Color of Spring [Photography]

It's actually very rainy today. After I went out of the lab, it was a little bit brighter. And I grabbed the camera and went to the Miller River under the East Rock Park.

You can feel the spring is coming by the very newly bright green color dotted on the trees. The color is really pleasant, with a tone of yellow green. It's also very foggy and wet because of the rain - which makes the green even lovely.

Weiwei posted @ 21:43:06 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

UHV / O2 Heating [Research]

Heating in high O2 pressure enviroment has been a big issue for me ever since we set up the chamber. The heater filament tends to be oxidized during the heating, which makes the heat very short life time. The commercial heater we were using, even though claiming heating in O2, still does not have very long lasting time. And it really cost a lot.

After we burnt several heaters, I broke one in part and tried to figure out how it was made. The fact is it's actually not complicate at all. So I made one with relatively cheap material. From its test performance, it works very well. I am happy with the results.

I spent several hours today to put the heater into the chamber. For several months, my experiment has been retarded by the problem of the heater. I hope now it will be solved. And I am pretty optimistic with that.

Weiwei posted @ 14:29:48 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

Private Entry [General]

This is a private entry. To view, please enter the password:

Weiwei posted @ 14:31:08 || New Haven, CT || More About Private Entry  

The First Anniversary of ATWEIWEI.net [Thoughtful]

Today is the first anniversary of atweiwei.net. The website reminds me almost every detail of my life in the past year.

Everything starts from the photography. It brings me a whole new experience - basically a life style by observing the world through the lens. Though there is still a long way to go - I am excited because it's a way full of explorations.

Diving and photography are expensive hobbies. However they give me a wonderful experience to learn how to build and develope part of my life - amid all the complexities and from ground zero. It also powers me up to build my everything else - career, future and most important how I define myself.

To everyone with my best wishes - be happy and be fabulous!

Weiwei posted @ 09:36:17 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

Paper to Thin Solid Film [Research]

We got the paper to Thin Solid Film in press today. This one is solely focused on the thin film growth, which is the subject I like most. [full text in pdf]

Weiwei posted @ 09:02:16 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

NHCC Competition [Photography]

I had one picture entered tonight's NHCC competition and got a first place in snapshot category. I actaully brought two and the other was a swan shot. Well I thought I've been chosen too many swan shots so I pulled out the one I brought today. But any way, I will put a make up next time. Well I do like swans though: they are easy to find (all year long), easy to approach and most important they are beautiful.

Weiwei posted @ 19:39:09 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

Weekend Update [Thoughtful]

I actually did not feel very bad this weekend as the past several weeks because I gave a thorough thought to everything. Sometime things are not bad at all. Maybe I should be more calm and patient.

In order to make my daily work productively busy, I set up a seperate new web log for my daily plan. I decide to spend several minutes everyday to plan what I need to do the next day. I used to do this on a notebook but just did not keep it for very long time. Now I hope I can do it longer after I switch to a digital version.

I have last two competitions left at New Haven camera club. I prepared the last four entries yesterday and was really enjoyed. It's really a good feeling to see your hardwork turn out to be a beautiful picture.

I went to Edgerton Park today. I know spring comes. But there is not too much yet. Lots of people were preparing their gardens. It will be very beautiful soon.

I finished grading the last homework today and basically finished my TA work for the semester. It's not a big job and it's the only hint for me of the end of the semester.

I start to read Middle Sex by Jeffrey Eugenides. It's really a great novel. The problem I have right now is it has so many new words for me and they turn out to be very much frequently used. So it's a very good read. I will tell you more after I finish.

Weiwei posted @ 19:04:18 || New Haven, CT || Comments (2)

Spring Finally Arrives [General]

There is no doubt the spring of the New England is just as beautiful as it's autumn...the beautiful sunshine, flowers everywhere...but I believe the most important reason maybe because the winter here really sucks...but eventually the winter is gone and the spring arrives.

Weiwei posted @ 18:24:36 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

Yale Union On Strike [General]

The Union on strike is not something new now at Yale, including many graduate students from social/humanity sciences.

But I think the story is quite different for science/engineering students. It just does not make sense to draw a line between students and professors in engineering school. There are a lot of things that need to be improved. I do support union because anyone may have trouble sometime and voices from a lot of people defintely better than a single voice. But strike - I mean not working for my professor - is not a good solution at my side.

Weiwei posted @ 13:42:32 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

The Kite Runner [Books]

I actaully finished reading the Kite Runner several weeks ago and just read the reviews again from the Barnesandnoble online. I feel this is a good book, but not as good as the reviews say.

It happened in Kabul, a city teetering on the brink of destruction at the dawn of the Soviet invasion. The story starts with the friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, also including the relation between father and son, adults and children....

I think why the book has drawn so much attention is because it's the first Afghan novel to be written in English. Although people know there were wars between Afghan and Soviet and America, yet how many people really know a single piece of contemporary life in Afghan?

