Three Pairs of Sisters

Last year


Last night...minus Imei, plus Evy

Repent You Sinners

A bit of an English dinner.

Compulsory group picture after dinner.

A "gank" sign. BetaTauAlpha, a fine co-ed established circa 2007. (Wining part of the night)

Hubba hubba, a polkadot affair.

Never Cease to Amaze Me

Each morning I get up, I die a little
Can't barely stand on my feet
| Take a look in the mirror and cry
|(Take a look at yourself, in the mirror, and cry! Yeah, yeah)
Lord what you're doing to me
|I have spent all my years in believing you
|(ooh, ooh believing you)

|But I just can't get no relief, Lord!
|(I just can't get no relief, Lord!)

Somebody, (somebody), oh somebody (somebody)
| Can anybody find me somebody to love?
|(anybody find me) Yeah..

I work (he works hard) every day of my life
I work till I ache my bones
At the end (At the end of the day)
I take home
|(goes home, goes home on his own)
| my hard earned pay all on my own -
I get down (down) on my knees (knees)
And I start to pray (praise the Lord!)
|Till the tears run down from my eyes, Lord!
|(ooh, ooh, ooh Lord!)

Somebody (somebody), ooh somebody! (please)
|Can anybody find me - somebody to love?
|(Can anybody find me)

(He works hard)
Everyday (everyday)
|And I try and I try and I try
|(I try and I try and I try)
But everybody wants to put me down
They say I'm goin' crazy
They say I got a lot of water in my brain
I got no common sense
I got nobody left to believe
|(He's got nobody left to believe)
(Yeah yeah yeah yeah)

(Ooh Lord)
Oh Somebody, ooh (somebody)
|Anybody find me
|(anybody find me)
Somebody to love?
(Can, anybody, find me, someone to love?)

Got no feel, I got no rhythm
I just keep losing my beat (you just keep losing, and losing)
I'm ok, I'm alright (he's alright, he's alright)
I ain't gonna face no defeat (yeah, yeah)
I just gotta get out of this
|Prison cell
|(ooh, ooh, Prison cell)
_
|One day I'm gonna be free, Lord!
|(One day I'm gonna be free, Lord! )

Find me somebody to love (x11)
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?
Find me somebody to.... loooovve.

Mango

When you buy mangoes that are still undergoing the ripening process and immediately store them in the refridgerator and find out that almost two weeks later the mangoes are still close to their original state (you have one of them for lunch)...and you wonder how you manage to get those degrees in chemistry related area.

Bye Bye Birdie

"Hi, how are you?"

"Hi, you're back from travel. How was it?"

"It's pretty tiring. I went around the country."

"Nice."

Manuscripts were printed on the computer lab's one and only laser printer.

"Check if you have everything. I also printed a lot of stuff."

"Yeah. I think I got them all."

"Well, see you."

"Bye."


A glance at his right finger. A gold band. A mixed feeling on my side.

Sport Equipment Lesson # 512

Never buy socks that do not provide enough traction, especially when your shoes are about half a size or more larger. The wearing of such socks will cause your feet to slide inside the shoes too much and create discomfort and eventually pain when moving at high speed.

I had to cut short the allotted 1-hr elliptical session to a 30-minute session. It hurt too much. I walked 15 minutes on an inclined treadmill and stationary biked the remaining 15 minutes.

TV Ga Ga

Sunday night, the TV in the bedroom only showed blanked dots. I really need to relieve the situation, I couldn't function without the TV on, I need background noises. I checked on the cable connector, it was jiggly. Ha, a McGyver moment came. I took out a tool box from The Rage for an exacto blade and general pliers. I also grabbed the first tape I can find around the apartment.

I then cut off the connector, splitted the cable with the blade and twisted the ground wires together. I splitted the inner insulation and opened up the aluminium that wrapped the thicker copper wire. I managed to put things together to the connector without soldering, thinking it's going to be temporary before I can take home a soldering gun from the lab.

The moment came to try on this make shift arrangement. It didn't work. I then bypassed the connector and plug the naked copper wire into the female side and wrapped the ground wire around the outer part of it. It didn't work.

I went downstairs to check on the splitter, everything was in place, it still didn't work. At this time, I was just going to give up and buy a 30-ft cable online. At least it's better than buying it with impulse from a local store. It can easily costs more than 20 bucks. I figure I can live with local non-cable channels (there are only three, KAMU, FOX, and an evangelical channel) for a couple of days while the cable is shipped out.

