BT Files

» The random sampling of the mind of Brian Tang, on a semi-regular basis. Now 100% cheese-free!

Been a while...

Sunday, May 09, 2004 | 10:09 PM | by Intricated

Haven't posted much, and I apologize to all my readers... OK who am I kidding, to my only reader...

I've been quite busy at Microsoft, with my working hours for the past week being approximately: 8:30-6, 8-9, 7:30-7, 7:30-10:30, 8-7:30.

In fact, I tried to catch up on some sleep this weekend, and I think it has refreshed me for another 5 days in the trenches. But I'm not complaining; I'm having a great time attempting to learn as much as possible, especially about how the business works, and how I can improve the procedures and whatnot.

I'll try to post more about it tomorrow morning; another early day is planned. :)

Today's Music: Paul Oakenfold - Gamemaster (Original Mix)
Embracing the goddess energy within yourselves
Will bring all of you to a new understanding and valuing of life
A vision that inspires you to live and love on planet Earth...
Like a priceless jewel buried in dark layers of soil and stone
Earth radiates her brilliant beauty into the caverns of space and time...
Perhaps you are aware of those who watch over your home
And experience of this place to visit and play with reality
You are becoming aware of yourself as a gamemaster...
Source: JB Weird Board 

T-minus 14 hours...

Sunday, May 02, 2004 | 6:23 PM | by Intricated

In mere hours, I will be stepping into Microsoft Canada headquarters in Mississuaga, Ontario for my first official day of work. The excitment and giddiness I experienced in these past few weeks is turning into a growing concern about how I will perform in this new environment. The expectations are immense, and the fear of underperformance is resulting in undo anticipatory stress. My whole life I've been exposed to a new dimension of this physical world all too many times, but not since my first day of high school have I experienced tension similar to what I am going through now.

But it's OK, because this is just me trying to spread doubt about my self and effectively lowering my expectations so that if I don't do well, I can at least say "Well, I tried my best, and I think I did OK" (re: all my university examinations).

But it could be more than just me trying to brace myself for future failure. Maybe I really am in fear of this next step in my professional career. After all, it is Microsoft, a uber-corporation where one will be under the microscope of scrutiny at all times until you proven yourself worthy of that security badge and nametag on your cubicle.

But maybe this is just the fear of first impressions with co-workers, superiors, other employees, partners, suppliers, and all other work-related stakeholders I have. Or worse, it is the fear of all other interactions after setting a first impression, as I have already met a lot of my stakeholders during my pre-job training. In almost all of these introductions, I have had to endure listening to how great my predecessor has done in his 8 months on the job, as well as little opportunity to provide any insight or even comment due to the complexity of the conversation between him and the stakeholder involving acroynms, terms, figures, people, and events that I had no idea existed, not to mention understand.

But maybe... nothing, I must be overanalyzing again. Sigh... another reason why I didn't want to do a blog... but this is good stuff, at least for me. Anyway...

Oh, I got a haircut today. Went back to Ben's Salon at Peachtree Center, and Jacky did a pretty good job. Now to wash it. Also got a pair of temporary dress shoes until I find some time to get some really nice Italian leather ones. Bought my brother a pair too, since... well, I guess he could use some dress shoes too.

It's my cousin's birthday today. She'll be 13, and she is already a tall as my sister. My brother will turn 13 soon too, and he's as tall as my mom. What's with kids today, sheesh. Them parents must have been keeping those growth pills for them or something, because I sure ain't getting any taller...

Lastly, I added a different counter for the blog and its archives. Obviously, it's starting from zero, so let's just see how vain I am, as measured by the number of times I check the counter in a day. ;)

Today's Music: N&K vs. Denis the Menace - Cruisin' (Beachballin' Again)
And I just need to clear my mind, to find my role in space and time... I'm just cruisin', down this highway of life...  

Weaving a Dream...

Saturday, May 01, 2004 | 6:32 PM | by Intricated

Well, unfortunately, it looks like the web authoring tool I wanted to use, Nvu, is way too much WYSIWYG for me, so I downloaded a trial version of Dreamweaver MX 2004. I played with this piece of software for a bit a while back, but did not like the feel and went back to EditPlus for my web authoring needs.

However, after a long search for web authoring tools that made use of templates, DW ended up being the only alternative I remotely found interesting. I'm still waiting on word whether the administration of these servers will activate SSI or PHP or some other web development language, but this will the my second request, and there are other things they are concerned about, so hence the beginnings of this search.

