Week 10 - random thoughts

Yes I indeed have the uncanny ability to tell what week out of the year it is. And no I did not count from the very beginning just now. Time really do flies when you are amongst busy times because as the title states, it is the already the 10th week of 2011. I must complain that February went by way to quick, while fully understanding that it is the shortest month of the year. It kinds of knock your internal month clock of its kilter don't you think? I mean, for me it does because next thing I knew it was March already and traditionally that is the month when things really pick up (and naturally the best post season system in the entire world - March Madness is finally here!)

You know so far I have been blogging about various topics, and nothing really about what is going on with me (except for the way too long January 1st post). Recently I stumbled upon my old xanga posts and to my surprise all I did blog about back then was what went on with my day. I guess things were much more interesting back then, as nowadays I can explain my weekdays into three words - work, school, sleep. Funny thing was, I cannot believe that people actually was interested in something like that, but perhaps it is just like reading someone's diary, accept of course being online I omitted much of anything that would be incriminating.

So for this post I decided to write about what is going on with me (though my 365 challenge album on my flickr pretty much explains much of it) instead of writing about a topic (I was going to blog about China's rise as a world power and what it means for foreign Chinese persons like myself). Where to start? Well my concentration of course is desperately trying to finish up my undergraduate studies and get the heck of of the education system. As luck would have it, so far it has been the easiest and the hardest semester I am going through.

The easy part is that the classes themselves are easy. Irony is all of my four classes are within my business major and counts towards the degree. It is so surprising to find out that after one and half year of absolute torture in my main entrepreneurship class, this spring semester has been a relative piece of cake (remember, same class, same teacher, same classmates, TWO straight years). Instead of writing the equivalent of a graduate thesis (every semester (!) ), this spring all we have to do is run a computer simulation of starting a business, and to be honest it has been very fun starting a business with no consequences. But that is it! Run a year worth of simulation, and write a few pages, and I am done.

Pretty sure i have mentioned how impossibly strict and tough my entrepreneurship teacher is. However just before the spring semester started, she went into the hospital in bad condition (due to decades of neglect due to the profession). She basically had one of those mid life health epiphany moment, and is going through a 180 lifestyle change. Her presence towards the class has definitely softened - still strict, but softened. The lesson learn is that definitely should take care of your body NOW. Modern medicine is great and can probably reverse a lot of the damage but why put yourself through it?   

I am also taking this color theory class, which is my elective. The class itself is like the entry level class in the industrial design program (sorry to the person whom I stole a spot in the class from - super senior first pick for the win). So yes the class is meant to be easy. Not that I am not taking it seriously because it does go towards my major degree so I need a good grade to maintain my robust GPA (in case I am insane enough to go back into the education system for my masters, which is most likely). Nonetheless, the class is fun, I learn about coordinating colors, and I get to be a kid again and do various art projects (though my god art supplies are not cheap - even with student discount).

My third class is the last business core class - the business seminar on strategies. Basically all we do is read case studies and have discussions. Believe it or not I consider it my filler class as the class is a joke and I either fall asleep or iPad surf. I do indeed complete any work assigned, but just don't ask me to pay attention is class because it is pretty much impossible (the fact that it is the last class of the week does not help).

As my previous piece on finding an internship indicated, the only class I am having some trouble with is my entrepreneurship internship class. Like I have said, finding an internship is just as hard as finding a job. When one crosses the outside, "real" world with the timetable of Academia, it is just a bad mix. Absurd as it might sound, I do not graduate if I don't find an internship. Ever heard of an undergrad class where the onus is on you to source the learning experience from an outside entity NOT controlled by the school? And I thought the university wants us to graduate!

Due to 99% the blessings of god and 1% my absolute abilities, I actual found an internship with a company (still need to get approved by my instructor, but hope her soften nature this semester will mean it is a trivial matter). I will be doing some product photography for the company, which is great. Because not only will I get my three units and graduate, I will also get to enlarge my photography portfolio (I must say, I impressed the founder of the company when I brought out my iPad, which held my photography portfolio).

