Zhou Dynasty

I think it's pretty much come down to 3 choices for my job when I graduate in December. By now if I haven't heard back from the company after their first round and phone interviews I will consider that they're not interested in me. These are the 3 positions that I'm still applying for... Marketing Engineer This job is at my curent company which I've been interning at for over 9 months. This position is part of the group that is responsible for about 70% of the business. The product which this person would be marketing for is considered the premium product of the company. In other words, this is a job where I can get quite a bit of exposure. Market Research Analyst This position is for a major semiconductor company in the exciting state of Idaho. Job Description: "The Market Research Analyst position plays an instrumental role in providing data and analysis to key decision makers within xxxxx. The analyst will utilize their knowledge of the application and semiconductor markets to construct a firm understanding of current and potential market opportunities. This position will aggregate and disseminate information and analysis on markets and applications that are of critical importance to the company. This role offers tremendous professional growth opportunities for a result-oriented, career-minded individual." This job interests me because the hiring manager tells me they don't expect the person to be at this job for more than 3 years. In other words, this job is a springboard to another position aimed towards corporate leadership. What that means is this job is one of those hardcore work your ass off jobs. But that's what you'd expect from the semiconductor industry, cut-throat competition and fast-paced work environment. Client Engagement Associate This one is for one of the fastest growing IT consulting companies. This job is basically where you sell consulting services to other companies. It interests me because it seems like another demanding job, lots of research on certain industries and potential clients in order to make a consultative sale. Also the compensation is really good for a sales position. Tomorrow I leave for Charlotte, NC for an assessment center that Ingersoll-Rand has set up. I guess this is their final round of interviews. I think it's going to be fun, I've never been to Charlotte before. What's NOT fun is the amount of school crap I have to do the following week, I don't even want to think about it. TIP: If you are looking for a job, go to www.indeed.com. Best job search thingy ever.

Life is back to normal, well back to crazy that is. The past 4 days has been hectic. On Thursday and Friday I went to Charlotte, NC for an assessment center. It consisted of group activities, case study presentations and interviews. It was quite intense, I definately felt the competitive atmosphere among the 60+ participants. I think I got about 8 hours of sleep between those two days, and drank about twice amount in beer. So in two days, 8hrs of sleep + 16 servings of beer = not much energy. I was so tired when I got off the plane Friday night that I drove against the one way twice in downtown, and once I was driving on the light rail tracks. I went straight from the airport to K's apartment where some good friends threw a little party for me. We had some nice wine and beer, nothing heavy though. Saturday and Sunday I was in Wassau, WI to judge a dance competition for the Hmong New Year. It was pretty cool, I learned quite a bit about the culture. People said there weren't that many people there, but if we had a Chinese New Year, there would be less than a fifth of Chinese compared to the Hmong that showed up. I volunteered for the judging because they needed non-Hmongs with dance experience. I judged 10 dances, they were all pretty good but didn't reflect too much of the Hmong culture, mostly of the Indian culture. After the party I went to a sports bar with a couple of people I knew. We were the only Asians there, but it was a cool place. My friend Choua's uncle really likes to drink and I found out just how much that night. This guy was hardcore, the two of us finished 4 pitchers within a couple of hours, he then insisted on getting 2 more. Good thing we didn't. I finally got to drive back to MN on Sunday, except I drove straight to school to study for my exam which was this morning. The exam wasn't as hard as I had imagined, but I don't think I got all of it right, actually I'm pretty sure I didn't. I ran out of time on this one and actually I've noticed that I've been generally running out of time on tests lately. I don't know if I'm just a slower thinker now or if I'm actually learning things and it takes time for me to regurgitate what I learned instead of just scribbling down equations for partial credit. The interview process should be wrapping up soon. I got an offer on Friday for the client engagement position. I will know if I have an offer from the interviews in Charlotte by the end of this week. I will also interview with my current company this Thursday and find out what the offer will be. And finally, I'm waiting for the semiconductor company to get back to me on whether or not they want to fly me out for a final interview. It's kind of funny how I started with a long list of companies to apply for and now have ended up with 4 possibilities. Out of all the companies on my tier-1 list, only 2 out of 40 have made it into the final 4. I either didn't get response from those companies or have been dropped out of the running or I declined to pursue any further with them.