Turns out that DW is actually quite useful. I have very little use for its WYSIWYG features, especially the assistance it can provide in 'drawing' tables and whatnot, but the actual coding aspect of the application is well done and provides a couple time-saving advantages, like inline HTML auto-complete. EP has many of the similar features, such as HTML syntax highlighting, but it is difficult to turn down an established brand like Macromedia, especially if it can to the same things as I did on EP, as well as the template management that I do dearly need.

Long story short, I updated a couple pages, namely the Index and Playlist, using the DW quite easily, with minor difficulties in understanding how the template system worked (especially the syntax aspect, but that's why context menus and dropdown options are for). The pages have been uploaded and look fine, with only a couple hundred bytes increase in file size in the Index, and an actual decrease in the Playlist (due to using the TemplateIf function to not apply the Poll and Related Links sections).

Good stuff for sure. I'll update the rest of the site, as well as move on to completing certain sections, like the Legal Info (if you are reading this, that means that you have consented every mortal being of your existance to me.. mwuyhahahahahaha!) and Web Links.

Oh, and sister came back from a couple days downtown with her buddies... with PMS. Damnit.

Today's Music: Mandy Moore - Top of the World
Today's Music: Initial D - Don't Stand So Close 

Onward and upwards

Friday, April 30, 2004 | 6:30 PM | by Intricated

Exam are over; school is complete; but the Brian-o-matic will remain at full alert since my work term at Microsoft begins on Monday. I can tell you that I will be putting in a lot more effort and time into these 8 months than I did the past 244, mainly because I there are only so many moments in my life that I believe have been turning points in what has been a rather boring and sequential existence. In fact, let me just outline my life to date:

1. First, I was born, then I was raised by my parents and grandparents. Not much of a turning point in here, but I suppose I was more of a human doing than a human being (Yes, I stole it from the Simpsons, so what, wanna fight about it?!?!). Of note was the birth of my younger sister... a rather insignificant moment, however. :P

2. Then I moved to Scarborough, where I developed my knowledge and skills through education and television. A lot of trial and error came into play, as my English skills were not that great (good ol' ESL program). I moved again shortly after grade 2, to a different part of Scarborough, where the next turning point occurred.

3. I went through puberty and got all ackward and stuff (although it can be argued that I go through this stage every other day, but I'll leave that story for another day).A few rather embarrassment moments involving the other sex (you know how when you like a girl and don't know what to do about it, so you end up teasing them and throwing stuff at them, and burning down their houses with some matches you found when rumbling through her garbage since you couldn't get a clear picture into her bedroom wind- er, you get the idea) certainly humbled me.

This is also where the benefits of friendship started to make sense for me. Other than having something to do at reccess time (man, how I miss 15 minute games of football), it also provided a base for homework assistance (my parents could not help, at no fault to themselves, but this contributed to a later point), as well as all the self-disclosure stuff I learned in Managerial Skills. Not everyone in my class (basically every year I was with the same 30 people, with a few newcomers and some leaving) was that nice, as I can remember quite a few moments where I was the definite one left out of the loop.

My first year of high school also occured in Scarborough... thank god I moved to Markham.

4. Yes, Markham. Er, not much to say, basically the same things happened only at a high school setting in a smaller house in a more sparsely inhabited area. My secondary education taught me much, especially in pure theory and social lessons.

However, my attitude towards education soured substantially, as I eventually reached my 5th year (for all you newbies, high school in Ontario entails 5 years before they decided to catch up with the rest of Canada). I just stopped caring a bit by bit, and with no negative consequences to my school performance, I stopped caring even more. In fact, the more I didn't care, the greater the rewards seem to be. The positive reinforcements of more things to talk about ("Yeah, I didn't go to Math. What did the teacher talk about?"), , and combined with my parents' declining attention paid to my grades (the only time they seemed to care was around then they thought it was exams period, and report cards), the education experience was no more to me then a forced necessity in this life, much like taking a dump - you don't enjoy doing it, but it's an evil that must be dealt with, hopefully in the shortest period of time with the least effort, because it's gonna hurt otherwise.

This is probably also where the information technology revolution really hit me, as it was my second computer and a broadband internet connection that really through me into doing crazy stuff like... oh I don't know, posting personal information about myself which will be used by secret government agents, terrorist groups, and yes, evil corporations and telemarketers to create a intensive profile about me of whether I am a national security threat, an excellent candidate for mass destruction, and if I would be interested in purchasing a subscription to the Toronto Star. Of note is Infantry, sigh, why'd it go P2P... grrr.

