自信

自信這東西似乎是有兩層的

並不是說「有自信」就一切OK了

除了對自己有自信之外，還要在面對困境時確保自己原有的自信不會因為現實的挑戰而動搖

Sony A33 v.s. Nikon D90

A33單機身 + Sony SAL-18250 DT 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 似乎是個有趣的組合
機身跟鏡頭各$600, 輕便旅遊組合

但Nikon D90 kit (Nikkor 18-105) 現在特價 $950似乎也很棒耶

Sony那組合比較輕便，但塑膠感也重一些；因為只有EVF，電力持久力減半

D90 經典機身，因為雙轉盤要調快門光圈還是D90最順。而且可以選的鏡頭好多...

但$$$呢？！XD

DSLR...

我知道對於買DSLR我一直處在嚷嚷狀態

明明我就挺喜歡拍照的
但我很好奇在這個DSLR普及化的時代，大家不覺得不管機身多便宜，鏡頭、配件隨便加一加就可以爆$2000USD 是一件很可怕的事情嗎？

$2000耶... 可以買一台爛二手車了

也許價值觀有差異吧
於是乎我繼續嚷嚷著DSLR真好，然後用手上的超大型傻瓜相機繼續硬撐

This Thanksgiving

今年感恩節讓自己的生活步調慢下來，好好思考生活中的點點滴滴

感恩節的核心不是火雞，更不是血拼，而是要回想人際關係在人生中所佔有的核心價值。分享火雞、買禮物，都是為了要感謝人生中所有重要的伴侶的相伴

真的要好好感謝好多好多的朋友相伴走過生活中所有的快樂、美好、挫折、孤單。

生活...

人的一生最大的目的就是追求幸福吧？

幸福的定義是什麼似乎會依照人生經歷的累積而不斷修正。

將來想要怎樣的工作、怎樣的生活環境、怎樣的家、怎樣的家人，夢想隨著每一天累積的生活體驗而有或多或少的修正。

認真生活，好好的思考每一個不同的經驗對自己價值觀的衝擊。越認真的追求新的際遇、越用心去體驗人生的每一刻，也越發現人生的有趣之處。

老筆電住院

老筆電掛了，拿去送修。雖然也4年半了，但看那台從大學陪我到現在的電腦就這樣丟一邊感覺頗不捨的，尤其像家人說的，那台電腦幫助我大學畢業又申請到研究所，還滿有價值的。今天就拿去蘋果店看看有沒有得救。

不知道是太熱門還是怎樣，去蘋果店求助好像看病一樣要先預約，然後等人叫你名字（還好沒有掛號費）。

店員清楚聽完我講解電腦的症狀後，把所有可能的問題都以專業的態度檢查一遍。真的很少碰到客服人員是這樣對自家產品全盤了解，而且認真工作的。一般公司的客服都會先把客人當笨蛋，問「電池有裝好嗎？」、「有插電嗎？」，但這位客服人員是聽完我講完就先自己確實的檢查一遍，然後準備送修。

蘋果真的有國際企業該有的風範，雖然我的機器是台灣買的，但序號一輸入馬上知道哪一天買的，還有我的保固登錄資料。而且店員一看到我的鍵盤旁的塑膠蓋有裂痕就主動說「這個可以免費換，但因為整個是跟鍵盤一組的，我們要另外幫你訂中文鍵盤」。原來蘋果還有訓練店員到會認注音鍵盤啊。

除了記憶體因為不是原廠的之外，整個主機板修到好$280，其他非耗材問題全包，7天內完工。想說若不修，這價格也只能買到爛netbook，就給他修了吧。店員說雖然機器過保很久了，但蘋果有備料6年，可以做這種修到好服務。

從沒什麼人用蘋果電腦的時代到現在人手一台iPhone的時代，看著蘋果的種種改變讓我不再自稱為蘋果迷，感覺他們越來越老大心態。可是今天受到這種客戶服務，再度覺得，蘋果電腦能夠壯大有其道理。

