my random thoughts
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Saturday, July 31, 2004 Two words: Sweet meat. I found an apartment! Actually a basement apartment with 3 rooms. I'll be sharing with two other former PEYs. Location: Trendy Queen west, close to Chinatown and Campus. $1k/month!! Includes all utils, cable and internet. Partially furnished. I would like to take this moment to congratulate myself on being so efficient. My roomates should thank me too, preferably in money, food or alcohol. *HINT* Not much happened lately. Been doing the design project (and house hunting). We got our circuit "approved" so things are finally looking up. Layout of the major components are nearly done. Still need to iron out those DRC errors though. I started with almost 9200, but I'm currently at 3000! posted by Ben | | | 10:59 AM Monday, July 26, 2004 On my way downtown this morning, I helped out an elderly lady who seemed to have completely lost her way. Apparently she lives near High Park, was on her way to Chinatown, but somehow ended up getting on the southbound train at Davisville station (?!). She was in her seventies, but still very cognizant of her surroundings. On top ofthat, she didn't speak a word of English (she was most likely a newimmigrant). She walked up to the man who sat next to me and asked him if he spoke (Mandarin) Chinese. Luckily he did. You should've seen her expression. It was joy and relief all mashed into one. Unfortunate for her, he (apparently) didn't know how to go to chinatown using the TTC. I decided to step in. With my seriously bad mandarin, I offered my assistance to her since I was going in that general direction. I guided her to the proper subway station and onto the street car. Luckily she recognized where she should be headed as the streetcar reached the College/Spadina interestion. Good for me, because that was my stop. I had planned to take her right to the address that she wanted to go to walk back to school. Luckily I didn't have to do that. So it ended up only being a 15 min. detour, but worth it. Why? Because I totally made her day and she was happy that I was there to help. It's hard enough to be in a foreign land and not able to speak or read the local language. It's even worse to become lost and not know which direction to go! posted by Ben | | | 10:12 PM Saturday, July 24, 2004 I got up extra early (6 am) to commute downtown hoping that I'd be able to complete a good chunk of my the transistor layout. Being able to go from Markham to UofT in an hour was something that I thought was only possible in another universe. I was wrong. Yours truly pulled it off today. GOt on the 6:30 bus, and was officially in campus by 7:30. So I thought to myself, it's gonna be a good day afterall given that I had such a kick-ass start. But guess what?THE STUPID LAB IS CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE! Fine. I went into another lab to log in remotely. That would work if THE MACHINES IN THE FIRST LAB WERE ON! This sucks *real* bad. I take back the "nice start" part. Added link to buddy Carolyn's blog in the Links section. She uses really big words, so keep your dictionaries handy. Oh yeah, and she's a much better musician than she admits to be. Don't be fooled yo. The Nomad knows what I mean. posted by Ben | | | 8:28 AM Today is Saturday. Meaning, 2 days left of Helidac! BOOYAH posted by Ben | | | 8:05 AM Wednesday, July 21, 2004 I was worried for a while that our design project won't make the August 18 tape-out. But I've renewed confidence that it will. The design partners are going bonkers optimizing the circuits today. I have started on the layout, thanks to some sound advice from a helpful gradstudent. If things go the way I see it, the design layout might be done in a week...well...maybe i'm being too optimistic. Okay, 2 weeks. That still leaves us with 1.5 weeks to verify the design, which should be do-able. I would really hate to miss the deadline by a day! posted by Ben | | | 5:47 PM Tuesday, July 20, 2004 Spent the morning lounging around and got reacquainted with day-time TV. Watching talk shows such as Ricki Lake, Jerry Springer reaffirms the fact 'curious' (err...Nosy) we all are. We just can't help but peek inside someone's life and find out their dirty little secrets. The more embarrassing the topic is, the more intrigued we become. I'm even more surprised how people are willing to let total strangers (i.e. the TV audience) in on it. There's probably a psychological explanation behind this. I'm just too lazy to goggle it up. back to more sprawling in front of TV... posted by Ben | | | 2:07 PM Monday, July 19, 2004 Today is officially week 2 of the Helidac treatement. I'm surprised I managed to remember to take the medication so often! Just one more week of dry mouth, sleepiness and general malaise! During the weekend, I was over at Buffalo to pickup my last shipment of 'personal effects' that I sent from cali. Good news is that my Technics were not harmed during shipment! The problem is that I don't have a large enough surface to place them besides on the floor. I think I also need a pre-amp because the stereo amp doesn't seem to be doing a very good job. GRR more money to be spent. Oh yeah, and I lost $20 on roulette at the new casino in Niagara Falls. It took me 40 mins to lose it though. That is pretty good in terms of "play time" at a casino I think. I might have lost more playing BlackJack or something. I Still can't believe 15 turned up TWICE IN A ROW. posted by Ben | | | 4:07 PM Saturday, July 17, 2004 Woohoo I have (dial-up) internet! It's a step ahead in the right direction. Baby steps, ya know. Gotta start somewhere. Expect to see more posts! It's good enought to stream Aaron Ross, so I'm not complaining. posted by Ben | | | 8:53 AM Friday, July 