherché et souhaité - le but d’un pèlerinage en Israël. Je me concentrais sur mes photos de Jérusalem, comme celle d’une pelote de laine de laquelle la robe de Jésus avait été faite, m’avait-on dit.

Mais rien n’arriva.

…

Frustrée, je décidai d’aller dans la petite ville à 2km de Hetzbasheket. Le soleil estival tapait fort, et je me réfugiai dans un petit zoo pour me rafraîchir dans l’ombre.

« Les porcs-épics sont les seuls rongeurs à rester monogames pendant toute leur vie. Une fois ensemble, ils ne se quittent jamais. »

J’écoutai à moitié la présentation d’une visite guidée et étudiai les vitrines d’animaux. Je m’arrêtai à la section des oiseaux ; le perroquet derrière la vitre sembla me regarder fixement dans les yeux.

« Je peux vous aider, miss ? Une voix timbrée me fit sursauter.
– Oh ! C’était l’employé du zoo, qui sembla deviner que je n’étais pas du coin.
– Euh, oui, hésitai-je, sauriez-vous ce qu’on peut visiter ici en ville ?

C’était un hippie, vêtu d’une chemise décontracté en lin orange, tissu aussi blanchie par le soleil que sa peau bronzé. «Samuel », indiquait son badge.

– Hmm. Ben écoute, si vous voulez, je finis d’ici 5 minutes. Je peux vous faire une visite de la ville si ça vous intéresse. Je dois juste rendre un livre à la bibliothèque avant.
– OK, merci ! » répondis-je.

On marchait côte à côte au milieu de la rue, sur le goudron noir cuit par la chaleur.

« Ça te fait pas mal ? demandai-je en pointant ses pieds nus.
– Parfois, avança-t-il, mais je préfère sentir le monde sur lequel je marche. »

J’acquiesçai. On arriva enfin à une bicoque peinte en jaune, des lettres bleues hébraïques tracées dessus. Dedans, un canapé ramolli par le temps et deux étagères remplies de livres. Il n’y avait personne.

« C’est la bibliothèque ? » me demandai-je.

Samuel sortit une carte d’une enveloppe blanche posée sur les étagères de la bibliothèque, écrit dessus, et la remit. Je commençai à comprendre la vie à Mitzpe Ramon.

…

A partir de ce moment là, je décidai de changer de stratégie. Au lieu de chercher les réponses à des questions existentielles, je jouai au didgeridou avec Samuel. Peu importe la visite du Jourdain - je regardai le coucher de soleil avec Emilie et ses copines. J’étais venu en Israël retrouver ma foi. Mais si j’avais bien renouvelée ma foi, ce n’était pas en dieu.

« Merci Emilie, dis-je en partant. Tu sais, dans mon pays, on se méfie des inconnus.
– Bizarre ! s’exclama-t-elle, rigolant avec ses amies.

The End.

So, yup. True story. Never did find that faith thing...

-

Israel - Part II

2008-04-06T20:09:00.005+01:00

Christophe ne demanda son chemin qu’une fois seulement, mais il faisait déjà nuit quand il me déposa au camping Hetzbasheket. La lueur des lanternes perçait la noirceur envahissante du désert. Je souris. Ici sûrement, dans la tranquillité naturelle du Negev, j’aurais l’inspiration spirituelle tant souhaité.

« Allô ? Il y a quelqu’un ? » Je cherchai des mouvements à l’intérieur de l’ensemble de tentes, puis entendis des pas sur le gravillon.

« Coucou ! » Une fille aux tresses dorées et aux yeux pétillants me fit un sourire accueillant.
« Vient ! Le propriétaire n’est pas encore rentré, mais installe-toi. »

Elle ouvra un passage dans la barrière et me guida vers une grande tente où ses copines l’attendaient.

« Tu as faim ? On fait à manger ? » J’acceptai, surprise mais reconnaissante de leur accueil chaleureux.

Dans une cuisine de fortune, Emilie m’expliqua qu’elles venaient de terminer leurs études à Jérusalem. « Il faut s’éclater maintenant ! On commence 2 ans de service militaire en septembre… » Je grimaçai, me rappelant des jeunes au centre commercial qui se promenaient avec des fusils d’assaut dans le dos.

Toujours souriante, pommettes rosées, Emilie me montra comment couper un oignon en dès en ne le tournant qu’une fois. Bizarre d’imaginer cette jeune fille douce fusil en main.

À suivre.

Entrance to Camping Hetzbasheket

Makeshift kitchen and living area.

Emily and her friends.

Israel - Part I

2008-04-06T06:45:00.005+01:00

I never did blog in detail about my trip to Israel. Well, this semester we had to write a narration for my french writing class, and since I have no imagination at all, I based it off true events*. Here's part I.

*Some details are made up, because we had to include certain phrases in the text.

C’était mon tour. Je réajustai mon sac à dos, avançai au poste d’immigration de l’aéroport Ben Gurion, et présentai mon passeport.

« Vous voyagez toute seule ?
– Oui. »

L’officière israélienne m’examina d’un air suspicieux. Moi, sage canadienne de 24 ans, je n’avais pas l’air d’une terroriste.

« Quelle est la raison de votre visite ?
– Retrouver ma foi » affirmai-je sérieusement.

Elle sourit et baissa les yeux, comme si elle s’efforçait de ne pas rigoler. Je fronçai les sourcils. J’aurais du deviner à ce moment là que ce pèlerinage ne se passerait pas comme prévu…

…

Après quatre jours à Jérusalem, j’avais médité devant le Mont des Olives, prié dans le jardin de Gethsémani et visité le site de la crucifixion de Jésus Christ. J’avais accumulé 13 cartes postales, 3 figurines de chameaux en bois, et une paire de sandales en faux cuir tanné. Malheureusement, je demeurais toujours détentrice de 0 interventions divines.

Je naviguais donc sur l’internet à l’auberge, en quête d’inspiration. Du coin de l’œil je remarquai un bout de chemise rouge. Je me retournai et levai la tête.

« Désolé de prendre si longtemps hein, dis-je à l’homme derrière moi. Il n’y avait qu’un seul ordinateur pour tout l’hôtel, et je l’accaparais.

– Oh non, pas du tout. J’ai juste remarqué que tu va aller à Mitzpe Ramon, c’est ça ?
– Oh… oui, j’aimerais bien en tout cas. Je jetai un œil sur l’écran, où s’affichaient les tons rouille du désert du Negev, 3 heures au sud.
– Bon, je vais juste chercher les horaires de bus et je te laisse la place, ok ? continuai-je.
– Justement, je vais y descendre demain en voiture. Tu veux que je t’y amène ?»

J’examinai l’offreur : grand Américain d’environ 27 ans, chemise de couleur coquelicot, cheveux noir de jais ondulés, yeux noisette, et regard bienveillant. J’avais rencontré Christophe le jour d’avant, mais je me méfiais de cette générosité inattendue.

Clac-clac-clac ! Dehors dans le bazar, les portes en fer des étals nous interrompirent, indiquant la fermeture quotidienne. « Vautours » soupirai-je, me rappelant des marchands insistants. Autant j’avais prévu une expérience religieuse extraordinaire, autant cette ville semblait n’être qu’une destination touristique artificielle. Il me fallait partir.

Je me retournai vers Christophe.

« Bon. On part demain matin alors ? »

To be continued...

Jerusalem Hotel, computer in the background.

Christophe.

-_-

2008-03-27T20:51:00.003+01:00

The stories I hear about grad school are pretty weird. Supervisors give advice like

"No procreation till you finish your thesis," or

"You better not get all A's in your courses, or else that means you're not working hard enough on your research".

From what I gather, life shall be partitioned into research and !research, where the latter is a the size of a sweet pea.

I need to stop blogging and go back to my research.

It's all about the money

2008-03-25T17:49:00.002+01:00

I worry.

The time has come to apply to the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, to pursue my Masters in Robotics. But I forgot one little thing.

I'm poor. Switzerland is expensive. Masters students don't get funding there. Ok, that's three things, that all came dumping down on my head last night as I cowered in my chair.

As a friend reminded me last night, money is important. I can't run around, bright-eyed and idealistic, only to cross the ocean and find myself without home. I'm still really choked that I missed the deadline for the Erasmus Mundus EMARO and VIBOT scholarships, which hand out 20k/year to study vision and robotics in two different european countries.

So I've still got my back-up plans. But there MUST be something else. Who wants to settle for plan B?

My First Easter

2008-03-21T22:42:00.005+01:00

Today is my very first Easter. Kenzo, after posing so diligently for my sunny balcony shot,

insisted the occasion called for a ceremonial Lindt chocolate bunny sacrifice, common in south-eastern France.

