The personal blog of a regular guy

Today I received my Master of Science diploma in the mail. Officially, I completed my Master degree course work and thesis at the end of 2011, but it takes some time for the school to process the documents and mail out the diploma. I knew I had met the degree requirements, but it’s good to have the diploma to physically hold in my hands. I got my degree after three semesters, and I have to thank my adviser for letting me get my degree in this relatively short amount of time. Now that I’m officially done with my Master degree, I can focus on getting my PhD degree, and that’ll probably take at least two and half more years. Three semesters went by pretty quickly, but there is still a long way to go before I get out of school.

I am at home now waiting for Christmas, and that means another semester of graduate school had come and gone. This was my third term as a grad student and also my final term as a Masters student. Because I had to take my doctoral qualifying exams and finish my Master’s thesis, I only took two courses in the past semester rather than three for my previous two semesters. As always, here are my thoughts on the courses.

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It’s the holiday season once again, and like millions around the world I traveled back home to spend my winter vacation with my parents. I managed to get off my exams slightly earlier than last year so I was able to travel yesterday (Dec 20) versus last year where I flew back on Dec 22. Since the place I study at is rather far from Vancouver, traveling back will always be a bit of a pain, but the prospect of spending almost a month at home is well worth the effort.

I don’t have any big plans for my winter break. My adviser expects me to do work, so I can’t just bum around and do nothing. I’ll probably just stay around Vancouver/Richmond. I’ll likely be eating out a lot given that the town I go to school at can’t compare with Vancouver in terms of the Chinese food. On the other hand, it means I’ll probably gain a few pounds during my vacation. I’ll have to make sure that I get enough exercise even when I’m at home.

I wish all of you a Happy Holidays .

My second Thanksgiving holiday weekend in the States has arrived. Before the holiday weekend, I finished up my Master’s thesis and handed it in to my university. Before handing the thesis in, I did a presentation on my research for my adviser and a small number of professors and colleagues in the department, and I think that went pretty well. Unlike a PhD dissertation defense, I’m not being evaluated on my presentation, so there wasn’t much pressure. My thesis went through a couple of revisions to make sure that the content, spelling/grammar and formatting were correct, so hopefully the university won’t reject it because the margins are 0.1 inch off or something. If the thesis is accepted, then all I have to do is to pass my two courses for the semester and I shall receive my Master’s degree diploma in the mail in January. Even though my thesis is done, I’ll probably still continue to work on the project to add features and fix bugs.

I was pretty happy to finish my thesis before Thanksgiving, because it meant I had more free time to enjoy the holiday and go shopping for Black Friday deals. I went to the nearby outlet stores on Black Friday midnight to buy some clothing, and I bought a couple of t-shirts, two pair of jeans and a pair of runners for about $100 which is pretty good considering that they are all from decent brands. There were a fair number of people braving the winter chills at the outlets, but it’s not really crowded or crazy like some Wal-Marts and big box store that sell electronics. I don’t think I’m ever going to those places to line up for Black Friday sale. On the downside for shopping in the wee hours of the morning, I was pretty much half-asleep during the day time on Friday because I didn’t get enough sleep. Besides clothing, I also picked up a vehicle GPS from an online retailer because my car doesn’t have navigation. I’ll probably write a post on my new gadget once I receive it in the mail.

I hope all of you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend as well.

I haven’t posted for a while. One reason was that there really wasn’t anything too interesting to write about in the last months or so, and the other reason was that I have been really busy studying and then taking my doctoral qualifying exams. I’m currently still working on my Master’s, but I plan to do my Ph.D at the same school and thus had to take my qualifiers this semester. My department has a pretty tough exam format which involves multiple oral exams on a bunch of different focus areas. We can choose the focus areas, but there is a ton of stuff that can be asked on each area so there is a lot to study for. I studied for at least two months prior to my exams, and thankfully the effort did pay off and I managed to pass. I didn’t do well in every subject, but I did well enough in my main area (electrical power systems) to pass and now I am officially a doctoral student.

The qualifying exams were one of the bigger obstacles in my pursuit of a doctoral degree and it’s a big weight off my shoulders now that I’ve passed, but there is still plenty more to do. Now that the qualifiers over and done with, I need to focus on writing my Master’s thesis and making sure I get my degree on time.

It’s been a year since I’ve left home and started pursuing graduate studies in the United States. It seems like the older I get, the faster time passes. This one year anniversary is the perfect occasion to write my yearly reflections article. Since I had to relocate and settle down in a new place, my first year in graduate school has been quite eventful… when you compare to my years as an undergrad student at least. The article actually starts from the summer of 2010 after I graduated with my bachelor’s. Keep on reading if you want to find out what I’ve been up to in the past year.

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Another school semester/term has come and gone. This is my second term as a graduate student, and somehow I managed to survive. So once again this is my thoughts on my courses from last term. Just like the 2010 Fall semester, I took only three courses, but they sure weren’t easy.

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It’s time again to write about my last term of studies and the courses I took. This is my first term as a grad student and I managed the survive the term… barely. As a grad student, I didn’t need to take as many courses as an undergrad, but the courses were still handful on top of project work I have to do. I took three courses last term, and here are my thoughts on them:

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Yesterday I joined the millions of people across the world who are traveling back home for the holidays. My first term as a graduate student is over and done with, and my adviser was kind enough to let me return home for Christmas and the New Year. My last few days were pretty hectic since I had three final exams on the two days prior to my flight, and I was pretty burnt out by the end of the third exam. I don’t think I did as well as I could have on those exams, but hopefully it’ll be good enough for “A”s. Traveling by air is also a bit of a pain these days (especially since my flights are a couple of hours long), but the fact I get to spend the holiday at home with family is worth it.

As for my plans for my time back… well I don’t really plan on doing anything other than relaxing, enjoying family company, and working on my thesis project. It certainly isn’t warm in Vancouver, but it’s still warmer than the city where my school is located. Having lived in Pacific Northwest for so long, I’m not used to cold temperatures, so coming back home is a way of escaping the cold winter over there.

That’s all I have to say for this post. I hope all of you who read this will have a happy holidays .

Can’t believe it’s already been more than a month since I left home to begin graduate studies on my own. I’ve more or less settled into my new place and things have been going okay so far. Classes at my new school are fairly similar to the ones I had in 3rd/4th year at UBC, and I only have three classes. It’s hard to say if the classes are harder or easier, but I’ll have a better idea once I’ve had a midterm for each class. I haven’t done much for my research project yet, but it’s only a month in so it’s a bit too early to worry about it.

Moving on from the academic parts, I’m doing okay with all the shopping and cooking and all the other chores that comes with living on one’s own. This is the first time I’ve been on my own for any extended period of time, and so far I’ve managed to keep myself fed and clean and keep my place from turning into a dump. Not bad for a newbie independent  .  I actually think my cooking is surprisingly good for someone who almost never cooks at home, but I probably should give credit to my mom for teaching me a few recipes before I left. My food probably lacks variety though, but at least I’m not going hungry. In terms of shopping, I haven’t gotten a car yet so my destinations are quite limited, which makes things easier in some aspects. More choices mean more decisions to make.

In terms of activities for fun, I’ve joined some clubs and went to two gathering where there were free food. I’ve also been taking full advantage of the school’s fitness facilities and getting more exercise than ever, but I haven’t seen any tangible results just yet. I play badminton once a week too, so at least I’m not completely socially inactive. I probably should make more effort to get to know people though.

Anyways, that’s all I have to say for this update. Midterms are coming up so I better start studying.