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June 2004 Archives
The irony of this next set of pictures is that I somehow forgot to photograph the person being honored. Phooey.
This was the second of three graduation celebrations I attended Saturday. I was still pretty full from the first barbeque, but it's easy to get hungry again when people start pulling out Korean BBQ. Mmmm.
The honoree's family attends DC3, and most of the guests were from that church, so her father prayed for the food in Chinese, something I've never experienced before. Without missing a beat, he went on to pray in English. It was nice going to a celebration that was unashamedly Chistian.
Probably the best part of the BBQ was reuniting with old high school classmates, many of whom I haven't seen in four years. It was humbling to see what a talented group of peers I've been blessed with, and I felt priviledged to be with such an amazing group of people. Our circle at the BBQ included graduates from Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford; there was a biosystems engineer, a soon-to-be Stanford medical student, and even someone with a patent pending. In spite of all their achievements, though, everyone was remarkably down-to-earth and amiable.
Harpreet
Christine
Mmmm. I forgot to take a picture of all the meat. Bummer.
Semi-candid shot of Yen and Saori. Interestingly, they both also had Canon digital cameras…
…and it wasn't long before we all started snapping.
We have 2.85 BS degress between the three of us, but we couldn't figure out a way to have each person take a picture of the other two at the exact same time.
About as close as I got to snapping a picture of Diane. The cake was from Timothy's. To anyone who's been to a wedding at Grace Valley: yes, that Timothy's. Yum.
Have you ever felt like a border collie ridden to exhaustion by the cowboy-monkey we call Life?
Well, neither have I, but it's a funny picture, hosted by DJ Zak Brown, who also offers up this explanation. The monkey's name is Whiplash, by the way.
Also dug up a video for those of you who want to see the little guy in action.
Sorry about the lackluster entries of late…I'm in a kind of creative funk right now. :T
Ok, people have been asking for pictures, so here they are in (more or less) chronological order.
College Bowl Trip to UCLA
This was, believe it or not, a candid shot, except for Ruwan pointing.
Pleasant surprise I found on the UCLA campus: an inscription from Psalm 119.
Close encounter with Pat's maccaw (or parakeet? I dunno.). This is about the closest I'll ever get to exotic animals, since I'm not nearly as cute as those kids who get to pet the dolphins at SeaWorld.
Miscellaneous Spring Pictures
Nathan, post-haircut.
Probably the best picture of my brother I've ever taken. My aunt calls him "trés bogosse."
The last piece of cheesecake at my church's 30th Anniversary Dinner.
See more miscellaneous pictures »
Tech Minor Events
As some of you know, I was admitted for Spring into a new Technology Management minor. The program started in Fall and had it's first graduating class this quarter, so there was an official luncheon on Wednesday, and an unofficial get-together on Thursday for people from one of the courses. One of the coolest things about the minor is how it brings people from different majors together—it's great for networking, I guess, but there's also a genuine camraderie there…I don't ever recall one of my other classes getting together after school for a BBQ.
Members of the minor's first graduating class received these nifty PDA holders with the GSM logo on the front. Sadly, free Palm Pilots didn't come with the holders.
Irving and Jennie goofing around.
Good food at the unofficial BBQ, courtesy of Alex.
Danielle with Alex's dog: a 180 pound (81.6kg) Great Dane named Winston.
I've been messing around with ideas for a new logo.
I like it, but thanks to Cameron Moll, the "worn classic/retro" look is probably gonna be the next trend, and I'm not really big on being trendy with my site. Ah well, we'll see.
Photoshop was invented by people who enjoy the thought of other people not studying for their finals.
Like clockwork, my site experiences a 50% jump in visits right around finals week. C'mon, guys, you're supposed to be studying!
If anyone has prayer requests for the next week, let me know…I'll be done Saturday at noon, so I'll have plenty of time.
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's been praying for me. The past week and a half was easily the toughest (and most sleep-deprived) of my entire college career, and I know I only got through it because of your prayers on my behalf. My sincerest apologies to anyone if I snapped, moped, or whined incessantly in your general direction. God's given me incredible grace through the whole time, and I've certainly learned my fair share of lessons—perhaps most poignantly, that I should be less self-reliant and quicker to fall to my knees before God in humility, repentance, and prayer. What folly and audacity it is to think I am wise enough to manage my life on my own.
So this is what I've been working on the past couple of days. I'd like to dedicate it to the (not so) mysterious "Obi-wan Kenobi" and "Yoda" who anonymously ordered me a sundae at IHOP this evening. I may be a big dork, but so are you two.
At some point, you have to realize that despite your best efforts, you can't fit square pegs in round holes.
I learned a lot of lessons this past quarter in my Software Engineering class, and these are the amazing people I learned them with. The name "Team Yahoo" came from our first meeting, when one team member suggested that we use a Yahoo! Group to stay coordinated. It seemed like a great idea, since we figured we'd be working on the project remotely and communicating mostly online. Boy were we wrong.
We spent countless hours together in the lab, including a grueling marathon between this past Monday and Wednesday in which we worked an average of 12 hours a day in the labs. It definitely was trying and stressful for all of us, but in the end, the bonds we formed (of friendship, dare I say?) made us a much better team.
I'm really thankful that we came together so well as a team: we didn't have all the technical skills some other groups had (none of us had experience with Java, the language we had to work with), but the fact that we actually got along with each other gave us an edge. Our final product was stellar, IMHO, something we'd definitely show to potential employers. In contrast, the class is full of stories of unhelpful and non-contributing members bringing entire groups down.
On to the pictures…
Memorial Day, in the labs. Excluding yours truly, Team Yahoo is (from left to right): Chris, Loria, Vicky, and Kevin. Not the greatest picture, but I kept it because I like the look on Vicky's face. :P
Memorial Day, again. A light moment, though Chris is unfortunately not in this one.
Everyone looking pensive, including the guy in the background, who's also in our class.
Picture taken after initial evaluation by the grader on Friday. We got 100%, so we were pretty stoked. Unfortunately, the guy who took the picture overestimated how tall we were.
Picture of Team Yahoo in the Kemper Hall lobby. In our excitement, we accosted many unsuspecting strangers to take pictures of us. Kevin and I ended up with the same shirt, but he outclassed me by wearing a tie.
The fruit of our labor, OfficeTalk: a purchasing system for (you guessed it) offices.
Unfortunately, this picture didn't turn out too great (flash off...doh!), but I kept it cuz I love the expressions.
We retried the picture, and it's almost as good. The smiles are genuine: Chris said something funny (as usual) right before the picture was taken. Our excitement paid off, too: our demonstration to the client (our professor role-playing) went really well, and we got full credit on that too.
I left the lab and was taken aback by the cool air, eerie calm, and bright sky of an early summer morning. Had I not left for Grace Alive! at 7pm yesterday (yesterday!), and then briefly left the lab at 2am, I would have not seen the night at all. I certainly have not seen sleep at all.
Nonetheless, there's something reassuring and hopeful and reinvigorating in seeing the first rays of light illuminating the stillness of a city that's still very much asleep. The frenzied activity of one night—round upon round of bug tests and documentation, shouting, laughing, snacking, encouraging—are all but forgotten, passing away with all the substance of the morning mist. All that remains are the bonds forged by mutual trials and long hours, by good-natured (and tension-breaking) ribbing, by quiet encouragement when the body and mind are weary. To my esteemed ECS 160 colleagues: it's been a lot of fun, and a great priviledge and honor to work with all of you.
You know it's getting late in the quarter when you start making your coffee as thick and dark as a New England wood on a winter's night—especially when said coffee has no effect on your ability (or inability, rather) to stay awake during class.
