farewellheaven's Xanga

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:24:06 GMT

I bought a rice cooker today! The last rice cooker belonged to my ex-roommate, hence this purchase. There's a "porridge" setting, which I think is equivalent to "congee." If so, I'm so going to try cooking different kinds of congee. Been eating noodles. Can't wait to try this one out soon

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:21:38 GMT

It's good to be back in Vancouver! I returned early last week. VisWeek 2009 in Atlantic City was great, except the weather. There was a lot of rain; and while my umbrella (thankfully I remembered to bring it) was able to keep me dry for the most part, it could not withstand the unrelenting Atlantic winds. As for my talk, it went smoothly, but the delivery could be improved. I did not practice for this one as much as I did for my Eurographics talk :\

After the conference, I had 2 days to do some touring around the area. There's not much to see in Atlantic City. After you've walked the boardwalk, seen some casinos, you've pretty much seen all of Atlantic City. The gloomy and rainy weather didn't help either, so I went up to New York City for both days. Here are the top 3 highlights from the rest of the trip:

"Frogs - A Chorus of Colors" exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City

This museum was huge!! General admission to the AMNH included one special exhibit of my choice. There were 4 special exhibits to choose from, and I decided to go see "Frogs - A Chorus of Colors," which promised 200+ live frogs. At first, I thought some of the frogs were mere man-made models, because they were not moving. Later, I saw one jump and realized that they were all real!

The frogs were so fascinating to look at. I could not look at them and not also ponder about their amazing Creator. In fact, throughout the whole museum (especially the biodiversity area), I could not stop praising God in my head as my eyes gazed from one creature to the next

Going to the museum also made me appreciate science's attempt to explain life's origin. As a person who believes in a Creator of the universe (e.g. that God made everything), I used to think that any other explanation for the origin of the universe is folly. Consequently, my attitude towards people who believe in a different origin of the universe was that of, should I say, intellectual superiority. Now my attitude has changed. Instead of silently ridiculing opponent explanations, I now appreciate mankind's attempt to explain and investigate life's origin using other means. I still believe in a Creator of the universe, because I don't think we will ever be able to explain and fully understand all of life's mysteries. I guess my bottom line is, "Go Science! I applaud your effort to continue to explain all of life's mysteries. But I still believe in a Creator, which fills all the gap, and is what I have experienced to be real!"

Disney's Mary Poppins Musical on Broadway

I went to watch the Mary Poppins musical on Broadway. It wasn't until the end of my first day in New York City when I thought to myself, "Hey, I'm in NYC, I should go watch a Broadway show!" It was going to be either The Lion King or Mary Poppins, and I chose the latter as I've never seen that before (but heard about it many times, even its music). I bought centre orchestral seating (5th row from stage), which had a good viewpoint. How am I going to describe what I saw? Everything was amazing and creative--from the dancing, singing and acting, to the lighting, staging and props used. One word: Wow!

Biking the 4-miles Boardwalk of Atlantic City

Finally, on the morning of my departure, the sky cleared and the sun came out. I took the opportunity to cycle across the 4-miles Atlantic City boardwalk with the hotel's courtesy bike

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:13:21 GMT

Vis conference is over! It was a great learning experience--and more on this when I return. New Jersey is raining and raining and raining :( It doesn't ruin my plan for going to New York tomorrow, but it does for Six Flags Great Adventure on Sunday. Aiya... I was looking forward to riding roller coasters... but I guess it's not going to happen unless the weather improves. Anyway, I'm going to sleep now, because I'm taking the Greyhound at 6:30 AM

Here is a photo from the conference. It's a picture of the audience during my talk

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:59:10 GMT

Yaaa! Just graduated from Simon Fraser University on Thursday! That's me jumping in the air with my degree! The photo idea came from Tim. Thanks Tim

I have been back in Vancouver for a week now. It's chilly here. Feels like autumn! Lots of things to write about but I don't have much time and patience right now! Still need to pack for VisWeek conference and revise my talk slides before my Monday morning flight to Atlantic City

A few posts back, while I was still in Taiwan, I wrote about how I wanted to get into better habits. That included reading the Bible in the morning, sleeping and getting up early, and 30 push-ups a day. I'm glad to report that that was a success, and I want to continue doing that here. I finished the book of Proverbs (at the rate of one chapter a day). It was such a good exercise, because I got to connect with God every morning. Now I am going through Ecclesiastes (such an emo book, but very relevant for someone who just graduated). I really want to run (haven't ran for the last month), so I will go back on the treadmill when I return from the conference

