The exam week is almost over for the fall quarter. The only exam I had was on Monday and it was in Contract Theory, and needless to say, I was defeated by it. I did in fact study for it, but maybe not with the same fervor (read: desperation) as I had during exam periods last year.
Right now, I have to finish two papers for Economic History and one last Search Theory assignment, and then I'm going back to Maryland on Sunday, Dec 12. Oh, and I have to help proctor the final exam of Principles of Microeconomics, which I have been TAing for this past quarter.
Speaking of TAing, I was assigned to be a teaching assistant for the Microeconomic Theory course under Professor Bill Zame next quarter. Before I came here to UCLA, one day I was reading off the names of faculty to my dad and Zame's name caught his attention. This was because when my dad was a senior at Caltech, he was the grader for the graduate abstract algebra course, which Zame was taking as a junior. My dad recalls an instance where Zame argued with my dad about why these or those points were taken off on one assignment. This story has only remained folklore among my cohort, since I have not had the chance to bring it up with the professor. But yeah that'd be pretty cool if he remembers my dad too.
Plans for the winter? I have to write an econometrics paper on kernel estimators and modality robustness for my metrics class. Oh, and I'm getting at least one wisdom tooth pulled. Other than that, hopefully it'll be relaxing with family and friends. I also need to be thinking about what topics to write my field papers on.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
my cat
My cat is alive and doing reasonably well. One year ago, he was on the verge of succumbing to septic shock and all the bad stuff that is associated with being unable to urinate. This would cause his bladder to overflow and open wide the opportunity for infection to set in. I'm no doctor or veterinarian, but that didn't sound cool. When I was younger, my pets seemed to always die when I was away from home. For instance, every time I went to Johns Hopkins' CTY program in the summer, one of my guinea pigs would die. I didn't want my cat to fall into this category as a mere statistic, so I made sure my parents did what they could to help him.
This started when after ~9 days of being away, my cat stumbled into the house late at night. My dad had been worried by himself (my mom was in Taiwan dealing with family affairs), and he wrote me an e-mail as soon as he discovered my cat and all seemed to be well. It took my mom coming home from Taiwan a couple days later and seeing my cat for my parents to realize that my cat had broken bones and was unable to urinate. We concluded that either he was hit by a menacing bicycle, or he boldly jumped down from a high platform and hurt himself.
My parents ended up taking him to the vet twice a day each time to get his bladder expressed. That must have sucked and been awkward for him, but at least my cat didn't have to pay money for it.. my poor parents did. The vet was kind enough to charge my parents only once per day instead of twice. Anyway, after a few weeks, my cat was finally able to urinate by himself.
Thanks Yichen for reminding me to write this. I'll see you in a few weeks bro(ther).
This started when after ~9 days of being away, my cat stumbled into the house late at night. My dad had been worried by himself (my mom was in Taiwan dealing with family affairs), and he wrote me an e-mail as soon as he discovered my cat and all seemed to be well. It took my mom coming home from Taiwan a couple days later and seeing my cat for my parents to realize that my cat had broken bones and was unable to urinate. We concluded that either he was hit by a menacing bicycle, or he boldly jumped down from a high platform and hurt himself.
My parents ended up taking him to the vet twice a day each time to get his bladder expressed. That must have sucked and been awkward for him, but at least my cat didn't have to pay money for it.. my poor parents did. The vet was kind enough to charge my parents only once per day instead of twice. Anyway, after a few weeks, my cat was finally able to urinate by himself.
Thanks Yichen for reminding me to write this. I'll see you in a few weeks bro(ther).
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Being a good TA
Draft from like 2 weeks ago
So I'm working as a teaching assistant in the Department of Economics this quarter (and barring me getting fired or expelled from UCLA, for the next two quarters). Right now, I'm teaching two sections of ECON 1, which is an introductory microeconomics course for undergrads.
I must say, I have been enjoying teaching. I feel like I'm making a true difference by helping educate undergrads. It's as if as a graduate, I'm part of the "old" generation in an overlapping generations model, and I'm transferring my knowledge to the "young" generation so that when they become old, they'll do the same for the generation after them. Indeed, even though I never went to section at Maryland, some TAs older than me were doing the same for my generation. It's the circle of life.
Anyway, I still become visibly nervous when I start lecturing because I feel like I'm being evaluated by my students. I become so nervous that I make mistakes in my explanations or doing problems on the board. So my sections are one right after the other, so what happens is that I mess up pretty bad in the 1st section, and I feel like I've already lost face so I let loose in the 2nd section, and it ends up going pretty well. I need to practice more so I can teach my first section well.
I think I might be trying a bit hard. I go over the problems that the professor wants the TAs to do, but tonight, I'm writing my 2nd set of TA notes. I feel like if I cannot clarify things well for my students, they will be lost and then they won't do well on the exams and then it'll be all my fault. Somebody told me that when a TA isn't clear, the students will just assume that the material is too difficult for them to understand it fully. But on the other hand, when I'm being unclear, I know it's my fault that they don't understand.
So I'm working as a teaching assistant in the Department of Economics this quarter (and barring me getting fired or expelled from UCLA, for the next two quarters). Right now, I'm teaching two sections of ECON 1, which is an introductory microeconomics course for undergrads.
I must say, I have been enjoying teaching. I feel like I'm making a true difference by helping educate undergrads. It's as if as a graduate, I'm part of the "old" generation in an overlapping generations model, and I'm transferring my knowledge to the "young" generation so that when they become old, they'll do the same for the generation after them. Indeed, even though I never went to section at Maryland, some TAs older than me were doing the same for my generation. It's the circle of life.
Anyway, I still become visibly nervous when I start lecturing because I feel like I'm being evaluated by my students. I become so nervous that I make mistakes in my explanations or doing problems on the board. So my sections are one right after the other, so what happens is that I mess up pretty bad in the 1st section, and I feel like I've already lost face so I let loose in the 2nd section, and it ends up going pretty well. I need to practice more so I can teach my first section well.
I think I might be trying a bit hard. I go over the problems that the professor wants the TAs to do, but tonight, I'm writing my 2nd set of TA notes. I feel like if I cannot clarify things well for my students, they will be lost and then they won't do well on the exams and then it'll be all my fault. Somebody told me that when a TA isn't clear, the students will just assume that the material is too difficult for them to understand it fully. But on the other hand, when I'm being unclear, I know it's my fault that they don't understand.
Monday, September 27, 2010
moving on
So I finally passed all my comprehensive exams and can rest easy for a while. Barring some major meltdown when writing my field papers, it seems like I am safely in the Ph.D. program.
What's next? Many huge sighs of relief. Also, the quarter has already started and it looks like I am concentrating on econometrics and industrial organization. That may change though, as I may change to micro theory or macroeconomics/monetary.
I know it's only the end of the 1st year, but in most economics programs, it is the most stressful since most of the program's attrition occurs at the conclusion of it. I would like to thank my parents, unnamed friends, unnamed professors for their unequivocal support, and thank Patrick for literally helping me start this journey. I'm not sure when I can start naming people (especially professors) in posts because I'm pretty sure this would turn up in a Google search.
What's next? Many huge sighs of relief. Also, the quarter has already started and it looks like I am concentrating on econometrics and industrial organization. That may change though, as I may change to micro theory or macroeconomics/monetary.
I know it's only the end of the 1st year, but in most economics programs, it is the most stressful since most of the program's attrition occurs at the conclusion of it. I would like to thank my parents, unnamed friends, unnamed professors for their unequivocal support, and thank Patrick for literally helping me start this journey. I'm not sure when I can start naming people (especially professors) in posts because I'm pretty sure this would turn up in a Google search.
Friday, March 5, 2010
a real post
But okay, here's a real post I guess. Finals for the second quarter are coming up in a couple weeks and then my parents are coming to visit me here in LA. Then I'm probably going to Vegas for a couple days to chill with Mischa. Then I'm going to turn into a hermit, get jacked up on rum and coke (minus the rum) and jagerbombs (minus the jager), and study my ass off until I take my comprehensive exams ~100 days from now.
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