Just a thought. What if I blocked all my visitors who use internet explorer? That would weed out the visitors who I don\’t want reading in the first place.

After all, my good friends are smart enough to use firefox. Or better yet, osx.

Sometimes there are things that don\’t need any additional explanation. Sometimes there are.

A few weeks ago, I thought why not? everyone is using a rss reader, so i should too! So I downloaded a rss reader to my dashboard and proceeded to add the blogs I read to it.

The following days felt…too organized. It would tell me when the blog had been updated. I could easily read all the latest entries on that widget. It felt strange and alien, but I kept up with the blogs more diligently than I had previously. Yet, there was no satisfaction of randomly visiting a blog and discovering to my pleasure that it had been updated. I didn\’t like that lack of the emotional aspect. I didn\’t like the lack of spontaniety and serendipity.

A few days later, I deleted the widget and decided to return to my good old roots of using my mind to predict when my friends\’ blogs would be updated.

That\’s why I didn\’t like livejournal. I could never rely on the fact that people could miss it. They would always see it. The same with the xanga subscriptions. The way I blog is meant to be read daily, diligently…or just in one sitting every few days. Or at least that\’s how I perceive it. It\’s meant to be stumbled upon on, whether by google or some trigger in the memory.

But if you must, my rss feed (and very unformatted) is here.

This year, I have met many grown men that love wittle kitties and doggies. Of course, they became such lovey-mushy people once they saw a furry little animal, very unlike the macho appearance they usually put on. There was one I knew who would turn into a puppy himself when he saw one. He would roll on the floor and shake/flap his imaginary ears.

It was great.

I want my goal to be \”carpe diem\”. But how many people really follow that rule? How often do we want to live without regrets, but we end up regretting things that we never did?

Looking back, aren\’t there so many things that we would have done differently if we had known what we known now?

Just a thought. Coming back to my undergrad town, it was just like that. Now that I am more \”social\”, I felt that I could have done so much as an undergrad and really truly loved my college days.

Like you know, a short distance relationship. Ben says that I should try it some day.

\”You\’re heavy,\” said Will when he said goodbye to me as he gave me a hug.

EDIT: Sam claims that he said \”girls are heavy\”. Either way. It says so much about the night. On many levels.

Looking back at this semester, all I can say is that I am looking forward to the next one.

But from a larger perspective of the entire year, I have learned so much this year. I am not just talking about the things in HCI. This year, I learned about the greater essence of people. Even as much as I used to say how I hated dealing with people, I have come love the quirks, the personality of each individual.

One major thing I have learned is that I am never alone. Loneliness is only a perspective when you think nobody understands. Yet someone always does. You\’re standing alone in the darkness, scared and afraid. But someone turns on the light and you realize that you\’re not alone at all.

This year was a year of little changes and big changes. I figured out what I wanted in life, who I was, where I wanted to go. I put on a damper on my previous firey temper and impulsive behavior. I stood up for myself, not just once. I took charge. I didn\’t approach problems in my former way of insecurity–I attacked things head-on.

But most of all, I realized that I have many friends. I always had an affinity for making close friendships, yet I harbored a lot of distrust in people, thinking that when I needed them the most, they wouldn\’t be there.

One interesting observation, for every 1 female friend I have, I have at least 5 male friends.

A friend said that girls like that have something wrong with them…

Going around Pittsburgh with no car in the cold, wet, windy snow is no fun. Especially when the bus is delayed. Or never comes.

I wonder how many brain cells I have lost on my adventure today when I took random buses that went nowhere just because I didn\’t want to wait in the cold anymore.

Even with bachelors degrees, masters degrees, and doctorate degrees, maintenance people to us are angels from heaven.

Toilets, burned out lightbulbs, doors falling off their hinges…

Dear Jennifer:

blah blah blah blah…

Sadly, I applied before I knew that I would be coming back to Pittsburgh early. But here are my rationalizations: these companies typically send out people who don\’t know anything about human computer interaction. Like I was telling my friend if I had gone, I would have to face a conversation such as the following since the tour seems to be very cs-oriented:

Ms. HR: DO YOU PROGRAM?
me: no, i do not. but i–
Ms. HR [interrupting]: WAIT, WHY ARE YOU HERE? AREN\’T YOU FROM CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY? AREN\’T YOU FROM THE SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE!??!?!?!?
me: yes, my background is in human computer interaction, enabling me…
Ms. HR: OH, SO YOU DO ROBOTICS. WE HAVE A PERFECT POSITION FOR YOU.
me: oh, actually I am not in robotics. i am interested in user-centered design–
Ms. HR: WHAT IS A USER?!?!?!
me: …