I drove my neighbor's kid to school today and coincidentally, he attends my old high school, EHS. I had an awesome experience going back to the high school and walking around in the halls. The same old feelings of chatting with your friends in the halls, going to your locker to grab your lunch, and walking your gf to her next class all came back to me. I loved it, I think that's how I know I liked HS. I got to see Mr. Dornbach, my communications teacher and someone I could talk to about life outside of school. It was kind of sad to see that he's aged quite a bit. He used to be the young teacher who is sharp and funny and puts you at the same level. Now he looks like Michael Douglas, older with a lower energy level. He feels he's been teaching too long at the same place so now he's planning on going to teach in Japan next year, go Mr. D. I also got to see another favorite person of mine in high school, Ida Katz. Ida was a faculty assistant and would monitor our Chinese class because our class was mostly TV based distance learning. Ida is an old Russian lady who was very grandmother-like and would give me advice on how to stay happy despite my troublesome relationship with my gf at the time. She once told me how it's not the end of the world if the relationship is over because it has happened to her before and then she went on to tell me the story about her first love and why they parted. A lot of things she taught me stayed in my mind better than the Chinese class material. One of those things is that "your first love may not last forever, but the memories will." Ida almost didn't recognize me when I saw her, but she said she was very happy to see me come and it meant a lot to her that I came back. And then I drove to the U of M. I waited for the connector and to my surprise when the bus door opened, the music of jazz was the first thing I heard. The Jazzman was working today! If you don't know about the Jazzman, he's basically the nicest and most optimistic bus driver in Minneapolis, everyone loves him. He is known for bringing a boombox to the bus and playing jazz music for all the passengers. He also greets everyone with a sincere smile and personally welcomes you on the bus. His uplifting attitude makes everyone happy, regardless of the fact that you just failed your exam. I think every person who rides the jazzbus of the Jazzman feels the same connection and love from this man. I know I certainly felt the love today. As I was getting off the bus I thanked the Jazzman, he said "take it easy cat" in a very cool tone and gave me a pat on my leg. Now if he were just ANY bus driver and gave me a pat on my left leg, I might've felt a little awkward. But since it is the Jazzman giving me a pat on my leg, it is all good...

Damn it is cold today. This morning is the first day that we Minnesotans in the Twin Cities woke up and saw a sheet of white stuff outside. White stuffs! I think the wind chill factor was -4 degrees F today. For those of you who have never experienced a Minnesota winter and don't really have a clue what I'm talking about, I'll explain (and bear with me because I will get to Prince in a bit). See today the temperature was 18 degrees F but when the wind blows, it feels like -4F. If I'm not wrong, that's what wind chill is. Anyway, it's definately crappy outside, I don't even want to look out my windows, I just want to stare into my computer screen and check the weather forcast for Fairbanks, Alaska because that's the only place I can think of which is colder. So I came home from school today and it was damn cold as I had just mentioned above. Sugar is outside and just loving the bone-chilling weather because she's half husky and half wolf or something. I come inside and there's Prince, hiding from the cold and napping out day. I don't know about other beagles by this one absolutely hates the cold. And today, he needed to take care of his business bad when I got home, the look on his face just says "I need to pee and take a crap now, please open the door because I have paws." So I let him and watch him because when it is this cold, Prince just goes out, drops it like it's hot and comes right back in, no messing around. Today he went out there, slipped on the ice that's on the steps and then proceeds to do his business. I noticed that he had no problems locating his spot to do the #1 but when it came to #2, he just wasn't dropping it like usual. Ever seen a dog take a dump? They hump their backs a little and get real tense. Well Prince was like that for a good 10 mins and nothing came out. He pushed and pushed and even waddled around in circles and finally a little piece of poop came out. Watching him squeezing so hard made me want to go too so I stopped watching him. I left to go make a call and when I came back he was still taking his dump. Just imagine what it would be like to be naked out in the cold-ass weather trying to take a dump but can't because you're constipated and then have the whole neighborhood watch you.

I have just signed with EPM for a full-time position as Marketing Engineer! I'm really excited about the challenges that this position will bring and also very thankful to be working with the same marketing team. I feel like I can finally breathe now. All that time spent looking for jobs and interviewing and being worried that I won't find something I like, can be put to rest. Looking back 5 years ago when I chose my major as Computer Engineering, I would've never thought that I'd end up at EPM with a marketing engineer position. During those 5 years I must've really discovered who I am and what drives me to succeed. I can't wait to start making an impact on the company, it's going to be good times ahead. It's weird looking back at this thread 2 years ago when I joined my current company as a co-op. Now I'm going to be full-time. :) 2 years ago