last day.. 1.5 hours left

Last day of work. Last time i'm probably going to be updating this blog in awhile. I wonder if i still have any faithful readers?

I think I will definitely miss this internship, the people here were awesome, the atmosphere was fun and the other interns made it really fun. It's kinda surreal that school is starting next week.. orientation on monday.. blehh.

Some things other things i will miss about work:
- biweekly paychecks =[
- gchat 24/7
- being up to date on the latest slickdeals and dealnews
- being up to date with the latest sports updates
- intern hangouts
- free time after 5pm
- consistent sleeping habits
- getting paid to use the bathroom, gchat, research and all that
- lunchtime naps
and did i mention getting paid?

see you guys at school.
thanks to all my faithful followers for reading this blog and being somewhat interested at what we do at work... haha

----------

just something fun. kinda nerdy.

hope you guys get it

2nd to last day -> 2nd to last post?

I had my presentation yesterday. it was okay. haha i dont know how well it actually went...
Ryan, the other intern in the department, (now that I've given you his name he's almost stalk-able), presented after me and I thought he did a very good job.

Last night, we had our last intern hangout (at least during my internship career here) celebrated the end of presentations and went to cheeeezeboard for great pizza and good convos. We actually ate at Ryan's "new" apartment in berkeley. It's "new" cause he just moved in. He's going to be working part time during the school year, half tuesdays and all thursdays. He's taking a grad law class at BOALT, which i think is really cool. Technically I could work Wednes and Fridays all day but I decided to not because people keep telling me that the next 30 years or so of my life will be dedicated to work so why rush? Also its kinda sad to see Jonny working full time now, haha don't want to be like him YET. Waking up at 8am EVERY MORNING will suck too. So now I'll just have my Tues/Thurs schedule with free MWF to enjoy my last year of college.

Some things I am looking forward to this school year...
-four day weekends
-cal football
-cal basketball
-sf giants game
-fun friday nights
-new laptop-new video games
-some of my classes (yeah!, im actually excited for the classes im taking)
-urbana

Hopeful adventures in the near future...
-dim sum
-gijoe
-bonfire?? =]

Intern luncheon tomorrow
Orientation monday (find me afterwards)
First day of classes - Thursday

Last week...

as in this is my LAST week of work.

This summer went by fairly quickly. This is potentially the last monday i'll spend here at CCWD. And no I don't have any crazy stories like Christine. I'm just working on my final presentation--which I've learned is a pretty standard thing for internships. Christine had to make one and so does Simon. I'm almost done with mine though, I worked out all the slides I just gotta figure out what I'mma say.

in about a week or so, this blog will probably be on hold till next summer. In a couple of days I will post my concluding thoughts, until then I have a plethora of work appointments/meetings.

- FREE luncheon tomorrow thanks to the CURB YOUR KILOWATTS campaign here at work. YEAHH INTERNS! 15% energy reduction success.
- Grant Research meeting tomorrow.
- 5-10 minute Presentation on Wednes @ 2:30.
- Followed by a Construction Staff meeting till 3:30.
- Intern Brown Bag luncheon on Thursday
- Coworkers lunch on Friday (LAST DAY)
- CEE Master's orientation on Monday
- Classes start on Wednes

I need to go buy books soon...

this was on slickdeals...made me LOL

in the forums..

Official Yahoo Iphone Fantasy Football App - Sept 8!!! Free!?
Link [shareholder.com]Hot off yahoo shareholder press! Seems it is free as it is within Yahoo! Mobile app. Free StatTracker, now this... yahoo has me won.This year, Yahoo! fantasy football enthusiasts will be able to track their favorite team's success right in the palm of their hands. On September 8th, Yahoo! Fantasy Football goes mobile, launching three different ways to stay on top of their game. Included in the Yahoo! Mobile offering will be an iPhone app, a BlackBerry app, and a version for the mobile web. With mobile fantasy football you can get real-time scores and player stats, the ability to bench and start different players, and even the ability to trade with others in your league - all through your mobile device.

While it's not like the BEST slickdeals, the comments after it made me laugh.

