The two busiest people in my family: Mom cooks, and Dad assists.
My mom joined her granddaughters in riding bicycles around the car.
A warm welcome to Xiaoyan back home last night.
Rain made the day chilly and inconvenient, but it was filled with family moments.
After taking my uncle to the hospital for a quick IV session, I returned home for Mom’s noodles, which Hamer and Coco adored, each finishing two bowls. In the afternoon, I spent time with Yoyo and practiced driving before heading out to pick up Xiaoyan.
Heavy rain and traffic made the return challenging, but arriving home to a lively and welcoming family made it all worthwhile.
The two sisters really enjoyed their noodles after adding some spice.
My uncle’s hands are covered in bruises from having too many injections.
This morning, I went to the hospital to take over for my dad, who’s been caring for my uncle during his IV treatment. Dad wasn’t feeling well and was found to have high blood pressure, so he decided to get an IV drip himself. The hospital’s basic conditions and elderly rural patients left me feeling reflective.
In the afternoon, I played with Yoyo, who resisted napping but eventually joined me to read on the bed. While reading, I fell asleep first, only to find she had also dozed off.
Hamer sat by the window with her headphones on, softly singing along and looking so grown-up.
Today, I traveled from Beijing to Yueyang to pick up Hamer, and together we continued to Yingtan. The journey home was smooth yet eventful, with Hamer impressing me by carrying her own luggage the entire way and saying heartfelt goodbyes to her playmates before she left Yueyang.
At home, we were warmly welcomed by my family, and Dad jokingly expressed surprise that Xiaoyan wasn’t with us. In the evening, Hamer happily reconnected with her cousin Coco, and the two played together until late at night.
The final stop on our journey home: Yingtan Railway Station. We arrived earlier than expected.
The third stop: Changsha Railway Station. Hamer carried her suitcase herself and climbed the stairs for a quick transfer to the next train.
The second stop on the journey home for the Chinese Spring Festival: Picking up Hamer at Yueyang Railway Station.
Heading hometown for the Chinese Spring Festival. Bon voyage
Today was a lucky day filled with good news. I received recognition for my 230 Tips project, and my visa interview was unexpectedly approved. Back in Beijing, I found out my promotion to Senior SDE was confirmed, bringing immense joy. My colleagues’ efforts to secure my presentation slot at the developer conference also moved me greatly.
In the evening, Xiaoyan and I enjoyed a delightful vegetarian dinner. Tomorrow, I’ll travel to Hunan to bring Hamer to my hometown. Despite a busy day, I feel energized and grateful.
Our company’s year-end party on Monday and Tuesday was packed with performances, games, and activities, but the dinner felt rather dull.
The next day, we visited Longqing Gorge to see the ice lanterns, where the frozen gorge turned out to be the highlight of the day. Later, two colleagues and I traveled to Shenyang for a visa appointment.
2025-01-19 TIL: Scheduled Tasks in ChatGPT & Gaelic Football
In this early beta feature, you can create scheduled tasks to enable ChatGPT to run automated prompts and proactively reach out to you at set times. This feature helps automate repetitive tasks and improves productivity by providing reminders or personalized interactions. Examples of Scheduled Tasks:
Gaelic football is a fast-paced, action-packed sport that combines elements of soccer, basketball, and some of the world’s fastest sports.
Today was calm and uneventful. I started the morning late, tidied up the living room. Xiaoyan got up and practiced piano, where she showed noticeable improvement.
Xiaoyan spent the afternoon watching Normal People, while I napped and bought fruit and dumplings.
In the evening, I practiced driving S-curves and felt much more confident compared to before.
2025-01-18 TIL: How to Separate a Sectional Sofa & Types of Pianos
Sectional sofas are designed with hooks and latches that connect individual pieces, making them easy to detach, move, and rearrange.
There are three primary types of pianos: Grand, Upright, and Electric. The average upright piano weighs between 200-1,000 pounds.
