暑い〜

熱死啦
It's so hot...

Changed the theme to remind my self of the cool weather of Hokkaido

New Taiwan Lancer...

據說三菱 Lancer 2008 出新款，一群人在Mobile01論壇上喊醜，我就去網站逛逛。

基本上我覺得還不錯，中華三菱的「台製改版」比和泰Toyota好多了。原本的跑車氣息「鯊魚頭」車頭被修得保守一點，不過這樣很像日規 Toyota Mark X，轎跑氣息還在啦！

But anyway, 重點來了。不管你對車有沒有興趣，都可以到那網站看看。一來，Flash動畫做得不錯華麗，背景音樂很好聽；二來，就當大家來找碴吧！下面那一排menu中左邊數來第五個，有個「動力Engie」？！"Engie"是啥？我怎麼看不懂？字典也不到啊orz

Lancer Fortis 宣傳網站

New blog look!

It's been years after I last changed the banner on the top of this blog.

Well, as I came back from Hokkaido, I got tons of great photos. And thought it would be nice to make the photos into banners, providing a taste of mother nature. So, now it's water drops on grass, a photo I took near a waterfall at Siretoko, Hokkaido.

I've also prepared a banner made from another photo of the shallow sea water of Siretoko. I'll switch to that when I start to think the summer is so hot that we need some cool feel from the sea water.

Someone tell me what is happening?! (edited)

為甚麼我們上新聞了？！
Yahoo news | 北海道單車遊 睡公廁終生回味

恩，應該來說明一下記者亂生的部分（似乎記者採訪完都一定會加油添醋一下，而在此過程中，錯誤的資訊就會越來越多...orz）

首先呢，宇潔不是台大畢業的!!
接著，我們一行六個人中，也不是全都台大畢業生。我們台大單車社是很開放的，很多外校的車友來玩，因此本團中台大的只有兩個，其中一個還沒畢業呢。另，還有一位朋友是清大車社的（在此要幫友社宣傳一下）。
也許記者想說台大車社的人理所當然都是台大學生，不過誰叫我們是個開放的怪怪的社團呢？
有朋友跟我說全都是台大的，會讓新聞比較聳動。不過個人認為，我們跨校交流之成功更是難得。

然後呢，我們其實也沒有「精準的里程數計算，進行周延規畫」。旅遊不隨性，會少很多樂趣與興致的。一切計畫都是粗略估計，臨場隨機應變。好的地圖就是這樣好用，快速研究一下就可以改變行程。

「想不到次日清晨一群烏鴉把他們的早餐都吃光，連整袋食物都不見，研判可能是當地出沒的狐狸幹的好事。」這似乎斷句有點問題，記者趕稿壓力不小吧XD 烏鴉把早餐吃掉了是一個確定的獨立事件，怎麼會「研判是狐狸幹的好事呢？」。其實是某一次食物不見了，因為沒有烏鴉啄食的亂象，又覺得在當時的狀況下（很冷又下雨的山上、只偷有香氣的澱粉類，不偷罐頭、日本人很守法...），我個人自行推測應該識別種動物，像很容易看到的狐狸偷的。烏鴉吃掉的，是另外一次，我清晨4點被塑膠袋摩擦跟烏鴉低空飛過的聲音吵醒。先聽到幾隻烏鴉環繞著叫阿叫，接著全部閉嘴，只剩拍翅膀的風聲。（真賊，還知道要閉嘴避免被發現）此時我偷偷從帳篷探出頭（我想看到現行犯），看到一隻烏鴉著地，左右看一下，往前跳幾下，然後又左看右看跳跳跳了幾次，最後來到地上那包「早餐」旁邊，一啄，喙中叼著一大把拉麵！（沒錯，就是我們前一天晚餐煮剩的拉麵）然後，又左看右看，叼著嘴裡滿滿的黃色條狀物飛走。這「搬運儀式」連續了幾次後，我回過神，走過去收拾殘局，把還沒被烏鴉開封的東西撿回來。