"Now I can set my lineup in church sunday mornings!"
A reply to the above ^^
"And don't forget to pray to God that your players won't get injured. "

Yeahh.. this is how bored I get at work...

that means we can all update our fantasy sports during small group as well!! =]
(though as a former sg leader i highly discourage it)

take a picture trick.

work blog disclaimer: this has nothing to do with work this only applies to this blog cause i'm at work right now.

shoooot look what I found...
http://www.tanga.com/deals/current/tshirt

I'm seriously contemplating getting one, but the sane professional non-nerdy side of me says hellll nahhh.

too bad swim trunks and flippy floppies are sold seperately.

hey val, if we're really going to shoot a music video... *elbow elbow*

for the record, i've been on a boat on at least 3 seperate occassions this summer already..
1. chapter camp
2. kayaking the bay
3. whitewater rafting the american river

He knows our name

But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! (isaiah 43:1)

Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. (luke 12:7)

i read this article today that i liked a lot. it's quite long. but i thought it was really well written. & even though the author is talking about her doubts about God, it's also an article on her doubts with her doubts about God:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/08/11/o.faith.doubters.dilemma/index.html

since you guys will most likely not want to read the whole thing, i'm just going to copy here the three paragraphs i liked from her article. well i really only like the last one, but the other two are needed to understand the context i guess:

As it is, I relish the fact that I am one of 6 billion people the way my mother revels in Pavarotti's recording of the Ave Maria. Being one in 6 billion means my life can't possibly matter to anyone but me and my little flock -- which means that all my mistakes and failures and anxieties are utterly inconsequential.

When I forget this, when things begin to matter too much and I find it hard to get a good, deep breath, I close my eyes and imagine flying over houses, lifting off the roofs and seeing all the people whose existence is concurrent with mine. I imagine them arguing, cooking, hugging, suffering and laughing, living and dying. Each of us a little bitty fish in an inconceivably large pond, swimming in circles, nothing to do but enjoy the water.

But maybe that's an incomplete picture. Maybe there's something between and around and inside all 6 billion of us, and maybe that something knows every hair on each of our heads. Maybe we are not anonymous. Wouldn't that be outrageous? And beautiful?

sigh. reading that was a lovely reminder that yes, we are not anonymous. He knows our names. &that IS indeed quite outrageous, outrageously beautiful. :)
&aren't we just so very blessed to know this fact?

that is all! have fun at work! :)

2 mo weeks.

I'm the only one at work now.
Well technically Andrea is too but she never updates. Haha.

Another dull day at work. Even more so now cause I have no online buddy to share in my pain and agony. Tim responds to my emails however, haha, I'm grateful for that.

The seniors invited the interns to happy hour on Wednes. Someone is coming back from a long vacay but I don't know the guy so I don't know if I will go. We'll seeeeee.

ITS LUNCH TIME. FINALLY.

the good thing about this week is that i get paid. whooo000000OOOOts!

GIANTS AND DODGERS showdown starting tonight. EPIC.

On a fun note, I went whitewater river rafting this weekend at the American River up in Sactown. That was hella fun. I'd hella do it again.

Who wants to go dim sum this weekend or watch GIJOEE? Mike wants to visit SJ....

sometimes i run / sometimes i hide / sometimes i'm scared of you

YOU GUYS ARE IN FOR A TREAT! 2 POSTS WITHIN A DAY FROM ME?
but that's cuz i finished my digital drawings!

this is my lovely elevation rendering photoshopped with the more accurate backdrop.
you should view this one in a larger resolution. it looks better. it's populated with yellow people hehe cuz asians will someday also overtake copenhagen lol


more yellow people! this is the view from the bridge that is to the left of that image above


here, you can see the bridge and kind of get a feel for the experience of actually being in the harbor bath.


yep. well. that's the end of the images coming from me.
my time with studio is finally coming to an end. now i just have to turn in my plot and make a quick itty-bitty model and i'm done! woohoo! go me! ive never been this on top of things before... i might actually get a bit of sleep tonight and definitely before final review. SWEET.

im the hottest twigga in the hood

THIS IS FOR THOSE WHO STILL HAVE TO WORK UNLIKE CHRISTINE WHO IS DONE. (actually, i'm guilty of being done soon. tomorrow at 9am, to be exact. :D)


kid: hey mommy! i want ice cream!
parent: not now, tommy. it's closed.
kid: but i want it now! MAKE IT OPEN!


youth by basin: lalalala... man that kid is annoying. but i sho' would like some ice cream righ' now too.


diver: lookit me! i'm such a graceful diver!
spectator in background: i wonder if that guy knows there's a huge-ass jellyfish in there... i sho' ain't gonna be the one to pee on that sting.


sunbather: ahhhh... sun. this awful sock tan better be half gone when i'm done here.

yes. this is my model. i contemplated including a fat cat in it as well... but that would've been too tiny. the scale of the model makes each person roughly 1.8cm tall... MAX. so.. yeah.. they're pretty tiny.

post last day

today was my last day :)

still felt sick but thank God i got through it!