So that is pretty much school life for me right up until May 20th, which is when the entrepreneurship programs holds its own little commencement ceremony. Oh I guess I should mentioned that I am also on the committee to organize and plan the ceremony. Problem is there are just so many details that goes into these things, not the least of which we as a whole are flat broke, and in order to actually pay for the ceremony we must either beg for services or do some fund raising. I am however very determined to see it come to fruition and according to plan because I am not attending the big school ceremony (which is... not as good. I mean, we will have alcohol). And plus, it is for our families, whom have supported us for so long and deserve to see us in our moment of celebration.

Of course I still work 20 hours a week on my campus job. Cannot believe I am going on my fourth year at the job. Naturally I will not be working anymore once I graduate, which presents two unique problems. First and foremost is that now I, along with my colleague on the similar level, is tasked to pass on the knowledge to the people that came after us, so that when we leave, things will be in good hands (because that is Allstate's stand). Last but probably more important than the first, I will be unemployed come the end of May! That is indeed a scary thought as how am I going to support my extravagant spending habits? But I have no choice but to go job hunting then, because MBA programs requires full time work experience, which at this point I am starting at zero. My hope is to join a startup company, because the vibe of a startup has really enticed and inspired me.

Anyways so that is the update on my school and work life. What is going on, on a personal level? Well I have to say I have literally zero time for myself because the aforementioned basically consumes the bulk of my time. I still work out six days a week (or at least try to), and sleep 8 hours a day (again, at least try to). So you couple those things with work and school, it does not really leave much for myself (because the accursed school leaves behind things called homework for people to do). I mean I am so busy during the weekdays that I literally go to work/school, come home, workout, watch Conan, and then crash. The weekend is then where I do all the homework that I have accumulated during the week and run all the errands that also have piled up (thank you, person for inventing Saturdays).

I have eliminate all my hobbies except for photography, as it after all the base of my entrepreneurship studies. Plus I committed myself to taking one photo per day for the 365 challenge (photos on my flickr, link to the left). I am looking forward to years end to look back at all the pictures and relive the year. But another reason I do photography for my only hobby for the time being is that it is the most expensive (the fixed costs are enormous), so I feel that I must constantly use the equipment, otherwise I would have wasted a lot of money buying thousand dollar lens and monitors.

Which reminds me, I have spent a lot of video games and devices as well, but a las I just do not have the time, not matter how much I want to play Gran Turismo 5 (have not touch it since December). I remain asking, is there a inexpensive hobby out there I can pursue? 

Oh and I also blog obviously, because I am encumbered by my new years resolution to do so (see I do not set ones I cannot keep). The main goal of blogging is to not shamelessly self promote, but to sustain/improve my english writing ability. I don't want to lose it, especially when we are living in a world where twitter exits with its 140 character limit, and people's attention span is ever decreasing. Long form writing will only be limited to those who's job depends on them, and will be lost to the general population. So hopefully when that time comes I can leverage my writing abilities into some money. Let's hope right? (I should really start proofreading these - I just straight write and publish).

I had more to write about - personal non-wealth, a girl, frozen tundra, weather patterns, automobile fun facts, expensive fauna, and the royal wedding. But my ADD is kicking in, and it is 1:13am right now Monday morning, so I think I will just end it here and go to sleep. 

Protesting education budget cuts is futile

In San Francisco yesterday it was raining like someone left the sprinklers on. Which mean great things for today as the weather was superbly nice (now ruined by the chronic western fog). As I did my daily browsing of news, an article came up about how yesterday was the day of protest for the budget cuts to education in California. First thought that came to mind was damn, terrible timing with the weather to be having a protest OUTSIDE. It was probably the reason I did not even hear about it until I saw it on the news because I bet a lot of people that planned to go did not because of the weather (come on, what is more important than the iPad 2 announcement?)

As graduation draws closer and closer, I am beginning to think that I am getting out at just the right time. The state of California is still a budget hell hole (come on, take my idea and secede from the Union) and public higher education is on track to suffer a major brunt of it. As if the class and teacher cuts of the pass years are not already deep enough (pretty soon there will be no lecturers left, only tenured faculty), what do you mean there will be more? Things looks super marginal as is.