And then I went to the Rec. While on elliptical, I somehow thought about the splitter arrangement. My photographic memory is getting better these days. I remember there were only three cables plugged in while there are supposed to be four, one for the input, one for the living room TV, one for TV upstair, and one for cable modem. I checked on it as soon as I got home. And yes, the upstair TV's connector was unplugged.

Voila. Everything is working now. And with the new connection, it's almost like an HDTV clarity.

Those Were the Days

lagi ngaps

mo makan ama Ika Ade

ooooo
ikutttt

ya ayokk

sip
ketemuan dimana

5 menit lagi elu keluar ya

ya gue tunggu depan normandy deh

ok sip

mo makan kemana

Haiku kayaknya
abis itu ke mol bentar ya
apa ke Barnes & Noble?

gimana kalo ketemu di haiku aja
jhehehehe

oh si Robrob mo ikutan ya?

tanya gih...sekalian ada sih ian...kali aja mau

elu lah yg nelpon..suka nggak diangkat kalo gue

ntar gue sms aja lah mereka

ok sip

hahahaha

gilo
those were the days ya

as if it was a year a go

yoi

hahaha
good ole days
will always be that way yah...glad to have the memory

hehe

I Wear My Sunglasses at Night

The elevator doors open. 6th floor. Two guys come in.

"Hi, H. "

"Hi."

"Yeah, so what is it about?"

"It's about nanoparticles in water ecosystem."

"It seems like contamination problem, and the way to handle it."

"Yeah, it's the kinetic on how to do it."

"Are you guys going to the seminar?"

"I am going."

"I am not sure."

They all smile at each other almost keeping an awkward moment. The elevator doors opens up again. 4th floor. Another guy comes in. The girl keeps her head straight.

"Excuse me, what's your name?"

"H."

"I'm Francisco. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you."

They shake hand. The girl has noticed the guy from previous occasions around the department. Everytime, it seems he always wanted to reach out to her in a polite harmless way. There are people that do that naturally. These are the people one feel one can trust. The "good" people.

"Are you from Mexico?" Forgetting her manners, the girl bursts out the judgment she makes on the guy.

"No, I am from Peru." Apparently, the guy doesn't feel offended.

"Ah, Peru. There's another Peruvian. R..." Why this country keeps popping up, she says to herself.

"Yes. He works at the 5 th floor. And you are from where?"

"Indonesia."

"Ah, Indonesia..."

They both talk for a while and then the elevator reaches the first floor. The girl excuses herself to what is common known as Ladies First courtesy. She bumps in to her officemate who just decided to show up so late in the afternoon. Otherwise, she and the guy will be able to talk for a few more moment.

Being a melancholic romantic, she wonders if there will be stories coming out of the accidental meeting.

---

I wear my sunglasses at night. Those are the one set with prescription lenses that survive the bad habits that are mine. I have a newer prescription but am to lazy to get the glasses done.

C-SPAN2 is on. Previously, it was a rerun of Israeli ambassador to the US talking at George Washington University, something about peace on the Middle East. Now, it is one of the Road to the White House 2008 series. A candidate (Senator Joseph Biden, D-Delaware) is on a campaign house party. Sadly, there is no other better television this late at night. I am settling on watching politicians to put me to sleep.

Letter

The advisor forwarded yours truly a manuscript review that arrived in the e-mail.

I am pleased to inform you that your manuscript: Paper Number ######,XXXXX, submitted to the XXXX Proceedings, has been accepted.
.
.
Timeliness of research: New
Scientific impact: High
Match between title, abstract, data conclusions: Excellent
Readability of English (punctuation and grammar): Excellent
.
.

I personally think the manuscript didn't deserve such commendation. This referee simply does not have enough familiarity of the topic we presented in SF.

With the forward, the advisor also said,

Send me the last version of the journal manuscript you prepared. We need to submit it ASAP. 

FYI, the journal manuscript he mentioned is the one we have been working on for more than six months. There were different versions until we came up with the one we stick to and still with it there were uncountable ping-ponging of corrections between us. I had an impression that he just hesitated to send it out due to lack of confidence. He probably has a bit more confidence with the SF manuscript being accepted to a peer-reviewed publication.

So, yeah, it's Friday night, and I'm cheerfully working to fix some stuff on the journal paper, it's actually in the form of a letter instead of the full paper. Wish us luck.

