quinta-feira, 13 de dezembro de 2012

An illustrious guest

As finals week unveils and students panic throughout the campus, Father John Paul prays for a peaceful end of the quarter. I was fortunate to have him at my place for a nice evening.

From left to right: Jefy (my current roommate) Nuno and Fr. John Paul

Originally from Los Angeles, he has been serving the Church all over California. Stationed in San Diego for the last 10 years, he has been my parishioner since I arrived. With a contagious joy and an amazing wisdom, I feel blessed with his guidance and honored by his visit.

Catholic community group picture in 2011, click the picture and see if you can spot me...


quarta-feira, 21 de novembro de 2012

Giving Thanks

On Thanksgiving day, nothing more appropriate than giving thanks.
University Qualifying Exam is done!



terça-feira, 13 de novembro de 2012

Step 2: University Qualifying Exam (UQE)

Upcoming Wednesday (Nov-21), I'll be taking the University Qualifying Exam. Officially, this is step 2 out of 3 for the phd, although I try not to think of it as such, and rather focus on the things I need to do before graduate. 
At this stage I will be presenting my research to a committee of 5 faculty, namely what I plan to do to earn my phd (i.e. this is why the exam is sometimes referred to as "thesis proposal"). Upon success on this exam, I will earn a diploma and a title: phd candidate.

Email sent by the department services to my committee (and me) reminding them of the exam date and place.


segunda-feira, 5 de novembro de 2012

Road to November 6, 2012

I know that after 8 years of George Bush, the bar was set very low, but I believe I'm witnessing history from a very close distance: Barack Obama is one of the best speakers people of my generation will ever have the chance to hear.

I'll leave you with his last official act in the campaign. Tomorrow he'll be chilling out with some homies, playing his traditional basketball game.


If you don't have the time to watch the entire video jump to minute 20, give or take.

Will "HOPE" and "CHANGE" continue? I think so, and I'm not alone :)
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/
This blog, now sponsored by the NYTimes, was originally created by a rising star on data-based predictions named Nate Silver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nate_Silver)

Fired up? Ready to go!

sábado, 3 de novembro de 2012

On my way to the laundry

As I was going to the laundry today, I came across with something you don't see everyday...
This ad was posted on the community bulletin board in my neighborhood.


"Loving married couple looking for someone to act as a gestational surrogate mother. You must have already had one healthy pregnancy.  
You will be compensated and have your expenses paid. Please contact us if you would like to help us start our family. We have been married for three years. We live in Mesa.

We would like to meet you and your family. We want to get to know you and you to get to know us. 
Thank you for considering giving us such a wonderful gift. Please call Jessica at xxxxxxxx."


segunda-feira, 24 de setembro de 2012

Quitting

I believe it takes a significant amount of courage, madness and/or desperation to go through a phd program in the US. In my point of view, it takes a lot more courage to realize that this is not what you were looking for, and "call it a day".
Kritika got to UC San Diego at the same time as me (Sep/2008). IIT student, a bright young kid.
After a few months of "thinking it through", she decided to quit. It's a 4 year investment of her life down the drain. Well ... maybe not completely, aside from the experience, she got away with a master's degree. As me, she was about to take the senate exam, and become a phd candidate. After telling Nuno (our advisor), what was going through her mind, he tried to talk her out of it, and did not allow her to take the exam. He argued that he could not make five faculty loose their time in a student's exam, if she was thinking about leaving the University.

Me and Kritika crossing the Golden Gate, CVPR 2010.

Why was it important for her to take this exam? Because after this, she would be one step away from graduation... she could even take a "leave of absence" while thinking about what to do. I have the utmost respect for such a courageous decision that has crossed my mind so many times in these last 4 years. Respect.

Farewell my friend, and Godspeed!


segunda-feira, 10 de setembro de 2012

Funding

Let me start with a brief thought... sometimes I simply have nothing interesting to post here, others I have plenty of material. Like now, for instance. Besides this, I have two other interesting short stories to post. So stay tunned!

