My first US trip 29 Oct to 5 Nov

After my 2 weeks in hell, was rushing on settling the administrative stuff for my Air Tix to San Francisco - my first stop in US. In fact, it was the first time I have even set foot in US. Managed to secure a seat on the SQ flight with only 3 days before departure, it sure was a rush for me. Especially so when the portal to submit the purchase of tix was down. (such luck)

Nonetheless, thankfully, J helped to hasten the process, etc. It was a relief to know that she would be handling the purchase of my tix with the travel desk. I know my tix are going to be secured by then.

The Friday before departure - was attending my stats class at 7pm and I submitted my assignment 1 week before the due date. Thereafter, I rushed home, checked email, did my other EE assignment, drove to YT place and asked her submit it on my behalf in NUS before heading to Changi to attend J's birthday celebration. Was almost 4am when I reached home and I had a flight to catch at 9am. This meant that I had to leave for airport by 630am. Was really dead beat when I went airport on that Sat morning.

Most of the time, I was drifting in and out of sleep on the plane. There was about an hour of layover in Korea and I sorta walked around the airport before boarding the same plane onward to SF.


My food from SIN-ICN. Think there was lunch and a snack.


Breakfast upon arrival to SF.

Didn't really catch those Krisworld Movies as I was super tired. Jumped into the Hertz Car which was rental and headed straight to our hotel in Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale. Heh. Then, quickly headed to the Gilroy Premium Outlet where shopping lasted the entire day. We met up with Linus over there and had to chance to sit in this wonderful convertible.

Our lunch at Apple Bees.


On the next day, we went to Megamall or something for more food, shopping and after that, we drove all the way back to SF city to see this iconic landmark which they sell as fridge magnets, cups, keychains, etc.


Bought a few A&F shirts from the Boutique shops. But what really got me interested was the Panda Express stalls in the food court. I don't know why-but i get very excited whenever I see this Panda Express stall. Maybe it's for the fortune cookies.


Our course for the next few days were in this hotel.


They provided 1 lunch, 2 tea break and unlimited drinks both hot and cold to the participants. For most days, my meals during the course there were like this:

However, there was always the occasional option of:


If you have one of those cup noodles from Singapore, I'm sure 2 things will happen:
1. You get to sell them to your colleagues for at least 10 USD
2. You will make friends very fast.

Chinese food got better when we had meals at this place.











Apparently, I got quite a hard-to-prove fortune from my fortune cookie.

A short update that I'm going to post a long one soon

Amazing that it's been like 4-5 months since I last updated a post here!
So much has happened since then -
Sep: Hell
Oct: 2 weeks in office, 2 weeks in US
Nov: 2 weeks in office, 1.5 weeks for my last study break
Dec: 2 weeks of course + office, 3 weeks of vacation in Australia.

Where should I start first? Hmm. I think each of them deserves an entry in this page. (except the Sep Hell) So, gimme some time and I will furnish details on them when I have found the pictures. =)

Let's start with the US trip in late Oct. =)

Some updates.

Back from hell. Shoulders ache as usual. !@)(#)_@(#)_@

I typed an entire post and for some reason, it got deleted.

ARGH.

Anyway, I'm now in my last semester with "Wireless Comms" and "Sampling from Finite Population" as my final 2 modules.

Anyway, schedule has been quite packed recently with a few changes. Sis got back from Aussie for a week and got me a Nexus S phone. Not bad. Now got new free phone.

Somehow, kinda worried for studies. Donno why but I seem to be lagging behind. GRARH.

July and a quick review

It's already mid July. My birthday just passed by as I celebrated it with my family (less my sis who's overseas). It was a good dinner at Jumbo @ NSRCC, though it would have been better with my sis if she's in Singapore. Nonetheless, we communicated via Skype app installed in my Dad's iphone. The intermittent connection rendered us trying to talk for less than 2 min. So much for our 3G network.

On hindsight, it was a relief to have cleared my previous year's IPPT. And it just dawned on me that I have to clear this year's IPPT. Booked a date on 6 Aug to clear it once and for all. Was hoping to clear it earlier, but I think I need to rebuild my stamina for the run first, especially indulging in good food over the past few days.

