Hung Truong: The Blog!

University of Michigan: More News (Good News!)

I wrote this over on my grad school blog, since it has to do with grad school.

I got an offer to be a University Library Associate. This is a pretty big deal, so read about it here!

Basically, tuition and money to go to school are no longer a concern, and I’ll be sending my acceptance to Michigan very soon.

After being rejected by Google, this is really just what I needed to get out of my semi-depressed slump of saditude. Now I’m super happy!

Google College Days Interview and Visit: Impressions + Verdict

[Edit 11-13-2010 Hi Techcrunch! This is an old post I made more than 3 years ago about Google. tl;dr I interviewed and didn’t get a job. I’ve done some stuff since then. Check me out on LinkedIn and look at my portfolio. I’m currently looking for interesting stuff to do. And now back to this lengthy post about Google…]

So last Thursday I flew out to Google to visit in the context of their College Days program to do some interviews / take a tour of the Googleplex and eat their food. Google had me sign a pretty hefty NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) so I’ll try to be careful with what I say. Basically, I believe that if what I say is pretty much common net knowledge, I’ll be ok. I don’t really think they told me any Google secrets.

The main point of the NDA, I think, is not to reveal any of the interview questions, since they’re important to keep under wraps so that interviewees will see them as fresh questions instead of being coached on them.

Michigan SI Visiting Days: Impressions

After my Google Visit, I left early on Saturday morning to fly to Michigan. Michigan is my top (and sadly, only) school right now as far as graduate school possibilities go. It’s okay though, because I think Michigan would be my top school even if I was admitted to all the schools that I applied to.

In March, Hung Joins The Jet Set

Or at least it seems like it. Earlier in the month, I rode on a bus with the UNM basketball band to Las Vegas. I guess that doesn’t count as “Jetting” but hey, I was traveling. Just last week, I flew with the basketball band to Hartford CT.

Tomorrow, I’m flying to California for a Google job interview, then flying from there to Michigan for the University of Michigan School of Information Visiting Days. Finally, on the 26th I fly back home.

That’s a lot of cities in one month, and a lot of frequent flier miles. Hopefully I can get something cool. Like a magazine subscription!

I’ve just finished printing all of the documents that I think I’ll need to find my way around (this is my first time flying alone). Plus I gotta take taxis and shuttles and all sorts of crap that I never thought about when traveling around with my family.

Hopefully everything will go without a hitch. Maybe I’ll even get to do one of those things where I give up my seat and make mad bank for it, flying out the day after! One can only hope.

The Come In/Go Away Welcome/Unwelcome Mat!

I saw this at BoingBoing. It’s a welcome mat that says “Come in” when you view it one way, and “Go away” when you rotate it 180 degrees.

I guess the idea is that when people are entering your house, they feel welcome, but then when they leave and look at the mat, it tells them to go away (which they’d probably be doing if they’re looking at it from that angle).

Or vice versa, the mat could act as some kind of barrier, with people seeing “Go away” as they’re about to enter, and “Come in” when they’re ready to leave. Theoretically, no one would enter or leave the house, which would create a state of home equilibrium, perhaps. Unless there are other entrances…

There’s also a doorhanger, in case you need to signal to people whether it is acceptable to enter a particular room.