had final evaluation meeting with the manager. quite interesting haha. i guess i did aiiiite. :)

said some awkward goodbyes. &then sent out the less awkward thank you email to the dept & bounced at 3pm! :D

i got a neat lil package from the dept/company! they gave me a cool laptop bag kinda thing. & in it were a company cup thermos thing, chex mix, & an assortment of candy ^__^ &the neatest is noticing that my coworker's random ims yesterday regarding what kind of candy i liked really weren't all that random. hahahaa. they'sa so sweet :) i think i like nice thoughtful gestures like that the best.

so aside from the usual things one learns in an internship, i've realized that i derive happiness most easily from nice thoughtful yet simple gestures! :)

latest slickdeals

mike got paid today. he barely got taxed too.
he said he would take out anyone who asks him to "some tasty food".

word.

[editted for mike.]

proper balance

RANDOM THOUGHT. when my department was hiring, i wonder if they took our heights into consideration...

The other intern in my department is like a foot taller than me. Actually that’s an underestimate cause he actually stands at 6’6” and I’m at 5’4”. The department calls him Stretch, cause he kinda looks like hes been stretched out cause he’s so tall and kinda lengthy looking. But anyway, it’s probably a pretty amusing site to see the two of us walking around the building together. I mean really think about it, the tallest guy and the shortest guy…This also happens relatively often given that he’s in the building and not out on his job site. He was hired as the project site intern while I’m the department’s building intern. We were actually hired as the opposites but our positions got switched cause of our start dates –he was more free. [His job is more strenuous than mine, so I’m kinda glad –he has to get here at 7am cause of the 45 minute commute to the project site and he doesn’t leave till 530pm ish, no extra pay either]

But anyway the department probably hired the two of us to balance each other out. If you hire the smallest guy, you have to hire the tallest right? He’s quite possibly the tallest guy in the building, and I’m quite possibly the shortest guy in the building. So imagine us always walking around and hanging out together. Haha. We compensate each other well. I’d post pictures but I got none.

what's around the riverbend?

WORK-IN-PROGRESS

today, i almost finished my model! yay!
it is flimsy though. alas. those stairs were a BITCH to make, and i freaking hate curves cuz they really show my poor craftsmanship. sigh.

regardless, here is a picture of my model thus far.



now... back to cad-ing and rhin0-ing.
i really want to sleep tonight though.
making that model took a lot out of me.
and i only slept 3.5 hrs last night...

lunch today was lard (chinese take-out) but i THOROUGHLY enjoyed it cuz missed chow mein and eggrolls.

2nd to last day

so i've got nothing to do. &since i arrived to work at 830 today, i can't leave til 530. SIGHZORS. so i have another 2.5 hours.
so in the next 2.5 hours i'm going to attempt to finish 2 chronicles. i have like. 10 more chapters left. &i will list interesting things i've noticed from 2 chronicles:

>1. israel & judah vacillates between relying on God &idols a lot. i think we do that too. but with us it's more like vacillating between relying on God and relying on ourselves. last year i heard someone say something interesting. we were talking about prayer requests. &she said "pray that i'll finish my essay tonight!! it's due tomorrow!" &then a few minutes later "actually, nah, don't pray about that, i know i'll finish it" i think that surprised me a lot because i've grown up with the mentality that i can pray for everything! &that in the easy, hard, little, or big things, i can always go to God. hmm but yeah that was interesting.

>2. pride is scary :O. there were so many kings that started off all humble. willing to listen to the counsel & advice of godly men even when it was against what they had intended to do. &then they prosper because they're following God. but then! they get prideful as they start prospering. &they end up not following God anymore. i guess sometimes it's harder to follow God in the good times because we get so caught up in how smooth everything is going.
this is a good verse to sum up a bunch of the kings' reigns: But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the LORD his God (2 chronicles 26:16)

>3. prophets. being a prophet sounds quite cool. you get to hear directly from God & you get to have a message for the people. but it's also kind of scary. nobody likes you & your life is always at risk. kind of sounds like the typical life of a christian in a nonchristian country like pakistan huh.

okay. i have 3 chapters left. i guess i shall finish it at home. YAYY I GET TO GO HOME FINALLY :) GBYE

I WANNA SEND A SHOUTOUT TO ALL MY TWIGGAS

LOLL sorry. i had to follow those posts with more lyrics from hit me on twitter hahaha

tomorrow is my last studio! then it's just the rush to finalize my project--models and drawings--before turning it all in on sunday.

