Dallas Trip on Dec 28-30 2009

My Favourite Thai Songs

There are so sweet.

อัศจรรย์ - theme song of "The Overture (โหมโรง)"


เคียงข้างเธอ - theme song of "Siyama (สียามา)"

Amazing Creatures

From the top ten videos 2009 of National Geographic

Some creatures that we've never seen and perhaps, will never see.


November 22, 2009—Oil-eating tubeworms and 15-tentacled sea cucumbers are among the 5,000 deep-dwelling species identified by the Census of Marine Life, a ten-year effort to chronicle life in the deep ocean.



February 27, 2009—A newly discovered frogfish—dubbed the psychedelic fish because of its colorful stripes—hops along the seabed by flexing its lower fins and shooting water from its gills.


May 7, 2009—Scientists have caught a fast-growing, 12-story underwater volcano erupting—along with odd creatures evolved to survive its toxic emissions.

The root of African wildlife may be Asian.


May 5, 2009—After a factory had found a 40-million-year-old whale fossil in a limestone kitchen counter, researchers investigated the stone's fossil-packed Egyptian quarry, which could shed light on the origins of African wildlife.

The origin of the invisible man. First saw the pic of this fish on NG website, I thought it had been retouched.



Here comes the real.


February 24, 2009—For the first time, a live Pacific barreleye fish—complete with transparent head—has been caught on video. The deep-sea fish's tubular eyes pivot under a clear dome.

About December 25

Today is a holiday.

Today is Jesus's birthday.

Today is Horus's birthday (in Egypt's myth).

Today is the day that the sun goes (maybe) furthest towards the south. From now on it will go back to the north.

Merry Christmas

The Known Universe by AMNH

Saw this in my friend's fb.

CUDA Visual Profiler

It says that:

- Execute a CUDA program with profiling enabled and view the profiler output as a table for each GPU method.
- Display the summary profiler table.
- Display various kinds of plots: GPU Time Height plot, GPU Time Width plot, etc.
- Analysis of profiler output: incoherent stores, incoherent loads, warp serializations
- Compare profiler output for multiple program runs of the same program or for different programs. Each program run is referred to as a session.
- Save profiling data for multiple sessions. A group of sessions is referred to as a project.
- Import/Export CUDA Profiler CSV format data

As i know, the profiler is available for Mac not for Linux. Unfortunately, my Mac does not have NVIDIA card and I do not use CUDA on my Mac either. I use it on Linux. =(

Vaporizer

Just got it an hour ago. Let's see if it can make my life better.

OWISE and A Surprised Christmas Gift

Today was a second meeting of OWISE - Office for Women in Science and Engineering. The first meeting was on Friday, Dec. 4 - Leadership Styles. Today's meeting was about Networking 101. There was not much people in the meeting. There was only four people in the first meeting and six today. The mentor was Dr. Jenna Carpenter. She was a wise, good-looking lady. She spoke very fast though.

Just a few minutes ago, the landlady of my apartment got me a Christmas gift. P Noon told me that they did not got one last year. Perhaps the next year will be a good year. =)

Meeting with Sandia Folk

On Monday, we (Dr. Box's research group) had a meeting with a research group from Sandia International Lab, Jim Brandt, Ann Gentile, and Matthew Wong. They had developed the tools for monitoring clusters, called Ovis. Aig helped them installed it on our clusters on the next day. We had lunch at Robb, and I had sushi for dinner at Bristo 102. I gave Dr. Box, Monn and Aig a ride home. There was some excited experience though. =)

What we did with the leftover from thanksgiving

Simple! We just had thanksgiving meal again. Thanks James and his mom for the turkey and sidedishes. And as there still was some turkey left, we had chicken with steamed rice in Thai style. Thanks to Noon this time.

It's Freezing

There was no snow last night (or I could not see), but It was freezing this morning.

Now, it is 23 F (around -5 C) out there.

Driver's License

Got it at last! =)

I just got it yesterday, after I had practiced driving on the route that I was going to take driving test 4-5 times. And I finally passed it. Now I can get onto the road on my own. Yay!

What I Saw When I Was Young

Goliath II



Love to see it again.

Student Driver

Today, I drove to South Hall, to the bank and drove home. I was so nervous and excited 'cause I was on my own.

I will take it out one day.

The First Car of Mine

I finally got it, the first car in my life.

Aig, Monn, P Gan and I went to Dallas yesterday and stop by Sport City Toyota (at Toyota's dealer at Irving) to see a 2005 Toyota Echo. It was a tiny car with around the milage of 75,000, and in a good condition. The engine looked new. The history was clean, even though, it had been a rental car for a year. My friends helped me check everything up. P Gan also tested driving. It was good, according to my friends. Then I got it at $7000 (exclude tax, license plate, etc).

There was an accident on the way to Dallas. I also saw many remains of deers, and other animals along I-20.


This is it, my car!










Me and my car




After that, we had sushi buffet as our dinner. We was so hungry because we had waited for the dealer's process for a half day without having lunch before. We spent a night at Comfort Suites near the DFW airport.

Because I had got it yesterday, we had time to go shopping this morning. We bought some Asian groceries in Asian markets, and whatever. We also lunched at Chinese restaurant. There was roasted duck as well. It was great and not expensive.

On the way back, P Gan also helped me drive my car and let me drove it from Shreveport to Ruston. It was dark and showering, but I made us home. =)

My Final Day of Fall

Today is the last day of my classes of fall quarter. I just finished the final exam at 6 PM. I could not finish some questions. I supposed the others could also not finish them. It was not so hard but needed time.

After that Wei and Li told me that there was going to be free food at CIVIC Center, not far away from Tech. It was Thanksgiving dinner party. Despite of free food, there was free (bible) books, free nuts, free candies, etc.

Notification of Acceptance for My Paper

First, this week is the final week of fall 2009. I am sooooo busy.

However, I just got the reviews of my paper that had been submitted to PDCS 2010. There were two reviewers.

The first reviewer:
Originality Satisfactory
Contribution Satisfactory
References Good
Presentation Unsatisfactory
Language Poor

The second reviewer:
Originality Satisfactory
Contribution Good
References Good
Presentation Good
Language Satisfactory

That means it got accepted, doesn't it?

When the Time Changed

เมื่อวันอาทิตย์เพิ่งหมด daylight savings ต้องตั้งเวลาช้าลงไปหนึ่งชั่วโมง ดังนั้นจะรู้สึกว่ามืดเร็วมาก เมื่อตอนเย็นออกจากห้องเรียน ยังไม่ถึงห้าโมงมืดแล้ว แทบกรี๊ด ต้องรีบโทรหาเพื่อนให้ไปส่งที่บ้านเลย เดินกลับไม่ไหว น่ากลัว เมื่อไหร่จะได้รถซะทีเนี่ย

The Day With No Power

จริงๆ ฝนตกมาตั้งแต่เมื่อวาน วันนี้ก็ไฟดับตั้งแต่เช้า ประมาณเก้าโมงถึงบ่ายสอง เขาบอกว่า City of Ruston ตัดไฟ ไม่รู้เพราะมีทอร์เนโดฮิตที่เมืองใกล้ๆ รึเปล่า (มันจะเกี่ยวกันมั้ย) แต่วันนี้ทั้งเมืองไฟดับ ยกเว้นแต่ที่ Tech เพราะ Tech มี power plant ของตัวเอง ไปซื้อของที่ Walmart เมื่อตอนเย็น ตู้เย็นที่ Walmart ก็โล่งเชียว คงยังไม่ได้เอาของมาใส่ ยังดีที่ตู้นมเขาโหลดนมเข้ามาใส่แล้ว แถมได้รองเท้าผ้าใบมาอีกคู่ เพราะคู่เก่าเน่าไปแล้ว ฝนตกตลอดเลยลงน้ำบ่อย น้ำเข้า เท้าแฉะกันแทบทุกวัน แล้วก็ได้เมล็ดมะม่วงหิมพานต์มา ไม่อร่อยเท่าของไทย แต่ก็พอแก้ขัดได้น่ะ

Soymilk

ไม่รู้นึกอุตริอะไร ไปลองซื้อนมถั่วเหลืองมากินแทนนมสดปกติ มันเป็นของ Great Value ยี่ห้อของ Walmart ซื้อรสจืดมา ไม่อร่อยเลย เหมือนน้ำเปล่ากลิ่นเต้าหู้ T_T

คงเพราะมันเป็นรสจืด ไม่ได้ใส่น้ำตาลเหมือนน้ำเต้าหู้บ้านเรามั้ง มันเลยไม่อร่อย

ไม่เป็นไร เพื่อสุขภาพ กินมันเข้าไป

NVIDIA's Fermi

As Moayad was in GPU Technology Conference last week, he just updated us some information about new CUDA Architecture called Fermi

Fermi
- 512 CUDA cores
- 8 faster with double precision
- on-chip shared memory
- giga thread with 16 kernels in parallel
- ECC support (ability to deal with soft error

For more info, see the white paper

New Pot

Just got it today.




