Powerpoint Editing Tips

I have been working on editing an important talk slides recently. Since it cost me lots of time and energy, it's better to keep a record of the editing tips for future use. There are some useful tips to make a Microsoft powerpoint presentation look professional:

1. Video editing
I need to show many videos in my presentation. Some need to be edited to show a "zoom-in" version of that video to emphasize on details of a particular region. Some need to be split to show only a portion of the videos. There is also a need to change among different video file formats (.mp4, .avi, .wmv etc...). I used the following software for those purposes:
(a) Video split: I tried Windows Movie Maker on a .mp4 video, the progressing bar always stopped at 99%... which was completely annoying. It's quite common for Microsoft to produce such crap though. Then I tried a free software Free Video Cutter. It's very simple to use. However, the starting and ending frame cannot be set precisely. Finally, I used a free video converter Any Video Converter to change the .mp4 to .avi, then use Camtasia Studio to do the splitting job.
(b)Video converter: Recommend a free software Any Video Converter.
(c)Extract images from a video: The free software Avidemux 2.5 is able to extract any image frames from an .avi video.

2. Image editing
To make a slide show using some of the materials from papers (mainly done in Latex), it always require the following functionalities:
(a) Make a .gif image from several images: Showing a .gif image is more convenient and efficient than showing the playing the whole video. Once some important image frames are extracted from the video, you can find a website to combine those images to a .gif. There are quite many websites doing this for free, just Google it...
(b) Concert .eps image to any type of image: If you have .eps images as usually used in Latex editing, you can change the format to other formats (.jpg, .png. .bmp etc.) on a website (http://www.converthub.com/) for free.
3. Show latex formulas and tables nicely in ppt
If you type the formulas by powerpoint Equation Editor, it will show very ugly during slides show. And it cost lots of time to type the long formulas in ppt. The best way to show a Latex equation as you already had it, is to convert the Latex equation to an image. Then insert the image to ppt. Some websites provide this service for free. One website I found very useful was http://www.codecogs.com/latex/eqneditor.php
For tables, however, I didn't find a good way to convert a Latex table to show nicely in ppt. Using a snapshot of the table in ppt is very ugly. So I re-made the table manually in ppt. They did look better than the snapshots.
4. Animations
Making animations is a good way to visualize abstract methods. Just customize the animation in ppt, and use some simple animations like "appear","disappear", and set "timing" or "path" for more complicated animations.

The words I like most in "Shanghai Girls"

I finished reading "Shanghai Girls" by Lisa See. There is one paragraph that I like most. It is so true and very insightful.

"So often we're told that women's stories are unimportant. After all, what does it matter what happens in the main room, in the kitchen, or in the bedroom? Who cares about the relationships between mother, daughter, and sister? A baby's illness, the sorrows and pains of childbirth, keeping the family together during war, poverty, or even in the best of days are considered small and insignificant compared with the stories of men, who fight against nature to grow their crops, who wage battles to secure their homelands, who struggle to look inward in search of the perfect man. We're told that men are strong and brave, but I think women know how to endure, accept defeat, and bear physical and mental agony much better than men. The men in my life -- my father, Z.G, my husband, my father-in-law, my brother-in-law, and my son --- faced, to one degree or another, those great male battles, but their hearts --- so fragile --- wilted, buckled, crippled, corrupted, broke, or shattered when confronted with the losses women face every day. As men, they have to put a brave face on tragedy and obstacles, but they are as easily bruised as flower petals."

Canon T2i + EF-S 50mm Lens, First Shots

I got my first SLR camera - Canon T2i, with Canon EF-S 50mm lens. The first shots were taken below:

My lovely naughty sweet cat, f2.8 1/60 ISO400

A close up shot, f4 1/100 ISO 100

Another close up shot, f4 1/60 ISO 100

Third close up shot, f4 1/80 ISO 125

Squirrel in motion, f2 1/800 ISO 100

Pigeon in motion, f2.5 1/500 ISO 100

Gym, f10 1/200 ISO 100

Another landscape, f8 1/160 ISO 100

Water, f10 1/200 ISO 100

Night shot outside a cinema, f2 1/60 ISO 320, no flash

Squirrels on Campus

One of the very few attractive scenes on campus is squirrels all around. I recorded them randomly while walking on campus. I love those cute babies. They always have a way of living healthy and happily.

Whose back is it?

It's mine...

Too hot here, I need to cool my big belly...

Do you have any food better than grass?

Heat in Houston

I woke up last night because of the heat at this time in Houston. Turning on the air conditioner, I can't get back to sleep but thinking over my 4 years' life in this city.

Weather: Bigger sun than other places. Houston has the biggest sun I have ever seen, and the most miserable thing here. In my 6 years' living in Shanghai, I never had one single acne. But since I lived in Houston, the acne started growing on my face. It was due to the horrible heat and aggressive sunshine of this horrible city, burning my face, body, brain, heart... 2 years ago, I traveled to London, where I met the nicest sun, it was always shy to meet people. I walked on the streets everyday with incredible ease, because of cool air, no sunshine, and fashionable people around. Acne immediately vanished, and skin looked softer because of the humidity. I believe if my descendents are still living in Houston, after 200 years, their skin color will turn to black, so better to leave this horrible place soon.