AND THEN IT'S THE END!

and i will post more pictures of my beautiful design.

well. i think it's pretty cool.
and if i'm pretty excited about my design, so should you all.

anthony, andrea: we're going to make this project happen someday. harbor baths are the next IN thing. if it's of danish design, it's going to explode. like ikea. which is actually the name of a traditional design of chairs, did you know? there is actually an accent on that e i think. ikéa.

over and out.

**EDIT for christine, who thinks this post was TOO $HORT**

this is a more realistic render of my design!

aaaand a view from crossing into the decking area

also, in case you wanted to know what that ugly looking thing in the background is, it's actually a really nice apartment complex for high rollers!

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/159676

2 for 1

two posts within half a day, that's unheard of. but i have no work so.. as might as well comment. i think both of these two articles share the same ridiculousness theme.

http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/29/woman-sued-over-defamatory-tweet/

http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/05/student-arrested-for-modding-xbox-consoles/

we'll start with the first one since twitter is so hot today. basically the woman got sued for "defaming" the apartment leasing company, which is stupid. i mean really.. are you going to censor everything you say? and what happened to freedom of speech? haha. i think the company is just trying to make money but they are going to lose a lot of favoritism “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization.” seriously? if tweets and blogs end up being held to legal media standards, theres gonna be alotttttt of shizz.

number 2. i think the student should win this case, cause after purchasing the console its yours to do whatever you want with it. personal property. i think it'd be legit if they sued him for being in possession of illegal games, but not for tinkering with his own stuff. thats kinda like upgrading your own computer and then getting sued for it. or pimpin' out your car and then get sued. i dont think it should be illegal to mod your xbox, i think its illegal to play modded games.

people just want money nowadays. last night we had a dinner convo about how people sue people for ridiculous amounts of money and then get awarded. its honestly really stupid. "i spilled hot soup on my pants, you didnt tell me it was going to be hot, i want $2 million." and then whats even more outrageous is that they usually get award the ridiculous amount of money for something so trivial. for sure all these people are just looking for money and its ridiculous that they get awarded cause everyone knows they are just after the money...

a couple of days ago, a girl sued her college for 72k, for not being able to find a job. that's ridiculous but at least she didnt sue for some 20 bagillion dollars. she just wants her tuition back, which i think makes it a more fair case, but still obviously ridiculous.

there will be a day with no more fears

i like the song 'there will be a day' by jeremy camp. quite good indeed.

anywayyy. 2nd to last dayy!! :)
so i moved my final presentation to yesterday because i havent been feeling well lately &that's really the only thing i had left for the internship. but YAYYY i am done with the presentation. & it went really well :) ! and the vp didn't even ask many questions!!! so very surprising.

so now i have no more work. my coworker gave me some rates to check though, just to help me pass the time, i guess. &it benefits him too cause then he doesnt have to do it. haha. so now, i am just checking rates, reading articles online, &writing my final thank you letter to them. thank you letters are so awkward to write for me. because it's like balancing between informal & formal & letting them know i liked chilling with them but not an overload of sap. i found my thank you letter from last year, so i think i will basically just reword that. haha.

today, i am feeling much better. i don't know why i always get sick at the end of internships. maybe i'm nervous? maybe i'm just allergic to work? haha. iuno T_T i am excited to just sleep the next few weeks haha. next wednesday, my familiy &i are going to visit my cousin at uci. we're going to eat with him. &then my family is going to go to irvine spectrum to look at cute puppies. HEHEHHEHEHHE. :) &next weekend is church retreat! and then the following weekend, i am going back to berkeley! wow so fast.

aiite i am done. now to find some more things to amuse myself with......

Hit me on Twitter... part 2

Twitter isn't cool cause none of the cool kids are using it.

Check it:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/08/05/twitter-all-the-kids-arent-doing-it-but-does-it-matter?icid=sphere_cnninline_tech

Twitter is fueled by mid-aged people 25-54. And also there are more senior citizens (over 54) using it than young adults/teens.

So I guess since none of the cool kids are tweeting, twitter is not the latest cool kid trendy thing. Let's go back to facebook everyone.



[edit]: by the way, I'm amazed at how many articles there are on the fact that twitter is down. it even made headlines on cnn.. get a life people haha. whoever ended up trying to hack twitter probably did twitter a favor in giving them so much publicity. seriously.

Hit me on Twitter...or not.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/06/twitter.attack/index.html

so lame, especially the part

The site allows users to post 140-character messages, and many of Twitter's users have complained about feeling disconnected from the news of the day while the site is shut down.

