August 31, 2006(Thursday)

I continue the limitless reading. My usual strategy for studying is to stay ahead of the class. Therefore, I would be very busy for the first week because I have to do two weeks' work. And the Econ class about Game Theory is really hard. The prof explained not good and his textbook is not good either.
We also got ourselves a second hand car. We purchased a 1998 Camry (deep blue color). It costs $4800 and it is 89000 miles (about 140,000 km). This is a pretty good deal, consider that now this is the seller's market because all the graduates are gone and there are lots of new students coming here to buy second hand cars. We passed by several opportunity already and we are glad that we found something that we are both pleasant about this.
At night we went to prayer meeting. And then Joe came to our house to share about his problem. Jo was here too.

August 30, 2006(Wednesday)

I cannot believe that this is only second day of my semester. I read paper like crazy for 5 hours. I also had a meeting with prof about my PhD project and tried to do some work today too. I am in such hurry and such intense that I did not even have the time to wash dishes after dinner! That is certainly a very unusual thing for me! I can't imagine what it would be like for the next few weeks! (But I think that it would not be that bad because currently I am working harder than I should so that I can be ahead of the class, such that I would have an easier time later) Anyway, so this is time for intense reading again!
One of the classes requires us to write a homepage for ourselves, using HTML. This is something that I have done for the last 9 years and I obviously have no problem with that. I do not want to give out my homepage to the public or the students so I wrote a new and short homepage, only for this class's purpose.

August 29, 2006(Tuesday)

This morning I went to test-drive another second hand car and I think that it is a pretty good deal. And I got back to school today finally. I just had two classes (the third one starts next week) and there are so many readings. Not only that I have to do presentation today, the reading has already filled up my 1.5 inches binder by the end of today. I don't think that I have any more time for the PhD project. I need to read a lot and fast.
At night we went to a birthday dinner of fellowship friend Ah Ku's.

August 28, 2006(Monday)

Today is the last day before school starts. And I had a meeting with professor about my PhD project. The paper will be completed soon and I am very happy about this. I can focus back to the school work, or think about the second project because I really want to publish more to get a better position when I go to the job market later.

August 27, 2006(Sunday)

Today is the first day for the Sunday School. The Mandarin one was held in the morning. There were only a disappointed 8 people showed up. However, the discussion was surprisingly pretty in depth. After worship, I went to the Cantonese Sunday School. There were about 11 people, but then, unlike the graduate and mature Mandarin speaking people, most of the Cantonese are undergrad and not too mature. Therefore, we did not generate as much interesting discussion as we hoped. Nevertheless, this is a good experience. Afterward we also discussed about our group's Bible Study direction. It is because some newcomers from last Friday found that Bible Study is too boring. In fact, even the believers found that the Bible Study is quite hard to understand and people are too tired for Bible Study during Friday night. Therefore, we need to think of some other way to make it lighter and more interesting.

August 26, 2006(Saturday)

Today is stay-home day. Neither Carmen now I left home. I spent several hours on a proof for my PhD project; that was the last part of the proof that I need to do, and I am having a very hard time. At the end of the day, I found out that there is a much easier method that only takes several minutes! On one hand, I am happy that the proof section is done. On the other hand, I am upset that I spent so much time in this proof and not able to discover the easier proof earlier.

August 25, 2006(Friday)

Fellowship has a new grouping today. Today there are more than 70 adults attending the fellowship and it is quite a big record. I am the fellowship deacon and I am responsible for the separation into different groups. There are five different groups: Cantonese (18 people), Mandarin undergrad (9 people), Mandarin grad (15 people), family (20 people) and gospel group (13 people). It is such a wonderful thing to see so many people are coming to fellowship. However, time will tell who will be constant and who will not be constant. At night, we went to have some snack time with fellowship friends, then helped Jacky to move house briefly.