There was a copper line toward the bottom, do not know what it was for.

8800 GT vs GTX 295

As Himanshu has replaced the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 to the old Tesla card, I have been playing with it.

GTX 295 has 2 devices. Then when running deviceQuery, it returns that there are device 0 and 1 that have the properties as follow:

CUDA Capability Major revision number: 1

CUDA Capability Minor revision number: 3

Total amount of global memory: 939261952 bytes

Number of multiprocessors: 30

Number of cores: 240

Total amount of constant memory: 65536 bytes

Total amount of shared memory per block: 16384 bytes

Total number of registers available per block: 16384

Warp size: 32

Maximum number of threads per block: 512

Maximum sizes of each dimension of a block: 512 x 512 x 64

Maximum sizes of each dimension of a grid: 65535 x 65535 x 1

Maximum memory pitch: 262144 bytes

Texture alignment: 256 bytes

Clock rate: 1.24 GHz

Concurrent copy and execution: Yes

In simpleStreams sample code:

Device name : GeForce GTX 295

CUDA Capable SM 1.3 hardware with 30 multi-processors

scale_factor = 1.0000

array_size = 16777216

memcopy: 19.75

kernel: 19.42

non-streamed: 39.09 (39.17 expected)

4 streams: 20.88

Device name : GeForce 8800 GT

CUDA Capable SM 1.1 hardware with 14 multi-processors

scale_factor = 1.0000

array_size = 16777216

memcopy: 41.44

kernel: 39.59

non-streamed: 80.92 (81.03 expected)

4 streams: 43.94

New GeForce GTX 295

Dr. Box has ordered a new card for the research the I am working on. I have not installed it yet, probably need help from Himanshu. These are the specifications of it.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295
480 processor cores (240 per GPU)
Memory 1792 MB GDDR3 ( 896MB per GPU )
Memory Bandwidth 223.8 GB/sec

5 T-Shirts for 5 Bucks!

I was just thinking to buy some new t-shirts. And yesterday, I found some on sale in Walgreen. There were labeled of 5 for $10 on adult ones and 5 for $5 on youth ones. I picked 5 youth shirts because with my size, I could wear medium size of youth. :)

The fabric was okay but more important, they were cheap. ^^

Landscape in Latex & Tex to Word

Found in Tex Blog.

To change the whole document use
\documentclass[landscape, 12pt]{report}
or
\usepackage[landscape]{geometry}

To change only single pages
\usepackage{lscape}
with
\begin{landscape}
...
\end{landscape}


Tex to Word
latex2rtf
Converters from LaTeX to PC Textprocessors

Wet Wet Wet

I did not get burned by the sun yesterday but I got wet...

I had realized that it was going to rain sooner or later before I left home around noon. Still, I forgot my umbrella. Stupid me!

It started sprinkling when I was in the middle of the way and then pouring. I did not run after all. I knew that I could not avoid getting wet.

Alright. Just soggy...

First Day On the Road

In the afternoon, James took me to go practice driving. We started around a quarter past two and reached home around four thirty. Two hours on the road!

James took me to somewhere that the traffic was not busy. I would say... it was almost empty. I started driving with the speed of 20 mph. So slow... The area was not flat and the road was not so straight though. I had to drive up and down hills all the time. I could not control the car to be in the lane at first. It took me a while to be able to control it. After that I drove faster but never made it over 50 mph. I also could not keep the car in the right lane when I made a turn. Fortunately, the roads are empty. =S

We passed some cities which were not busy as well. And when the streets were narrow, I kept went far to the right. The oncoming cars on the left scared me. So James had to push the wheel back for me sometimes. T_T

Anyway, I could make my way home safely. =)

===

James just got me the route a moment ago. Started at A and finished at F which was our house.


View Larger Map

Time to Beat Hearts!

Yeah! I just got the learner's permit today. Let's get a car and out into the street. haha

Well, I did not think I could pass the writing test since I got about 5 from 40 questions incorrectly. At any rate, I've passed. =D

Now all I have to do is just practice driving. Let's do it!

One Week In The New House

A week has passed since I moved to the new apartment. Everything is okay.

I walked to Tech on Monday. It took me half an hour to get there. Even the weather was not so hot, I was sweaty when I got back. I also got some cookies from my neighbor; my landlady's daughter in law.

Yesterday, I spent the whole afternoon with my friends, Gan and Bell, in Shreveport. We had lunch at some sort of Vietnamese restaurant, went shopping, bought some Asian food.

Pix of My New House

Here you go!

New House

I have moved to the new apartment, next to James and P Noon. I moved on Monday afternoon and have spent all day cleaning. I am sick of it. Pray not to have to clean for years. Now I am living on my own. Hopefully everything will be alright.

They Were Really Raccoons!

When I walked to Aig and Monn's house last night (around 9), I saw them strolled around the trash by Dawg House, and there were two of them. By the time I see them I stopped and they also stopped and gazed at me. They were really raccoons with black and gray. There were black circles around their eyes, and black rings along there tails, and black feet, and furry but quite wet 'cause it had rained in the evening. They ran away when I started walking again. They were so cute though. =)

It Must Be a Raccoon!

I saw something while I was waking back from Aig and Monn's House last night. It was a small thing, sprang away from the trash by Dawg House (kindda burger house). It was so fast that I could see it in a wink. It was gray. I thought it was a cat at first. But how a cat had a bushy tail with couple of black rings at the end like that? So I supposed it had to be a raccoon, MUST be a raccoon for sure. There is no raccoon in Thailand. This was the first time I saw a raccoon in nature. How interesting. Hopefully, I can see it again tonight.

It Has Been Destroyed

There was a building that used to be an old apartment. No one lived there for months. And today it was being destructed. The workers used like a mobile with an arm for digging and scooping. It gently hit and took down the wall while someone was spraying the water on the wall.

And today is the last day of the class. I was going to have three days to finish my homework and prepare for the final test. Pray for me. =(

New Pan!

Just got a new pan from Wal-Mart.





Compared to the old ones, it is even bigger and not too heavy.


Okey. Let the first dish of it be fried Tilapia.

CUDA Materials Collection

Other than NVIDIA CUDA Programming Guide
NVIDIA CUDA Basics [PDF]
NVIDIA CUDA Basics [WMV]
NVIDIA Optimizing CUDA [PDF]
NVIDIA Advanced CUDA Webinar: Memory Optimizations [WMV]

NVIDIA: GPU Computing Online Seminar

Threads, Blocks and Grids

From NVIDIA Optimizing CUDA

“Experiment” mode discovers and saves optimal configuration

Blocks per Grid Heuristics

• Number of blocks should be more than number of multiprocessors, so all multiprocessors have at least one block to execute.
  
