September 30, 2006(Saturday)

Today is an extremely relax day. In the morning, I went to play basketball for 2.5 hours with church friends because we have sport day. I have not played basketball for a month but then after some warm up I am ok. And I am very energetic and run up and downs all the time.
In the afternoon, I also read the detective comic that I purchased from HK. I finally finished reading these 27 books. At night, Carmen and I watched the DVD "Minority Report" at home as well. I only studied for about 3 hours today. Very few.

September 29, 2006(Friday)

This morning I was teaching the undergrad class. The lesson that they have to learn is about "learning curve". The instructor (I am just the discussion section leader) asked us to hand out each group (of six people) an Age 3-7 puzzle. Then one of the people has to play it for 8 times and record the time. Then, they need to fit the data to the regression curve and predict the next time. That is quite interesting and relaxing to see them playing puzzle. In order to have more competition spirit, I asked them to write down their time on the board so that the other 5 groups can see how each groups are doing. This nasty idea put a lot of pressure to those slow puzzle solver and make the fast team proud.
Duke University came, I attended the seminar. Originally the seminar is schedule in the morning because there is a faculty meeting in the afternoon. However, since some of the PhD students can't come, they moved it to lunch time today. Therefore, since they changed the time for us, I have to go. And that was a pretty good seminar and I learnt something, but my real benefit is to have another free lunch.
At night, the fellowship is about debate. The topic is about "God wants Christian to be rich". I am in the pro side. At first I thought that I am too good and I don't want to debate However as they are debating, I just got into the interest and want to debate. So I eventually ended up debating. I think that I did not do as good, but still pretty good. But my side nor I win. So I am a bit disappointed.
At night, we did not go out to have dinner with fellowship friend. We went home instead. Lots of thing to do and I can't afford too much relaxing.

September 28, 2006(Thursday)

Today is a long day of school. The PhD Seminar on Empirical Operation Strategy is from 9:15 to 2:15 because we do not have that every week so each time it will be a long section. Then I have the Econ class. I pray this morning that I won't fall asleep in class and I am glad that I only very slightly fall asleep during the Econ class.
There is lots of thing to do and I do not want to go to prayer meeting. However, after going there, I find the peace in my mind and I do not regret the time going to prayer meeting.

September 27, 2006(Wednesday)

I went to have meeting with professors today about my second project and then spent some times on the literature review. I think that, I am reading a lot of articles lately. In fact, since the beginning of my PhD program, I have read about 180 papers. And since a month ago, I have read 50+ papers, more than two papers per day! I can't believe what I am doing!

September 26, 2006(Tuesday)

I think that I got a serious problem. Even though I slept for 10 hours last night, I still fall asleep in the Econ class this afternoon. The topic is quite interesting but I just fall asleep. But that is better than falling asleep in the other class, where there are only 5 students (versus 12 students in the Econ class) and is taught by professors of our department.
At night, Carmen prepared a hot pot for us for dinner. This is the first time that we have hot pot with just two people. I mentioned to her last night that I would like to have hot pot and she remembered! This shows her kindness to me.

September 25, 2006(Monday)

Today is the 12th dating anniversary, 5th year engagement anniversary and 2nd year wedding anniversary. 5 years ago, I proposed this day. 4 years ago and 3 years ago, I was in Venezuela and she was in Vancouver. 2 years ago we married. Last year this time Carmen was in Vancouver and this year she was here with me. Time flies. We went to have dinner and exchange wedding anniversary gift, a craft that we made for each other.
Other than that, today is still busy with school work. I think that, next year this time, I will have completed most of my coursework and I would not be as busy as now.

September 24, 2006(Sunday)

After Sunday worship and Sunday School, our group checked out the Google Earth with different cities in the world, e.g. NY, Vancouver, HK, Beijing, Bloomington, Jerusalem and so on. That takes about 1.5 hours. At night, we made a wedding anniversary gift for each other and we will give it to each other tomorrow.

September 23, 2006(Saturday)

Carmen and I went to College Mall and walked around today. We went to buy some grocery, and went to bookstore to read some books. (I did not read comic this time). Moreover, we went to buy some craft so that we can make each other some gift for our second wedding anniversary coming Monday.

