Grad. school for the clueless

Today, while talking to my colleague, I questioned whether my M.S. degree in biomedical engineering is good for something (and what exactly is that something??). I entered grad. school with naivete, believing all the cool stuff I read about bioengineering somehow pointed to a promising job outlook. That illusion pretty much faded during my recent job search, I realized that it's hard for a bioengineer to find jobs in the private sector. Biotech companies out there generally prefer people from traditional science fields: biology, biochemistry, pharmaceutics, etc. Academia, on the other hand, is like the safe net, you don't even need a cover letter to get interviewed by professors who just got grant funding and need to spend the money fast, and also creativity has more emphasis. I was disappointed to find myself competing for the same jobs as biochemist and molecular biologist. Anywhere I look off-campus, I couldn't find companies hiring bioengineers, except this small company that manufactures catheters (not my cup of tea). As for out-of-state opportunity, Seattle seems like a good choice, but I heard it's hard hit during the economic melt down, and currently has a high unemployment rate. I sent a job inquiry email to a professor at a cancer research center in Seattle, only to get this reply "please contact me again on Monday". Uh? So why didn't he just respond to my email on Monday? Weird....

Anyways, got an interview with a local nutraceutical company, and an offer from this professor who does breast cancer research, so Im trying to weight out my options, whether to pursue research in molecular biology OR stick with more engineering stuff. If I stay on bioE track, I would probably be working in academia for a loooong time. If I emphasize on molecular biology, the work can be mundane and even boring, and I will be competing with molecular biologists for opportunities in the private sector.

I think I think too much... my brain is overwhelmed with thoughts. Just the other night, I had a dream where I was trapped in a fancy hotel while being chased by a white tiger and nearly escaped.

Best movie of this summer

And the winner is... 500 days of Summer. One of the reasons I love this movie is because it's the anti-thesis of cheesy Hollywood romantic comedy (i.e: The ugly truth, its trailer looks formulaic). 500 days is not black/white, happy/unhappy ending. The movie feels genuine, and upbeat in the end. I can't help but love the little sketches and drawings in the movie. Because of the cinematography, even the looks of the characters (Deschanel and Gordon-Levitt) turned into something like cartoon characters. Gordon-Levitt's character is a bona fide preppy guy, whom you can tell is from the East coast upon glance. I thought Deschanel's outfits seemed a bit odd in contrast to NYC's background, but it's odd in a good, unique sense. And who knows, maybe Deschanel brought back the retro trend, because she looks so refreshing and radiant in that style. One of my favorite scenes was the little dance by Gordon-Levitt with ppl in the background dancing along. Classic.

Speaking of dancing and ppl dancing in the background, I came across this Jazz-hip hop band on the Colbert Report. Just love the rhythm! Like Colbert was saying, they might be the next biggest thing from Sweden since IKEA.

White Pine Trail

Recently, my mom got a break from work, so I took her to White Pine trail since she has never been there before, and it's one of my favorite. That place is awesome, after hiking there I've had better sleep and more energy.












It took a while for us to capture this close-up of the little squirrel getting water from the plant. But it was worth it. :) The little guy was thirsty!

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."---Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

"A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator, the smaller the fraction"---Tolstoy

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."---Tolstoy

I like Tolstoy's quotes.  He is amazing in summing up lots of statements into one simple, insightful sentence.  I love quotes that are like that, they convey thoughts and ideas that I cannot arrange into elegant, coherent sentences myself.

     I finally received the Berlitz Advanced French package that I ordered from Amazon in my mailbox.  And when I got home and started listening to the dialogues, my Mom suddenly interrupted by asking about Obama's health care plan, which's still under scrutiny in Congress.  She said how it's ridiculous that so many politicians in congress oppose the idea of government-run health care program, and I had to explain to her about lobbists who influence politicians to vote against such reform measures.  Then she said how she would like to live in a country where there's universal health care, like Europe or Canada.  So funny that she came up with the idea of living in Europe when I was trying to sharpen my French.... 

    I never knew how bad I am at Ping Pong until this past Friday, when I played at the community center by Rose Park.  It was quite intimidating walking into the auditorium and see the many pros there trying to "destroy" each other.  While I was waiting for my turn, David pointed out this guy, dressed in sporty outfits, stomping his foot and striking exaggerated postures.  It was funny watching that guy play, because David mentioned that he is not that great of a player, despite the grand postures. We couldn't help but giggle at him screaming and making tons of noise. 

   When I started to play, I realized that I've lost touch with Ping Pong, because I haven't really played for such a long time.  The ball either goes out of line or goes off to the side while flying upward towards the ceiling.  I guess my strikes were unbearable to watch, because this older guy, who seems like an advanced player, volunteered to coach me, and I got much better afterward.  It's funny how people tell me I have good back-hand when I play Ping Pong, because I've been told the same thing when I play tennis.  So that means I need to work more on my front hand to hit the ball straight.

Biking in style

   Lately, I can't help but notice that there're lots of bikers on campus.  This is after the realization from last year that nearly every professor who does cardiovascular research @ CVRTI bikes to work.  Today, I was walking on a trail behind the HCI, and there're bunch of bikers unloading their bikes (and dogs) from their cars, and putting on their helmet and other gears. These guys all look hard core a la Lance Armstrong, yes, I mean tight shirt and tight pants designed for the sole purpose of mountain biking.

    Just the other day, my Swedish colleague remarked that it's interesting to see that American bikers are so geared up and adrenaline-charged when it comes to riding a bike.  Apparently, Europeans who commute by bikes don't really care about the number of gears and other gadgets on their bikes.  Partly because lots of ppl there started using the bike share rental system, so the bikes you get are not going to be specialized ones like mountain bikes.  I gotta say, those Europeans know how to bike in style and in leisure, quite different mentality.

                  Copenhagen

Sweden

France

     

I want to bike around town in heels now. :)    It's one of life's simple pleasure.