• Number of blocks divided by number of multiprocessors should be more than 2
  
  • Multiple blocks can run concurrently in a multiprocessor
    
  • Blocks that aren’t waiting at a __syncthreads() keep the hardware busy
    
  • Subject to resource availability –registers, shared memory
    
• Number of blocks that is more than 100 will scale to future devices

Optimizing threads per block

• Choose threads per block as a multiple of warp size to avoid wasting computation on under-populated warps and to facilitate coalescing
  
• Run as many warps as possible per multiprocessor (hide latency)
  
• Multiprocessor can run up to 8 blocks at a time
  
• Heuristics
  
  • Minimum: 64 threads per block (Only if multiple concurrent blocks)
    
  • 192 or 256 threads a better choice (Usually still enough regs to compile and invoke successfully)
    
  • However, this all depends on your computation, so experiment!
    

Zero Copy (Mapped Memory): Directly Access Host Memory from The Device

Came across with this Zero Copy which has just been introduced in CUDA 2.2 when I was looking for the concept of threads and blocks.

Quoted from NVIDIA Optimizing CUDA

• Access host memory directly from device code
• Transfers implicitly performed as needed by device code
• All set-up is done on host using mapped memory

What should be considered when using Zero Copy

• Zero copy will always be a win for integrated devices that utilize CPU memory (check this using the integratedfield in cudaDeviceProp)
  
• Zero copy will be faster if data is only read/written from/to global memory once: Copy input to GPU, One kernel run, Copy output to CPU
  
• Potentially easier and faster alternative to using cudaMemcpyAsync
  
• Current devices use pointers that are 32-bit so there is a limit of 4GB per context

Quoted from section 3.2.5.3 Mapped Memory in CUDA Programming Guide 2.2

On some devices, a block of page-locked host memory can also be mapped into the device’s address space by passing flag cudaHostAllocMapped to cudaHostAlloc(). Such a block has therefore two addresses: one in host memory and one in device memory. The host memory pointer is returned by cudaHostAlloc() and the device memory pointer can be retrieved using cudaHostGetDevicePointer() and used to access the block from within a
kernel.

Accessing host memory directly from within a kernel has several advantages:

• There is no need to allocate a block in device memory and copy data between this block and the block in host memory; data transfers are implicitly performed as needed by the kernel;
• There is no need to use streams (see Section 3.2.6.1) to overlap data transfers with kernel execution; the kernel-originated data transfers automatically overlap with kernel execution.
  

Since mapped page-locked memory is shared between host and device however, the application must synchronize memory accesses using streams or events (see Section 3.2.6) to avoid any potential read-after-write, write-after-read, or write-after-
write hazards.

A block of page-locked host memory can be allocated as both mapped and portable (see Section 3.2.5.1), in which case each host thread that needs to map the block to its device address space must call cudaHostGetDevicePointer() to retrieve a device pointer, as device pointers will generally differ from one host thread to the other.

To be able to retrieve the device pointer to any mapped page-locked memory within a given host thread, page-locked memory mapping must be enabled by calling cudaSetDeviceFlags() with the cudaDeviceMapHost flag before any other CUDA operations is performed by the thread. Otherwise, cudaHostGetDevicePointer() will return an error.

cudaHostGetDevicePointer() also returns an error if the device does not support mapped page-locked host memory.

Applications may query whether a device supports mapped page-locked host memory or not by calling cudaGetDeviceProperties() and checking the canMapHostMemory property.

CUDA Wrapping

Quoted from Section 4.1 of CUDA Programming Guide 2.2.1: A Set of SIMT Multiprocessors with On-Chip Shared Memory

The CUDA architecture is built around a scalable array of multithreaded Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs). When a CUDA program on the host CPU invokes a kernel grid, the blocks of the grid are enumerated and distributed to multiprocessors with available execution capacity as illustrated in Figure 4-1. The threads of a thread block execute concurrently on one multiprocessor. As thread blocks terminate, new blocks are launched on the vacated multiprocessors.

A multiprocessor consists of eight Scalar Processor (SP) cores, two special function units for transcendentals, a multithreaded instruction unit, and on-chip shared memory. The multiprocessor creates, manages, and executes concurrent threads in hardware with zero scheduling overhead. It implements the __syncthreads() barrier synchronization intrinsic with a single instruction. Fast barrier synchronization together with lightweight thread creation and zero-overhead thread scheduling efficiently support very fine-grained parallelism, allowing, for example, a low granularity decomposition of problems by assigning one thread to each data element (such as a pixel in an image, a voxel in a volume, a cell in a grid-based computation).

To manage hundreds of threads running several different programs, the multiprocessor employs a new architecture we call SIMT (single-instruction, multiple-thread). The multiprocessor maps each thread to one scalar processor core, and each scalar thread executes independently with its own instruction address and register state. The multiprocessor SIMT unit creates, manages, schedules, and executes threads in groups of 32 parallel threads called warps. (This term originates from weaving, the first parallel thread technology. A half-warp is either the first or second half of a warp.) Individual threads composing a SIMT warp start together at the same program address but are otherwise free to branch and execute independently.

When a multiprocessor is given one or more thread blocks to execute, it splits them into warps that get scheduled by the SIMT unit. The way a block is split into warps is always the same; each warp contains threads of consecutive, increasing thread IDs with the first warp containing thread 0. Section 2.2 describes how thread IDs relate to thread indices in the block.

Every instruction issue time, the SIMT unit selects a warp that is ready to execute and issues the next instruction to the active threads of the warp. A warp executes one common instruction at a time, so full efficiency is realized when all 32 threads of a warp agree on their execution path. If threads of a warp diverge via a data-dependent conditional branch, the warp serially executes each branch path taken, disabling threads that are not on that path, and when all paths complete, the threads converge back to the same execution path. Branch divergence occurs only within a warp; different warps execute independently regardless of whether they are executing common or disjointed code paths.

SIMT architecture is akin to SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) vector organizations in that a single instruction controls multiple processing elements. A key difference is that SIMD vector organizations expose the SIMD width to the software, whereas SIMT instructions specify the execution and branching behavior of a single thread. In contrast with SIMD vector machines, SIMT enables programmers to write thread-level parallel code for independent, scalar threads, as well as data-parallel code for coordinated threads. For the purposes of correctness, the programmer can essentially ignore the SIMT behavior; however, substantial performance improvements can be realized by taking care that the code seldom requires threads in a warp to diverge. In practice, this is analogous to the role of cache lines in traditional code: Cache line size can be safely ignored when designing for correctness but must be considered in the code structure when designing for peak performance. Vector architectures, on the other hand, require the software to coalesce loads into vectors and manage divergence manually.

Not quite understood but was trying to read more.

Out to Swim (Again)

I intended to go swimming this afternoon... Really intended!

เมื่อตอนกลางวัน เราตั้งใจจะไปว่ายน้ำ ตั้งใจมากๆ

I left my house at nearly four, felt good that the sunlight was not so strong like the other days. I was not sure how long I had been swimming. Perhaps about half an hour. Then the rain came. Though it was an indoor swimming pool, the staff called everyone to get out of the pool. Do not ask me why. I do not know.

เราออกจากบ้านเมื่อตอนเกือบสี่โมง ดีที่วันนี้แดดไม่จัดมาก ไปถึงก็ว่ายน้ำ ไม่แน่ใจว่าได้ว่ายอยู่นานเท่าไหร่ ประมาณครึ่งชั่วโมงได้มั้ง แล้วฝนก็เทลงมา จริงๆ สระมันอยู่ในตึก แต่คนดูแลก็เรียกทุกคนขึ้นจากสระ อย่าถามว่าทำไม หนูไม่ยู้

At least I got some exercises after all. I walked to the pool, swam, and walked back. hehe

เอาน่ะ อย่างน้อยหนูก็ได้ออกกำลังกายแหละ เริ่มจากเดินไปสระ ว่ายน้ำ แล้วก็เดินกลับ อิอิ

Summer Class

It has been three days since the class began. I have class everyday this quarter and there are only six weeks to the end of quarter. The weather is so hot that I do not want to step outside. :(

These days I have been addicted to comics that Pao (my senior) has introduced me. It is bad. I should have been focusing on studying and my research.

