third report :: a little later-

Yo folks- not much to report this time, except that I met up with Kevin Grosvenor and John Cu over the weekend, which was really cool, since I haven't seen them in 4 and 6 years, respectively. We talked, we drank coffee, we ate, and we watched Wanted (stylistically cool, plotwise- a retarded movie)- nothing dramatic, but fun to do all the same. Of course, being the genius that I am, I didn't take my camera- but oh well, hopefully we'll do it again sometime.

I'm still trying to lose weight, and all that seems to be happening is that I get tired- I don't actually seem to be losing anything- and I run on the elliptical for about an hour, and running about 6 miles (which seemed adequate to me- I can't do any more >.<) At the same time though, it feels great to expend that kind of energy and sweat that much... Here's hoping that it'll soon take effect, and I'll be a fitter Shriram when I get back to W.Lafayette- one that Jiji won't be embarassed to tell people he's in love with (XD hehe).

Anyhow folks- sister's roommate just got out of the shower, which means it's my turn to get ready for work- Cheers, Shriram out.

Debut

Sup guys, it seems like everyone is doing fine. Jimdam is working hard and trying to lose weight. Jiji is learning new stuffs from work and falling deeper in love with little gin who just went through some plastic surgeries. Thanut..... hmm.. how is wasting time?lol
As of myself, I have been working for a month, reading about 100 news each day and studying the stock market every day. There are so many ways to invest in the stock market, long term or short term and buy the stock that will appreciate or sell the stock that will depreciate. The boss said to me once, "Stock market is a gamble", the more factors you take into consideration, the higher % that you will earn a profit. Moreover, it's a mental game between you and the world. This internship showed me how naive I was in investment. Sometimes I would make the right decision to enter the market but chicken out in the end when things are not according to plan. For instance, 2 weeks ago I was going to sell a company's stocks at high price because it was over priced and predicted that its face value would depreciate. Then, buy that company's stock later at lower price to earn the difference. However, on the day of making the deal, the value of that stock rose made me hesitant and didn't pursue. Later that week, this mistake resulted a lost of $7000 profit. This lesson didn't just tell me how mentally strong I need to be but also how badassly quick that you can make money in investment.
Aside from work, I have been working out every night doing 50~60 push ups and running in the park for 45mins... I gained 10kg from mid sem until now, at 74kg currently. I didn't see anyone here but Ya Ying mei mei~ cuz everyone is busy with their finals. OMG... the food in tw is so good, we went to lotza places for food esp night market"S" and took some photos, which I will post it when mei mei send it to me. Unfortunately, we could have taken more photos but we realized that when I finished the food or destroyed their looks already. BTW, teddy bear, from what I heard loco roco is a short game but whats hard about it is to get 100% finish. In addition, when I went shopping with mei mei, we found a heaven for games. This place sells shxx(censored by mei mei) load of games and have PSP otaku gang and NDS otaku gang. Guess what the NDS people are playing.... pika pika~~ the ferocious teddy bear's relative pikachu... =___=||| each players are equipped with at least one pikachu accessories...including HS and college guys....but it's okay, that the place where they can shine... i was thinking maybe we can join them sometime..^^
alright bros... I am off~ 4 more days till weekend T.T +oil tc will write more posts in the future...

Work Update

So, work has been going great! After a few weeks of frustration and headache for trying to figure out how to use the CNC machine, I finally got the CNC to start moving and made my first test piece! I have to admit it was one of the greatest feeling of accomplisment I have ever had :P hahaha... Next week I will be heading to Indianapolis to learn more about the CAD program and hopefully in a few weeks I will go back there for some training. I am really looking forward to learning more about the program so I can work with more complex shapes. The coming weeks of work are going to be exciting!

Oh! I got bored this weekend so here are more pictures of my car! :D

second report :: sometime after the first one

Alright folks, me again- only one thing to complain about this time, LocoRoco (which I got) is @#$%ing short. Really short. I've had it for four days, and less than six hours of game time, and I'm done. Yeah the game posed no challenge whatsoever, and is just easy to finish. Barely any replayability too. On that PSP game note though, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is amazing, and if you're thinking about getting it, Jibai- I strongly recommend that you do- the sense of getting immersed in Gaia (their world) is amazing, as Zack (main character) takes vacations in the beach paradise of Costa del Sol, hangs out in the metropolitan Midgar, as well as the slums that Midgar has (as any big place does), and although the game isn't very difficult, there's still a lot going on to make it fun.

