Spent the entire night at the lab again... I can't wait for this to be over. Unfortunately working through the night today was not too fruitful as I noticed that one of the acids I was using dissolved some nanoparticles I wanted to deposit on some silicon tips. I got hold a chemical chart today and confirmed that it is true that iron nanoparticles don't hold up against HF acid. Of an interesting note, everytime I mention what I research to girls in Japan, they immediately ask me if I know about nanoparticles in makeup. Supposedly, they have some positive effect and makeup with nano particles are really expensive (I might be on to something here!)
The submission date is Friday at 23:59 Hawaiian time, the last time zone before the dateline. I have until 18:59 Japan time to make the submission. I have one last shot, but it's going to be a bit of a pull to make it. There is one other material I can use but I have no experimental data on it. Meaning it's going to be a crapshoot.
Well, I won't be put off it too much if I don't make it to the conference in the end, it might actually be better if I didn't since the device isn't fully complete and there is plenty of informational gaps I will need to fill along the way. I am not sure if it will be working by then either. One of my friends at lab has mentioned to me that he's done something like this before but wasn't able to get his device working in the end, which wasn't too good for the conference. There will be other conferences I can present at... but still, it *is* France, and I've never been to Europe.
One way or another, I am going to take a few days off after the end of this mad work schedule. 12~16 hours/day at lab isn't a healthy lifestyle and I should be doing other things rather than just working; people become boring if they work too hard anyways. I'd rather be out doing other things for variety.
That wish will likely be granted as my schedule for December is looking quite full:
-There will be a meeting of Japanese people and foreigners tomorrow for some kind of international relations building event.
-I will be organizing a hot-pot event with lab members at home.
-I will be planning a large scale Christmas party and will be roasting some turkeys.
-A friend from Mito will be coming out to visit me for 6 days and a ski trip is in the works.
-I've located a social group online for Sendai that will be hosing an event in a few weeks, which I will be attending.
-A Christmas party is being organized by a friend of mine.
There will be, of course, more events popping up throughout December. I won't know exactly when but I can already forecast a lab party fitting into the picture somewhere and probably more events along the way that I'll end up being roped into. December will be a busy month for me indeed.
Work hard, play hard!
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Doors
I just relised today that doors to houses in Japan open differently as compared to those in Canada.
In Canada, you pull on the door to open it from the inside.
In Japan, you push on the door to open it from the inside.
This thought was inspired while I was waiting outside of my friend's house today when I noticed myself taking a few steps back from the door to avoid being hit as it opened, something I never used to do back in Canada.
In Canada, you pull on the door to open it from the inside.
In Japan, you push on the door to open it from the inside.
This thought was inspired while I was waiting outside of my friend's house today when I noticed myself taking a few steps back from the door to avoid being hit as it opened, something I never used to do back in Canada.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Some additional information
The support center was called last Friday to get an idea of what it is going to take to have this ACER TravelMate 4000 laptop of mine repaired, the news is in and it isn't pretty.
The support center told me that because my laptop is an overseas model, they are going to have to have parts shipped in for the repair. Their eta on the job is between 1~2 months for the repair! This is also coming from a company which has kindly noted that they have an international network of repair centers for cases especially like these! I hardly can imagine how these ACER repair centers can at all address people that might need repairs while on travel with a 2 month repair window.
I am still going to have to figure out how much this is going to run me. $400~$600, I guess I can make a bite at it. If it's going to cost more, I think I can nab laptops for about $1000 and under in Japan. Probably even cheaper for desktops.
That said, because this particular experience, I am very inclined to say that having a laptop as your primary computer is not recommended because when it breaks down, you're a fish out of water and at the mercy of repair centers to get your computer working. If this were an ordinary PC, I would have already located the problem, swapped parts and been on my merry way.
Now the next interesting problem is if Laptops could be customizable like desktops-- now that would solve a lot of problems and make laptops upgradable!
The support center told me that because my laptop is an overseas model, they are going to have to have parts shipped in for the repair. Their eta on the job is between 1~2 months for the repair! This is also coming from a company which has kindly noted that they have an international network of repair centers for cases especially like these! I hardly can imagine how these ACER repair centers can at all address people that might need repairs while on travel with a 2 month repair window.
I am still going to have to figure out how much this is going to run me. $400~$600, I guess I can make a bite at it. If it's going to cost more, I think I can nab laptops for about $1000 and under in Japan. Probably even cheaper for desktops.
