Google Nose

Google has launched a new service called Google Nose:

http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/nose/

I knew that it is possible to transfer fragrant through the Internet (not like this). So, I didn't really get surprised. However, I got surprised when I understood that Google had created a website for it.


I and my roommate laughed a lot tonight about this service because it was related to 1st April tradition in the US. Google fooled us!

A day with Angelina

Angelina didn't come for the first class. She looked very tired in the other class. Unlike the previous week, she didn't have her cellphone in her hand. She was taking it out of her backpack every 10-15 minutes, checking whether she received a new SMS or not, and putting it back to her bag again. Sometimes, she was writing a few lines and sending it to someone. I guessed that maybe she had a fight with the other boy!

Our team was supposed to have a meeting after our class. I asked them to come to my office, but it was very small. So, we went somewhere in the aisles. After the meeting, I waited for everyone to leave. Only me, Angelina, and Ellie remained. Ellie as waiting for me to leave, but I wanted to walk with Angelina. It was a little awkward because I was supposed to go back to my work. However, I preferred to walk with her. Ellie also came with us. During the walk, I asked Angelina about her plan for the summer, and she told me that she was going to attend a company that is one hour far from here. I also asked Ellie. She also wanted to join a company in the other city near here.

I said goodbye to them, and came back to my office, and they walked together to their cars. "Oh God, why didn't I talked to her? Maybe it was my last chance because she is not into that boy. I should wait for one another week to her again." I thought to myself.

After that I devised a plan to get in touch with her. I send her a message, and asked her whether she mislaid her wallet in my office or not. She answered me after an hour, and said: "no, I don't think so, did somebody leave theirs?" I thought that it might be a good sign. She asked me a question, and I can continue from this point. I thought a lot about how can I continue this conversation. I sent her another message. "I found her, but it was strange as she was not as cute as her wallet! She even couldn't be a good friend to talk to", I said. "Lol ok that's good" she instantly replied to me.

I didn't expect her instant reply. I expect her to read between my message lines. I indirectly called her cute and a good friend who can I talk to. Her instant answer reminds me that she had her phone in her hands while writing for someone else. My message, perhaps, had interrupted their conversation. So, I ended our messages by wishing her a nice weekend. She wished me the same instantly.

I think that she is not willing to be my friend anymore. I did my best, but she didn't notice it. Probably, I wasted lots of time by not talking to her before the break.

XPrize

Something is incredible about the US. People here always have a sight for the future, and they plan for it, and even encourage others to act toward it.

One of the professors here suggested me to look at the XPrize website. XPrize is a foundation that encourages working on very challenging problems. They offer great prizes for those who can find solutions to these problems. Since it has a competitive atmosphere, I expect they obtain better results in a shorter time.

One another child! (Third one)

I heard about the tax deduction for charity donations in the US the previous week when I was filling my tax form. I thought to myself "as I can refund some of my paid taxes, why don't I take another child?" Yesterday, I received a call from Savethechildren. They offered me to accept another child with only 18$ a month. Therefore, I couldn't reject their offer.
This time, I became a sponsor of a beautiful black African-American boy. I named him, Donovan. Now, I have three children, and I am very happy with that. I am sorry Taylor, but I couldn't wait for you :)

(photo is not real)

Faith

Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.

I don't want to re-learn it again

I was reading about something tonight that I saw this:

"If you don't think she'll ever give you a chance, let life show you who else is beautiful. There are lots of people out there who you might be compatible with; try to open your eyes to new possibilities. Life is too short to chase after someone who doesn't see your merits. If you are truly meant to be, she will come back to you now that she knows you like her."

(http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-a-Girl-You-Like-Her)

I thought to myself: "How long did it take for me to understand this simple point? I don't want to re-learn it again and again."

So, how do you marry?

A- In our country, the government tries to separate boys and girls, even in the universities!
B- Really? So, how do you marry?
A- Actually, we don't marry!!! (kidding) See that I am still a bachelor.
B- Maybe it is better to marry like me. My family decided about me.

I got a strange feeling after this conversation. Many people marry in my country without knowing each other first.

No more Angelina?

