2nd Week(9.1~9.7)
Finally settled my course schedule, I will take altogehter 5 courses in the first half semester,namly,
Programming(java), Database(oracle), E-commerce technology(ASP.NET with C#),telecom mngt, investment analysis
The nice thing is that all of the subjects are entirely new to me, I should never get bored. However, the price is that I have to devote substantial effort
to meet requirement of the courses, all the course requires term paper or team project, lots of work ahead.
On saturday, I finished the first assignment in telecom mngt, almost at the last minute. Next week, the term paper proposal will due... Even though, I like the design
of this course, maybe because it fits my expectation for balancing among technology and mngt&strategy
. It provides a framework for analyzing the interaction among requirement(demand),technology(supply,possiblity),
and policy context. Meanwhile, it give me the opporunity to get access to the "buzz" concept which is under evolvement in information and communication technology
On Sunday, I finished the first trading case in investment analysis. This is the virtual classroom where my trading parters trades in a simulated envrionment. I am at lost at the first several trials, then gradually get the sense of the market until later in the round. The "market" is more active and thus more sophisticated than I had expected. I have to be very alert to monitor the price change to get a good deal in the transaction. Lots to be reflected in this case...
3rd Week(9.8~9.14)
I can not believe that another week came to an end. For the mini course, it means that almost half of the terms have passed. For example,I just begin to know ASP/C#, the group project is going to begin where we're expected to apply what is learned to the real case. I have to be able think at a speed of light to be able to catch up. Telecom term proposal is done, I am happy to be in a good team. I should devote more time to the research. Time is always limited. Next week, the TOC/BOC is going to take place. Job seeking is at the most priority in importance, however, comparing with meeting deadline of homework, it seems to be less important. I should put it at a reasonable important position, I am not clear about career objective now, I have to spend sometime to understand more about self and the market.
4th Week(9.15~9.21)
I reserved most of the time of this week for TOC(Technology Opporunites Conference) and BOC(Business Opporunities Conferernce) this week,
after I crunched almost all the due homework last week. Some reflection on the job fair: (1) I start to think seriously what kind of job
I will be HAPPY to do, I looked into the financial industrial IT jobs, however, it takes time to find out whether it's really my dream job;
(2)I find that the homework is lovely after the tiring job fairs, after all, it's more self-suffacing in the academic life. You do what you like,
and most of the stuffs are under my control.
Next week is going to be another hectic week, two of my project assignments will be due later this week, and there is finals ahead for investment analysis. Today is another trading session, I am glad to see that my result improved than last time.
5th Week(9.22~9.28)
This week, we kicked off two projects, one in e-commerce technology, working on an peer evaluation system using ASP.NET, another is in Investment Analysis, we're managing position of two funds. Ironically, we take a very risky approach for both of them, i.e. won't start until last minute, as we simply can not afford time to plan ahead. But the result is not bad, the team is productive in face of the ticking minutes. This remind me of other tasks that I work on, it's true that "task will fill thelength of time avaialble", the more pressing the deadline, the more efficient the work will be. Does it mean that I have roomto be more efficient? I think so, but I might better off to keep a balance, sometimes, do something slightly inefficiently will be kind of relaxation. Just like I need to sleep more hours to compensate the lost sleep from long night. There was an workshop for international student job searching today, kind of depressed becuase news comes that the working permit issued to international student decreased this year. I don't know what my future will be like.
6th Week(9.29~10.5)
I was asked several times during this week the same question: do you enjoy your study here? It brought
me lots of thoughts. It is a just-in-time question. Now come to the end of some mini-course, finals
will be next week. It's interesting to note that my perspection of enjoyment has changed, to different
extent, from that at the beginning of this semseter. Theoretically, I should take enjoyment in each of
the classes, as most of them are chosen by myself,supposely, they cater to my interest, the classes in
those list are "investment analysis", "e-commerce technology","advanced database", some of the classes
are required, but still carrying some interesting topics, or taking an approach that I like, the classe
s of this type are "telecom mngt", "java". But I did not enjoy them all, or at least not as enjoyable
as supposed to be. The reason is very astounding, I simply have no time to appreciate the beauty of
those classes, by the time I begin to gain some sense, it comes to an end. The topics covered are so
extensive that, before I get bored, it is switched to another entirely new topic. That's the MISM, as
told by some seniors in this program.
But I DO need to find enjoyment, or passion to do a better job here. I don't want to be a slave driven by the never-stop homeworks, pressing project deadlines. I have to regain the inquisitive mind then the passion that I had at the beginning. I do it, becuase I love it, not the superficial,transistent but the one that is sophisticated and lasting.
7th,8th Week(10.6~10.19)
Sorry, for those anxious waiting for update from me....