But really do these people that protested yesterday actually think there will be a reversal of fortune? I am not putting down their efforts because the cause is indeed admirable, but unfortunately that effort is for naught. When you don't have money, you just don't have money. Education already consumes the biggest pie of the entire spending budget for California. So when it comes time to cut, it should come as no surprise to anyone that education will get effected (now if someone can just tell the US government that when they are doing cuts of their own to cut from the biggest consumers of the pie - entitlements and military). And when budgets are cut, programs get cut, that is just kind of how things are.

Now in order for cuts to not be so deep to affect the overall integrity of the system, naturally the institutions will have to raise fees. Like I have said before, in state students pay some of the cheapest four year university fees in the NATION! Of course I am not unsympathetic to the difficult financial situations of some people and the paradox of paying more for less is a very tough pill to swallow. But you already know what is the other option - pay the same for even less. Money is a very easy thing to figure out - it gives you choices. Less money, less choices. It is that simple.

Unfortunately K-12 simply just cannot raise fees, because there are no fees to be raised. Thus they have no chance but to simply cut, cut, and more cuts until the budget is balanced. So what I am saying is, protesting is futile. Cuts are going to happen and the entire education population will just have to weather it until things get better. One cannot possibly expect things to stay the status quo, even when cuts already have come to pass for the past five years.

And protesters are saying education is a right? No it is not. Like driving, education is a PRIVILEGE. Those that can afford it get the privilege to drive nicer cars, and unfortunately those same people can afford better education. If education is a right then the entire process would be absolutely free (K-12 is NOT free by the way, it is paid for by something called taxpayer's money). And you know what, there is education that is free and is a right - proper education from your parents (so easy a caveman can do it). Honestly I think if everybody look at education as a privilege, people will actually do better in school because they would actually take it seriously (mighty ironic that America always propagandized against communism and socialism, yet Americans feel they are entitled to so many things by the government).

But of course cuts are not okay. The deterioration of the educational system in California has been played right in front of my eyes as I have gone through it myself. Cuts will only exacerbate the already dire. How can we Americans be near last in aptitude categories like mathematics amongst all developed countries? I mean for sure we wil never beat China but man I think we should at least be in the top 5! America is home to some of the best universities yet the fruits of it are being harvested by foreign exchange students (Maid In Taiwan anyone?). Anybody else find it insulting that the requirement to pass high school is only to master the art of 8th grade Algebra and English?

I feel sorry for exchange students coming to SF State. They get absolute last pick as they cannot pick classes until they physically arrive here. By that time all the classes are all gone, but they need at least 12 units to keep the student visa. Much kudos to the teachers that takes special care to their predicament and actually tries to accommodate foreign students whenever they can. Is this the message we want to sent to the rest of the world? Come here but we don't have classes for you?

Recently I read in the New York Times an article about how the alumni association raise so much money to keep alive all the myriad of programs Lowell High has to offer to its students. While it is admirable that people like myself donates and give back to our high school that gave so much, but it should not have to be this way. I am sure plenty of other public high schools alumni associations out there don't have nearly the generosity potential as Lowell's. So then is it not unfair to the students of those high school that they are getting a lower quality education just because they don't have people donating money to them? The onus is still on California to properly fund public education and making sure it is an equal distribution for everyone. 

The whole Lowell Alumni donation thing gives me a great idea on how to save sub par performance of public education. There is a reason Asia has such high education standards (thank you Tiger mom) - part of it is because it is not FREE. Back when I still lived in China, my parents have to pay for my education, and would have had to straight through college had we not immigrated to America. And you know what? Because actually money is invested into my education, my parents made damn sure I excelled. That means nightly homework checks, "you better get 100 on that exam!", and parent teacher relations. This force to do well in school by my parents became ingrained into me as a habit. I don't take school for granted because it would greatly disappoint my parents who's hard earn money is invested into it. 