August 24, 2006(Thursday)

I spent most of the day reading paper. The first PhD seminar that I took last fall is about supply chain management. I read a lot of paper at that time and find it quite difficult. There was a course paper for this class and I used that as my PhD project, one that I have been working on endlessly for the last 10 months. The second PhD seminar that I took this spring is about inventory management. The material is very hard and I did not devote as much time in reading paper and understand the material as I should be. This Fall I will be taking two more PhD seminars, one on the idea about service industry and the other one on new product deployment. Yesterday I read the one about service industry. I am now reading some introduction paper, such as defining what is a customer (e.g. who is the real customer? the mother buy candy for the kid or the kid?) and the rigid definition about what is a service industry.
I also went with Carmen to check out the Cultural festival today after her works. We ate some food there too. We did not go to prayer meeting.

August 23, 2006(Wednesday)

I worked on the PhD project for four hours last night until 5am! I finally completed almost all of the proof of the paper. I hope that I did not make any logical mistake. I woke up at 1pm and I worked on the PhD project for 2.5 more hours.
I also went to play basketball from 5:30 to 8 because Carmen has to work from 7am to 7pm since the students are moving in. At night, we went out for a walk. Then I received email about the paper that I need to read for one of the class for the first week. I cannot devote 100% of my time into the project anymore. I need to read papers again.

August 22, 2006(Tuesday)

I went to take the Camry car that we test-drove yesterday to the car mechanic shop today. There is a free inspection! It takes about an hour and several minor problems and a major problem is found. Therefore, we may lower the price later.
At night, we went to have dinner with Macedonia group then went to Joyce house for pre-study. However, I sat aside and did my PhD project.

August 21, 2006(Monday)

I had a meeting today with Prof Seb. We are still working on the numerical analysis. I find that, for this paper, I did almost all of the result, but he did the majority of the writing. Therefore, we co-author this paper.
The gym today has a lot of people. Students start to return and the gym will be full again. Hansel wrote in his diary that he almost drawn when he swims because he lacks the physical strength and cardiovascular strength for long time swim. Dad can swim for a long time and I can run for a long time, so both of us have strong heart. Hansel has good muscle but a poor heart.
We also test-drove a second hand Camry 2000 today. The car is in a decent shape and we may take to the mechanic shop tomorrow to check out the car.

August 20, 2006(Sunday)

Carmen has to work again this morning because students start to move to the campus. This is her 7th consecutive to work, and she needs to work for at least 5 more days before taking a break.
Today I preached during the Sunday Service. The topic is about "a healthy church", using the 5 purposes from the "Purpose Driven Life" book (preaching, discipleship, fellowship, serving, worship). I did not spend a lot of time to prepare, not because I don't want to. Instead, I spent more time (many years) in experiencing different church and notice different churches, so I can have this sharing. I think that it went pretty well, thanks God
Then, there is a deacon board meeting for the budget proposal, from 3 to 7:30 pm. This is a very long meeting. The treasurer is very straight and does not want to spend a lot of money, while I am the person that suggests spending more money. We do not have a church building yet so we want to save some money for the church building. On the other hand, we need to have some money for our ministry. Therefore, this is like a tradeoff between bonding and building. We hope that whatever we do, is to please God.

August 19, 2006(Saturday)

Originally our groups are going to camping this week. However, the weather forecast saying that there is thunderstorm today so we canceled. However, it turned out that the weather is really nice.
After working hard on the PhD project for the last two days, I awarded myself to go to play 3 hours of basketball today. I did pretty good today on my lay-up.
At night, we went to Chunli and Helen's farewell. Chunli is a second year Electrical Engineering PhD student in Purdue University, which is about 2 hours away from here. Every week he drove to IU to visit his fiancé Helen and he stayed at our house every time. Helen will move to Purdue University tomorrow and so we had a farewell for them today. There are about 17 people came and more than half of those are Cantonese speaking people. Our group is quite united.

August 18, 2006(Friday)

I have another productive day on PhD project. I feel satisfaction. Also, this weekend our group supposed to go to wild camp. However, the weather is pretty bad and it rains, so we canceled the camp. For the fellowship, I went to a gospel group because our group has an outing to Joyce house for BBQ to eat the food that we purchased for the BBQ of the camp. We went back home early rather than staying there to watch movie at night.