At McDonald's

Today, I had lunch at McDonald's. It was the first meal that I ate out since I got back to Ruston. It was because I wanted somewhere to hide from the sun. I had and appointment with the landlady of my new apartment at 10 AM. So I left my house around 9:10, walked, and got there around 9:40. It was so hot because of the sunlight. After having a talk with the landlady I walked back. The landlady actually offered me a ride but I would like to stop by somewhere (which i realized that it was closed on Wednesdays afterward :( ).

วันนี้ไปกินกลางวันที่แมคโดนัลด์มา เป็นมื้อแรกที่ออกไปกินข้างนอกหลังจากกลับมาถึง Ruston ทั้งนี้ทั้งนั้น เพราะไอ้เอ๋อยากหาที่หลบแดด เดินไปอพาร์ตเมนต์ใหม่ตั้งแต่เก้าโมงสิบ เพราะนัดกับเจ้าของอพาร์ตเมนต์ไว้ตอนสิบโมง ไปถึงนั่นเก้าโมงสี่สิบ อากาศโคตรร้อน แดดแรงมาก พอคุยกับเจ้าของเสร็จแล้วก็เดินกลับ จริงๆ เจ้าของบ้านก็บอกว่าจะมาส่ง แต่ไอ้เอ๋จะแวะซื้อของก่อน (ซึ่งมารู้ที่หลังว่ามันปิดวันพุธ :( เซ็งเป็ด! )

I stopped by County Market around 10:30, grabbed some bread, instant noodles, etc. Then I crossed the street, walked into McDonald's and made an order, paid for it and waited. I waited in front of the counter for couple of minutes with no one got me my meal. :(

ทีนี้ก็เลยแวะ County Market ตอนประมาณสิบโมงครึ่ง ซึ้อขนมปังกับบะหมี่กึ่งสำเร็จรูป แล้วก็อย่างอื่นอีกหน่อย แล้วก็เลยข้ามถนนไปแมค สั่งๆ จ่ายๆ แล้วยืนรอ รอเงกอยู่หน้าเคาน์เตอร์ตั้งนานก็ยังไม่มีใครเอาแฮมเบอร์เกอร์ตูมาให้

However, there at last was a black girl realized that I was waiting for something. She asked me and I told her I was waiting for my burger and fries. She got me my cheeseburger, and another black girl told me to wait for the fries. The were not done yet. After couple of minutes, and the fries were getting done, the first black girl asked me again because she saw me still waiting there.

และแล้วก็มีสาวผิวหมึกคนหนึ่งเห็นไอ้เอ๋รออะไรอยู่ พี่แกเลยเข้ามาถาม ไอ้เอ๋ก็เลยบอกไปว่ารอเบอร์เกอร์กับเฟรนช์ฟรายของตูอยู่ พี่แกก็หยิบชีสเบอร์เกอร์มาให้ สาวหมึกอีกคนก็บอกให้รอเฟรนช์ฟรายก่อน กำลังทอดอยู่ ไม่กี่นาทีต่อมา เฟรนช์ฟรายเสร็จแล้ว สาวผิวหมึกคนแรกก็มาถามต่อ ว่าตูรออะไรอีก

"My fries..." I told her.

"เฟรนช์ฟรายหนูล่ะ..."

I finally got my fries with bunch of ketchup packets. :)

ไอ้เอ๋ได้เฟรนช์ฟรายในที่สุด พร้อมกับห่อซอสมะเขืออีกกำนึง :)

Let's Jump into the Water!

I just got back from the swimming pool. It was good to get some exercises but I was so tired. Tech's swimming pool is ok, not bad but not too good. At least, it is bigger than the ones in my village back in Thailand.

เพิ่งไปว่ายน้ำมาแหละ ได้ออกกำลังบ้างก็ดีเหมือนกัน แต่โคตรเหนื่อยเลย สระว่ายน้ำที่นี่ก็ใช้ได้ ไม่ได้แย่ แต่ก็ไม่ได้ดีมาก อย่างน้อยมันก็ใหญ่กว่าสระว่ายน้ำในหมู่บ้านที่เมืองไทยละกัน

My sister had told me to go to swim sometimes. She said that, for me, it is better than other sports since I have varicose vein (blood circulation problem) on my legs. It used to cause me pain when I played badminton or other sports. And I also have allergy. Let us see if I can get rid of it!

โอ๋เคยบอกว่าให้ไปว่ายน้ำบ้าง เพราะเรามีเส้นเลือดขอดที่ขา ทำให้ปวดเวลาเล่นกีฬาอย่างอื่น แล้วก็ยังเป็นภูมิแพ้อีก ก็ดูแล้วกันว่าจะหายมั้ย

Small Party at Gan't Apartment

There was a small party (only Thais) at Gan's apartment last night. There was nothing but hamburgers and salad. Aig and Mon had prepared the hamburgers for us. They were really nice, wern't they? :) There was some alcoholic drink as well. Mon and I did not touch it for sure.

It was my first time to grill hamburgers as well. (Actually Aid, Mon and Gan did it.) They sprayed some oil, put some salt, black pepper and thyme on the beef loafs. I had no idea that there would be thyme on the hamburgers. Because there was rain all day, it was hard to lit the stove. But Gan did it at last. The hamburgers were good. That might be because we did it ourselves. :)

It's SUMMER!

กลับมาได้สามวัน เจออากาศร้อนเหยียบร้อยกันทุกวัน แทบกรี๊ด

ตอนนี้ที่ Ruston อากาศร้อนมาก เปิดแอร์กันทั้งวันทั้งคืน ค่าไฟบาน แล้วนี่มันคงจะร้อนกันไปอีกอย่างน้อยสามเดือน ละลายดีกว่า

4 Weeks in BKK

Four weeks in Bangkok were such a short period. I did many things and missed many things.

I have learned something about genetics with Biotec folk, worked with them for many days. I did not only have Thai food but Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, especially seafood which I had really missed.

I did not go travel, did not have enough time to go and no one had free time to go with me. But that was not a big deal. My purpose was to see my family.

New Interest of My Research

I just talked to the staffs of Biotec in Bangkok. They are interested in exploiting GPGPU in their application. They would like to apply some algorithms (now they are using EM) to infer haploid genotype. Anyhow this genetic area is new to me. I will study about it during summer. Hopefully I will be able to gain something to write about before fall.

Note:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplotype
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EM_algorithm

keywords: monte carlo, EM algo (Expectation-maximization algo), expectation maximization haplotyping

BKK 2... Reunion

My cousins, my sister and I got together yesterday. We had Sukiyaki for lunch, played bowling, went shopping and got home to get our grandma and had dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

My niece (almost 3) and my nephew (around 4) has much grown up. They got taller, heavier and more stubborn. Though they were so cute. :)

BKK 1... HOME!

It was a longgggg trip.
I reached home last night. My sister and my cousin were in the airport to pick up another cousin and me. My cousin came from Singapore.

Bangkok has changed a bit as I saw when I was on the way home. At lease there was some huge building I have never seen.

Nothing much for the first day. I was so tired because I didn't sleep for 2 days. I could not sleep on the flight. Do not know why.

Day 426... Ready for Going Home

Today is my last day in Ruston. Tomorrow in early morning (say tonight) I will leave for my home. Yeah!

Home Sweet Home - Mötley Crüe

My First Paper

I just submitted my first paper a minute ago. :D

The title is "Stream Experiments: Toward Latency Hiding in GPGPU", submitted to HiPC 2009.

Alright, now I am ready to go home. Soooo excited!