Of course this sentiment is missing in America because public K-12 education is entirely subsidized by the government (not to say it is not a noble cause). No wonder the budget cut protesters say education is a right - it has been GIVEN to them all up until college. This idea of free education thus created apathy and carelessness because the families do not have "skin in the game". Parents don't care because it does not hurt them financially (and it is always very convenient to blame the teachers and the system for their children's failures.).

So to solve the problem, is to make parents pay for their kids education. Not up to private school kind of level, but perhaps just enough of an amount to avoid cuts and keep classroom size to a average level. Meaning public schools will still be heavily subsidized by the government, but families will now have to pay a little to get in. This way the quality of education is preserved, and kids will have more tendency to excel because their parent's money is now on the line. And parents will pay more attention to their kid's learning because well, they don't want to see their money go to waste.

But what if families are too poor? Well no, that simple cannot fly because as I have said, education is a privilege, not an entitlement. My grandparents back in China was dirt poor to the core, yet they still manage to put all 5 kids through high school, and one of them through college. So no, being poor is no excuse for not choosing to provide education for your kids. Besides, the poor already get an entitlement from the government in the form of welfare - so have them use a percentage of that and pay for their kid's public education.

Like I said, it will solve the budget problem, and push the kids to do well. And subsequently it will trickle to the university system a larger pool of well educated kids, and perhaps then we can compete will the best of the world again.

Reminds me of the hunt!

The following is some more shallow thoughts by a graduating senior (and I am legally obligated to say this: assuming I pass all my classes). This post's topic revolves around employment - you know, the phrase of one's life after he or she is done with the educational system (cue the wise person saying we never stop learning). And what a great time to be graduating! I mean two years ago the great country we live in suffered the worst economy meltdown since the great depression, and currently we are still in the midst of the recovery (with high unemployment!)

So its not exactly the best time to be graduating and jobless? Sure the recovery is on going but unemployment is still quite high (especially California, which economic future is projected to be more dire than other states), and the hiring freeze all over is still at the beginning stages of thawing. Now I don't want to jinx myself, but if only I am graduating one year later, the prospects of finding gainful employment will be much easier (assuming people at wall street don't fuck everything up again).

Good luck Californians! 

(But wait are you not an entrepreneur major?) Why yes I am! And I hope to be sometime in the future, but just not in the immediate days after graduation. You see to start a business you need something called capital, otherwise known as straight cash (homie!). Now appearances may be deceiving but I don't have much money at all, nor does my family (don't Asians save? yeah they don't tell you how MUCH they save either...). So no money no business? Well I can borrow from a bank but going through the entrepreneur program has taught me is that Bank loan interest will more often than not absolutely wreck with your cash flows in the first year and then... well you won't have a business after that.

To the unemployment line it is, because after graduation I can no longer work on campus for obvious reasons. And I am just not super optimistic about any immediacy that I would actually find a job post grad. I say this from experience because it just so happens that for one of my entrepreneur classes, we the students (of the United States of SFSU) need to find an internship for ourselves with a startup company (and pay attention closely, find one OURSELVES - meaning nothing was setup for us). This is just as good as telling us you've graduated as an entrepreneur, now go find yourself a job with a startup.

Many conflicts arises. First of all, any startup will be way too busy trying to SURVIVE their first years of opening to actually find the time to keep an intern. Heck most of them are too busy to even answer emails (now they could also be rude, but I criticize no man, much like Abraham Lincoln). Another conflict is painfully obvious once I've started looking for internships. The problem is that since this is for class credit, we are representing the university, hence strictly NO SELLING. Meaning the internship cannot be a sales position. Now I don't know about you, but it appears that the single most important thing to a new startup business is to MAKE SALES.

To say finding an internship was hard would be an understatement. Turns out offering free labor is not as attractive to companies as it appears (especially one with the burden of mentoring). Now I understand the feelings of some of my friends who graduated earlier than I have - that feeling of sending out 100s of cover letters and resumes and receive nothing back. If one thing this internship searching has taught me is that it is NEVER personal, it is just business (thank you, Godfather).