Quip

sorry, you've been ignored
R was just here

what is he doing there?

saying hi
that guy...
come to think of it
I don't need a boyfriend
I need a companion (or maybe a psychiatrist)

and eventually a husband

well

Somewhat Busy

Computer Problem
It didn't load up everything in the desktop. I had to isolate the computer from the network, thinking it's the remote network thing, it wasn't. Safe Mode didn't work either. One last try was the return to previous working mode option. I wonder, what update causing the problem.

Data Data
I am working on gathering and organizing vast amount of data related to device radiation. I am hoping this can be turned into a paper, soon. That way I can discuss the timetable for...graduation. The word makes me giddy. I just need to face the real world. It's been too long.

Models for the Day
At around 2:30 PM, an official school photographer took the pictures of us, lab rats, as we were working inside the clean room. That job demands too much of a perfectionism. What fake poses we did, some with non-working equipments too! But they're a beauty says the photographer.

"This is a very nice camera. An EOS 10 D..."
"I see you are interested in photography, you recognize the camera."
"Well, yeah, kinda. Do you need a photography degree to become a professional photographer?"

He just laughed.

At the end he gave us business card. Visit his website. He is originally from Serbia. And of all the things to remember about the country, I was pondering which one is the predominantly orthodox country, Serbia or Bosnia?

Translation Help

At night, I met up with an agriculture major, a PhD student, who is going to Indonesia in May to gather data from a survey. He wanted to know if the translation of the survey captured what he wanted to convey. It was a comprehensive survey, part of a global study of Asian countries among others.

Rec
And then I went straight to Rec. It's been eight days since my last workout. I came back to the old routine, 30-min elliptical and working out on six machines targeting both upper body, lower body, and legs. I still couldn't sleep on time but wake up on the usual time, as a result I've been very-very sleepy at school. And I almost finish with the book.

Condolences

Want...is this too bullshit-y?

"Kami turut mengucapkan belangsungkawa atas kepergian Saudara Partahi Mamora Halomoan Lumbantoruan menghadap Bapa di surga. Semoga keluarga yang ditinggalkan diberikan kekuatan dalam menghadapi kejadian yang mengenaskan ini.

Diiringi dengan doa semoga jiwa almarhum bisa beristirahat dengan tenang di sisi-Nya,
Persatuan Mahasiswa Indonesia di Bryan-College Station"

ohhh sip

ok

mana biar gw tanda tangan biar sah

ih elu tuh ya

hahahahahah

coba elu pikirin kalo anak elu yang jadi korban

ehhhhh
jangan salah
bukan berarti gw tidak berduka

whatever

whatever

Pangeran

Barusan ketemu poto bayi lucu. Agak redundan ya,bayi walopun nggak lucu pasti keliatan lucu, ya paling nggak menurut pihak yang menghasilkan.

Ya ampun...kecil-kecil udah pake kemeja...
Anak orang kaya...
Emang....he's a prince. Ha ha ha....
He IS a prince? HOAOHAOOAHOAOAHOAO
Yup
Siapa namanya?
Prince Christian....dari Denmark. Dia calon putra mahkota.
Calon putra mahkota? HOAOHAOHAHOAOH
Pantesan kok banyak bendera-bendera Swiss di belakangnya...
Denmark...
Oh iya Denmark...HOAOHAOHOHAOHAOH

Day 3, pt. 2

I headed off to Union Square at around 1:40 PM. I had with me a list of store to visit to get some stuff provided they're priced within budget. Pressed for time, the upper scale stores never made it to my (window) shoping list. I didn't get much at the end of the trip. Shoppings, window or otherwise, were never my thing. And without NY by my side, I was just totally lost.

There was another type of store I needed to stop by. The See's candy store! I finally found the one further up the Market St. I hand picked enough pieces to put them in a box. I continued my stroll further up the street and my caught another similar confectioner. This one is fancier. They offer eclectic and exotic selection of chocolate with saffron, ginger, green tea, mint, passion fruit, and much more. And that was only one side of the store, I didn't see the selection on the other part until I was about to pay. The whole time I was so happy and giggly while picking up which pieces to take home. Finally, the lady behind the counter weighted my selection, put it in a box, and tied a purple ribbon on it.

"Your total is $ 16.00."

Well, anything for good chocolate, says I, rolling my eyes while justifying the purchase. On the back of my mind, I remember that I was just reading about the chocolate ration mentioned on 1984.