Tried to extend the Cisco exam voucher, but they were quite reluctant stating that it was already issued. Kinda screwed - I'm referring to myself - I have barely completed Lesson 5 in Book 1 and I still have 3 more books to go. I am unsure how I'm going to plough through this thick stack of book when I have so many distractions around me. Feel like flying to Taiwan to isolate myself from the world and concentrate on these books in a lazy cafe. Heh. So much for watching multiple episodes of 食尚玩家.

Anyway, school's starting in less than a month. I'm unsure if I'm prepared for it, despite it being my last sem. Heh. Whatever it is, bring it on! Last dash to the finishing line! I think I should also truly cherish my last semester as this would be the last time we would actually struggle through those hard life times in NUS (or at least I think so, unless I go for PhD). Feels so surreal, a moment ago, I was still in my first sem - Now, I'm all ready and prepared for my final semester in NUS.

What goes on after this? I think I need to lay down what I want to do in my life and start to relook at some of the priorities which I have overlooked - family, friends, career, relationships, others.

For now, I think studying is enough for me. It's about time to put my knowledge into good use. Oh ya, maybe some industrial certs or what.

Exams are finally over (again)!

Ha! It really feels to have a load off my shoulders after every semester. But interestingly, for this semester, my thought still lingers at the thought of not doing so well for both my papers this semester.

Digital Communications was plain difficult. It was so different from the type of questions that they asked last year.

High speed networks... well... Let's just say it wasn't as easy as how my friends put it. Ah wells... It's finally over.

Cabbed down to Cine for Thor(Digital) for $6 as a student! Free soft drink too! Not bad!!! Apparently Cathay facing quite stiff competition...

Thereafter, WS and WX and I went to this Jap buffet at basement of Hereen for dinner. Cost me $35 bucks. Not very worth it I feel. Hotels buffet seem better, especially with my ala carte card.

Back to office today and goodness... got so many reports to clear. i completed 2 reports today and sent to senior for vetting. Still got outstanding tasks to clear and at least 1 other report to write. Goodness. Left at 8pm today after much rushing.

Saw the elections rally on the TV, internet, etc for the past few days due to me studying hardworkingly on my modules. Shall go for the rally tomorrow at Serangoon Stadium since it's the last day. It should be quite a grand finale for them since it's their last chance of doing so.

For that, I better finish my work by 6pm tomorrow.

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I think Nicole is a hot mama.

I found the saddest place on earth

A thought transpired during the "universal sufferage" of digital comms.

If Disney founded the "Happiest place on Earth", I just found the
*"Saddest place on earth".

* -- excludes places with military affiliations

So simple huh. r(t) = s(t) + AWGN noise

I was buried in Digital Communications for the last few days.

Looking at the only recent past year paper, I memorised the entire derivation of equation covered in lectures. It was tough - especially so when the questions are so random themselves.

"It's going to be as easy as the mid terms" was all my lecturer could tell us in his last lesson as a way to assure us not to worry to much. How could we not worry when even the material taught in class was so difficult to comprehend?

And I was proven right. The paper today was just scary. I completed it within the first hour as I was only certain of 1(a) answer. Everyone was just as free as I was. We were playing the waiting game to see who could actually submit the paper and leave early.

Just then someone in class raised his hand. (there's a chance!)

Turned out that he requested for another answer booklet. Similar requests followed. Goodness. How could that be possible when my answer was only 5 pages long?!?!?!

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Aftermath: In short, it was jia lat. Now, I'm hoping that the moderation exercise cuts me some slack. Grarh.

As WX says, it's over. So ah wells. Gotta prepare better for the next paper. I think I can say bye bye to my CAP already, unless a miracle really happens.

Struggle struggle

It's quite daunting to think of this everyday. And as it gets closer, I started to lose sleep over this, fearing of the unknown challenges that are to come.
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Think I need to get myself a Nice Guy T-Shirt. It helps to encourage and remind myself to always be one.

Nice guys need motivation too sometimes. :)