That said, because this particular experience, I am very inclined to say that having a laptop as your primary computer is not recommended because when it breaks down, you're a fish out of water and at the mercy of repair centers to get your computer working. If this were an ordinary PC, I would have already located the problem, swapped parts and been on my merry way.
Now the next interesting problem is if Laptops could be customizable like desktops-- now that would solve a lot of problems and make laptops upgradable!
Thursday, November 23, 2006
The Bad, the Good and ...
The bad:
The cold got debilitatingly worse.
Spent $20 on medicine that doesn't really work.
The laptop died.
The Good:
Backed up all experimental data and personal data.
Roomies went on a mid-night run to buy ginger and lemons for some home-brew cold remedies.
The Ugly:
The laptop is out of warranty and I am betting that it's going to costly to fix (but I'm going to have to anyways).
The cold got debilitatingly worse.
Spent $20 on medicine that doesn't really work.
The laptop died.
The Good:
Backed up all experimental data and personal data.
Roomies went on a mid-night run to buy ginger and lemons for some home-brew cold remedies.
The Ugly:
The laptop is out of warranty and I am betting that it's going to costly to fix (but I'm going to have to anyways).
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Still at it...
Woke up at about midnight and was in lab by 1:00 am.. I'm pretty much working in Pacific Standard Time now. Been in lab for the past 10 hours working on my samples still... with a batch of 8 (actually 32) in an acid wash. After that's done, I'll be heading home to get some rest as I've managed to catch a mild cold-- just a cough and a sore throat that's been building through the weekend.
Kuni has mentioned to me that I can buy cold medicine from the University clinic for about $1. Incredibly cheap. Then there is breakfast, that goes for $3 for a full meal. I keep meaning to bring my camera to take pictures but I haven't remembered to so far.
The weekend was pretty good. Had a hot-pot dinner at home with friends Saturday night and then had a second hot-pot at another friend's for the Sunday night with the left overs I had from the previous day.
Unfortunately, I haven't been resting right since going on this nocturnal schedule-- I usually end up sleeping for 1.5 hours at 8:30 am, catch breakfast, then go home and sleep until about 4 pm. Wake up, go to University for a little bit... catch dinner, return home by about 8:00 pm, sleep till about midnight and then return again to lab at about 1 am to work a long haul through the night.
I've got about 10 days to pull something off (ie. get some results and write an abstract) for the conference in France. This is probably one of the biggest conferences for my field and it would definitely be cool if I can make it out there for about a week (perhaps, 5 days?) with expenses fully (mostly?) paid to hang out with smart people in France... in particular Lyon (which is well known for the food).
It's work that I have to get done anyways. Better now than later (with the bonus of the conference). I can even use the results for my Master thesis. It's win-win all around. Can't wait for all this to be over though, I could use a good break.
Kuni has mentioned to me that I can buy cold medicine from the University clinic for about $1. Incredibly cheap. Then there is breakfast, that goes for $3 for a full meal. I keep meaning to bring my camera to take pictures but I haven't remembered to so far.
The weekend was pretty good. Had a hot-pot dinner at home with friends Saturday night and then had a second hot-pot at another friend's for the Sunday night with the left overs I had from the previous day.
Unfortunately, I haven't been resting right since going on this nocturnal schedule-- I usually end up sleeping for 1.5 hours at 8:30 am, catch breakfast, then go home and sleep until about 4 pm. Wake up, go to University for a little bit... catch dinner, return home by about 8:00 pm, sleep till about midnight and then return again to lab at about 1 am to work a long haul through the night.
I've got about 10 days to pull something off (ie. get some results and write an abstract) for the conference in France. This is probably one of the biggest conferences for my field and it would definitely be cool if I can make it out there for about a week (perhaps, 5 days?) with expenses fully (mostly?) paid to hang out with smart people in France... in particular Lyon (which is well known for the food).
It's work that I have to get done anyways. Better now than later (with the bonus of the conference). I can even use the results for my Master thesis. It's win-win all around. Can't wait for all this to be over though, I could use a good break.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Highly Disturbing -- UCLA student Tazed while attempting to leave the building
This is an excerpt taken from the daily bruin here:
UCPD officers shot a student several times with a Taser inside the Powell Library CLICC computer lab late Tuesday night before taking him into custody.
No university police officers were available to comment further about the incident as of 3 a.m. Wednesday, and no Community Service Officers who were on duty at the time could be reached.