The plan was to finish in two hours and to take a one hour cruise for Alcatraz and Golden Gate. But by this time, three hours had past, there was not enough time for the cruise since my former colleagues of husband and wife will pick me up for dinner. However, I decided to wait for the F Streetcar to take me to the Fisherman's Warf. At least, I have to see how the piers look like. But dang, it never came. I waited for about 40 minutes before took the decision to get back to the hotel.

My colleagues took me out to an Indonesian restaurant in Post St and then they brought me to Ghirardelli Square for desserts. There are not many things changing since the two and more years after they left for California. The husband is still as ambitious as ever. The wife is more laid back. She gave out nuances despising her double duties. He ignored them. I made a mental note, no matter how much money you have, an equal partnership is a must (great...see my chance of entering such a union is approximately the size of an eye of the needle. j/k.). I would like to share my definition of equal partnership, but that would make this long post even longer.

They drove me back to my hotel at around 11. Oh, must I say their GPS was fantastic. I finished up the night by slipping into my pijamas and packing. Oh, I called R to, just to make sure he got to the airport on time for his midnight flight, I mean with him being prone to Murphy's Law. Little did I realize, I too, is Murphy prone.

Team Jello Shot

i'm such a sissy... I STILL love that ungu song

ih
be a man

ha ha ha
shut up

that kind of song is not intended for guys

lol
i'm going to karaoke this sat...i'm so damn ready wit this song

as long as you're happy :P
we made kick as jello shot
see pic -->

u still drunk?

nah...I only had 7 of those
didn't do anything

ha ha
campurannya kurang berarti
not enough of the good stuff

if you put more it wont achieve a jello consistency anymore

ha ha
ok scrap the jello haha

the thing is we put the less mild vodka stuff

oooo

which is like 35 % alchohol...should've picked the 45% one

yup

but it still kicked other guys' asses

haha

Guess Who

Day 2, pt. 2

I went back to the convention center after an early dinner. The dinner was value meal from Burger King across the hotel because I knew they would serve food and booze at the convention anyway. At first, I went to a plenary talk about energy just as it ended and the speaker was taking questions. His idea was to use a combination of alternative energy instead of relying on one, e.g., solar (the fuel is always there, but storing is hard), hydrogen (it's still taking more energy to produce, even though it's cleaner), hybrid, etc, to solve the current complication of carbon fuel. It made me thinking about a career in the energy industry, alternative or otherwise. The demand is always there and it is challenging. For instance, solar cell technology is close to what I've been studying all these years.

The poster session started at 8. I found R was standing by his poster board to answer inquiries from people who are interested enough on the topic of his poster. I went around looking at other people's posters, got one or two glasses of wine. When I got bored, I went back to talk with him. Part of the time, his advisor and another colleague joined us. The man who wanted to talk to me about research found me towards the end of the night. We talked for almost an hour with R around. He occasionaly glimpsed at me, maybe a signal to cut it out. It was when R finished rolling back his poster to the carrier tube I managed to find the right momentum to end the conversation.

We then walked back to our hotels.
"Hey, why aren't you wearing your jacket (part of the suit) inside and you were chewing gum. So unprofessional..." I teased him. "Ah, but who cares anyway, right?" I retracted.

"It was not cold inside...I just thought it was too much."

"I like big cities...this feels just like Lima. The weather, the lights, the people."

"Is it really? I don't know if I can live in places like this. I feel sorry for the homeless, but it's not like you have enough quarters to give, sort of speak."

And then a homeless guy approached us for a spare change. I looked at R and said, "see how are you supposed to handle stuff like this all the time?"

"Just keep it cool..." He showed an indeference in emotion.

"Now, that's my hotel. Where is yours?"

"Still three blocks away."

"Are you going to take the bus?"

"Nah, not this time. I'm just gonna walk, it's a nice walk."

"OK. Well, be careful."

Sartorial

Because nothing screams narcism than taking mirror images.

Day 4, pt. 1

This is trully an adventurous day. I was woken up at 6:22 to an incoming text message from a would be acquintance confirming the plan to meet up in Houston once I arrived.

I woke up fully at around 8, checked out of the hotel at 9:15, and stored my luggage at the guest service. I was relieved from a one minute viewing of a pay-per-view movie charge. What can I say, their in-hotel movie system was poorly designed, it was probably a button or two got accidentally pressed here and there. I myself never intended to watch any movie. Who would, with a free wi-fi available?