That is pretty pathetic, that their news of the day comes from Twitter and not a legitimate news site, like CNN! Haha. but yeah, last night I was talking to somone and s/he was saying how after spending so much time w/ someone, it gets weird when the other person is not around. I mean, no comment on that statement itself, but I guess this Twitterfail is like that -- you feel so weird now that your 1039580234 friends are not around at the touch of your fingertips :O kew kew!

HIT ME ON TWITTERRrrr -- why don't you go listen to that song instead, by Mista F.A.B.
and I should do some work haha.

4th to last day

i've got nothing to do this week! haha. i'm done prepping for my presentation. i will prep more tomorrow, since tomorrow is much closer to my presentation day (thursday) than today is. :)

today, for lunch, i went to eat with my coworker and manager from the department i was in last year. they are so nice! &i've realized that it is much easier talking to them about like. religion i guess. since they knew that i am a pk. so it came up easily. i really liked my department from last year. i think if i do come back to work for this company, i will hope to work in that department :) just because they are so nice! but at the same time, i'm not sure, because the current department i'm working in has many actuaries and so they could give me advice on actuary tests &such. but we shall see!

i've realized that i really like nice people ^__^

helllooooooo

I'm writing a post whoooo. but I have not much to say. I'm finishing up next Friday but I'm taking this friday and next monday off to counsel for my church's retreat! haha.. so no more full weeks of work.

but man, I wish this week were my last week. haha. cus I am retaking the GRE :[[ kew kew. and cus I'm TIRED, mang. Hmm well, work has been good. I went on a site visit to see some guy's house where he wants to build a new deck in his backyard. I want to be as pro as my boss.. he just looks at the house and knows what to do already. I guess that just comes w/ experience, really. and tons of question asking.

uhh nothing really that cool around here, unless you're structural. haha. okay I should start work. I hope I can leave early today cus I worked late yesterday... whoo.

its august baby!

oh shoooot. christine finishes work on FRIDAY. that means no more blogging for her. all the awesome people who read this will be severely disappointed. that also means tim needs to step up more. hes only blogged twice in his entire life career.

i am ending work on aug 21st, which leaves me with 3 more weeks of work. after that i have orientation on aug24th for grad school and i might go to socal the following weekend with some hs friends.

today was suppose to be our mentor/intern after work hangout but i think its been moved to tomorrow. i'll find out soon.

i have no work at work. the same story all summer. i don't think they expected to have such a overly qualified intern. hahaha jk jk.

confirm. pear cider is AMAZING.

i want a new phone. i want the sony ericsson xperia x1. YEAHHH. that phone is hot.

i might be getting my lenovo soon. oh man so many new fancy toys. i like =]

i guess we're all one phone call from our knees

my weekend was EXCEELLENTEEE :)

friday after work i went to chill with tim. picked out nice stuff for people we like. ;)
saturday went to boiling crab with parents. the one in alhambra is not as good as the one on garden grove :( oh wells. then! 'bible study' haha more like 'lets talk about where we are spiritually' which was really good. :) God has blessed us all so much!! &then hung out with the besties afterwards. went to souplantation! where we did 'remember whens.' i think we were hella loud in the restaurant haha -_-;; &then off we went to play with puppy ! ohsnap the puppy was so cute. SHE WAS LIKE A BABYYYY :) so cute. i want one minus all the hard work that goes into it.

&today, is the last monday of the internship. HEHE. i have just FIVE more days left.
tuesday for lunch i shall meet up with my manager &coworker from last year. wednesday is my early farewell lunch with the department. thursday is my final presentation that i shall pwn with the grace of God. friday is my last day. danngg man. so fast! it's been 9 weeks already. and this is the 10th. sigh. God is waaaay good to me. i'm learning to be grateful & rejoice carefreely. :)

why song lyrics?

i ACTUALLY have stuff to post that relates to work for once!

but quick update first:

i got back from traveling in western denmark a couple days ago. it was fTun, and pear cider is MIGHTY tasty! (yes it's alcoholic) i got real hyper that night after a couple handfuls of gummy bears, a glass of white wine, and a cup of pear cider from the draft. AWESOME! but i'm sad about the sketches i made cuz they werent as great as i had hoped they'd be after the sweden/finland tour. :(

anyway, so here is the progress of my project thus far.

i made it in 3d modeling program and rendered it with a cartoony rendering program.

it's a harbor bath, so what you're looking at is supposed to be a wooden structure placed in the water (= a harbor bath).

this would be the view from the neighboring apartment complex

this would be the view if you're a pedestrian walking by

and this is the view from the other side of the harbor canal