話說去年同實驗室的朋友一台Acer電腦壞掉要送修，結果Acer客服說「你的機器是義大利買的，我們不備料、不受理」。送到獨立的電腦維修店修，又被告知說想跟Acer義大利分公司買零件也買不到。Mobile01甚至還有傳言說Acer台灣總公司也是在產品停產後只備料一年。商品賣出去之後，公司是不是有繼續照顧老顧客真的感覺差很多

最近火熱討論的跆拳裁判事件

最近因為這事件，反韓情結油然而生

諷刺的是，跆拳道是韓國的運動

重要主管單位都是韓國人，遊戲規則也都是韓國人訂的

簡而言之，在人家的地盤被欺負。不是說這樣就合理化，但這樣真的是被欺負的機會最大化

悲哀

這一次

毫無防備的縱身跳了下去

沒想到一瞬間就整個陷下去了

Flights

之前以為要飛台灣就只能到JFK飛桃園
去年學到有
PHL(費城)->IAD (Washington DC Dulles)->NRT(成田)->TPE(桃園)
PHL -> ORD (Chicago) -> NRT -> TPE
這兩種折衷玩法，轉三個班機，但與其直飛一直關在飛機上，我比較喜歡旅途中有時間下飛機休息。

呵呵，剛剛發現今年全日空多了新航線了：
PHL -> LAX (洛杉磯) -> HND (東京羽田!!) -> TSA (台北松山機場！！)
噗哈，這樣要到東京、要回家都更方便，而且航線變多，就更多機會比價了，哇哈哈
（而且這樣中間每個轉機點都有親友可以找XDD）

--

說來奇怪，桃園機場不在台北，國際代碼卻叫做TPE；真正在台北的松山機場反而不能正大光明的稱為台北，TSA 似乎是Taipei Songshan Airport。
不過說來國民黨似乎一直喜歡玩掛羊頭賣狗肉的遊戲，例如國號「中華民國ROC」其實並不在中國 orz

Simple, rapid note taking

Ever since I stopped using my Palm OS Clie TH55 to take note, I have been looking for a nice, simple way to take notes. The best note taking solution should be fast with no distractions, essentially a blank space waiting for you to fill up with your ideas. The Memo application in Palm OS was the best of them all, launches within half a second (faster then you can ever open a physical notebook), then you open a new page and start writing, simple as that.

Migrating on to webOS has left me without a good notes solution, and I never had a good one on my computer. Until I found the combination solution here...

>Notational Velocity
Launch, and start typing, all from your keyboard, no mouse clicks required. And it's free, too. I can't imagine anything better then this.

>Simplenote
Then I noticed that Notational Velocity can sync with a web service called Simplenote. I created an account and realized it's in the same simple spirit as Notational Velocity. Sweet.

>Noted!
So why sync my notes with the web? Enter Noted, for webOS. This little sucker sits on my Palm Pre phone, and syncs with Simplenots. Viola, I have my notes accessible from every web-connected device I have. Sadly, this is also the weak link in my whole note taking solution. This app costs around $1.50, and takes a couple of seconds to sync with Simplenotes. It should sync automatically in the background without you noticing, just like Notational Velocity. Hope future versions would be better.