September 22, 2006(Friday)

I went to the department for luncheon. And then there is a presentation by some outside speaker. At night, we went to fellowship and the program is a preparation about the debate of next week. The topic is about "God wants Christian to get (materistic) rich". The male are in the "pros" and female in the "cons". I contributed quite a lot of idea. Just the title alone, we can have lots of point. 1) God "wants", does not mean that God "will". 2) we need to define whether God wants "all" Christian or God wants "some" Christian. It is easy to debate the second one. 3) The term rich is hard to define. For example, according to my own standard, I am very rich because, compare to people starving in Africa, I have food to eat, car to drive and place to stay. Of course, this may not be rich in other people's sense but rich is "relative". 4) there may have non-Christian that are real, but the title does not say that "God *ONLY* wants Christian to be rich". I think that, these several points are quite solid.
At night, we went to have food together and then went to do grocery shopping.

September 21, 2006(Thursday)

One of the PhD seminars today so I can have some time relaxed at home to work on homework. At night, Carmen and I went to have dinner and then went to prayer meeting. It seems like that my life in the next long period will be like this.

September 20, 2006(Wednesday)

Today is another of the countless hard working days. But then, I also spent time to do workout and jogging. I do that three times a week, about 50 mins each. Also, my motivation of studying is almost zero right after dinner time, so that is a time for reading comics.

September 19, 2006(Tuesday)

I usually have 4.5 hours of classes on Tuesday. I am a bit tired and fall asleep in the Game Theory Econ class again. I hope that I can stay awake next time. I spent the rest of the day studying and doing homework. Life is quite peaceful. No news is good news.

September 18, 2006(Monday)

I continued to work on the proof of the PhD project for about 5 hours today. That is very mind-consuming and drove me nuts. Luckily, in the middle of it, Carmen and I watched "Batman return" at home and that is an entertainment for me.

September 17, 2006(Sunday)

After Sunday worship and Sunday School, I went to proctor the I-Core quiz. There were about 650 people taking the exam and the exam is taken place is the basketball stadium that has 17,000 seats. During that two hours, I was brainstorming my project and also talking to other PhD students. The teaching of the I-Core is part of my PhD stipend contract. I have to do 4 in my first four years (this is my first one).

September 16, 2006(Saturday)

With the help of Carmen, the I-Core homework is graded. I also concentrated on reading paper and tried to do a bit on the PhD project. At night, we went out for a Japanese dinner and walked around the mall as well. Actually, there is not much place for us to walk around.

September 15, 2006(Friday)

I taught the I-Core this morning. It is not as bad as last week and I am more experienced. Then I went home and read paper again. At night, Carmen had a testimony during fellowship time and also led the Bible Study. Therefore, she was quite busy preparing in the last few days. She did a great job sharing. And then we went out to have drink with church friends. I had good sharing with them, about my online MBA experience (because some of them are also interested in MBA), marriage life experience.

September 14, 2006(Thursday)

Today is another long day of school. I am taking two PhD seminars this semester. The one that I attend today is about Operation Strategy. There is a lot of empirical research because the professor is an empirist. Compare to other professors, he is very demanding and asks hard questions during class. Therefore, we have to be extra attentive so that we can answer his question. Also, today's class is from 9 - 12 and then 1 - 2:15. Therefore, this is also a long day for us.
Joyce and Jo came to our house to prepare Bible study for tomorrow night. And then we went to prayer meeting. Tonight's prayer meeting is to pray for the Macedonia group. I have advertised it and there are a lot of people showing up. Usually we have only 2 or 3 Cantonese people, out of 8 people who go to prayer meeting. However, tonight there are 12 Cantonese people and 6 Mandarin speaking people. That is a good sign to see that they want to come to pray for the group!

September 13, 2006(Wednesday)

I went to meet with professor in the morning for the second project. When I was working out today, I was thinking about the project too. This is the idea: in a hospital, there is acute care (similar to Emergency room) and post-acute care. When a patient arrived to the hospital, he will first be admitted to the acute care. After a while, he will be passed to the post-acute care. However, there is a capacity constraint in the acute care such that we need to pass the customer to the post-acute care soon. If we pass the patient too soon, then there is a higher possibility that the patient will not have the required care in the post-acute care so that he needs to return to acute care again. On the other hand, if we pass the patient too late, then it would congest the acute care and no new patient can be admitted. My research question is when we should pass the patient to post-acute care, or how many space should we allow the newly admitted (contrast to the return-from-post-acute) to use the acute care. I am still in the modeling stage and finding a right model. Since there is only math involve, this should be my strength. Let's see how far I can get to a week from now.

September 12, 2006(Tuesday)

The class is normal today. I felt asleep in the Economic Game Theory class again because it is teaching some basic accounting stuff. At least, I can relax a bit in this class.
At night, Joe came to our house for dinner. Then we went to a debate about gay marriage, by a gay advocate and also a conservative from the "Focus on the family". Since the debate is about whether we should allow gay people to get married. Therefore, the gay people are only asking for some "basic human" right while the person from the Focus on the family has to show that we should not allow even one gay couple got married. Since this debate is not a Christian debate, the person from the Focus on the family cannot mention anything about God or religion. That put him into a very difficult position. Also, people are all against him during the open forum Q&A section. I think that if I am not a Christian, I would be convinced as well. If we are apart from God, this debate is quite one-sided. It is also a good experience for me to check what other people are doing.

September 11, 2006(Monday)

I had another meeting with Prof Seb about the proof of the project. I tried to ask him to write it out on the spot so that it does not waste so many times in guessing what he is looking for. I also worked on the PhD project for three hours as well.
At night, one of the fellowship friends Desmond came to our house to have some sharing. I also called Venezuela's Mrs. Cheng and asked her how the church is doing as well.

September 10, 2006(Sunday)

Due to the amount of workload, I did not go to Mandarin Sunday School this morning. Actually, I don't plan to go there long term anyway. I went to Sunday worship then to Sunday School at Nicky's house. We had a good discussion time about pre-destination from God, or human being has free choices. Then we had a birthday hot-pot with Andy and Wilson, and also a farewell for Wilson. We have only known Wilson for 5 months, yet even though he is a non-Christian, he is a good friend of us and we would like to have a farewell for him. We also have some good sharing time too. I think that our group is getting pieces together and is more united now.

September 09, 2006(Saturday)

Today is another hard working day on the proof of my PhD project. I worked on it for about 6 hours today! I am very hard working! I just want to get rid of this as soon as possible so that I can move on to the new one. I think that I did a good job and I have finished the proof. However, prof always able to find something and I may have to redo it again. Who knows!
In the middle of the day, Carmen and I went out for lunch at McDonald (there is not much other choices). Then she went to buy some stuff while I was reading "Dragon Ball" comic at the "Barnes and Nobles" bookstore. I originally intended to work on the project but that I am addicted to comic. And then we went with Joyce, Nicky, Jo to buy food for tomorrow's hot pot.

September 08, 2006(Friday)

Today is my first day teaching in university. I have always wanted to be a teacher so I chose to be a professor. The day finally came. I actually dreamt last night that I cannot answer the student's question. However, the experience is not as fun as I imagined. The students are not as motivated as the students from Cisco class. They look tired, left the classroom, talking among themselves. There are a few that answered the question though. I tried to make it as interesting as I can and it surely is challenging. I think that, I better work hard so that I can go to a top research school or else I would need to teach a lot in the not-so-good teaching university.
In the afternoon, Joyce went to our home to make birthday cake to surprise her husband Nicky. Carmen also made some dessert for the night as well. The fellowship time for my group is about welcome-new-Cantonese-speaking-students. We had a record-breaking 31 people in our group! That is amazing. I still remember that last year this time, there were only a handful of us. Now it is expanded!

September 07, 2006(Thursday)

Uncle#1 (my dad's elder sister's husband) passed away today at Vancouver time 4pm. I have known him since I was born. He is a good Christian and I am glad that he does not have to suffer from sickness anymore.
I have a full day of classes. I had the PhD seminar in the morning, then lunch meeting with Prof Seb and Kurt about new project. The idea is about, in a hospital setting, patient would go to ICU. However, this has a capacity constraint. When should the hospital pass the patient to the normal room, where the cost is cheaper? Passing too early would increase the chance that the patient returns to the ICU but passing too late then other patients cannot come in. We still have not form the right question yet.
At night, I went to prayer meeting. There are too many school works. The PhD project that I have been worked on for the last 10 months drove me nuts. I am doing some proof but somehow it just does not satisfy the prof's requirement. I am quite upset about this because I don't want to spend too much time and sacrifice my time for other courses.