At around 11:30 p.m., CSOs asked a male student using a computer in the back of the room to leave when he was unable to produce a BruinCard during a random check. The student did not exit the building immediately.
The CSOs left, returning minutes later, and police officers arrived to escort the student out. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. A second officer then approached the student as well.
The student began to yell "get off me," repeating himself several times.
It was at this point that the officers shot the student with a Taser for the first time, causing him to fall to the floor and cry out in pain. The student also told the officers he had a medical condition.
UCPD officers confirmed that the man involved in the incident was a student, but did not give a name or any additional information about his identity.
If this were in the newspaper, how many of you would simply think "how horrible" and then just go about your day? Unfortunately, we live incredibly insulated lives. My interpretations about tragic/horrible events have changed after watching a video of the event here. It is excruciating to watch even once to say the least; I cannot watch it again but I suggest that any passer by watch it at least once.
Despite all the Hollywood violence you've ever seen, all the killings, injuries, blood and gore, I hardly doubt that any of that will ever desensitize a person from the above video. I suggest that you all see this at least once, if you want to understand the real depth of an event like this, nothing like the watered down things you'd see on TV. I can hardly think that people watch the television show COPS for entertainment.
From the video, there were a respectable number of students in the building, most watching in silent protest. There were the handful that demanded that officers provide identification, but refused to do so. I find this incredibly hypocritical because these officers are the people that decided to taser a student for not producing identification while working at the computer lab.
I am sure that there are good cops out there, but this isn't a case about them, because it is the bad ones that need to kept in check. This is a much more serious problem than it seems.
I have followed up on comments written on forums about this and the troubling question that needs to be answered is this: What would you do if you saw a man on the floor being tazed multiple times screaming in pain? For the case of this video, the actions of the other students were exceptionally civil as many approached these officers demanding identification. No violence what-so-ever broke out and even one officer threatened one of the students that he would taser him if he didn't back off near the end of this video.
Trust in law enforcement has taken a significant hit. Should an event like this be repeated in a future point in time and I have no doubt it will likely result in violence. Working environments for officers have just gotten more dangerous as the likelihood being confronted by bystanders has significantly increased. If officers want to keep their working environment safe, they had better keep their bad officers in check, else others will end up doing that, whether they like it or not.
If law enforcement cannot be trusted then justice will be taken into many personal hands-- combat and "citizen's arrest" of officers becomes a very viable option. It is incredibly easy to see how an event like this will play out-- other officers will be called out to retrieve detained officers and things will likely get ugly from there on in.
I do not believe in centralized (video) surveillance and I think a case like this proves a point-- invest in a good camera phone.
UCPD officers shot a student several times with a Taser inside the Powell Library CLICC computer lab late Tuesday night before taking him into custody.
No university police officers were available to comment further about the incident as of 3 a.m. Wednesday, and no Community Service Officers who were on duty at the time could be reached.
At around 11:30 p.m., CSOs asked a male student using a computer in the back of the room to leave when he was unable to produce a BruinCard during a random check. The student did not exit the building immediately.
The CSOs left, returning minutes later, and police officers arrived to escort the student out. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. A second officer then approached the student as well.
The student began to yell "get off me," repeating himself several times.
It was at this point that the officers shot the student with a Taser for the first time, causing him to fall to the floor and cry out in pain. The student also told the officers he had a medical condition.
UCPD officers confirmed that the man involved in the incident was a student, but did not give a name or any additional information about his identity.
If this were in the newspaper, how many of you would simply think "how horrible" and then just go about your day? Unfortunately, we live incredibly insulated lives. My interpretations about tragic/horrible events have changed after watching a video of the event here. It is excruciating to watch even once to say the least; I cannot watch it again but I suggest that any passer by watch it at least once.
Despite all the Hollywood violence you've ever seen, all the killings, injuries, blood and gore, I hardly doubt that any of that will ever desensitize a person from the above video. I suggest that you all see this at least once, if you want to understand the real depth of an event like this, nothing like the watered down things you'd see on TV. I can hardly think that people watch the television show COPS for entertainment.
From the video, there were a respectable number of students in the building, most watching in silent protest. There were the handful that demanded that officers provide identification, but refused to do so. I find this incredibly hypocritical because these officers are the people that decided to taser a student for not producing identification while working at the computer lab.
I am sure that there are good cops out there, but this isn't a case about them, because it is the bad ones that need to kept in check. This is a much more serious problem than it seems.
