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On Wednesday night, I flew back to the bay area for the GSRC annual symposium. It was being held at the Wyndham hotel in San Jose, and I spent Thursday and Friday there listening to professors present their research. I also went to a student poster session, where I had to present a poster about research one of my advisors' other students had done. The whole conference was actually a little boring, and from talking to people that have been to it before, it seems to be more of a formality than anything else. Professors go to it just so they can keep getting funding from GSRC.
Still, it was a good chance for me to get used to presenting research, and it was also a good chance for me to meet grad students from other schools. I met some cool students from UIUC and the University of Washington. Thursday night I went out with them to Gordon Biersch, and met up with some of their friends that were working in the bay area. It turns out one of them is a grad student from Purdue, and he knows my cousin who went there to get his M.S. Isn't that random?
Friday afternoon I had time to go hang out with the folks at Xilinx. It just happened that Xilinx was having its Virtex5 release party that afternoon, so it was really good timing. I hadn't gotten around to telling all my old coworkers that I was coming back, so I got a lot of surprised faces when they saw me, which was fun. I even managed to pick myself a nifty V5 shirt, which pissed Judy off since she doesn't have hers yet and I don't even work there anymore.
That night I went with my Xilinx friends to eat pho at Dac Phuc. I was kinda craving it since I can't find good pho anywhere in Ann Arbor. The one place I tried had broth that tasted like water. But Dac Phuc is awesome, and it was as good as I remember. All of us really like that place, and I think the owner can even recognize us because we've been there so much.
Afterwards we went to Clarence's house to play Magic. I'm an addict, I know. I blame Mike and Judy for getting me back into it. At least I've decided I won't play constructed with my own cards since that gets really expensive. Draft and sealed are fun though, even if I'm not that good. When we were done, Judy gave me back home. Thanks Judy! Now you know how awful my commute was for the last 2 years.
Saturday I finally got around to getting a haircut. I hadn't had one since I left for Michigan, and my hair was pretty shaggy. I was just afraid the barbers in Ann Arbor wouldn't know how to cut Asian hair. Then I met up with Ben and John in Fremont and hung out for a while. We realized that Howard owns all the board games and ended up playing cards. We played a trick taking game called 99, and by the end of it all, I didn't win but I had taken 1 trick more on average than John or Ben. I wonder if Bridge has anything to do with it...
Whew. I can't believe I wrote so much, and if you're still reading this, congrats. It feels really good to be back home, and I can't believe it's only been a month since I left. The one thing I can complain about my trip is the weather. It's as if the cold weather followed me all the way from Michigan >_<.
Still, it was a good chance for me to get used to presenting research, and it was also a good chance for me to meet grad students from other schools. I met some cool students from UIUC and the University of Washington. Thursday night I went out with them to Gordon Biersch, and met up with some of their friends that were working in the bay area. It turns out one of them is a grad student from Purdue, and he knows my cousin who went there to get his M.S. Isn't that random?
Friday afternoon I had time to go hang out with the folks at Xilinx. It just happened that Xilinx was having its Virtex5 release party that afternoon, so it was really good timing. I hadn't gotten around to telling all my old coworkers that I was coming back, so I got a lot of surprised faces when they saw me, which was fun. I even managed to pick myself a nifty V5 shirt, which pissed Judy off since she doesn't have hers yet and I don't even work there anymore.
That night I went with my Xilinx friends to eat pho at Dac Phuc. I was kinda craving it since I can't find good pho anywhere in Ann Arbor. The one place I tried had broth that tasted like water. But Dac Phuc is awesome, and it was as good as I remember. All of us really like that place, and I think the owner can even recognize us because we've been there so much.
Afterwards we went to Clarence's house to play Magic. I'm an addict, I know. I blame Mike and Judy for getting me back into it. At least I've decided I won't play constructed with my own cards since that gets really expensive. Draft and sealed are fun though, even if I'm not that good. When we were done, Judy gave me back home. Thanks Judy! Now you know how awful my commute was for the last 2 years.
Saturday I finally got around to getting a haircut. I hadn't had one since I left for Michigan, and my hair was pretty shaggy. I was just afraid the barbers in Ann Arbor wouldn't know how to cut Asian hair. Then I met up with Ben and John in Fremont and hung out for a while. We realized that Howard owns all the board games and ended up playing cards. We played a trick taking game called 99, and by the end of it all, I didn't win but I had taken 1 trick more on average than John or Ben. I wonder if Bridge has anything to do with it...
Whew. I can't believe I wrote so much, and if you're still reading this, congrats. It feels really good to be back home, and I can't believe it's only been a month since I left. The one thing I can complain about my trip is the weather. It's as if the cold weather followed me all the way from Michigan >_<.
posted by Jeff at 8:36 PM
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