September 06, 2006(Wednesday)

There is no school today, but I still worked very hard. It seems that I am working harder and more stressful than last September, even though I felt like I am extremely busy last September as well. I used to jog outside for 45 mins twice or three times a week for 7 years. However, for the last year, I simply went to indoor gym to run on trendmill for 14 + 14 + 8 mins (three times, with push weight in between). Today, I went out for a jogging, but felt tired easily after 15 mins of running. Why? I am still physical fit but why?

September 05, 2006(Tuesday)

There are some potential mistakes to the proof of my paper so I have to see the Prof Seb this morning again. I am still double checking about this and I am trying to make it to represent nicely so that he and the readers understand too. And I had several hours of classes too. Today is a busy day.
At night, I had the deacon board meeting from 7:30 - 10:40. This is shorter than the previous deacon board meeting, where we met for over 4 hours. I think that, after school starts, people are getting busier and so do I. I am now very busy with school stuff so I cannot devote as much time as before to the church stuff.

September 04, 2006(Monday)

I had a meeting with Prof Seb about the PhD project again. And we also discuss the next PhD project as well. I am taking a PhD Seminar about Service industry. He suggests that I work with this professor (Prof Kurt) and him on some possible topic. There is something for me to look forward to, and I hope that I can generate more papers before I graduate.
At night, Joyce, Nicky, Jo, Joe and Daniel had dinner at our house and also pre-study afterward. We have not invited others to have dinner at our house for quite some times. Carmen cooked and I washed dishes. At night we also went to Jacky's surprise birthday party because his birthday will be tomorrow.

September 03, 2006(Sunday)

Today is mom's official (according to passport/ID) birthday (her real birthday is April 1). I called her to say happy birthday.
I went to the Mandarin Sunday School this morning. There were only 6 people, including me, Carmen and Shangmin (the teacher). However, the discussion in "Trinity" is very in depth and I enjoy it. In the afternoon, I went to Cantonese group Sunday School. We had about 13 people and the discussion today is also pretty good. Being an education deacon, I am happy about that. I hope that Christians would continue to build their faith in God!

September 02, 2006(Saturday)

I finally went to do exercise and workout today, after 5 days of idleness (because of too much reading and homework). Last night, I also found the answer key to odd questions to the Econ Game Theory course from the instructor (who is also the author)'s homepage. That really helps me to do the homework. The homework does not count for the grade anyway. Only midterm and final exam.
Carmen did a lot of clean up today, both to our new car and the house. I really appreciate her for doing that because I am too busy to do it now. And to celebrate our freedom (without a car, we can't get to anywhere in Bloomington), we went out for dinner. I also did homework today too.

September 01, 2006(Friday)

I finally got my car (Camry 98, blue color) today. Shangmin drove me to buy the insurance and car plate. It costs quite a lot to have a car! But then finally there are something that Carmen and I co-own (we are renting the apartment!). The paper works takes the whole afternoon! I don't have time for homework. And lately I don't even have time for exercise! I used to do exercise every other day. However, I have not done exercise since Monday already! I record long time!
Fellowship tonight is welcome-new-students night. We first had dinner and then had program. There are about 97 adults and 13 kids! I record number of people. I organized the program and Carmen/Joyce are the MC of the night. We also showed the Cantonese DVD (with subtitle) that the Macedonia took during the summer too! There are 29 people in the Macedonia group! Today is almost one year anniversary since I went to CCF. I still remember last year this time, there were 34 adults playing "big wind blow" game and that's it for the night. My comment for last year was "boring". Thanks God that He used me (I don't mean to have pride) to change the fellowship a lot! Let's see what will happen next year!
People from our group went out to have drink thing. However, I did not go, because I need to get back to my homework! This is only the first week and I am that busy! (Not going out after fellowship and not washing dishes once). I also felt very busy last year after the first week of my PhD program too!