January 24-25:
We froze our butts off to check out the ice and snow sculptures at the St. Paul Winter Carnival. This time we were not too smart. On Saturday we went to the ice sculptures without finding the location and did not wear proper clothing to be outside (it was - 30 F). We thought it would be a good time to test our camera and get some good pictures.
After 10 minutes of being outside, we ran back to our car. The pictures were not that good either, because we were not able to review them after we took them -- way too cold to take pictures without gloves...
Sunday, we went back again to check out the snow sculptures -- very different from ice sculptures. Ice sculptures are sculptures that are sculpted out of ice, while snow sculptures are sculpted out of... [are you sitting down for this?] SNOW.
This time we were smarter. We wore enough layers, gloves and hats. Got some pictures and were impressed on how skilled the artists were. Winter photography is not as easy as I thought. The contrast for a completely white scene is a bit challenging - most of my pictures were too bright because of the reflection of the snow.
After seeing the snow sculptures, we visited another winter carnival event: an orchid show. We were there for almost 2 hours -- it was ridiculously crowded, and the greenhouse only has aisles wide enough for one or two people, so everyone had to view the exhibits *one at a time*. We took many orchid pictures and they were soooooo cuuuute. I also taught V about starfruit and citrus fuit leaves. We even broke a leaf and smelled the juices in it, which totally smelled like lemon or lime. Don't tell the greenhouse keepers...
Pictures: Winners of snow and ice sculpture contests:
Some of the orchid pictures I took:
Monday, February 2, 2009
Winter Carnival
Skiing and Curling
Some of the activities during January month:
January 18th:
We went to try out ice skating after yet another Indian Palace dinner -- found a place which has an indoor ice skating rink and also an outdoor rink (which we regretted for not trying, because it looked so romantic to skate outside with all the Christmas lights).
It was a bit pricey to skate only for 1 hour, since we came late -- but I don't think I could handle more than 1 hour after falling several times. A week prior, I already fell twice during rollerblading. Really not a good month for my back! : (
January 19th:
I volunteered my Martin Luther holiday to paint the Second Harvest building - when I signed up, I thought I was going to pack some foods to hand to the families who are not able to provide food to their children. But they needed people to paint their warehouse so they could be qualified as food banks.
This was my second time volunteering at this place - last year at the same time and same place, I was putting labels on each can and packing them for each family.
At the beginning Pra and I were painting, but after 30 minutes we realized painting was not easy at all -- we got all the paint on our shoes, hair, faces and clothes. So we decided to switch our jobs to packing food. The packing was fun, they assemble a line where each person places different bags of cereal or flour in each box.
January 22nd:
My group at work was having a celebration - we had a half day off where we ate lunch and played curling. I saw curling on TV before (those crazy Canadians...) but never knew how to play it.
We got the lesson from the owner of the club, then we were divided into 8 groups where each group consisted of 4 people. Each group had a captain who would stand near the bull's eye and would try to ensure that the opponent's curling pins would not stay inside the bull's eye.
I had fun during the games -- actually I was not so bad, but most of the time my throws were too weak. I fell once (another bad day for my back) because I tried to chase the cu
rling pin. They already warned us prior to playing NOT to run. Hehehhe most likely I missed that warning.
Our team lost the first 3 games but won the last game - we placed 7 out of 8.
If you want to know more about curling check out wikipedia, and my photos.
Another surprise adventure for the new Toyota
January 14
V's car got towed.
Again.
AGAIN!!!
YES, another courtesy ride from our apartment directly to the car-prison, since V was too late to move his car out of our parking lot after a snow storm. Our apartment sometimes is kind enough to post a schedule of when they will plow the snow (usually 1-2 days notice, not more) and during that time if your car is still in the parking lot AT 9AM SHARP they *will* tow it.
V has some words to say about this policy:
@#(*@ *#$&&($#@ )#@)@#$(***%%%* APARTMENTS @#$)#@$)*&%$ IDIOTS!!!
I have masked out the parts of that comment that are inappropriate for ages 8-32.
So V had actually been nice enough to pick me up from the airport late at night (around midnight) the night before. That, you might say was the root cause of all of this trouble, really [V says so, I impolitely disagree]. It was so very late already when we got to our apartment parking lot and so very cold, and we could not find any alternate parking spot except in the area where we knew that they would plow the snow the next morning. But we [V] thought we would have time to move the car since they just start at 9. But the stup... I mean, my brave and dedicated hubby, after being tired from all the driving, forgot to set his alarm on his phone. What a total moro... er, I mean, wow, he sacrificed all his energy to pick me up, so devoted and such a ridic... I mean a caring dude.
