Sunday, April 27, 2008

Walkman... Sony & Sony Ericsson's different versions

Walkman NWZ-A729用久了,逐漸覺得,正宗Walkman還是比SE出的Walkman手機(日機除外)好很多。

先說外觀好了,Sony Walkman是日式設計,SE的手機都是歐式設計。像我這台方正低調的外型,除了"W"跟"Sony"標誌外,Walkman字樣打的小小的,銀幕還頗大的。反觀SE的設計,按鈕很複雜,變化很多,尤其五向鍵周圍的通話跟選項按鈕很喜歡整合成圈圈,難道方正整齊的按鈕不好嗎?機器周圍Walkman字樣打超大的,感覺失去的品味多了行銷味。SE的螢幕size一項小氣巴拉的小,周圍框超大就不說了...

操作。手機的操作還是延續好年下來的笨方法:銀幕下方一著很肥一條的功能鍵提示列,標示著下方兩顆無標示按鈕在當時的功能。回想當初這似乎最先出現在Nokia手機上吧,不知何時開始,不分品牌所有的手機都學著這樣了。喂,銀幕都夠小了,就這樣把1/5的畫面面積吃掉,而且那一槓上面90%的時機都寫著「確定」、「退出」,是不會一顆確定鍵一顆取消鍵阿?有特殊狀況再顯示就好啦!Sony Walkman是一顆五向鍵,中間充當確定鍵;旁邊一顆是"back",用來取消或退出;另一顆是"option",想叫出任何跟當時操作的功能相關的選單,按這就對了;以上規則有特例時才另外標示。簡單明潦,螢幕可以隨時顯示真正重要的資訊(如播放中歌名);更不會向Nokia手機有時候確定在左邊,有時候確定在右邊orz 而SE好樣的,到現在都一樣在學Nokia笨介面,只有「確定」選項不會左右跳比Nokia好一點吧。之前SE在日本出過一隻Walkman手機是另外多了一顆跟棒狀Walkman相同的飛梭旋鈕,比歐系手機好太多了,但少了整合感。

功能。SE Walkman手機有Walkman該有的功能與音質嗎?不覺得。Walkman手機做得反而比較像PSP,多媒體部份用Cross Media Bar(XMB)介面。恩,很炫,但除了Mega Bass,有什麼真正對聽音樂有用的功能嗎?Walkman的音效晶片、音效加強技術(如Clear Bass、Clear Stereo、VPT模擬環繞音效、AVLS聽力保護音量限制、即時音量等化)都沒看到。Clear Bass、Clear Stereo反而在沒有標示Walkman商標的SE日機上出現了orz 那歐系SE W系列的音樂功能是跟個人電腦一樣「有就好了」嗎?

問題癥結還是在於Sony Ericsson歐洲總部跟Sony日本總部還是有所分別的。SE有用到不少Sony資源,但只是借用,沒有做出真髓。這就好像一個名牌運動鞋的代工廠想要偷偷用代工學到的技術做仿冒品,卻做不出應有的味道。在我眼中,歐系Walkman手機給我的感覺有如Walkman仿冒品。真正好的音樂手機因該保留專門的音樂播放器大部分對音樂的長處,再去加上手機功能。這部份來說,Apple iPhone反而有做到,把iPod的精髓留下來(雖然嚴格說起來,因為iPod的強項完全都只是軟體,不像Sony Walkman的使用經驗是需要專屬音效晶片來加持的,所以Apple比較方便做)。反觀SE,因為是合資公司,跟Sony部份需要有所切割,所以以目前的經營模式大概不可能真正做到以正宗Walkman為基礎的整合型手機吧。

不過iPhone雖然把iPod的精髓留下來了,卻為了加強功能而引入了電腦跟PDA的缺點(複雜、高單價、CPU跑太高時會影響音樂播放)然後在小型化過程做了一些取捨之後,變成一隻掰腳的「好像半台PDA的」音樂手機。他有PDA功能,可是只做了半套,想要全套請轉職當駭客;音樂很好操作,可是iPod的音效問題它也繼承了;當手機頗方便的但很肥又沒有數字鈕。

說了這麼多,想一想,我個人還是覺得以目前的市場狀況來說,手機、音樂播放這兩個還是沒有人做出好的整合。用兩台分開的機器吧!

Friday, April 25, 2008

Palm & Sony Ericsson...

1src once used to be the web forum I frequent the most, exchanging conversations with others on anything Palm OS related. Well, with Palm doing close to nothing for the past years except rebranding the same phones again and again, they now even have seemed to given up on releasing ANY products. In my opinion, they have already dug their own grave and are putting the finishing touches, ready to rest in peace. Thus for the past few weeks, I got lazy and stopped visiting 1src. I went back again today, just because I'm, well, bored. And wow, are people die hard. Most of the popular members of my time, have already left, and most of the actively posting people seemed to be new members of the last 12 months. Looking at the posts discussing the next version of Palm OS makes me feel like seeing people excitedly discussing Duke Nukem Forever (the legendary vaporware that's forever "in development").

Another company I am starting to unlike: Sony Ericsson (excluding the Japanese division, which operates seperately, selling totally different models). For the past year, they came out with tons of phones that are the same thing (same mother borad, same keyboard layout, same screen, same camera, same radio, same software), only the casing and the model name is different. Wow. I all I want is a different casing, maybe I'd be better off with one of the 8 year+ Nokia phones that I can buy my own case and change it whenever I want... (eg. Nokia 3310) No wonder SE is rapidly loosing market share to LG. And, how did they respond this year? More old phones in cases that are uglier then ever! How nice?

So Palm & Sony Ericsson are dying; Nokia only makes boring/overpriced/ugly/brick phones; Motorola is also dying; Japanese companies are using all their might to lock their stuff inside Japan only; Alcatel/Benq/Siemens/Sanyo are already dead; and let's face it, the iPhone is an overpriced brick, hTC even more so. Samsung & LG while also keeping their best in Korea, are the only ones that are serving close-to-okey phones to the rest of the world. Come on! Is the whole industry plotting to let Koreans rule?

About 3 years ago, the phone industry was said to be on track to kill PDAs, GPS navigators, credit cards, subway/bus passes, MP3 players, cameras, portable gaming devices, just about any device you can think of. Well, now, other then PDAs, which the manufacutors volunteerily killed themselves, none of the stuff listed above aren't thriving, while phone companies are killing themselves. Oh, looks like the to-be-king of the hill is shotting it self in the foot...

低調分享...


注意,請務必從第一篇開始看。

真實故事,前面很歡樂,中間卻......(劇透消音,自己去看吧)
說真的,樓主有點可憐耶。
(小聲:本來期待看到「台灣電車男」故事發展說orz)

Monday, April 21, 2008

How to succeed in science...

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology | How to succeed in science: a concise guide for young biomedical scientists
by Jonathan W. Yewdell
Part I | II

Real nice article, they should of made it free...