Angelina is texting all the time. She smiles sometimes, and the other time she looks nervous. In the first class, she went and sat next to that American boy, but they didn't talk. After our class, I told her that I couldn't come to our meeting on Thursday. She told me maybe it was better to change the time. She wasn't nervous at all, and even doesn't care that much. "You know the course better than the others; please read the documents; we would try to have the meeting before our class." She said. "I am not sure. We will talk about it later." I said. Even when I was talking to her, she was thinking about someone else. She was no longer into me. Then, I left her. I saw her unexpectedly again a few minutes later in another aisle. I surprised because she hadn't left the university yet. I just smiled to her, and she just looked at me like neutrally. I saw her again while she was filling the course registration forms. She probably wanted to register for the next semester. That's why she didn't leave the university soon.I was very unhappy today just because of her. She is not my friend yet, but I feel that I like her and this really bothers me. I don't want to be down because of a trivial issue like this. I wanted her as a friend, but it seems that she is not thinking about me. Maybe it is better to find another friend :(

Qualifying Exams come first

I had a meeting with the professors who I wanted to work with in the summer. The professor asked me to decide about his project as soon as possible. I told him that I was interested to work on your project. Then I brought the Qualifying Exams topic up to know the opinion of our department chair.
"I could start my job today, if I was not worried about my Qualifying Exam." I said.
"Yes! The QEs come first!" the department chair said.
This means that I should waste my time, the time that I could do many things, studying stupid Qualifying Exams to just get a pass grade. I could finish main parts of their projects in these two months. I liked to start the project as soon as possible, but, unfortunately, I have no other choice. They were very serious about Qualifying Exams. I don't even know what to study for this exam.

Decisive decision to get GC through NIW

After our driving knowledge test, Henry talked to me about National Interest Waiver for obtaining a Green Card. I knew about this law before, but he told me that he knew two PhD students who got their Green Cards in this way. They had enough number of papers and citations and recommendation letters.

I thought to myself that this is the best and easiest way to get Green Card while studying my PhD. If I can join a good and strong research team, I would have this opportunity to get good recommendations or at least making something special. I decided to do my best during the next years to get GC in this way. I probably need GC to have my own company. Even tough I fail to get it using this law, I still can count on H1 visa types after graduation.

I read the relation information about NIW again today from this website:

http://www.hooyou.com/niw/ 
http://www.hooyou.com/niw/News&Articles/recentdevelopment05112010.html

I have several chances for it:

• publishing 4 more papers. 
• contributing to our university research project to win that million dollar competition.
• working on my new ideas and making a program with more than thousands of download.
• making my previous websites prosperous again.

What I don't have:

• Strong connections in the US with people in my field
• Enough time to do all of the above together

I should have a strong plan to apply for it two years from now.

I passed the driving knowledge test

After several months being here in the US, finally, I decided to get my driving license. Today, I went to driving office today to take the knowledge test. The test was very easy and I passed it! I got my temporary permit. Now, I can drive a car while Ms. Taylor is sitting next to me. The only thing I need is to buy a beautiful white car that she likes, and pass the driving test.

Painting in a party

A few days ago, there were a party in our university. For the first time, I painted something on a fabric they provided.

Do you like it?

Finally Blogspot

I took me lots of hours to find a good blogging platform. Finally, I decided to use BlogSpot. I hope not to have any issue with it in the future. I wanted to reverse order of the posts, but it was impossible. I wish they could add this feature, too.

Started to use QuizLet Again

I started to use QuizLet website again. Hopefully, they added many great features. Now, it is very easy to add cards for vocabulary and phrases with images. I need to improve my English, specially speaking part. I don't know many Slangs and idioms. Therefore, I needed a tool to help me memorize them easily.

I will add any new word or phrase to my Quizlet account.

Another interview and failure!

After that meeting, my mind was obsessed with what he said and deciding about this summer. But I had a phone interview with a start-up company. The person called me, and asked me several questions regarding the form I had filled a few days ago for them. He asked me about how I found the answers and how we can test it. I tried to explain him. Then, he asked me if we would like to solve the problem with another solution, how we can do it, and what is the time and the complexity required for it? I had no idea about his questions. The question was related to one of my courses that I had seven years ago. I told him that I couldn't remember many things about that course, but I tried to answer him regarding what I knew and what is rational.

Our conversation took about 17 minutes. “I always ask this question after an interview. Do you have any question from me?” After he heard my answer, he told. I got a bad feeling about his sentence. He was thinking in his mind that I have wasted his time. “We are not going to hire someone like you. You don’t even know your courses!” he thought in his my mind. I don’t know why he had this in his mind. To me, at least he could think about it after he hung out the phone. I just asked him that when I would hear about your decision, and he answered “within two business days.” I became sure that they are not going to offer me a position because they were going to answer me very soon. However, I didn't expect him to think like that. I am very experienced and professional in my job, but their evaluation system does not work for someone like me.

In fact, the last interview that resulted in a job for me was seven years ago. After that, I got my new positions by referrals. As people whom I worked for were very satisfied, they always referred me to my next job positions. By the way, I lost another chance to get a position in the Bay area.