I have followed up on comments written on forums about this and the troubling question that needs to be answered is this: What would you do if you saw a man on the floor being tazed multiple times screaming in pain? For the case of this video, the actions of the other students were exceptionally civil as many approached these officers demanding identification. No violence what-so-ever broke out and even one officer threatened one of the students that he would taser him if he didn't back off near the end of this video.
Trust in law enforcement has taken a significant hit. Should an event like this be repeated in a future point in time and I have no doubt it will likely result in violence. Working environments for officers have just gotten more dangerous as the likelihood being confronted by bystanders has significantly increased. If officers want to keep their working environment safe, they had better keep their bad officers in check, else others will end up doing that, whether they like it or not.
If law enforcement cannot be trusted then justice will be taken into many personal hands-- combat and "citizen's arrest" of officers becomes a very viable option. It is incredibly easy to see how an event like this will play out-- other officers will be called out to retrieve detained officers and things will likely get ugly from there on in.
I do not believe in centralized (video) surveillance and I think a case like this proves a point-- invest in a good camera phone.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
One man stands between me and going home
It's about 3:40 pm now, I've been at lab for about 11 hours... I took a 1.5 hour nap in the morning to get a bit of a recharge. And now, I am waiting for a guy using a machine that I want to use to finish off a few more silicon processing steps before I go home, catch some sleep and wake up at about 6 pm to make it to a hot-pot dinner with a volunteer friend of mine.
After using the machine, I have about another hour of work to go heading home. Perhaps I'll make it back by, say, 5 to catch all of 30 minutes of sleep? I've done worse actually, but more for fun than anything else when I did a scooter trip to a beach party in Iwaki, slept on the beach then scootered back starting at 4 am to make a beach BBQ starting at 9 am! I got all of 2 hours (maybe even less) sleep that day.
There are of course more useful things I could be doing instead of sitting here, surfing the net and typing on this blog; like doing a paper search and getting some background materials ready to try and cut down writing time for the submittal of an abstract. But that would require conscious brain power that I don't have at the moment so I will relegate myself to some easy mindless writing.
Anyways, I should keep a stopwatch on me and time how much time I waste waiting or doing non-work related stuff. The results might be quite stunning.
After using the machine, I have about another hour of work to go heading home. Perhaps I'll make it back by, say, 5 to catch all of 30 minutes of sleep? I've done worse actually, but more for fun than anything else when I did a scooter trip to a beach party in Iwaki, slept on the beach then scootered back starting at 4 am to make a beach BBQ starting at 9 am! I got all of 2 hours (maybe even less) sleep that day.
There are of course more useful things I could be doing instead of sitting here, surfing the net and typing on this blog; like doing a paper search and getting some background materials ready to try and cut down writing time for the submittal of an abstract. But that would require conscious brain power that I don't have at the moment so I will relegate myself to some easy mindless writing.
Anyways, I should keep a stopwatch on me and time how much time I waste waiting or doing non-work related stuff. The results might be quite stunning.
Ten to four
Ten to four am that is. I now sit infront of a computer inside a clean room (an envrionment which contains less dust particles than usual) cleaning a chromium mask used for optical lithography. In simple terms, I'm just washing a metal mask which is used to block light from hitting some parts of a film... made of a polymer that is used to make an image on silicon. Some parts of the silicon are exposed and some parts are not and from there, people like me in the nanotech world are free to etch holes or deposit materials on top of the silicon to make devices. Nanotech is not really that bad... we just make really small "pictures" of things on silicon that hopefully do useful things.
Anyways, there is a reason why I am not sleeping regular hours tonight (and possibly for the next 2 weeks) and that reason is to make it to France sometime in the spring to hit the Transducers conference... that is, if I can get some publishable results.
The one nice thing about working late at night is that all the machines here are available for use and I don't have other pesky people getting in the way. It is also a double edged sword in the sense I can't ask questions when I don't know when something goes wrong. Well, we'll see how things go.
Significant updates to come later while I'm working on long and boring processing steps...
Anyways, there is a reason why I am not sleeping regular hours tonight (and possibly for the next 2 weeks) and that reason is to make it to France sometime in the spring to hit the Transducers conference... that is, if I can get some publishable results.
The one nice thing about working late at night is that all the machines here are available for use and I don't have other pesky people getting in the way. It is also a double edged sword in the sense I can't ask questions when I don't know when something goes wrong. Well, we'll see how things go.
