To my disappointment, my siteburg homepage turned into a case of 404. Hopefully, this is only temporary, but I will create another site if it's a permanent issue. I'm thinking of using Ruby for the new site; however, it would required lots of testing on the local station. In addition, installing a web server, a database, and Ruby individually is a lot more hassle (especially the configurations) than going with PHP (WAMP package). Nonetheless, something would be done in a time due.
On the brighter news, I found something interesting relating to my old site today. It started out innocent enough... with me yahooing myself. My nick is unique enough that about many sites related to myself in someway, but the one that caught my attention was a pdf file titled Dartmont College Computer Science Technical Report TR2004-503! Inside that technical report's reference section, my double buffering tutorial is listed next to the IEEE!
"Woh!" I thought to myself.
Now I know how my ex-coworker felt when his paper was published in the IEEE magazine. Alright, I will admit that this technical report is not as big, but it is a great feeling to have a tutorial that I wrote in college being apart of a computer science thesis. Thank you Yahoo! I hope you don't get bought by Micro$oft. Sadly, this thesis is not listed in Google. Unacceptable.
Reference:
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Walk: Blockbuster
A good photo is like a good story. It's hard to write a good story without any struggles or challenges. It's hard to find a good picture without any obstacles. Fortunately for me, my attentions always draw to the odd scenes or unique ideas. Not to say that I am a great photographer. I am aware that I am far from that. Rather it is this trait that allows me to capture a little unique perspective. Great or lame, it's only a matter of opinion.
So, on Saturday, some Chinese churches organized a fund raising event near the gas station that I normally go to. They held this event every once in a while(maybe twice a year). Anyways, I had been there few times before, but this time I took my camera. It was 14 o'clock when I returned with my camera and not my car(there was no parking anyway). Much of the commotion has already died down, but the place is still packed.
Most tents had labels written in Chinese selling Chinese snacks, which are serve hot. In winter, these snacks would do very well, but not March in California. It was 85 Fahrenheit. At the center stage, there were karate students breaking wood plates for few minutes. Later, a Chinese woman came out to play few Western-style songs with a pipa(Chinese guitar). However, the loud crowd pretty much drown out the tranquil sound of pipa. While many people continued to stayed, I left.
Walking along the main road, I came to what was once a Blockbuster store. It was only three weeks ago that I saw a poster for the brand new movie for rent. However, today, it's an empty store. They even took the Blockbuster sign on the wall. This only reminded me of the Warehouse music store that was couple blocks away from this Blockbuster. The Warehouse store was turned into a dim sum restaurant now. This empty Blockbuster store will probably see a similar fate in few short months. In my opinion, the last thing this place need is another Chinese restaurant. I would rather see someone taking an initiative to do try something different. An infusion of a non-Eastern business store would add to the much needed diversity and creativity that this city once had. Currently, there are already over 200 Chinese restaurants just on Valley Boulevard alone, adding more only going to intensify the restaurant competition. At this point, I would rather see a Hello Kitty store or an anime store(I know, these are still Eastern ideas) than another Chinese restaurant at that Blockbuster store. Alhambra's Main Street had already done this. It is not impossible.
So, on Saturday, some Chinese churches organized a fund raising event near the gas station that I normally go to. They held this event every once in a while(maybe twice a year). Anyways, I had been there few times before, but this time I took my camera. It was 14 o'clock when I returned with my camera and not my car(there was no parking anyway). Much of the commotion has already died down, but the place is still packed.
Most tents had labels written in Chinese selling Chinese snacks, which are serve hot. In winter, these snacks would do very well, but not March in California. It was 85 Fahrenheit. At the center stage, there were karate students breaking wood plates for few minutes. Later, a Chinese woman came out to play few Western-style songs with a pipa(Chinese guitar). However, the loud crowd pretty much drown out the tranquil sound of pipa. While many people continued to stayed, I left.
Walking along the main road, I came to what was once a Blockbuster store. It was only three weeks ago that I saw a poster for the brand new movie for rent. However, today, it's an empty store. They even took the Blockbuster sign on the wall. This only reminded me of the Warehouse music store that was couple blocks away from this Blockbuster. The Warehouse store was turned into a dim sum restaurant now. This empty Blockbuster store will probably see a similar fate in few short months. In my opinion, the last thing this place need is another Chinese restaurant. I would rather see someone taking an initiative to do try something different. An infusion of a non-Eastern business store would add to the much needed diversity and creativity that this city once had. Currently, there are already over 200 Chinese restaurants just on Valley Boulevard alone, adding more only going to intensify the restaurant competition. At this point, I would rather see a Hello Kitty store or an anime store(I know, these are still Eastern ideas) than another Chinese restaurant at that Blockbuster store. Alhambra's Main Street had already done this. It is not impossible.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Walk: Old School
The last few weekends have been nothing but troubles. There were rain for several weekends, and when it was finally sunny, I got a flu. So, since my weekends were filled with troubles, I decided to take a rare opportunity to take pictures on weekday instead. Indeed today(Wednesday, March 19, 2008) was a great day to be taking photos. Instead of the usual walk around my neighborhood, I decided to head up to my old college, Pasadena City College.