Clover

前年 St. Patrick's day 買的三葉草似乎很怕冷。夏天長得很茂密，但葉子換超快，每3~5天就倒一堆又長出新的一叢。

最近天氣變冷，冷風一吹，三葉草全倒orz

窗戶關了，冷風不再吹，三葉草又長新葉了。看來不久的將來該把它移開窗邊了。

Gap's Jeans sell

Went to Gap because they are holding a "recycle your old jeans" promotion, where you get 30% off a pair of Jeans if you bring in an old pair; 10% more off if you bring a coupon from Gap's Facebook page.
So I dropped by our local Gap just to realize that all Jeans are 40% off already, no need for any coupon nor old jeans recycle. So the recycle promotion is a joke? Anyways, 40% is nice. But then the Jeans they have don't feel as good as the worn out Gap Jeans I brought in to recycle... And the huge words "MADE IN CHINA" are written in extra large text on the pockets inside. Man, these Jeans are $32 after the discount, and you print this oversized (the area size of a adult's foot) sign of blatent cost cutting? Are you trying to send people to Target and find Jeans for $19.99 instead?
End of Rant, Gap was awesome 5 years ago, not so much anymore.mood

After math of Peregrine coffee

After that first try of Peregrine roasted Kona coffee, it really left such a bad taste in my mouth that I didn't felt like drinking any coffee for the past few days.

Tomorrow's coffee party I'll only be doing beans roasted by Old city coffee, at least I am sure they do great coffee.

人本廣告email

因為去人本帶過兩次冬令營，所以我的email就進入了人本的宣傳email list了。也因為去參加過活動，對人本多多少少有點感情，所以這些廣告信有時間我還是會看一下。

過去幾年收到的都是營隊小隊輔培訓相關資訊，也滿有趣的。但這最近幾個月收到的廣告跟我越來越遙遠......

「親愛的，我聽說，當爸媽也是需要學習的，你願意和我一起嗎？
人本父母成長學苑，夫妻同行，甜蜜九折！」
「走入小孩的世界，如何與孩子一同成長」

人本啊人本，不要這樣刺激光棍嘛～

Interwebs BS

The internet is full of BS. People write articles that seem scientific, but don't provide any scientific evidence. Instead they try to "seem creditable" by throwing in as much degree names (a Ph.D. here, an MD there...) and celebrity names in the article.

Yet it is just human nature to believe what they want to believe, instead of what's supported by hard evidence. Though it is surprising to realize that some of your extremely bright friends are among those psudo-science believers, too.

The Future of Friends

I knew that's the way it is, I saw it coming, I've experienced it again and again, yet I still don't feel comfortable about it everytime it happens.

Once a good friend finds his/her mate, they need and want to focus on their mate, thus they spend less time with their old friends, it's just human nature. Yet, being the friend left behind, it still feels sad that it'll never be the same good old times again.

Old MacBook

My Old MacBook has been showing it's age for a long time.

It's slow for many tasks, and would shut down it self if I move it. Thus I've relegated it to web surfing only.

Yet recently Adium (my IM client) has been acting up, somehow it always thinks some of my MSN friends are off line; and it always tells me that it couldn't add some friends to my list. Trying to fix it, I reinstall it, and it cannot even log into the MSN messenger network anymore.

I've found that the latest version of Adium fixes all issues, yet that requires Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). But my old MacBook is still on 10.4 (Tiger).

I wonder should I upgrade my OS. My old computer worked very well on Tiger, so I was just too lazy to upgrade. But now, I also wonder if my old, old hard drive would survive the upgrade...

Ahh... issues with a 5 year-old computer. Why can't MSN just work like it did in the old days? Why should I be forced to upgrade the software?

[Coffee notes] Hawaii Kona Moki's Farm, roasted 9/28 by Peregrine coffee

Hawaii Kona beans of Moki's farm ordered from Peregrine coffee, roasted Sep 28.

Got the beans approx. 5 days post the roast date, thus this should be when it tastes best.

Ground with hand mill to a thin powder. A strong creamy smell while grinding.

Brewed with Vacpot, water slightly over boiled.
Beans were light brown, yet the resulting coffee is quite dark.
Hint of blueberry smell about 30secs into brewing. No special notes afterwards.
Little cream seen when coffee drops into the bottom pot.

Taste:
Resulting coffee tasted dry with little oil. A little burnt flavor when hot.
Nutty flavor, thin body, very low in sweetness. No farther change in taste after cool down.

