Apple released the new updated Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro on Tuesday. After having been waiting for it for many months now, I decided to order it online within a couple of seconds. The good news is that it was shipped. The bad news is that it’s a weekend, so I probably would not get it until next week. I’m glad that it’s shipped by FedEx Express and not FedEx Home/Ground (I think the Home/Ground services are being handled by a contractor at a different terminal in Duncansville). I have never had a problem with FedEx Express before, and I hope that it will stay that way *knocking on wood*. See my previous blog entry below to see why I loathe FedEx Ground (I’m still waiting for that printer I bought with Macbook Pro). The irony here is that the printer was shipped two days (from PA) before the laptop (from Shanghai), but it seems that I would get the laptop at least two weeks before I actually get the printer (judging from the past experience, I do not expect to get a call from FedEx regarding that misdelivered package).

On a sidenote, someone already posted a benchmark for the laptop here.

She will be my first Mac ever, and I can’t wait to get my hands on her!

You cannot be an idealist and survive… that struck me pretty hard…

Cheers…

No… this is not a filesystem discussion. I’m just talking about me being a DFS-type rather than a BFS-type. Well, here DFS is depth-first-search and BFS is breadth-first-search. From the past three exams, I found one of my biggest flaw… at least in terms of taking exams. When studying, I always try to understand *every single thing*. By that, i mean every single details.. and all the proofs. In the past 6 weeks, I think I have already spent more time studying than when I were doing the bachelor degree. I understand things much better than I used to. I understand the *why’s* and *how’s*. However, I found that the way I have been studying is not the way to study for the exam. Given a short amount of time, professors tend to give exams that requires you to know basic knowledge in a variety of topics. In other words, exams tend to cover bredth instead of depth. Sixty percent of the things I studied for then become useless. With time constraint, I also left out a good amount that I should have studied but did not have a chance to. Combining that with Murphy’s law, I faced with exams with problems that I cannot do…

It seems clear that I have to adjust my tactics. However, I would rather know one thing in depth before going to another rather than knowing lots of things superficially… This is why I am going to grad school… Things are quite different from what I imagined… Honestly, I wouldn’t mind all-day exams even if that means the problems will be more difficult…

I will try to study the way I think they want me to study instead… and see what comes next…

and 2 to go…

study / long / I / exam / have / linear programming / last week / study / days / nights / today / papers / confusion / wtf / people / scratching head / wondering / why me / head drops / four hours / give up / study / for what

Despite the fact that I have an exam on Monday, I went out to take photos again. I guess I was burnt out and needed to relax a little. This time, I went to the Stone Valley Recreational Area with Scott. We were walking, taking photos along the lake. There were bushes and shrubs along the side, and Scott saw this water bottle along the side of the lake. He then shouted “Dude, that’s a water bottle… somebody is litterying.” Two more steps after that, we saw this guy behind the bush fishing. The bottle was obviously his, but he wasn’t littering. He turned around and look at us. Scott just said “Hello” to him, and kept on walking. I just cracked up laughing. Good thing the guy didn’t come beat us up….

After a long day of studying, I went outside to take some photos. I decided not to go too far, and just to stay within the neighborhood. The weather was nice and the leaves were red. The photos are in the gallery

Sample photos: