Chan's Personal Blog

Last week, I visited Palo Alto, California. It's a small city that's located between San Francisco and San Jose. Stanford University is situated in this city, and it's also known as the heart of Silicon Valley because a lot of computer history was created there. For example, the founders of Google went to Stanford, and so were the founders of Hewlett-Packard Computers.

I have a photo album of the trip, so please follow along in the pictures.

Flying There

I got up at an ungodly hour to catch an extra early flight to Seattle. I was told to be at the airport at least an hour or more ahead of time just in case there were waits at the security line. I was able to check-in and go through security really quickly because I only had a carry-on backpack for luggage. Packing lightly really paid off here. My flight departed at 6:00am, and I was off to Seattle.

Upon arrival at Seatac, the mood was kind of strange in the airport as far as security went. We went through customs, and it felt like we were being processed like prisoners or something. Lots of gates, guards, and metal. There were constant public service announcements asking citizens to report any suspicious activity, and to be vigilant in defending the homeland. On the walls, there were similar propaganda posters as well. It felt like something out of a science fiction novel of a police state where the population lives in constant fear or something. I went through security screening, and the guards were fairly angry when dealing with people. This is quite the contrast with Canadian airports where everyone was really friendly and courteous.

Anyway, I had a three hour stop over at SeaTac, so I wandered around the airport. It was pretty neat, they had a rail line inside the terminal to transport people around. The main terminal also featured many high-end restaurants and a food court.

I caught my next flight, and I was off to San Jose.

Well, I'm off on vacation for the first time this year. After years of academia, I finally have an opportunity to travel. I haven't been out of the country for seven years now? So, this week I'm off to California for a few days. Immediately afterwards, I'm headed to Chilliwack for our district youth conference, History Maker.


So, I'm going to be away for an entire week; it's going to be nice to get away for a bit. I'm not going to have internet access, so that means I won't be checking my e-mail. I think I'm going to go through internet withdrawal or something. No e-mail, no blogs, no slashdot, no real-time stock quotes.... this is going to take some getting use to

For those competing in my stock market challenge; here's your chance to get ahead while I'm not watching

I've been officially unemployed now for two months, so it's time for an update. The experience has been a rollercoaster ride so far. Some days, you're on top of the world and you think that your qualifications are absolutely amazing, and you can land any job you want. Other days, you bomb an interview, and you second guess yourself, and wonder if you're out of your league when going after certain jobs.

Applying to jobs has been a learning experience as it's quite different from the co-op job application process. In co-op, we were always taught to apply to everything because you're lucky if you get a job. In addition, in co-op, you're only allowed to reject one job offer, otherwise you're dropped from the program. This is quite different now because I'm doing a narrow job search as I'm looking for a job in a field that I've specialized in. The other thing that I'm trying to unlearn from co-op is that it's okay to reject a job offer. In the beginning of the job search, I had been reluctant in applying to some companies because I feared getting a job offer from them before hearing back from companies that I'd rather work for. Myron had to pound it into my head that I was in control, and I could always reject offers. Suddenly, beggers can be choosers..... wierd.

I'm purposely doing a narrow job search and being very picky because the majority of my university friends that I graduated with are fairly discontent with their jobs. Finding a great work place is pretty crucial in my case since I am a workaholic, and work is a large part of my identity. I'm also looking for a place that offers job growth, where I can continuously improve my skills and abilities. I've rejected a few postions because there was no job growth prospects, which makes them essentially dead-ends.

Looks like Linkin Park is back with a new CD called Minutes To Midnight. They released their first single and music video for their CD a few weeks back. Their persona seems to have changed a bit. They sound more like a rock band than a nu metal band as they were back in the day. Maybe it's just a sign of the band maturing?

Anyway, here's their music video, "What I've Done." I'm liking the imagery that they used.



We'll just throw in another older music video by Linkin Park which is entitled, "From The Inside." Looks like there's some Dragon Ball-Z anime influence in it.

There's a standard prayer that I usually hear when people are seeking direction from God. The prayer essentially asks God to close the doors to opportunities that are not part of God's plans, and open those which are. I hear this story over and over again from a number of friends. It goes, "I was interviewing for a job, and all was going well, when all of a sudden, I'm out of the interviewing process. Yet, a few weeks later, a new job prospect comes out of no where, and I easily get the job. It's like God paved the way clear."

I have a similar story to tell, except the ending isn't known yet since I don't have a job yet. Anyway, a few months ago, I applied for a dream job at a dream company that I always wanted to work for. One of my friends worked there, and he had a way to get my resume fast tracked to the right people. I told him that I was looking for a web development job in North America.

A few weeks later, I get an e-mail from the dream company's human resources department about an interview. However, it wasn't what I was expecting. It was for a user experience engineer position in Beijing, China. Firstly, I could do user experience stuff, but that's not my main strength. Secondly, this was in China.