That is all for now. Next update shall be from Atlantic City!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:20:12 GMT

Thoughts On My Job Search So Far

It's Sunday night and the last weekend of my stay in Taipei (I return to Vancouver on Friday night, October 2). Although the trip is not over yet, so far it has been one grand time in Taiwan. I got to spend time with family, and live in and experience a good chunk of metropolitan Taiwan--the food, the culture, all the sights and sounds, and even the job search

I have withheld preparation of my IEEE Vis talk until this final week, because otherwise I would probably have been working and revising my slides more than necessary this entire month. On the down side, it means I have only 4 days to prepare a 25 minute talk. Then I get to practice it in front of my Gruvi labmates before flying to the conference in Atlantic City on October 11

Anyway, the reason I really wanted to write this post is to share my thoughts about my job search as a recent Computer Science grad... and also just general thoughts on finding the right job. By the way, these thoughts only reflect my recent pursuits in Taiwan. I did apply for jobs in Canada/US, but haven't received any follow-up emails yet; and if they did contact me by phone, I wouldn't have been available anyway. I plan to re-apply to Canadian/US jobs once I get back

I've been casting out a pretty big net in Taiwan. I applied to about 10 companies via an online job bank. 2 out of the 10 companies, and 4 other companies outside the ones I applied to, invited me for testing and interviews. In Taiwan, job opportunities seem pretty good and abundant for software/firmware/hardware engineers. Here are some of my pointers (haha... that's punny) for Computer Science students, on how to give yourself competitive advantages over other candidates:

Take advanced courses on algorithms and data structures. Yes, the higher-level ones are scary, but they provide very good foundations on how to problem-solve. I have had pretty easy test questions during my interviews, but they still require careful thought. For example: write a function to determine whether the input is a power of 2; or write a method that deletes a node from a singly-linked list, given the header node; or write a function that does what C++'s atoi() does
Know both C++ and Java. Try to take courses in your undergrad years that use those languages. Be very experienced with how pointers and references work in C/C++
Pick a specialization. Computer Science is pretty broad, but there are some distinctive routes that one can take, which I will rank from high to low based on job opportunities: (1) networking/systems; (2) software engineering; (3) databases/data mining & processing/AI/machine learning; (4) graphics/usability; (5) theory/algorithms/data structures. Normally one person cannot be good at all those areas, so pick one that you like the most and take every course related to it
If possible, consider doing a co-op program (especially if you don't plan on pursuing grad school). Companies want to see that you have experience. If you don't have industry experience, be prepared to demonstrate your know-how and skills through other stuff (e.g. course work, your own projects). As for grad students, my feeling is that they can get around this lack-of-industry-experience with their research work and, hopefully, publications
Knowing a scripting language (e.g. Perl, python). This is one of those "preferable" skills I've been noticing across many job postings. From my experience, few undergrad courses give you the opportunity to really write scripts. I guess the best thing is to pick up a handbook and teach yourself (python seems to pop up more than others)!
Try lots of different IDEs and SDKs: MS Visual Studio (this is a plus to know), Qt (also a big plus)
Mobile programming skills seem to be in high demand. There are some handbooks on programming for iPhone or Android. Gotta learn this by yourself though
Experience with Linux and how to do stuff via the command line. Of course, also know Windows (who doesn't?)
OS-specific programming skills (e.g. Windows application) are also much sought-after
Be familiar with version control tools (usually a big plus): Subversion, ...
Be familiar with some research tools (rarely a plus): MATLAB, ...

I guess that's all I have in mind for now. Basically, some of the skills they are asking for are things you can really only learn if you have been in industry for at least a year or two. But I still think you can prove your competitiveness by having a really good foundation (see first 3 points above). Having a good foundation also means it's easier to pick up a new language or understand new algorithms and processes, no matter your specialization!

Now, for something different but related. I have been challenged lately with this following scenario:

If the door opens for you to go work for some really good company (one that many people want to work in), and you have a chance to really accelerate in your career and status, BUT the work is not the kind you have been looking for initially (but isn't that bad either), would you still take it?

In other words, would you let other temptations take you away from chasing after your dreams?