A project for this summer

Today, one of our professors called me to talk about the system they had. They had made a proof-of-concept, and tested it for several months, and now they were going to re-design and re-build the system from scratch. So, they were looking for someone like me to do that. He suggested me not to go for internship this summer to work on this project. We also talked about entrepreneurship possibilities for this project, and he told me that he was very interested to commercialize this system. During the conversation, he was very excited about my comments. I also was very excited about the project.

For me, it is a hard decision. I don’t have any internship offer yet, but I expect to get several in the next month. There is only one month and half to summer, and I am still looking for a position. On the other hand, this project is very interesting, and I would like to have a share in it. In fact, it is more match to my future goals. If I can do a great job in this project, I would have a good chance to become a millionaire or famous enough to see Ms. Taylor. In my point of view, they can’t find anyone better than me to finish this project. In addition, companies’ interviews are hard for me as I don’t have enough time to study interview questions.

During the conversation he told me, “Make me a millionaire, I’ll make you a millionaire.” Actually, I don’t care to be a millionaire, but I like his idea and his motivation. I told him that something we should wait for the technology. He agreed and told me about some of his previous experiences. He told me that he spent 40 million dollar to invent a technology in one of his projects; however, once they invented it, they needed 100 million dollar more to finish the project! He also told me about his future ideas about this system. I had agreement with him regarding some of his ideas. However, I think that he is thinking far behind possibilities. To me, we should do our today duties, and wait for the future instead of being concerned about it. I also gave him Steve Blank’s course in Udacity website.

After that meeting, I was very happy. I thought that this could be a great opportunity for my future. Although if I would like to stay in the university for the entire summer, I would have lower income, but successfully finishing this project worth more than an average internship. If I had a chance to be in a top company, the rules would be different. In the following days, I should decide about their job.

Let’s do a simple evaluation here.

pros (not going for internship):

• I like this project.
• The team sounds strong enough to continue it.
• There is a million dollar competition behind this project, and we may have a chance to win that competition.
• The person, who I talked to, was a CEO of another company. He is interested in doing real projects, not just a hackneyed research to get fund from NSF,…
• The project is toward my future goals from two points: The system can help lots of people in the world. And they would like to commercialize the project, and I have a chance to start my own company with them (instead of doing it all alone).
• I don’t need to be concerned about internship, and interviews anymore.
• Maybe I have a chance to see Angelina during the summer to create a stronger friendship.
• There is also another project here that I could be involved in. This project has also an opportunity to become a company in the near future.
• Maybe I have a chance to define my thesis topic related to these projects.
• I will make a stronger connection with well-known professors in my own university.

cons:

• I can’t make lots of money for the summer. So, I won't be able to visit my family as I don’t have money to buy tickets for them.
• I can’t experience living in another city. I am feeling bored here now because it is more than 7 months that I am living here, and I haven’t go anywhere yet.
• It is a negative point in my resume that I didn't go for internship anywhere. Although my goal is to have my own business, there is a possibility that I have no chance to start it within a few years. This may cause me not to find a good position in the future.
• I should take some courses for my entire summer; so, I can’t rest after two semesters.
• I’ll lose my chance to make connections with those who are in the Bay area, and have their own business or would like to create a new one.
• I have no time to work on my own idea. I don’t know whether my idea would be successful or not, but certainly it won’t be successful without working on it.

It seems that the benefit of doing that project is more than going for an internship. I have another meeting this Monday with that professor, and then I will think more about it.

Today Afternoon to evening

After I left Angelina, I remembered the things that I saw in YouTube a few weeks ago. She was laughing all the time even to very unimportant things. I don’t know whether her act is intentional or unintentional. At least, I know that she is interested in me.

I didn’t have any class after that. So, I rested in my office whole afternoon and the evening. I watched many Youtube videos about Taylor Swift. I enjoyed 22 a lot.



I don’t like when she is touching the boys in her music video, but all other parts of the video were amazing. I also watched some parodies, and I laughed at some of them.


I remembered how nice were her previous songs. Even these guys who mucking at her acknowledge that her songs like Ours, You Belong with Me,… are shockingly amazing.



I didn’t know that to whom Taylor wrote Enchanted song. I wish I didn’t see that boy today. I really like Enchanted song, and maybe that’s why I named this weblog OneEnchanted.

I also reviewed my old diaries, and I saw something about Disney’s Enchanted movie. The movie that I completely forgot about it. I found some parts of it in YouTube, too.



