more beijing fun!

Just got back from a little adventure in Beijing! Vivek and I decided to take a trip into the heart of the city to try out this little veggie restaurant south of the square. The excursion took us on two subway lines and down an old street in the middle of the city. Very cool and fun to get around! And great food at the veggie place too...yum! And we got to see the square at night!

New pictures are posted!!

show

so there's a show on star world called "bitches and beauty queens" I laughed. :)

not in china...

when everyone speaks english, you eat dinner at the indian restaurant between the KFC and Haggen Das, enter your hotel through that shopping mall entrance by the Starbucks and see 4 McDonald's on your way to the great wall, you just feel like you're not in China anymore :) Oh, and let's not forget the restaurant outside the Great Wall playing the Dixie Chicks.

It's amazing how westernized Beijing is. It's just like being in any other big city in the world.

beijing is fun! :)

So we went on an awesome group bus/walking tour of beijing today. Our tour guide's name was alice, and she told us she was going to take uson a journey through wonderland :) Thoughts of neofuturist plays ran through my head! So she took us through Tianenmin Square and through the Forbidden City and over to the Great Wall. We hiked up the Great Wall and took a ton of pictures!! Check them out!

Tomorrow it's off to work at the motorola building. They've got a cool electronic sign that's lights up the night sky with a big moto batwings logo. Very cool looking. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow. And not only does our hotel have a mall attached to it, it's got a starbucks :) Pretty sweet!

OK...that's all for now! Hope you all had fun weekends! And Laura, once again, I'm sorry for not being able to make it to your party!!!

in beijing!

Yes, I'm in Beijing. And yes, I have time to take quizzes late at night! :)

You Are the Individualist

4 You are sensitive and intuitive, with others and yourself. You are creative and dreamy... plus dramatic and unpredictable. You're emotionally honest, real, and easily hurt. Totally expressive, others always know exactly how you feel.

What number are you?

hi from tokyo!!

Hi from Tokyo Narita Airport!! We flew here in style on the top deck of a 747!!! See pictures here!! More pictures to come as we travel to China tonight!!

Have a great week everyone!!

happy thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! :) You all rock and I'm super-thankful for having such great friends!! I had a nice dinner with my south-side relatives down in Worth. Stacie, you'll find it amusing that a bunch of them who live around there went to your high school. In any case, it was great to see my cousins again!!

So tomorrow I am off to China!! Yay!! :) I'll try to blog from china, and hopefully will be able to post some pictures as I go around out there. We'll see how things go! :) Email is by far the best way to contact me for the next week!

Hope you all had wonderful thanksgivings and I'll see all of you Chicago people again next week!

soy ice cream

This is the best ice cream *ever*!!! And it's made right here in Chicago. Who said this was a meat-loving, veggie-hating city ;)

For those coming to my b-day fun, they have this ice cream at the Chicago Diner!!

china is on!

China is on! But it means I'm leaving on Friday...meaning I get an extra day in China, but also meaning that I miss Lauraf's party. :) and :( at the same time.

lost...

Do you ever get lost in a bookstore? I don't mean like, you can't find the door, but like you come out thinking maybe 20 minutes tops has passed, but it's now dark outside and many hours later :) Yeah, that was me yesterday. :)

Found some cool things though. Maybe some Christmas present ideas for various people. But I refuse to start shopping so early. Gotta wait till at least after my birthday to start thinking about christmas.

small world

So I was at leona's in wheeling yesterday having dinner, and this girl walks in and sits down at the table next to us. And I'm like, wow, she looks familiar. But it's one of those, I-haven't-seen-you-in-six-years-and-don't-really-remember-you sort of moments. And then it hits me and I palce the face as someone I knew from high school! More a friend of a friend from high school, but still cool! I mean I guess it's not so random, since I was in Wheeling, but still took me by surprise!!

Anyway, not much new here. I'll know on Monday if the China trip is on for sure, but if it is, I get to fly business class through Tokyo! So that's pretty exciting!! Vivek says it's a very gadget-filled airplane, so I'm pretty excited! My only international travel has involved an old charter plane with duct tape holding various things together that I took to Cancun, so this will be flying in style! :) OK...well I guess Cuba counts as international travel too, but that wasn't a planned trip, and that was just a normal plane.

