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Last update: 8/20/01

 

Yearly summary up to now: 2001 has been a busy year so far – a lot of things have happened – believe or not, things do change as we grow old …

 

We bought a HOUSE in January!  Actually, it is just a little condominium.  I am such a cheap person that I can’t see my rent going into those greedy landlords’ pockets, paying their mortgage for free.  The condo is in Upper Arlington, a quite community in the greater Columbus, surround by richer mid-classes – we have to pay higher local tax, though L.

The living room of our 2-bed room condo

(More pictures…)

 

I successfully manage to keep my job with the Scientific Technologies Forming Corporation.  As any other job, it is sometimes boring, and sometime exciting.  My duty includes two parts: Graphics User Interface (GUI) programming, and development of materials microstructure models, which are implemented in the DEFORM metal processing FEM codes.

I am also working towards my Ph. D. in Industrial & System Engineering at the Ohio State University.  Since I have finished most of my credit hours during the two Master’s degrees, this Ph. D. is not a bad deal, in general.  My advisor is Dr. Alan Miller.  Working on park-time Ph. D. makes my life filled, and sometime miserably busy.  In particular, no Ph. D. level class is offered in the evening, so I have to sneak out of the company in my work time to go to the classroom, which often makes me feel like a theft.  I have to work a lot of extra hours to keep my company boss from firing me.

 

On June 28, 2001, Tsinghua Mountaineering Team Oversea Alumni successfully climbed to the summit of Mt. McKinley (20,320 ft, 6,194m) in Alaska, US.  One of the six members in the team was me.

Mt. McKinley is the highest mountain in North America.  Due to the high latitude (N67, close to the north polar circle), extreme weather condition is the greatest challenge for the mountaineers.  Temperature can vary between –40C to +30C during the same day; high wind, whiteout (fog), and snowstorm can also be dangerous.  Technically, there are some steep hills and sharp ridges.

We flew into the Base Camp (7,200ft) on June 17.  We reached Basin Intermediate Camp (14,200ft) on June 23, and High camp (17,200) on June 25.  Summit was successfully attempted on June 28.  Totally, we built 8 camps, and returned to the base camp on June 31.

On the summit ridge of Mt. McKinley (June 28, 2001) (left red is me)

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Shiling and me got MARRIED!  The wedding ceremony was held on July 29 (three weeks after I came down from McKinley J).  It followed typical American styles – white wedding gown, pastor, vows, rings, reception, dance, and cake – all these good stuff.  A wedding needs a lot of preparation, accompanied with tons of headaches.  But fortunately, I have gone through it, and hope I don’t need to do it for a second time what so ever.

First Carry

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My mom and dad came to the U. S. to attend our wedding.  They also visited my brother and sister-in-law in Madison, Wisconsin, and brought their newborn baby back to China.