After 4 weeks, I am getting irritated with having a splint. And a broken right hand that I can\’t do too much with. I am too naturally independent.

Yesterday, I wanted to take out the garbage (because nobody else was). So I pulled the bag out of our plastic kitchen trash. The bag wouldn\’t budge. I pulled again with my left hand, but my balance was off and it toppled over. I spent the next five minutes struggling, just doing all the work with my weaker left hand. Then I dragged it over to the dumpster in the parking lot, realizing that I couldn\’t lift the bag up with one hand while opening the dumpster lid. I was frustrated. I was about to leave it there next to the dumpster, not willing to sacrifice my right hand just for garbage. Eventually I was able to lift the bag to one side of the dumpster. I lifted the lid with my left and clumsily pulled the bag with as little force as possible with my right. Sigh.

Boxer\’s Fracture, they call it. Too bad I fell while skiing not when I was punching someone out. For the latter, at least I would have a nice consequence.

Yesterday, Jean the grad coordinator of the masters program suddenly said outloud after I told her about my plans for leaving the burgh in May, \”I was trying to think of a way to get you and Sam to stay another semester! Just one semester!\”

I laughed, \”But my leaving has already been delayed. I was supposed to leave in December!\”

And as she went on and on, cheerfully talking to students, I started feeling wistful. When I first came August 2004, I almost wanted to leave. I thought I didn\’t fit in. That I couldn\’t mesh well with this…world. That perhaps the hci program wasn\’t for me. But I have gotten used to it. And by that point, I have to leave.

Turns out I didn\’t bomb the Google interview. Thankfully.

Sometimes we are not naturally creative and we need an auto-muse.

If only so all sports were like this.

It\’s not just a game anymore. It\’s the belief that someone who was believed to be incapable…is truly strong.

Some flowers never die.

\”Bonnie [our advisor] said \’don\’t date within the program\’,\” someone said yesterday during the guys\’ night out (where yes, i had crashed in the last event).

\”Incest!\” I quipped.

But really, is it a bad idea to date within the workplace? It seems like the only negative part is the discomfort and awkwardness when something isn\’t going right. And moreso when someone gets preferential treatment. It\’s the common story in the movies.

You spend so much time with another person that you can\’t help but notice special qualities. Is that what it is?

When I was at rescomp, there was a line in our rulebook, if dating occurs between the unit supervisor and the rcc, one person must transfer to another unit. A way to control the power? Perhaps.

Dating is a very delicate thing. An attraction between two people.

\”I don\’t want to bring someone into a world of suffering and pain,\” my aunt once said when asked why she decided not to have children.

What would it be like to have a child with cancer? A child always on the brink of a health disaster? I have a few friends whose family is centered around the life of a hospital. The montly, weekly…daily visits. When I went to the hospital several weeks ago for my hand, I was surprised by how accustomed everyone was to all the problems patients their faced. Brittle bones, the diseases, and the like. Almost like the daily routine in life.

Letting parents control what their kids eat? Similar to our final design for the chi student competition.

The mini-dvi to vga adapter for my 12\” powerbook is the easiest thing to lose in my world. This is one of the biggest design flaws of the powerbook. The fact that I have to carry this thing just so that I can use a second monitor or make presentations. This tradeoff doesn\’t make the world any brighter, buddy.

Notes for job seekers in UI design

Tomorrow, my first interview for the real world!