高速自動地下機械單車停車塔orz


As a bike loving, Japan stuff liking, gadget nerd, I had to post this...

WOW, it's cool, convenient and parking fee's cheep. If only we have this kind of bike commute infrastructure in more cities around the world, we'd have more people on bikes, less traffic jams and better city air quality. Seem to me a much better investment for cities then road side parking meters.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

ソニー ウォークマン NWZ-A728 もう一回!


After last time's open box, ソニー ウォークマン NWZ-A728 買った、でも... (edited 4/2), I returned that BestBuy special version, and today just got the normal one. Last one was in English, so I'll post this one in Chinese :) 很好,這次沒有 Best Buy logo 了。


中午午餐煮到一半,叮咚,UPS按門鈴送到!為了特價,跟紐約一家相機店(B&H photo video)訂購。查了網路上說這家店的風評比Amazon好,就安心訂購啦。不過為了省運費,選了UPS ground,結果就給它坐五天的卡車從美國東岸慢慢到西岸來,下訂6天後的今天才收到orz

拆開,哇,保護的真好,不像Mobile01上某大大跟台灣Sony網購的還讓機器在偌大的箱子裡撞來撞去... (上面那張紙是訂單/收據)


拿開6個空氣枕頭後,下面的就是躺在泡泡紙上的Walkman了。真沒誠意耶,連公司貨正常版也用這種塑膠 Blister pack,一整個好像廉價賣場的包裝。完全就是為了防盜與展示商品而設計的,而沒有考慮到消費者開箱的爽度問題。就算沒有像台灣的那麼漂亮,至少也跟日本一樣用紙盒吧。(難道這就是比台日便宜$100USD的下場?)


包裝翻過來看,功能列表跟包裝內各物件產地。(為防止拍到序號,就只拍部份了)


爛Blister pack,只好出動利刀開箱了。不過封口周圍有打洞讓人好割一點就是了。


蛻殼後的樣子。銀幕上還是貼著醜陋的貼紙,而不是透明保護膜。若是像手機銀幕上貼著透明的保護膜的話至少可以暫時留著當幾個禮拜的保護貼吧。


背面標示(序號已抹糊)。終於不是NWZ-A728B ,而是正宗的A728了,象徵著沒有被BestBuy染指過,而保有完整的語言選項。


掀開配件包中的說明書、廣告、光碟等雜物後,配件在盒中的樣子。耳機的其中一邊被拉出來壓在那藍色膠帶與小紙板下,讓人可以從包裝外看清楚附贈的高音質耳機。看影片用的小腳架跟耳機、耳機橡膠套包在一起。


包裝中一切內含物展示。上排從左到右:光碟、Napster網路音樂店廣告、「接電腦前請先灌WMP11警告」、使用注意事項、軟體版權宣告、快速啟用指南、困難解決指南、保固資訊(很小氣的,維修工資只有90天保固,零件一年)、「高音量會損聽力」警告單。
下排左到右:耳機、耳機膠套小號跟大號(耳機上裝的是中的)、主機、USB線、看影片用腳架吊飾、充電座套環(充電座要另夠$50,有夠貴)。


Walkman logo 特寫。這次的腳架吊飾插到機背的孔上比上一台緊,但插拔到第三次就鬆了orz


好,貼紙撕掉,來個下方髮絲紋特寫。(很抱歉,有擦完馬上又飄來的灰塵XD)
前面銀幕部份是壓克力、下方髮絲紋部份是鋁合金、邊緣銀色部份是電鍍塑膠(可以想像一年後掉漆的樣子orz)、邊緣跟背面黑色顆粒紋的部份是個謎樣的材質,網路上一堆人在抱怨說敲一敲聽起來是很便宜的塑膠,但壓下去的感覺不像塑膠那麼軟(若塑膠要做這個硬度應該很厚吧),而放久了卻有有點冰冰的。根據我之前 Clie NX73v 的經驗應該是鎂合金。


機器上、左、又、下側特寫。真是太薄了,我的 H9無法對焦,只好手動調焦距了(幸好H9有手動對焦的選項,雖然不好用)。上、左空空(日版的話,上方會有降噪的滑桿);右側有吊飾孔、按鍵鎖(Hold)滑桿、音量鈕。Mobile01上很多人在問Hold鬆鬆的正不正常,我連續兩台都鬆鬆的,之前的Clie NX系列也是如此啊。下方則是耳機孔跟Walkman Port (接USB線的)。看日本那邊想把Walkman Port發展成像iPod connector那樣一堆配件可接,結果那些配件一大半都只有日本買得到......Sony阿,這樣要怎麼跟iPod拼阿,難道在日本贏了就好了嗎?


退貨重買就是為了這個語言選項啊(誰叫我是日文控)!!!美版比東南亞版(台灣賣的)多了個日文,其他都一樣。再度抱歉,我的H9似乎廣角端嚴重變形......orz

ーーー

來個操作簡介吧!以下點出的缺點比優點多,因為優點是常態,習慣Sony產品的人可以很快的摸熟這個機器,只有以下講到的缺點比較特殊,我就點出來。
首先是比較重要的三個畫面。首先是主畫面的九宮格,從任何一個畫面長按back就可以回來。中間是時鐘,從九宮格的右上可以叫出,或任何一個畫面中按下option鈕都可以從選單叫出,很方便。右邊是韌體資訊,可從設定->一般選項找到。


來比較一下幾個不同語言的設定選單。這裡可以看出很有趣的,英文、日文是粗體字;中文的卻是細字。這同樣會影響到歌曲顯示的字體:如果你設定選單語言為中文,連日文歌的歌名、歌手,連假名都會用細字顯示;反之,用英文或日文選單的話會全部粗體。不過若是日文中沒有的中文字,如「你」這個字,無論如何都是細字。結果像「戴佩妮」中的「妮」字因為日文中沒有,在日文模式下會變「戴佩妮」,兩個粗體一個細字,有點軟體瑕疵的感覺XD 若純粹Unicode的話,中日文漢字應該要同樣的字體吧?而且細字的日文假名看起來怪難看的......