It's something I still continue to ponder

Taipei city lights at night, from the top of Taipei 101 tower

Monday, September 21, 2009

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:17:48 GMT

God is Moving in Taiwan

I have been attending 台北靈糧堂 (Taipei Bread of Life Christian Church) the last few Sundays, and also checking out their young adults ministry. Being able to worship and praise God in another language (Mandarin), with other Taiwanese people, is such a blessing! My Mandarin skill is mediocre, so I can sing about 80% of the songs. For the other 20% I have to listen carefully to how people are pronouncing the words, and try to decipher the meaning from the context. However, I can understand like pretty much all of the pastor's message! My Mandarin speaking, reading, and typing skills are also improving day-by-day (typing because I have been applying for jobs in Taipei)

God is actively working throughout Taiwan. As I observe the worship, the testimonies, and the pastor's message throughout the services, I can really sense that, although we all serve the same God, the focus can be quite different in different nations depending on the people's felt needs, real needs, and culture. In Vancouver, at least at Willingdon Church, the topics are usually quite broad, with more focus on personal growth and relationship with Jesus. In Taipei Bread of Life, I can really sense the following focus, in order:

Healing. At every service, people who need God's healing are called to stand up. The whole congregation prays for these people. There are also lots of testimonies about God's healing power, and about how whole families are drawn to God through healing miracles
Consistent prayer, including praises to God, praying for the nation, praying for the city, and praying for family members
Personal ministry to family members

There is still much idols, statues, temples, incense-burning, ancestor-worship, and offerings to idols throughout the cities, but God is really working and shaking grounds in Taiwan. For example, in one sermon we heard about the new churches that are being planted in the south, and the Gospel going to the Taiwanese aboriginals. I think there is a generation of young Taiwanese Christians rising up in Taiwan, too--this just from what I observed during one of the young adults fellowship, and evident by the number of small groups. I want to join one of the small groups but they haven't contacted me yet

Today's service and message about perseverance in prayer really encouraged me to keep praying for my family, grandparents and relatives, and to have faith that God is listening

H1N1 Scare in Taiwan

Taiwanese media is good at exaggeration and totally blowing things out of proportion, in my opinion. Or maybe not (but who can you blame, when there are so many news channels competing for viewership). I don't watch TV often, but from the little that I've seen, there is non-stop H1N1-related news every day. The number of deaths resulting from H1N1 is increasing (mostly babies and young children, from what I can tell). People are also being very cautious (probably a good thing anyway) by wearing masks in crowded, less-ventilated areas (like in the MRT and department stores)

I had my own scare the other week, but thankfully it wasn't H1N1 related. Within the first week that I arrived in Taipei, I began having strange twitches near my heart/left lung. The frequency gradually increased until it was happening like once every 10 minutes, for the entire day! I could only describe it as twitches near the heart, or a irregular heartbeat that felt like a sudden drop. It didn't hurt but was just not a normal heartbeat. It was kind of scary. Trust me, when something strange happens to your heart, that's scary (any other body part--maybe not so much). At first I didn't want to tell my parents, thinking that it would just go away after much prayer. I also didn't want them to worry (my mom usually overreacts). Well, God had other plans

One midnight, I was really troubled by the twitches and abnormal motions near my heart/left lung. I couldn't fall asleep, because I was worried that I would get a heart attack or something in the middle of my sleep. So I told my parents about it, and then we went to a nearby 24hr emergency hospital. The doctor immediately checked me out, with X-ray and EKG tests, and said that nothing was wrong and everything seemed okay

The next few days I went to get checked again, but the doctor could never detect anything. So they gave me this EKG monitor to wear for a week to record any abnormality. In the end, the twitches/irregular heartbeats just went away. However, through the process, which involved sitting at the hospital with my parents waiting for the doctor, I was able to have very meaningful conversations about God and Jesus, my faith and life, with my mom. It was her who initiated the questions and my dad was just listening quietly on the side. I can tell that God is drawing my parents closer. Interestingly enough, the abnormal twitches gradually went away after that one really good and meaningful conversation with my mom at the hospital. Call me crazy, but I think God purposefully orchestrated these incidents, to humble me, to build up my faith, to make me rely more on prayer, and also draw my family closer to Him. Praise God in the end! I am feeling fine and dandy

Additional Photos from Taiwan

At the Pixar 20 Years of Animation exhibition at Taipei Fine Arts Museum

Here are pictures from a recent trip to 陽明山 (Yangmingshan)

And my discovery of DJMAX Technika at one of the arcades in 西門町 (Ximending)

Monday, September 07, 2009

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:25:51 GMT

First Week Back in Taiwan

Well, it's been a week since I arrived in Taiwan, and I haven't blogged for a while, so here's an update on what's been happening! By the way, I am guilty of using Twitter more and more these days, which means less blogging on Xanga. Twitter is the lazy man's blogging tool, unfortunately, and I think its increasing use is a sign that we are becoming fast-paced, impatient people (why sit down and write one long blog post when you can almost express the same by posting bursts of short Tweets?). Regardless, I use both, and will try to find a healthy balance between the two