And I'll be back for my b-day for sure!! Actually I get to spend my birthday (which will last 35 hours!) in three different countries which I think is pretty neat. I can have breakfast in Beijing, lunch in Tokyo (a few random meals in between) and dinner in Chicago with my parents. How fun! :) And plans are still on for b-day fun with friends for the 4th! I'm thinking maybe dinner at Chicago Diner and then hitting a bar or two or three in Wrigleyville :) If you're reading this and you'll be in Chicago that day. you're invited :)

travel

So late night calls from your manager that involve the question "Do you have a passport?" are always fun. :) It looks like there's a chance that I'll be out in Beijing for the last week of the month up until my b-day. Fun times! So...do you guys who have been out there know where any good veggie-friendly restaurants are or any fun things to do??

Assume b-day plans are still on for the 4th unless I find out different in the next day or two. :-D

today's google call

So today's google call was much much better. I talked to this guy that was awesome. We talked about social networking, location-based searching, developing iterative prototypes, linking in wih orkut, and all sorts of other fun stuff at the right level of abstraction :) And then he asked me some math/coding questions. I slipped up a little, but nothing major. I think he was happy with it...certainly he was happy with the first part!! So they'll be calling me back! :) Yay! We'll see how things go, but it would be fun to visit and see the group in action. It's like 80 people all working under one manager that can work on things that are interesting to them. Teams of 3-4 working on each project. It sounded very cool to me :) And the project teams even sit together in the same office, something I've been saying we should do at moto for a while.

So interest in google is coming back again. This is the company I thought they were! :)

drilling = bad :(

They're drilling in alaska! :(

what states have you been to??

Hopefully I can keep texas in the unvisited column ;)



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Yay for TML!

Last night was fun! Went to this awesome bar down in Andersonville called Hopleaf and then to see Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind with LauraF and gang. Fun fun times! The beer menu at hopeleaf is just incredible...it's like 11x17 double sided in 8pt font. Craziness! But oh so good organic beers from England and fancy salads and food! Yum! :) And of course TML was great as always!! And of course they sold out and ordered out, and I love that they apologized for the food all being meat :)

I want to do something fun for my 25th birthday in a few weeks! My b-day is December 3rd, but I think I'm going to be spending that night with family, so on the 4th all you Chicago people, let's go do something! Details to come, but remember the date! :)

enfj

Yay for being in 2 % of the population :) I love these things!!

ENFJs are the benevolent 'pedagogues' of humanity. They have tremendous charisma by which many are drawn into their nurturant tutelage and/or grand schemes. Many ENFJs have tremendous power to manipulate others with their phenomenal interpersonal skills and unique salesmanship. But it's usually not meant as manipulation -- ENFJs generally believe in their dreams, and see themselves as helpers and enablers, which they usually are.

ENFJs are global learners. They see the big picture. The ENFJs focus is expansive. Some can juggle an amazing number of responsibilities or projects simultaneously. Many ENFJs have tremendous entrepreneurial ability.

ENFJs are, by definition, Js, with whom we associate organization and decisiveness. But they don't resemble the SJs or even the NTJs in organization of the environment nor occasional recalcitrance. ENFJs are organized in the arena of interpersonal affairs. Their offices may or may not be cluttered, but their conclusions (reached through feelings) about people and motives are drawn much more quickly and are more resilient than those of their NFP counterparts.

ENFJs know and appreciate people. Like most NFs, (and Feelers in general), they are apt to neglect themselves and their own needs for the needs of others. They have thinner psychological boundaries than most, and are at risk for being hurt or even abused by less sensitive people. ENFJs often take on more of the burdens of others than they can bear.