My college days were both fulfilling and empty at the same time. Like many other college students, my wallet was very hollow and empty. The lunch was a dollar burger from either Carl Jr., Jack In The Box, Burger King, or McDonald. Yet, it was because of this hollow wallet, I learned to explore Pasadena city with my legs. From the foot of the mountain(North) to Old Town(West) to East Pasadena(East) to San Marino(South), I have walk to the four edges of Pasadena.
Revisiting my old college again is freshing. It has been less than ten years, but a new building is being constructed on the western end of PCC. On the eastern end, there is a library, so I decided to take few pictures in there.
Afterward I headed to Cal Tech campus. The university is grand, peaceful, and beautiful. A university that host hundreds of top students across United States, and a home to Feynman. Yet of all these accomplishment, the joke in the comic section is still as lame as ever. To my surprise, there were several students walking around the campus than I ever recall seeing back in my college days. After walking around and saw the calendar, I learned that today happened to be the last day of the final exam week. My guess is that these students were taking take a good look at the sun before the next quarter comes around. If you ever visit Cal Tech, be sure to drop by the bookstore. Two things should surprise you. First should be the classical music in the background. Second would be the lighting environment. Basically, it feels like I was in a high end coffee shop; sofa and plenty of books.
After Cal Tech, I went down south to The Old Mill. Unknown to me, I have walk passed this place several times before, but never both to enter the place. After so many years, I was there to see what it was all about. To my disappointment, I did not see any mill. The historian told me it was long gone. It was used by the missionaries from San Gabriel Mission(another historical site that I entered only by accident... last weekend) in the 1800s.
The Old Mill is quite small, but the building is itself significant. It was built in the early 1800s for the San Gabriel missionaries using adobe brick. The wall in basement is five feet thick, and was used to keep the grain(granary). Unfortunately, due to the damping underground, moisture seeped through to the basement, and ruin the grain. The place was sold in the mid-1800s, and after the Mexican War, the place has been transform to a residential house. In the early 1900s, it was converted to a clubhouse for the golf course that used to cover a large area of San Marino. In 1962, The Old Mill was given to the city of San Marino, and was established as a historical site.
My college days were both fulfilling and empty at the same time. Like many other college students, my wallet was very hollow and empty. The lunch was a dollar burger from either Carl Jr., Jack In The Box, Burger King, or McDonald. Yet, it was because of this hollow wallet, I learned to explore Pasadena city with my legs. From the foot of the mountain(North) to Old Town(West) to East Pasadena(East) to San Marino(South), I have walk to the four edges of Pasadena.
Revisiting my old college again is freshing. It has been less than ten years, but a new building is being constructed on the western end of PCC. On the eastern end, there is a library, so I decided to take few pictures in there.
Afterward I headed to Cal Tech campus. The university is grand, peaceful, and beautiful. A university that host hundreds of top students across United States, and a home to Feynman. Yet of all these accomplishment, the joke in the comic section is still as lame as ever. To my surprise, there were several students walking around the campus than I ever recall seeing back in my college days. After walking around and saw the calendar, I learned that today happened to be the last day of the final exam week. My guess is that these students were taking take a good look at the sun before the next quarter comes around. If you ever visit Cal Tech, be sure to drop by the bookstore. Two things should surprise you. First should be the classical music in the background. Second would be the lighting environment. Basically, it feels like I was in a high end coffee shop; sofa and plenty of books.After Cal Tech, I went down south to The Old Mill. Unknown to me, I have walk passed this place several times before, but never both to enter the place. After so many years, I was there to see what it was all about. To my disappointment, I did not see any mill. The historian told me it was long gone. It was used by the missionaries from San Gabriel Mission(another historical site that I entered only by accident... last weekend) in the 1800s.
The Old Mill is quite small, but the building is itself significant. It was built in the early 1800s for the San Gabriel missionaries using adobe brick. The wall in basement is five feet thick, and was used to keep the grain(granary). Unfortunately, due to the damping underground, moisture seeped through to the basement, and ruin the grain. The place was sold in the mid-1800s, and after the Mexican War, the place has been transform to a residential house. In the early 1900s, it was converted to a clubhouse for the golf course that used to cover a large area of San Marino. In 1962, The Old Mill was given to the city of San Marino, and was established as a historical site.
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