Significant updates to come later while I'm working on long and boring processing steps...
Monday, November 13, 2006
A Short Week Review
It's been a rather interesting week, lots of things going on as usual.
Thursday, from a new group of friends I've met, the man that put it together, Aki, has left for Tokyo after moving the reminder of his belongings out of his apartment this weekend. The move was the result of his lab relocating to Tokyo University and him with it. He returned on Wednesday night and stayed over the weekend where he'd ride it back to Tokyo this morning. Interestingly, the group threw an impromptu BBQ by a river at 11:00 pm on a Thursday outside in the cold as a farewell party to the guy. I was informed about it at about 10:00 pm on that day. Interesting, to say the least!
Saturday was the lab meeting as usual and I confirmed to attend a "talking party" organized by an English school to drop in and chat with Japanese students studying English for an evening. I decided to go to hopefully meet some interesting people. There was one guy I gave my contact to who is an English teacher that came to Sendai from Montreal, we ended up exchanging contacts after some coffee and perhaps might arrange for a BBQ on a beach next weekend. Of an interesting note, it is quite easy for foreigners to make friends with other foreigners-- by default, we have lots in common.
Sunday (today), I was supposed to head South out of Sendai to a "Hawaiian" Spa Resort with a bunch of friends. Unfortunately that plan fell through because the guy that had originally agreed to give everyone a ride bailed. My friend noted to me that "well since we're Latino, things get planned and changed at the last minute... then there is my friends back in Vancouver which operate on the same basis. Anyways, the trip has hence been postponed.
I did arrange to meet up with another friend of mine for lunch and a short hike... unfortunately that too fell through when she took a nap and failed to wake up until 3:00 pm! We were supposed to meet up by noon. Actually I expected to meet at 1 pm because the friend of mine is perpetually late and when we arrange to meet at some time, she always arrives about an hour late! Sometimes I wonder if her clocks are set in the wrong time zone... but anyways, I still got my laundry done.
Anyways, we finally met up for some coffee, hit a hot spring (because today was terribly cold) and went for some yakiniku (fried meat) for the evening. Still, I wasn't entirely pleased with the schedule being pushed so far back, but a good time was had. I had originally arranged to meet up with some other friends of mine by 5 pm because one of them had just recently returned from New York and I hadn't seen them together in ages.
And so, there is my brief summary of what's been going on this week.
Thursday, from a new group of friends I've met, the man that put it together, Aki, has left for Tokyo after moving the reminder of his belongings out of his apartment this weekend. The move was the result of his lab relocating to Tokyo University and him with it. He returned on Wednesday night and stayed over the weekend where he'd ride it back to Tokyo this morning. Interestingly, the group threw an impromptu BBQ by a river at 11:00 pm on a Thursday outside in the cold as a farewell party to the guy. I was informed about it at about 10:00 pm on that day. Interesting, to say the least!
Saturday was the lab meeting as usual and I confirmed to attend a "talking party" organized by an English school to drop in and chat with Japanese students studying English for an evening. I decided to go to hopefully meet some interesting people. There was one guy I gave my contact to who is an English teacher that came to Sendai from Montreal, we ended up exchanging contacts after some coffee and perhaps might arrange for a BBQ on a beach next weekend. Of an interesting note, it is quite easy for foreigners to make friends with other foreigners-- by default, we have lots in common.
Sunday (today), I was supposed to head South out of Sendai to a "Hawaiian" Spa Resort with a bunch of friends. Unfortunately that plan fell through because the guy that had originally agreed to give everyone a ride bailed. My friend noted to me that "well since we're Latino, things get planned and changed at the last minute... then there is my friends back in Vancouver which operate on the same basis. Anyways, the trip has hence been postponed.
I did arrange to meet up with another friend of mine for lunch and a short hike... unfortunately that too fell through when she took a nap and failed to wake up until 3:00 pm! We were supposed to meet up by noon. Actually I expected to meet at 1 pm because the friend of mine is perpetually late and when we arrange to meet at some time, she always arrives about an hour late! Sometimes I wonder if her clocks are set in the wrong time zone... but anyways, I still got my laundry done.
Anyways, we finally met up for some coffee, hit a hot spring (because today was terribly cold) and went for some yakiniku (fried meat) for the evening. Still, I wasn't entirely pleased with the schedule being pushed so far back, but a good time was had. I had originally arranged to meet up with some other friends of mine by 5 pm because one of them had just recently returned from New York and I hadn't seen them together in ages.