My flight to Taiwan was very comfortable. I sat on the upper deck of the plane. One man asked to switch his window seat with my aisle seat. We switched, and the window seat was very roomy, with lots of room by the window (enough to put carry-on bags). Even better, nobody sat next to me! And even much better, there were no seats behind my row so I could lean all the way back. It's "First Class" seating at Economy price! Woohoo! The first meal was served immediately when the plane reached cruising altitude. It was 3 AM and I didn't feel like eating and went directly to sleep

Anyway, my dad, mom and sister picked me up at Taoyuan International Airport last Sunday morning. The last time I saw mom and sister was 2 years ago (has time really gone by that fast? I kept wondering myself). It's wonderful to catch up with family again. In the first week, my parents have shown me quite a bit of Taipei already. I've been to the major tourist spots (e.g. Taipei 101, department stores, scenic spots, etc.), eaten really good food, gone on the rapid transit system, and of course taken lots of pictures!

God's Faithfulness

Last Thursday, my parents took me to Ping Tung to see my grandparents (mom's side). I was born and grew up in Ping Tung (until the age of 9 when we immigrated to Canada) so I was very much looking forward to seeing the old familiar sights. Ping Tung is in southern Taiwan. It is an agricultural district, so it's less a city and more a small county. From Taipei, we took the high speed rail in the morning (traveling at 300 km/hr) and reached our destination in 1.5 hours (otherwise, it would take around 5 hours driving). My grandparents, aunt/uncle and cousins (all mom's side) all live under the same roof. I was especially excited to see grandpa, grandma and cousins. We buzzed their building and the anxious wait was over when I finally saw their faces

Me and my cousins at grandpa's place. Reunited again after 10 years!

On that same day, my parents also borrowed my grandpa's car and drove me around Ping Tung to see my childhood memories: grandpa's (now abandoned) factory where we used to live, kindergarten, elementary school, and other places. They also showed me the (Christian) hospital where I was born! My mom had once told me, and told me again, that a pastor prayed for her just before she gave birth to me. Even more amazing, when we drove past my kindergarten, I noticed that it was a Christian kindergarten, sitting next to a church! The memories flooded back and I remembered the lunch time when our teacher would lead us in prayer. God is amazing and faithful, because I believe He answered the pastor's prayer. I have a hunch that part of the prayer was that someday I would come to know our amazing God and Jesus Christ, which I now do and have a growing personal relationship with!


Gate to the kindergarten	Matthew 19:14 is embedded on the building wall: "Let the little children come to me"

Other Stuff and Photos

There is much more I want to share with my readers in a later blog post. For now, I will post some interesting photos. If you're wondering what other stuff I've been doing lately... well, I've been sleeping at 11pm and waking up at 7:30am, doing daily devotions (planning to go through Proverbs, one chapter a day for this one month in Taiwan), spending more time in prayer, doing 30 push-ups a day, among other stuff. So far it's been great and I really thank God for everything. It's my 1-month vacation after all, and I want to spend it well and get into better habits. When I get back to Vancouver, I will attend the SFU fall convocation, and then go to New Jersey to speak at IEEE VisWeek 2009, and then continue my job search. Without further ado, here are some photos!

Next time, I might blog about why I am currently wearing a self-administered EKG/ECG monitor! (I feel like a cyborg)

Some very traditional Taiwanese food. Left to right: ro wan, wan guo, Tainan danzi noodle, and oyster omelet

One of many entrances to the rapid transit system. There are lots of taxis in Taipei

People waiting in line for the release of the Slim Playstation 3

Left: Going towards Taipei 101, Taiwan's tallest buildling. Right: View of Taipei from the 89th floor of Taipei 101. Here is the full resolution image of the same city view (warning, big file size, 4MB)

The famous and most expensive plot of farm land in the heart of Taipei city. If you look carefully, you can see that it is carved into smaller plots, each representing separate ownership. Apparently, some hundreds of people own this piece of land, but they haven't come to a settlement of what to do with it yet

Taipei hosting the 2009 International Deaflympics

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:05:05 GMT

I feel like this is my busiest and most eventful summer (maybe even year), and it probably is! Got back from the Cantonese Youth Summer Camp last weekend and had a really good time with the youths and other youth leaders. The theme of the camp was Psalm 1, and after all the activities related to it, I am pretty sure we all have that part of Scripture written on our hearts