Day 422... Two Parties

There was a party at Wei and Lee's apartment last Friday. P Noon and I got there around 6 PM. P Noon had prepared some fried eggs with Thai style source. There were couple of egg menus on the table. Moreover, there were some chicken, vegetables, etc.

After eating we played games and talked. The game that I played was a sort of gambling. (Just for fun, no money.) Let's see the pictures



And yesterday, I was in another party since James had invited me to explore Louisiana. It was James' grandmother's birthday party. The place (Sea and Sirloin) was in the middle of nowhere. We got lost because James took the wrong turn. Instead of heading to the south, we went to the north. He realized it when we almost hit I-20 which could lead us back to Ruston in 20 minutes. Then he turned back. We left home around 3:45 and reached the restaurant around 5:20. It was fun though since he talked all the way and told me many things about country lives, red necks, nature of LA and the U.S.

James told me that there were three stages in the party like this, (just for his family) eat, talk and say goodbye at the parking lot. We exactly followed those stages. It reminded me the birthday parties of my grandparents back in Bangkok. They are almost the same but the food and languages. His family was so nice.



From that day, I have realized that Ruston is not too small. It is just small but it is not in the middle of nowhere. Some places, like Friendship, Lucky and Campti (the names of cities) are much smaller. They are so small that I wonder how the people there can live.

Day 419... Let's Party!

It is the last day of classes!!... Wooohooo~

I am looking forward to going back home. But before that, I am going to join some parties here. The Chinese students are going to have a party tomorrow night. And they have invited P Noon and me. It would be fun.

I am going to join James' grandmother's birthday on Saturday as well. He has invited me since I have never had an activity with his family while the others (Aig, Monn and P Noon) have gone on adventures with them last winter. It will be a formal dinner party. I am wondering how it is going to be.

Day 405... I Did It!

Yesterday was one of my great day because I got an email said that I have passed the CS Qualifying Exam... WooHoo! However, I still have to pass the Math one. It would be a hard part as well. :(

I have been very busy in these couple of weeks. The paper submission ends next week, and I have to get the term project done by next week as well, and another term project dues next two weeks, besides the homework and finals... Hell! :(

Day 402... Thai Noodles at Wesley

David Glasspool had invited P Noon to cook Thai food in Wesley last week. We did it today. :)

เดวิด แกลสพูล ชวนพี่นูนไปทำอาหารไทยที่เวสลีเมื่ออาทิตย์ที่แล้ว ก็เลยได้ทำกันวันนี้

It was Pud See Euw. I only helped him chop vegetables. In the meantime, Kevin, Gray and the other guys were cooking as well. I just helped them watch and taste the food. :)

มันคือผัดซีอิ้ว ไอ้เอ๋ช่วยหั่นผักอย่างเดียว ตอนนั้นเควิน เกรย์ กับอีกหลายหนุ่มก็กำลังทำกับข้าวด้วย ไอ้เอ๋ช่วยดูกับช่วยชิม :)

After dinner, we hung out there for a while, talked to people there. Then Nathan ride P Noon home.

หลังกินข้าว ก็นั่งคุยอีกพักนึง แล้วเนธันก็ขับรถพาพี่นูนกลับบ้าน

Day 397... Farang Pood Thai

ลืมเขียนถึงเพื่อนที่พี่นูนกับเอ๋รู้จักเมื่อประมาณสองอาทิตย์ก่อน เจสซิกาแนะนำให้รู้จัก เขาชื่อแคเลบ ความพิเศษของเรื่องก็คือ เขาเคยอยู่เชียงใหม่มา ๗ ปี ก็เลยพูดภาษาไทยได้ โย่ว!

I forgot to write about a guy that P Noon and I met around 2 weeks ago. (Jessica introduced him to us.) His name is Caleb. The special thing of him is he can speak Thai because he has been in Chiang Mai (a province in the north of Thailand) for 7 years. WOW!

แคเลบบอกว่าพ่อแม่เขาทำงานกับมูลนิธิ ซึ่งมีฐานอยู่เชียงใหม่ มูลนิธินี้เน้นช่วยเหลือคนแถบบ้านเรา แล้วก็ทางใต้ของจีนด้วย เขาบอกว่าพ่อแม่เขายังเคยไปช่วยคนที่เจอสึนามิด้วย

Caleb told me that his parents work for a foundation that has a base in Chiang Mai. The foundation helps people in Southeast Asia including some part of China. He told me that they were involved to help the victims in Tsunami incident as well.

Day 391... Earth Day & Another 1 Buck Lunch

Yesterday was Earth Day and it was damn hot. :(

I went to have lunch at ACM. It was another 1 buck lunch and it was good. I liked it. I do not want to compare to another 2 places. They are all good in different points. Yummm...

There were also a sort of concert in Quad (near Lady of the Mist Fountain). I had no time to stop by and join them. :(

Alright, got a bunch of things to do. I had better go

Day 385... Faculty Concert Series

I was in the Faculty Concert last night. I was the same event that I had been last year. Though there was less audience than last year, not even a half. But I also like it, especially the first song. I like the soft sounds of violins and cellos. :)

ไปดูคอนเสิร์ตมาอีกละ น่าจะเป็นอันเดียวกันกับเมื่อปีที่แล้วแหละ แต่ปีนี้คนน้อย ไม่ถึงครึ่งห้องเลย แล้วก็ไม่ได้ประทับใจเท่าเมื่อปีที่แล้ว เพลงฟังเรื่อยๆ ไม่มีอะไรให้ตื่นเต้น แต่ก็ยังชอบเพลงแรกนะ ชอบเสียงไวโอลินกับเชลโล ระหว่างแต่ละเพลงก็จะมีไอ้หนุ่มเสื้อแดง!... ออกมาเก็บเก้าอี้ อิอิ

The Program



There was also translation of sopranos.

There must be something wrong with my 8800 GT

As I needed to record the execution time of matrix multiplication in order to show the performance of streaming on my paper, I got back to the GeForce 8800 GT machine again and ran the application. Once the results came out, it looked like this:

GeForce 8800 GT
MatDim: 16
Total with non stream: 0.11
Total with 8 streams: 47001.85

How come it took so long like that! So I ran the same application on Tesla C870 and the results looked like:

Tesla C870
MatDim: 16
Total with non stream: 0.05
Total with 8 streams: 0.16

There must be something wrong with my 8800 but what is it? :(

Day 381... Calm Down Guys

I have heard about the situation in Thailand. It got me down. I totally disagree with violation, no matter what it is for. Hope they be cool down soon.

Day 375... The Days With Nothing

I have nothing to write about...

My status:
- having two exams
- looking for a conference to submit my (shoddy) paper
- preparing to visit Thailand (so excited) :)

Day 368... International Day

There was International Day yesterday. We had prepared for that event the day before yesterday. Noon cooked Pad Thai, Aig, Mon and Gan prepared Som Tum (we used cabbage instead of raw papaya) and Satay Pork. Our food was sold out within two hours. :)

I tried many kinds of food from many countries. These are some pictures.

Day 365... It has been a year

Today is the Day 365... That means I have been in Ruston for a year!!

Nothing much for today. Around noon we (Thai students) went to have lunch at Ronin Hibachi in Monroe. I was so glad because there was SUSHI!!

After lunch we went to Bao Bao to buy some food for International Day that will be held on Tuesday.

Day 359... Rabbit VS Snake

Let's see who will win.

Day 358...Wesley House Parties

เมื่อคืนมี Wesley House Parties กัน (คือ ประมาณว่าหลายๆ บ้านจัดปาร์ตี้แล้ว เราจะไปบ้านไหนก็ได้ แล้วแต่) เริ่มแรก แอชลี่มารับไปบ้านมาร์ซาก่อน ก็มีกินอะไรนิดหน่อย เจอโมยาดกับคริสตัลด้วย โมยาดทำขนมมา เป็นช็อกโกแลต แต่ไม่รู้เรียกอะไร คนอื่นๆ เลยเรียกว่า ช็อกโกแลตซูพรีมของโมยาด

There was Wesley House Parties last night. Ashley took me to Marcia's house. We hung out, met some new friends. Moayad and Krystle were there too. Moayad got us some chocolate that he had made. We (girls) called it Moyad's chocolate supreme.

