The World of Little Little Bird

Year 2005 comes to an end and 2006 is on its way. Here is my summary of my 2005.
Career:
I got my degree and started my career in 2005. I love my job. If I can get a raise and bonus, I will love it more. :P
Finance:
I started stock trading from the second half of 2005. Up to the last trading day of 2005, I have about 20% APY. If it were not for the damn last trading day, I could have done better.
Health:
I was ok for the past year. I caught cold once. I started to go to dentist's one month ago and will have my teeth cleaned next week. However, I was losing my weight. That sucks. I bought many chips, chocolates, and icecream today to get back my normal level. :P
2006's Prospects:
EB1 application, parents' visit, commencement, a great job, and good health. ^_^

Both Walmart and Target started 50% off clearance on Christmas stuffs today. It is worth mentioning that almost 1/3 of Target is now 50% off. However, according to their tradition, they will have all the remainings at 75% off from this Thursday.

The last working day
I was late for work on Friday. I slept till 8:40 and arrived at my office at 9:20. I did the same thing the last working day last year as well. :) But most people had gone vacation already. I worked till 3pm and turned out to be one of the last people to leave my company.

Steelers
On Saturday, Steelers rout Browns at 41:0. Thanks to Chargers' loss to Chiefs, they are now one step away from the playoffs. Hurray!

One month ago, I ordered two wireless G routers, one wireless PCI notebook card, and one wireless desktop adapter from amazon.com. For some reasons, amazon shipped the four items in three packages. Two for the cards, and the other for the two routers. I received the cards in one week, but they never shipped out the routers. Finally, my patience was worn out. I called the customer service yesterday. A representitive helped me on the phone. Here is the solution. Amazon shipped out the routers immediately via next day shipping for free. I mean they even didn't charge me for the routers. Cool. I recieved the package this afternoon and sold one for 10 bucks already. Not bad at all. Hereby, I want to praise amazon a little bit. Xixi.

上星期五,没有忍住,又买了摩托. 技术面上MOT已经超卖, 是个不错的买入点. 基本面上,摩托的手机市场非常红火.就我认识的人中,用Razr的无数. 据说新款的手机也将于近期面世. Deodar同学还加班加点的为摩托测试芯片,公司前景可见一斑. 果然这两天, it开始突突起动. 愿摩托越开越快. 哈哈哈哈

Zhong finally decided to take the offer and join AMD. Welcome aboard, dude! Though he will work in California, at least we are in the same company. :)

A Freescale guy applied our group and I interviewed him this afternoon. It was weird for me to interview a senior guy who turned out to be a master graduated from CMU in 1997. We discussed the projects that he has accomplished, Rob, Larry and Hamerschlag Hall, Steelers' playoff outlook, and Monterey Design. To my surprise, the 45 minutes interview went by in a glimpse. After he finished all seven rounds of interviews, we sat down at the round table and discussed our opinions about him. We decided to give him an offer.
I shipped out my parents' visa interview materials this morning. They will go to the US consulate on Jan. 18th. I'll cross my fingers for them. I do hope that they can visit me next Spring.
Also, the public transportation workers of New York City started a strike today. Wish my friends in NYC everything fine.

In late July, I made a bad decision to buy MENT (Mentor Graphics) at $9.5 when I had just started trading. That was the first day after MENT had released its terrible quarter earning report and the stock price tanked from $10+. Five minutes after my getting in, it was under water and it has been red ever since until today. The low was in October at $7.85. I escaped this morning at $9.76, which ended this 5 months long headache.
My plan is to get out of all my positions by the year end. I have been executing it perfectly so far.

今天上班. 我们group的老大去Boston开会了. 早上10:00, 老二发了email说老婆sick, 一去不回了. 早上10:30, 老三发了email说自己sick, 也回家歇着了. 剩下小幺我, 老实人阿, 啃呲啃呲继续干活. 一天下来, 头昏脑胀的characterize了5个sense amp. 看transistor-level schematic看得我回家后打电动的精神都没有了.

In Pittsburgh, neither Bears' defense nor the heavy snow can stop Bus. He drove over the goal line with three Bears' defensive players pulling him back, and finished with 101 rushing yards and two touchdowns. After a refreshing 21:9 win and also thanks to both losses of Chargers and Chiefs, Steelers are back to the playoff wild card competition.
Rockets also look good when they play Blazers in Portland tonight. Hope they can win too.

