Thursday, September 23, 2010

Communicate with my TA

These are several emails sent to and fro my ME lab TA. Question, answer, question, answer. Effective!

Hi, XX
About the lab assignment #3, should I convert all the units into millimeter for all the parts I created (including those in textbook exercise and the modeling a styrofoam cup) or just the styrofoam cup part?
Best,
Muyun


 Hey Muyun,
The units of all your part files should be millimeter.
XX


XX,
Ok... Is it millimeter kilogram second or millimeter newton second?
Muyun



It's millimeter Newton Second.
-XX

Thursday, September 16, 2010

On networking: how I did, and what I learned

  In the past week, I tried establishing network with several people:  freshman student M, sophomore student S and Prof. K.

  OK, start with M. I found that he was an interesting person, so I wanted to have dinner with him, and talk with him. At first, he seemed to be a little annoyed because I asked him about meeting so frequently (three times a day), and seem to reluctant to response. When I realized that I was too haste, I waited for two days before I asked him out again, and that work.
  What I learned from this is that, one thing, I shouldn't be too haste. The process of developing relationship should be gradual, and spontaneous. Doing it in a haste manner may scare the other person, or cause discomfort. The other thing is that I have to have patience, and don't give up with that.

  Second trial: sophomore student S. Actually, it was him who took the first step. Student I seem to enjoy networking, and I should learn from him. He freely give out his contact info: Phone #, email, name, etc.  even before I asked. And Student I ended up knowing a lot of people... Every time I see him , he's always greeting more than one person.
  Of course, networking is never about talking to people only once,
but why not start by talking once, and exchanging contact info?

  The third trial is not complete yet. I think I'll try  to maintain the relationship with Prof. K. I started it well enough. Though he told me he doesn't need research student at this point, which did upset me a little, and he asked me whether I still want to talk to him. I said yes, and I told hie that I also want advice apart from gaining a research position, and showed patience: I told him I can wait till the next week or next month to meet him. Afterward, he told me that he would make schedule for it.
  So, that cause me to think that humility and understanding is very important, and again, don't give up on the chance to develop relationship.