Should try:
Lower water temperature to avoid burnt tone. Longer extraction time to try to get some more body out. Dryness and lack of oil seems unfixable.

―●●●-

Rochester, NY...

美聿一直告訴我Rochester是個鳥不生蛋的鬼地方，我一直相信著...... 直到今天查了wikitravel才驚覺，Rochester竟然是紐約州第三大城市？！

真的該在今年開始下雪之前去一趟，明明開車才6小時而以，之前在猶豫啥啊？再不去美聿就要畢業了。找個週末好好善用Hertz的週末租車特價吧。

另，題外話，剛剛發現我這個blog的第一千篇文章竟然就不小心浪費在「本日深水炸彈」一文上，真是的，竟然用這麼鳥的事情用掉1000號po文。不過「本週」快結束了耶，我猜室友的女友大概這個週末會現身吧。說來，今天是我第一天看到室友的鞋子是擺整齊的 XDDD 看看接著一週如何，若真的太閃，正好就是我租車逃到Rochester避難的好時機了:P

(偷偷希望開roadtrip團能招到正妹同遊 :P)

電火球

如果「衝衝衝」只要選輸台北市長就會選總統，那我希望他選輸

「衝衝衝」應該要選總統阿！

本日深水炸彈...

室友開心的聊著網路視訊聊到一半，見到我，問說：「你下週會在嗎？」
我：「會啊，怎樣？」
室友：「我女友下週要從日本來找我，在這待10天，希望你不介意」
我：「OK」（竟然毫不猶豫的就爽外的說OK了，真是好人當久了連嫉妒為何物都快忘了）

---

所以......下週PhillyCarShare會愛死我的，希望搭順風車去哪裡玩的請趕快報名

The Toyota Prius is annoying

Or let's say it's irritating because the following:
- Audio and AC controls are both hidden in that touch screen, which requires full attention to control, keeping your eyes off the road.
- That touch screen lights up the cabin in the night, making it hard to drive, and then you have to try to turn it off.
- Both brake and gas paddles are so soggy that they feel like two pieces of sponges.
- Why do you still need to plug a plastic fob into a plastic socket when it's supposed to be "keyless"?
- The gear shift lever is a freakin' joystick.
- Half of the trunk is occupied by that huge battery.
- Because that oversized battery is so heavy, and the engine so small, the Prius struggles on highways, gobbling more gas then other similar sized cars.

柴田淳 - 隣の部屋

時間分配

據說我的星盤顯示我很容易「專注於某事」

那麼... 當我再次一頭栽入研究時，我似乎該努力防止自己從費城台灣人社交場合中消失XDDDD

前兩個小時念paper唸到熱血時的確是差點要進入長期閉關思考狀態了orz

Being less on the web

These days, life has been quite busy that I am far less on instant messaging and social networks (MSN IM & Facebook) then usual. Some how this feels liberating, and happy that I have a real interesting life in that I don't need to hang around on line killing time.

This does not mean I'm hardder to get in touch with, either. Having a good smart phone means you don't have to constantly stay alart of social network sites. I get a nice notification when someone's trying to get a hold of me. This means I only check emails and messages when something important comes in: less wasted time.

燒錢慾...

懷念Deore變速的順暢（也好奇Sram X7或Shimano 新款SLX變速的手感）、27速爬山的爽快，想要買新登山車。也許Cannondale或Marin挑一個吧，正好REI最近15% off。

又想買新相機，很開心朋友的Nikon D90即將脫手，也許我可以入手。不過Sony又出了個震撼彈：阿花A33。全新半透明反光鏡機構讓小台、輕便、連拍一次滿足。看起來體積沒有比我的H9大多少。而且入門機種A33價格跟二手D90頗接近說～