16, 2004 I spent a good portion of the afternoon trying figuring out AC analysis and the hardwork finally paid off! I'm one step closer to where my partners are in terms of progress. I'll be a lot more efficient once I get internet at home so I can work remotely. Right now, the commute is taking 3 hours that could've been used for productive work. Let's see....3 hours a day, multiplied by 5 days a week (assuming I take weekends off), that's 15 hours! Now that I have my student card back (Thanks Jen!) I resumed my workout routine at good 'ol Hart House. I haven't ran for about a month and I could feel that I was struggling to run the usual 2 miles. I blame the the medication and Toronto's slightly higher elevation (75ft where I used to be). heh. The weight room at Hart House is so crowded. Plus the lack of equipment doesn't help much. I think I'll either go in the morning or late in the afternoon to do lifting. posted by Ben | | | 8:30 PM People are mistaking me for first year undergrad. Advantages: 1. It means that I look young Disadvantages 1. I get carded...everywhere. 2. Stupid OSAP lady had to ask where my Parents' signatures were in my OSAP application. 3. I get treated like a kid The bus going to the subway was a bit crowded than usual his morning, and there were no seats available. It was mostly teenagers and college students like myself. 10 minutes into the ride, an elderly woman (late fifties, early sixties) came aboard. I felt that I should offer her my seat, but then I thought to myself, why aren't these other people giving up their seat? Was she not "elderly" enough to deserve a spot? She didn't look *OLD* old. If I offered my seat to her, would she be offended, thinking that I think she's old? Am I weird to think like that? Anyway, she got a seat because one of the passengers got off. posted by Ben | | | 1:34 PM Wednesday, July 14, 2004 Back in Toronto now. Actually I've been back since Saturday, but who's counting. Experiencing some serious Cali withdrawal. Where's the goddamn sun?! My permanent job after school will need to be in Cali. No internet at home, meaning no blog updates. Been going back to School downtown to work on the design project, trying to figure out how to do AC and Transient analysis *properly*. I feel so stupid because I'm not getting the same waveforms my partners have. Aieyaa. On top of that, the 1.5-hour commute each way (going downtown and back home) sucks the life right outta me. At least it gives me time to do some reading. I started Homer's Odyssey today. I bought it two years ago for a class I took. I don't think I appreciated it as much back then because it was an obligation to read it. Half way through the first book and people are dying already. Jokes. I wouldn't be surprised if the story ends up on the big screen like Troy in a few years. Russell Crowe would make a good Odysseus. Selma Blair should be cast as Athena because she looks bitchy. Telemachus can be played by the elf guy from LOTR..LOL. Selma Hayek can play Penelope. I'm on Helidac for the H. Pylori infection. Started the treatment on Monday. I take 4 doses a day for 14 days. It's now day 3. I feel weak and my mouth is constantly dry and tastes like metal. Damn...11 more days to go. I'm on a rather strict diet too...No dairy, No alcohol, nothing spicy. I might need to stop by the candy store for some treats. posted by Ben | | | 4:37 PM Friday, July 09, 2004 Today is Friday, meaning my last day at work, meaning it's my last post coming from California. To be honest, I had a great time here. The friends I've made and the experiences I've gained is priceless (Sorry master card). I laugh at all those suckers who chose NOT to come to the Bay Area for PEY. (Just joking!). The people here are great. I wish I could stay longer. I'll miss them all. It's really hard to say goodbye to people! Try it sometime and you'll know what I mean. My Luggage is a little overweight (by a few pounds). I hope they don't go crazy on the fines. Stupid checkin counter people should realize that I'm trying to stuff a year of my life into two suitcases. Maybe I'll find a nice person and things will go well. Fedexed the Technics to Buffalo yesterday. I really hope they arrive unscathed. Tracking says they're still in Sacramento. I hope they'll be somewhere else on Monday. PLEASE DON'T BREAK! posted by Ben | | | 9:28 PM Thursday, July 08, 2004 2 Days left in Cali. Finally returned the rental back to Enterprise having driven over 1600 miles in the last 14 days. I'm happy of the fact that I did not run into any accidents during the week in Los Angeles. I had purchased damage waiver insurance in anticipation of one. Shouldn't have bought it. My co-worker always says to me "hindsight is 20/20". That is such a true statement. The guy who drove me back to work from the rental office was cool. He was a new hire and is working for the summer. I think he said he goes to UC Santa Cruz majoring in Poli Sci. I was able to tell the Santa Cruz part from his heavy "surfer" accent. He was really good with small talk and really polite. He was telling me what he wants to do and stuff like that. I wish him all the best. BC and CY are flying back to Canada tomorrow. So sad to see everyone leaving. We're going to have a farewell dinner for them at our 'favourite' Japanese restaurant in downtown Mountain View (とみ寿司 if you must know). posted by Ben | | | 4:28 PM Tuesday, July 06, 2004 Back to trip in So-Cal....We spent the last evening San Diego's Gas Lamp Quarter. Had dinner at a pretty nice Italian place. I don't remember the name, but it was on 5th street. The bill came to about $120 (incl. tip) for the 3 of us. The wine was good. It was a merlot wine from Italy I think. I still have the receipt. Must check what its name is. I had veal (Sorry animal lovers). It