August 17, 2006(Thursday)

I worked on the PhD project today again. I still hope that I can finish as much as I could before the end of the summer vacation. If not, then I hope to finish before my birthday.
At night, we went to prayer meeting. Then Enoch moved away from our house because he found an apartment. We have completed our mission or taking care the newcomer.

August 16, 2006(Wednesday)

I worked on the literature review of my PhD project today and I hope that I am getting somewhere. I had a meeting with Prof about my PhD project and he helped me to write the literature review using the material that I gave him. So now I can focus on the math.
At night, Carmen and I went to Joyce and Nicky's house for hot pot dinner. We also talked about our group and the future of our group. We also shared something about our marriage life. They are the only other Cantonese speaking couple that we know in this area. Therefore it is great that we can have some sharing time.

August 15, 2006(Tuesday)

I spent several hours today working on the PhD project because I want to be more ready when I see the professor tomorrow. I also helped CCF friend to move house for about an hour.
At night, I went wit several friends to see the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest". I was in Caribbean Sea last month and it is special to watch it again on the big screen. The nice environment certainly is still the same, but then since I stayed in the city, there are a lot more houses.

August 14, 2006(Monday)

I went to see Prof Seb today about my PhD project. We discussed about the literature review that I did during the summer. Every time when I see him, I felt so defeated because he always says that what I did is not good enough at all. I will continue to work hard.
We also went to see the almost-final version of the film at Jacky's house. It looks pretty good if we use a non-professional’s perspective. This is the big accomplishment for our summer: is to make our group much closer together. The film, and also the long time that we spend together, surely helps. I still remember May 12 after fellowship when they first brought up the idea of making a film. They may think that, my response would be, it depends. However, I am very supportive and now there is the film. I am so proud of these people and proud of what we have accomplished! They really look up to us and I think that our relationship is quite good. Thanks God for that.

August 13, 2006(Sunday)

We had a survey for the Sunday School today. I am the Education/fellowship deacon and I am responsible to start a Sunday School. Previously we do not have one but we want to start a Sunday School so that we can have more sharing, rather than pure teaching, during fellowship time. Three months ago, we have talked to Evangelical Christian Church (since we do not have our own church building, we are using this American church to have all of our meeting) and they indicated that they are willing to let us use their facility for Sunday School.
However, for some unknown reason, ECC refused us to use their location for Sunday School when we asked them last month. This was quite a shock. Probably this may be a reminder that we are taking their facility for granted and this is time to prepare for a church building fund. We had a Sunday School survey and asked everyone what time they prefer (before worship, after worship or some other day) and where they prefer (someone else's home located in campus, or someone else who is living 20 mins away from campus)
After worship, we had a late lunch with the Macedonians. Afterward, Carmen, Jo and Chi fu brought the two new comers Chris and Enoch to buy grocery and walk around while I went home to do some homework. Lately our group is quite closed together. This is a good thing, yet some of us are leaving and there will have some new students. So let's see how everything is going to be.
At night, Jo and Joe also came by our house to talk about the Sept 1 outreach flyer. In addition, Enoch is also staying at our home too. Thanks God that our house is now a gathering place: hospital (Doctor Joyce will look and help Enoch's infected toe tomorrow), hotel, comic center, music studio, restaurant, counseling center, business meeting room ... ("But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" Joshua 24:15)

August 12, 2006(Saturday)

During lunch there is a picnic/BBQ outside our house for our church, to welcome the new students coming here. There are about 60 people showing up, half of those I have never seen. That is a really good outreach opportunity to spread the word out. I played American football and Frisbee, and compare to others I am really good at both, especially the American football.
In the afternoon I drove newcomer Chris to buy grocery and also checked out the house of Linda (she went for vacation so we helped her to check the house).
At night, our group went to have a farewell dinner for Pat and Hans for they graduated and will leave Bloomington in two days. Pat was the script writer and also the director for the film of our group. We also watched the film as well, and it is much better than the first version. We discussed about the title of the film and also how to spread this to the new comers.