เสร็จแล้วแอชลี่ก็พาไอ้เอ๋กับเมแกนไปบ้านจูลี่ต่อ บ้านจูลี่อยู่ใกล้สุสาน ถนนเส้นเดียวกับบ้านไอ้เอ๋ ตอนเข้าไปมีคนกำลังเล่นเกมกันอยู่ เรียกว่า Apples to Apples (เล่นยังไง กดอ่านที่ลิงค์เอาละกัน) ไอ้เอ๋ชนะตาเดียว แต่ก็สนุกดี

After that Ashley took Megan and me to Julie's house which is close to the grave yard and on the same street as mine. Many people were there. We played a card game called Apples to Apples. It was fun even though I won just once.

เสร็จแล้ว เดวิดก็พาไปบ้านเมแกนต่อ (คนละเมแกนกันกับข้างบน) ไปถึงที่นั่นกำลังเล่นเกม ประมาณว่าให้แต่ละคนเขียนหรือวาดอะไรก็ได้ลงในกระดาษ แล้วส่งต่อให้คนข้างๆ เขียนต่อ เขียนแบบขำๆ อะ :)

After left Julie's house, David and I walked to Megan's house. People there gathered in a room, sitting in a circle with pieces of paper and pens in their hands. Each of them wrote or drew something on the paper and passed it to the next one to write something and make it fun. :)

Day 355... Spring Time!

I have noticed these pretty flowers for a week. But just took the photos of them. :)

I took them in the afternoon. They sky was so clear that they looked very (too) bright.

Day 348... Postponed!

The CS qualifying exam has been postponed. How come? I would like to get it done as soon as possible so that I can do other things without worrying about it. T_T

By the way, it has been raining all day today. The weather is cooler of course. But I do not like to get wet.

Day 345... It's Spring!

I got up late this morning. Around 8 a.m. It was the beginning of the daylight savings time. That means the time between here and Bangkok are 12 hours different. Though I try to catch the sun these days. Hear the birds sing in the morning. How sweet...

I just rambled. It was the effect of studying hard for the upcoming exam. T_T

The weather is hot though.

CUDA Timers vs Events

I just found the answer of the question why the times I got from CUDA timer are odd.

http://forums.nvidia.com/lofiversion/index.php?t72550.html

If you want to time the kernel accurately, use CUDA events. For example, look at the simpleStreams sample in the SDK to see how to use events for timing. Event API is described in the Programming Guide. Note that events are recorded on the GPU, so you'll be timing only GPU execution. The nice benefit is that clock resolution is the period of the GPU shader clock - you should get reliable timings even from a single kernel launch.

If you want to time operations including CPU involvement (like driver overhead), you should use your favorite CPU timer. Just make sure you understand the timer resolution. Also, as seibert pointed out, make sure to call cudaThreadSynchronize() before starting and then again before stopping the timer.

Do not ever use blocking CUDA calls (like memcopies) to achieve synchronicity - that will change your timings terribly.

Paulius

I should not have used the timer but should have used event handler... T_T

Day 340... Final!

Today is the last day of this quarter and I had a final. It was in dr. Choi class. Forget that horrible test... T_T

วันนี้วันสุดท้ายของควอร์เตอร์นี้ ไอ้เอ๋มีสอบวิชาของ ดร. ชอย ช่างมันเต๊อะ... T_T

I used the microwave rice cooker again this morning too. I added 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water, let the rice soak up in the water for couple of hours and sticked it in the microwave for 11 minutes. I worked even it smelled a little odd. Do not know whether it was because of the rice or the cooker. Anyway just left it for a while and that smell would be gone.

เช้านี้ได้ใช้หม้อหุงข้าวไมโครเวฟอีกละ ใส่ข้าวสารถ้วยนึงกับน้ำสอง แล้วแช่ไว้สองสามชั่วโมง แล้วค่อยใส่ไมโครเวฟอีกสิบเอ็ดนาที ออกมาใช้ได้แฮะ ถึงจะมีกลิ่นประหลาดๆ หน่อย ซึ่งไม่รู้ว่ามาจากข้าวหรือหม้อ แต่พอปล่อยไว้ซักพักกลิ่นมันก็หายไป สรุปว่ากินได้

Day 337... Coffee House @ Wesley

I was in the Wesley Coffee House 09 last night. It was a kind of party or something. There was a magic show. It was fun. But the most thing that I like was beignets... yummy :)

Alright... Get back to the paper and the tests. T_T

Day 333... Something New

เมื่อวานเปิดตู้จดหมาย เจอกุญแจ... พออ่านแท็กที่ติดอยู่กับกุญแจ มันบอกให้เปิดตู้ข้างล่าง ซึ่งใหญ่กว่า เป็นตู้พัสดุ มันคือเครื่องเป่าผมกับหม้อหุงข้าวในไมโครเวฟที่สั่งซื้อจากอมาซอนนั่นเอง

When I opened the mailbox yesterday morning, I found a key to open another big one underneath. There was a package from amazon.com which was what I had purchased, a hair dryer and a microwave rice cooker/steamer.

เครื่องเป่าผมเล็กดี ชอบ...
I like the hair dryer. It is small.




ลองใช้หม้อหุงข้าวแล้ว เมื่อตอนกลางวัน ใส่ข้าวถ้วยนึง น้ำอีกถ้วยครึ่ง แล้วใส่ไมโครเวฟสิบนาที ออกมา หน้าตาอย่างในรูป

I just tried the rice cooker this afternoon. Added a cup of rice and 1.5 cups of water and put it into the microwave for 10 mins. When finished, it looked like this.





ข่าวแข็งไปหน่อย คราวหน้าจะลองเพิ่มน้ำเป็นสองถ้วยดู
The rice was a little bit too hard. I will try 2 cups of water next time.

By the way, the internet signal has been back today. Enjoy it now. :)

Day 332...No Internet at Home

These days, I have to come to use internet in my lab since I do not have internet at home. It is Mardi Gras break. The owner of the network signal that I am using (without telling him/her) has probably left for somewhere and turned it off. That is not a big deal anyway. I can come to the lab everyday during this break. :(

My status
- Still working on my paper.
- Still doing my take home exam.
- Still worrying about the incoming qualifying exam. :(

Day 327... Still Alive

The winter quarter is ending. I have a bunch of homework to turn in and also the term projects. I just finished all those projects and got the take-home exam which will be due next Tuesday. I also have a paper to finish by the end of this month. After the paper, I can start studying for the qualifying exam.

Lots of things to do.

Day 319... Hang out with Megan/Give Blood

เมื่อเช้า ไปกินข้าวเช้ากับเมแกน ที่ชิคเก้นฟิลเล่ อยู่ในมหา'ลัย กินบิสกิตประกบไก่ทอด อร่อยดี แล้วก็นั่งคุยกันอีกนิดนึง เมแกนก็พาไปดูหมาที่ร้านสัตว์เลี้ยงในดาวน์ทาวน์ เมแกนบอกว่ามาดูหมาที่นั่นบ่อยๆ แต่ไม่เคยซื้ออะไรเลย ลูกหมาน่ารักโคตร! คึกมากๆ แล้วก็ยังมีหนูขาวกับเฟอร์เร็ตขายอีก สำหรับหนู ถ้าซื้อห้าตัวจะแถมตัวนึง เพราะมันออกลูกเร็ว ในกรงยังมีลูกหนูตัวแดงๆ อยู่เลย ส่วนเฟอร์เร็ตก็น่าร้ากกก ในร้านมีอยู่สองตัว ถ้าไม่รู้ว่าเฟอร์เร็ตหน้าตาเป็นยังไง มีรูปจากเน็ตให้ดู

I had breakfast with Megan this morning. She took me to Chicken fil-A which is on campus. The chicken biscuit was good. After we talked for a while, Megan took me to a pet shop in downtown. She said she often goes there to see puppies but usually buys nothing. Those puppies were so adorable! They were so hyper. There were also white mice and ferrets for sell. For the mice, if you buy 5 mice you can get the 6th one free... ha ha! They multiply very fast. I saw some babies which were pink in the cages as well. The ferrets were so cute. There were couple of ferrets in the shop. I do not know how to explain what they look like. So, got some pictures from the internet.