對了,語言相關有另一個鳥問題。上半兩張圖是影片或照片的畫面橫轉設定畫面,Walkman不像iPod Touch有重力感應器,所以要從選單中設定。這樣有好有壞啦,比較不直覺,但至少不會因為字幾轉的方向不夠「垂直」而感應器感應不到,或有時還會有感應器lag的問題(據說lag只有Apple store展示機會,不知道是怎樣...)。總之呢,用英文機時,選 Horizontal(right)時,畫面會向左轉;Horizontal(left)畫面會向右轉......這,選項標示是用來誤導人的啊?切到中文或日文模式,終於看懂了,原來(right)是右手使用啊= =|||

不過影片選單中還有一個「畫面表示/Display」(下面兩張圖),只有on/off誰看得懂啊?實驗證明這是「影片播放時間軸」自動隱藏的切換。雖然「畫面表示」似乎比Display好一點,但一樣令人看不懂!
三大設定畫面,這樣一張圖可以一次看完所有選項吧XD
差點被我遺忘的一般設定畫面... 因為選項多到要往下捲動畫面,所以拍了兩張。

Options按鈕是個好用的按鈕,就好像 Palm OS 中的menu,在任一個畫面中按這個鈕就可以叫出跟那個畫面相關的選單,而這個選單中幾乎永遠找得到「顯示時鐘」讓你隨時方便看時間。最左邊是撥歌中的選單;中間是撥影片中的選單,影片看煩了可以很方便的切回播歌的畫面;右邊是來湊熱鬧的,不是Options選單,而是設定->一般設定->亮度設定,也可以從看影片時的Options選單找到。

最後,來看一下這漂亮的異常的LCD銀幕吧!(可惡的鏡面銀幕,每張照片都看得到我的照相機......)

撥影片非常清楚,不過片源要夠好就是了。(使用Mac的人若用iSquint轉檔,記得要把H.264打勾,不然會雜點一堆)

哈,這下我也可以隨身看蛛蛛男了耶~XD

Monday, April 14, 2008

Willcom's new MID


While Fitel/大眾電信 is just letting the PHS system die with crappy garbage phones in Taiwan, Willcom in Japan is pushing PHS as a strong alternative to 3G for broadband everywhere, when WiMax and 4G still seems far away. This seems to be a miniture Vista handheld computer on PHS. While I would not want to have one of those (not that useful to me), I am happy to see anything that's proving that PHS is still a useable wireless communication system in this era.

[GradAppの3.5SP] Schools and research areas

為何本篇標為"3.5SP"呢?因為是第三篇的supplement。上篇說到在此公開說出我對各校的細部批判不太好,就簡略寫一下研究方向好了。

* A school strong in one area doesn't imply it's weak in other areas. This sometimes depends whither I am looking carefully in that area or what the program is using as their selling point. My point of views are of my own observations and may not be the exact truth, while I only list the schools I know enough to figure out their areas of strength.
* I use the word "central" to mean THE place I would choose if I want to work on a certain topic.
* Area & school pairs are only in the order they popped up in my mind.

---

Virology central: U Penn, Baylor College of Medicine, U Wisconsin (only hear about this school, never checked)

RNAi central: U Mass Med

Pharmacology: U Penn

Molecular Bio & Bio Chem: UT Southwestern

Gene therapy: U Florida

Aging studies central: UT Health Science Center San Antonio

Primate studies: Southwest foundation (part of UT Health Science Center San Antonio)

Emerging diseases & Arthropod related tropical diseases: UT Med Branch Galveston

Cancer central: MD Anderson Cancer Center (part of UT Health Science Center Houston)

Amazing Interdisciplinary collaborations: U Alabama at Birmingham

Structual Biology & Yeast: Stony Brook (close to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory & Brookhaven National Laboratory)

Biotech & Industry: UC San Diego

Sunday, April 13, 2008

[GradAppの3] Looking for programs to apply

留學相關考試完後,準備蒐集資料,找學校申請啦。之後在投件申請過程中你也可以同時蒐集資料,但至少要先有幾個開頭的學校吧!

Looking for Target Programs to Investigate
大部分學校在開學的前一年暑假到九月之間會開始收件,所以建議前一個八月前後要開始蒐集資料。首先呢,若你的GRE不是一年之內考的,或報考時 "GRE search service"沒有打勾,請記得到GRE search service的網站再填一次資料。基本上就是ETS會把你填的資料擺在一個資料庫中,而想要招收學生的學校會到這個資料庫中找有申請相關科系意願的學生資料,然後發出宣傳資料給這些學生。因為你填資料時,需要填你的研究所科系興趣,所以到時你收到的宣傳資料大部分會是你的領域相關的。我靠這個免費的資料庫收到了很多神奇的東西,有program小傳單、catalogue、宣傳光碟、申請表格、program介紹DVD、申請費抵免券......有趣吧?最重要的是,每個人的資料來源有限,你不一定知道你的領域中有哪些學校可以找,而台灣的大學又不會像美國這邊有資料完整的畢業生服導室。所以,就用這個機制來找「意想不到的好學校」跟「不錯的備胎學校」(surprises & safe schools) 吧!

若你以前的導師或實驗室老闆對美國的學校環境有一定的了解的話,問老師同領域中哪些學校最好,我覺得是最有幫助的。尤其當你申請的學校的老師中有你過去老闆的好友時,他們會很樂意幫忙你的申請的,甚至會很好奇,想在面試中見到你。

我知道有些人會用 Petersons' Graduate School Database,但我個人覺得資料很雜又不夠精細。例如,他有列出一個學校的「錄取率」,但因為每個學校的「統計母群體」,也就是總申請人數不同而未知,我覺得這「錄取率」並沒有參考價值。而每個學校也是簡略介紹,真的很難知道個所以然。好的一面,這網站至少能讓你知道你有哪些program可以選(我搜尋BioMed Science, 印象中找到 900多個program...),然後有每個program的網頁連結。

中國人很注重排名,所以他們會去買US News的 Grad school 排行榜。我個人也不喜歡排名,更不喜歡那個價格XD 尤其學校整體評價跟 program 個別不一定是有正相關的。

Paper念很多的人會找自己唸過最景仰的paper是哪個學校的老師出的。我所有的學校中只有一家是這樣,而且還是先問人知道有這家學校才發現那篇paper的,不過那一家也成為我最後選擇的學校。另一家學校我是再進一步研究那學校的網站時看到一篇很喜歡的paper...那家成為我的第二志願。所以,我想,幾志願用paper找應該比較實際吧。

我面試中,有個學校用 Science Watch 對全世界各學校出的paper對科學界的impact評比當作自己的賣點。(例如:02年的報導06年的評比) 我後來覺得若我申請前知道有這個評比,也是很棒的找學校方式。當然,這些評比的領域劃分不一定符合你的興趣就是了。

最後,當然就是多問了。除了前面所提過的老闆、老師外,同學、lab mate、朋友都可以問。(想問我的意見的請私下聯絡,我在面試過程中對各個學校有些許特別的印象,有好有壞。不過覺得公開在此做各校批判有點怪怪的。)

Investigating the Programs
接著就是進一步研究了,先去把各個program的網頁看清楚吧。若從學校找網頁,各校的網頁設計不同,要在一個雜亂的網頁中找到需要的連結有點tricky。可以先到那個學校的首頁找"Graduate studies", "Perspective students", "Graduate programs"......。用老師找program時,可以先google那個老師的個人實驗室網頁,看有沒有program的連結,甚至直接寫email問哪個老師說你有沒有在收學生,從哪個program收學生也可以。Programs不一定是分系所的。有些學校會依領域讓不同系所的同領域老師共同招生。像BioMed就常常有所謂的"umbrella program",把生醫相關,不管醫學、獸醫、生物、藥學等所有的系所都集結起來共同開一個program,讓還不清楚的學生進來後還可以再慢慢決定想進哪個領域的實驗室。

