Q: How many marriage proposals have you gotten in the last two weeks?

A: (Smiles) I don’t know. It just depends — you mean including Twitter and signs and stuff? — I don’t know (chuckles).

Q: Do you have a girlfriend?

A: No.

Q: Describe your ideal mate.

A: First she would really love God and be a faithful Christian, and then after that, I think, a desire to serve other people, to help with the underprivileged, do a lot of social work . . . great personality and easy to be around. Someone that’s definitely chill, low key, low maintenance.

source: NYPost

As a Chinese American and having followed Jeremy Lin’s ups and downs (mostly downs) since he was drafted, I’m enjoying his meteoric rise* to superstardom as much as the next casual basketball fan. But I think something has been lost amongst all of hype, debates about whether his success is sustainable, and stories about his convoluted and nearly unsuccessful path to being a starter, his grad-student like living conditions, his newfound status as a stereotype shatterer, and his deep faith and humility.

He just doubled or TRIPLED the pressure on your average Asian American kid. Go to Harvard, have good character AND become an athletic superstar? I bet he’s also a musical virtuoso and speaks fluent Mandarin and Taiwanese. Growing up, all we had were Michael Chang and Kristi Yamaguchi, and there was NO WAY my parents were going to pull me out of school to pursue athletics.  Now?  I bet they’ll be forced to memorize SAT vocabulary words while dribbling two balls at once.  While maintaining a 3/4 tempo in one hand and 4/4 in the other.

Poor kids.

Hopefully he keeps putting on enough of a show to distract them from this horrid new reality that he has brought upon them.

My favorite comment on J.Lin so far, from the Laker’s Metta World Peace

Q: Did the Lakers talk about him in the locker room?

A: Do we talk about him? Yeah, we talk about him. We think he needs a better haircut. I don’t like that style. You’re in New York, the fashion capital. Change your haircut, OK? You’re a star now. Wear some shades. Shades, OK? Put down the nerdy Harvard book glasses. Put on some black shades, OK? With some leather pants. Change your style. Fashion.

Q: Do you wear leather pants?

A: No, I won’t wear them, but he should wear leather pants. He’s the type of guy who should wear leather pants, some nice shoes and change his fashion. You’re Jeremy Lin, for godsakes. You know what I’m saying? You know? Put down that law book, stop reading the New York Times and start reading the Daily News. Newsday, that’s the one. I like that one because there’s always color in that one. What else? Wall Street Journal. Get some swag. You’re in New York City. Put your hat to the back, too. Put your hat on backwards. Come to practice with your pants sagging and just tell them, ‘I don’t feel like practicing.’ Practice? You know? Practice? And wear an Iverson jersey. You know? Come to practice with a cigar. Lit. ‘I’m Jeremy Lin.’ You know? He should change. We’re all excited to play tonight. It’s like the first time for everybody. Everybody’s excited. Kobe’s excited. He wants to get 50. He wants to welcome Jeremy Lin to his new level.”

* Ever notice how other than meteors, things hardly ever experience a “meteoric fall”?

1. Seven things I learned about the transition from communism
2. Burn Victim Sam Brown Treated With Virtual-Reality Video Game SnowWorld | (GQ)
3. Apple, America and a Squeezed Middle Class | (NYT)
4. Lunar New Year 2012 | (Big Picture)
5. Striking a Pose (Women and Fantasy Covers)
6. The Greatest Running Shoe Never Sold | (Businessweek)
7. The Life and Death of Pvt. Danny Chen | (NYMag)
8. How Many Stephen Colberts Are There? | (NYT)
9. What is it like to have an understanding of very advanced mathematics?
10. Flavor network and the principles of food pairings | (Nature)
11. How Obama’s Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics | (Sullivan)
12. AMERICA TODAY: Young And Homeless In NYC and One Night in a Homeless Shelter | (BusInsider)
13. ‘El Wingador’ | (NYT)
14. Miniatur Wonderland, Hamburg | (promo video)
15. Zanesville Zoo Animal Escape | (Esquire)

And yet another hip-hop classical collaboration, this time featuring Yo Yo Ma and Lil Buck.

