Glamour shots

I have been going around and updating my information on various social networking sites, including uploading an updated photo. Now, I’m okay with putting my photo up on those sites because if people are looking for me, it’s helpful to have a photo to double-check the identity. And I will even go so far as to include a photo on my Web site’s front page (albeit, not a full-on head shot), but I feel kind of weird adding one here. I mean, a blog is already pretty masturbatory in a self-congratulatory, self-glorifying kind of way, isn’t it? I mean, if I was famous and keeping a blog, I guess I would do it, but God, if I was famous, I’d probably get sick of seeing my own image so much. I have a very low tolerance for overexposure.

In any case, maybe I’ll change my mind, but for now, I’ll stick with random photos of stuff.

Help support disaster relief

To help support disaster relief for those affected by the earthquake and tsunami emergency, donate funds to the International Response Fund of the American Red Cross:

American Red Cross Online Donation Form

As someone who has personally received Red Cross services, they do a great service and every little bit helps.

To learn firsthand what’s going on in Asia, take a look at bloggers covering the disaster as well as SMS messages from Sri Lanka. Also, be sure to visit The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami for news and information about resources, aid, donations and volunteer efforts.

Social networks

I am on way too many social networking sites for my own good:

• Friendster
• Orkut
• MySpace
• LinkedIn

And to be honest, I always feel like an asshole whenever I fill out the profiles on these sites– I usually just cut and paste from another site. I’m basically just making up whatever is on my mind at the moment, including descriptions of my work experience. If you had my job, you’d know that the focus of my job changes about every three months whether I like it or not and more often than not, I’m a jack of all trades.

The only real benefit I think I’ve gotten from these social networking sites is reconnecting with old friends, which is valuable in and of itself, but I don’t know if it’s worth the subconscious inferiority I feel when I don’t have a lot of friends/connections.

Mm, wireless…

I’m at EWR waiting for my plane (crossing my fingers that forecasted snow showers don’t start until I am back in sunny California) and I’m sucking up the wireless Internet available via Concourse (I will admit, although I would prefer to leverage off of my pre-existing T-Mobile account, a cute name).

Seriously, Internet service, especially wireless, is like crack. I’ve been on dialup for the last few days (which has not stopped me from blogging and uploading video) and the little “wireless internet access here” sign is heaven to me. I would take a picture of it for here, but I’m afraid the TSA would lock me up for being a threat to airport, and therefore, national security.

Sunset

Sunset
Originally uploaded by sindy

Photo of the sunset from my parents’ back porch in upstate NY.

The Water Ionizer

Clearly, not only do I have too much time on my hands, but my parents do as well. They just had this ionizing system installed in their kitchen– it’s a Japanese product although my parents got it through some Korean reseller here complete with Korean language manual. You turn on the tap, flip the switch to direct the water through the system, and then select the desired pH level of the water. Smack in the middle is, of course, purified water for drinking, acidic is to the left, and alkaline is to the right. There’s little pictures corresponding to for what use each level is appropriate– water for the cat, water for brushing your teeth, water for taking medication, water for cooking, etc. Presumably, the purpose of this system is for health benefits and for maximum value, there’s a soothing female voice that lets you know what’s going on (”Acidic water selected…”) and then it plays a little song while it works. You can’t really appreciate it until you’ve seen it, which is why I recorded a little video of the water ionizer in action. This the first time I’ve actually used the video capability of my digital camera and let me tell you, it was well worth it.

CMU, I DO know what to do with you

More on my CMU drama now that it is actually resolved. I hope. Thanks to those I’ve talked to over the past few days that have expressed their condolences (and just plain dismay at what’s been going on).

So, after I almost had a nervous breakdown when they postponed the Information Security and Networking program until an undetermined date, I talked to the West Campus admissions folks, including the head of the Software Engineering program, and figured out what options I had left. Luckily, my acceptance to the SE program was still good back from last December (I can hardly believe it has been this long) and I was even eligible to go into the new Software Development and Management program, although for Fall 2005 (this program didn’t exist when I originally applied in Fall 2003). I will admit that even though I’m anxious to start my Masters program, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go into either one of these programs. At face value, software development/engineering programs are not exactly interchangeable with a program in information security and networking and like I said earlier, that’s a lot of time and money to waste on something I don’t necessarily want. But after speaking to the department and getting more information on the program, I realized that it might not be exactly what I wanted, but I can still make it what I want and need. The skill focus is a little different and the topic is a little broader, but I can certainly tailor my studies to focus on the desired areas, including my interest in information security and privacy as well as my desire to develop more management skills. And the folks in charge of the program were very helpful, encouraging me to start the program and letting me know that they would be happy to help me tailor the program to my needs.