---------

The Idealists called Teachers are abstract in their thought and speech, cooperative in their style of achieving goals, and directive and extraverted in their interpersonal relations. Learning in the young has to be beckoned forth, teased out from its hiding place, or, as suggested by the word "education," it has to be "educed." by an individual with educative capabilities. Such a one is the eNFj, thus rightly called the educative mentor or Teacher for short. The Teacher is especially capable of educing or calling forth those inner potentials each learner possesses. Even as children the Teachers may attract a gathering of other children ready to follow their lead in play or work. And they lead without seeming to do so.

Teachers expect the very best of those around them, and this expectation, usually expressed as enthusiastic encouragement, motivates action in others and the desire to live up to their expectations. Teachers have the charming characteristic of taking for granted that their expectations will be met, their implicit commands obeyed, never doubting that people will want to do what they suggest. And, more often than not, people do, because this type has extraordinary charisma.

 The Teachers are found in no more than 2 or 3 percent of the population. They like to have things settled and arranged. They prefer to plan both work and social engagements ahead of time and tend to be absolutely reliable in honoring these commitments. At the same time, Teachers are very much at home in complex situations which require the juggling of much data with little pre-planning. An experienced Teacher group leader can dream up, effortlessly, and almost endlessly, activities for groups to engage in, and stimulating roles for members of the group to play. In some Teachers, inspired by the responsiveness of their students or followers, this can amount to genius which other types find hard to emulate. Such ability to preside without planning reminds us somewhat of an Provider, but the latter acts more as a master of ceremonies than as a leader of groups. Providers are natural hosts and hostesses, making sure that each guest is well looked after at social gatherings, or that the right things are expressed on traditional occasions, such as weddings, funerals, graduations, and the like. In much the same way, Teachers value harmonious human relations about all else, can handle people with charm and concern, and are usually popular wherever they are. But Teachers are not so much social as educational leaders, interested primarily in the personal growth and development of others, and less in attending to their social needs.

Never Settle?

So do those of us in the whole monster.com/never settle generation have it all wrong? Or maybe do we just need to experience something really bad to know when you really have it good. I can totally identify with the needing a bad experience once. In work, in love, in roommates, in school. I've spent my life looking for something better. All this google interviewing has just really shown me how good things are with my job at motorola labs. How amazing it is to get to work across the entire company, create demos for CES, impact multiple products with reserach, and to be able to spend time doing studies and prototyping. It appears that even at a company like google, there may not be a job like that. So yeah, I totally believe in finding the best of everything in life...but how do you know when you're at the best. How do you know there's nothing better and how do you get satisfied with what you have. That's always been a problem for me. :)

So yeah, I'm in a pretty satisfied mood right now. Certainly there could be something better out there, but honestly for right now moto is looking real good :) So yay for Chicago and moto and being able to live a short el ride away from wrigley!!! :-D

Thanks to Stacie, Vivek, Crysta, Laura, and all others who I've talked to about this over the past few weeks! You all rock!

Oh bonus question. If you know java, do you know how to create a weak reference? Just a random google question that we all thought was wack!

wtf?

I had my first google interview tonight! I had my expectations set pretty high. I mean come on, it's google here, you know!? But what I got was not so much outstanding. The guy they had interview me had no concept at all about applications or user centered research or actually *why* you'd want to have metadata or use a social network in a mobile environment. All he seemed to care about was how you see if two strings have all the same characters in the most optimal way and how to make a weak reference in java. It's like, um, can we talk at the right level of abstraction here!

Oh well, I asked my recruiter to try again :) We shall see what happens! But if I get a few more of these, my impression of google is gonna change!

stalked!

Yes, the rumors are true. I'm being stalked by a small search company in mountain view :) More details to come soon! Do I really want to move to california? Honestly though, this whole google culture just fascinates me...veggie lunch and dinner, fruit and juice, yoga balls in the hallways, a coporate motto of not being mean, and a culture that values hard work and raw talent. Sounds like a dream... But it's in CA! Far far away from friends and family here in chicago. Opinions???

law and order

Lewis Black was on Law and Order the other night as a Howard Stern-like radio announcer! How awesome Lewis Black + Law and Order! What a combination!!

canada

I must thank Candace and her away message for a fun filled morning of laughter...