I planned to take BART to the airport at around 10, which left me with enough time to pay a visit to St. Patrick's church on 4th St and Mission. I had planned on attending the daily mass at 5:15 PM yesterday, but missed it due to poor planning on my part. Who in the right mind would squeeze in shopping, tours, and a Mass in a five hour slot? Also, it showed what my priorities are these days (or is it all the time?).

I had no problem in locating the church. It was a smaller size of gothic influence. There are painted glasses all around the wall, statues of saints with devotion candles lit up next to each of the statue. A running water fountain on the altar area kept a soothing atmosphere despite of the heavy vacuuming from one of the staff. After taking pictures, I sat for a while in one of the pews toward the center of the church while trying to empy my mind from all worldly matters. After a few minutes, I let myself out in order not to be involved in a complication from missing a flight.

I was playing a game with myself these past four days, a game in which I am to not making any business with a certain coffee joint. I've been going to the local places instead. This morning, upon entering such premises, an older homeless lady was asking people for a little bit of breakfast. I, off course, have mastered the way to ignore "this" kind of people. But then I ordered a hot chocolate, an ice tea, and two pastries for the both of us. When I got around to my order and was about to give them to her, she was no where to be found. On my walk to the bus stop I tried to spot for unfortunate folks and then I saw an older man playing a Yamaha recorder along Market St. I gave him the food and drink. From a far I saw him biting on the zuchini bread.

I then hopped to the bus, got my luggage, hopped on the BART, and finally the airtrain. I checked in, passed the security point, got a few last minute souvenirs, and arrived at my gate just as boarding was announced.

I got a window seat with a couple en route to Brazil for a 17-day vacation. We hit it up a bit, and then the plane started to taxi. It stopped after a while and the captain announced that we needed to get back to the gate to check on one of the engines. What everyone was hoped to be a few minute delay, turned out to be three hours and counting (it is 3:30 PDT when I'm typing this). Murphy's Law is trully upon us. And of course, it is Friday the 13th.

These past three hours, I have texted people, called people, read book, wrote a post, listened to MP3 player, asked for water and orange juice, slept, and last but not least, have been torturing myself in between by thinking about R. As B pointed out yesterday what that kind of act should be called, the discussion somehow was lead towards the parallelism with S&M.

OK. We'll see how this journey ends. NY is driving to Houston. She'll be spending sometime at the mall. A considerable amount of time, I'd say. This laptop draining battery faster than a drought in Ethiopia. And to make things worse, I lost the only pen I have. One cannot rely on high technology alone, you see.

The captain just announced the faulty part has arrived for installation. As soon as it passed the testing we'll be continuing with the flight. He didn't even bother to give out estimate as to when things were expected to be finalized.

Day 3, pt 1

I was supposed to be a good tourist today, taking a bay area cruise for Alcatraz, the Golden Gate and the city tour. Going alone to places while getting lost at the moment is supposed to be my thing, but not today. Instead, I went to the convention center for the second half of the morning session.

At lunch break...

"Hey, where are you? Are we still on for lunch?" R and I were supposed to have lunch together at a Peruvian place today.

"I'm at the exhibition hall. Yeah, in a little a while."

"OK, I'm going to the hall."

I went strolling to see the other side of the exhibition hall. There are a wide array of publishers, start up companies, and equipment companies. These many oppurtunities, will I find a way to be working for one of these, I was saying to myself when I bumped into R. We both wearing blue jeans and formal shirts. It was as if we are trying to refuse to conform to the rule of business casual.

"Hey..."
"Hey..."
"What is that line for?"
"Food, I believe, it was like that too yesterday."
"Yeah...food...a long line. Do you want to eat here?"
"No...I want to go to your place....but if you want to grab one of these for the walk...."
"Nah, let's go..."

We walked two blocks away to a what turn out to be a hip, white linen type of restaurant. I had thought it was going to be a rundown taqueria type of joint. We ordered an appetizer (pappas huancian), two dishes (chevice and a spicy boiled chicken on top a bed of rice), and a pitcher of a purple non-alcoholic drink, which name escaped me. One of the most expensive meals I've had in life. It was $31 on my half with tip (we splitted the bill), but it was worth it.

R's phone rang on our walk back to the convention center.

"Carlitos......"

When he finished I told him I understood what he and his friend were talking about.

"Oh, yeah....you understand everything?"