想去的學校,請務必把program的網頁看清楚(以下列出的英文字是看網頁時要抓的重點字)。program內容、課程(curriculum)、時程規劃、經濟援助(financial aid, 如薪水/stipend、學費/tuition、健保/health insurance)、助教工作 (TA requirements)、申請條件(admissions)、居住環境(living)、研究領域強項、可選擇老師(faculty members)。都要看一下是否喜歡。我個人是以「可選擇老師」優先看,尤其從老師列表可以看出一個program的研究走向。當然,看多了會煩。有時後有些人煩了,會用「網頁漂不漂亮」來決定要不要申請XD

Program確定喜歡了,最好做個重點式筆記,把申請期限(deadline)、申請條件、投件項目與方式、聯絡方式、地址、面試時程...... 等資料都集結成自己能夠一目了然而且方便各校間比較的筆記。這樣,在整理自己的application清單跟投件的過程中也會方便很多。

Admissions Coordinator/Admissions Assistant/Dean/Program Chair這些聯絡人的email、address、phone number都很重要。若網頁中有不清楚的請寫email或打電話問。有時候還可以請他們寄farther information給你。主動聯絡也是申請時表現自己積極的一面的第一步,我會在「申請投件」篇中再提到。

Friday, April 11, 2008

神奇蒸煮烤萬能爐


傑克!這真是太神奇了!竟然還可以免油炸雞塊?!

若我有三萬台幣,買這個絕對比買筆電值得XDD

有錢真好阿~

不妙,看小惡魔敗家論壇還是要看緊錢包的...

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

[GradAppの2] Standardized Exams

好,上次談完遠程規劃後,這次來談談考試。我不是考試專家,所以就只能提出一些要點與準備心得,需要考的人還是要自己做做功課才能對這些考試有所了解喔。以下是我最常給朋友的一些考試建議。

以BioMed Ph.D來說,最主要的是GRE,分General跟Subject test;而台灣人的話,一般還要考TOEFL。以上,都由萬惡的ETS (Educational Testing Service)主辦,為何「萬惡」?相信我,當你發現報考系統狂當、報考費用爆高、申請成績證明也是坑人價......等等,你也會跟眾多留學生一起圖仇敵愒的。

TOEFL / 托福
為什麼翻譯成「托福」呢?唸起來很像TOEFL沒錯,但有何意義呢?難道是「托你的福,讓我浪費了一年半載念英文?」好啦,不管。TOEFL是Test of English as a Foreign Language的縮寫,就是要考英文非母語的外國人的英文能力的。因為這是個研究所跟大學部共用的英文能力檢定,所以難度就定在大學部的程度,只是研究所會要求比較高一點的成績標準。內容考大學校園日常用語,所以想像一下在一個大學校園生存需要哪些方面的語言能力吧:從我準備跟考試的過程中,我看到了宿舍申請相關對話、生活食衣住行、校園中問路、大一基本課程相關(英文、歷史、數學、心理、生物、理化等各科課堂上的問答,美國歷史尤其常出現在閱讀跟聽力測驗)、考試準備中的學生對話、學分/成績/重修相關討論、宿舍是有閒話家常。簡而言之,最終目的就是要測驗看你在美國校園中生存的能力。基本課程相關的部份,雖然羅列了各科,但不要緊張,只要你有基本的英文理解能力就OK,考試中不會考你專有名詞定義的,除非試題中已經有提過。考多高分才及格呢?很抱歉,我很久沒注意了,不過可以參考UCLA的標準。各校有不同的標準(一般來說,學校網站會列TOEFL最低標準,GRE反而不會列),而且我考的是舊制,稱為 CBT (Computer Based Test),總分600;現在似乎改了新制,稱為 IBT (Internet Based Test),總分...總之不同了。電腦考跟網路考有何不同我也不清楚,還不是都要去用考場用「以閉路攝影機24/7監控的」電腦考?不過,新制據說多了口說測驗就是了,此外跟舊制相同的,題型有字彙選擇、選擇形式的填空、聽力測驗、閱讀測驗跟作文。作文的成績跟總分分開算。

對考試有所了解後,如何準備呢?注意,考日常用語,所以基本方向跟你日常的隨性練英文差不多。在此,還是狂推空中英語教室,不但同時練習聽力、閱讀跟字彙,聯美國生活常識、剩智簡單的世界歷史都有介紹,總之練英文順便長知識。若你的目標是研究所,直接衝Advanced等級吧!不要跟自己搞笑,「大家說英語」是高一程度,「空英Basic」是成績好一點的高二生聽的。日常練英文方法網路上很多,總之多用就會學起來。另外,就是要對TOEFL要有足夠的了解,除了官網(網站上就很多練習題跟建議了喔,當然考試相關規定也要知道)跟簡章(官網上有,稱為 Bulletin)要細讀外,可以去外文書局找TOEFL參考書,我建議用美國出的參考書,一來美國人的考試就由美國人解釋;二來念參考書同時練閱讀。參考書中有考試題型、出題趨勢解析、模擬題(以確定自己需要加強的方向)、考試準備規劃指南、練習題跟基本字彙清單。除非你英文很強了,不然建議規劃半年準備。未免搶不到自己方便的考試時間,報考也是請半年前報考。報考會送模擬題光碟,不過約一~兩個月才會寄到,所以也是早報考早拿到。若一直沒拿到,光碟的所有內容官網也得到。(姍姍來遲模擬題光碟很爛,中文版Windows XP中會出現亂碼,所以執行前請到「控制臺->地區語言選項->視窗上方第三個tab」把預設語系改成「英文(US)」再重開機。模擬題玩完後,也請記得同樣方式把語系改回「繁體中文」,以免你的中文軟體(如BBS軟體)全變亂碼。)

不要太晚或太早考,考完後需要一~兩個月才會收到成績,而從考試日期起算,成績只有兩年有效。

*若,你跟我一樣是美國公民,卻在台灣唸書的,TOEFL考起來放就好,除非學校明確要求台灣念大學的要TOEFL成績,不然請假裝自己沒考過。以美國公民身份會好申請很多,而若多了TOEFL成績,校方有可能會搞不清楚狀況(你到底國內生?國外生?熊熊分不清)把你的資料擺到國際生區去了。