นี่ไง...
Here they are...


น่ารักเนอะ...
So cute, aren't they?...

Before lunch, I went to give blood at Tolliver Hall. It had been the second time since I was here. Got an XL T-shirt again. I should probably give them away somehow.

ก่อนกินข้าวก็ไปให้เลือด เป็นครั้งที่สองแล้วตั้งแต่มาอยู่ที่นี่ แล้วก็ได้เสื้อยืดขนาด XL มาอีกแล้ว สงสัยคงต้องให้คนอื่นไปบ้างแหละ

Day 316...Girl's Night

Last night was Girl's Night that girls gathered at Wesley Foundation to hangout, eat, see movie, play wii and there was also tye-dye. I have nothing to say. Just have a look.

Oh... Girls, do not expect to see boys in this event. :)

Day 313...Hang out with Marcia

อย่างจั่วหัวเลย เมื่อตอนเย็นไปตะแล๊ะแต๊ดแต๋กับมาร์ซา (เจ้าตัวบอกว่าออกเสียงงี้อะ) ที่ร้านกาแฟ น่าจะชื่อเครสเซนต์ซิตี้นะ ถ้าจำไม่ผิด ไปซดลาเต้กัน กินกับอะไรบางอย่างที่เรียกว่าเบเนต์

As the title, I hung out with Marcia in a coffee shop (Crescent City Coffee, I guess) this evening. We had some latte and Beignets.





เหมือนปาท่องโก๋เลยอะ เหมือนมากๆ แค่มีน้ำตาลโรยหน้าเท่านั้นเอง มาร์ซาบอกว่ามันเป็นของนิวออร์ลีนซ์ ส่วนชื่อเบเนต์น่าจะเป็นภาษาฝรั่งเศส

It is similar to what we call Pa-Tong-Go in Thailand. Very very similar. Just put sugar powder on it. Marcia said it is popular in New Orleans. The name "Beignets" is probably French.

เห็นแล้วคิดถึงปาท่องโก๋อะ ปาท่องโก๋กับน้ำเต้าหู้ ง่ำๆ

Oh...I miss Pa-Tong-Go very much. Pa-Tong-Go with hot soy milk...yum yum.

Day 310...Tongkatsu by Sunghee

เมื่อกลางวันซองฮี ทำทงคัตสึ(ไม่รู้ว่าหมูหรือไก่ชุบแป้งทอดนี่แหละ) ให้ชิม จริงๆ มันเป็นอาหารญี่ปุ่น แต่ซองฮีบอกว่าทำแบบเกาหลี ก็อร่อยดีนะ

Sunghee cooked me Tongkatsu for lunch. I have no idea if it was pork or chicken but it was tasty. She said it was actually Japanese food but she cooked in Korean style.

Day 309...Concert

I went to the concert at Wesley Foundation last night. Here are some photos...for you who want to see my friends' and my pictures. :)

Day 307...TV Shows

ช่วงนี้กำลังติดหนังอยู่สองเรื่อง ดูจาก Hulu มันคือ Legend of the Seeker กับ Crusoe จริงๆ ก็ยังไม่เคยอ่านหนังสือนะ แต่ชอบ Crusoe เพราะไอเดียบ๊องๆ ของมัน (ในวิดีโอเรียกอย่างนี้จริงๆ นะ)

There are two american series that I am following from Hulu, Legend of the Seeker and Crusoe. I have not even read the novel before, but I like Crusoe because of "mad idea" in this story. (It is really called mad idea as in the following videos.)



โคตรชอบบ้านต้นไม้เลย แล้วก็ยังมีที่คั้นน้ำผลไม้ ทำจากกะลามะพร้าว รางน้ำกับถังเก็บน้ำ ล้อข้ามช่องเขา พวกกับดักทั้งหลายแหล่ แต่สงสัยอย่าง ห้องน้ำอยู่ไหนหว่า

The treehouse is awesome and I also like the juicer made from coconut shells, the barrel and gutter, the hamster wheel to cross the chasm, those traps, and so on. But I am curious where the bath is.

Crusoe's Treehouse


His Gadgets


อยากอยู่บ้านแบบนี้มั่งมั้ย

Wanna live in this house?

Concept of Streams in CUDA

According to the model in the previous post, I have a feeling in my gut that there might not be correct. There would be something else so I get to look into the concept of streams again.

Excerpt from page 41, section 4.5.1.5 of Programming Guide: Asynchronous Concurrent Execution.

Applications manage concurrency through streams. A stream is a sequence of operations that execute in order. Different streams, on the other hand, may execute their operations out of order with respect to one another or concurrently.

Any kernel launch, memory set, or memory copy function without a stream parameter or with a zero stream parameter begins only after all preceding operations are done, including operations that are part of streams, and no subsequent operation may begin until it is done.

Still cannot see what is wrong with it. T_T

Memory Copy Time Models

From today's meeting, Aig and James helped me to solve the problem that the completion time in simpleStreams is much higher than the expected time. And we also came up with some equations to model the completion time. There should be some diagram to explain but I have not drown it yet.

The equations to calculate the total time of memory copy are:
T_S = n(t + l), for synchronous memory copy
T_A = (n/s)t + ((n/s) + s - 1)l, for asynchronous memory copy.

n = number of data
s = number of streams
l = latency or overhead
t = copy time

Another idea that James raised in the meeting is about data scheduling, to keep the GPU occupied while the data are being copied from the CPU.

Thank Aig and James for your help. ;)

Day 300...Wesley Foundation & Having a Car

เช้า (สาย) นี้ไปแอ่วที่เวสลี่ฟาวเดชันแต่หัววัน กีดี ได้คุยกับคนเยอะแยะ เด็กๆ (มันเด็กกว่าหนู) ที่นั่นน่ารักดี แล้วก็เลยได้ไปช่วยเขาตักข้าวโพดด้วย ก็ดีนะ ดีกว่าอยู่บ้านแล้วคิดงานไม่ออกแหละ

Today, I went to Wesley Foundation earlier than usual and that was a good opportunity to hang out and talk. People there were so nice. I also helped them to serve corns. That was fun, better than just stay home and be obsessed by the research...HAHA!

ได้คุยกับเจมส์เรื่องรถด้วย เจมส์บอกว่าถ้าจะมีรถคงต้องจ่ายซัก 400 เหรียญต่อเดือน เป็นพวกค่าเบี้ยประกัน ค่าน้ำมัน อะไรเทือกนั้น เพราะฉะนั้น ถ้ายังมีไม่ถึงเดือนละ 1500 เหรียญก็ช่างหัวมันก่อน ไม่มีรถก็ไม่เป็นไร (แต่เกรงใจเอกกับมนแฮะ) เมแกนมันยังขายรถไปขี่จักรยานแทนเลย อีกอย่าง ถ้ามีรถก็ต้องดูแล ไอ้เอ๋ทำไม่เป็นอะ

I also talked to James about how much I would have to spend on a car. He said it would cost me around $400 a month (for insurance, gas and such things). So forget it if I cannot earn $1500 per month. Having no car, just having no legs. Even my friend, Megan, just sold her car and get anywhere by her bike. It is not bad to have no car because if I have one, I will have to take care of it and I do not know how.