Transportation: An interesting thing for Houston is this city doesn't have a good public transportation system, and is still called a 'CITY'. Everybody needs a car to live here. They need a car, a google map or a GPS to go to work, eat, shopping, or meet friends. They need to schedule every trip. You can't go everywhere freely with mood change, because you need to SCHEDULE it for driving routes, parking lots, checking store hours etc.! Even a taxi needs a reservation. Houston is the first city I lived with no taxis on the streets, no people walking on the streets... Why it's still called a CITY?

Environment: Everything is bigger in Houston than other cities: Bigger sized people, bigger seats on the bus, bigger cars (Texas people like trucks), bigger meals... With everything bigger, they consume more food, more gas, more electricity, more resources. Every house/ apartment has central air conditioner. While I was cooling my bedroom, I had to also cool the living room, where only a cat is there. And I also had to cool the kitchen, where there is no living thing there... If you wanna cool yourself in a house, you have to cool the whole house. What a huge waste of energy! There is no recycling services as convenient as my home country. Everybody throw away used glass bottles, cans. Plastic bags are still widely used in super markets, while it's already prohibited in my home country. I don't know how Americans have the faces to blame other countries for environmental problems, while they are consuming and wasting a huge portion of the world's energy and resources.

Shows and Fashion: This city has nothing to do with fashion. Texas people don't like fashion, they like cows. The most welcomed event in Houston is Rodeo every year, where farmers come to town to show their cows, horses, lamps... My apartment is walking distance to the Rodeo event. But I never got time or one piece of interest to attend. Some people like to take their kids to see the lamps, cows, horses...but I won't. What's the point? Comparing to their passion to Rodeo, they had limited passion to concerts. Lady Gaga's tickets were not sold well in Houston, mainly because Houston people don't have the taste. They don't know what is fashion about, they wear mug like T shirts around their fat sluggish body everyday to work. They don't care how they look.

Shopping: When I was doing an internship in Shanghai. My internship office was located in a 50 floors big building, with shopping mall, restaurants, theater all together. When I finished work and stepped out of my office, I always do some window shopping there, or invite my friend for dinner in nearby restaurants. Work was intense but life was so comfortable. You can never do this in Houston. There are only limited number of shopping malls in Houston. Not going or always going there will make your life equally boring. There are very few fashionable clothes in the malls either. Most of the clothes are over-sized ugly casual clothes for ugly fat people. There is no random stores along the streets because there are no people walking on the streets. So random window shopping was not possible. For many times I feel like living in the countryside of my home country, although Houston is ranked one of the biggest cities in US...

After thinking over, the conclusion is I can't find 'life' here. I don't feel any connection with this city, even after living here for 4 years. I will leave Houston, and I will forget about this city the second day. On the contrary, I felt an incredible connection with Paris in 4 days' trip, without knowing their language. Paris is fashionable, creative, attractive and irresistible. The most important thing is I felt a life in Paris! After back from the short trip, all I thought about was to visit Paris again. Now I understand connection doesn't necessarily build on time. It builds on internal feelings. It works for people too. Some people have natural closeness with specific people, but not with others. I did get along with some people for quite long time (several years), like classmates, roommates etc, but lost contact after graduation. And they became strangers again. However, the real friends, who shared similar taste, hobbies or personalities with me, are always warm and enjoyable to talk with, even after losing contact for some time. Houston is a stranger to me, and will always be a stranger.

Paris --- Day 4, Champs Elysees

I was in desperate need of some dresses, but didn't want to buy them in Galeria Lafayette because they were all over-priced. So I started the trip today with no clear destination, just took Metro to the station close to Lourve. Much to my surprise, when I stepped out of the Metro station, I saw the scene from the film "The Devil Wears Prada"! I recognized it for the first sight! It is exactly the scene where Andrea threw her cell phone... Amazing!

Scene in "The Devil Wears Prada"

Small Palace

Big Palace

Deciding my way is my weakest point of my whole life. After detours and detours, I finally got to the right track of Champs Elysees... (I really wish to follow someone to walk next time) The fancy stores immediately captured my eyes and I shopped a great deal of dresses and a bag from Zara, NAFNAF, Promod, Monoprix etc... Some were French brands that one can never find in US. After shopping in Paris, I wouldn't have any desire to shop in US for a while. The US people just can't make that design and looking, no matter how much they cost. They can't do it!

The toilet below was the most expensive toilet I had in Paris. It cost me 2 Euros. But after that, I felt it was worth the money. See the beautiful walls of the toilet, you can never imagine it is actually a toilet. French people have this creative ideas and designs even for a toilet. What an amazing place!

Creative Toilet

The other day my friend talked to me saying I should just follow my belly. I said my belly would actually follow me anyway. But see the status below, it is sometimes not true...

Where is his belly?

Where is his belly??