GRE General test
萬惡的GRE,你此生從來沒見過,以後再也看不到的超機車考題。聽說本來的用意是當作測驗你夠不夠聰明當研究生的智力測驗。不過個人覺得三大部份中只有作文/申論的部份符合這個用意。作文考的是你的邏輯思考、理解與辯駁能力。給一篇文章,你寫一篇回應,想辦法抓出所有的邏輯毛病說服別人說原文很荒唐;另一題是給個題目,你想辦法寫文章說服別人說這題目是合理而重要的。日後,這個作文、辯駁、說服能力在你寫申請文 (SOP) 時就很重要了;當然,以後要寫論文跟申請研究經費時更重要。另外兩部份中,字彙測驗考了你此生從來沒看過,再也看不到的鬼字彙,而且還是最不常見的定義(字典中最後一個定義),要你拿來跟另一個鬼字做「意境類比」。懂這種鳥字彙最好跟研究所有關啦!數學部份完全是個搞笑,考台灣的國中程度。若你平時有在教國中生的數學家教,你可以大笑了(不用那麼含蓄的偷笑,會內傷的);若沒有,沒關係,相信你只要是念台灣的國中,拿到考題也是從頭笑到尾。要注意的是,不要因為是英文的數學題目就看不懂了。英文的數學題目形式 (Please determine the...) 跟英制的單位(inch, foot, mile, , pound, quart, Gallon...)請搞清楚吧。當然,若因為笑過頭而出現大失誤,考完會換你的朋友大笑了。

同樣的,建議去找一本英文的GRE參考書(有分有光碟版跟無光碟版,有些書的光碟只是書中模擬題的數位版。GRE沒有聽力測驗,而光碟內容又跟書中重疊時,建議把那$10美金省下來吃好一點或買字彙書吧)。都到這程度了別說「喔,我參考書想看中文的,英文怕看不懂...」,找一本英英字典(對,英漢丟了吧)狂K吧!因為這個考試考字彙的深層意義,所以對字彙的意義要充分了解,不要讓任何一個細節 lost in translation了,所以英英字典比較好;而英英字典也可以幫助你理解字根字首的意義。推薦 Merriam-Webster 美國市面上最常見,根據空英說是美國最多人用的。根據我看的GRE參考書,艱深難懂的字彙你不可能全部都背起來,所以考前念字彙的方向不是背字典,而是去了解一些常用的字根、字首(就像中文有時可以用部首、偏旁去猜一個字的意思),然後去「猜」(yup, guess)那個字的意思,引用那本書的說法,要做「an educated guess」。所以,GRE參考書中有歷年來考題中最常出現的字庫;而字庫外的字請大玩「有線索的猜猜樂」!在此再推薦一本字彙書: Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder,裡面是以字根來彙整字彙成群的,所以每週記一兩個字根,同時把帶有那個字根的字彙一同記下來,下週再用書中的考題(那考題跟GRE同形式喔)測驗自己是否還記得。

數學跟作文部份,就照參考書的去練習吧。官網上有考試、作文指南完整作文題庫,請善用。

考試準備時間約半年到一年。成績有效五年,若有重考,前幾次成績照樣會出現在成績單上。同TOEFL,請半年前報考,也會送姍姍來遲的模擬題光碟。同理,姍姍來遲光碟官網也抓得到。(同TOEFL光碟,有亂碼問題) GRE分紙筆測驗(PBT, Paper based test, 其中作文上電腦,分另一個日期考)跟機考(CBT, Computer based test)。PBT每年聽說只有2~3場,全世界只有台、港、韓、中這四個地方考。其他地區都是CBT,自由選日期(聽說比較簡單,我無法證實)。台、港、韓、中有何特別的呢?難不成次等待遇?喔,在機考剛開始的那個輝煌年代,我們偉大的前輩們發現電腦考試是一個不定期更新的大題庫中依照你的答題狀況從題庫中抽考。於是,很多人一考完就上網把自己考過的題目po上論壇,經過整理近期po出的考題後,這四個地區的聰明的考生就有了GRE題庫,大家進去考都將近滿分。喔,ETS慌了,於是把這四個地區改回PBT,一年只考兩三次,每次重出考題,考費更高。所以我們有了特殊待遇。想躬逢其盛的,請去中國google「機經」= =|||(跟中國朋友問來的, 他說,中國不考機考後,就沒什麼「機經」了 XD)。想要考期自由點的,請出國考機考,台北補習街很多「留學顧問公司」在開「新加坡GRE機考旅行團」(゜д゜)| ̄|_

總分:語文800(加油!), 數學800(是亞洲人就數學拿700以上吧 XD), 合計1600;作文另計6級分。聽說UPenn對國際生的最低標準要求合計1310以上,當個參考吧;國內生沒有聽說標準是啥,但可以參考此頁下方的07入學學生平均成績。另,有些學校會看你的百分等級,百分等級跟分數的解讀意義成績單或官往上都有。

GRE Subject test
就專科考試了,看需要自己選科目考。跟我同領域的大概比較會考慮Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology或Biology這兩科。前者請熟讀 Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry、The Cell
跟Gene 8這幾本課本吧,生化尤其重要。另還有實驗題,在實驗室時請多學。我跟實驗室學長很有幸的考到EMSA (electrophoretic mobility shift assay) 這個我們實驗室常做的實驗^^ 沒什麼特別的,就是很難的大學課程複習考,而且題目的數量是設計成只有強者寫得完(聽說系上小球學長輕鬆寫完,他就是超強者實例吧)。Biology就普生,我沒考,但想當然而就是普生課本要熟讀吧。

Subject test很少學校強制要求(我所知道強制要求的幾乎都是加大UC系統的),大部分都只是optional,有好成績就送,沒有就算了。所以,要不要考看你了。準備時間半年到一年,成績有效五年,若有重考,前幾次成績照樣會出現在成績單上。同樣,請盡早報考搶位子,全世界每年考三次,台灣因人少,只考兩次。全世界都只有紙筆測驗,不是「機經」事件惡搞來的。也因為考次少,考場可能會遇到一些同行的 熟人喔。參考書?因為考的人少,很難找,乖乖念你的課本吧。同樣,報考送網路上抓得到的模擬題,這次是紙本的;我的是我考完兩週才寄到的orz

Monday, April 07, 2008

Essential role of PKCd in HDACi-induced EBV reactivation in NPC cells

Essential role of PKC{delta} in histone deacetylase inhibitor-induced Epstein-Barr virus reactivation in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells
Lee HH, Chang SS, Lin SJ, Chua HH, Tsai TJ, Tsai K, Lo YC, Chen HC, Tsai CH.
J Gen Virol.2008; 89: 878-883

Although this has been on the web for several weeks, I don't know why I didn't post this back then. Maybe I was overjoyed or something... Anyway, for all my friends who are curious what my previous research project is, here it is.