WARNING: The following image may be unsuitable for some viewers.

Yatta!

I <3 My House

2008-03-03T10:57:00.003+01:00

Mmm, can't ya just smell that new-home freshness? Indeed, I've moved (again), and I'm completely in love with the place. A 4 min walk from my lab, 2 min walk from the best Chewy Chocolate Cake on campus, and a 1 min walk to the gym (to make up for the chewy chocolate cake). Oh, and southfacing, brightly-lit glory. For the first few days, I camped out in my empty apartment in a sleeping bag, because I love waking up in the sun.

*falls asleep, extremely content*

Yes, I do enjoy raising my eyebrows.

2008-02-20T20:44:00.003+01:00

I got my eyebrows done today.

I'm kind of dreading heading to class in an hour, apprehensive of "Angelica, what's wrong with your face??" comments. Yes, it does look like several honeybees decided to perform multiple suicide sting attacks on my delicately bronzed skin. Redness is what waxing is, and why I walked to the office subsequently with my head down and my hair all over my face.

On the upside, I went into the washroom to check out the new shape, and I realized that when I do this *raises one eyebrow*, I produce a much more clean, powerful skeptical look.

Don't Spoil Your Appetite!

2008-02-16T03:58:00.003+01:00

Robotting is like that sweet sweet candy you can't have until you finish your dinner. *sigh* Another day whence I was tempted with Roomba iCreates and prospects of RoboCup amidst my otherwise very satisfying meal of letter recognition research.

There's something creamy and delicious about imagining ways to make a robot fetch your newspaper, or recognize its owner. Not only did I have to beat myself down with a stick from recruiting a team for RoboCup@Home today, I also had to literally drag my own body out of the room filled with 45 robots, 11 of which were being played with before my own eyes.

I did eventually strap myself to my desk with invisible chains to recommence concentration on What Actually Matters, but gosh darn. That was tough.

So yeah. Just... no more R-word until this project's got a paper submitted. OK? OK.

PS. I do enjoy my CAPTCHAs, though, I really do... *sniffle*

Bored.

2008-02-10T10:01:00.000+01:00

So, I guess I haven't blogged in a while.

... *crickets*...

I've been busy, alright. You know, playing a little Zelda, Phantom Hourglass, bussing endlessly from Surrey to school, and getting sick like ALL THE TIME.

(Sorry, just recently watched all 34 KevJumba youtube clips, and am picking up the nonchalant attitude.)

So yeah. BUSY.

When I'm not busy doing nothing, I'm doing cool things like secret computing science research work (which I'll talk about if/when I actually get results I can brag about). Let's just say it has something to do with CAPTCHAs. And not at all about trying to break them.

I'm also building a terrifying robot in my basement, which may in fact bring an end to world hunger, car washes, and Oprah. So far, it has aged to the level of a 4-month infant, and is progressing steadily.

I'm just kidding. So far I only have blueprints, where blueprints mean drawings in my FREN 301 notebook, and drawings mean scribbles with hearts and flowers. *sigh* One day I will build robots, with real hearts. And real flowers.

OH DID I MENTION I WON A FREE TRIP TO GOOGLE!?

... I need to go to bed.

Ode to a Têtard...

2007-07-28T03:47:00.000+01:00

So, what ever happened with my underwater robotics competition? I wrote up a blog post for the Anita Borg Foundation, so you can find out the result of 6 months work here!

Sweat, thirst, and riot police ...

2007-06-23T18:43:00.000+01:00

Le sweat, le thirst, and le French riot police ...

TOTALLY WORTH IT.

The french have this amazing concept called Fête de la Musique. See, once a year, all citizens are rewarded grandly for their compliance with 2am noise-reduction rules. On the shortest night of the year, June 21, France residents can go wild with music and merry-making till the cows (or, apparently, the CRS) come home.

Here in Nice, I was told to expect live bands in the streets, with a new musical genre delighting my ears every couple blocks. I wasn't disappointed.

As we wandered happily through the cobblestone old city, pulses of mambo, rock and even frenchies karaoke-singing 70's english songs aggressively invaded my personal space. Awesome.

At 11pm, the night was still clear and warm, with a refreshing breeze blowing in from the Mediterranean. We had read in the Nice Metro news that a big party au Port would be happening. House, with DJs named Vendetta and Garraud. I like house. Or, as they say here, de la Haouse.

Turning the corner at the end of the Promenade des Anglais, a violet, glowing structure rose into view amidst the thick mass of exuberant teens, adults, even parents with 4-year-old children. Hello huge smile as I recognized the rave-like music that entranced my adolescence. Atop the purple-lit scaffolding flashed giant screens, strobing to the music. I could feel the bass pumping.

Joachim Garraud is my new hero. As soon as he hit the turntables, I swear my arms started flailing of their own accord, body grooving to the most amazing house music I've ever heard.

Amazingly enough, his t-shirt also finally shed light upon a mysterious mosaic I'd uncovered with Igor and John at the lighthouse more than one year ago:

The thousands of people at the Port agreed with the magnificence of the music. It was what we call "une bonne ambiance".

This wasn't: a night club with bar stars holding tiny martini glasses and barely head-nod dancing.
This wasn't: a exstacy-driven rave with admittedly loving people but swathed in illegalness.
This WAS: good high-tech-fashioned fun with happy people of all ages, celebrating beautiful music under the bright moon, for FREE.

...and then there was the tear gas. :(

My Celebrity Look-alikes

2007-05-12T10:15:00.000+01:00

I'd totally forgotten that I was asian, until ...

Well that's no fun, I don't know any of these Japanese celebrities.

It's Sarko time!

2007-05-07T17:52:00.000+01:00

It's official: France has a new prez! He's short, he's gutsy, he's a workaholic... iiiiiiiit's Sarko!!

The countdown to the announcement was a heart-pounding melodrama, with the french collectively holding their breath as the counter ticked to 0:05. Five seconds to the new era.

Blocked-off streets filled with shoulder-to-shoulder crowds looked up eagerly at the screens as if it were New Year's Eve. 4-3-2-1....And when Sarko's politician smile filled the image, with a large blue 53% ... madness!

We watched the images of Paris from my living room. Half the town jumped for joy, waving flags, stopping traffic, screaming Vive La France! And for the other half centered around Place de la Bastille, a sea of calm disappointment.

Around me too, a severe difference in opinion. On one side, a plutot droite person, eyes brimming with tears of joy. France would change. Finally.

And on the other side, plutot gauche. Sheer horror.

How exciting. I hope Sarko pulls off all he has promised. I might actually want to live in France for good.

Cake Mahogany

2007-04-29T14:08:00.000+01:00

It's not mahogany coloured because I don't have iron molds, but here's the yummy mango-coconut-caramel cake recipe translated from french. It's uniqueness stems from the fact that it's made almost entirely of fluffy eggs. It keeps for 2 weeks at ambient temperature.

I'm mostly typing this modified recipe up so I don't have to divide the recipe by 5 every time I look it up (the original recipe calls for 1 kg of butter and 1kg of eggs)...

Caramel Cake Base
150g lychee
182g almond powder
132g powdered sugar
106g flour
214g butter at room temperature
150g homemade caramel (see below)
4 egg yolks
1 whole egg
4 egg whites
50g sugar
32g milk

Homemade Caramel
128g sugar
22g semi-salted butter
150g cream

Drain the lychee ahead of time and cut each into 6 pieces. Sift the almond powder together with the icing sugar in one bowl, and the flour in another.

With an electronic mixer on low power, beat the butter into a mousse, then add the almond powder, the icing sugar. Measure out the right amount of homemade caramel from the recipe, then add it to the mixture with the egg yolks and the whole eggs. Continue mixing for 2 minutes and blend the milk in, delicately.

Beat the egg whites until they form peaks "au bec d'oiseau", meaning not too firm, speed 2, and mix in the sugar little by little. Blend the egg whites with the first mixture, while simultaneously sprinkling in the flour, and finally add the lychees. Butter and flour the pan, then pour in the mixture. Bake at 150C for 30 minutes, then turn the cake and bake for another 40 minutes.

When it's done, turn it over onto a wire rack. Sprinkle the coconut on top of the cake.

What's so great about April 22?

2007-04-22T16:55:00.000+01:00

The air is heavy on the Côte D'Azur. A thick, white brume de chaleur cloaks the distant niçois hills, washing out the landscape in a layer of mid-afternoon heat. From my 7th floor terrace, I notice that this Sunday, all is not quiet as usual. The normally calm Place de Gaulle below is buzzing with people. And they be movin'.

