Apple WWDC 2009

This time around, I was not in front of the computer trying to furiously keep up with the three to five live-blogs open side-by-side on my screen. I was sitting in on a meeting for EGO/D's (Electric Generation Operations and Distribution) now-quarterly "roadshow" meeting. I only took glimpses of Gizmodo on my iPhone near the end of the meeting that talked about the typical "good-job this year, but sorry no bonuses" and other corporate pep talk in a time of recession.

At least my iPhone 3G 16 GB is not yet obsolete for another year. How kind of Apple!


Summary of WWDC announcements:

1. New iPhone 3GS, with hardware improvements, coming June 17th (my sister's birthday).

2. iPhone 3G 8 GB still available, now $99. iPhone 3GS at $199 for 16 GB and $299 for 32 GB.

3. Mac notebooks refreshed and their prices lowered. 13" MacBook becomes 13" MacBook Pro. Cheaper white plastic still exists.

4. Mac OS X 10.5.6 Snow Leopard coming in September.

5. Safari 4 available.

Chinese New Year in 2009

This is the year of the Ox, but it sure doesn't feel like it. It is far more bearish.

And, in the tradition of the good luck and bad luck duality that I enjoy, I lift the following straight from Wikipedia:

Good luck
-Opening windows and/or doors is considered to bring in the good luck of the new year.
-Switching on the lights for the night is considered good luck to 'scare away' ghosts and spirits of misfortune that may compromise the luck and fortune of the new year.
-Sweets are eaten to ensure the consumer a "sweet" year.
-It is important to have the house completely clean from top to bottom before New Year's Day for good luck in the coming year. (however, as explained below, cleaning the house on or after New Year's Day is frowned upon)
-Some believe that what happens on the first day of the new year reflects the rest of the year to come. Chinese people will often gamble at the beginning of the year, hoping to get luck and prosperity.
-Wearing a new pair of slippers that is bought before the new year, because it means to step on the people who gossip about you.
-The night before the new year, bathe yourself in pomelo leaves and some say that you will be healthy for the rest of the new year.
-Changing different things in the house such as blankets, clothes, mattress covers etc. is also a well respected tradition in terms of cleaning the house in preparation for the new year.

Bad luck
-Buying a pair of shoes is considered bad luck amongst some Chinese. The character for "shoe" (鞋) is a homophone for the character 諧/谐, which means "rough" in Cantonese; in Mandarin it is also a homophone for the character for "evil" (邪).
Getting a hair-cut in the first lunar month puts a curse on maternal uncles. Therefore, people get a hair-cut before the New Year's Eve.
-Washing your hair is also considered to be washing away one's own luck (although modern hygienic concerns take precedence over this tradition)
-Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the first day, as it will sweep away the good fortune and luck for the new year.
-Saying words like "finished" and "gone" is inauspicious on the New Year, so sometimes people would avoid these words by saying "I have completed eating my meal" rather than say "I have finished my meal."
-Talking about death is inappropriate for the first few days of Chinese New Year, as it is considered inauspicious.
-Buying (or reading) books is bad luck because the character for "book" (書/书) is a homonym to the character for "lose" (輸/输).
-Avoid clothes in black and white, as black is a symbol of bad luck, and white is a traditional Chinese funeral colour.
-Foul language is inappropriate during the Chinese New Year.
-Offering anything in fours, as the number four (四), pronounced sì, can sound like "death" (死), pronounced sĭ, in Chinese. Pronunciations given here are for Mandarin, but the two words are also near-homophones in Cantonese. See tetraphobia.
-One should never buy a clock for someone or for oneself because a clock in Chinese tradition means one's life is limited or "the end," which is also forbidden.
-Avoid medicine and medicine related activities (at least on the first day) as it will give a bad fortune on one's health and lessen the luck one can obtain from New Years.

Final Thoughts, Randomized

Classes started today. It's a pretty straight-forward day of introductions, but being back in class still feels a little weird.

I had returned to Cornell last Tuesday, and since then, I have taken advantage of a lot of the amenities of living on West Campus. It's not too shabby. And the food is convenient. Maybe a little too convenient. I've even taken some time to play music again for an hour and a half yesterday morning.

Also, Obama becomes president tomorrow. Tune in at noon for the 10 minutes or so of swearing. Of swearing into office, I mean.

Take care.

Go Engineerography!

Resolutions for the Next Year, Maybe

Consider the laundry list of resolutions you have kept for yourself (if you believe in such things) over the last few years. How many of them have you actually accomplished?

(I define New Year's resolution in the popular sense, of losing weight or of volunteering to helping others; not in the sense of setting life goals like signing up for your first credit card or getting married.)

The trick with New Year's resolutions is to either ignore the whole thing and resolve to do nothing particularly different, or to focus on at most one resolution.

If you are serious and choose only one thing in your lives that you'd like to make better, it'll surely happen that year. By December 31 of that year, the resolution should be an integral part of our lives, to a point where it is no longer considered out of the way or special, but rather routine. The next year after that, pick something else. Year over year, it'll add up. And then things can actually change. Then, things will actually stick.

Now that you have only one resolution, make sure it is reasonable. For example, if you resolve to do something with a numerical value to it, divide that number by 2. Aim for that instead. (This can be for wanting to go fishing with your buddies 5 times next year, or hoping to sell 4 of your paintings, or eating one apple everyday. Change it to going fishing 2-3 times, selling 2 paintings, or eating one apple every two days.)

I do not believe in making resolutions public (because frankly, others don't actually care, and if they do, they'll forget anyway). Nor do I believe in writing resolutions down (intended to hold yourself accountable to yourself). If you need to do either one of these tricks to get you to focus on your single resolution, I would argue that the resolution you made is either too much to handle, that you are not ready to deal with the self-induced "change", or that you are not serious about keeping your resolution. Reevaluate your resolution or reevaluate yourself. There ought to be no give and take. There ought to be no forgiveness if you break this simple promise to yourself.

If you are at worried about not keeping your resolution, either resolve not to make it in the first place, or take baby-steps. Remember not to change to be someone else; make your own, not borrow one from others. It doesn't work that way.

Things will happen regardless of whether you resolve to do them or not. The purpose of a "New Year's resolution" is not to cover all aspects of your life. You will get to whatever you need to deal with when the time comes (and you'll know when). New Year's resolutions ought to be, I think, just an excuse to focus on one particular aspect of your life. The coming of a new year shouldn't be the only time when you consider making changes to your life. If it is, that's just foolish.

Things will happen as they will. The best you can do is to plan for one simple goal at a time and stick to it. You just have to set aside enough of your "resolve" to follow through and to undertake whatever else comes your way the rest of the year, not just on January 1.

Farewell 2008. Hello 2009. I'll see you on the other side.

(Image from timessquarenyc.org.)