最後，北海道並沒有「完善的單車專用道」。他們是路邊人行道兼單車道。人行道都鋪柏油的，有斜坡，有「行人、單車共用號誌」，不過品質不一。有些地方平整漂亮，有些地方坑坑洞洞有如台灣的產業道路。不過單車有受到應有的尊重倒是真的，因為大家都是單車通車長大的。報導並沒有報到說北海道有一條「河濱自行車道」，騎到一半就變長滿野草，荒廢的越野路線了。至少，河濱自行車道，台北市做得好多了。

記者，一向都是在有限得時間內，蒐集一定的資訊後，自己寫成一篇吸引人的故事。而科學家總是想把事情講得詳盡而真實，有多少證據說多少話。因此，有科學家職業病的我，看到自己知道真相的新聞報導，就會看不過去，出來矯正一下 :)

Arrived

在兩個颱風夾擊的空檔中搭上了飛機，飛往看似熟悉、一切未明的國度。

半夜上飛機，很累，一路上掙扎著努力讓自己睡覺。睡睡、醒醒、睡睡，不知不覺中也看了兩場電影、兩頓飯、到了目的地。看著底下熟悉的土黃色山脈，想起上次從空中看這片大地時，是滿懷期待要來當兩個月的 lab summer student，是人生規劃中重要的一步；這次，卻是迷惘著，未來一切未知的，不確定降落後能幹麼。「也許能這樣試試看吧，也許能那樣試試看吧！」站在這個通往千萬條路的交流道上，沒有地圖。

從今天起，我的人生，成為了一個沒有明確假說的實驗。所有的 condition 都要自己試過，沒有人帶領。

之前看別人能放空自己一年悠閒的申請學校，感覺很羨慕；現在自己有機會如此了，內心卻一直罵自己：「米蟲...」

只知道自己喜歡做研究、若有錢想買甚麼車、自己的家想要弄成甚麼風格...... 卻沒有實質的實踐計畫。Darn, 明天再寄更多履歷表出去，這個月之內要有個明確的結果。

北海道自転車旅行：Jul 6 旭川にいます

As the girls wanted to goto the zoo or crafts museum (whose admission fees are both too expensive for us guys...), we stayed in Asahikawa (旭川) on this day. As the girls went to their desired destinations, the 2 of us guys just rode around town, getting a feel of what the city is like. There is a big, long shopping street leading away from the train station. And most shops are around that area. There is also a nice city park on the north west corner, next to a river that flows through the side of the city. On the other side of the river, farther in the NW direction, the streets feels more uptown, and peaceful. We tried to find the "Romantic Ramen street (浪漫拉麵街)" which our map pointed out around this area. Yet this area seemed too "uptown" to have that kind of thing, doesn't seem to have enough local consumers to support this kind of "compact noodle zone" economy... Until we found it: in a huge Aeon shopping complex. OK, Ramen in a mall, we were no longer interested anymore.

Our map also pointed out a camping gear shop (秀岳莊) on the edge of town. As we were running low on cooking gas, we set out to find it. At first we though (will, it's actually me, who misinterpreted the map) it was really "on the edge of town", outside of the surrounding hill of Asahikawa, more close to our camping site. Lazy to climb the hill back again, we took a tunnel through, and found our selves REALLY out of town. OK, not likely to have that kind of shop in this place where no normal guy would come shopping. Another look at the map showed it's on the other side of the tunnel. Sure enough, tracing back, we found it. It's part of the chain of the camping shop that we went to in Sapporo, yet this one is smaller. We still found our gas, though. Next to the register counter, there is a table full of discount goods, labled: "Laughing corner, you will also be laughing while buying these..." (うふふコーナ、あなたもうふふ。) Funny way to hold a clearance.

We soon meet the girls back at the train station for dinner, and went to find one of the famous ramen shops in Asahikawa, as Asahikawa soy sauce ramen (旭川正油ラーメン) is one of the food the city is famous for. Following a food map from the tourist info center, we went to a shop that's on the shopping strip in front of the station. Called Baikouken (梅光軒 本店), it's a shop located underground (B1). You could feel the enthusiasm of the cooks the moment you stepped into the shop, from the strong and energetic "welcome", and how they cook the noodles with pride, and with twinkle in their eyes. Fresh, and slightly chewy (not too soft, not to hard) noodles are standard in Japanese ramen, which we have enjoyed many times thus far. The point here is in the soup, a little sweet, a little salty, with a slight zest of soy sauce. OK, I admit I'm not good at describing flavors. Let me just say the final result is that it's so good that every one drank the soup till every bowl is empty. Also, notably, this is the first time we has ramen that no one said it's too salty. If you happen to have the chance to visit Asahikawa, this is where you must go. By the way, I found out in the end that adding a little black pepper makes the soup a different flavor, and tastes better.