Duran Duran – Rio

5 World Events from 2011

1. Fukushima
2. Arab Spring
3. Bin Laden, Qaddafi, Kim Jong Il
4. Euromess
5. Occupy Wall Street

5 Personal Themes from 2011

1. Graduation
2. Farewells
3. Returning home
4. Taking risks
5. God’s provision

5 things to look forward to in 2012

1. Green Chile
2. Employment
3. 1-stop flights
4. Starting anew
5. God’s provision

If 2011 was all about wrapping things up, 2012 is about opening up a new can of worms.

Cause, y’know, you wouldn’t be able to use the can as packaging if it still had worms in it.  Or something.

Damn the logistics, Full speed ahead.

So, before my Chi-town cred completely runs out, I shall reveal my not-secrets to how I managed to not run out of things to do in the awesome city that is Chicago. (An admittedly not-so-difficult-task, given the magnitude of Chicago’s awesomeness.)

1)  Transportation:  The CTA is really the way to get around town.  Yes, the trains are slow and dirty, but gas is pricey, as is parking, and you really should be doing more reading anyways, right?  Just accept the extra 1-2 hrs of round trip commute time as the sacrifice you’re making to have fun and reduce your carbon footprint.  Learning the bus lines will extend your range dramatically, and always, always, always wash your hands before you eat.  I will confess, cars are pretty handy for getting to places not on your subway line, and parking is rarely that hard to find (unless you are trying to find a place in the Loop or River North,) but why not just take the train?  Biking around the city is fairly easy as well.  Just remember to wear a helmet, have some lights, and watch out for car doors.  (Oh, and obey the traffic laws.)

2)  Finding stuff to do:  Chicago’s free alterna-weeklies are your friends:  Chicago Reader, NewCity, TheOnion.  CSMag (monthly) is good if you’re into fashion and the lifestyles of the rich and not-so-famous.  If you’re willing to shell out some cash, a very valuable subscription to ChicagoMag can be had for around $15, and if you can afford a bit more, The Chicago Tribune has a WRFSu subscription that is chock full of adventurey goodness within and without the city.  Metromix, the freebie version of the Trib is also quite handy, though less useful for long-term planning.

3)  Summers:  Productivity plummets during the summer, when there is finally a)  good weather and b) a plethora of street festivals, art fairs, and music festivals.  Use the resources mentioned above to find out what is going on and make sure to subscribe to Millennium Park‘s email list to stay up to date with the free concerts downtown. Pro-tip: Don’t go to Taste of Chicago, just…don’t.

4)  Getting around 2:  Know your grid:  Chicago is super easy to navigate because a) the streets are almost all oriented along the cardinal directions, and b) 0,0 is at Madison and State, and the street numbers just increase as you get further away.  It is also helpful to be able to associate major streets with their numbers, so that if you ever hear about a cool bar/restaurant/show, you can have a general sense of where it is.

5)  Food:  Chicago is home to a wide variety of fantastic food.  Grant Achatz, Rick Bayless, Charlie Trotter, and Graham Elliot are the big names that I know of, but you’ll most likely be eating the hundreds (thousands?) of high quality local eateries.  I have a terrible habit of not revisiting restaurants, but here are some places I would have no problems going back to:  Xoco (Mexican), Hot Doug’s (Sausages), Sticky Rice (Thai), Bop’nGrill (Korean/Diner Fusion), Lao Sze Chuan (one of the few good Chinese places), Tank (Vietnamese), Spring (New American/Seafood), Art of Pizza, Nuevo Leon (Mexican), Smoque(BBQ), Prairie Grass (Localvore), Khan BBQ (Indian), Uncommon Ground (Localvore), 90 Miles (Cuban), Maxwell St. Market (Mexican), Over Easy (Brunch), Las Tablas (Columbian)…and…I’m gonna stop now before I start drooling all over my keyboard.  Deep dish pizza is best consumed in moderation.  (ie, once every 6 months, max)  Also, call me a heretic, but Italian Beef and Chicago Hot Dogs aren’t really my thing.  Give me a cheesesteak any day.