5. Next is university. Gee, education and moving seem to be the only important moments of my life. Anyway, getting accepted into UTSC was exciting, like all the other turning points, but it ends up that paying 14 grand a year (3 semesters) gets you "High School: Extended Edition". Although I must admit, I adore the content of many courses, I simply do not find experiencing the content appealling at the times which are set forth by some committie or department or whatever I am paying a good earned money (which I got from my time at Tim Hortons, another critical point in this time period, but I'll leave that for later) to pay for. Plus, the surge of adredaline from a massive cram session (which in university is substantially more intense from high school) is too tempting for me (come to think of it, that's pretty sick). And I still got 2 years left to go (minus one work term). Another 24 grand or so I'll have to earn or apply for... or beg, whichever is easier.

6. Microsoft - TBD (I'll have amply opportunity to update this through these next 8 months, and probably post some big-ass summary)

Damn I'm late. Off to the MESA year-end party. I just can't say no to free food. ;) 

This will be one long day.

Thursday, April 29, 2004 | 1:25 AM | by Intricated

Exam in.... 7.5 hours... 6 chapters to read, take notes, read related lecture notes, put into practice, and review... not to mention the practice finals, midterms, and the past midterms from this semester... AND THE DAMN COURSE WEBPAGE WON'T LOAD. [insert any appropriate four letter word]!

And THEN I have to go to Microsoft for training. Let's just say I won't be looking forward to the drive back from Mississuaga in rush hour.... [insert another one here too, just for good luck]!

OK, to studying I go. Must turn off MSN to acomplish goal.... 

Well that wasn't so bad...

Tuesday, April 27, 2004 | 4:55 PM | by Intricated

I just came back from the C24 final, and I must say that it went a lot better than I expected. And my expectations weren't as low as you may expect for one who starts to study only 16 hours before an exam. But I hear that the C04 final marks are available on ROSI, which can't mean good things for my GPA... I think I'll hold off on checking it until after my last exam, for C02.... :X

Oi, I'm getting a bit more nervous about my upcoming co-op position at Microsoft Canada as my official first day comes closer. Actually, it's more of a feeling of excitement than of fear, but the anticipatory response is quite evident.

---

Here's an interesting story from Discovery Channel:
EARTH’S MOON YIELDS NEW MINERAL DISCOVERY

Scientists have discovered a new mineral by examining a meteorite from the moon.

The mineral is called Hapkeite and is formed when small meteorites hit the surface, traveling at speeds up to 100,000 kilometers per hour.

Heat generated by the impact melts and vaporizes metals, which are then re-deposited on rock fragments as tiny, randomly scattered beads in a glassy coating.

The new mineral is a combination of iron and silicon.

---

Also from those wonderful brainiac from is the ultimate guide to laser tag dominance. Let's just say I won't be as concerned with my aim after this scientific experiment. ;) 

Gmail!!! Exams!!

Monday, April 26, 2004 | 4:13 PM | by Intricated

Don't you just love it when can kill two birds with one stone? Well I personally do not condone the killing of birds, but it is an appropriate metaphor to what just happened to me: I went to Blogger to post a blog for today, and I get an invite to be "one of the very first" to test out Gmail, the new web-based e-mail service by the makers of Google!

I first heard about this intriguing service from a forum I routinely troll, and grew envious of those who posted screenshots and secretive information regarding Gmail. Well, who's the green monster now, huh punks?!?!?!

Gmail: Hot-what mail? :P

I've already changed my contact e-mail for Blogger to my Gmail account, and plan on making the changes to all of the other internet services that I care enough for to boast Gmail in. Since the service is still in beta testing, I will not be changing contact information for more personal or sensitive information, like Amazon. But you can bet that I rather have Maxim know about my Gmail account over my university one. :P

Ugh... just realized that today is supposed to be STUDY DAY, since I got a MGTC24 (Managerial Skills) final exam tomorrow at 2PM. Ack. I enjoy the content, and even plan on purchasing a couple books suggested by the prof, Dr. Gruman. But the textbook isn't a smooth read, and I as usual went to a minimal amout of classes. Sigh, I still got just less than 24 hours to get into the mood to study, but I should study, and will study, hard that is. All the other courses I had finals for all have some sort of negativity connected (Marketing - VERY low marketing plan project mark; Finance - poor final exam performance; Economics of New Economy - well ok I think this course went the best, but still looks like I'll end up with a mid-70 grade).

OK then, back to procrastinating.. er I mean, trying to study... :)