Random thoughts on June 17

我有好多滿滿的回憶，在B'more這個東岸的港口城市。甚至還深刻地記得和世青阿姨坐著小玲阿姨的車子從BWI駛進紅磚建築林立的Bmore街道的樣子。一下子，就要離開囉!

這些美麗又平凡的日子，有好多朋友的點滴深深淺淺地織在裡面。這兩年，我還是過得非常孩子氣的，比從前還要孩子氣。可是我記得許多快樂的旅行的回憶，記得當時的明亮的陽光與空間感，記得傍晚回家community living的晚餐 (I miss it so much)，記得從家裡到學校的路上的大樹與藍天。記得週六早晨忙碌的農夫市場，記得603的projector和電影，記得我所遇到的朋友的善良與替人著想。我還有好多要學習。

我很高興爸爸媽媽不辭千里地來Baltimore參加我的畢業典禮 :*) 不清楚，我的下一站是會怎麼樣的，Vanessa說，if you decide to have a good time, you will have a good time. 在 Hopkins，我沒有認真計畫卻遇見這麼多美好!

A good two years - LOL team forever

LOL team stands for design team 10. It is the first, and most awesome thing I have done in Hopkins. We started in September 2007. Despite the debate of what we have accomplished and where the project will go to, I am very proud and honored to work closely with a group of great teammates, who have become my closest friends in Bmore.

Two days ago we had our last animal experiment. Quote Harry's famous words, "another day, another deliverable", the team stayed up in the instrumentation lab the night before the experiment. The prototype was "packaged" for the first time, thanks to the design team field trip to Bensville - the 24 hr electronic shop :p. We were so closed to screw up our circuit during packaging by mis-connecting 5V to 48V power supply. Somehow, we were blessed by the god of electronics, and the circuit was still functional after replacing one component.

10AM the morning, Dawn and Diana came and helped us, who are definitely the best veterinarians we have ever worked with. Without asking for any return, and helping us probably would not do them any good, they came and helped us constantly. They located the phrenic in two hours, and after switching off the ventilator, our device caused the pig to breathe by her own diaphragmic contraction, boom! :-) The pig had lived only on our device (no mechanical ventilation) for at least two hours, and might had continued to live if we continued. The pig also survived with physiological CO2 concentration and patterns of diaphragm contraction. We even recorded this cool video: the pig could not breathe and the alarm went off, and we brought the pig back to life by turning on our device.

Also, the concept of localization was the first time confirmed in this experiment. The program found the right pair of electrode (as only one pair of the electrode was inserted) at both sides (we did bilateral stimulation). Everything went so well and smoothly, circuit for the first time worked perfectly, and the program was as usual impeccable. I think the prototype is almost at the stage of refinement and testing in human. Only by that can we understand the anatomy and conditions of phrenic stimulation in human, as we aim at resuscitation in emergency setting.

Each of our design team mate has a unique, but adorable personality - they are all really great people! My life in Hopkins BME could not have been as happy without them. We went to a dinner at Thai Restaurant with our best friend design team 9 representatives, which reminded me the good time we had in the thai restaurant during our trip to Illinois. I don't know when is the next time we all gather, but I will pass in continuing this sentiment and stop here. :)

:"( so sad

After one year now I am moving out of UNI ONE. Before that, my parents are leaving B'more ...

I need to be spirited. I'll have to farewell all my friends who are leaving for their new page in life, with smile and wishes.

笑一個。

Graduation

I can't believe my labmates, Jason, Sam, Lukas, Carolyn and Yushuan came for my graduation and stood there for like 2 hour to "shout" for me~~~ I am so surprised and so happy :)


Happy graduation.



More will follow ...

A long learning process

Today, I finally submitted my thesis. I was nervous for an entire day, and was afraid that I somehow could not make it due to some unexpected reason. There was this indescribable feeling the moment I saw Dr. Greenstein filled the last blank of my form with his signature & printed name... And then, every possible printer seems not functional ... at 3:30pm, I finally got everything needed after all the running (&rushing) around and worked out the last step.

I am going to graduate from Hopkins now!

I felt like I have been through a lot in the whole thesis writing process. There was time when my PI thrown back my paper, leaving two simple, but cruel words : "confused and lost". What really bit was, the same thing occurred TWICE. I could not even cry, my tears froze. Also, for the entire time I was struggling with the schedule issues with her. So many things bounced back and forth, so did my mood. I literally had only little hope in graduating on time.

I thank a lot of people, including my thesis committee, for their efforts in reviewing/editing, and for their kindness in getting it approved even it was not perfect. I am really grateful to Molly's last minute edit. Without her help I would not be able to get my PI's permission for getting my thesis out of the door. Despite the people that I already acknowledged in my thesis, I owe special thanks to TjenSin, Lu and Vanessa. I thank Vanessa for calling and suggesting the right thing to do -- to talk face in face with my PI and express my desire to graduate. I thank Lu, who had worked with me (like 7am in the library :p) and gave me emotional support . I thank TjenSin for checking on my progress and taking me to dinner when things turned really hopeless. I thank Bryce, who has provided me with editorial or technical assistance from time to time.

The process was painful, and was, indeed, the hardest thing I've encountered. The only thing worth remember is how so many people have helped me :*) I am lucky.

笑一笑

The past few days have been miserable. I have to try recording some happy moments to cheer myself up.

1. New Toy: Earrings!
Last Sunday, VPau took Lu and I to Towson to get our ears-piercing. Sat at a piercing station at the corner of "Claire", a cute guy performed the piercing procedure for us. Like a 7-year old girl getting her first ears piercing holding a teddy bear (lol)-- we de-virginized our ears. :p It was a mixture of excitement and nervous-ness.I picked a pair of birthday stone earrings. It's for October, and has a slightly pink color. I feel different with the earrings on. :)

2. New Bag: my new travel mate
I started to use my new bag when I went to Towson with VPau and Lu. I realize that this is REAL PRETTY... and useful too. :*) Thank you guys!

3. New Restaurant: Susie's soba
TJ and I went to an asian noodle place for dinner. It is in Hampden... The noodles were made family style, but with a very strong, salty taste. My seafood noodles were salty, but ... topped with numerous mussells, shrimps, and scallops. The seafood was so, so satifying. :&) ohhh and red bean ice cream too. :")

4. A refreshing dish: Makibi's creamy stew
Yesterday was an extreme, hopeless day. I was so damaged ... my mood was so damaged to an extent that I couldn't evey talk in the afternoon. Everything went so wrong. And that evening, I had the creamy stew made by Makibi. The creamy and warmy dish brighten up my mood so that I got a little bit strength and could work for a little bit more last night.

5. New Toy: Pandora
The on-line music radio Pandora is my new favorite. Tin-Yuin introduced it to me a while ago, but I only started playing it yesterday. The whole lab was mine, so I could play whatever music I wanted. That was the good thing about working alone and late in lab. .. I had my personalized radio as Jason Mraz, the radio selected songs from Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Cold play, Five for fighting...etc. I like it a lot!

陳綺貞 Cheer - 失明前我想記得的四十七件事