We next followed the same food map to a Japanese snack shop to get some "Dango"(団子), rice balls on a stick with some sweet sauce on top. I forgot the name of the shop. Sakura, Ume (梅, plum) and green tea flavor are my favorite, yet red bean (あん) and sesame (ごま) is also great. But it sure is expansive, trice the price of that in supermarkets. Although you can only find red bean and sesame in supermarket, but I don't think it's worth the price for special flavors.
July 5th: 旭川 << | >> July 7th: 美瑛

No more free Paper access...

唉，辦離校/離開實驗室之前應該先狂抓 paper 的。我當時發懶，沒這麼做。結果現在有好幾篇 paper 想看卻抓不下來，已經離校，學校圖書館的 proxy 已經不給登入了。

還好學長在我離開實驗室前 copy 了快 1G 的 reference paper 給我，現在，至少有看不完的舊 paper 可以看 XD 而且配合 MacOS X 的 spotlight 搜尋功能，我可以直接搜尋電腦裡的 paper , 只要 pdf 檔內有有出現過的字都找得到 ^^

WNI weathernews

我一直很喜歡到日本WNI(weathernews.jp or www.wni.co.jp)去看氣象。很炫的Flash動畫介面再加上氣象雲圖動畫、颱風動態動畫... 整個操作介面華麗而流暢，感覺好像在使用氣象報告體一樣。而且還沒有廣告呢！

今天亂點亂點，有了兩大發現：
1. WNI世界入口網站可以看全世界的氣象雲圖，很棒！
2. WNI竟然有台灣版網站，雖然功能較少，但一樣絢麗。而且還是繁體中文的。不過，感覺似乎是用不成熟的簡體轉繁體軟體做出來的，氣象說明文中偶而會參雜簡體字。

在颱風季節中，這種網站特別好用呢。不過，颱風似乎剛好在我要坐飛機到美國那天掃台灣......

Book intro: How to write and publish a scientific paper

I came across this book by chance. Dad was planing to open a new course, and a book importer gave him this great book to consider as a textbook. I flipped through it and boy do I love it!

Most of the book is just as the title suggests, introducing what to be careful of when composing a paper. It goes to a lot of the needed details, yet managed to keep it clear, to the point and easy to read. A little humor or comics here and there also make this book a fun book to read.

I read through the history part and was surprised by how hard and time consuming it was to publish a paper in the past. Especially when you need to hire artists to draw the charts and graphs for your data. Then, I also came to be astonished by how much people of the publishing industry has become unemployed because of the PC/internet revolution.

I also loved the end supplemental part, where it mentions how to compose a CV, personal statement, cover letter, and even recommendations letters: how to write or ask for one. These are tips that are most important to me now, as I will be applying for grad school again soon. These parts are also very informative, yet clear, concise, and to the point. And talk about the humor, it actually mentioned that you don't send CVs to seek for girl friends.

As publishing your results is a large part of research, I think this is a book that should be on every scientist's desk for reference. Now, I should find some time to read the main part of the book.

How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 6 ed.
by Robert A. Day and Barbara Gastel, Cambridge University Press.

(在台灣的朋友，這本書似乎是藝軒代理的，在總區的人應該都知道要那裡找藝軒吧！)

The power to move on

What gives?

剛從日本回來時，還呆呆的。「旅程就這樣結束啦？」「下一步該如何？」整天待在家裡發呆、睡覺、當米蟲。

到實驗室聊天打屁、找同學朋友聚一聚。在聊的過程中，竟逐漸的把方向感、衝勁找回來。

感謝所有朋友、同學、學長姊、師長的鼓勵。一開始也很迷惘，只是很無腦的想說到美國再說，卻完全沒有想法那個「再說」到底該如何。原來我的自信心與衝勁建立在別人的鼓勵之上。真軟弱XD

恩，昨天丟了履歷到兩家學校去了。接下來幾週該做甚麼也大概有個底了。