They are not dawdling, not strolling, not basking in the spring warmth on a lazy Sunday; moms pull along their children, young couples stride hand-in-hand, all walking briskly, with a purpose. Today, French citizens are off to the poll stations. Today they will elect their new president!

Or at least narrow them down to two.

Who will it be? Sarko and Ségo, the powers representing the droit (right) and the gauche (left), lead up the pack for today's 1er Tour election, basically France's presidential Semi Finals. Polls estimate a 50/50 voter split once they get into the boxing ring called the 2ième tour, or as I like to call it, the Final Round. Things could get ugly.

However, before the bloodbath, I'd like to reflect on the last couple weeks. I gotta say, things have been pretty impressive on the part of the French political scheme.

First of all, you get to vote for the leader of the country. I know, lame and done elsewhere in the world... but as a Canadian (cf. Westminster System), I will never know this joy.

Next, l'égalité du temps (Time equality). Forget the free-for-all mo'-money-means-more-votes campaigning. All candidates are given exactly the same amount of television airtime (news reels, commercials, talkshows), to the minute. It's fair, it puts the big boys on the same level as the marijuana boys, it's all about power to the people... it's french.

And finally, publishing exit polls before the 8pm voting deadline is strictly prohibited, to prevent biasing voters. Thus, turning on the TV on election day does NOT give to-the-minute updates on every news channel. I had to settle on a dubbed made-for-TV police drama. :/

As a rather pathetic apathetic gal when it comes to politics, I've come to appreciate the french zeal for political debate and discussion. In reality, it's a battle of intrigue and goodguy vs. badguy (definition of goodguy/badguy changing depending on your opinion).

Will it be the mega popular socialist Ségolène Royal hoping to run away with the women's vote?

Or Nicolas Sarkozy, the smooth-talking frontrunner promising to wash away the racaille (low-class riffraff) and make France work harder (oh god, work?!)?

Or the diabolical extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen, whose followers hope for a "pure" French society cleared of immigrants?

Or maybe François Bayrou, whose first name is only one letter away from being "Français"??

Results. Here. Soon.

If only we had a car...

2007-04-15T23:59:00.000+01:00

About an hour and a half drive's away from Nice, nestled in the hills behind St. Tropez, is a warm, cozy cottage surrounded by vineyards and mimosas. Somehow, this isolated island in a forest of oak trees is also high-tech palace, with cable TV and ADSL. (They say it took 3 men and 200m of cat-5 cabling.)

This is Kenzo's house, and we wanted to get there for the Easter weekend. However, us both being distrait and naturellement doués, we missed the train, misintepreted the bus schedule, and 7 hours later found ourselves walking on the side of a winding hillside road with Porsches screaming past us (hey, I said it was near St. Tropez). Our plan to get there just after lunch ended in us scrambling to get cover before nightfall.

Is it just me, or do my actual travel times always end up waaay longer than expected?

I wish I could fly.

Nous sommes prets. One day.

2007-04-04T10:19:00.000+01:00

What! I just received an e-mail from SFU stating that, once again, they've changed their logo.

OK, forgetting the fact that they just changed their logo 6 months ago, and admitting it's a little banal (bland), fine. I can imagine the triangle logo centered on a hoodie, anarchy style! :P

I do, however, have slight qualms with the new SFU tagline. It's the words that will go in newspapers everywhere, in all our recruiting material, to give a great first impression of Simon Fraser University.

In reading the words, the world will know we are a high-class university with top professors and students, an institution of knowledge. Well, without further ado, here it is.

SFU: "Un jour, nous comprendrons"
("One day, we'll understand.")

....why don't they just make it:

SFU: "Right now, we've got no idea."

We're just a little slower than other universities. But hold on, we mustn't forget our SFU Motto!

"Nous sommes prets"
("We are ready")?

Does anyone else see the contradiction? *makes a face*

My life in pictures

2007-03-28T21:23:00.000+01:00

OK OK OK *holds hands up in air*.... I'm just as sick as you are of having the same blog post up for almost 2 months. If anything, this post is to push down the Anti-Religion article. Gives me mal au coeur just looking at it.

Anyhoo, what mischief have I been up to lately? Let's find out.

This is Cake Mahogany.

Flavoured with homemade caramel, des petits bouts de litchi, and of course, the most important ingredient, l'amour, Pierre Hermé's recipe can be found in the highly-acclaimed and highly expensive PH10.

The only question is, why is it called Mahogany if it's not mahogany? Mystery, mystery.

This is Entrevaux.

Entre = between, and vaux = valley (plural). Located in the hills of the niçois arriere-pays, this french fortress is a perfect stop on the Train des Pignes for hiking or picnic-ing. The only way to the lushiously green, clover-dotted park is through the castle. PS. My picnic bag is fluorescent pink, so nobody will steal it.

This is Kenzo.

He likes to jump.

This is my team.

Though it may seem posed, this group of autonomous robotics people from Projet Tetard are, in fact, quite amused by a human-powered submarine race. Human? Powered? Psh, trop no-skill kikoolol! (Cf. autonomous underwater vehicles). Next week is sushi week.

This is that plastic bubble stuff.

It makes for good plastic-face. Or, as we say in France, figure-plastique.

Well, there you go, a little glimpse into my ever-eventful life. As glamourous as it may seem, I actually do work every day and am making quite the killing in employee stock options.

(OK, maybe not so much the last thing, but lots of the first!)

Bisous :)

Religion

2007-02-02T10:42:00.001+01:00

It has sparked wars and unending violence, large-scale massacres, and fueled intolerance as part of a cultural norm. Back in the day, when hard-to-please Pharoahs caught fastidious worshippers praying the wrong way, they were stoned. Today, faithful soldiers use airplanes and torso-mounted explosives to make a point. From as long as we can remember, the R word has divided societies and terrorized both the devout and the indifferent. The solution is obvious: destroy all religions.

That’s right, I say we outlaw ‘em. France has already taken decisive action in this regard, banning the voile (headscarf) in public schools[1]. Now, take it a step further. Since disagreements are often the result of conflicting beliefs, removing these beliefs completely will certainly result in less fighting, both physical and otherwise. Sure, religion may add a certain spice to life, but I don’t really like spicy things. They hurt my tongue. And hurt is bad.

Offenders of the anti-religion law, that is, those deciding to provoke the wrath of The Allegiance to Esoteric Entities Ban (hereforth TALEE-Ban) should undergo a recently-discovered procedure called a ‘faith lobotomy’. This involves the removal of the walnut-sized lower region of the left frontal lobe, the area known for irrational belief, hope and dreams. Prior testing on chipmunks has proven a 100% success rate in removal of religion (as well as walnuts).

TALEE-Ban should not be taken lightly at any time, because only in the glorious light of fact, science, and reason will life flourish and have meaning. The advantages of TALEE-Ban range from world peace to day-to-day love and cultural exchange. For instance, traditional Jewish men pressured to marry Jewish women to retain the bloodline will rejoice in a larger “sea of partners” comprised of Indians, Chinese, and other.

In conclusion, the road to peace is clear. Through TALEE-Ban and careful surveillance of ourselves and others, we can rid the world of this dastardly do-goodery. Religion is dangerous, despite its varying claims to promote among its masses upright moral behavior, discipline, respect, humility, hope, love for others… er, whatever. The time is now to crush this age-old bewitchery, and move into the era of enlightenment where we can concentrate on more relevant, concrete topics.

Now, where was I... right.

“Pluto: A Mini-Planet or Lovable Yellow Dog?” You decide.

It's kinda like being the loner in high school

2007-01-26T13:01:00.000+01:00

You know, standing at the end of the cafeteria, tray of food in your hands, surveying the sea of tables and laughing kids. In the end, it's the table near the window, for one.

I just started at Sophia-Antipolis this week, working on the robot project I started the last time I was here. I can't wait till the other Tetard team members start their internships, but that won't be till February and March.

For now, the doctorate students take pity on me and invite me to lunch sometimes, where I sit quietly and politely among lively jabs of inside-jokes in french. Upon reflection, I realized this what we do to the first years at SFU, poor kids.

In other news, I got an MRI done yesterday. My knee had been giving out the last couple weeks, so 300 euros and 10 minutes-in-a-tube later, I'm the proud owner of 4 pages of high-resolution images, and a CD. (God that was expensive!) They'll be off to a specialist shortly. From what I gather from the doctor who I initially thought was a repairman, my meniscus is torn and flapping around in my knee, causing muchos painos. MMMM....

So much more to blog about, including an enlightening excursion to Kei's Passion and a classical soiree at the Palais de Festival in Cannes...

My Latest Foodings

2007-01-16T13:56:00.000+01:00

A vegetable that mathies and foodies alike can appreciate. It's a fractal. In broccoli form.

Buy Travel Insurance

2007-01-12T20:58:00.000+01:00

Well, I'm here. After 44 hours of either being on planes, buses or in airports, I'm HERE! Also, you suck, Air Canada!

I knew it wouldn't be a simple trip with my journey starting in Seattle and all, but it seems I'm forever destined for crappy voyages to Europe.

I got up at 5am to drive down (or get driven down, thanks Mom!) to Sea-Tac for my noon flight to Vancouver. The short-distance passenger airplane was awesome. I'm talkin' the baby kind with black, oversized external propellors and a doorway hatch that falls open onto the ground to act as stairs. Like for movie stars.

When we landed in Vancouver, I still felt upbeat, despite the international connections customs official incredulously looking at my place of residence: "Wait, you live in Port Moody?" I explained that my 8 hour return trip to Seattle saved me $200. Plus I got a cool light aircraft plane ride in the wind. I think it's neat.

I had a few hours to kill till my flight at 5:45, and luckily I ran into Sarah-from-SFSS who was on her way to London too. We happily exchanged solo-travel stories and Arab market bargaining techniques till boarding. She's cool! I'm just ashamed that when she waved at me, I had to stare at her for 10 seconds before realizing who she was. It was the haircut, I swear!

The wind was blowing hard that day, so I felt relieved when they asked us to board the plane. Good, no weather delay, I thought to myself.

The Air Canada plane to London was freaking awesome. I'd never seen anything like it - as I walked through First Class I felt like I was on a space ship. Everything was white and shiny, and each person had their own diagonally positioned "flight pod" with cubicle separators and rounded cradle-like seats. As I got to my coach seat, I sat down and gaped at the personal LCD screen in the headrest above the tray table and power outlet for my laptop. SWEET. I could do 9 hours in this, I thought as I nestled into my extra-wide seat.

And then they told us to get off the plane.

I guess it's better that they found the mechanical failure before take-off, I told myself as I waved bittersweet bye-bye to SuperPlane. But as our crappier-though-functional replacement plane left 5 hours later, I realized that my 5.5 hour leeway I'd left between the scheduled landing in London and my departure to Nice wouldn't be enough. I was going to miss my flight to Nice.

But Air Canada would reimburse me for the missed connection they caused, right? Actually, no.

Hours of waiting for the transfer desk manager in London ended up as a tense phone conversation where he vehemently denied all responsibility for my missed connection. "All he could offer", he insisted, was to help me book a discounted $110 hotel room to spend the night till another flight leaves.

Well, do they pay for that, at least? "No, but we can help you book it," he said wretchedly in his still-somewhat-comforting British accent. No thanks.

In case you're wondering, the fine print is this: "We'll find and book another flight for you, as long as the 2nd flight's on the same plane ticket."

I looked with teary disappointment upon my Air Canada e-ticket in one hand, and EasyJet printout in the other.

Air Canada made me miss my flight, but I have to pay the twice-as-pricey last minute replacement ticket. FINE.

Long story short, I bussed to Luton airport as planned, spent a sleepless night with 2 Slovaks and an Australian watching episodes of Heroes, and bought a 70 pound Easyjet flight to Nice leaving at 7am.

Last night I slept for 11 hours.

Moral of the story: Being your own travel agent may be cheaper, but you may get owned. Buy Travel Insurance.

EDIT: Incidentally, I found out that the travel insurance that I bought for medical purposes actually covers Missed Connections up to $1,500! I'm getting reimbursed! And I totally could've got that $110 overnight room! Dang!

"Airplane Malfunction"

2007-01-10T06:54:00.000+01:00

Still at YVR. Was supposed to leave more than 4 hours ago. Probably will miss my EasyJet to Nice. Crap.

I'm so excited!

2007-01-01T12:45:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year! This vacation has completely rejuvenated me. I'm ready to attack the new year, with this as my motto:

"Look forward"

It's quite simple really. I realized what had been making me unhappy! And I'd even anticipated it, like an all-seeing prophet, 2 years ago. I still remember the day, driving to school, carpooling with Yang.

The sun was shining, the air clear and breezy. It was Spring semester, 2005, and life was GREAT. CSSS was rocking, like, real hard, and I felt so hyperfunctional, I must have been on drugs or something. I remember telling this to my co-pilot:

"I am SO happy right now. Life is so amazing." *big grin from ear to ear*
and then a silent nag to myself:"... you realize, everything after this is downhill."

Downhill.

Of course, this was quickly brushed aside and forgotten.

Well, I GET it now. I've been comparing everything to that best time of my life. But you can't ressurrect the past, only move forward and do new things, create, find new goals and challenges, and maybe another amazing year will present itself. Better? Who cares, I'm not comparing.

"Look forward"

My honey gave me good advice, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Happy new year, everyone.

So, are you excited?

2006-12-21T09:51:00.000+01:00

Over the last few days, that same question has come up about 10 times. "So, excited 'bout France?"

Today I noticed that my answer had snowballed into a lame, "Yeah... yeah" accompanied by unconvincing head-nodding. I furrowed my brow, slightly shocked by my lack of enthusiasm. "Very excited."

As I rode home from Greg's exec dinner tonight, I pondered over this change in anticipation. I mean, I've got a very smart, sweet and overall wonderful reason why I should be jumping with joy at the departure day countdown.

And then I realized... Over the last few days I've revisited with friends, eased back into happy company, going for lunch, dinner and bubble tea with old and new buddies. I've settled back into my home, caught up with the latest CS department gossip, and ordered a double-double knowing full well I'd be understood. Lots of reminiscing, lots of good times. Familiarity.

I'm gonna miss it. So when I say "Yeah, I'm excited," in a not-very-excited way, now you know why. Because I'm going to miss you.

On Cuteness

2006-12-17T22:22:00.000+01:00

Ya know when you type "baby penguin" into Google Image Search that inevitably - you're gonna start fawning.

Interesting. In searching up this photo, I stumbled upon a New York Times Article on Cuteness. It's true: "Cute cues are those that indicate extreme youth, vulnerability, harmlessness and need" (called "kawaii" in Japan, where everything is eternally cute). According to them, it's our cultural predisposition to go "awww" for anything baby-like.

ie. If you are vulnerable and need help, cute ++

It's always made me wonder. Does that mean you can't be cute and powerful then? What about cute and professional? (Note that sexy + powerful/professional is easy.) I don't think I've ever seen a CEO exude any cuteness, personally. Usually, cold and authoritative gains credibility. A "cute scientist" somehow loses smart points.

Well, unless you get some of those thick-rimmed librarian glasses, but again that falls into the sexy realm (cf. Scrubs 01x1, Elliot Reed)

What a dilemmna. Cute or smart?

Well, crap

2006-12-15T06:43:00.000+01:00

I wish I had realized it earlier.

The key to a happy life, is not working your fingers to the bone to get good grades. Stress and worry is not reduced by working harder. Effectiveness decreases the longer you work without a break. Few rewards are as sweet as time spent with friends. Yeah, yeah, cliche this and that.

So why have I been pushing away? Why have I been closing myself off from everyone?

I guess my realization came too late: School's important, but really isn't terribly fulfilling. I should've spent more of this semester around people I care about. And now it's getting too late. Greeeaaat.

So, do you like... stuff?

2006-12-06T07:47:00.000+01:00

I'll be 23 in about an hour. I guess it's not a big deal. I've been accidentally answering "23" to "How old are you" questions for a couple months now anyway. It's an unconscious thing, don't ask me why...

Someone hinted (in a not so subtle way) that they'd like to know what stuff I like. I pondered, and pondered, wondering what "stuff" would make me happy. I'm not a material person (I only have one *gasp* multi-function handbag and I'm proud of it).

But as I was cooking the same old mixed-vegetable stirfry in my wok this evening (chop and toss!) it came to me...

I need new material. It's all about the "Teach a man to fish" mentality. Really, I want to move past the can-opener and electric water kettle. But all those recipe books are just so overwhelming. Hundreds and thousands of pages of "Easy-make" this and "Under 15 minutes" that... HOW DO I CHOOSE? The answer: I don't, and hide in the corner while my frozen lasagna heats in the microwave.

My egoistic birthday wish would be for my friends to share with me their one (and only one) favouritest home-cooked recipe.

Somehow "Tim's Mom's Black-Noodle-Thing" or "Bishnu's tupperware curry(!)" has more appeal than anything Betty Crocker ever made. Instead of "what will I make today", it'd become "who shall I eat today"? Neat! (no dirty jokes, guys)..

In conclusion, free things are often the best.

PS. Birthdays surrounded by exams suck!

Inanity

2006-11-30T01:35:00.000+01:00

What's up with me? What's up with you?

So far, I've been hermit'ing it up, not unlike most other 6th years at SFU at the end of the semester. God. 6 years.

What's this "poke" thing on Facebook. I just logged in, and all these people have "poked" me. What do I do? Poke them back? Won't this just turn into an everlasting poke circle? I'm not sure. So I just poked my brother. We'll see what happens.

I made the best cookies ever the other day.
Best Cookies Ever

And then I ate some. Since I live alone, the other dozen went into a tupperware container with a piece of bread in it. Apparently it keeps them soft. Now I can fatten myself up each day for up to a week!

God it's cold. There's so much snow everywhere. But what am I gonna do, play in it? I can throw snowballs at myself. That's fun.

I sure can't wait till this semester is over. Next week is my birthday. It's the first day of finals, too. I think it's gonna suck a lot.

Hey I just spent $400 on new retainers. Isn't that great? They'll have springs on them so my face will hurt for the next few months.

I think I've become a bitter old lady. wtf.

Found a Place!

2006-11-21T17:55:00.000+01:00

So, the ctrl-S twitch I developed apparently published this post pre-emptively. Thanks BetaBlogger.

Anyhoo, I'm quite enjoying these photos of the pad I'll be moving into in January. It's actually "chez proprietaire", which basically means homestay but without the free meals. The lady seems cool, she's lived in Tunisia, France and Germany and has had all sorts of international students stay at her place.

My Room-to-Be: I totally dig the carpet, and the fact it's so bright from natural light.

View from Bedroom Window: The location rocks. It's right across from the market, the kind where they offer to let you taste their melons before buying. This is the north-facing view I'd get while working at my desk.

Le Salon: Interesting style choice, but cozy quand meme. In the corner is hiding a LiveBox, the wifi/router/modem from France Telecom. Yay internets!

Cute 'n Sunny Cuisine: How charming! If I get really motivée I could just cross the street for some croissants and have a nice breakfast back here.

And the place is a 5 min walk from school, and super near chez Kenzo. Yippee!

Boil-Water Advisory

2006-11-18T00:10:00.000+01:00

It's all over the papers. Torrential downpours have overwhelmed Vancouver's water treatment systems, and now it's unsafe to drink tap water, and even brush your teeth in it.

But the worst consequence of Vancouver's boil-water advisory? Consider the encounter this morning in my 10:30am class:

Paul: "Hey guys."
Ben: "Oh hey...hey! Where did you get that??"
Me: "Yeah, where'd you get that?! You can't get that anywhere!"

Paul calmly puts his cup down with a smug smile.
"I had to go all over campus, and I really should've been studying for my midterm today, but finally I found it: the like, one place selling coffee."

Dirty water has closed down Vancouver coffee shops. Can't get much worse than that.

Vancouver's so beautiful... when it's NOT RAINING

2006-11-14T02:48:00.000+01:00

Why won't it just stop raining? I mean, for longer than 5 hours, punks. *shakes fist at sky* It's depressing and dark and *grumble*projects-tests*grumble*... I guess it makes it easier to stay at home and work.

The only thing holding me together right now is CBC Radio 2.

Les faux pas

2006-11-11T20:20:00.000+01:00

Andy recently sent me a Wikipedia link on faux pas. I'm not really sure, but does this stem from the differently-spelled french phrase "Il ne faut pas" (one shouldn't)?

Anyway, as a mutt of varying cultures (I like to call myself an ABCFC: American-Born Chinese-Filipino-Canadian) who's also spent some time in France, I sought to seek out whether I really have been avoiding those "shouldn'ts" correctly.

Canada

"Canadians are extremely polite when it comes to mild physical faux pas such as stepping on feet or bumping into others. Often both parties will briefly apologise, including the person who was bumped."

Maybe that's why the world thinks Canada is so nice. We're all sorry, ALL THE TIME.

"Not waiting at the end of a queue for your turn ("cutting in line") is considered extremely rude. This applies in all areas of public interaction."

Sure, this is true in a lot of places, but see, Canadians are very rule-following. Like, there's NO WAY we'd try slipping into the grocery store "Less Than 15 Items" line with 16 items. No freaking way.

"Failing to hold a door open for another person is seen as very impolite, especially when doing so would require no special effort."

Sometimes strangers going through the door before you will wait up to 5 seconds while you make your way to the door. I think that's because a door swinging back towards you requires twice as much force to open. And that's just too much.

"The common American custom of responding to a thank-you with "uh-huh" is very disconcerting for Canadians. In Canada, "uh-huh" is a colloquial way to respond to a yes or no question; in any other context it is a sarcastic response."

I always get that when I go cross-border shopping in Washington. You know, I'd go to try on some jeans, and the lady comes to open the door for me.

Me: "Thanks!"
American change-room lady: "Uh huh!"
Me: *face contorts as I enter the changeroom*

Uncool.

The Philippines
At church, I'm often surrounded by first or second generation Filipinos. What I think is polite becomes offensive.

It is impolite to refuse an offer of hospitality if you are a guest in someone's home.

This is hard for polite canadians (even harder for Japanese, I'd imagine) who don't want to "bother" people. But if you're around Filipinos, don't ever say no.

They will try to make you stay for dinner, give you packages of dried mangoes before you go home, offer a ride, or even give you a trinket/piece of clothing that they don't need anymore but think you might appreciate. EVEN IF YOU DON'T WANT IT, TAKE IT SLASH EAT IT. They'll be happy, and you can donate it to Big Brothers afterwards. If you don't accept their offer, you get called "hiya" a filipino word that basically indicates "shame" (from the Culture of the Philippines)

France

"For both sexes, shaking hands with a woman in a casual context introduces distance."

However, guys shake hands with other guys all the time. My first day at school, I shook hands with all the new classmates I met. I wonder if they thought I was guy.

Sick and Tired

2006-11-04T04:50:00.000+01:00

I'm in a pretty pitiful state.

Tonight when I got home, I got out of the car, pulled out my key chain, and attempted to lock my car with the garage door opener. I finally figured it out after a few clicks.

I thought that was bad, and took the elevator up to my floor, shaking my head with disgust. I then reached the heavy wooden door of my apartment, and proceeded to wonder why it wasn't unlocking.

Oh, I realized as I looked down at the key fob in my hand, because pressing the unlock button on the car key doesn't apply to house doors.

...yeah.

Tickets acquired, by no easy means

2006-10-24T19:34:00.000+01:00

Getting to Europe for cheap. There are various ways you can do it.

For example, you could become an Air Courier, where you accompany a package to its destination (hopefully also yours). Or perhaps you can using a low-cost flight scanner engine like Fare Compare, which works maybe half the time. Or you could, like, go by boat.

Me, after all my other options let me down, I Expedia.ca'd it.

Vancouver (YVR) to Nice (NCE): $1202, return. Yeah, nuh-uh. Let's try again...
Vancouver (YVR) to Nice (NCE): $2452, one-way. Weird.

Now, with a bit of creativity, you can get cheaper than that. You just have to be ready to exchange these dollars for a bit of inconvenience.

My inconvenience:
Drive to Seattle, take Air Canada from Seattle (SEA) that transfers through Vancouver (YVR), to London Gatwick (LGW). Then take a charter bus to London Luton (LTN), then EasyJet to Nice (NCE).

Seattle to London: $663, return. Add another $100 for incidentals...like getting to Nice from London. Yay!

Well at least it isn't as bad as my accidental trip to Paris (My Journey Back, at the bottom).

Decision came back

2006-10-17T19:03:00.000+01:00

B) No.

I'm going back to France in January. If you have any connections out there so I can do better than a McJob, let me know.

And THIS is how computing is relevant to life

2006-10-15T23:46:00.000+01:00

In my biomedical imaging computing science course, I'm learning about corpus callosum segmentation of MRI scans.

This, of course, helps me predict episode 3x03 of Grey's Anatomy:

McDreamy quizzes Dr. Yang: "Mr. Tressel here's having a corpus callosotomy. What's that gonna look like?"

Me:*Shoots out Jeopardy buzzer-hand ala Elliot Reed reflex* ding! "OH I TOTALLY know this. What is... something about the bridge between the two hemispheres of the brain!?"

Dr. Yang's response: "We'll be severing some of the fibres that connect the left and right hemispheres of his brain to prevent the spread of seizure activity from one half of the brain to the other."

