AlbertLiang.net — Blog

Before we get to the main topic… here are some random pix!

Orientation (day 2 of 3) was today. It was the college of engineering orientation:

(Yes, I was totally paying attention… between facebook and taking pictures)

Here’s the engineering-quad clocktower. Even though it’s not nearly as cool (or sound as good) as the Cornell clocktower, I have to give them props for 3 things: it’s more modern (I like modern architecture more than old), it seems to be played in a more “digital”/”mechanical” way so they can hit a lot more notes a lot more quickly (instead of the Cornell method of using 1 poor person using all his feet/hands and running around a giant “organ”), and they have multiple clocktowers! This is just the one on engineering quad:

(It looks a little like… (1) a virus w/ the hexagonal protein casing, (2) one of those sentinel-things from the Matrix (the type that was used to drill down into Zion), and (3) a penis.)

OK, and now onto the main show. So I know I shouldn’t complain about getting free food… I haven’t paid for food for like 4-5 meals in a row now. It started with pre-orientation happy hour at Bar Louie (dinner on Monday night), and then lunch at BME orientation the next day, and then BBQ at BME BBQ that afternoon, followed by boxed sandwiches at lunch today. I just couldn’t take it anymore, because the only food I have at home is sandwiches and fruit punch, too. It was just too much “cold”, “dry”, “temporary” food… I needed something real.

While attempting to eat the boxed sandwich, this one persistent bee wasp (thanks Carol) kept coming back and landing on my turkey sandwich. Seriously, this thing was so persistent I had a “trained bee wasp (thanks Carol)” at my disposal. Wherever I led my sandwich, he would follow, so I could get him to do loop-de-loops and fly in circles around my wrist. Anyway, I finally decided I was tired of him landing on my sandwich (and pollinating it? (thanks Carol)) so I broke off a piece of my turkey sandwich and led him to it using my bigger sandwich. He landed there and didn’t bother me for the rest of lunch:

So today after orientation and talking to my adivsor, Eric and I went downtown to get Chinese food. (Technically, Taiwanese food!) But along the way, one of Eric’s friends called and said that the bubble tea shop (also Taiwanese) was having 50% off entrees today. (You know bubble tea food… fried chicken pieces, fried pork, etc. with rice and some small cold veggie sides.) Well, that was no “niu rou mian” but it was cheap, it was Asian (sorta), and I could get bbt (which I did)!

MmMmMMMmm….. =D It was pretty good, I ate it all, and I bought a second entree to take home for lunch/dinner tomorrow. It was so cheap — only $3.50 for each entree!

Food craving satisfied. A few more days of free food/sandwiches and I’ll need another real-meal fix. I can’t wait until I move into my own place so I can have my own stove/pots/plates and I won’t feel bad about mooching Eric’s roommate’s stuff and I can actually start cooking again. Until then, it’s minimalistic “mafan” stuff and just sandwiches/canned food.

We’ll start with actually chronological things… today was the first day of orientation. As part of the activities, they had us play a team-communications game. The rules of the game are: you have 1 “looker”, you have 1 “runner”, and the rest of the people on the team are “builders”. The “looker” leaves the group and goes to a secret room where s/he observes a particular structure that has already been built. The “looker” cannot leave that room, so it is the job of the “runner” to go to the “looker” and listen to his describe the structure. (The “runner” does not get to see the structure.) The “runner” then take the information over to the “builders” and relays the description from the “looker”. (The “runner” also does not get to touch any of the building pieces.)

The building blocks:

Our structure grows:

(No, our structure looked almost nothing like the original. I think the original was some kind teapot?)

And now for the random things I’ve seen around campus… in no particular order. This is the “decoration” in front of the architecture building (go figure):

Most people who have been on a college campus have seen chalkings all over the place advertising things. And most of us know that stencils and spray-on chalk are like the next big thing. But this is the first time I’ve seen multi-color chalk spray! So cool!

(I almost missed my bus taking this picture.)

Funny sign I saw at the bottom of an apartment complex. I think they were trying to get retail/restaurants to move in downstairs:

(If you can’t read it, it says: “Students above tired of eating cereal. Restaurants wanted!”)

A random cube spinning in central campus. I’m not sure what building it was in front of (although eventually I should find out):

And last but not least, this very sketchy but very well painted/decorated alleyway somewhere in downtown. Like you’re walking down this perfectly modern and clean street, and then blam, this alleyway, and then more clean/modern streets. I even ventured down this alley, but only about 100′. There’s a poem spray-painted to the ceiling of one of the archways. If you wander deeper in, you see people loitering. It’s actually kinda scary. I’m glad I went during the day. (Funny, the grad students I talked to knew about this alleyway, but nobody dared to venture down.)

And finally… I went to the BME picnic for all of us new kiddos, and I got to watch this sunset (yes, it has been photoshop-enhanced for color and contrast):

I have to keep reminding myself that I don’t have to (1) wait until the end of the day and (2) wait until something super-significant happens. (Hah, did you catch that? I’m usually posting insignificant things.)