Weiwei posted @ 09:08:48 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

Private Entry [Thoughtful]

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Weiwei posted @ 15:57:32 || New Haven, CT || More About Private Entry  

Deep Jungle - cont. [General]

Did you watch PBS-NATURE special Deep Jungle? It's amazing.

Look at the picture above. Investigate Madagascar, where, 150 years ago, Charles Darwin predicted the evolution of an unusual moth with a 12-inch-long tongue. In DEEP JUNGLE, researchers stay up all night with a special night vision camera, looking for proof that he was right. After 8 hrs wait, they captured it in the camera. Isn't it amazing?

There are several other discoveries like this during the exploration of the deep jungle. I am considering to put a trip to the Madagascar in my must-do list of my life time.

Weiwei posted @ 18:13:14 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

Xia's Birthday [General]

I enjoy Hong Xia's birthday every year because I assume it's the official announcement of the spring. There's no exception this year. We had a very nice dinner at Royal Palace. MaoGe brought a very nice ice cream cake and we had fun in HHH. Happy Birthday to Xia!:)

Weiwei posted @ 18:02:42 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

Gym Rat Squash Tournament [Sports]

Min and I joined this year's Gym Rat Squash Tournament at Yale. For the everyday play, it's mostly for fun plus some of the techniques. But for the real game, there is a real challenge for the mental stability. I am not lucky. I am in the same division with Min, which means I have already lost one game. Plus I am the first game in the morning and I am nervous. But it's match. Well for the first time to join a game like this, I am glad I am not ranked the last one. Min got the first place in our division...cool.

Weiwei posted @ 17:46:22 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

Deep Jungle [General]

PBS-Nature will launch a show named DEEP JUNGLE this coming Sunday night. From it's preview, it seems like a big show and must be very interesting. You can find more information by going to the PBS website.

Weiwei posted @ 16:50:18 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

Google's Satellite Map [General]

I am a Goooogle fan because google always has fancy new idea to make the internet life more fun. Like Google Adsense...very good idea. Now they have a new idea and put satellite image in the map search. I do not see it's very useful but it's fun!

Weiwei posted @ 14:53:08 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

A Very Very Old Song [General]

I found this song when I was reading a friend's blog this afternoon. It's amazing that someone still remembers it and even I can not believe that I still remember. It's song for a Singapore TV series about 15 years ago. I can hardly remember the story but how we were gathering in front of the TV in a summer for every episode.

Weiwei posted @ 17:27:59 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

Graduate Student Art Gallery [General]

I have two pictures on exhibition this week at HGS. They have program called "Graduate Student Art Gallery". I do not think it's a very formal event but it's a good chance for professional students to show something beyond the research scope. There are only about 20 works and several pieces are really good.

Now I equipped the webjournal with a "Private Entry" section. I will need it to put something that I do not want everyone can see. It will need a passward to open the entry. It seems that the code works well. But I still need sometime to test its security before I really use it.

Weiwei posted @ 17:15:37 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

General Update [General]

Hey, it's spring...You finally can feel the warm from the sunshine. How wonderful it is!

I went to a very interesting seminar this afternoon, talking about the single molecular electronics by Professor Paul Weiss from PSU. I think he was trying to cover too much topics but anyway it's very interesting.

After the seminar on the way home, I saw a lot of flowers blooming on the sideways. I grabbed the camera and got some shots before it's getting dark. The spring finally comes and I think I should start to bring my camera to school again.

I am now doing some STM studies on the rutile TiO2 surfaces. It should be a very easy surface but there is still some work to do though.

Weiwei posted @ 22:10:52 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

Diving Refresh [    ]

I joined Don's class this afternoon for a diving refresh. Wow...it's unbelievable that I could get a diving in such a terrible weather.

It's a little bit too hot with my 7mm Handerson in the pool but I am glad that I can still remember to put everything together...hehe...I am kidding. Everything goes fine. I even did not think it's a "diving" in the pool because the situation is so much different with that in the real open water. But it's cool.

Weiwei posted @ 19:44:08 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)

Global Flow Information [General]

For today and yesterday morning, I attended the Law School's Global Flow Information Conference. I am doing the webmaster for the Law School's Information Society Project. So I need to take some pictures for the website.

Actually it's very interesting. First of all, I am always wondering what the people studying law are doing everyday. I sit in the conference room but have no any background of law. As a scientist, not only we have totally different research subject, but also the research method. Basically I do not know how they make things running.

Sometime things can be very complicated. For example, currently every $1 invested into the drug research only 2 cents are really used for the research for "better" drugs. Law researchers make ideas to change this. It will take years and tremendous work to coordinate every group, including government, insurance, drug company......it's just hard.

Weiwei posted @ 19:26:56 || New Haven, CT || Comments (0)