What have I been doing in the last two weeks? Final projects, exams, mid term, working overnight, my birthday,
everything... then followed by a four days trip to NewYork and Boston, had good time, visiting new place and meet
new people. It was great to take several days off from the study here, What is surprising is that I begin to love pittsburgh more
than ever, it's clean,quiet,good place for study... NewYork,um... somehow, it's too similar with Shanghai, crowded and noisy,
so I could not find much reason to love it,Boston,not bad, I might love it someday, but not now... I love pittsburgh, I love CMU.
After finishing the mid terms, now comes a full stop for the mini1, I got an A and B+ for the finalized courses, not so good, but not bad. there are two new courses in mini2, professional speaking and data mining, today I have the first class for both of the two. If the judgement is not wrong, there should be many points of interest in those two courses.
9th,10th Week(10.20~11.1)
I had a comparatively easy week, with almost everything finshed on scheule.
My new class... Data mining is an interesting one,I like its combination of intution and rigor,
science and arts... For me, anything relevant with data processing/intelligence is interesting.
Another reflection is that statistics is so important to appreciate the beauty of data mining,
I plan to catch up/refresh the core concepts of statiscis and obtain some hand on experience with
the statistcs analysis package, if possible, I plan to audit some statisics class to improve my
understanding of this subject. I have had a not-so-good experience with statistics at university,
but things might change, I found I begin to love it.
This week, I attend an interesting lecture by vivisimo.comfounder, a CMU faculty in CS department,
talking about their search engine www.vivisimo.com. The motivation of this product is basically the
"information overloading" phenomena pertaining in the individual's information processing system in
this information exploding age. The Search engine usually return too many records for people's to
absord,as the result, they only take a few(most probably the ones ranked high in the search result set)
, but run the chance of neglecting some important information. As Herbert A.Simon(CMU professor)
points:"What information consumes is the attention of receipents,a wealth of information creates a
poverty of attention". Visisimo answer the challenge by incorporating classification into their
search engine. I tried to use it, pretty good result. In some sense, it's better than google.(No advertisment!!) It's just another example how technlogy could
make life easier.
11th Week(11.2~11.9)
This Saturday, I decided to take my mind off for a while from the homework, projects, and exams.
I volunteered at a local non-profit organization called Girls Scout Troop 1912. This is an
organization to help girls grow more healthily and gain more strength. As volunteer, the tasks
were as simple as decorating the activity classroom, helping kids with their activities such as
making a thanksgiving card, making a turkey crafts. All those reminded me of my kindergarten
experience and my golden age in primary school as a “Da Dui Zhang”. Basically, this organization
is equivalent to the “red scarf” in China. The team leader here is just like “Da Dui Fu Dao Yuan”.
So funny. After twenties years, I am now able to revisit my history in the states.
I hope I could volunteer more in the future. The feeling that I am contributing something
is simply great.
For my study, everything is on track. I could sense the tense pace in the next a few weeks.
Almost all the projects are expected to come to a conclusion within 3-4 weeks, and coupling
with finals, the days are not going to be easy. However, on the other hand, with the semester c
oming to an end, less uncertainty exists. Skills set are beginning to come into shape. The projects
are the exactly the arena where the skills are expected to be applied. Isn’t that challenging?!
Sure it is.
12th-13thWeek(11.10~11.24)
Today, very accidentally, I bumped into this website, suddently, I was astouned by its beauty. The beauty might
not come alone from the graphics, the music and the words, the beauty is really from the God's existence, I believe.
To share with you,my dear frieds.
I dreamed I had an interview with God.
“So you would like to interview me?” God asked.
“If you have the time” I said.
God smiled. “My time is eternity.”
“What questions do you have in mind for me?”
“What surprises you most about humankind?”
God answered...
“That they get bored with childhood,
they rush to grow up, and then
long to be children again.”
“That they lose their health to make money...
and then lose their money to restore their health.”
“That by thinking anxiously about the future,
they forget the present,
such that they live in neither
the present nor the future.”
"That they live as if they will never die,
and die as though they had never lived.”
God’s hand took mine
and we were silent for a while.
And then I asked...
“As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons
you want your children to learn?”
“To learn they cannot make anyone
love them. All they can do
is let themselves be loved.”
“To learn that it is not good
to compare themselves to others.”
“To learn to forgive
by practicing forgiveness.”
“To learn that it only takes a few seconds
to open profound wounds in those they love,
and it can take many years to heal them.”
“To learn that a rich person
is not one who has the most,
but is one who needs the least.”
“To learn that there are people
who love them dearly,
but simply have not yet learned
how to express or show their feelings.”
“To learn that two people can
look at the same thing
and see it differently.”
“To learn that it is not enough that they
forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves.”
"Thank you for your time," I said humbly.
"Is there anything else
you would like your children to know?"
God smiled and said,
“Just know that I am here... always.”
-author unknown