Anyhow, on to better things- I met up with Allan Lin a couple of weeks ago, and though I have pics from my sister's camera, I'm too lazy to post them- they're not even on Minime yet. This weekend, I meet up with more ex-ISMers! Kevin Grosvenor, John Cu, and Allan are meeting me in SF this Saturday, which is going to be amazing.

I also started going to the gym, and I'm up to running ~6 miles a day on the elliptical. Not a great feat for some of you, but hell- I'm futoi, haha. Also doing some mild fat burning weight training, so hopefully I'll look different the next time I see all of you :).

On the work front, I'm still working on that digital lab, and unfortunately, I'm still stuck- gonna try a new tack, and hope that works.

How're you guys doing? How's work, Jibai and Eric? How's.... wasting time, Thanut? hahahaha.

Lemme know how your summers are going- and since Ya Ying jie is going to read this before Alex, how are you jie jie? hehe, Hope your summer and English practice is going well- remember my "Alex wake up techniques" that I mentioned to you ;)

Cheers folks- Shriram out.

My Car's Mid-Life Upgrade!

Finally after about 2 months of headache and troubles, my car's mid-life upgrade is finally complete! I have to say I am very happy with the result of the upgrades. This upgrade was mainly aimed at replacing things that are about to reach their service life. Focusing mainly in the chassis of the car. Chassis components fail faster here due to all the salt that they spray on the road during the winter... I hate it when they do that... but, there is not much I can do to stop them from using salt so I guess I'll just have to live with it.. T-T... So, the mid-life upgrade consists of 3 items. First the brake rotors and brake pads are replaced because the stock ones are already warped and it was affecting my car's stopping power a lot up to a point where it started to get dangerous... >< Second upgrade is the suspension, the stock shocks and TRD springs were replaced with a set of HKS Hipermax RS coilovers. I have to say these coilovers are absolutely amazing! They firm up the chassis but at the same time they are not harsh like most aftermarket coilovers. Lastly, the stock windshield wipers are replaced with PIAA silicon wipers. Now the car feels totally different! It almost felt better than when the car was brand new :P hahaha... Well, my posts are really not complete until there are pictures... so here they are! Pictures after I washed the car and with all the parts installed! Enjoy~!

New Brakes!

Today, the new brake parts was installed onto the car and I have to say they are absolutely amazing! I think I might have to get use to the new stopping power of the car and learn how to use my brakes again! haha.. Unfortunately it was raining today so I have yet to see what difference it will make during dry conditions. I am so excited! hahaha...

Before:

After:

Yes I know I need to wash my car, I will do that once everything is installed onto the car! :)

Coilovers!!

So I got home today from work and all I was thinking about is CNC and what I could do to make it work the way I need it to. But once I got to my door I noticed I had a UPS note stuck to my door! Humm.. what could it be?

Well, see what UPS brought me today!



Its my HKS Hipermax RS coilovers! This should help tighten up my chassis and improve my car's handling a lot! :D I cant wait to install it! All I am missing now is jacks which is with.... Thanut ==' hopefully I can get to installing these next weekend! "IF" Thanut remembers...

Finally! It is complete!

After weeks and weeks of waiting my brake parts are finally all here! First of all, the reason for me upgrading my brakes are because my stock brake rotors are warped and the dealer is trying to charge the hell out of me just to replace the parts. So I decided to go at it myself and piece together my brake package. The goal is to spend about the same amount of money as the dealer had tried to charge me, but end up with a far better brake setup. So I went with 4 new slotted rotors from Stoptech (Now Powerslot). Axxis Ultimate brake pads for the rear and special ordered a set of Endless CC-X front brake pads from Japan. Endless had to manufacture the pads just for me due to my car not being available in Japan and that is the reason for the long wait. But I have always wanted to try Endless brake parts so I decided to wait for it, and now it is finally here! The plan is to get it installed this weekend and finally I will no longer have to worry about my car not being able to stop!

pata pata pata pon! pon pon pata pon!

Yo! My work is going reasonably well, and yesterday I broke and ordered LocoRoco from Amazon lol- but that's also because I beat Patapon! The game is quite good, and everyone has it on their top 10- I'm also looking for Boku no Watashi no Katamari (Me and My Katamari in English) but I can wait on that- PSP puzzle games are cool, cuz I can put them down whenever- I did play another 10 minutes of Crisis Core before sleeping though, haha.

I've started going to the gym before work (which means waking up at 6:30~6:45 *grumble grumble*) and then showering at the gym, and heading across the street to work from 9 to 5... not too much of an issue.