"Well, a little bit. You said what's up, and then you said you are here for a conference, you just got food, and now is getting back to the meeting, and that you are going to be back tomorrow."

"Man, how did you understand Spanish?"

"I've been here too long. Oh, and you call him...Little Carlos"

"Little Carlos...yeah..."

"Ha ha..can I call you like that too...Royito?"

"My mom and aunt sometime called me like that...Roycito.."

We both bursted into laughters. I would never forget this scene. Downtown SF, the hills in the distance, the sunny but cold weather, you and I laughing.

"Well...but it's more like a term of affection, right?"

"It's about being affected, yeah...but I called him that because he is this tall..." He motioned his hand towards the height of his chest.

"Ha ha...so in this case, it was more like a term of , huh?"

"Ha ha ha."

We parted at the convention center. I went toward Union Square.

"I'm not coming back to the presentations."

"You are not, why?"

"I need to do some shopping, remember?"

"Oh..Well...thanks...."

"Thanks? For what?"

"For trying to help me get back to CS."

"I'll see you back home."

Well, it's official. The guy has never treated me more than a friend. I keep telling myself, it's the journey, not the end point. This trip becomes more memorable with him around.

Breaching Privacy

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3XJG38vB5ltGGA_2061a5LIZjPzNII3E3VrwiS1vvmR8UjhNaSuuorgMpfkpKjnHWutY3IaQjzQdc2TOkVkWEC67OSGnnENxP82VzzOli5TkqbwaOx95T-JYyKZVa3ymA0S6l/s1600-h/IMG_0065.JPG

alamakjang
yang itu
itu sering org liat di computer lab EE
buruk kali rupanya hahah

ohahoahoahohoahoahoa
kurang ajar

cakepan si Murad lah kalo gitu
jauuuuuhhhhhh

ha???
nggak lah
Murad mah matanya biru
thats it

haihaihaiaha

ini masih ada manis2nya
ok..he's not photogenic

tapi perasaan semester kemarin rambutnya gak kayak gitu deh dulu rambutnya pendekan

ember sejak pulang
dipanjangin

.
.
.

he is not what I would call handsome... yet there is something attractive...about him. the smile..mischeivoue

ohaohahoaohhoahoahoaho
he's not handsome, (but I'm never the shallow one)

i would not say ugly
he got some look going

but I like him...despite of him being too liberal
it's like I can talk to this guy you know
even though he does not necessarily agree to what I say

Day 2, pt 1

Woke up at 6:30, dressed up, left hotel at 7 thinking now I can find the right bus going uptown. It was raining and with no umbrella in hand, I refused to risk my hair. I did one heck of a flat-iron job last night and this morning. In front of the hotel, there was a taxicab standing by.

"Would you mind taking me only to the 4th St?"
"He nodded."

My hotel is just four blocks away but I ended up paid 7 buck (with a dollar tip), rush hour you see.

My presentation was not after midmorning break. And by Murphy's Law, the laptop froze on me. I had the files handy on flash drive and luckily the conference had a laptop already set up. It was all going smoothly from there. By smooth was that no one was asking questions. :-). There is one, but it was related to the information on fabrication process.

Lunch break, I was looking at the job posting board and Intel has openings. I went to talk with hiring manager, selling myself out. It was probably about a 30 minute chat.

"I am a chemical engineer, and being from TAMU, we are usually ended up in big bad oil companies. But I was never interested on the prospect. So when the professor first joint the university, I was so glad because right then I had alternative."

"Ah, you got me there. I am also a Chemical Engineer. I went to work with an oil industry, but then I found out about the semiconductor industries and immediately switched direction. I was working with TI for a couple of years before moving to Intel."

A nice chat, eh. I'm hoping it would lead somewhere.

After lunch break, I attended the sessions for the symposium I belong to. Towards the end of the last presentation, I browsed on the program and my eyes stumbled on an Indonesian name. I immediately planned to attend his presentation. On my way out, a man approaching and was asking if he can discuss some stuff with me at night. Research related. :P And he gave his card.

I talked to the Indonesian guy, graduating soon from Stanford, a class of 90 ITB. Interesting research, it looked like. Honestly, I don't understand what he was talking about. Something about the analysis of the plastic*ity of Cu in*terconnect.

Browsing through the program again, my eyes caught another familiar name. B dubbed her White Swan. When I was in undergrad, she was sort of a role model to me. Ironically, I followed her footstep into getting myself in a PhD program. White Swan is a big guy now, a chair of one of the symposium and she works at one of the respected research semiconductor company in Austin.

