Saturday, July 26, 2008

暑假?

真是奇怪的感覺。

所知道在美國這邊的朋友幾乎全都跑回台灣渡假了。

聯老闆、實驗室學長也都跑去渡假了。

Thursday, July 24, 2008

夏日最佳飲料:麥茶

上個月跑到日本超市買了日本進口明治麥茶茶包,超便宜的一盒$2.99,內含20個茶包。

盒子上號稱一個茶包可以泡1公升的麥茶。很方便,茶包丟進一公升的廢棄果汁玻璃罐中,加冷水加到滿,放冰箱半小時完成。結果我口味清淡,泡完再加水週而復始,一包竟給我泡了六七泡(也就是快七公升了)。

算起來,簡直是140公升的飲料才$2.99(水費房東出,濾水器的錢,反正都要喝水,也不貴啦)$2.99去餐廳大概只有一公升可樂吧,去賣場也只有三公升。而且美國的飲料大多超甜,滲透壓很高,越喝越渴。麥茶清涼解渴,不虧是台日共同熱賣飲品阿^^

預付手機真好

電話幾乎都不用開機,反正熟人全都在網路上、方圓1000km以外的世界另一角落,不然就是天天見面的實驗室同仁,沒有人會打電話給我。開機收到的也幾乎都是詐騙電話(接詐騙電話還要扣我電話費orz)。

因此,純粹備用,最低額度每三個月才$15真是太棒啦!除了台灣PHS免月租費方案以外,我還想不到更適合我的方案咧。更棒的是,這超省錢方案今年被刪除了,只有不想換方案的老客戶可以用了,嘿這麼划算我幹麼換方案XD

面容老化速率

以前覺得,以臉部跟皮膚來說,白人特別容易老,有些人二十幾歲就有一點皺紋、臉部坑洞一堆了orz (尤其看到同樣亞洲人,臉部老老的,身體其他部份、穿著打扮看起來都是年齡二字頭的,真的很囧)

現在覺得,以我的標準來看,大部分國家、種族的人都特別容易老XDD
(就不列出我的取樣了,以免得罪人,不過包含黃皮膚黑頭髮的外國人喔)

換個角度想,我習慣的老化標準是台灣人的老化速度;也就是說,台灣簡直是永保青春超級娃娃臉的國度!以外國標準來看,大概台灣人就算出社會了,除了穩重點之外,看起來30歲像十幾歲吧 :P

不過這邊台灣人太少了,也就是這邊的人大多沒看過多少台灣人,所以也很難問別人是否對台灣人有這種感覺了。

這樣一推論,似乎老外大學畢業就結婚,台灣人還可以到30歲才拉警報似乎有道理耶XD

Monday, July 21, 2008

雜感

If Invitrogen's Lipofectamine is just a suspension solution of lipid micelles, it must be one of the most expensive & profitable oils in this world.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Bastille day at the Eastern State Penitentiary

As I rode home from a long ride from King of Pruissa, I passed the Eastern State Penitentiary (a historic prison-turned-museum close to my place) and ran into this festival. Will, it's true that almost a week after our Independence day, it's the French's turn to celebrate Bastille (seems to be the French word for prison, and also refers to the French prison that they stormed into back then) day; but I never thought people here in the US would join in the fun (人家嗨你也跟著嗨...). But anyways, it's fun.

So when I got there, there's already a huge crowd there, most of them have a cup of beer with "Kronenbourg 1664" printed on it. I was already hungry and thirsty from the ride (over 40 miles), and so first thing I did is go in to the pub near by to fetch my own cup of "Kronenbourg 1664" :D (after checking on the web, seems to be a French beer). Tastes real good, not too thick, more sweet then bitter; but I admit after a tiresome long bike ride, as long as it's not disgusting Miller or Budwiser, any beer would taste real good :)

There was actors acting as French revolutionists at the door of the prison, with a guillotine (斷頭台) right there. After singing the US & French national anthems, they started shouting at a Queen on the top walls of the the prison.

"We have this newest model guillotine called the *** nano (I forgot the name), it comes in may colors, red, blue, green, white and black. It can slice and dice and slice and slice and slice and slice and slice and slice!"
...
"How long have we lived with out freedom?"
"Too long!"

"How long have we lived with pests and rodents?"
"Too long!"

"How long have we waited for the 3G iPhone?"
"Too long...... Hay!"
......

And the protests went on, with occasional jokes sneaked in.

"How long have we starved with no bread to eat?"
"Too long!"

And the Queen replied: "I'd say, if the people don't have bread to eat, let them eat...... Tastykakes! (a brand of cakes, sponsor of this festival)"

And then, to my surprise, the Queen's army started throwing real Tastykakes down at us (the crowd) as if the cakes were ammo! And of course, instead of fighting back, everyone started to try catching as much of the raining cakes as they can. Yet, some people really threw cakes back up the wall, although only one succeeded in throwing the cake over the 3-story-high wall. Mean while the revolutionists are firing fake cannons back up, and through the bang and smoke, more cakes flew out.