rocked! But I'm sure the veal could've been substituted with other meats like pork or chicken. After dinner we went to a place called the GRAN HAVANA Cigar factory. We shared a hookah (with green apple flavoured sheesha)and had some non-alcoholic beverages. It's quite nice actually. If I had money, I'd open up a similar place in Toronto. posted by Ben | | | 5:02 PM Monday, July 05, 2004 The last seven days has been a complete blur. I should've written down everything I did on a pad of paper because I am having trouble recalling what I've been doing. Secondly I've never been so tired of theme parks as I am now. They are fun, but should definitely be enjoyed in moderation! Myself, my cousin and a good friend who I stayed with headed down to San Diego (SD) on (Thursday I think, which was also Canada Day)for a two day stay. The Motel 6 that I booked was in downtown SD by the civic centre. Having been to a few American cities (San Franciso, Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit) I expected downtown SD to be just like any other US city -- grungy. To my surprise, the area was extremely clean and well kept. It was a very nice first impression. After checking in, we headed down to the SD trolley station to take the blue line down to San Ysidro and walk over to Tijuana, south of the US border. It's really neat to have a local transit station situated literally right beside an international border. Crossing the border to Mexico was so easy. People from the US side simply had to walk through a set of turnstiles and cross the practically non-existant customs checkpoint. Like many developing countries, Mexico has its share of poor and homeless people. As soon as we crossed the border children came up to for money, various street vendors hawking their wares at us. As we approached the main downtown strip(Ave. Revolucion), there were more vendors peddling goods and trying to get us to buy their 99-cent coronas (yes it's true! the beer is cheap!). Most of the locals thought we were Japanese tourists and shouted Japanese phrases at us, hoping to get our attention. It was funny at first but it just got annoying after the third time. I guess there's a big Japanese presence in TJ. Another big attraction in TJ is its many drug stores. Apparently many of the drugs that require prescriptions in the US can be purchased OTC (over the counter) in Mexico. On top of that, they are 30% cheaper as well (probably as a result of price descrimination -- like in the publishing industry with school texts). On our way down to TJ, a local man on the trolley advised us to drink only packaged drinks like bottled water while in TJ. So we drank beer. Lots of it. Beer is cheaper than soft drinks or water. A bottle of Corona is 99 cents in every bar. Coca Cola is also 99 cents. Bottled water costs even more. Go figure. With that in mind we went to a bar and celebrated Canada Day with a bucket of Sol (a lighter tasting version of Corona) and tequila shots. Oh yes, the same man who gave us the drinking advice also assumed we were going there for the strip clubs. We knew that he was...The strip clubs was sketchy to say the least. We didn't go in of course. The 'hosts' soliciting their clubs were so pushy. One offered us 'young 17 year old girls'. WHAT!?! That made me sick to my stomach. On our way back to the American border, I decided to buy some liquor to take home with me. Liquor is cheap in Mexico too. Popular tequila brands, such as Sauza gold sells for about $13 USD for a 750mL bottle. I think the LCBO prices the same product at almost $30 CDN. More rediculous is the prices of Kahlua. A 1.14L sells for $8.50 USD!! LCBO sells for over $30. THe funniest thing happened at the store. I GOT CARDED IN MEXICO! I thought Mexico didn't have a drinking age limit. It was silly *and* embarassing. I'm never going to that store again. posted by Ben | | | 3:08 PM Sunday, July 04, 2004 I'll put some updates soon with stuff on: - celebrate Canada Day in Tijuana - SD - Sea World - Gas Lamp district - NewPort Beach - Huntington Beach (YEOWWW hot people) posted by Ben | | | 1:30 PM Thursday, July 01, 2004 So Six Flags Magic Mountain was not disappointing like Canada's Wonderland. Although a bit on the ghetto side, the thrill rides were, in fact, quite thrilling. Unlike someone I know we actually managed to go on *all* the rides in one day. It helped a lot when you go on a weekday. Anyways, there are two really awesome rides: Deja Vu and the Viper X. I felt really dizzy after getting off these rides (that's a good thing). We got 1/2 price tickets too, which made it even better. Being a theme park and all, the food prices were just ridiculous. Paid $8 for a burger and fries combo. Go figure! Maybe I'm getting old but Disneyland wasn't as 'fun' as I thought it would be. There are two parks, the old Disneyland and the new California Adventure. I chose the second one. The place is very well kept and everyone is extremely friendly. There were some rides but not as intense as Six Flags for obvious reasons (they have 10 year-olds going on them). The Tower of Terror was the highlight of the day. The ride is good, only if you get to sit in the first row. The second highlight was being a part of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Play It "game". It is a complete replica of the real show, including a game show host. And FYI, the host was NOT Regis! There were cameras everywhere to capture everything at every angle, and of course a LOT of fancy lighting. The rest of the day was spent checking out the various themed sections of the park and of course learning about how Disney does animations. Happy Canada day to all. I'll be spending it in Mexico getting drunk! CYA posted by Ben | | | 12:34 PM |
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