可是若真的這樣花錢，就燒了$2000說。再加上鏡頭組跟防潮箱......大概$2500就飛了

對了，若哪天Palm的新手機出了，又是$200上下吧。

我還想多多租車出去玩耶orz

最近又因為Social太多，吃了好多一頓$50的高級晚餐 T_T

難道是潛意識中想把資格考前蹲家裡念書省的錢加倍花掉？！

---

這篇勸拜度也太高了吧...
http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=254&t=1722547

更新：
本來就知道鏡頭很貴了，本來想說不要買太多就好了。可是偏偏愛拍野鳥，就一定需要望遠鏡頭。
可是望遠鏡頭一顆可是比機身還貴呢 |||orz

注音輸入法

Yahoo奇摩注音輸入法自動選字真的很妙

我打「男追女」，它自動選成「難追女」...... 有沒有這麼諷刺的自動選字阿orz

I wonder how it is like to travel by bike in countries where you know nothing about their language.

還找新手機？！

幾個月前本來覺得手上的Palm Pre好用但殼裂開了想要趁綁約滿一年換新手機，可是綁約滿一年過了好久Palm都一直沒出新機。偏偏個人有比較強大的需求，覺得iPhone跟Android拿來邊收發email、邊聊MSN、邊下載paper來看，都用不順（簡而言之就是不適合當筆電用 :P）。還因為沒新手機玩而小小焦慮了一下子。

現在反倒覺得，阿現在這隻也用的好好的，殼裂就裂還是很好用。而且人生有更多重要的事情，何必費心於這些玩具呢？也就是說，會一直注意新玩具的消息算是我心態上太閒了，在其他正事上不夠認真吧（這只針對自己，沒有影射任何人）XDDD

也許這心態的出現也代表我又老了一些吧orz

I was at Target, and saw a kid pointing at a framed painting of Obama.

He asked his father "Dad, can we buy this?"

Dad answered "Yes we can!"

現代相親條件XDDD

http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=292&t=1672580
這篇真的好妙，相親都這樣開條件的啊？你如果自己好到可以狂開條件的話，那還需要相親嗎？

另一方面來說，若去婚友社填資料，希望找的對象條件只填：
1)台灣人, 2)女生, 3)聊天聊得開
那婚友社大概無從配對起，乾脆隨便亂配吧XD

竹科工程師那段真是好笑又悲哀，相親也可以搞「團報」？（這樣會比叫便宜嗎？）下次見到竹科工作的朋友抓來問問看好了XDD

桃園機場

最近桃園機場的新聞越來越強大了，哇靠，空橋倒塌是怎樣？
倒了之後新聞報導說空橋是韓國現代ROTEM生產的
ROTEM不就是自強號PP車頭的生產商嗎？號稱臺鐵史上故障率最高的動力車頭。
自強號PP車頭爛眾所皆知，桃園機場還去跟他們買空橋，保固期過沒多久就垮了？！
難不成這又是政府機關強大的最低標採購？

另，前陣子還有記者指控桃園機場攤販一堆，很不體面。還說「走遍世界各地，沒看過這種攤販機場」。
很抱歉，我在桃園機場沒看過攤販；反倒在東京成田一期航廈的入境大廳看到了可愛的攤販在賣高麗菜、菜頭、草莓。
那機場攤販草莓比外面超市便宜，而且超田超多汁。
我不知道這位立委「走遍世界各地」都走哪裡，該不會跟大多數立委一樣心中的「世界」=「中國」吧？
若是這樣，中國的確不包含日本，那麼走遍世界各地當然就沒到過日本了。
機場也是人出沒的地方，不是神殿。在成田機場看到菜販我第一個念頭就是「哇，這機場也太親民了吧XD」
我覺得攤販若有控管也許反倒可以成為機場特色呢。

最近我跟別人道別的方式越來越奇怪了
跟義大利人說「再見！」
跟老美說「Ciao!」
跟老中說「See you!」
當然，跟台灣朋友還是一如往常的「Bye!」

......想想，以上語言好像全部選錯了XDD

以後會跟哪一國人說「Adiós」呢？
（根據Wikipedia，Adiós中的「A」是to的意思；「diós」指上帝。西班牙人道別就叫人去見上帝？怎麼以我們的觀念來看好像跟「meet your maker」一樣不太吉利......）

Hoooooooooooooooot~~~~~~~~~~~!