6)  Museums:  Everyone knows the big 4:  The Shedd, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field, the Art Institute.  Make sure to check out the smaller ones too though (Columbia College, National Museum of Mexican Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Surgical Sciences, National Veterans Art Museum, the Stained Glass Museum, SMART, Robie House, etc. (I, sadly, have not been to all of these)).   Everyone raves about the AIC’s Modern Wing, but if haven’t done it yet, why not take advantage of the outdoor museum that is Chicago and go on the Chicago Architecture Foundation River (Boat) Tour (unless it’s freezing/raining outside)?

7)  Explore your neighborhoods:  Each neighborhood has its own flavor and own assortment of shops/restaurants/activities.  Print a Chicago Neighborhood Map and buy a Walking Tour Deck.  Get off at a random CTA stop and wander around.  Be Safe.  If grid numbers aren’t your thing, associating points of interest with the various neighborhoods is the way to go.

8)  Theaters/Music/Dance/Culture:  The Harris Theater and the Auditorium Theater consistently bring in amazing out of town shows/performances.  I’ve seen good shows at the Lookingglass Theatre, Chicago Shakespheare Theater, Collaboraction, and the Steppenwolf.   The Universities often have great speakers and performances (likely for cheaper).  The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is great, as is the Lyric Opera (though I’m not sure it’s my cup of tea.)  Millennium Park has tons of free music and occasionally dance/theater performances.  The Chicago Cultural Center often has free things going on as well.  Ravinia is the other big outdoor concert venue up in the North Burbs.  I don’t know the Music Scene very well, but I hear about the Hideout, Double Door, Empty Bottle, Schubas, the Metro, the Subterranean, SPACE(Evanston), the Green Mill (Jazz), Kingston Mines (Blues), BLUES (Blues) and Buddy Guy’s Legends (Blues) all the time.  If you have the chance, go listen to Buddy Guy while you still have the chance.  He is freaking amazing.  Your best chance is to brave the cold and head down during his annual January residency.  The Gene Siskel Film Center always has something interesting playing.  Finally, when it comes to comedy, Second City is deservedly famous, but The Improvised Shakespheare Company at iO is infinitely funnier.  Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind at the Neo-Futurarium is quirky and will gain you +2 “Chicago cred” points.

9)  Bars/Clubs:  Um yeah.  Not exactly my area of expertise, but I’ll give it a shot.  Chicago is definitely more of a Bar town than a Club town, but does have its fair share of lounges/party rooms.  Hopleaf has good Belgians, and allegedly good food.  Map Room is also supposed to be good for beers, but beyond that, I’m at a loss for good bar recommendations.  I think there are a few tequila bars and wine bars and…yeah.  There’s a pretty wide assortment of “mixologist/fancy drinks” places, the grand daddy of which is The Violet Hour and the new starlet of which is Grant Achatz’s The Aviary (both of which I would love to go to.)  I’ve been to the Drawing Room and drank something tasty with one very large and fancy ice cube.  During the summer, the SummerDance festival throws the city’s most diverse and chill dance parties with free lessons and live bands 4 nights a week.  As for clubs, I usually spent my time swing dancing at Fizz or blues dancing at Bluetopia (or both at CodeBLUE), but two places that have a killer “I’m just here to party” vibe are EvilOlive and SmartBar (as opposed to the “meat-market/grope-fest” that pervades most places.  Not to say those things weren’t going on.  It just wasn’t forced upon you.)

10. Groupon/LivingSocial/Bloomspot/etc. – Groupon started here, so it’s got a huge reach in terms of restaurants, stores, activities. Don’t go too wild with the spavings (spending+savings), but getting the chance to try out a new place at a 50% discount is never a bad thing if you’ve got the cash.

11.  One last tip for students.  Most of the theaters/cultural institutions in Chicago have student tickets ($10-$25).  Sign up on their mailing lists to keep up to date.  Yes, you are poor at the moment, but this is seriously the one chance you will have to experience  world class dance/music/theater on the cheap.  (Unless you go for another degree in say…New York)  You may also be able to volunteer as an usher and get in for free. (Links:  Lyric Opera, CSO, Millennium Park, Auditorium, Harris (No student tickets, but there are often discounts))

Ok, that’s it.  I’m done.  All out.  Go.  Shoo.  Stop reading and DO SOMETHING FUN. (In the cold…)

Lots of good (though somewhat depressing) things to read these past two weeks.  But hey, it’s the holidays.  You have time, right?  I added tags to each link to give a better sense of what some of them are about. Merry Christmas =).