Marry a Canadian

A new map of North America

Do you qualify to work in canada? Obviously a popular site! It's interesting the vast differences between the Canadian Immigration policy and that of the United States. Two different philosophies for sure. One says, you've got to be useful to us, and the other says, we'll take the people who for some reason or other can't live anywhere else (at the expense of those that can be useful). It'll be interesting to see how that pans out for us as this truly global economy progresses and good people that we need can't stay here. I was reading another article yesterday about how foreign applications for grad school are way way down after september 11 and the horrid visa problems that came after that. And I don't blame the foreign students, if I was at risk of going home for Christmas and not being able to return to the US, I don't think I'd want to go to school here either!

OK...I'm off to try to make cinnamon rolls. I've never done this by myself and haven't made them in over a year. My "job" just used to be adding the cinnamon and sugar and then making the frosting. So we'll see how the dough comes out without a recipe to go from :) Actually if a certain blog reader from NU would like to post directions anonymously, I'd be very grateful! :)

SOFA

Had a fun afternoon hanging out with my friend Stacie down at Navy Pier! They had a fun art show, called SOFA (Sculpture Objects and Functional Art) that had tons and tons and tons of art of all different styles. Lots of glass, also lots of wood and interesting things like furniture and fountains. Very very cool show! :) And a fun time for sure!

But now I'm totally exhausted after getting up to do some work and running in the beautiful late-spring like weather we're having, and then going downtown. So I'm off to bed now!

Neofuturists next weekend for sure!

7.012 lecture

So I've heard that there was a fun start to the 7.012 lecture from wednesday morning! (For those that don't know, 7.012 = freshman bio in MIT speak)

Video (text)

e-voting issues

I wonder just how many votes bush didn't really get? More here

lots of random things...

So hopefully the crazy work hours are over for now!! Which is nice cause my coworker and I figured out this morning that we had worked over 40 hours BEFORE today even started. Yikes! But we had our demo done and the CEO saw it today, so that was exciting :) :)

I interviewed a high school senior for MIT today. And it went well! Man, he was great! So we'll see what happens from here, but I'm pretty pumped that an Evanston kid has a shot at things!

Let's see...what else is new. Not much since I've been working so much! Um, you should check out this for a good laugh and some thoughts. Thanks to lauraf for the link! :)

I can't wait to sleep in on Saturday! It's sad that I'm looking forward to that :) Anyway, if anyone is doing anything fun around Chicagoland this weekend, let me know!! I don't have to work for once! :)

Final note...Google's been calling me. I guess they found my blog and then googled me. How sneaky of them. :) In any case there may be an opening relating to an area I'm interested in...and if there is, I might have to think pretty hard about taking them up on it. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

we're f'ed

So our great country just voted away a woman's right to choose as well as a gay couple's rights to have the same rights as any other couple. Why are we decades behind any other modern country??? Grr.

Off to work...

Who wants to see Windmilled and TML either this weekend or next???

vote out some judges

if you're in cook county and haven't voted yet vote out Mc Dunn.

On Tuesday, Cook County voters have the opportunity to remove a virulently anti-gay
judge from the Bench.  Judge Susan McDunn is up for retention and her name will be
toward the end of the ballot.  Please go to the end of the ballot and PUNCH 276 to vote NO
on retention.

Even if you do not live in Cook County, you may still know others who will be voting here
on  Tuesday. PLEASE email them TODAY and encourage them to PUNCH 276 which is a NO
VOTE ON MCDUNN. Rarely is a bad Judge turned out of office--this time it is particularly
important to our community.

McDunn twice attempted to block two lesbian couples' second-parent adoptions and gave
confidential court files to an anti-gay organization.  A three judge Appellate Court ruled
that McDunn "discredited and disgraced not only this judiciary but the citizens of Illinois".
All of the major Bar Associations have urged a NO vote on McDunn.

PUNCH 276--NO ON JUDGE SUSAN MCDUNN AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS TODAY.


The reader also recommends you vote out Jones, O'Neal, Cole, Hubbard, Santiago, and Turkington. Most importantly VOTE FOR KERRY wherever you are!!! :)