Condensing it in my own words:
We found that PKC-delta specific inhibitors (in the form of a drug called Rottlerin) were able to block the EBV reactivation by histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) drugs. Thus we set out to test if PKC-delta is essential to EBV reactivation, and if yes, what role does it play. If PKC-delta is activated, then it would be phosphorylated on the activation site and translocate to the cell nucleus. By doing immuno-florescence microscopy, we have found that PKC-delta showed up as speckles in the cell nucleus about 8 hours after the drug induction of EBV reactivation. This was also supported by testing the phosphorylation of PKC-delta, thus supporting the view that PKC-delta plays a role in the pathway that leads to EBV reactivation. Also, by doing reporter assays, we can show that an over expression of PKC-delta alone could promote EBV reactivation, showing that PKC-delta is sufficient to reactivate EBV replication. I am fascinated by viral reactivation from latency to the lytic cycle, and this study opens a new pathway that has yet been found in EBV (though previously found in KSHV), and as we don't know at this stage what is up stream or down stream of PKC-delta, I think this is an interesting topic to work on, either to learn more about the regulation of viral replication, or how it responds to changes in the cell.

Well, that's about the story that I told during most of my grad school interviews. Pretty neat that through out the interviews, telling the story and discussing it with various faculty at different schools, I gradually get a better and better feel of my own project; and ironically, much more so then I ever did while working on it... And thus, sometimes it feels very exciting to talk to faculty that digs into the details of my project and discuss possible points of farther exploration. In a sense, sometimes it's good to be grilled during interviews as long as you know your project and they grill you in a reasonable way. (The uncomfortable "grillings" goes like "why's your GRE score so low...?")

Cool stuff ^^

Oh, I might be working on the epigenetics of viral gene regulations in the future. As I don't think this is a good place to discuss a "in-the-works" research project, I think my next time discussing it here would be when the next paper on my future project comes out, hope that would be soon.

Friday, April 04, 2008

台灣路面整修...


嘴角不爭氣的上揚了...
為什麼看到這個,沒有跟著罵,反而有種懷念的親切感XDD

不過說實在的,那些路是有馬馬虎虎的補過呢,要看真正的坑坑洞洞,請到馬路破洞就讓他保持原貌的Dallas!難怪那邊大家都開貨卡或SUV... = =|||

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

[お笑う] お宅変身!


公司部門要…辦…聯…誼
小瓜呆眼鏡太經典,要是在鏡框在大點就變大雄了…
下次別想要我燒松島楓給你~~凸!!!
把衣服給我拉出來,運動鞋也給我換掉...
還有不用把T-shirt紮褲子裡吧!
......
這篇太猛了啦,本文+討論讓我從頭笑到尾XD

而且變身前的照片真的有工科阿宅的fu,白色運動鞋+運動外套+扎進褲子裡的T-shirt就夠了orz

話說,大雄眼鏡我國小戴過說...

(聲明,我不認識那篇樓主,只是覺得太好笑了,po過來)

後感:雖然我不覺得我自己有多行,但有些回文的也不怎麼有品味。軍裝外套咧,有人說過除了真正的軍人外,會在街頭穿軍裝的只有「girls and sissies」。還有人秀出了有如電影中黑道小弟風格的華麗風線條襯衫,天啊!看回文建議也要挑著看啊。

不過我現在覺得在台灣要找到好看又超值的男裝比較困難,沒有GAP也沒有UNIQLO就比較麻煩了。然後大部分的休閒裝連鎖店都跟Hang Ten半斤八兩的沒品;好不容易找到好看一點的粗曠風Samual&Kevin,恩,回家一洗,不是脫線、破洞就是掉扣子。然後Levi's牛仔褲,台灣的售價是美國的兩倍... 若以特價來比較,台灣價格是美國四倍......

可以再更機車一點啊!(ノ`Δ´)ノミ┷


台灣男人要穿得好看又不傷皮包,個人覺得比美國日本人困難,偏偏美國、日本人的平均收入都比較高。

隨隨便便料理教室:きつね月見うどん

嘿,隨隨便便料理教室,先聲明,若需要專業一點的請Google「媽媽料理教室」、「マンマ料理」之類的XD

幾天前去附近的韓國超市閒晃,帶了一瓶神奇的調味料回來:「キコマン本つゆ

以前總覺得日式料理中的そば(蕎麥麵)、うどん(烏龍麵)的湯頭很神奇,明明看起來像醬油,卻有一種很微妙的甜味。去北海道玩回來後,食物相關的日文進步了點,就去查了查食譜,發現日式料理非常麻煩,很多東西都需要加「だし」、「みりん」這些完全沒聽過的日式調味料。反正畢業後到入學前這段時間也是閒著,再查,發現「だし」是要在料理一開始時先拿菜頭(大根)、柴魚(カツオ)、海帶(昆布)這些食材去熬出很甜的濃高湯(其中菜頭看狀況不一定要放);而みりん(某些台灣網站翻譯為蜜淋)更絕了,是一種很甜的料理酒。看完,覺得這種東西哪裡找啊......orz 昆布是高級食材耶,而みりん在美國想當然要特殊的店才有了。而且呢,不只麵會加這些東西,聯最基本的日式煎蛋「玉子焼」(有時壽司裡會有的那種黃黃很甜的東西)也要加這些東西,有沒有太麻煩一點啊?

後來發現,不對,在加州的亞洲人太多了,みりん竟然在美國人開的Ralphs超市的Asian food區也有,而だし可以用柴魚味素撐著用。不過呢,みりん很貴又怕用不完;而自己用柴魚味素調出來的湯頭還是怪怪的。

キコマン本つゆ」這東西裡面呢,醬油、柴魚(カツオ)、海帶(昆布)、みりん全都加好了,just add water,完全適合我這懶人。

所以呢,就來用本つゆ煮個烏龍面試試看吧!

食材來了!蔥(ねき)、豆腐皮(きつね)、本つゆ、蛋(たまご)、烏龍麵、跟一點點白菜。

  • 先用滾水小火煮麵兩分鐘,把麵撈起來,用冷水沖一下讓它保持QQ的嚼勁。
  • 同一鍋滾水,下白菜燙一下,放到碗裡的麵上。
  • 切好一點蔥茉,也放到麵上。
  • 同一鍋滾水裡(水量注意一下),加入1/3碗本つゆ湯頭(基本上是4~5倍稀釋)。
這時,是決定要加什麼料的時候了。日本火車站月台烏龍麵,最基本的是只有湯跟麵的「うどん」300円,豪華一點的:「きつねうどん」350円 (豆皮烏龍) 或 「月見うどん」350円 (加一顆雞蛋讓蛋黃看起來像湯裡面浮著一顆橘黃色月亮) 或合體 「きつね月見うどん」400円,甚至更豪華的「てんぶらうどん」400円 (炸蝦烏龍) 或超豪華的豆皮+雞蛋+炸蝦組合。我不會玩炸蝦,就做「きつね月見うどん」吧!
  • 豆皮、雞蛋投入!豆皮煮越久,湯越香,但相對的豆皮本身越無味。雞蛋則是為了要看起來像月亮,蛋黃不能全熟。
  • 好,把湯鍋的東西全部加倒裝麵的碗公裡,撒點芝麻海苔香鬆,完成!

