Nov 14 - 28 Journal

Recommender Systems:

After my last journal, I looked into prior to Thanksgiving break and am looking into now the topic of dimensionality reduction in the larger concept map of recommender systems. I found several videos with one linked below that were really helpful. I learned how dimensionality reduction is used to simplify and streamline the processing of the data. Using principle component analysis, dimensionality reduction is used to create a plane of lesser dimensions that contains all the data points at a higher dimension. I look forward to sharing what I have learned with the group, and I feel that dimensionality reduction will play an important part in ensuring the matrix processes run smoothly.



Thanksgiving Break: time to relax

With the start of break, I spent time finishing all schoolwork during the first weekend. My family and I went to pick up my sister at the airport and got Japanese soba in Torrance on the way back. I tried out a brunch cafe near my home that I was really looking forward to trying and did some work their as the ambiance was very quaint. I also biked on Tuesday or Wednesday morning to the hills around the Rose Bowl for a morning workout. I also planned out with my sister what awe would be making for Thanksgiving and organized Thanksgiving dinner with my cousins.


On Thanksgiving, I woke up quite late but got started with the bread pudding I was making for our dinner. I also helped out my dad who made prime rib and my sister who was making apple pie. I went out for lunch with a friend and got him to try Taiwanese grass jelly in the plaza we were in. I then got home and finished cooking and then my family and I went to my cousins' house. There, we ate and afterwards, I learned how to play mahjong. We ended up getting home very late and I soon feel asleep  with a full stomach of turkey, salad, and prime rib.


The Friday after Thanksgiving, I woke up and got ready for a day trip with friends down to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in downtown. I meet the guys at 10:30 at the South Pasadena Metro station and we went down to Little Tokyo first. There, we saw art at the MOCA Geffen location and also ate German sausages for lunch. We then walked around the Japanese village and took a look at Black Friday sales. We afterwards walked over to City Hall with the intention of going up to the observation deck but City Hall was closed. I then walked with the guys to the MOCA location on Grand Avenue where we spent some time looking at the pieces there. When we were done, we took the Metro to Old Town Pasadena where I got frozen yogurt and finally went home.





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