August 11, 2006(Friday)

We test-drove another car today, but then the car was sold two hours after we test drove the car. I also worked on the PhD project for two hours and I am glad that I am slowly getting back to speed. I also helped the new fellowship comer Chris to move house, along with 6 or 7 other people from my group.
At night, I went to the Mandarin group for fellowship because I am bringing the new Chinese classmate Wenbin to fellowship. This is the first time that he went to fellowship, but he seems to enjoy it, partly because he gets to know a lot of Chinese here. Carmen was the Bible study group leader tonight but I cannot attend. This is such a pity. Then we went out to "drink thing" with the Macedonia group.

August 10, 2006(Thursday)

I drove Carmen to work and back home today. I also marked the I-Core for several hours, and do not have much time to work on my PhD project. I better get back to it soon.
Carmen and I also went to test another second hand car, but we do not really like that yet. Also, I went to prayer meeting at night too.

August 09, 2006(Wednesday)

This morning I went to the bank to help Nicky and Joyce to transfer some money because they are buying a car. Then I brought my new classmate Wenbin to the department, introduced prof and showed him around.
I also talked to my prof Seb for 2 hours. He was away for the summer and finally he is back. Then it is time for me to get back full force to work on my PhD project, which is my highest academic (other than life or spiritual related) priority. I thought that I did a good job as usual, and, as usual, he made a lot of comments and asked me to do a lot of change. So I will have to spend the next couple of days to make the change, and we will have meeting twice a week for the rest of the summer. I don't mind to meet often, as long as he is willing to dedicate the time for me.
I attended the dissertation final defense of one of the classmates from our department. This is the first time that I attend someone else's dissertation and this is a good learning experience for me. Afterward, we also went to have some "Drink thing" time to socialize and to congratulate this newly minted PhD.
I also helped out to mark the business class's I-Core (Integrative Core) case question. Basically, for the undergrad here, they will take a 12 credit big course that combines the concept of accounting, finance, operation management and strategy classes. They have to do some big project and I marked their oral presentation several weeks early. This time I am marking their answer to some case. I am sure that they spent a lot of time working on these questions. However I have to mark 37 cases (estimating for 8 hours) and I won't be spending as much time on each question. My marking scheme may be quite arbitrary some times. For instances, for the first few teams, I am still getting familiar with the format so it takes a longer time and I will be more generous. However, later on, I will be stricter once I get used to the style.

August 08, 2006(Tuesday)

A student Wenbin came to IU yesterday from Shanghai to study business PhD (in my department). He is living in the same apartment (Campus View) as mine. This morning, I gave some material to him, from the newcomer package that the church will give to the new students. It is one of the very few time that I am helping someone that I know (rather than refer from some other people), even though today is only the first time that I see him. I helped him to get mattress from church friend Jo, and also gave him the bus schedule and map. I still remember that when I first went to Venezuela or first arrived to Indiana, other people helped me so much. this is another time that I can give back.
I had a meeting with the fellowship magazine. We had none previously and I initiated one today. It is happy to see that there are other people who are willing to help out. However, the first one is always easy but I will see whether we can maintain this magazine ongoing. We will have it every once a semester, twice a year.
At night, there is a deacon board meeting from 7:30 - 11:10. This is the second meeting today. And then I spent 2 more hours to send email to different people to remind them what to do, or to ask them to do something. I always do thing immediately because I know that if I don't do it now, I may never do it because I have something else needed to be done.

August 07, 2006(Monday)

Today I am really busy with the Sept 1 outreach flyer. Originally Daniel Chen is supposed to work on that, but he has some personal emergency so I helped to take over this morning. I have to contact the two designers Joe and Xiaohu, asked them to come over to my home to work on the flyer and finish it in 3 hours so that I can submit this to the printing shop to print 1000 copies. Then this flyer will be distributed to all incoming international students. That's why we have to make sure that this looks nice.
Afterward, I helped out a family to move house for an hour. I find that I enjoy working on project rather than helping new comers moving house. Originally I planned to do some studying today but I did not because of the busy schedule. Nevertheless, things are done.