At around 2 PM, R texted me back, he just arrived. I called him around 5 and found out that his trip here was a mess. He missed the two flights, the connecting from CS and the IAH-SFO. Poor guy.
"Hey, don't eat dinner, they have food there at the session. And there are going to be booze."
"Good, I need a drink."

I'm going to meet him around 7 at the poster session and stayed there until 11. Poor R.

Shuttle and Then Jet Plane

Never before I'd been told stuff like this firsthand:

"Aku dan John lagi berusaha punya anak nih. Belum nyoba sih, tapi mudah-mudahan bisa. Duabelah pihak tiap nelpon selalu nanya kapan punya anak."

Anyway, I'm hopping on a shuttle at 5 AM tomorrow morning to Houston. The non-stop flight IAH-SFO will depart at 11:20 AM. I will arrive at 1:30 PM PDT. I got George Orwell's 1984 for all the idling time on the airport, on the plane, and all of the lonely nights (I will miss you, bunky). Be back here Friday night.

Just in case things happen, I'm relieving my prized possesions, i.e., the little amount of books I have, to the Rumbai home's library. My most prized possesions, of course, are you friends and family. So behave while I'm gone.

I'll have free wifi at the hotel and will update the blog at the end of the day, and with pictures too!

OK, am off to Rec now. I won't have any exercise done until Saturday. Well, there will many two ways one mile walk to and fro convention center, but that's like a stroll instead of a heavier cardio work.

Happy Easter

and for your bleeding ears only.... :D

Happy Birthday, Foo!

Chick Magnet, TOO :P

Eli Eli Lama Sabachtani

One thing about Via de la Cruz is the bout of humility and passion it brought, it reminded you that is how you're supposed to live your life.

And of course there is the beautiful hymn such as this one...

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?

Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?

And when the people in the pews behind me starting singing in harmony to it, I just couldn't describe the feeling. I refrained from further singing to absorb such a personal spiritual moment.

In Which I Should Start a Move (Moving On, That is)

You are up to the idea of slaving people of lower classification

What's that?
I'm going to anodized this thing, it's gonna be a fun project!
You need special equipment to do it.
No, not really, it's DIY classified, homebake.
Well, at least get the Master's student to do it for you.
Good idea, but that's no fun.

You are scoffing at the idea of a certain 2000 year organized religion

Well, at least, are you going to church on Holy Week?
No, what for? I am not Catholic, I'm a Christian
*sigh*
Just like anybody else...

You are into puzzles and mind games

Here, look at this. They are only publishing one answer, but there are supposed to be two. I am going to write them a letter.
Ha, you're so creative. When do you find the time to do it?
No big deal, I read before bedtimes

You are taking things easy and with confidence

So when are you going to prepare for the prelim?
On the plane...
No, I mean...it's only three weeks till the end of this month...
I still have three weeks, it should be enough.

You care about me, to some extend

MRS, sent your resume by today!

R

(an e-mail reminder you sent me just before you went on teaching a morning lab, you had sent out your resume days before the deadline)

I'm eager to see who's going to be next victim forcefully grabbed into joining this pathetic "love life" bandwagon of mine. Ha ha ha.

Masih Ttg Bayi

ohhhhh
well... test loe ngga terlalu akurat sih
mungkin kl loe test buat cowo yg udah pengen punya anak
not necessary commited to married
itu bisa

hoaohaohaohahoaohohaohaoh
bastard child?

ngga
maksudnya ada orang yg udah pengen commited tp belom pengen punya anak

oh gitu iya

hmmmmmm..... loe sih banyakan ngeres nya
jadi gitu deh mikir nya aneh2 :P

uh bukan masalah ngeresnya

arti nya loe udah pengen punya anak?
ato kawin?

hmm
nggak juga

nah.... gw bilang jg apa... ngga ada jaminan result dr test loe
bakal nentuin ready to commit ato ngga

ohaohaohaohohaoha

ya ngga??
;)

ya ada juga lah pengen2nya
:P
jadi kesimpulannya: kebanyakan cowo nggak sensitif terhadap bayi kecuali kalo bayinya sendiri kali ya...

yoi
cowo normal ngga sensitif ma bayi orang...
apalagi yg di majalah

ohaoahohaohaohahoaohaohohahoahoa

Guys and Babe

I asked guy friends what they think of the gorgeous baby on that cover of April 2007 edition of Baby Talk (see previous post). Here is a recap of actual conversations....

with Heartless Individual

what's that

you have to see it for yourself

it's a picture of a baby

iyaaaa lucu kaaannn???