I think one of the most comforting/fun new things I’ve done in Ann Arbor so far is webcam-ing. I know it’s not really new technology, but I finally have a built-in web cam on my computer. I used to hate lugging an extra piece of USB thingy around, so I never used webcam. Plus, it seriously helps ease the “I miss Carol”-syndrome. If you try to webcam me, though, you’ll probably be greeted by this guy first:

That’s French Fry, and he’s the only stuffed animal I have up here with me at Ann Arbor so far. (Yes, “so far” — cuz I’m sissy like that.)

Yesterday was my first time going to Meijer [pronounced "Myer"] (the local big grocery store chain around here). It’s a lot like… well, Wegmans for your East-Coasters, and Kroger-ish (larger than Kroger?) for Mid-Westerners. The prices are cheaper (comparable/cheaper than Houston Krogers) but the quality is only medium. Well, not terrible, either. Medium-high?

Today was my first real venture outside of the apartment and onto campus. The weather was gorgeous (as usual, as it has been the past 2 days that I’ve been here). It’s around 60′s and sunny-blue-skies during the day, and drops into the 50′s and clear-I-can-see-the-stars-skies during the night.

I took pictures of green things, because I predict with the imminent winter freeze coming in a few months, this will be a rare and precious sight:

I went to go visit some professor/advisors and along the way saw this posted on the IT guy’s door:

Took the UM blue shuttle (free!) for the first time. I did the newbie thing and told the bus driver which stop I want to go to so she could tell me when to get off the bus. (Oh well, I got nothing to lose by being a newb in Ann Arbor right now… I think being a PhD newb is slightly cooler than being a freshman newblet?)

On the way, I watched a helicopter land at the UM medical center:

Wandered through their “downtown”, spent about an hour in the AT&T store debating if it was worth renewing my contract and buying a $100 phone (Samsung Impression), ended up not getting it (or I would definitely be blogging about that right now), and settled into a nearby Biggby’s Coffee to work for the rest of the afternoon. It’s a really big coffee chain in Michigan, so perhaps I should change from my “generic corporate ways” (i.e. Starbucks) and start getting more “local”.

This one’s called the Teddy Bear. It’s caramel and white chocolate and delicious:

And now I’m off to a “pre-orientation happy hour” for BME PhDs. =D

I’m loving life over here right now. Except that doesn’t stop me from missing my girlfriend like every other hour of the day.

Some of you may know… I recently sold my second Optix (Optix Studios LLC) in Houston to a new friend I met through Rotary International. Cimela and I both served on the public image committee for District 5890 (Harris County) and that’s how we met! Well, after selling the company and transferring all the hardware over to her, it got me thinking about what it felt like when it was all first getting started…

An empty room and pieces (literally) of furniture:

Putting it all together…

Optix Studios takes shape:

Infant days… a lot of marketing/thinking/dreaming:

Taking off, gaining momentum… (these pictures are courtesy of DChee Photography)

Optix Studios gets sold to its next wonderful owner:

And in the end, things look like the start:

Farewell Optix! It has been one heck of a ride, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I can’t wait to see what Cimela takes it next!

Yesterday was the beginning of a new chapter: I moved to Ann Arbor! Off to start my PhD career here… excited and a little bit worried. More excited to be starting a “brand new life,”, but a little worried because there are too many unsettled issues… work that I didn’t finish in Houston, classes I haven’t picked here in UM yet. But enough of that, the trip up here was far more interesting:

There was a brilliant lightning storm the night before. (Note: while I didn’t intentionally copy his idea, I was probably heavily influenced by a similar photoshoot that Tony Yang did recently.)

Checking-in my baggage for the flight went a little bit less than smooth. The check-in agent actually measured my luggage and found it to be too large. The maximum width+length+height is 61″. She told me mine was 62″ and I had to get rid of 1″ or she would charge me $39. (Seriously?) I ended up taking my pillow out of my luggage, and traveled the next 7 hours looking like this:

On the plane ride over (first time takine AirTran… I like them. They remind me of JetBlue/SWairlines type customer service and fun), the gate agent ran onto the plane at the last minute and said, “I’m looking for Cinderella. You left your brown leather shoes in the waiting area. Cinderella, your shoes are at the front.”

Back to my pillow incident… on my 2nd leg flight from Atlanta -> Detroit, I sat next to 2 Air Force cadets, clad in their spiffy blue uniforms, hats, and pins. I, on the other hand, sat next to them in my basketball shorts and bright-blue starry pillow.

Landed in Ann Arbor and my friend Karen gave me a ride! (How nice of her, considering she lives in Detroit!) We went roaming around campus with Eric Yu, pretty much eating the whole way, and ran into this on the floor of the central campus diag:

We hung out at a local pub (Brown Jug?) and the waitress recommended a pitcher of this cider+beer blend (don’t remember the cider name, and the beer was New Castle). It was pretty good! I rarely like beer, but I cider+beer tastes awesome.

Crashed at BW3s for the rest of the night, munching on potato wedges and pepper-infused wings. Saw this:

Finally, the night ended at my temporary residence for the next 2 weeks: (it’s quite comfy!)

Apple, aiming to “fix” their iPod Shuffle’s problem of screen-less mp3 player, released the newest version today. I watched the how-to video on this new player, and I have to admit, the user interface is incredibly intuitive and friendly. Top-notch UI design, again, Apple. Except…

There’s no back button. How do you go back to a track? What if you want to listen to that track again? What if you skipped it on accident?

Oops.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/11/apples-ipod-shuffle-hits-4gb/