August 06, 2006(Sunday)

Today is the 20th anniversary that I know I can enter to St. Mark's Secondary School. Before that time, I was sent to a not-so-good high school and mom brought me to many different high schools and begged the principle to accept me as the student. I took the entrance exam of St. Mark's Secondary school and I was not even recorded in the backup list. But then, for some strange reason, I got a phone call today that I am accepted. It seems like a joke now (when I am doing my PhD, secondary school seems far away). But at that time, it is really a big deal. Today is also the 18th anniversary of me going to orthodontist to fix my teeth.
Today is an unusually relax day. We woke up late, went to Sunday Service, and nothing much needed to be done for the rest of the day. We went to Linda's home (we went there last Sunday for her bridal shower) and helped her to water her plants, and returned home to sleep for two hours. For the rest of the day, I am very relaxed. And I have enough literature review and I am waiting for my professor to return coming Wednesday. In the mean time, I am too relax and don't know what I should do to make myself productive.

August 05, 2006(Saturday)

We had a pre-study for the fellowship Bible Study at Joyce's house after lunch. I have not attended a pre-study for about 8 years. Usually I am the person that leads and this is good for me to sit down and ask question instead.
Afterward, there is a cooking competition (Iron Chef). The Macedonia group (Cantonese group) and the family group (Mandarin group) are mixed to three groups and the purpose is to help these two groups to know each other. Since I am not good at cooking, my responsibility is to take photo and also wash dishes. At the end, Carmen's group won. This is a good fellowship time and helps our fellowship to know each other more.
At night, there is a group leader meeting at my house. I am the fellowship/Education deacon. We discussed about the new regrouping and how to make the fellowship members getting close to each other. I am happy to see all these people are faithful and have the heart to make the fellowship a better place.
Afterward, I called parents because they mentioned that Uncle 1's health is really bad. He is in the last stage of cancer. I called their family and talked for 15 mins. Uncle #1 witnessed our growth since I was a baby. He is also a very good Christian. However, he is now suffering physically. Let's see what God's plan is.

August 04, 2006(Friday)

I went to take the second hand car for machine testing. The engine is in a good shape, everything is good, but then the timing belt may be a bit old and need to change in a year or so. This may give me some room for asking lower price.
I also went to workout, and drove Carmen and Jo to buy grocery. At night, fellowship is about sharing because some people will be leaving. The night was ok but then the sharing is not as deep as we hope.
We also went to Jo house for filming at night and some sharing. We returned home at 12:45am.

August 03, 2006(Thursday)

If anyone has trouble falling asleep, he/she should do some literature research. I fall asleep big time today. I spent roughly 2 hours reading, but more than 2 hours sleeping!
During lunch, I check a car Toyota Avalon 1997. This looks like a good car in decent condition. I may go ahead to purchase this car if the mechanic says that the engine is working fine.
At night, I went to prayer meeting as usual.

August 02, 2006(Wednesday)

Today I helped Nicky and Joyce moving house from noon to 5pm. They are moving to a far place (about 20 mins drive to campus) but the cost is cheaper ($700 includes everything, compare to me $720 includes everything) and the place is larger. But I still value the convenience benefit much more.
Afterward I went to play basketball. Lately, I am very relaxed. I did not do much PhD project. I am only reading some paper and hopefully I can have some good insight for literature review.

August 01, 2006(Tuesday)

I went out for running today. However, it is too hot and I was in a pretty bad shape. And then I went to take the car (it was hit-and-run last Saturday) for quote about the damage. Then I went to the bank to talk to the financial advisor about how to distribute the money.
At night we went to Daniel and Yangching house for dinner and talked about some fellowship stuff and returned home at 9:30.