This one, is about funding.
Up until past August, I had a scholarship from the Portuguese government. "Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia" (FCT). It provided me with a monthly stipend and an annual fee for tuition. It didn't cover the full amount of tuition, but it was a good help.
When I first got to UC San Diego, back in September 2008, I talked to my advisor and told him my scholarship was good "only" for 4 years. He would have to pitch in after that! To be honest, with the economic scenario in Europe as it has been (Portugal in particular), I was fearing for my funding on a monthly basis. We all know that Education and Culture always suffer the first cuts when a country is running on a tight budget. And yes, the cuts are here. But truth be told, I've escaped FCT cuts'. The tuition at UC San Diego are currently set at $30,000 a year, and FCT now provides only € 5,000 yearly! This clearly is not enough... but that's OK, because usually we can work our way in the University to get the extra cash. But usually we have to teach for that, and FCT just messed it up by putting in place a new restriction that prevents anyone with a scholarship to work for more than 4 hours a week. It just so happens that to get your tuition covered by almost any University, you're usually required to work 25% of the week (i.e. 10 hours). So there you are, another regulation that defies logic...

Something similar to FCT exists in the US, though. It's called NSF, National Science Foundation. It rarely gives scholarships to students. Rather it awards grants to PI (Principal Investigator), who then use it to pay students. My PI just got a new one... and this is good news for me, since his budget was running low!

http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/piSearch.do?SearchType=piSearch&page=1&QueryText=&PIFirstName=Nuno&PILastName=Vasconcelos&PIInstitution=&PIState=&PIZip=&PICountry=&Restriction=2&Search=Search

If you browse to the end of the page on the link above, the new grant is the one shown on the top. Handsome amount, no?


PS- a quarter of a million dollars can pay for a full-time phd student for five years (tuition, stipend, health insurance, all included).



quarta-feira, 5 de setembro de 2012

Incoming call

today as I was walking towards my afternoon coffee, my phone started ringing. I picked up the call, and here is what happened next:

Me- Hello... who's this?
Operator- Hello sir, this is 911. We had a phone call from this number just now. Is everything OK?
M- well ... yes... but... how was that?... I didn't call anyone!
O- That's OK sir. Are you able to speak now?
M- Yes
O- Where are you at, sir?
M- I am at UC San Diego
O- Can you be more specific, please. Where exactly in UC San Diego?
M- aahhh... in a coffee shop
O- In what coffee shop, sir?
M- in the Mandeville auditorium
O- in which room exactly are you in sir?

(a lot more calm, I was now almost laughing with the questions from the other side of the line. This could be a prank call, I thought!)

M- I'm actually just outside the auditorium. In the "Art of espresso"
O- OK. Sir, what is your last name?
M- (spelling) P-E-R-E-I-R-A. First name J-O-S-E
O- Thank you. We're gonna send someone over to check on you, sir; please standby.
M- well ... OK, I guess. Bye
(hangup)

I ordered my coffee, had a few laughs about all this situation with my friend, we both agreed this would never happen in Portugal or India. And 7 minutes later, there was a cop arriving to the "Art of espresso". I waved at him and he approached me

Me- Hi! ... are you here because of that 911 call?
Cop- Yes. What is your name, sir?
M- Sorry, I don't know what happened to my phone. I guess I dialed 911 inadvertently. Jose Pereira
C- That's OK, it happens sometimes. Do you have some photo id with you, sir?
(showed him my driver's license)
C- thank you. Are you able to speak freely, sir?
M- Yes
C- Are you being held-up against your will?
M- No
C- Alright sir. Thank you for your time. Have a good afternoon!
M- Likewise. Sorry for the mess...


quarta-feira, 22 de agosto de 2012

Del Mar, a day at the races

The 75th anual horserace season is officially open. The Brits have Ascot and we have Del Mar!
I was there for the opening day with a few friends, and I have to admit that it's a bit bizarre — to say the least — to see all those people making an effort to dress fancy (the ladies with very elaborated hats) and failing completely :)
It was fun though. I've bet on 4 races — $10 on each race, split into two horses — and made $110. Net income for the day $70. Not too bad for a rookie!

Pedro, Nuno and me... hats are mandatory!



terça-feira, 24 de julho de 2012

My first (single author) conference article

Recently I was in a small city in the upper East coast of the US called Providence. It's in the state of Rhode Island, in the area they call New England. The city is small (~200,000 inhabitants) and, arguably, there are basically two places to visit: Benefit Street, and Brown University campus. The latter is one of the Ivy League schools. This comprises eight private schools in the Northeastern US: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, UPenn and Yale. The name has it's origins in an athletic conference, but it soon became synonym of prestigious (and expensive) education.
Going back to Brown, the campus is absolutely beautiful. Small buildings made of brick, taking us back to the 19th century and the Industrial Revolution. Unfortunately I got there late in the afternoon, and couldn't explore the campus thoroughly; but the pictures below show how beautiful and picturesque Brown campus is.


Brown University campus





Another point of interest in Providence (RI) is Benefit Street and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

  





Benefit Street is known as the US most historic mile, given the concentration of historic buildings in this street. The first Baptist Church in the country - where Brown's commencement is held every year -, John Brown's house - one of the first and most magnificent mansion's in the country -, the Governor's house and many more. George Washington himself is said to have visited Brown's mansion.

The first Baptist Church in the US

 


John Brown's house

Side view of John Brown's house, nowadays turned into a museum



  



  
  
  

As for the conference itself everything turned out good. This is one of the most prestigious conferences in my area of research: IEEE Conference in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition. I have had people asking interesting questions about my work, and also had time to see a few colleagues that graduated from UC, San Diego.

My poster at the conference

Me and Dashan Gao having a lobster at a conference reception
(Dashan is the first PhD from my lab at UC San Diego)
Here is a link for my paper in case you would like to read it :-)

quinta-feira, 19 de julho de 2012

Uma alma gémea?

Sem conhecer a autora, eu diria que não. Antes um sentimento comum a toda a diáspora.
Estava a escrever um post sobre a minha recente ida a Providence quando me deparei com este texto, e decidi partilhá-lo. Depois de o lerem, verão como é um texto que me é querido...


Destaco as linhas finais:

"A saudade, que só se tem em ausência, é ainda assim um saco que nunca se esvazia, mesmo quando estamos juntos todos os dias, porque são dias contados. Nunca poderei devolver a quem amo os dias que lhes retirei. Posso só tentar que os que partilhamos sejam grandes. Posso só ser mais amor, tentar ser menos falha, e pedir com a humildade da minha pequenez que a vida me permita dar-lhes muito mais."

Sónia Balacó in "O Publico"
suplemento P3

quinta-feira, 14 de junho de 2012

Dia da Raça

também conhecido como dia de Portugal, de Camões e das Comunidades Portuguesas.
Justiça seja feita à comunidade emigrante, julgo que nunca festejei este dia enquanto estive na Lusa pátria. Em baixo está um pequeno video que captei no salão de festas da comunidade Portuguesa em San Diego.

terça-feira, 5 de junho de 2012

Finally the Zoo

September 9, 2012 will be the 4th anniversary since I first set foot in San Diego. Almost 4 years ago (Sep/9/2008) as I was taking my last connection flight, from Philadelphia to San Diego if memory serves me well, I began to realize how much my life was about to change; just as I was getting closer to my new reality.
My memories from that last flight are crystal clear. I was sitting in the aisle, the middle seat was empty and there was a lady sitting by the window. To help pass the time, one of the things I did during was to open a letter that my sister had given me with specific instructions to "open in San Diego only!". I was nervous, need to distract my head, so I decided I was close enough to open the letter. So I did it! There was a picture of her and a few lines wishing me luck for this adventure. I guess this was all it took to break the ice. The lady sitting close to me noticed I was anxious and perhaps a bit scared and she engaged a conversation. In a few minutes I was telling her all about me; my sister (that she had just seen in the picture) and the rest of the family back home. I guess she immediately felt a midst of sympathy and sorry, and told me to drop by her place on Sundays. Her words, as I remember, were something like this: "my children usually come to the house on Sundays, and my grandchildren are always running up and down the house, one more person around won't be a problem. You'll have fun. Come!". 
And what does this has to do with the Zoo? You might ask...
Simple: the lady that was traveling by my side hold an important position at the San Diego Zoological Society. She gave me her business card (which I still have) and told me I should visit the Zoo. I told her I would do so. Just didn't thought it would take me so much time do it :) My parents and sister came to visit by the end of April and we went together to the Zoo on May 2nd, 2012.









quinta-feira, 5 de abril de 2012

Uma questão de berço

Na 5a feira passada aconteceu uma pequena crise no meu laboratório: um dos computadores onde guardamos muita informação pura e simplesmente deixou de funcionar. Mesmo com toda a redundância que tem, parecia ter encomendado a "alma" ao criador. Um dos meus colegas apercebeu-se disso e veio informar-me do sucedido. Como quem diz, vê lá o quê que se passa que eu não faço ideia... É impressionante a iliteracia desta gente no que diz respeito a computadores. Vivem rodeados de máquinas, fazem estudos de doutoramento numa área designada por "computer vision and machine learning", no entanto são incapazes de identificar os componentes mais básicos de um computador. Muito menos resolver problemas mais ou menos complexos que estes apresentem. 
Sou, já desde há algum tempo, o bombeiro de serviço no meu laboratório. Talvez porque tenho mais à vontade com as máquinas, mas acima de tudo porque cedo me apercebi que se não as cuidarmos ninguém o vai fazer por nós. Estamos por nossa conta e risco! E por isso é bom conhecer os recursos computacionais ao nosso dispôr e acima de tudo fazer uma manutenção preventiva que nos evite sarilhos (como este, que verdade seja dita estava só à espera de acontecer). Ao fim de 4 dias a mandar cabeçadas lá resolvi o problema. Domingo ressuscitei a dita máquina. Não sem óbvios contratempos para todos (e.g. alguma informação irremediavelmente perdida, dias de trabalho perdidos, etc). Ainda a quente mandei um email a explicar tudo o que tinha acontecido e aquilo que fiz para corrigir os diversos problemas que foram aparecendo. Evitei acusar quem quer que fosse, até porque não me parece que haja alguém responsável pelo sucedido. 
Felizmente temos um sistema de backups para minorar os estragos neste tipo de situações, pensei eu. Não poderia estar mais errado, pois o coleguinha que deveria tratar disso fez o último backup em Outubro do ano passado! Escusado será dizer que fiquei furioso. Não é a primeira vez que estas coisas acontecem, e ninguém, exceptuando a minha pessoa, parece ter algum sentido de responsabilidade colectiva. Todos temos pequenas tarefas para o bem comum, ortogonais ao nosso programa de estudos. Desleixar a manutenção dos recursos que temos é prejudicar o nosso doutoramento e se todos fizermos um bocadinho a tempo e horas, evitamos estes problemas maiores.
Agradecimentos por passar 4 dias a resolver problemas que afectam todos, não tive. Ou melhor, minto, um ex-colega que mal conheci (doutorou-se quando eu estava a chegar aqui, em 2008), mandou-me um email a dar os parabéns pelo bom trabalho. Ele que já nada ganha ou perde com tudo isto...
Toda esta história só para concluir o óbvio: a gratidão é um valor muito bonito. Pena que rareie nestas elites intelectuais. Não exige raciocínio, não se aprende nos livros e certamente não se pode comprar. É uma questão de berço... ou se tem, ou se não tem! 
Agradeço aos meus Pais que fizeram o favor de me educarem no valor da gratidão.

PS- perdoem-me este desabafo, mas já não é a primeira vez que estas coisas acontecem e suspeito que não será a última da minha vigência...

sábado, 3 de março de 2012

March 1 Walk Out

Education budget cuts have been affecting the UC system. Remember that this is a State University, therefore with public funding. Currently an out-of-state student will pay, in is freshman year, around 30k USD for fees and tuition. That is before he can apply to reduced tuition for in-state students (2nd year and above for US nationals, and after the Qualifying exam for international graduate students such as myself). The students have demonstrated their disagreement towards the UC Regents Board policies of making education more inaccessible due to increased tuition. This happened as I was going to lunch last Thursday, here is a couple of snapshots I got. You can see the Geisel library in the back.




terça-feira, 28 de fevereiro de 2012

Algumas coisas que me irritam

San Diego é de facto uma bela cidade para se viver. Alia um bom clima durante quase todo o ano – sem ser estúpidamente quente – uma boa localização e uma dimensão que me parece adequada para que os habitantes tenham qualidade de vida mantendo todo o frenesim de uma grande metrópole.
A viver no Sul da Califórnia há já quase 3 anos e meio, tenho vindo a encontrar hábitos diferentes. Algumas coisas confesso que me agradam bastante, outras no entanto deixam-me muito perto do desespero.
Na fotografia mais abaixo está o meu supermercado preferido, o Trader Joe's. Pelos preços, pelos produtos, pelo pessoal amigável, enfim um conjunto de razões que o tornam o meu preferido.


Não será novidade para ninguém que os americanos gostam do consumo. Ora o Trader Joe's não é apenas o "meu" supermercado, e muitos gostam de lá fazer as suas compras diárias. Ora acontece que o parque de estacionamento que serve o TJ é relativamente limitado (TJ=Trader Joe's, isto é um exemplo de outra coisa que me irrita: o uso sistemático de acrónimos como se fossem heranças de Shakespeare, quem não as perceber que se amanhe!). Mas a azelhice desta gente a manobrar o bólide no parque de estacionamento é uma coisa por demais exasperante. Apetece ir lá pegar no carro e estacioná-lo. Como se isso não bastasse, há uma outra coisa que eles parecem adorar fazer: ir para o carro com os sacos das compras, meter tudo na mala como quem vai sair (os faróis de presença atrás acendem) e.... ficam ao telefone dentro do carro durante meia hora. Juro, isto tira-me do sério. Apetece-me ir lá e enfiar-lhes um par de estalos. Irra!!

PS- no futuro vou escrever mais alguns destes posts (sobre coisas que gosto e não gosto nesta terra que me recebeu de braços abertos), mas pelo sim pelo não escrevo em Português. Há alguns dias um irlandês que vinha cá passar férias escreveu umas palermices no facebook, as autoridades não gostaram e ele acabou preso, interrogado durante mais de 12 horas mal pôs pé em terra firme (LAX) e finalmente foi recambiado para a Irlanda. O dept. de segurança interna não tem sentido de humor, por isso acho mais prudente não os testar...
PS2- se eu não voltar a escrever outro post nos próximos tempos é porque fui recambiado para Portugal :)

quarta-feira, 8 de fevereiro de 2012

Farewell, my friends!

Slacking off again... just as I was making vows to be more diligent in my blog-updating, I stumble into slack mode again. Unforgivable! I cannot excuse myself with work anymore; it will always be there. I just need to manage my time a little bit better. And perhaps be a little bit more condescending with my writing. I always want ot give myself enough time, to proof read and stylistic changes. No can do!

OK, going back to the theme of the previous post.  I think it's fair to say that my life is changing quite a bit. After Nikhil and Vijay, it was time for André Barbosa and Rui Moreira to leave San Diego.
André was the only person I "knew" when I first landed in San Diego. To be more precise, I had never met him before, I was just "friend of friend" :)
As you have probably got by now, both André and Rui are Portuguese. André was in the USA for 3 years when I first got here in September 2008. In a different stage of his life (and his studies), he came with his family (wife and 2 young kids). In the meantime a third one was born, and André graduated from UCSD. He is a PhD in Structural Engineering and has found a position as Faculty in Oregon. Congratulations!



Rui on the other hand, came here to do some instruction as an airplane pilot. The funny thing is that we're both from the same town in Portugal: Leça (onde o mundo começa...). But for some reason our lives had not crossed before, and we ended up getting to know each other, only here in San Diego. To be fair he had been in San Diego even before I got here, and then returned (early 2009) to continue his studies. He finished is program and he is now back in Portugal.



Both of these guys, in different aspects of my life here, have been very important in the last 3 years. I wonder how things are going to be, from now on... For sure different.

Guys, you'll be missed! And always remember... "stay classy" ;)