After the Queen's army ran out of cakes, they held out the white flag, soon the prison door opened and the revolutionists stormed in and brought out the queen and her men, to the guillotine.

They said they wanted to behead one of the Queen's men, and then they put a watermelon under the Guillotine, and started slicing the watermelon. The crowd cheered with every slice.

After it was over, the crowd left and I get to get closer to see what the stage looks like. On stage, the guys were still slicing watermelon, and with every slice, kids who are watching cheered: "watermelon!"

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Forbidden Drive in the Wissahickon valley

哇這篇欠文欠好久,看圖說故事吧XD

Well, weeks ago, I set out on a ride along the Fairmount park bike trail along the Schuylkill river, and then on a whim upon seeing the beautiful natural Wissahickon valley, went in and, well, rode through the whole valley trail.

I first set out along the Parkway, heading towards the Philadelphia art museum

Art museum
So here's the magnificent art museum, which is right next to the river and the bike route along side it.


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The sidewalk in front of the museum


boat row
And Now I am on the riverside bike trail. Facing the river, next to the museum, is the boat row, where there's a row of boat houses, among them are the Penn and Drexel University canoe racing clubs. This part of the park is the place where a lot of people come to get their morning workouts.


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Farther along the river, there is much less joggers, and the road quality is very nice. The view along the river is also great. You can see the Zoo balloon in the distance on the other side of the river.


My bike at the Schuylkill river trail
Of course I'd have to take a picture of my bike next to a bike trail sign!


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The Dam at the entrance of the Wissahickon valley
And after a little trip to Target for some free AC and drinks, I'm here at the dam where the river trail and the valley trail cross.

Riding into the valley bike trail
I saw a lot of people riding in and out of here on bikes, so in I went.


Great road quality
With smooth asphalt, natural view and no cars or other disruptions, I think this is the best bike route I've ever seen! Man, this road quality is even way better then the streets in downtown Philly!


Entering the valley trail
After this sign, I guess I am really going into the valley. From this point on, it's a historic trail that's kept as close to it's natural condition as possible, and the trail turns in to gravel. So it's kind of like the easiest form of offroad, just a little bumpy, no danger, no special excitement. Doesn't seem to be too nice for road bikes, though :) There is a sign that said speed limit 15mph. Oh well, I can easily paddle up to 18, and well, with a little effort, you can easily go up to 25mph. Oh screw it XD


Offroad trail leading off to the side
Along the route there are numerous tiny trails that lead sideways out of the valley back to developed areas. This one in the picture looks especially wild, so much that there's a sign in front that said on foot or on horse only, no bikes.


little shack by the road
There are also lots of little shacks along side the road for resting.


Valley Green
And now I am in Valley Green, the place in the middle of the trail where there is a restaurant, snack store, and...

The river in the valley
...a spot close to the river shore (there is a river flowing through the valley).


Swans? or ducks?

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The place sure is crowded with water fowl.

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little food store
The little window where you can buy snacks and drinks to replenish after the ride.


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A close look at the nice restaurant, if you ever come biking with a girl, this is the place to have lunch. Unless you don't have enough green in your pocket, that is.


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The trail runs along side this Wissahickon river in the valley. Historically it was a trail with rows of water mills, so there's a lot of dams along the river.


Abandoned house
This house looks very nice, wonder why it's abandoned.


Forbidden drive
This sign explains the name "Forbidden drive". It's a historic trail in a natural park, which, along the years there was many requests to allow cars to drive through, but people wanted to keep it natural, so, cars are still forbidden till this day, conserving the beautiful park and thus the name of the trail.


End of the trail
Finally I've reached the end of the trail, connecting to an asphalt road leading back to civilization.


The "Tree House"
A side trail at the end leads to this house named the "Tree House", which seems to be a natural conservation center. Too bad it's closed on weekends.


Birds that can "walk" all over the tree
In the back of the tree house, there's a tree with lots of strange birds "walking" on it. These bird are really amazing that they could walk around the tree twigs, even upside down, like a lizard.


Chestnut hill college looks like a castle
A little off the trail, and I'm close to German town now. I found this beautiful castle-like structure, which, turns out to be a college. There sure are a lot of old styled buildings in Pennsylvania.


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This is just a sidewalk, but it's so nice.

Then I back tracked through the biking trail. It was slightly down hill going back, and, as I am not taking that much pictures this time, it was much faster going back.

Leaving the trail
A late evening photo upon leaving the valley.

Although it was hours on gravel, it really felt very nice to have an afternoon's ride through a valley shaded in lush, naturally growing trees. It was mostly flat, too, not much climbing, and the trail is very wide with close to no curves. Not as challenging nor exciting as in the mountains in Taiwan, but I like it very much to have a taste of nature this close to urban city life, something I never expected to find in the old, long developed city of Philly.