Today started early as I tidied up the house and moved out the sofa. I received disappointing news that the conference schedule was refused, but my lead actively followed up.
My colleague’s gifted piano was delivered, and Xiaoyan even played a few simple tunes.
In the afternoon, Xiaoyan got a flu shot while I organized the house before joining her at our classmate’s place. We enjoyed the movie Her Story and a delicious homemade feast.
Today brought a sense of relief as everything I had worried about was finally resolved. I successfully rescheduled my visa interview and completed all the required documents.
Our show rehearsals went well, and I finished the last video, which turned out great. Unfortunately, one of my colleagues caught the flu and can’t attend the annual meeting.
In the evening, Xiaoyan and I enjoyed Luosifen at Guilin Restaurant. It had been a while, and I especially loved their crispy and flavorful Guo Shao. These past few days, Hamer has been having so much fun at hometown that we’ve had little chance to sit down and chat with her.
Did you know?
ArcGIS Earth makes it effortless to export and share your current map view as a high-quality image, a professional map layout, or a print-ready file. Whether you’re preparing a presentation, designing a poster, or sharing insights with your team, ArcGIS Earth’s export tools help you deliver visually compelling and informative maps.
🛠️ How to Export and Share Your Map Views:
1️⃣ Design a Custom Map Layout 🗺️ Click Export > Create Map Layout to generate a map with your scene view, title, north arrow, and scale bar. Add more context with a legend, descriptive text, images, or dynamic text like scale and coordinates.
2️⃣ Personalize for Any Purpose ✏️ Adjust the paper size (default A4), orientation (portrait or landscape), and margins. Use Scene Only for a minimalist view or add visual elements for more context. Double-click the scene to zoom, pan, and rotate for the perfect angle.
3️⃣ Export, Email, or Print Instantly 📤 Once complete, choose to: Export as Image for reports or presentations. Email the current view directly as an attachment. Print for meetings, displays, or field use.
🚀 Pro Tips:
1️⃣ Custom Branding: Insert local images or your company logo for a branded, professional touch.
2️⃣ Fine-Tune Your View: Double-click the scene in the layout to adjust the camera view before exporting.
Today was filled with ups and downs. After preparing visa documents and adjusting my resume, I discovered a past visa denial, forcing me to redo the DS-160 form and postpone my interview by a day.
During rehearsal, a small incident occurred because of props. Later, I practiced another dance routine and struggled with reversing during driving practice, which left me feeling frustrated.
Did you know?
ArcGIS Earth’s Viewshed Analysis tool allows you to visualize what areas are visible or hidden from a specific location. This powerful feature helps you assess line-of-sight coverage, making it essential for urban planning, security assessments, and infrastructure development.
🛠️ How to Maximize the Viewshed Tool:
Set an observer point anywhere on the map, and ArcGIS Earth will instantly generate a viewshed area, highlighting visible regions in green and obstructed areas in red. Easily adjust the observer’s height, viewing angle, and distance range to analyze how terrain, buildings, or other obstacles impact visibility. This tool is perfect for evaluating the placement of security cameras, communication towers, or scenic viewpoints.
🚀 Pro Tips:
1️⃣ Adjust Observer Height: Increase the observer’s elevation to analyze visibility from elevated structures like towers or rooftops.
2️⃣ Customize Viewing Angle: Narrow or widen the viewing angle to focus on specific areas or broaden the analysis.
2025-01-15 TIL: Placify and Artab
At Placify, we aim to Create a truly personal map—one that lets you gather and organize all the place-related content you’ve saved across different platforms.
Get Inspired by the World’s Greatest Artworks in Every New Tab.
Today was mostly dedicated to handling my U.S. visa application after receiving the invitation letter. I spent the afternoon taking a visa photo, completing the DS-160 form, and scheduling an appointment for the visa interview with collegues.
In the morning, I joined our team meeting on AI topics and later brainstormed presentation ideas with the PEs. After the meeting, I rushed to meet a friend for a final frisbee game before the new year.