ยังไงก็แล้วแต่ ไว้ถ้ามีซักเดือนละ 1500 เมื่อไหร่ค่อยคิดอีกที

Anyway, think of it again when I earn 1500. :)

Various Size of Matrix Multiplication

I am trying to come up with a model, so have to try to do observe behavior of some other applications. It is now a turn of Matrix Multiplication (without streams). Both matrixes had the same dimensions and ran on 8800 GT.

BLOCK_SIZE 1 (Matrix size of 5 x 5 elements)
copy time of A = 0.027000 ms
copy time of B = 0.023000 ms
kernel time = 0.037000 ms
time of result copy = 0.026000 ms

BLOCK_SIZE 2 (Matrix size of 10 x 10 elements)
copy time of A = 0.028000 ms
copy time of B = 0.023000 ms
kernel time = 0.059000 ms
time of result copy = 0.031000 ms

BLOCK_SIZE 4 (Matrix size of 20 x 20 elements)
copy time of A = 0.034000 ms
copy time of B = 0.029000 ms
kernel time = 0.059000 ms
time of result copy = 0.028000 ms

BLOCK_SIZE 8 (Matrix size of 40 x 40 elements)
copy time of A = 0.039000 ms
copy time of B = 0.029000 ms
kernel time = 0.060000 ms
time of result copy = 0.044000 ms

BLOCK_SIZE 16 (Matrix size of 80 x 80 elements)
copy time of A = 0.054000 ms
copy time of B = 0.046000 ms
kernel time = 0.056000 ms
time of result copy = 0.093000 ms

BLOCK_SIZE 32 (Matrix size of 160 x 160 elements)
copy time of A = 0.138000 ms
copy time of B = 0.119000 ms
kernel time = 0.111000 ms
time of result copy = 0.247000 ms
Test FAILED (GPU returns 0.00)

#####

Next...
Multiplier (of BLOCK_SIZE) should be varied to get more results from various dimension of matrixes.

Day 297...Martin Luther King, Jr Day

It is a holiday. (Find out about who is Martin Luther King, Jr here.)

At the end of Feb, there will be another holidays called Mardi Gras. This is a carnival just in LA. The well-known celebration is in New Orleans. People would have fun but I will stay home for sure.

Just want you to know how free I am in this quarter. It would be so boring if I do not have my research and internet.

By the way, I am using Safari as my default browser because my Firefox keeps crashing. I have no idea what is wrong with it. Safari is faster though.

Well. I will get back to write my paper. My first draft is crap!

Day 294...Eat for Hibernating

หนาว...

ไม่รู้ว่าเพราะพี่จ๋าไม่อยู่ ไม่มีคนทำอะไรหย่อยๆ ให้กิน หรือเพราะอากาศมันหนาว ไอ้เอ๋ถึงได้หาของกินอยู่ตลอดเวลา เหมือนหมีเตรียมจำศีล

ปกติเริ่มออกหากินตอนเช้า 8 - 8:30 กินอีกที 11 - เที่ยง มื้อเย็นก็ตอน 5 โมง แต่ช่วงนี้
10 โมง หนูหิวแย้ว
บ่ายสอง หิวอีกแย้ว
สองทุ่ม หิวงี้ดๆ

ท่าทางจะสะสมไขมันเตรียมจำศีลจริงๆ

อ้อ เมื่อกี้ไป walmart กับ เอก-มน มา งงตัวเองว่าทำไมซื้อไปซื้อมาได้แต่อาหารเช้าวะ แล้วก็ได้กางเกงอยู่บ้านมาตัวนึง (จริงๆ มันเป็นกางเกงนอนน่ะ แต่ไอ้เอ๋จะใส่อยู่บ้าน)



ลองใส่แล้ว อุ่นสบายโคตรๆ ผ้าเบา นิ่ม ขนาด XS พอดีเด๊ะ ราคา 9 เหรียญ (ประมาณสามร้อยกว่าๆ)

Varying the Size of Block in Grid

It just came up in my mind that the block size in the previous test has been fixed to 512, one-dimension. But what would the results be if it changed.

By fixing the number of streams to 8 and the amount of data to 16M, the results are:

512x1
memcopy: 41.35
kernel: 39.56
non-streamed: 80.28 (80.92 expected)
8 streams: 42.80 (44.73 expected)
-------------------------------

256x1
memcopy: 41.36
kernel: 0.13
non-streamed: 40.75 (41.49 expected)
8 streams: 42.80 (5.30 expected)
-------------------------------

128x1
memcopy: 41.36
kernel: 0.13
non-streamed: 40.74 (41.49 expected)
8 streams: 42.81 (5.30 expected)
-------------------------------

64x1
memcopy: 41.36
kernel: 0.12
non-streamed: 40.75 (41.48 expected)
8 streams: 42.82 (5.29 expected)
-------------------------------

and the test failed for 1024x1 block size. Confused!!

Day 289...Term Project and Regency Commercial

เพิ่งทำ term project เสร็จไปอันนึง เป็นวิชา Data structure ให้เขียน Turing machine simulator

ตอนที่หา เจอแบบ Java กะว่าจะเอาโค๊ดมันมาแกะ แต่ไม่ไหวแฮะ ไม่เคยเขียน Java ดูแล้วมึน เลยเอาใหม่ หาที่เขียนด้วย C เอามาแล้วลอง compile ดู ดันไม่ผ่าน เวรกรรม

เขียนเองมั่ง ใช้ C ดันไม่มีปัญญาเขียนให้มัน handle files อีก

ใช้ PHP ก็ได้ฟระ ของถนัด เขียนเป็น web based ก็เลยได้มาดังนี้
http://supada.awardspace.com/csc438_tm/tm.php

เสร็จแล้วก็ลันล้า

เมื่อวานดูข่าวเมืองไทยทาง TrueLife TV เห็นมีเลือกตั้ง แต่นั่นไม่ใช่ประเด็น พอดีช่วงโฆษณา ไปเห็นโฆษณารีเจนซี่ชุดวรรณคดีไทย สวยอะ ก็เลยไปหาใน Youtube แล้วก็ได้มา ^^







ทำ Playlist ไว้ด้วย ^^

รีเจนซี่ทำมาทีไร สวยทุกที ชอบ...

Day 284...After the Break

เปิดเรียนวันแรกหลังปีใหม่ ไม่มีอะไรเลย Clayton มาสอนแทน Dr. Box นิดนึง แล้วก็ไปเตรียม Demo วันพุธต่อ

อ้อ ตานี่นัดประชุมเพื่อนๆ วันนี้ด้วย ฟิตจริงๆ

ตอนนี้กลัวอย่างเดียวว่าการบ้านจะเยอะ หยุดอยู่บ้านนิ่งๆ มาสองอาทิตย์เต็มๆ จนเริ่มขี้เกียจตัวเป็นหนอน

ไม่มีอะไรจะรายงาน ว่าด้วยเรื่องสภาพอากาศดีก่า

เมื่อวันเสาร์ อาทิตย์ที่ผ่านมา อากาศร้อนอะ อันนี้ร้อนจริงๆ นะ ประมาณ 70 F ก่าๆ ได้ พอมาเมื่อวาน ฝนตก เย็นยวบลงมาเหลือ 40 F หลังฝนตกแล้วมันจะหนาวเป็นปกติ

ช่วงนี้ยังมีฝนต่อไปเรื่อยๆ เอาพรมเช็ดเท้าในห้องน้ำออกไปตากไม่ได้ เริ่มเหม็นอับละ ทำไงดีหว่า - -'

simpleStreams :: Graph of the First Results

As I have told that I have been trying to get the results from running simpleStreams with varying parameters (on GeForce 8800GT). Here is the graph.



Seems like running with 8 streams could be the best solution for this graphic card, especially from 512K of data set or above. That might be because of the limitation of the card. :)

Day 279...Wired Science

Wired Science is now my favorite show. I watch it from Hulu.com.

This is an example.
Body Builder


Deep Brain Simulation


Came across Digital Morphology Library website when I was watching this show as well.

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