The World of Little Little Bird

My ISQED paper was rejected. I didn't receive any reviews but a short notification. However, it was no surprise to me as I hadn't spent much time on it.
I did spend a lot of time working on the charaterization in my work. A stupid clock gater took me 6 hours today to get the darn results. However, my manager seemed quite happy because we were one step closer to finish all the cells.
The stock dropped a lot today. It was a bitter loss. However, it is expected as a correction to the overbuy as the market went up too fast in the pre-holiday trades.
Steelers lost again tonight. It was their second consecutive loss. However, they lost to the red-hot Colts, which had a unbeaten record of 11-0 so far this season. The next game for steelers is most important. If they can't beat the Bengals in Heinz Field, they may miss the play-off this year.
Life sucks often. However, tomorrow will be better.

The early bird catches the worm. Therefore, the Black Friday sale, which is the biggest sale of each year, kicks off early in dark. Crowds rush to the stores in dawn and wait in chill for the deep discounts. I went to a couple of the Black Friday sales in the past few years. But after the excitement fades with aging, several morning hours in bed become a better choice of mine. As a result, I got up at 10am this morning, had my lunch at home, and then headed out around 2pm as a late bird to see whether there were any worms left around. Here are what I got in the 3 hours' shopping.
Stop 1: RadioShack
There is a RadioShack next to the BlockBuster that I needed to return a DVD. I went in but to find that I was the only customer. The young assitant showed me around for all the remaining deals. Though they listed on the flyer that all sales ended at noon, I still got the early bird price. I ended up with a spot flash for $5. It might not be useful, but I would feel uncomfortable if I walked out with nothing because of the nice introduction that I was given.
Stop 2: Sears
My plan was to shop some grocery from Walmart. On my way, I found a newly opened Sears. So I dropped in. The setup and environment were very good. I like it and definitely will go back frequently. Having not find anything interested, I checked out with a gallon of drinking water.
Stop 3: Target
The Super Target is next door to the Sears. Nothing interesting either. Got some potatoes and celery.
Stop 4: OfficeDepot
The Office Depot is next door to the Target. The sale was not exciting at all. But in the clearance area, I found a box of 500 envelops for only 4 bucks. Man, that was hot. I grabbed the last box. Now I'm thinking hard how many rebates that I need to send each year, in order to use them up in 10 years. What a hard question...
Stop 5: Walmart
Grocery, grocery, grocery. I also fueled my tank at Walmart. The gas price dropped below $2. I can't remember the last time when that happened.
Stop 6: Walgreens
I heard a rumor that Walgreens were selling one pint Haagen-Dazs for $1.5. However, rumor was just rumor. The price was actually $3.79. Instead, I bought many Lays chips at BOGO. Not bad at all.
Stop 7: Home
It took me three trips to bring a full trunk of stuffs into my apartment.
Conclusion:
The late little bird can get some little worms too. :P

The holiday season of this year comes today. It is my fourth Thanksgiving in US. Last year, I visited a Vietnamese friend and enjoyed turkey with his family. It is a tradition that US families roast turkeys on Thanksgiving. Western people like turkey breasts very much, while I find them too dry. I like juicy ones. So I roasted a duck for my Thanksgiving dinner. I have watched others roast a couple of times, but never done that by myself before. However, my first try turned out to be wonderful. I am very proud of my skills. Yeah, I am a genius. (dodging eggs, tomatoes from you guys...) Here are some pictures that I took. High five~~~

Every year, our company has a Thanksgiving lunch for all the employees of our campus. The company pays for the main food, such as turkeys and hams for this year. Each employee is asked to bring one dish, which could be drinks, desserts, salads, bread, fruit, etc. Same as last year, I brought some homemade potato salads, which are made from potatos, peas, hams and salad dressing. I am a big fan of potato salads. I remember that we made this every year as a cold dish for the Spring Festival when I was in China, and that is always my favorate. From last year's experience, I find that people here are not a fan of this. I got half of the salads back last year and enjoyed them very much for the dinner. However, when I picked up my utensil this afternoon, I was surprised to see that my salads were all gone. Sigh~~~ I think I will make more this weekend to meet my own demand. :)

It was last week in the Double Tree Hotel that I first watched Jim Cramer's Mad Money on CNBC. I finally understands what booya means, which is widely used on stock message boards. Again on Thursday, YHOO went up another 2 bucks after Wednesday's blowout. Together with my other two good news from the car insurance settlement and the green card appointment, I would say "Thursday is the day of the week." Booya!!!