好熱～～～～～～～～～～～～～

我需要相信一切都會成功的自信，但更重要的是，一旦抓到這樣的自信就不要失去它。

新來的大學部 Summer student

昨天實驗室來了個看起來頗熱血的大學生Summer student
（他們稱之為Work-study student，因為他們有薪水可以拿......當年我們在台灣當Summer student都是無薪義工，有推薦函就感動得痛哭流涕了說orz）

這位大學生似乎有韓國人血統；結果實驗室的韓國人Post-Doc昨天就頗high的說「哇哈哈，這下我們這裡很多韓國人，比義大利人多了喔～！」

昨天早上，我們Lab Manager在跟我解釋某個新買的花俏Midi-Prep怎麼用。結果後來，那個大學部的沒頭沒腦的跑來問我說「你也是Work-study student嗎？」
老子一時火大只答出一個「No.」

是，plasmid prep看起來就是菜鳥才做的事對吧？還是我長得很幼齒？

後來想想，若是正常狀態的我，也許會以開玩笑的方式回答他，跟他聊一下吧。不過這幾個月感覺我的行為模式、情緒管理整個都處於一個異常狀態......orz

早上去實驗室時看到...

早上騎車到實驗室時，行經34街猛然看到路中間一隻被車壓死的大鼠(Rat)

這時，心中第一個浮現的字竟然是

...

...

Bush-meat. (野味)

囧，也許我真的快瘋了

[天下雜誌] 等無人！台灣徵才難 全球第一

http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/100622/122/27wsx.html

台灣失業率飆高；徵才困難度也飆高

資方只想找廉價勞工；勞方不願意當廉價勞工

昨天還看到一則新聞說港商、新加坡商喜歡來台灣徵人，因為「台灣人才太廉價」。

不願意出多一點薪水請人才的公司，自己想辦法吧！

The story of HeLa cells

Nature's podcast has a fascinating talk about the history of HeLa cells, the human element behind all the science. What surprises me is how the African American community viewed Johns Hopkin's Hospital as "a scary white tower where people would capture you from the streets, take you in and do research on you, and you never come back out again".

For people not in research, this is a story of how cells taken from a cancer patient has been growing in every lab in the world more then half a decade after the patient has died.

玩 tip

研究生無聊壓力大就開始玩tip...
(tip的梗大概要有進實驗室的人才懂吧，總之就是一種最常用的研究工具XD)

義大利文髒話

學習外文果然都是從髒話開始的，現在我也會用義大利文罵「ㄍㄢ四聲」了......

雖然不若台語強而有力，但這樣是不是比用F***文雅多了XD

...

棍，抗壓能力哪裡去了？

心理狀態爛到了極點

$500 買車？

之前花$3600買的二手車問題還不少

然後又看到Top Gear汽車節目在測試「100英鎊能購買到什麼車」

於是就來去Craigslist搜尋$500以下的車吧

看到的大部分都是騙人的或謊報價格的

只有看到兩則似乎是真實的：

1988 Honda Accord
無法倒退，需要換電池，但不錯的車。聽說這台車還滿受歡迎的
有興趣請電xxx-xxxx-xxxx。
請自己來取車
無法發動，需要拖吊

1987 Honda Civic
狀況良好這台車我開了兩年沒什麼大問題，四門自排
無牌照，你需要自行拖走

囧，需要拖吊的還叫做「狀況良好」啊？看來$500只買得到報廢車吧XD

Ramen 的故事

日本人在美國宣傳日本文化有時宣傳得很糟糕

日清、東洋水產兩家泡麵廠商來美國賣泡麵時，大概藐視美國人口感，把「油炸麵條+鹽巴+味素」包在一起就稱之為泡麵了。這樣稱之為「Oriental flavor」(東亞口味)。接著兩個廠商就不約而同的把這個「味素口味」泡麵打上「Ramen」來賣。