自从买了PS2之后,我以每天3-4个mission的速度玩Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. 今天有一个任务叫Running Dog. CJ(俺)带着Smoke去买drug. 但是dealer不肯卖. Smoke大怒. CJ的过关任务是解决那个仓惶逃窜的dealer. 那小子跑的贼快,而且尽在neighborhood里钻来钻去, 和俺捉迷藏. 俺追了N多次都被丫逃脱了. 我发觉CJ跑着跑着就会跑不动了, 爬墙也不利索了, 走着追怎么行? 于是俺就去了gym. 跳上跑步机就是一顿跑. 直跑到我的手指快摁不动了, 大概是6mile吧, 总算把CJ的stamina给upgrade了, 同时fat也降了不少. 这一下子俺就自信满满了. 再去追那小子, 果然就追近了好多, 然后啪啪两枪, 干净利落. 看来gym不是白盖的.

Bought AMD at $26.10 on Thursday and sold at $26.73 on Friday. Got some quick lunch money. Xixi.
However, the low of AMD was $25.25 yesterday afternoon and the high was $27.05 this afternoon. If I had been more patient, I could have got my PS2 money back. Anyway, I was very happy with the lunch money already.

This afternoon, I received at least ten emails from my company warning of the cold weather. At four, my office building was closed and we were all asked to leave. So I headed to Bestbuy and bought myself a PS2 as a Christmas gift. At the same time, I bought Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It should keep me occupied during the holidays. I started to play after dinner and accomplished two missions so far. Now it is very cold outside at about 25 degrees.

Big chill hits Central Texas

10:12 AM CST on Wednesday, December 7, 2005

Staff and wire reports

The big chill settles in on Central Texas Wednesday.

A blast of arctic air is pushing into the Austin area throughout the day, along with cold rain.

Early morning temperatures in the 40s are falling into the 30s for much of the day. Winds could reach up to 25 mph. KVUE Storm Team meteorologists say there is a 60 percent chance of light rain, becomming mixed with sleet during the afternoon. As temperatures fall to freezing by late afternoon or early evening, some of the precipitation may become freezing rain. Even though we don't expect a major ice storm, there could be some minor ice accumulations, especially on bridges and overpasses. Sleet and freezing rain will remain possible throughout the area this evening. The precipitation should end by late tonight. A hard freeze is forecasted for much of Central Texas as we will see lows in the teens in the Hill Country, and into the 20's in the Austin Metro locations.

People who plan to travel Wednesday night and Thursday morning are being urged to be careful and plan ahead, especially those headed to North Texas.

Bitter cold combined with Gulf moisture is expected to bring snow, sleet and freezing rain to much of North Texas.

Morning temperatures plummeted into the single digits in the Texas South Plains and Panhandle, where light to moderate and blowing snow is in the forecast.

In Lubbock, the National Weather Service reported a record low temperature Wednesday morning for the date of six degrees.

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, temperatures began falling this morning from the low 40s before sunrise into the low 30s and upper 20s by the end of the morning rush hour. A winter storm warning has been issued for counties in and around the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where freezing rain and up to two inches of snow is predicted by tomorrow morning.

Snow in Austin? No kidding, man. Does it mean that many people will work from home tomorrow? Dreaming~~~

Officemate is out for lunch. I am sitting in front of my workstation, enjoying delicious 重油菜饭, checking stock prices, and reading online articles. Good ah good.

Turnover, turnover and turnover. Steelers gave up three interceptions and four fumbles in their loss to the Bengals this afternoon. Now the playoff is slipping away. We need a real rally to get back to the track.

I had my first ever real dental appointment this week. First, a nurse took X-rays of all my teeth. Then an old dentist came to check my teeth. The good news is that all my teeth are fine without any cavity, which is in my anticipation as I am by no means a candy lover. The bad news is that my gum is not that good. The doctor use a hook needle to pin every single one of my gum. It hurt a lot. His conclusion was that I needed a root scale, which would cost me $250 out of my pocket. Ok, I am a tame boy and I'll take it. Hope I will not bleed a lot. The doctor also recommended me to get rid of one of my wise teeth. I will say no to him. As long as it doesn't ache, I'll keep it. 身体发肤,受之父母,不敢毁伤,孝之始.

Back to my middle school and university study, I spent a hell lot of time in playing cards. In my junior school, four of us played ShengJi round after round. We once went ahead of the other two players by two rounds, as from 2 to A is one round. We have been punished for numerous times due to our playing cards in the dorm. In SJTU, there was no punishment for playing any more. Our dorm was always the entertainment center. We played cards for almost any time besides classes. In Pittsburgh, we sometimes played till 4-5am in the morning. But after I came to Austin, I seldom had a chance to play. It was great that I finally found someone who has the same interest today. We dueled in many different games. Surprisingly, I was still that Yaping of ten years ago, especially in the game "pick the tortoise". Hahahaha (the laugh resounds...)