It has been half a year since I started this job and 2 months since I started my H1-B visa. To ask about my perminent residency application, I made an appointment with the company lawyer this Thursday. I had two options. Option number one, I go through EB2 to apply for labor cards. Option number two, I go through EB1 to apply for outstanding researchers. I was asked to show her what I have achieved so that she could decide whether I am qualified for EB1. I made a list of stuffs from my education to publications to job responsibilities. After some discussions, she agrees to do EB1 for me. What she needs are copies of everything and 12 recommendation letters from all over the world, which includes 4 letters outside the United States. If any of you guys have international connections, especially in Canada or Europe, please let me know. This could be a great favor to me. Bow first. :)

I had an accident on a rental car back in September during a travel. After I had collected the insurance information from the third party, I rushed to the airport to catch my flight. I took for granted that Hertz, the rental car company would take care of the rest of the business with the third party. However, I received a mail from Hertz this Wednesday, saying that the claim of the insurance had been unsuccessful. Because I didn't buy full coverage insurance from Hertz, I should take the full responsibility if their claim to the third party failed. I was asked to contact my own insurance company for the compensation. I was so pissed off that night and had no idea of what I should do. The next morning, I called Hertz to ask what happened there. I was told that they had sent two mails and made a phone call to the third party's insurance company, but got no reply. My first impression was that the third party had declined his fault to his insurance company, which could bring me tons of hassles including a might be small court case in the state that I visited or paying the $1K plus from my own pocket. I tried my luck to call the third party that afternoon, well, I got my luck. To my surprise, he was very nice. He told me that he had called Hertz to give his insurance informantion. Upon my request, he called Hertz and his insurance again to let them know the accident. Sweet. It looks like this case is now back to the track and in a good shape.

First Dental Appointment
The dental insurance of my company covers two teeth cleanings every year. To not waste this benifit, I had my first dental appointment today. It was pretty much screwed up. The dentist didn't contact my insurance company until yesterday. When I arrived this noon, my insurance company hadn't called back yet. As a result, I could pay from my own pocket for the $100 charge and then claim it from my insurance. That would be a pain in the neck. I declined their suggestion and asked them to call me back when they get my insurance coverage to make a new appointment.

Getting Cold
It was 80 degrees yesterday and early this morning, but now it is only 50. The low tonight will be in the 40's. When I was walking to the garage this evening shivering in shorts, my colleague was joking, "There are four seasons in Texas, January, Feburary, March and Summer." We are still not in January yet, but I feel the cold already.

Have I changed?
After I got back from ICCAD last week, I found myself starting to like working. I have been working at home remotely last Saturday, Monday night, and tonight. What's more, I enjoy it very much. Watching pieces of work being done is sorta encouraging. It feels better than watching stocks up and down. :P Of course, if all my stocks always go up, the feeling will be fantastic. :D

It has been quite a while since I updated my blog last time. It was the ICCAD week and I travelled to San Jose, California. I was busy making slides, practising the talk, meeting friends and last but not least, dining around the Bay Area. I like the hot pot buffet especially :D. Kelvin must be laughing when he sees this.
ICCAD is one of the two most important events in my field. Therefore, I was able to see almost every friend during the conference. Talking to them as well as many professors and industry guys were refreshing. I enjoyed that a lot. My presentation talk was pretty smooth and I feel it was better than the one at DAC this summer. The week passed fast and I hoped it could have been longer (Well, my managers in company should have a totally different opinion on that:)).
Holiday season is coming. But before that, I need to switch my gears and finish year 2005 strong.

I got a new workstation for my work this week. It is an AMD Opteron 64 machine. Cool~~~ One drawback of the new machine is that it is not as hot as the old one. :P When I was using the old computer, I often put my leg on the case, it was warm and comfortable. Now it is cold.