Serving in a youth camp can be challenging, but at the same time a very rewarding experience. I find it challenging because it is a team effort to combine all of the following: fun, purpose/relevance, and community-building. I find that at their age (10-17), some of them are always seeking attention (e.g. from their peers or youth leaders). So a part of being a youth leader means giving them that attention, and having them feel comfortable among us and their peers (and I find that this may be one of my spiritual gifts, because I find it easy and a joy to do)

The camp only lasted 2 nights, and that made it challenging to get to know everyone more, to find out how they are doing in life/school, or how can we pray for them. Since we already packed the camp with various activities, I already feel exhausted by the end of the day. On some occasions, some of the guys in our groups would tell me things, which opened the window into their life. I would learn that some of them come from families with difficult situations (e.g. mom and dad separated), but wouldn't really know how to respond to that. On the plus side, I guess it's a step forward that they are comfortable in sharing these things and that we are able to talk about it. One possible improvement I can make in the future is to be proactive in asking if they would like to pray together about those issues in life. The camp didn't really have much opportunities for that, so I think the best we could do was to hear them out

The rewarding part about serving in a youth camp is that at the end of it, you feel like it is all time well-spent. Nobody goes to a camp/event/conference and comes out the same. There is always a change, and although the difference may be small, those small differences can be the good seeds planted, which God will water and grow

Compared to last year, I definitely have less fear in acting as a youth "leader". One weakness I have though (and this is something I can tell just by observing the other spiritual gifts at camp) is that I don't know Scripture well enough. Fortunately we have other youth leaders with those spiritual gifts (gift of knowing the Word) and can quote and reference all the relevant Scriptures at the right time. I am also amazed that some of the guys in my group are very knowledgeable of the Bible -- it's a humbling experience, too, because they definitely know more about the Bible stories than I do!

Anyway, here are some photos, and a camp video from Way (our worship leader!)


Playing some team-building game. This game proved to be quite difficult for them	Playing Jeopardy to see how much they learned from Psalm 1, James, and 1 & 2 Peter

Our Psalm 1 skits!! See the video on Facebook!	The youth leaders group picture

And the whole group!!

Friday, July 31, 2009

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:52:58 GMT

Our Vis paper was finally accepted today! It went from conditional acceptance with minor revisions (on June 7), to reject (on July 17), and then finally to accept today (July 30). I'm really excited about it, because I get to go to Atlantic City in October for VisWeek 2009 to present the paper! I signed up as a student volunteer, too, as they get free conference registration. Hopefully they will select me

I already submitted my master thesis to the library as well, and applied for graduation through the online student service centre. Those final steps were fun and easy, thankfully. Looking forward to the convocation ceremony on October 8!

But before that, I will be in Taiwan for about a month. Flight is already booked, and it will be really interesting to see my family, grandparents, and relatives again!

August is going to be yet another awesome month. Next weekend I will be helping out with Willingdon Church's Cantonese youth summer camp (at Trinity Western University). I am the games/activities coordinator and everyone is going to have a good time! Sarah and Tim will be returning youth leaders from last year as well! And this year my friend Way is going to help lead worship! The number of people attending the camp seems smaller this time, but that just means we get to spend more time together! We have been praying for the youth, and we really pray that this camp will launch them into a purpose-driven school year

Also, I have been using Twitter. I think Twitter is going to be the doom of my Xanga blog... one day. Twitter is fun, but I think it is the lazy person's blogging tool. It is pretty easy to post a new entry on Twitter without having to think about what you just wrote; whereas real blogging requires more time, thought, and effort. Regardless, I will try to balance my time spent between Twitter and Xanga

Monday, July 06, 2009

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:22:39 GMT

Wow!! It's been a while since my last post, and many big and important things have happened since then!

First and foremost, I successfully defended my M.Sc. thesis on June 23! It went really well! Many thanks and much credit go to our awesome God, who helped me deliver a smooth presentation, and pulled me through an intense questioning period from my examining committee. Also, much thanks to all my friends who came out to show their support!

After the defence, I had about 6 days to revise our latest paper that was recently (conditionally) accepted. I managed to finish those revisions and submitted them in time for the deadline. The paper is much strengthened, and let's hope it makes it through the second (and last) review cycle!

So hurray that 2 big items are now off my shoulders. There are a few more things to do this summer: make the minor revisions to my thesis, submit thesis to library, and finish TA'ing CMPT 126. I have started job-searching as well, and have my eyes on a few positions that I really want to get in