And so, there is my brief summary of what's been going on this week.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Entertainment Indeed
I was taking a break today and was flipping through the BBC to find some material to read. Then I stumbled upon this:
I guess the BBC (and plenty of other people) have an interesting taste of "entertainment."
I guess the BBC (and plenty of other people) have an interesting taste of "entertainment."
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
University Management Issues
I had my scooter repaired today. The carburetor and spark plug has been replaced, I even got a short Japanese lesson while waiting. The mechanic I have is awesome, really great guy. I'll tell you this much, Japan like many countries has many cultures. Some people might know of the polite, formal side of Japan; then there is the really energetic, "genki" people; there are even groups of very broad horizoned, free spirited people out here too. I've come to talk about something else inspired from attending a Micro-Mechanical Machine forum held in Sendai organized by my professor including people from all around Japan and some international people. Sadly, I pity the international people for coming out, because I fear they got little out of it and the organizers in Japan had missed the boat in having international dialog.
The forum held in Sendai was well attended-- an entire hall was filled suit clad people indicative of people from Japanese institutions, whether it be University or industry; there must have been close to 200 people in the hall today. Unfortunate (or perhaps fortunately) I missed most of the morning presentations due to having my scooter fixed.
The interesting presentation of the day was the panel discussion that occurred between professors including 2 from Tohoku University, Tokyo University, Osaka and one from the biomedical division of Hitachi Corporation. What transpired what not very encouraging about the state of Japanese University education.
The conversation that happened was about trying to develop research research initiatives in Japan to narrow the gap in good research published in Japan and also encourage better innovation in Japan. There was talk about putting together new programs to train people in design, there was talk about getting companies more involved with Universities and that they needed people with a broader range of skills. I felt that they totally missed the point in their discussion because having more programs for students is irrelevant. I scoffed at the idea of listening to these professors talk about things like "why don't we add in a design course?"
Though I didn't understand the full details of the conversations between the professors due to my limited Japanese skills, I do know for certain that the way they are trying to solve this problem is incorrect-- I am afraid that these people have been institutionalized for too long (whether it be in companies or in Universities). Innovation something that cannot be institutionalized as it would be just as absurd as institutionalizing inspiration-- how can you expect to just throw programs together and expect people to become inspired? Innovation, like inspiration is a culture that requires inquisitive and aware people; and from what I have seen so far, institutions here are terrible at fostering both characteristics.
I have attended classes where not a soul asks a question nor people understand the context of their information. In order for innovation to happen, you need people to ask questions and you need people to challenge the stats quo. If you have neither, it is for damn sure that innovation is not going to happen. The problem is not the lack of good programs... it's the education system and the institutionalized culture-- conformalists make for horrible innovators.
There's more to this problem actually, I've also found that there is poor communication between professors and students compounding the problem too that needs to be addressed... but it's 2:30 am already and I've burned 2.5 hours trying to piece things together. I've got a long list of notes I've taken left in my scooter (oops). I ought to wake up at 8:00 am today so I'll have to save this for another time.
The forum held in Sendai was well attended-- an entire hall was filled suit clad people indicative of people from Japanese institutions, whether it be University or industry; there must have been close to 200 people in the hall today. Unfortunate (or perhaps fortunately) I missed most of the morning presentations due to having my scooter fixed.
The interesting presentation of the day was the panel discussion that occurred between professors including 2 from Tohoku University, Tokyo University, Osaka and one from the biomedical division of Hitachi Corporation. What transpired what not very encouraging about the state of Japanese University education.
The conversation that happened was about trying to develop research research initiatives in Japan to narrow the gap in good research published in Japan and also encourage better innovation in Japan. There was talk about putting together new programs to train people in design, there was talk about getting companies more involved with Universities and that they needed people with a broader range of skills. I felt that they totally missed the point in their discussion because having more programs for students is irrelevant. I scoffed at the idea of listening to these professors talk about things like "why don't we add in a design course?"
Though I didn't understand the full details of the conversations between the professors due to my limited Japanese skills, I do know for certain that the way they are trying to solve this problem is incorrect-- I am afraid that these people have been institutionalized for too long (whether it be in companies or in Universities). Innovation something that cannot be institutionalized as it would be just as absurd as institutionalizing inspiration-- how can you expect to just throw programs together and expect people to become inspired? Innovation, like inspiration is a culture that requires inquisitive and aware people; and from what I have seen so far, institutions here are terrible at fostering both characteristics.