As I’ve said before to others, after working for a university for a few years, I am more than aware that there is very little relationship between internal university operations and academic excellence. As prestigious as Stanford is, you’d be surprised how decentralized and disorganized we are when it comes to regular operations (although I will acknowledge that the undergraduate admissions process is very streamlined and conducted very well). Simply scheduling a classroom is a bureaucratic drama. So, even with the entire admissions ordeal, my confidence in CMU’s academic strength was still there. And after speaking to the folks I did at the West Campus, their helpfulness and willingness to come to the best solution as simply and quickly as possible was really what sold me. They were very understanding of my frustration, clearly expressed why attending the SE program would be beneficial to both CMU and myself, and that because of that, they were willing to be flexible and come up with the best solution for both policies. And now, I’m excited to start the program and feel like not only will I have a good experience and learn a lot, I am welcome to the program and that my contribution will be valued.

So, it looks like the drama has been resolved. I’m filling out the final paperwork, ordering books for the new semester, setting up my computer, and more. Finally!

Photos

I have way too much free time on my hands lately. I’ve set up a photo gallery, including background photos for your BlackBerry 7100t. (You have to browse to the photo using your BlackBerry’s browser and save them to your device to access them from the Pictures application.) The gallery is powered by Qdig and is complete with Creative Commons license.

I’ve got a few words for you, Lemony Snicket

WARNING: This entry containers spoilers for the Lemony Snicket and Harry Potter series.

I started reading the Lemony Snicket Books a few months ago because I was having trouble finding any good books to read and, instead, had been reading the Harry Potter Series over and over again (thank God– JK Rowling has finally announced the next book will be out in July 2005). So, somebody recommended the LS series as methadone to my HP addiction. On the surface, while the two series may seem alike– bad things happening to orphans who can do extraordinary things– the similarities don’t go much deeper than that. It’s like saying the Lord of the Rings series is the same kind of story as the Harry Potter series just because they both involve magic, wizards, and the search for an enchanted object (the ring in LOTR, the Sorceror’s Stone in the first HP book). Oh, and they both have elves. But anybody who knows about both of them knows that only a layman would think the two series are the same. That’s why when Richard Harris passed away, it didn’t necessarily make sense to have Ian McKellen replace Harris in the part of Dumbledore.

In any case, after watching the new LS movie this past Friday, I went back and reread the first three books in the series. There were a number of changes when they went from book-form to movie-form, but for the most part, the key parts were there and like most firsts in a series, most of the movie was spent establishing the characters– the Baudelaire children, Count Olaf, and Mr. Poe– and the universe they live in. And while the movie only covers the first three books, it does touch on plot points that appear later in the series, introducing the pursuit to find out exactly what VFD is and its relationship to the Baudelaire family, Count Olaf and Lemony Snicket, a mystery that soon takes over the main plot line of Count Olaf constantly trying to steal the Baudelaire fortune.

But after re-reading the first three books, I find myself wanting to interrupt Snicket’s narration to ask some questions. Yes, of course, this is a children’s novel and so there are crazy characters like Uncle Monty (real name: Montgomery Montgomery) and his reptile room, Aunt Josephine and her fear of almost everything, and of course, most fantastical of all, Count Olaf with his many disguises and weird acting troupe. However, as I read along, I asked myself the following questions:

1. Where is child services in all of this? Mr. Poe is the executor of the Baudelaire estate, but he is not in social services. If children are actually being adopted by a new legal guardian, family or not, isn’t child services usually involved? And until they find the next of kin and a suitable home, aren’t the children supposed to stay in a foster home, not the home of their parents’ banker? And when they are placed into a new home, aren’t there regular visits by child services to check in on the new situation and upon satisfactory inspection, only then can the children be legally adopted by a new guardian? Granted, the state of child services in our society is not perfect, but Mr. Poe seems to be managing the welfare of these children with wreckless abandon.
2. Doesn’t Count Olaf have a criminal record or something that can be used to identity him other than that one long eyebrow and that stupid tattoo on his ankle? I mean, have you people heard of fingerprints, DNA, anything? Maybe if the Baudelaires lived in California, they could arrest Count Olaf, collect his DNA, and then let him walk on a technicality. Maybe then next time, Mr. Poe won’t be so stupidly fooled by an eye patch and a peg leg.
3. Here’s another one– Aunt Josephine is afraid to turn on the radiator, cook with the stove, and open doors using doorknobs, but even if all she has is cold cucumber soup all the time, doesn’t she eventually have to chop up the cucumbers with a knife, a blender, a CuisineArt, something?
4. Why are these children never in school? They spend some time at a prep school later, but nobody seems to be interested in sending them to school, although you are required to attend school until the age of 18 by law.

