My advisor got me beer for taking this pic.

Getting pat on the back by advisor just makes one's day. hehe

Iron Man was pretty good. it was good to see a bunch of liquid nitrogen tanks in a movie. somehow makes me feel at home. Palladium...interesting stuff. only thing i know about it is that it can hold gigantic amount of hydrogen so it's been investigated by car companies as hydrogen storage. it was at the center of the 'cold fusion' episode years ago (people stuffed hydrogen in palladium and measured it getting hot and thought they've got cold fusion going ^^). also, it's high work function metal so some people use it for solar cell electrode as a good hole collector. and supposedly, it is more expensive than gold (i think)

what am i doing procrastinating here? ehhh...time to get back to work

Check out George Whitesides' energy forum talk. this is something money can't buy.
http://www.mrs.org/s_mrs/doc.asp?CID=12356&DID=203801

the problem we face is very serious and everyone needs to work together on this...otherwise the world as we know it now will be gone. lack of water, lack of energy will cause conflicts...it may as well be the end of the world. am i dramatizing it too much? well, maybe. i hope i am.

anyway, we've got work to do!

Praise and GLORY to God!

so i was afraid to tell my advisor that i want to be away for a week to Cambodia during the summer. (i know...what's the big deal about taking a week off? well, im just surrounded by highly dedicated people who sometimes dont even go back home during Christmas!) so i asked my small group members for prayers and i prayed myself for a few days....and today i talked to my advisor about it and how i want to give solar cell seminars to Cambodian students....guess what? he LOVED the idea! he said he would even try to look for a small funding so that i can bring some solar cell kits! Praise God!

to me, this is a miracle from Him. (i knew that my advisor was a cool person...but i can definitely feel that God moved his heart). i can definitely feel that He is with me. living this life with Him is just awesome...

Exciting!

dilemma....

i miss teaching. i didnt TA this semester because my advisor wanted me to focus on research and gave me RA...but now i realize i WANT to teach. i want to engage with students and contribute to their learning. now i look back and realize how much i enjoyed it when i taught high school students at hwakwon during my college years. i think my students enjoyed it too. it made me feel alive and gave me sense of 'contribution'. (and i got to talk to many of them about faith, science, God and the gospel)

i'm thinking about asking for a TA position next semester. and i'm thinking about putting significant amount of time in it to do a good job for the students and develop my teaching skills further. obviously my advisor will not like it since it will take my time away from the project. that is directly against his interests. (last semester, honestly i didnt put as much effort in TAing because i was focused on getting the research project going....and everyone told me that teaching is the least important thing for grad students....pretty much a nuisance to research...)

some people i've talked to told me it is not a smart thing to do. why try to get TA when everyone is trying to get out of it? they tell me research is what will get me glory, fame and graduation (...by the way, i saw Jorge Cham, the author of PHD comics, when he visited Cornell and even ate in next table to him!). well, i've thought about it...and i think i will still try to go for it. what is the use of fame and glory when we live once only and all die eventually? what is the use of glory and fame when they block us from dong things our hearts desire?

i also might have to tell my advisor that i will be going to Cambodia mission for a week this summer...i hope he does not get mad....(hopefully not...he is cool...). i need to pray more. i need prayers. please pray for me!

Steven Chu (a Nobel laureate...some of us grad students call him a hero) lectures

He gives very good talk. yesterday he talked about biophysics and what single molecule studies can tell us about life....i'm looking forward to his energy talk. he is in charge of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and is interested, committed in energy research. it would be awesome to eventually do postdoc there...it seems like that's the place to be for now (with Steven Chu strongly backing energy....Alivisatos, Peidong Yang and many other masters going strong...a sweet place to be...)

Check out his Nobel autobiography. he shows his love for science with funny, down-to-earth and 'as a matter of fact' attitude.