I have attended classes where not a soul asks a question nor people understand the context of their information. In order for innovation to happen, you need people to ask questions and you need people to challenge the stats quo. If you have neither, it is for damn sure that innovation is not going to happen. The problem is not the lack of good programs... it's the education system and the institutionalized culture-- conformalists make for horrible innovators.
There's more to this problem actually, I've also found that there is poor communication between professors and students compounding the problem too that needs to be addressed... but it's 2:30 am already and I've burned 2.5 hours trying to piece things together. I've got a long list of notes I've taken left in my scooter (oops). I ought to wake up at 8:00 am today so I'll have to save this for another time.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Too many things going on
Too many things going on. Well it's sort of, let's just say that I've been doing other things instead of writing here recently. There was the international festival, meeting new friends (and then hanging out with them), there's this research thing, then organizing a hot-pot party for the weekend and then forgetting that I double booked myself for a secretarie's farewell party... taking a walk around Sendai, doing a short road trip during a morning of a weekday, then there's taking pictures (and organizing them), making photo albums, going for walks, attending international cooking classes, other misc stuff and I need to take a break sometimes too!
Oi! What a run on sentence! But seriously that's how exactly things feel at the moment. Oh and by the way, the Canadian booth at the international festival was marginally profitable. We made about $100, I guess I can live with that. That cash is going to go towards throwing a little party for the people that worked with me for the event. Kudos to them for helping me out. Unfortunately we fell short of hitting our 400 dish mark... we only hit 180.
Had we made it to the 400 mark, I would have been looking at profits of approximately $500! We would maple syrup pancakes and smoked salmon cream cheese crackers (the cracker dish is a story unto it self actually, but that will be for another time... if I ever end up writing about it). When I do have some down time, I'll make a detailed post about the event. Well better than posting a loss though. So I have that atleast, I did tell you about the time I tried to sell X-boxes from Japan right? No? Haha... well that'll have to be a story for another time.
For the time being, assuming that "a picture is a thousand words," I have pictures that want to say about 70~80 "thousand words." I'll let them do the talking instead:
Autumn in Sendai
21st Tohoku International Festival
Random note:
I was interviewed while in Korea (several months ago) while attending a martial arts event and gave them greetings from Canada! Was it ever aired? I have no clue.
Oi! What a run on sentence! But seriously that's how exactly things feel at the moment. Oh and by the way, the Canadian booth at the international festival was marginally profitable. We made about $100, I guess I can live with that. That cash is going to go towards throwing a little party for the people that worked with me for the event. Kudos to them for helping me out. Unfortunately we fell short of hitting our 400 dish mark... we only hit 180.
Had we made it to the 400 mark, I would have been looking at profits of approximately $500! We would maple syrup pancakes and smoked salmon cream cheese crackers (the cracker dish is a story unto it self actually, but that will be for another time... if I ever end up writing about it). When I do have some down time, I'll make a detailed post about the event. Well better than posting a loss though. So I have that atleast, I did tell you about the time I tried to sell X-boxes from Japan right? No? Haha... well that'll have to be a story for another time.
For the time being, assuming that "a picture is a thousand words," I have pictures that want to say about 70~80 "thousand words." I'll let them do the talking instead:
Autumn in Sendai
21st Tohoku International Festival
Random note:
I was interviewed while in Korea (several months ago) while attending a martial arts event and gave them greetings from Canada! Was it ever aired? I have no clue.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Friday, November 03, 2006
The Alchemist
An unexpected surprise had arrived to me from Korea yesterday. I have a friend in Korea who might not be taller than I, but there is something that tells me that she is in reach of dreams...
"... so I can change those things that I don't want to happen"
"But then they wouldn't be a part of your future," the seer said.
"Well, maybe I just want to prepare myself for what's coming."
"If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise," said the seer. "If bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they even occur."
"I want to know about the future because I'm a man," the camel driver had said to the seer. "And men always live their lives based on the future."
--The Alchemist
I will finish this book tonight.
"... so I can change those things that I don't want to happen"
"But then they wouldn't be a part of your future," the seer said.
"Well, maybe I just want to prepare myself for what's coming."
"If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise," said the seer. "If bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they even occur."
"I want to know about the future because I'm a man," the camel driver had said to the seer. "And men always live their lives based on the future."
--The Alchemist
I will finish this book tonight.
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