Patapon's ending is quite anticlimactic, and since Alex isn't done, let me just say that if there's no sequel, Alex will most likely kill someone, haha.

Cheers folks- time to get to work! Shriram out.

ps- yo Jibai, how goes YOUR internship? Hopefully not getting bullied too much by Ya Ying jie hahaha.
pps- Nut, you still suck.
ppps- Eric, you still rule.

Hello!

Wow... its been awhile again since I last posted something... I have been busy working and so far everything has been going well! I am learning a lot from my work and also I am getting a lot of experience working on composites. The airport has been relatively quiet for the past few weeks so I havent got any pictures from the airport. However, my dad sent me some of his paintings that he has recently completed and personally I think they are amazing. What do you guys think?

first report:: middle of first work week

Bonjour mes amis! Just felt like posting an entry about first few days in San Francisco- but what is a blog entry of mine without a little complaining, especially about travel? Well, the best place to start is at the beginning, but since I don't want to post 21 years worth of stuff, let's start near the end (there's also some crazy Eric praise in here, but he deserves it and so much more. Thanut on the other hand, should suffer a veeerryyy minor injury, that keeps him from nothing except badminton and da shou qiang wahahaha):

Saturday
6 AM: Eric and I get done moving my stuff into storage (BIG PROPS TO ERIC, HE DESERVES SOME CRAZY PRAISE HERE FOR HIS HELP)

6:15 AM: I call the Lafayette Limo office, and ask them about a ~8:00 limo, only to find out, surprise surprise, that there's a 6:55 and 8:55 limo, and that she recommends the 6:55 one.
Well, the 8:55 is too late, and the 6:55 was too early- so we did the only thing we could- ERIC STEPPED IN ONCE MORE TO SAVE THE DAY! We couldn't get in touch with anyone else regarding a ride to take me to the airport, and since Thanut ditched to chill with Jean (*cough* of course *cough*) and play badminton (which I still can't believe took priority), the only option was that ERIC DRIVE ME TO THE AIRPORT IN ALL HIS MAGNANIMOUSNESS.

6:25 AM: We finally get all ready and return the U Haul, deciding that without any cash (I had like $3, Eric didn't have cash) for a cab, that we had no option but to walk. About 20 minutes or so, Eric assures me.

7:35 AM: We reach Wabash, and get Eric's car to go back to his place (ps- neither of us has slept AT ALL at this point). He plays GRID, and I watch for a little bit- then go shower, and we head out at 9. Of course, in true Mother Nature fashion, the elements all pool together to keep me from leaving West Lafayette happily; a massive storm impedes our progress, scaring both Eric and myself, and I call NWA to check the status of my flight. As we near the airport at around 10:30 (coincidentally, the 8:55 limo also reaches mere seconds after we do), we find that my 11:43 AM flight's been delayed by an hour+. Fantastic.

11:20 AM: FINALLY get through check in, and Eric (WHO WAS NICE ENOUGH TO STAY WITH ME IN CASE MY FLIGHT GOT CANCELED) and I got Starbucks.

11:40 AM: Eric takes off, since my flight hasn't been further delayed, and he needs to get back, should the weather get worse. At this point, I'm afraid to go outdoors, since after that kind of storm, there was at least a 67% chance of my getting struck by lightning, which would suck hardcore.

12:20 PM: I get to the gate (the security checkpoint was surprisingly uneventful, though the woman behind me was trying to carry 3 full water bottles marked 'shrine water' through, and got stopped) only to find out that the delay was extended by 30 minutes, because the incoming plane hadn't shown yet.

12:50 PM: With no sense of urgency WHATSOEVER, the gate person calmly announces (in bad English) that there is now a maintenance problem, and that we should not expect anything before 2 pm for a departure. I was okay with the delays up to this point, but now that it was guaranteed that I would miss my connection, I went to talk to her, and she transferred me- Schedded for a 5:30 PM departure from Indy.

Flights went pretty uneventfully, though there was some dude who was friendly, but totally wasted behind me, screaming that the first thing he'd do when he got to San Francisco was to smoke a 'huge doobie' (sp?). And oh yeah- my flight from DTW to SFO left from gate A78 at DTW- and my arrival gate was A6. I had a 30 minute layover, and I spent all of it walking to the gate. Un.pleasant.


Anyhow, that's my first post for this trip- expect a couple more soon, about work and the rest of San Francisco (which is quite nice, actually). Cheers folks, Shriram out.