* sigh *

I've never fallen in love with a baby before
this one makes my biological clock ticking!

* yawn *

kurang ajar

lol
I'm just a cruel heartless individual...babies do nothing for me
hahaha

wait until it is your baby

i'll enjoy the wait :)

with B

btw what do you think of the babe

which babe ?

* giving out link to the picture of the said babe *

cute... but not too cute...
why ?

I love her!!!
overweight
cheery

i see....
who is she ?

a cover
I need to buy the magazine...read it at the Rec two days ago

i see...

so I see..you're not that sensitive to babies

with Rec Buddy

Want...please take a look at this picture
* giving out link to the picture of the said babe *
and let me know what you think :p

nda
maksud nya
?
knp emang foto bayi itu

pendapat elu ttg si bayi itu apa?
gue lagi bikin survey :P

*nggak dijawab*

sejam kemudian....

Want...so what do you think of the babe?

*tetep nggak dijawab*

with The One Who Got Away :P

...you have to look at this picture
* giving out link to the said picture *

aaawwwwww
aduh...

hahahahahah overweight baby tuh lucu yaaaaa

jadi pengen gendong

iyaaaa
she's sooo cuuutteeee
ntar mo gue beli ah majalahnya

hahahaha

and finally...with that Roy

Hey..you're still here? What are you working on? How is the presentation yesterday?

Hey...come here...I want to ask you something.

What..what..?

Look at this picture...what do you think?

It's...a baby?

Yeah...a baby...anything else?

It's a....babygirl?

Hmm...yeah...but other than that, don't you think she's just the cutteest thing ever??

*looking closely for a couple of second, contemplating* I guess..she's cute.

I mean look at her...the baby fat on her arms, her legs....

Ha ha ha...yeah, she's kinda cute.

Hmmphh...you're not moved by babies, huh...

Nope...*sambil geleng-geleng, looking at me as if I'm the weirdest human on the planet*

Haduh gimana sih, Mas!!!

Glorious Babe

I love the selection of periodicals out there in the Rec. It sure makes the 30-45 minutes on elliptical fly. Beside the generic Time, Newsweek, Vogue, and the like, I have been exposed to The Economist, Sierra Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, Science, Popular Mechanics, Air & Space, Real Simple, Home and Garden, Parenting, The Rolling Stones, and Vanity Fair, just to name a few.

These last two trips to the Rec, I've been hooked on a new publication, what other than Baby Talk, mainly for their humorous view on parenting, but especially, after looking at the gorgeous babe on the cover, such as this one. I could just eat her. *biological clock ticking*

First Day of April

Eye Trouble
After taking off my contact lenses before sleep last night , I felt a sting of pain in the right eye everytime I blinked. It felt as if some unknown object touching the eyeball. I looked for the unknown object thinking maybe it was a strain of eye lash that had been falling onto the eyeball. As I looked more further into the eye socket, I found an out-of-place lash sitting right there on a deeper part of the socket. I did some tricks to get it out that involved eyedrops and gentle massages. Luckily, I got the thing out. It was scary, the thought of blinded by your own eyelash. Also I was thinking about that one scene Kill Bill in which The Bride took the only eye of Ms. Driver.

Weather
It might be only the first day of April but it gives an honest-to-goodness preview of the kind of summer summer days this year for me. I'm thinking lots of epistaxis, jugs of sweetened ice tea, and clothes drenches in unimaginable amount of sweat. [Updated to add: Right after I finished published this post and as I was reading stuff on epistaxis, I found out that I am having a nosebleed. What a coincidence! Gosh, this is going to be a hard summer.]

The presentation for that meeting in SF!
I'm looking on ways to make it attractive and that is only one of the problems. The other part of the equation is that I have a very low self-esteem and that thing magnifies when one has to talk in front of one's peers. By golly, I can do this.

Boy Toy #1
"I'm so tired working on this poster for that conference." He said at the end of the seminar. I was sitting next to him.
"You are? But you finished, right?" I looked at his sleepy eyes. He was falling a sleep several time during the seminar. He was...cute...I'm thinking waking up next to this person might not be so painful. [Forgive my being too imaginative. I need a confession to make. And by golly, this is already Palm Sunday.]