We woke up at 9.10 AM. I suddenly remembered, and told V he better move his car. So he ran out without even showering or getting ready for work, and found out at 9:12am his car was already gone! My car was still there since I had left mine in the non-towed area.
I was NOT happy about this. You can ask V about it. We called the place for directions and drove my car to pick up his car. Same as last time, they only accept cash and this time TWO HUNDRED BUCKS, again. But they had no ATM, so we had to leave and go find an ATM to take out money and free his poor imprisoned car.
We were only 10 minutes late moving our car and it cost us $200. Sucks!!! &^^$%$%%@^&@
[edited again for a family audience]
Return to my school
January 13
I went to ATL for the GT career fair and it was an interesting experience. It was my first time and it has been a while since I went back to my old campus. The flight was delayed because of the crappy weather in MN, so I got there around midnight. Stayed at E's place - they are nice enough to let me disturb their "looooove nest" for a night without charging any fee heheheh. Too afraid to stay at the hotel by myself :( No Russian with me this time.
I got to catch up with E regarding her pregnancy and learned a lot (I really mean that). Then I woke up in the morning - immediately jumped out of bed (literally) when I saw the time was 9 am. I should have been at school by 9 am, but my phone was still showing 8 am - but I didnt know whether my phone was showing MN time or ATL time. I called my hubby - also wanted him to get up early - and he informed me that it was actually 8 AM in ATL. So I was not late phew.
I showered and headed to GT. Totally forgot how crappy the morning commute in ATL is, got stuck on I-75 but was happy to listen to the Bert show for the first time since I graduated. Every time I went to ATL, I always was there during the holiday or long weekends. This totally reminds me of my old time going to school, listening to the Bert show and eating breakfast in the car while stuck in the traffic. My car must miss this old time - warm weather, good radio and smelling food in the morning.
So I did find a different street to exit to avoid all the traffic, I totally forgot how to get to GT from that street though. Took me a while to realize that I knew this street and found my way out. Luckily I was only late for 30 minutes and I still had another 30 minutes to get ready.
Once I got there, I helped my partner setup everything and people started lining up. Then I realized, they were all lined up for Microsoft (our neighbor). But 15 minutes before the career fair started, people are started lining up for our company. We were looking for CS/EE majors but we only got mostly BioMed majors. I did not know what to tell them about their careers :(
At the beginning, it was fun - talking and asking questions to each student, but after 15 students, I started losing my mind and voice.
I let the students describe themselves and proceeded from that point to ask them more questions. If I realized they did not say enough and waited for me to ask them, I wouldn't say much either.
Things that I learned from this experience are (If you are students):
1. Sell yourself and ask about the product and what I do every day.
2. Try to make yourself different from others because at the end of the day I will have talked to hundreds of students, and I won't remember you at all even though I have your resume. But if you are unique, I can recall you and send a good impression email about you to my HR.
3. In your resume, please place your best points on top because I won't be able to read the whole resume while talking to you. I just glance at your resume and try to see why I should call you back or pick you.
4. Know what you want to do. Do not ask your interviewer. Tell me what you want to learn and describe it. Stop saying you want to utilize your knowledge - if I am not the same major as you, I won't know what you can or can't do.
5. Talk to me instead of waiting for me to ask you. Be aggressive.
I knew everyone said these, but I did not understand them before. Now I am on the other side of the coin and everything makes sense.
New baby
I got a new baby last month - I have not decided on the gender yet but I am pretty sure it is a she. We have not decided on the name yet also - most likely we call her "Big Canon".
Yes, I spoiled myself again by getting a new camera last month. I did this almost every year, I will try to reward myself for working all year by getting something from my wish list (items that cost more than 500 bucks).
I am a bit stingy when coming to buy an expensive gadget - usually I wait until my hubby gets it for me (after I gave him sooooo many hints). But this time I could not hold back to get a new DSLR camera - really want to take more pictures and learn more about photography.
I had been gone forward backward regarding which camera to get either: XSI, 40D and 50 D. The reasons I chose XSI:
1. cheaper so I can spend more money on lens.
2. Lighter than 40D and 50D.
THe only drawback is that the 40D has a shutter speed that is twice as fast. But I'm thinking that's OK because I don't need to take so many high-speed photos. We'll see if I was right about that.
Welcome to our new baby!!!!!