うまい〜 (^ω^)
湯頭真的有像車站月台牌烏龍麵耶,不過這麼大碗(簡直是月台牌兩倍大),我看賣 700円 還差不多咧XD

ニコニコアニメチャンネルきた------!

ニコニコアニメチャンネル
ニコニコ動画越來越強大了,現在多了個給動畫公司提供官方版動畫的管道:ニコニコ頻道。

感覺這是個對消費者相當友善的商業模式,播放動畫的網頁下方同時提供相關週邊商品(如主題曲CD、動畫DVD、原作漫畫之類的)的Amazon購買連結。這樣,粉絲要買東西方便,動畫製作公司也有收入。而且,因為是官方合法在網路公開播放的動畫,不用擔心何時又要被「権利者削除されました」。當然,若是合法官方動畫,我也不反對在網路播放時插入跟電視播放時一樣的電視廣告,畢竟動畫製作是很辛苦的,而人不在日本很多動畫也很難以買DVD的方式去支持好作品(尤其美國、日本、台灣的DVD區碼都不一樣,真的很麻煩)。

可惜的是,商業模式不錯,願意在這初期階段提供動畫的只有兩部:一部是看不太懂的女同性戀動畫(可惜作畫那麼優良,竟然是百合片orz......好吧,後來發現是關係曖昧的雙胞胎姊妹...OTL);另一部是光看介紹就不想點進去看的重口味蘿莉片......為什麼都是一些奇怪的東西啦!再等等看吧,若以後出現京アニ或新海誠的作品就太棒了(妄想中)。

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

KSHV up regulates the TLR pathway

Just the discovery that KSHV can be detected by Toll-like receptors is in it self something to keep in mind, although I can't say much until I read the full text... But, novel knowledge to update: TLR is not only for bacteria LPS, it also recognises RNA and DNA viruses.

Interview and travel thoughts

Well, I didn't write much about my interview visits, so I'll aggregate them together here. Sure was an interesting, fun and tiresome experience; getting to travel to so many different cities, try different foods, talk to a lot of different people, visit different schools and professors. I even heard someone joke, "if I knew I would be getting this much interviews and getting tours everywhere, I should have applied to some place like Hawaii, just to get a free vacation!" It's not only free travel, but learning a lot about the geographic of the US, how graduate programs are organized, and all the different approaches to research. I also get all sorts of different discussions and advice on my previous research project, and that's my favorite part of it, just a little too bad that I'm not doing that project anymore.

The Demographics
There are more male faculty members then females, yet almost 80% of students and interviewing recruits are girls. So where'd all the female Ph.D. graduates go? Maybe it's a change of trend with time in that more guys go into science back then and now it's the other way around; or do more of the female leave academia later on? I don't get it, but maybe I well in the near future. Also, as stated in a previous post, a lot of the female students/recruits are married, and almost all of them have "Computer Engineer" husbands. What the hell? Are most American guys in IT? I don't think so. Or do female Biomed scientists prefer computer dudes? I have no idea. I like it how a student at U Penn puts it: "I just don't understand why most people in the South get married that early, a lot of them are just college sophomore kids when they get married, and they don't know what they are getting into!" Well most schools I visited are in the south, I guess that partly explains the high engagement rate; yet I have no idea how to explain why they are all IT dudes, and I don't have the slightest idea how to find out why.

What's Great About BioMed Grad Interviews
In our case, it seams that the schools are doing their best to attract the best and brightest minds around, so they treat you very nicely during the visits. They pay for all travel expenses, put you in nice hotels and generally feed you well. Some even take you on tours around the surrounding attractions or give you fancy packets of gifts. I've heard a fellow interview recruit who told me how the med-students who are coming to interview were checking-in right next to him at the counter, and watched with envy as he was handed a big package of gifts. Med students have to pay for their own trip and hotel, only get a packet of information, and have a low rate of admission; while we get all fees covered, a lot of gifts and (in most cases) nearly 95% admission rate for people who get to interview. I am not trying to show off here or piss off med students, but just showing how the schools treated us; after rounds of application rejection and self denial, finally making us feel that we are somewhat important in this world.

Airline Tidbits
Interview visits are organized in many different ways in regards of getting people there. Some program organizers reserve and buy plane tickets for you, most have a contract travel agency where you have to call to make flight arrangements and the agency then bills the school, and then there are the less seen "Al à carte " way of letting you make your own arrangements and then apply for reimbursement. Anyway, since I am applying from the west coast and all of my interviews are either in the south or on the east coast, I flew to all of them, and it was very nice to be just a 20 minute drive from a mid sized airport.

Since the schools that let you do the arrangements are very rare, I almost got to try every major air carrier (so much for trying to collect milage for a free ticket...), many plane types, and many airports. The most frequently took airline is Delta, because it has a hub in Atlanta, most of the schools in the east half of the US go with them. Delta is, well, okay. A relatively old carrier, they do most stuff the traditional, normal way, just everything you'd expect from a normal carrier, such as free drinks and snacks, cramped seats and dirty cabins. Their seats feels like cheep plastic fake leather, in a disgusting, dirty looking deep blue color that you can perfectly imagine people puking on. They used to provide "snack boxes" on coast-to-coast flights, that have enough cookies and cheese to fill in for half a meal, yet stopped providing them sometime this Feburary and started selling sandwiches just as American Airlines do. It's about $8 for a sandwich that look similar to those horrible ones from supermarkets. I guess the days of free airplane meals are long gone in domestic flights. And, as I once read in a travel magazine, "what they once gave for free probably isn't worth paying for". That article was talking about some airlines starting charging extra for checking luggage, but I think it's very appropriate here for the food they are selling. I once saw what they serve in First class for free. Well, except for using real ceramic plates instead of plastic, it's much worse (in looks, amount and smell) then the economy class meals provided by Japan Airlines on a Taiwan-Japan flight, which is much shorter then US coast-to-coast flights.

American is based in Dallas, so some of my trips to Texas are with them. Another traditional airline, pretty similar to Delta. What I like about them is that they've got adjustable head rests on their seat. They also got the cheep plastic fake leather seats, also in blue, just not the disgusting dark blue. They leave their planes mostly unpainted to save paint and also cut down the weight of the paint for lighter, oil conserving planes; taking advantage of the fact that aluminum forms anti-rust, self-protecting layers of AlO3. Yet, looking at the shinny and round aluminum fuselage of their planes makes me feel like riding in a soda can with the paint scrubbed off. Also, American has the most diverse range of flight attendant ages, other then young and beautiful ones, I've also seen ones that looks older then my grandma (超歐巴桑級), just as my friend joked "makes you feel bad when she tries so hard to serve you drinks with trembling hands..."