I saw this line in my diaries that “I can’t understand dating.” The girl in the movie couldn’t understand what “dating” means, and she was looking for True Love only. I thought that Taylor was like her someday. Those days I liked her more. She was singing about Love, and only pure Love. As soon as she started to date boys, her songs changed a lot. She has changed a lot according to what she said herself. “I used to say Never say Never,” but now she used to say Never Never Ever!

I watched also some parts of her live chat again. I really like this video. This is the Taylor that I knew.

I wish my fearless Taylor back soon. I don’t like Never Ever Ever Taylor.

Today with Angelina

Today, I woke up early in the morning because I should finish our team project before noon. I didn't even go to my first class to finish it. I sent Angelina a message and asked her to come to the lab to print our documents, but she didn't show up. In our first class, I saw that American boy had sat next to Angelina again. “If I don’t go and sit next to her, I may lose my chances to have her as my friend.” I said to myself. Therefore, I went there and I sat on the chair next to her. I asked her whether she had printed the documents or not, and she said that she did.

In the whole class, I was thinking about Angelina, and I could hardly concentrate on the course. She was texting to someone every a few minutes. She was hiding her mobile cell in her hands below the table. Something she looked excited, and sometimes she was anxious.  I think that she has found a boyfriend during the break. I wanted to talk to her before the break, but I couldn’t.

In the next class, that boy had sat on a chair in front of Angelina. So, they couldn't talk anymore. I came to the classroom, and I sat next to one of our other teammates in a location that I could easily see Angelina. During this class, she continued her texting. I couldn't listen to the professor when I was thinking about her. I was thinking to myself that I had this chance to talk to her. I could ask her to be my friend before the break. Now, she has found a new boyfriend, and this American boy is also interested in her. The boy even took her chance to talk to her after TA gave us our exam results to review.

I am older than both of them, and I don’t want to intrude her life. Now, she has no more time for me as she is spending her time with his boyfriend. I felt that maybe I was jealous about her, but I was not. I was thinking that I can no longer be her friend. I also concerned about that boy. Maybe he is going to marry her. They are both Americans, and in the marriage age. I don’t want to be more than a friend for her, but I don’t know how to tell her.

I left the class before Angelina. While I was walking through the aisle Angelina came next to me.

“How was your exam result?” She asked.

“It was OK.” I answered.

“I didn’t expect to get that grade.” She said.

“Really?” I asked.

Then she explained about the exam and her performance, but I couldn’t understand well. I walked with her toward the parking lots. I tried to talk to her while we were walking in the lots. I told her that it was better to plan for the next phase of our project because I couldn’t sleep well whole the night to work on this project. She was laughing loudly during our conversation. She had a very beautiful laugh that I had never heard before until today. I was happy that I could keep the conversation going. She was laughing to anything that I was telling to her. Of course, I also laughed to anything she said. Then, we were very far from the department building. It was the last parking lot in the university that she stopped, and asked with smile and surprise: “Where are you going?” “Oh! Actually I should go that way. The car is over there! OK. I will go back there.” I said, and we bid goodbye.

“Oh, excuse me. ” I turned back, and asked her. “What?” She turned back and asked me. “I am sorry. Nothing. I’ll ask you later.” I said, and she just smiled and we followed our paths. Actually, I didn’t want to ask her anything. I just wanted to see her reaction, and create a question in her mind probably to obsess her mind. She just got surprised that how long I would like to spend my time with her. “OK. Go!” She cutely thought to herself! I think that she was thinking about her boyfriend and never thinks about me after we left each other today.

Nymbler.com

When you start to write a story, it is hard to choose names for its characters. Tonight, I found a good website that helps to find names by showing some random names.

Hello

Hello there! This post is my first post here! This weblog is going to be a new kind of blog that I named it StoryBlog. Here I try to narrate a story. I am sorry to tell you that you came in the middle of the story. Actually, I wrote it in my own language before, and I will translate it to English while I am writing the rest. Read them later once completed.

A brief about the past:
In the previous chapters, the main character of our story, Woody, decided to come to the US to see a girl who he liked her the most, Taylor. He had no chance but to get a student visa. Therefore, he studied hard and he got offers from two universities, but he had no money to attend them. He studied another year, and he applied again. This time, he got a full financial support from one of the universities he applied to. Then he came to the US. However, once he reached there, he found out that the girl has changed a lot within this period, and she is dating another boy, but he didn't give up. In his first semester, he did his best to start his own business, but he failed.

A few months later, the girl broke up with that boy. He is now in his second semester, and is trying to solve his problems to meet that girl.
....

Note:
I will add the previous chapters little by little while I am writing the rest of the story. I am also interested to hear about your opinions as far as you are not going to insult somebody or change my story. DONT FORGET TO READ IMPORTANT PAGE FIRST.