Me:*dances with glee*

Yep. My computing courses like, teach me stuff.

The Day of Truth (tm)

2006-10-13T05:56:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow. Friday the 13th. A pivotal day which could change my life. I'm anxious, giddy, and wary, too.

This ominous day is when we receive The Decision, which could go either of three ways:

A) Yes
B) No
C) Yes, but no money.
... or the ever-nerve-wracking D) We lied. You get your decision later.

What's IS the final Jeopardy question, for $1000, Alex?

---"Is mon bébé accepted into SFU CS grad school, or not?"----

If yes: Wittle sugarplums get their dance on, sunny days get breezy, and bunnies hop together in harmony with polar bears. Bibi moves here, and the happiness ensues, as we traipse together into the grapefruit West Coast sunset. (Don't forget coding together. Not so much on the beach though.)

If no: It ain't all too bad. I move to France in January for a while, and nuclear war with the momma for whisking away Bibou is averted (or at least postponed). As Harriet says, "What's wrong with you - you get a chance to go back to France and you don't go? Crazy girl." Yup, back to the Cote d'Azur. I was kinda missing the egg pizza, anyway.

If yes, but no grad funding: See no.

If decision day is not actually tomorrow: I might break things. (Keep your distance.)

Cross your fingers, people!

Update: D) They didn't finish the decisions today and still have to meet again next week. Sigh, I'm not breaking things, it's ME that's broken... It always happens this way. :(

Ah, memories...

2006-10-09T08:34:00.000+01:00

Some interesting stats, good advice and sometimes funny anecdotes from the conference.

What happens when 1,300 women in computing take over a convention centre:

Women walk right into the men's restroom
There's a designated breast-pump room for lactacting mothers
Dancing on the dancefloor doesn't involve getting winked at or groped
Chocolate is served (with fruit on the side)
They can get away with purple conference totebags
Lunch is salad, and no one's able to finish

Ironic comment by bellboy about the number of women in computing at the conference:
"I'm kinda intimidated."

Shirley Tillman, President of Princeton, on why women planning to have families are afraid to become professors:
"I attended a conference when my children were small. After the evening session, the women were drinking beer, talking about lives, fretting about being so long away from the children. The males were bragging about how long they've been on the road, how long it's been...the longer the better. Imagine the effect on grad students at the table...40% of women find that work-life balance is a challenge vs. 2.8% of men"

Interesting study on how confidence plays a role on performance:
"Michael Inslek looked at undergrad math performances by giving math tests, placing girls and guys in separate rooms. In presence of men, women performed more poorly, and when adding more men, they performed even more poorly."

A woman from NY reminisceses back to when she was only female faculty member in CS:
"The school of computer science was going to hire a faculty member. Sometimes, it makes sense to say something like, oh, this person's a statistical specialist, we don't need another one. In our case, they were interviewing candidates for a faculty position, and one of five candidates was a woman. Right in front of me, a fellow faculty member commented, referring to the gender of the female candidate, "Well we already have one of those, why would we need another one?"
... LOL

After a Microsoft representative introduced her as "beyond the 'queen of search' title", cited her as a Stanford award winner for her impact to undergrad education, and a happy alternative to Paris Hilton on magazine covers by gracing NewsWeek, BusinessWeek and Fortune, Marissa Mayer, VP of Google, wins us over by her humility: "That's a really intimidating introduction!"

Seinfeld-esque 'so-true-it's-funny' comment about asian women's culturally engrained auto-self-deprecation and second-guessing (ie. "Maybe I'm wrong but..."): "Ever notice how even when you're 200% sure about something, you say it as if you're 70% sure? And our colleagues who know something at 50% will say it as if they know as if they're 100% sure...?"

On setting concrete, prioritized goals when developing a product: "95% of users use 5% of features"

Marissa's tips:

On trying - "You can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket."
"Creativity loves constraint." eg. google desktop was constrained by limiting memory, processor, download size, and thus they had to become more creative to overcome despite constraints
"Surround yourself with "allies" not "adorers". That is, the people who will support you but be honest, not the ones who will just tell you how great you are.

Skytrain paranoia kicking in at San Diego above-ground trolley station: "Omg they're all just *walking* accross the tracks!"

On walking past the line-up at the Panda Exhibit, craning our necks to glimpse the bears through the 'exit' door: "It's like that simpson's episode: Get them! They're trying to learn for free!"

ghc2006

Robots, robots, robots. ROBOTS.

2006-10-07T18:43:00.000+01:00

This post is for Timbo, robot guy and art dude. I think I found your calling:
Engaging Robotics through Design and Art. Just heard a talk about it by Carl DiSalvo from Carnegie Mellon University.

Consider their project Pearl:

They created a configurable robot head that could take on 32 different looks, and trying to figure out which "look" was the most approachable. The head above was the one they finally settled on.

Designing robots, Tim! Sounds like it's right up your alley.

Another cool "robot" that'd be GREAT for long-distance relationships :P The Hug, which sends cuddly "touch-messages" via heating patches, pressure points and microphones. I'd order the first one!

Also, iRobot brought a bunch of Rhoombas. I want/need one, and GHC participants get 20% off.

I am torn once again. Intelligent User Interfaces or Robotics? OR BOTH?!

Partied out without even partying

2006-10-07T06:29:00.000+01:00

Here I am, poolside, after the biggest party of computer science women EVER. The turquoise water still pulsates under the glow of Microsoft's rose-coloured soiree, the grand flower centrepiece still floating in the middle of the pool. Earlier in the evening, CS gals flowed in, scooping up red glitter t-shirts and mysterious red boxes containing make-up+chocolate. We even got our picture taken and printed in under 2 mins.

Up on the 9th floor of the Regency Towers, Google held up it's name for being Party Central. Neon-bright Googletinis graced the packed dancefloor during sessions of let-loose YMCA, and everyone wanted a blinky Google pin. Or three.

IBM chose to keep the fluorescent lights on and have an "educationally fun" party with demos and door prizes. HP gave out reaaally cute shrek ears to reflect their Movie Night madness. My volunteer pardner got a free Shrek dvd, too.

So Eva and I actually lucked out and were assigned the "roving volunteers" task. We stamped treasure hunt cards till our arms hurt and admired the spanish guitar, accordian, jazz, and hawaiian music players (not in the same soundspace, luckily).

<geekout>
Eva told me she also wanted to go into HCI, and told me that UBC had a good program. She had thought about going there.

Speaking of HCI, two other gals are doing some non-traditional PhD program at Georgia Tech called "Human Centered Computing" where no one seems to do anything similar to other grad students, it's so diverse... and an IBM gal named Tessa told me how she did her masters at U Dub in Washington on AI/HCI stuff, and a San Diego master's student was in speech analysis, but for dolphins :P
</geekout>

<frenchout>
Argh, mais toujours il est que le net rame comme un chien, qui fait chier... wifi has been evil to me since the beginning, and j'arrive pas a parler tranquillement a mon bibibou.
</frenchout>

Edit: Tessa Lau from IBM is the chair for a conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI), the marriage of AI and Human Computer Interaction. I'm just flabbergasted with delight, quite honestly. THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO DO.

Day 2: A New Lease on (Conference) Life

2006-10-06T20:31:00.000+01:00

My session choosing strategy has changed completely from Day 1. I'm D-O-N-E done with the Corporate Leadership and CEO workshops, and focusing on the cool HCI + NLP PhD forum this afternoon to get research ideas.

Google, Microsoft, IBM and a whole bunch of other conference sponsors are throwing a big, sexy bash tonight, to themes such as Mardi Gras, Cosmopolitan, Tropical... and plus there'll be a big Carmen Sandiego-inspired scavenger hunt with prizes to win!

But I'm not going.

I got a last-minute chance to volunteer run a booth during the party. That gains me volunteer hours, which gains me an unexpected $240 in conference fee reimbursement! Not too shabby, considering I still get to pick at the appetizers every once in a while anyway. I'll network with those courting companies next year. (DID I MENTION GRACE HOPPER IS GOING ANNUAL!?! Next one's in Orlando!! YAYY!)

BTW I will go to *one* corporate talk. Marissa Mayer, a former AI prof who is now a VP at Google... she's my American Idol.

ghc2006

drumrolll

2006-10-06T06:00:00.000+01:00

It's official. I'm becoming a prof.

Ze-nian will be happy!

Yup. So I sneak into the darkly lit ballroom un peu en retard because I was too busy complain-blogging, and slip thankfully into the last seat at a random table. I don't know anyone, but it's sometimes more interesting that way. Tired from a long day, I devour the raspberry and almond salad with pesto cream dressing, and introduce myself to the gal on my right, from Oregon State U.

