Spring @ RPI

Doctoral Defense…

No, not for me . Well, not yet however. I just got back from attending a doctoral defense by one of my department’s PhD students who happens to be a friend of mine. Since I never attended one before this, I guessed it’ll be useful and beneficial for me to be there. I bet it’ll be a good exposure.

Prior to attending this morning session, I have always imagined that doctoral defense will be somewhat like the BBC’s ‘Hardtalk’ where the person who is sitting at the end of the chair will be grilled like there’s no tomorrow . But to my suprise, the session today was quite laid back. It’s just like a normal presentation that you would usually deliver in front of a small group of people.

The atmosphere was very relaxed. Of course, there were some presentation protocols need to be addressed accordingly but they were the usual stuffs anyway, like introduction of the research followed by the hypothesis, the research methodologies, research analysis, the findings and finally some conclusion and some projected future works.

At the end of the presentation, came the Q & A session. Even the questions were not that hard based on my personal judgement. They were more like just to clarify and confirm some of the findings of the research. Most likely this is because all the committee members have been actively involved with the student’s research and they know about it in and out. I guessed this is why it is important to keep a good relationship with your supervisor and the committee members through out your years as a PhD student.

Right after the session ended (it took around 45 minutes), we were asked to leave the room for the committee members to discuss the outcome and the verdict (the session was conducted in one of the focus rooms). While we were standing outside, she said something which I think she’s been waiting to utter ever since she set foot at the department 4 years ago; “I’m DONE!’ . Overall, she did very well in her presentation.

After a few minutes waiting eagerly outside the room, finally the chair person of the committee members (he’s the department’s head) opened the door. I noticed a huge smile on his face. As he invited my friend back into the room, he profusedly congratulated her and repeatedly shaking her hand. Well, I believe you know what the final verdict was …

Kanak2 Ribena :)

End of the semester deliverables

End of semester means final projects and reports are due. Mine are all due on Monday 4/28/2008. Yes, ALL of them. Wow! No wonder I’m supa dupa busy this weekend . But just look on the bright side, after that, I’m DONE with my MSc .

• PWD’s website redesign final report 1:41 pm, 20080426
• CKUB’s intranet redesign final report 3:49 pm, 20080426
• Studio Design in HCI’s final report 1:41 pm, 20080428
• Social Impact on Electronic Media’s final exam 1:12 pm, 20080428

* Update: Alhamdullilah, semuanya dah selesai. Yeay!

LG Aloha!

Memula cadangnya, sy nak beli walkie talkie je sepasang untuk road trip USA 7 hari 7 malam bulan depan (masa parents sy datang), tp bila pikir balik, baik beli cell phone je satu lagi. Kalau sesak2, boleh guna untuk check email atau main games . Lagipun antena walkie talkie tu sikit punya panjang, macam kureng je bila nak bawak berjalan.

Jadinya, dua hari lepas sy singgah di virginmobileusa.com. Masa memula datang sini dulu, first day sy dah sambar satu, K10 Royale. Tp memang tak user friendly langsung – usability memang totally out. So, kali ini nak cari yg berjenis skit ler. Lagipun my better half yang akan guna phone ni. Nak le yg nampak ayu skit .

Dah puas mencari , dapat la LG Aloha ni (criterias: small and of course cheap – bukannya boleh pakai kat Malaysia pun lepas ni). Harga cell phone $15.00 (dapat bonus airtime $17.50). Ini sudah bagus, kira dapat free – siap untung $2.50 lagi). Terus sy beli satu. Petang tadi, UPS dah selamat hantar rumah.

Yes, selepas puas membelek sana sini, it is totally much better berbanding ngan K10. Senang la skit lepas ni masa nak berjalan, tambah2 kalau nak ke Woodbury yang sebesar2 outlet tu…

Senja di Troy…

Kasih Abah, Cinta Mama…

Dugaan…

Yup, 72 F ~ 22 C. Spring is finally here. Kalau di musim sejuk, asal nak keluar je, berlapis2 kena pakai. Datang musim bunga, cukup sekadar dengan t-shirt and jeans. The weather outside is just nice. Tapi di musim spring ni, datang pula dugaan yang lain macam. Bila berjalan tu, sekali sekala kena pandang bawah gak. Kalau tak, mau jadi kes langgar tiang macam cerita kawan kita yang sorang tu. Dugaannnn …

Ada yang bertanya, kenapa kena pandang bawah pula bila berjalan? Alkisahnya, Americans ni pantang cuaca okey@panas skit, mesti nak berjemur. So faham2 jelah, bila dah berjemur di atas padang tu, banyak yang tersurat dari tersirat. Dugaannnn…

Senja nan merah…

Satu petang di Lake George, NY

Dah lama rasanya tak jejalan. Ayu and the kids pun for sure dah boring habis asyik lepak rumah je. Sy pun dah letih nak menyiapkan wireframe and screen design for final project. So, petang tadi kami gerak ke Lake George. Weather pun just nice. Cadangnya nak picnic kat sana. Habis semua jenis makanan yang ada kat rumah, kami angkut buat bekal .

Tempatnya tak jauh, cuma dalam 45 minit dari pekan Troy. Masuk hari ni, dah 4 kali kami ke sana. Best kalau dapat ke tasik ni. Tenang dan nyaman sungguh. Permandangan pun cun. Boleh shoot mana yang menarik…

On the way nak ke sana, kami singgah kejap di Wal*Mart, Saratoga Springs. Sempat beli ready-mate kites: Barbie and Spiderman ($1 each). Memang ready-made sungguh, tak sampai 1 minit pasang, dah melayang nun kat atas.

Oh ya, berbalik kepada cerita asal kami nak picnic di Lake George tu, belum sempat sampai lagi, habis semua dah belasah makan apa yang ada . Kiranya, trip kali ni bertukar jadi trip pi makan angin je lah. Kakak siap kata, “Abah, this is the worst picnic ever”, wakakaka – gelak sakan kami.