Taking a break

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Just finished my 72 hr take home exam on monday and i am feeling really relieved right now. It was a really tough exam. But it was a good exam, because it made me learn things that i didn't know before it made me relearn things i thought i knew.

The exam was like a russian easter egg . you crack one shell thinking u have got it and then you done another egg under that . Its surprising the math that i have had to draw on. To integration by parts i learned in high school to taylor approximation to maximum likelihood estimators.

Waiting at DMV

I am stuck at the department of motor vehicles because my california driver license didn't make it through the mail. There's a little girl bawling her head off. And this guy comes over and seats next to them. He turns around looks at the mom and says the nicest thing " its okay. I wouldn't be here if i didn't need to be here as well" i am just always so impressed by the civility and consideration that people show.

Slang

We were forewarned about this... on how quickly our kids would pick up American slang. Just today, Kinnon came and asked mommy, "What's 'awesome'?"

Skyping

The kids have just started skyping with their grandparents. Both Kinnon and Ashlynn are so thrilled that they can see their grandparents. Last Sunday, they skyped with 公公奶奶 and in the middle of week they managed to skype with grandma, Auntie Sharon and Titus. I guess they didn't quite have a concept of how physically far they were as Kinnon kept asking them to come over and visit us. Kinnon was also happily showing off his light saber as well. The both of them went on talking for almost an hour each session.

It made me reflect on the wonders of technology and how fortunate this new generation is. I remembered 15 years ago, it would cost me almost $50-$60 to talk to my parents from the US for just an hour. Nowadays you can get calls for almost 2-3cents per minute. It's amazing too the impact of technology on social interactions and bonds.

It's also made me wonder who we can perhaps do more to harness technology to reach out to the elderly, the illiterate, disenfranchised and disconnected. I don't think we do enough and I don't think we have been audacious enough.

Tristen's just learn to roll

I am happy to report that Tristen's just learn to roll... from resting on his back to resting on his stomach. Okay, maybe not so happy for us, since now, he flips over, but can't flip back, so he crys because he really doesn't like to be resting on his stomach.

We also think that he's going to be a fast walker (not that we would want it that way... its really less work when the baby works faster) since he always wants to practice standing up... He can hold himself up against the rails of his cot. We also help him practice by letting him hold on to our hands so that he can learn how to balance.

First post @ Stanford

this is my first post using my iPhone. Using on of the free apps . It's almost a month since we have arrived but we have been so busy just getting everything set up that we haven't had time to update on this blog.