Neereja, a 2nd year major is in something she calls "End User Software Engineering". 'Ah', I think to myself, Software Engineering. I remember that... like, mountains of documentation and stuff, right? Nope, she says. It's like HCI, and she introduced her thesis topic to me, which I thought was reeeally cool.

Another lady, a prof whose identity will remain confidential, was sitting next to her, and asked me what I wanted to do. Oh. The Question. "Well", I said, thinking thoughtfully back to my enthusiasm over the CEO talk, "I like managing. I'm good at it."

She made a face.

- "A manager?"
- "Yeah."
- "Why?"
- "Well, like I said, it's something I enjoy doing. But then, I don't like the idea of being a cog wheel in a large company. I want to feel I'm making a real difference."

She nodded understandingly.

- "Don't be a manager."
- "Huh? But I think I'd be good at it and..."
- "Hey, it's a waste when you're good at Computing and then just settle for being a manager. You can let Business students do that. Why don't you be a prof?"
- "Well, you guys are doing some really neat research. It's so... interesting. I always wanted to be an inventor...And I guess you do managing as a prof too, right?"
- "Of course. Plus, you feel you really take care of the grad students you take on. Like you're really making a difference in their lives, guiding them. It's really rewarding. I think it's the best job in the world."

And then I thought back to SFU and my co-op job there. I love working for the university. The people are wonderful and laid back, there's tons of room to start initiatives and the resources to do it... and I don't have to dress up. (Wearing the business coat on me today didn't last long.)

Then I thought about my job at Chevron's downtown hi-rise. High-heels, and sometimes colleagues who would ask the superficial questions and never get to know you you.

Oh, right, and teaching. I love that. So, what'll it be? CEO or Prof?

How about both? (cf. Fred Popowich)

ghc2006

I shouldn't be the nicey-nice girl

2006-10-06T03:04:00.000+01:00

Oh I'm SO disappointed. I'm not even sarcastic!

Roz Ho, General Manager for Microsoft spoke at the Asian Women Birds of a Feather session. She was amazing: dynamic, leading a team because she, like me, figures that the most fun job is leading people because that's where you can have the most impact. She oversees 200 employees on a crazy schizophrenic project developing Apple products (eg. Word for Macs). She talked about how she uses her approachability to gain harmony within the group, but still said she never sold herself short by trying to justify opinions by "Maybe I'm wrong, but..." because that loses your cred.

She does stuff I want to do, I can see myself in her. But, she's working at Microsoft.

Not that I don't love their products, but I have this stigma that working any "big box" corporation means just being a little cog in a huge system, and not seeing the fruit of my work. I'm fundamentally against that.

So, I wanted to see what Roz (who I swear I've seen in a different context, but I can't place where) had to say to that, being seemingly like-minded and all.

But she had to catch a plane, and I watched as she tried to escape after the session while students swarmed the nice woman with questions. Ok, I said to me-self, after she's done with them, I'll walk with her to her room after so she's not late. :/ Unfortunately, a more assertive gal stopped her in her tracks and then slowly moved away as I gaped after them. *Sigh*

ghc2006

The chocolate cake at lunch today? Orgasmic.

2006-10-05T21:27:00.000+01:00

Gosh, ever since the conference opened last night with a reception and poster session, it's been a blur. A awe-inspiring, sometimes-choked-with-admiration, inspiring blur.

I mean, I've been to two GHC's before, but because I finally have an idea of what I want to be, sessions are relevant instead of just "Huh, that's kinda cool!" surveys.

Last night, the crunchy chicken taquitoes and beer aside (of course, just mere observation of alcohol and it's spectacular effects on conversation fluidity) I talked with three poster presenters who will may have an effect on my immediate future.

1. AI and HCI: a PhD student from U of T fused my two prospective research interests into one!

2. Integrating role models and CS professions into first year courses: I walked away, stupidly grinning, with a simple solution to the whole "first-years don't know what CS is really about". Greg, you don't need all those CMPT 120 labs to be about programming, how about dedicating a portion to all the "soft stuff" you can't fit into lectures? Of course! The labs! Who woulda thunk? (you probably have already, so give it to me straight - why not?)

3. Erica from UBC had been carrying an indescript white tube around since Vancouver, and I finally found out the gold that was inside. Guess what! She works with chinese character layouts on cellphone keys, permuting the possibilities such that her layout is more efficient (using her scheme of cost calculation) than the varying layouts currently provided by cellphone manufacturers today.

Holy crap and the "So, You Want to be a CEO?" session? Rocked. Hard. They love doing the stuff I love. But they say they are also able to come home and be with their families, and not spend the whole night doing e-mail. It's actually possible. I'm gonna do it.

Also, I met two ladies today who have French minors and did study-abroad in France. Am I surrounded by me-clones?

Edit: Just listened to a Microsoft senoir researcher also did a study abroad in Paris. We're everywhere!

ghc2006

Did I mention I'm in San Diego?

2006-10-05T02:17:00.000+01:00

*waves*

*Opens purple Grace Hopper tote bag with a flourish*

Let's see what cool swag we have today:

Wells Fargo Playing cards
CA ballcap
Yahoo Mirror compact (omg I've wanted a new one ever since mine broke!)
MS Nerf slingshot arrow thing that I'm scared to use (cf. my irrational terror of all things elastic)
EZ Antivirus 2005, also from CA
An awesome bag of NCWIT green smarties that vaguely resemble Advil tablets
A pin and some (yay!) pens :D

Sorry, I'm working on 4 hours of sleep and had to wait 2.5hrs to get into my room here at the beautiful Towne and Country Convention Centre. Thus, when the lady handed me my conference bag over the counter, like a glorious angel bestowing gifts unto a weary traveller, I was overcome with the sentiment that one-who-doesn't-get-christmas-presents usually feels when receiving unexpected toys. Child-like ecstacy.

And THEN I walked over to the table and met Erica Rios, the person who I was corresponding with when I volunteered to be a blogger. And I thought she was just a liason for bloggers. Hah! She's only one of the major volunteers on the whole GHC organizing committee, working a dream's dream at the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. Can I do that too? Maybe one day.

I met another, different, Erica on the flight over here, from UBC. She's presenting a paper at the Poster Session, though she just finished her undergrad degree this year! I hope I see her around again. Today we experienced "World Famous Fish Tacos" together at the outdoor shopping centre food court across the way. They were ok (ie. go for the burrito instead.)

Just ate a green NCWIT smartie. It's actuallly an M&M! Awesome!

PS. Jen and Amanda will agree with me: Green is the new blue.

ghc2006

I think I have a gambling problem

2006-10-04T05:54:00.000+01:00

[Hm, title's vaguely reminiscent of that "My Drinking Team has a Skiing Problem" t-shirt.]

A couple years ago, the Vancouver radio station of "my generation", Z95.3, introduced a novel radio contest called ZFX. It quickly gained popularity, as callers called in to try and guess the "zed-effect", a short sound clip that callers identified to win cash. Each time a caller got it wrong, the jackpot was increased by $500. When caller #9 got it right, he got the jackpot, and a trip to Cabo San Lucas. I never thought much of it at the time.

Then, exactly 2 weeks ago, my life changed drastically.

While driving to my parents', a suave, recorded radio announcer came on: "Do YOU know what THIS is? *schwap ting ting* Call now to make your guess." Heehee, silly ZFX, I thought. Then, out of nowhere, flash boom bang, an image, clear as day, popped into my head. A sink. A bathroom sink. And pushing down on the metal plunger thingie to unplug it. Luckily, the mental blindness quickly faded, as I was doing 80 km/h down Lougheed and really should've be focusing on staying between those white and yellow lines, not some divine revelation.

$11,500. That's how much the caller who *did* call didn't win. I mused to myself how the answer was so obvious. Somehow, I was extremely sure of my answer. How could it be that no one had guessed it yet? I checked out the Discover Vancouver forum and sure enough, the list of guesses did not include "unplugging a bathroom sink." Curious.

That night, I hooked up a radio and waiting for the announcement to call in. Busy signals, busy signals, and more busy signals. Gah. But you see, I am not one to give up. I'm tenacious. And as the days passed and the jackpot grew bigger and bigger, I didn't miss a beat. Four times a day, Z DJ's ask listeners to call in and guess. Four times a day, I was on my phone, hitting Redial.