Continental Airlines is my favorite. Their safety demonstration video starts with their CEO saying that they are trying their best to provide a safe and clean flight, and with regards with clean, they certainly are not joking. They fly brand new 737-800s, with the cleanest cabin I've ever seen in my life, I mean even down to dust free sparkling clean carpets. Their seats are very comfortable, also clean, and the only US carrier I know of that uses cloth seats, complete with adjustable head rests. The best part: they are also the only one in my knowledge that serves real meals. I had a hot beef&cheese sandwich with a salad and M&Ms for lunch, while breakfast is cereal and a banana. I can really say that their ads slogans are real: "Do you want to be feed excuses or a real meal?"

Southwest, which seems to be a discount carrier, is the worst. They make you line up in the order of your check-in time and then let you on to the plane in that order, fighting for your seat of choice; they also have numerous hubs, making every flight composed of the most number of connections you could imagine. Think of it as buses that stop at way too many stops and the first person to board gets the best seat. The flight attendants in khakis try to be playful and slightly childlike, seems kind of stupid to me. Oh, and they got the same plastic seats as Delta, which they call "high class leather seats", this time in an also disgusting shitty brown. They've got the dirtiest, trashiest cabin of all, because they cut the costs for cleaning crews and just tell the passengers to pickup the litter around the seats for them. And then, they only give 30 minutes between landing and the next flight (unlike Continental which is 20 minutes unloading, 30 minutes cleaning and then 30 minutes boarding), so of course it's just unboard, board, and off the ground again. No wonder it's the dirtiest of all, although they also fly some brand new 737s... Oh, and their pilots are like teenage drivers, every move is rough and abrupt, making you sick, and more airsick passengers contributing to the already disgusting cabin.

Airports
Most airports are similar, so I'll just mention the notable ones. Dallas-Fort Worth (American Airlines hub) is by far the most notable in the US. It's somewhat strange in that each terminal has it's own check-in & safety scan area, and every gate has it's own baggage clam; thus you would have to check the flight's exact gate number before going to the airport for a flight or picking someone up. Also because each terminal is self sufficient, driving around to find the exact gate to goto is very confusing. Yet, once you get in, it's very nice. Since each terminal is separate, going through TSA safety scan is a breeze. Also, the terminals inside is like a sparkling clean mall, with the most adverse variety of stores of US airports. They also have a very nice inter-terminal tram that goes above the terminal level, giving you a great view of the airport. The international terminal (I recall it's concourse D) is the flashiest most beautiful part, with wide spaces, 2 storied shopping areas and glass artwork. I also like how they have restrooms with large counters in each room for you to put your baggage, so you don't have to put it on the restroom floor.

Atlanta's airport (Delta's hub) is also huge, yet I've heard that there's only one entrance for all 6 (or is it 5? I forgot) concourses, so good thing I only had transfers here and didn't need to go through TSA here. The inter-terminal tram here is underground, making it less fun. Most concourses are long straight corridors, with the tram station and food court in the middle. Here, again, the international terminal is the best, arranged in a seastar-like shape, tram station, stores, food court and lounges all in the middle, with corridors stretching out like arms. This is the only sparking clean concourse and the only one with art work decorations. The waiting area even has better carpets and seats then the other domestic concourses. Nice thing that my domestic flight flew out of this international concourse twice.

I once has a connection in Las Vegas. It was under construction and the direction signs and corridors are a mess, I would say it's the most screwed up airport I've seen. Yet, the special part is that the completed areas that are not under construction, are just as flashy as casinos, the carpets soft and heavily decorated, walls glossy black, neon lights here and there, and the lighting ambience also gave a slightly dark feel just as in casinos. Well, surprise surprise, it's not just the corridors that look like casinos, the airport it self is a casino. Check out the photo of slot machines in the terminals, beckoning you to gamble while waiting for that late plane transfer!

Gainesville, Florida is a fun, tiny regional airport that I have to mention. Since the town is only University of Florida (UF) and the supporting economy, it's essentially UF's airport. Even the service vehicles on the tarmac had the Gaters mascot of UF painted on them. I had to get there on ATR72 propeller powered planes, and walk on the tarmac to the terminal. Flights are so rare that there are only 4 gates and the TSA X-ray scanner was only turned on 30 minutes prior to the boarding time of each flight. Yet when I was leaving, the fire alarm went hay wire, and TSA had to evacuate us out of the terminal, and then re-check our bags again after confirming it's a false alarm.

Philly's airport is very convenient in that there's a train to downtown right from the airport. Here again, the domestic part is crap, while the international part is a gorgeous glass and steal structure with shiny floors and ample sunlight. There's even artwork of birds, composed of many tiny birds to form the shape of flying foul with a shadow that looks like a jet. The better restaurants are also, of course, in the international half.



Hotels
I've got to stay in all sorts of hotels, from Best Western & Holiday Inn Express to Hiltons, suites (yes, I once stayed in a 2 room/ 2 bathroom suite with a living room and a kitchen) and even historic resorts. In one case the best school around was fully booked so we were left with cheaper ones, but generally most schools try to get us the best. One school even had the hotel they normally use screw up the reservations, and we end up getting an upgrade to a 5 star business Hotel (Adam's Mark) that was as flashy and humongous as those in Vegas. Overall, expensive hotels does have better looking rooms, and amenities, yet once you are asleep, I don't think it really matters. Heck, I'd sleep in sleeping bags in dusty "rider houses" in Hokkaido, and really, at least you are quite old, I don't think there's that big of a difference after you are a sleep. Yet, the most "high class" hotels charge extra for everything, internet connection for $9.95/day, $7 bottled water in the room, charge by the hour business room computer use, and $17 breakfasts. All of those are free in cheep Best Westerns & Holiday Inn Expresses except for the bottled water. Yet you also get small rooms, cracked and shaky sinks/tubs, and plastic disposable cups. Thus I like the mid range hotels best, they don't charge extra for internet, business room use and drinking water, yet still provide decent rooms. Of the good parts of high end hotels is that you get real nice shampoos and soap (especially Hilton hotels), and front desk clarks are very nice.

One thing I never get is why american hotels always give you too much pillows, such as this Double Tree bed with 5 pillows. Hay, I only need 1! The king of pillows that I could recall is the Hilton Inn at Penn, with 7 pillows taking up half the space of the bed... I believe a bed is meant to accommodate a person, not a pile of pillows. It was such a large pile that we had to push them to the floor to clear out an empty space to lie. And, the maid's job is to put that pile back in your bed every day so you can "fight for a place to sleep" every night. How nice?

More Photos...
Well, what a bunch to type in a day! But aggregating 10 trips into one article, this is still only a little part of the adventures, so here's links to the photos of the visits. I didn't bring my camera on all of the trips though, as sometimes we have a tight school and bringing along a huge camera (my Sony Cybershot H9) on an interview didn't feel reasonable, or sometimes I just don't want to worry about someone breaking into my room and stealing my camera (same reason I never brought my MacBook). So here are the photos of the trips that I did brought my camera: