It's that time of the year. Time to reflect on the year that's about to be passed and look towards the new year. This is what I said for New Year's last year. So what were the most memorable moments in 2008? Personally for me, this year really was a year of ups and downs, but I'm glad to say the year is going to end up on a high note. First of all, the new year started for me and wife by spending the New Year in Hong Kong with my cousins at Time's Square in Causeway Bay. Then afterwards we had our wedding banquet for my wife's family and friends in Guangzhou. It has been a while since I spent my new year's away from home in Toronto.
Then, it was job search time so I was very busy in January throughout April with job interviews for faculty and industry research positions. In January, Bill Gates gave his last keynote speech at CES, so this was memorable for the tech industry. On January 17, Apple released the world's thinnest laptop, the MacBook Air. My father was admitted to a senior nursing home towards the end of December last year, so it was a tough time for me and my family to see my father deteriorate in his health (he had Alzheimers disease, Parkinson's disease and diabetes). Then on March 19, the inevitable happened which shocked our entire family, my father passed away. This was just so sudden that it was surreal, I couldn't believe he was gone. And I had to go to a job interview right after, which made it really difficult. However, I felt my father's spirit in me and with God, family and friends, they all helped me guide through that difficult time.
On the upside, I passed my PhD departmental exam on April 24 which was a significant milestone for me on road to completion of my PhD. In May, there was the Mesh conference in Toronto on social media and Web 2.0 which was really great and met lots of cool people in the industry and learned about what new technologies are out there. Towards the end of May, DGP turned 40 years old, the lab at U of T that started making an impact in graphics and video in the industry and academia.
Then Apple splashed up again with their new iPhone 3G in June which was probably the tech highlight of the year, and also the last time that Steve Jobs will give a keynote. Bill Gates had his last day at Microsoft on June 27 which was a momentous event in the computer industry. My conference trip report from Hypertext 2007 conference was published in the ACM SIGWEB newsletter in July.
The next great moment of this year for me was my acceptance of my full time research job at Nokia Research Center in Beijing. My wife and I moved on July 26 and this was a big change for me but the next chapter in my life. I had the wonderful opportunity to attend several events at the Beijing 2008 Olympics of which the most memorable was getting to be at the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. I even got the chance to watch the Olympic torch relay for the first time in my life under scorching heat (sure I got a headache but it was worth it!)
In September, Google announced their new browser to add to the browser wars, Google Chrome. Another great joyous moment in 2008 was on September 29 when my wife and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary which was so special to us. Then another great moment happened at my work at Nokia Research Center, I was accepted to give a talk in Helsinki, Finland about my research at Nokia Research Center Beijing in Mobile Web 2.0. It was my first time to Finland and I had a great time meeting Nokia people! My paper in the New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia journal was also published in October, which was a great achievement for me and my PhD research.
Then the ultimate event on November 3, which was 5 years in the making, I became a doctor! I passed my PhD defense! A very momentous and joyous event in my PhD and life for sure. Another exciting tech event was at Nokia World when Nokia announced their new mobile phone which competes with iPhone and ups the bar for mobile social networking, the N97. On December 8, the computer industry celebrated the 40th anniversary of the invention of the mouse publicly shown by Doug Englebart. Also in December, Nokia Research Center Beijing turned 10 years and I was glad to be a part of the celebration.
And so now it is December 31, 2008. As you can see a lot of things have happened this year, which I'm so glad I made a record on my blog. I've certainly been blessed by God for this year and I look forward to the new year 2009. As this year comes to a close, I wish everyone a Happy New Year and may 2009 give you peace, happiness, blessings, and success! Like the video says, Happy New Year!
Happy New Year 2009
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