It got pretty bad. By bad, I mean I took 5 min "bathroom breaks" from CMPT 418 class to plug into my AM/FM radio and dial in. At 6:30am, despite going to bed at 1, I hopped out of bed, turned on the radio and sat, patiently waiting for the Morning Crew to open up the Z-lines. One time, Kelly Grant answered the phone and told me I was Caller #7, thanks for playing. I think I just about had an aneurysm.

I've had dreams about winning. That's right, plural. Dreams. But here's the kicker: See, my cell phone plan is Fido's by-the-minute Pay As You Go. The radio station has 5 lines (I've done my homework), and when they're full, you either get a busy signal or an automatic answering machine saying that the lines are full. Thus, when I use my cell phone to call (ie. every time) and get the answering machine, I pay for a full minute of air time. And then I hit the send button twice and try again.

The result? My cell phone has become a virtual slot machine, where a chance at a thousand-dollar jackpot costs 15 cents of Fido air time. Sometimes, even when I'm sure the time has passed and it's probably too late to possibly get through, I still redial and pay the 15 cents for the sake of "But maybe THIS time I'll win."

Gambling is against my religion. Gambling leads to greed, yes, even if the money would go towards helping a special someone move to Canada.

And thus, with all the facts finally set in front of me like a burning sceptre of truth, I can come to only one conclusion:

Z Effects. Is Satan.

I've got a grad plan! ...kind of!

2006-09-30T21:43:00.000+01:00

I can't say I ever was one to profoundly appreciate poetry or take an writing course for fun, but somehow French makes everything sound better. Take Rudyard Kipling's If translated into Si

The first stanza, for example:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

Si tu peux voir détruit l’ouvrage de ta vie
Et sans dire un seul mot te mettre à rebâtir,
Ou perdre d’un seul coup le gain de cent parties
Sans un geste et sans un soupir ;

It's got style, it's got flair (it's "The Nanny"?); c'est doux et moins brutal, on dirait...

Anyway, I've decided to use my last 2 semesters to finish off the French Extended Minor I started years ago. Something like:

Spring:

FREN 301 Advanced French Composition
FREN 230 Introduction to French-Canadian Literature
FREN 360 Intermediate French Literature
FREN 370 Introduction to French Linguistics II

Summer:

MACM 316 Numerical Analysis
FREN 474 French Poetry
FREN 410 French Stylistics

Or do a USRA during the summer... oh and there's also this French Contemporary Theatre one I think'd be really cool... eh, I don't have to graduate on time, right?

(You say: "Well Angelica, it's too late for that, now, isn't it?")

eheh... *cough*

So this is what it's like...

2006-09-24T01:16:00.000+01:00

It's slowly becoming unbearable - how is it possible that even after talking every day, sometimes for hours, each goodbye still brings about hot tears and an actual physical heartache? We look forward to each day passing because it brings us closer to knowing when we'll be together again. The grad school is supposed to respond by October 31. Please please please faster faster faster...!

It's a bird, nope - plane, no.. it's Drop-in Volleyball!!

2006-09-18T06:55:00.000+01:00

So Thursday night drop-in volleyball happened to be going on at exactly the same time as cheerleading tryouts, in exactly the same gym. Thank goodness, because the string of fate-like mishaps that made me ineligible to participate in the tryouts, DURING, might I add, the most anxious and stressball time of the month (yes, boys, that time) could've made me go off the deep end. But luckily, volleyball saved the day.

In other news, the new CS recruiter had me write up a thinger on my stay in France. It's a little over-injected with the enthused ramblings of a former recruitment coordinator, but eh, it does put a bright spin on the year:

==

The French Riviera in the south of France is known to locals as the "cote d'azur", or azure coast, because of the strikingly turquoise colour of the mediterranean sea. I'd never have guessed that my 4th year in Computing Science would involve me taking clear morning jogs past the palm trees and waves of this beautiful blue coastline before heading to class. However, this is how I spent this past year, as an exchange student at the University of Nice, France.

My name is Angelica Lim, a Computing Science major at Simon Fraser University. Although my concentration is in Computing, I decided to also take several french courses at SFU because I enjoyed French in high school. However, the best way to perfect a language is to immerse yourself in it. So, last year I decided to fly across the world and enroll myself in a Computing Science program taught completely in french. It wasn't too bad, because math and programming are the same around the world. Despite that, my exchange allowed me (a non french-immersion student) to become virtually fluent in 10 months! Living on my own in France also taught me how to cook, somewhat...

One of the coolest parts of my stay in Nice was working in a Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) laboratory in Sophia-Antipolis, the Silicon Valley of France. Basically, our project was to build software to guide an robot to perform underwater tasks, such as object search, without human intervention. This kind of technology could eventually be used to automatically find and disarm mines hidden deep in the ocean.

Being able to easily hop over to Turin for the 2006 Olympics to cheer on the Canadian hockey team was also cool. In between courses, I made room for side trips to places like Italy, Paris and Monaco. I had enough money to travel because international students* in France pay the same tuition as French residents - virtually nothing, thanks to their all-encompassing social system. And in the end, I was still able to transfer the courses I took in France to count toward my Bachelor's degree at SFU. For someone who loves to travel and doesn't have a lot of money, it was the best of both worlds!

Now back in Vancouver, I can say that this has been the most memorable year ever. I've made friends from France and also other exchange students from around the world, and achieved my goal of learning a language that will help me find a job, especially in bilingual Canada.

I encourage you to pursue my field, Computing Science, and use technology to make a difference in the world. And most of all, be sure to have fun while at it!

Angelica Lim
(Graduated from Dr. Charles Best Secondary School)
*For more information, see www.edufrance.fr

===

What I didn't mention, of course, is the best thing that happened to me while there... sigh. Je t'aime fort bébé!

It's like being a frosh again

2006-09-13T21:10:00.000+01:00

Being back in Vancouver after a year away does imply a sort of "rebirth" for me. For example, for the first time in years, I actually perused the SFU clubs days tables. This time, it was not just aimless sauntering in mild disinterest, mostly comparing others' advertising materials with that of the CSSS table, no.

Today, I went on a purposeful quest to sign up for SFU Cheerleading (No experience required?! Cool), then accidentally signed up for Jazz Band and the "Barkada" Filipino Club (they said they could teach me Tagalog!). Awesome!

Tryouts are tomorrow night. I haven't done gymnastics since I was 13, so this will be interesting...

Starting Over

2006-09-08T23:25:00.000+01:00

The Petite Geek

Hiroshi Ishiguro tweets

Robots that *don't* take people's jobs

REEM robot hits Bled, shakes hands

Encounter with Jazz, the French telepresence robot

Coping mechanisms

True story about cowbells

Nao's Caravan Palace dance

5 tips for Wikipedia editing

Over-confidence and why it's wrecking everything

My GHC Memory

On Robot Avatars

The Batcave

Yes, L and R sound the same to (most) Japanese

How to Speak American

Japan is a Lonely Place

Reading Groups

Back to blogging

An Ada Lovelace Day post about Kate Tsoukalas

OpenCV with Python on Windows

Recording Audio on a Mac

Speech recognition for language learning

Installing OpenCV on Mac OS X, with Python Bindings

For Ada Lovelace Day: My Mom, The Cobol Cowboy

Mobile experiment

Posting from my gPhone

Elections 2008

Israel - Part II

Israel - Part 1 (English)

NYC Retreat

*Happily bouncing*

Microsoft CAPTCHA Hacked

Israel - Part III (Final)

Israel - Part II

Israel - Part I

-_-

It's all about the money

My First Easter

I <3 My House

Yes, I do enjoy raising my eyebrows.

Don't Spoil Your Appetite!

Bored.

Ode to a Têtard...

Sweat, thirst, and riot police ...

My Celebrity Look-alikes

It's Sarko time!

Cake Mahogany

What's so great about April 22?

If only we had a car...

Nous sommes prets. One day.

My life in pictures

Religion

It's kinda like being the loner in high school

My Latest Foodings

Buy Travel Insurance

"Airplane Malfunction"

I'm so excited!

So, are you excited?

On Cuteness

Well, crap

So, do you like... stuff?

Inanity

Found a Place!

Boil-Water Advisory

Vancouver's so beautiful... when it's NOT RAINING

Les faux pas

Sick and Tired

Tickets acquired, by no easy means

Decision came back

And THIS is how computing is relevant to life

The Day of Truth (tm)

Ah, memories...

Robots, robots, robots. ROBOTS.

Partied out without even partying

Day 2: A New Lease on (Conference) Life

*drumrolll*

I shouldn't be the nicey-nice girl

The chocolate cake at lunch today? Orgasmic.

Did I mention I'm in San Diego?

I think I have a gambling problem

Robots that don't take people's jobs

Happily bouncing

drumrolll