Connections are important. It may be the biggest thing we know, but the world is a small place, thus it does you zero good to burn bridges. Never assume you will never see that person again. Be courteous and be nice.

The thrill of the hunt.    

Apple's Thunderbolt technology

I’ve always hate it when Apple introduces new products. 

Because inexplicably they always roll out something awesome (even if it is just an update to a certain product line) and it makes me want to buy it (perhaps that is how they made 6 billion in PROFIT last quarter - people like me). To say Apple has some of the loyalist customer base is probably a massive understatement. I am still waiting for the next iPhone to drop come June on the Verizon network so I can finally complete my Apple "quadfecta” (iPod, iPad, Macbook Pro + iPhone). 

Anyways, yesterday Apple updated their entire computer notebook line with the new second generation Intel Core processors (which is endorsed by the lovely Girls' Generation - http://bit.ly/hXrsWc), with quad core processors available in the 15in and 17in monitor size models. Finally, desktop grade computer power is available in a mobile machine. It complete crushes my current Macbook Pro Core 2 Duo model, with up to 50% more number crunching power. In fact in some cases these new laptops are even faster than some models of Apple's Mac Pro desktop line, which is quite a leap.

I need one. 

I am a big multi-tasker with my computers, which at any point in time have at least 10 programs open, and 20+ tabs on my chrome browser. Add in a splash of photo and editing and my Macbook Pro quickly gets bogged down (I also need more ram). The new Macbook Pros that were introduced yesterday will fit the bill very nicely. But that being said I am sane enough not to be suckered into the consumer technology refresh cycle, where the thing you bought today will be obsolete tomorrow forcing you to get the new model. I am indeed going to tough it out a couple more year with my current Macbook Pro. It is still plenty fast to be honest, but man digital photo files are not getting smaller and the programs to edit them are not getting any simpler either. 

I already have a mac notebook. No need for another one. Sometime in the future I will get myself a Mac Pro. That will serve all my creative and multimedia needs. Until then, hey I still love my Macbook Pro more than any other PC laptop out there. 

So, not getting a new mac notebook, but yesterday's announcement also bought to the consumer world something called the "Thunderbolt" port. I am sure everybody is familiar with USB (and how you always have to guess whether you orientated it correctly... it is like flipping a coin). Think of the thunderbolt port as another USB - but MUCH faster. It has twice the speed of the just recently introduced USB3 standard. What does this mean for creative professionals and amateurs like myself? Revoluntionary.

RAW digital photos takes up a lot of space - on the camera and thus on the computer as well. Transferring from the camera to the computer also takes some time because the current USB and Firewire cables only goes so fast. Thunderbolt cables and ports will change that because it is so fast that file transfers will be instantaneous. No more waiting for things to transfer before you can start your editing work. And not only digital photography, videography also. HD movie files are absolutely huge, and thunderbolt will make transferring them from camera to computer a trivial matter. There is one caveat though, is that camera manufacturers must start making cameras that has a thunderbolt port in order for this technology to work. 

Another promise that thunderbolt will bring is that finally, creative people can finally do their work off an external harddrive. Current transfer technology does not allow a fast enough connection for people to do digital work with files out of an external harddrive connected to a computer. The speed is just to too slow, and the workflow will be slowed down by waiting for bits to load all the time. Some can tolerate this for digital photography, but HD video editing? Forget about it.

But with an external harddrive that has a thunderbolt port, the bottleneck will be gone. In demos, Intel showed that with a thunderbolt external harddrive can stream 4 uncompressed HD footage at the same time. This kind of throughput and speed will save a lot of time for digital creative professionals. Because face it, digital files are not getting smaller, and most of us own laptops, so the size of the ONE harddrive can only be so large. External hard drives are a way of life (heck, I have 7 of them). If the thunderbolt port can bring instaneous kind of transfer speeds, I think it will revolutionize everybody's work flow and file storage paradigms.

It will take at least another year for thunderbolt ports to be completely mainstream, but once it does the benefits will be enormous. I cannot wait to get my hands on some cameras and computers with such technology.