Mom and baby kissing

Paris --- Day3, Louvre to Notre Dame

I planned to take a Metro to Notre Dame today, and walked along the river to Louvre, but I missed the correct train stop, and arrived at the Louvre stop. Instead of walking along the river (which I already did last time I visited Paris), I went to the Palace first, then walked along Rue Du Street to Notre Dame.

Glass Pyramid

One Side of Louvre

Interesting Cylinders on the Palace Square

Collection of Tobacco Pipes

Collection of Badges

Collection of Designer Brands (LV, Hermes, Chanel...)

The Palace Garden

Interesting Building on Rue Du Street

Fancy Bakery Store

Notre Dame

Finally a Good Meal :D

Paris --- Day2, Shopping at Lafayette

Louis Vuitton is the hottest designer brand in Lafayette. I got there around 10am, the waiting line outside was already long, full of Asian (especially Chinese) customers.

The mall is huge. It looks elegant and fashionable from the inside, while historical and steady from the outside. What sophisticated feeling it is...

It took me much energy and time to wait in line for the Longchamp and LV bags, getting my initials hot stamped on the wallet, and deal with tax return documentations. It was pretty good deal to buy LV bags here with 12% tax return. It saves almost $100 on the single wallet below!

Things on the photo above were my shopping fruits today --- A man's wallet with my initials hot stamped on it, a small size longchamp tote, a Burberry scarf, and a pair of baby's rabbit shoes.:) I also bought some chocolates and Foie Gras. So tired today, need a good sleep and meal!

Paris --- Day1, Arriving

This big buddy below took me from Houston to London. It was my first experience with British Airways. I was surprised that there was no vacant seat for that flight. Seems traveling season is coming! I had little complain about the flight, better entertainment videos than American Airlines, but less space for each passenger than Virgin Atlantic, worse food than Air of France. I did have some complain about the London airport, where I transit to Paris. The transit was very troublesome. London is a big and busy city, but the airport is very tiny. So passengers need to take a bus from the airplane to the landing terminal, some also need to take a bus from the landing terminal to the transit terminal. Furthermore, even connecting in the same terminal, one needs to take a train to transit to different gates of the SAME terminal. There was also duplicated security check procedures, officials' slow movements... Anyhow, it took me 1 hour to transit to the right gate, then 30 mins for the airplane to take off, the actual flight in the air took only 30 mins to Paris...

It was smooth experience after I got out of the Paris CDG airport, since I did research on Metros/RER transportation system quite well. To ease the ticket purchase experience and save money, the best way for tourists traveling less than a week was to buy a Navigo Decouverte. It was a one week pass for all Metro/RER transits, covering a selection of zones. Airport is in Zone5 and my traveling mostly will happen in Zone1 & Zone2, so I purchased a Navigo Decouverte covering Zone1 to Zone5. It cost 38 Euros including 5 Eruros' card fee. With this card in hand, it solves all the transportation for the following days. I don't need to struggle with French on the ticket vending machines, or take a taxi to the airport.
After 13 hours' flight and 1.5 hour's train, I was very sleepy and hungry when I finally got to the hotel, with a little delight --- The hotel is operated by a Chinese old man, who could speak Chinese and quite friendly and helpful. The hotel itself was also quite good, it locates in Porte d' Italie (Chinatown area) with lots of restaurants and Metros around. The hotel room was small, simple, clean, with all the necessities, and only cost 60 Euro/per night. After a big meal and a big sleep, I stepped out to see the surrounding area --- Porte d'Italie (Chinatown)

The Chinatown area covers 4-6 blocks, full of Chinese shops, restaurants, and facilities. Walking on the street was a great joy. Trees are tall and old, shadowing most of the sidewalk. The sunshine was very gentle. It felt like walking on some old streets in Shanghai, even the weather was much alike in this season --- little sunshine, big trees, humid, and cool weather, shops around. I miss it... Living in Texas for 4 years only make me remember the aggressive sunshine burning my skin and brain, nothing else.

It seems the Chinese community has a big impact here, they have their own church.

I was looking for a convenience store and someone pointed me to the store called ``Ed'', what a weird name... Inside the store, a few teenager black girls came to me and asked me something in French. I told them I don't understand French, they need to ask in English. Then the black girls said something then started laughing. I didn't know what they were talking about. I was thinking watching their ugly faces was really like watching animals in the zoo, e.g., monkeys talking and laughing. When I went out of the store, I realized they probably made fun of me...

After walking around for a while, I stopped at a PHO restaurant and ordered a beef PHO and hot soil milk. Chinese food fits my stomach best! Heading to Lafayette tomorrow!

Meal Today

I'm in desperate need of acid food today. So I made the following fruits salad, with tomato sauce on top of it, just in case if it's still not acid enough...


Then I took some cooked beef with smashed sweet potato, with black pepper on top.

Served with a cup of orange juice. American style, cooked in 10 mins, no oil, acid enough.:)

New Dishes

Tried two American dishes recently. Tasted unexpectedly good!

Sleeping Tiger

1. Thank god/dog

2. I grow taller in my dream...

3. Work too hard...

4. Listening to Gaga...