Top 6

1. The New Blue Collar: Temporary Work, Lasting Poverty And The American Warehouse | (HuffPo) Inequality
2. Urban Revitalization?: Now That the Factories Are Closed, It’s Tee Time in Benton Harbor, Mich. (NYT) Redevelopment, Poverty
3. If I Were a Poor Black Kid… | (McArdle) Inequality
4. Pssst … Wanna Buy a Law? | (BusinessWeek) Lobbying, Corruption
5. Diary: Guantánamo | (LRB) Torture, Iraq, Disturbing
6. Bad IP moves:  Medicine, Apple, Google. Innovation

And the rest…

7. Gillette: Manufacturing can thrive but struggles for respect | (Reuters) Economy, Innovation
8. Lego Is for Girls | (Businessweek) Product Dev, Gender
9. A boom in shale gas? Credit the feds. | (WaPo) Innovation, Public v Private
10. Dorchester Brothers seek a way up and out | (BosGlobe) Poverty
11. MILLIONAIRE’S ISLAND: A Simple Example Of Why ‘Rich People’ Don’t Create Jobs | Economy, Inequality
12. The Political One Percent of the One Percent | (Sunlight) Lobbying, Inequality
13. Vladimir Putin, Democracy, and Activism in Russia | (NY) Global
14. David Attenborough retirement tribute – Wonderful World | (BBCVid) Culture, Fun
15. Food drives: Charities need your money, not your random old food. | (Yglesias) CounterIntuitive
16. New York Investment Banker Sends 1,615 Word Email Re: You Leading Him On During Your Date Together | (NYO) Funny, Sad
17. The Crazily Expanding Political Money Universe | (related flowchart) | (MoJo) Lobbying
18. Meet the Obscure, Useful Metals Lurking in Products All Around You | (Discover) Science
19. Welcome to the Age of Overparenting | (BostonMag) Culture
20. Truth, Jawlines And The American Way: The Changing Face Of Superman | (NPR) Culture, Fun

1. Speculators drive cotton price volatility, hurting farmers and consumers | (McClatchy)
2. Jeffrey Rosen: Interpreting The Constitution In The Digital Era | (NPR)
3. Unauthorized Immigrants Stats: Length of Residency, Patterns of Parenthood | (Pew Hispanic Center)
4. Automated to Death | (IEEE Spectrum)
5. Building a Better Mitt Romney-Bot | (NYT)
6. Foreign Aid for Health Care is Getting Results | (NYT)
7. How Elena Kagan Has Become the Supreme Court’s Champion of Common Sense | (NYMag)
8. Palantir: CIA threat-tracking technology is fascinating, creepy | (Boing) (Original Article)
9. The Future Of Foxconn City: A look into the chip manufacturing giant | (TechCrunch)
10. Labor Leader: Richard Trumka, Americans of the Year 2011 | (Esquire)

And one for fun:  The Quest For Every Beard Type

Everyone says that the best way to find a job is to take advantage of your network.   But what does that look like in real life?

Here are the numbers from my recent job search:

Online resume drops:
Submissions:  20-30
Responses:  0

Jobs found on Professional Association webboards
No response: 1
Phone interviews: 1

Recruited via Professional Association webboard profile
Offer: 1

LinkedIn headhunter
Phone interview: 1

Coworker of a coworker of a church acquaintance
Phone interview: 1

Industrial Collaborator
Onsite interview: 1

Lab Group Alumni / Classmates
No response: 1
Phone interview: 1
Onsite interview: 1

Advisor contacts
Phone interview: 1

Friend from an internship
No response:  1

School recruiting
Campus interview: 1
Onsite interview: 1
Offer: 1

Alumni job listings
No response: 1

Cold email to alumni
Informational interview: 1

I think those numbers make it pretty clear how effective “the network” can be. All of my job leads came through my network and with a ridiculously high initial response rate (~80%) as well.  Keep on dropping those resumes online though!  One of my friends got 7 interviews through resume dropping (!).  Even if you aren’t so lucky, the process helps to polish your resume and cover letter, and you get to see lots and lots of job descriptions and think about what you really want to do.