Of course, some of these questions become irrelevant because you have to remember the universe in which the LS series exists– that is, not a specific one. There’s no specific time and real world location indicators in the books. For example, in the HP universe, the wizard world exists in the same universe as the Muggle world– we know the Dursley’s live in Surrey and the fifth book is predominantly set in London where the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry of Magic are both located. And while Hogwarts was founded thousands of years ago, we know that we’re in relatively modern times because the characters mention how Muggles make up for not having magic by inventing electricity, computers, and the like. Moreover, while Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade and all of that are exclusive to wizardkind, there is occasional overlap– Harry takes the Underground to get to Diagon Alley for the first time and Platform 9 3/4 exists in a magical space that lives inside the real life King’s Cross. When there are the Azkaban escapes, the Ministry of Magic notifies the Muggle Prime Minister. And finally, while magical creatures like centaurs, house elves, giants and veela exist, humans are the dominant creatures. In LOTR, there is very little relation to the “real world”– the universe exists in Middle Earth in an alternate time frame and there are a number of different species populating the universe, only one of which are men. But, when you first pick up the LS series, look at the illustration, and begin reading, you start to think that these unfortunate children are British and live in London somewhere in some distant past. Certainly, the popularity of the Harry Potter books and movies certainly add to this tendency. After all, if the Baudelaire orphans are such precocious children– Violet with her inventing, Klaus with reading and nearly photographic memory, and Sunny with her superhuman biting ability and strength– and such horrible things happen to them as they are pursued by an evil Count, they must certainly be part of the British Empire in the same way poor orphaned Harry Potter is. Apparently, orphan services have historically had problems in Britain– Oliver Twist was British. In any case, this assumption about the setting of this series carries over into the film’s cinematography, set design, wardrobe, and casting, especially with Jude Law appearing (but always partially concealed much like Home Improvement’s Wilson) as the narrator, Lemony Snicket himself. But no real-life locations are actually ever mentioned– all the places in the stories have names like “Lake Lachrymose”– and most references to real historical events, like World War I, are made by the narrator in one of his many humoring digressions.

But I digress.

The point is that the Baudelaires could live anywhere at any time and as such, there are no guarantees about how the child services works, how inheritance works, how mandatory education works, etc. It’s not so much a suspension of disbelief that allows us to believe that the children would be forced to work in a sawmill, but the idea that since we don’t know where or when they are, we don’t know if child labor laws actually exist. I mean, they pay their workers with coupons and feed them chewing gum for lunch. We’re not dealing with normal people here, folks.

Many questions similar to mine are asked in Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography, but are not answered, except in a cryptic collection of diary entries and the like. And although each book’s storyline becomes a little formulaic and predictable– the second a new character is introduced, you set to work figuring out how they are related to Count Olaf– but the teasing is nevertheless well done and the mystery of VFD and the hope that there will be some relief for these children is a compelling one that keeps you reading through the series. Sometimes though, as I discovered when I went to reread the first three books, you just want to tell Mr. Poe to quit being such a cock up, Uncle Monty to quit worrying about his herpetology career, and Aunt Josephine to sack up and quit being such a pussy.

CMU, I don’t know what to do with you

I am literally at my wits’ end. After finally getting my acceptance letter from CMU, after sending my letter of acceptance of admission by certified mail, after weeks of trying to get followup information on financial aid, class schedules, or anything else, I found out today that they have postponed the West Coast Masters program in Information Security and Privacy until some future date. In fact, they haven’t even completely decided whether the MSIT-ISP program will ever be offered out here and have directed us to check the Web site for additional information at some point in the future.

Are you kidding me right now?

Tuition for the 2005 Spring semester is due on January 3rd and classes are scheduled to start on January 10th. (Most of this information I gathered by sifting through the INI Web site and the CMU West Web site as well as flat out asking inviduals running the program.) I got the bad news via email at 11:24 am today, December 20th. I suppose the only thing worse would have been to send me the bad news an early holiday gift decorated in CMU colors– seal it in an envelope, place the envelope in a huge gift box wrapped with luminescent cardinal wrapping paper, tie white and silver ribbons all around, and then send it out on Christmas Eve via first-class mail with no delivery confirmation and to the wrong address. That sounds about right, if you take into consideration how things have been going for over a year now.