Three tips on networking.  The first two are self-learned, though hardly original, and I attribute the second one to someone who was kind enough to grant me an informational interview.

1. The power of the network comes not from who you know, but from who they know, or even who those people know.   Hooray for exponential growth.
2. Always be on the lookout for how you can use your network to help others, even in small ways.  Be generous with access to your network and give often.  You’ll eventually need to tap someone else’s (maybe even twice), and no one likes a networking leech.
3. When informational interviewing, never ask for a job.  They know you are looking for one.  If there is an opening, and they like you, they will invite you to formally interview.  If they don’t, ask if they can introduce you to anyone else in the field.  Have a relevant company or three on hand to suggest.

Good luck to all those on the job market!

(Above image taken from: ChaseAmerica)

Rise and fall of Perry. Rise and fall of Cain. Rise of Newt? Occupy Wall Street. Oakland strike. Zuccotti Park cleared. Pepper-sprayed at UC Davis. Syria burns. Egypt re-rises. Iran report. Greece crisis. Italy crisis. Euro crisis. Solyndra hearing. PSU scandal. SOPA fights. Andy Rooney died. Virginia Rometty is the first female to head IBM.

Lots of things to read, but I’ll give you an unordered top 10

1. With Vaccines, Bill Gates Changes The World Again (Forbes)
2. The Top 0.1% Of The Nation Earn Half Of All Capital Gains
3. Death of U.S. Postal Service: Many Jobs, Locations at Risk (TIME)
4. fourfour: I judged a child beauty pageant
5. Teaching Good Sex (NYT)
6. Ai Weiwei Speaks Out on His Detention (DailyBeast)
7. Future of Science Map: Multiplayer Data, Sea the Future, Strange Matter, and Engineered Evolution (image)
8. Pictures under glass: A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design
9. Aging and the Brain: Losing It in the Golden Groves (CHE)
10. The ethics of war: A soldiers account

And the rest.

• The capitalist network that runs the world (New Scientist)
• Pakistan: The Ally From Hell (Atlantic)
• Presidential Candidates Explained Through Dungeons and Dragons Character Sheets (FunnyOrDie)
• Electricity and Flood Control: The High-Stakes Math Behind the West’s Greatest (Columbia) River (Forbes)
• Child Brains: The Two Year Window (Cohn)
• The Evolution of Western Dance Music (infographic)
• Jonathan Chait on Liberal Disappointment (NYMag)
• David Frum on the GOP’s Lost Sense of Reality (NYMag)
• Stool (intenstinal bacterial) transplants (SciAm)
• What are America’s quirks? (MetaFilter)
• Wall Street Isn’t Winning It’s Cheating (Taibbi, RollingStone)
• Why Science Majors Change Their Minds (It’s Just So Darn Hard) -
• Ali Soufan’s The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and al-Qaeda
• Hope for beginner’s – Ira Glass
• Mitt Romney profiled: The Romney Economy (NYMag)

Processing – Structure – Properties – Performance

These four words are at the heart of materials science.  The teachers drill it into your head from Day 1.  It’s almost like a mantra.  The question is, of course, what does it all mean?

As I mentioned last time, Materials Science is the study of the “stuff” that objects are made out of.   What I didn’t mention was what exactly about that “stuff” one would want to study.  As a materials scientist, you would be interested in:

• How the “stuff” is made (Processing)
• What the “stuff” is made of (Structure)
• How what the “stuff” is made of is put together (Structure)
• How the “stuff” behaves (Properties)
• Is the behavior “good enough” (Performance)
• What is the relationship between all of these things?

The last question is the most important, and perhaps the most powerful idea in Materials Science.  The Mantra(tm) actually consists of 5 words, one of which is repeated 3 times:

Processing determines Structure determines Properties determines Performance.

Let’s say it all together again.

Processing determines Structure determines Properties determines Performance.

Om.

“But wait a minute, Harold,” you might say, “Isn’t stuff just well…stuff?”  To the unaided eye, perhaps, but no, everything is made of something (except for perhaps strings and photons).

Next time, I’ll give you two examples, one quite familiar, one more “materials science-y”

Until then, Happy Thanksgiving!