這麼一來，老美把「泡麵」跟「Ramen」畫上等號。

當我跟老美說我在日本吃拉麵吃得很開心時，老美以為我在說味素口味陽春泡麵，還說「那有什麼好吃的？」

這時你再怎麼澄清「Ramen is not just instant noodles」都沒有用了，老美的邏輯卡住了

囧

NYTimes: The Risks of Parenting While Plugged In

Right, parents of all ages have different ways of getting distracted. Now they have their eyes glued to their phones. It's also quite cute how kids go "yay!" when parents let go of their attention-competing phone :)

From The New York Times:
The Risks of Parenting While Plugged In

By JULIE SCELFO

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/garden/10childtech.html

趙之璧-快樂是自找的

Po這首老歌跟歌詞一點關係都沒有，只不過是唸書唸一唸忽然想起這首歌
找出來聽一聽又勾起了一些回憶。那流暢的bass、熱情的搖滾，真的很有家鄉味阿～

不知不覺腦中浮現了一個悶熱、黏答答、太陽高照、人手一杯500cc冰茶、有人情味、熱情、民情單純、可愛正妹滿街跑的太平洋小島......

Oil leaks, last century and this century, same disaster

Megabus

便宜、舒適、又便捷的Megabus終於開始走Philly-Baltimore-DC路線了。

可是小珊抓都已經畢業那麼久了才開通，有鳥用阿？(掀桌)

如果Megabus早一年開通這路線不知道可以省下多少排隊等灰狗的時間和多少被灰狗坑掉的車錢......

UPenn台灣同學會

一陣子沒參加同學會了，這次再去參加送舊，驚覺情侶配對比率竟然高達60%（目測估計）？！

有沒有這麼成功的聯誼性社團阿@@

資格考過後...

下週刺激的拷問結束後該來好好規劃夏天怎麼過了...

• 堆積了一堆未整理的lab notes
• 欠了老闆一屁股的實驗債
• 要趕快整理出一個paper草稿
• 趕快想辦法把paper所需的data補齊
• 把承諾幫別人的paper生的data也補齊

• 荒廢、亂七八糟已久的人際關係該來處理一下了
• 買新登山車
• 規劃夏日冒險旅行行程
• 辦好Philly car share會員
• 準備參加朋友婚禮（第一個紅色炸彈耶）
• 找個週末租車去New England海岸走走（MA, RI...）
  

ANA airplane music

影片不重要，重點是葉加瀨太郎的作曲「Another Sky」超好聽
這是全日空抵達目的地後，下飛機時播的音樂

既然請假不好請，又要考試，那聽聽飛機音樂過過乾癮好了

越想專心寫proposal，心思越往奇怪的地方飄@@

為了專心，帶上耳機聽音樂避免被外界干擾，音樂反倒令人回想起某些非常特別的回憶吧。

真的是令人永生難忘的回憶呢...



阿～雜念退散～！！！

About Facebook... Spring cleaning

Facebook used to be that private place where you share stuff with friends that you find hard to keep in contact with. Well, they are taking your private stuff and going public, giving advertisers and application developers full access to your private data, so they can make more money. It's like Facebook taking your data and selling them for pure profit. I won't dispute the fact that when you open an account, the legal statement you're forced to read states that FB owns all the data you posted on your profile. Well, sure it's fine the way they did it in the past. But now as they are going open, I am not comfortable with it.

It's a bait and switch tactic. Years ago, it's a locked down community. Facebook encouraged you to post as much private info as possible on the promise that your profile is only accessible to your friends. Thus you can control who sees what by going into the settings and choose who can see what, and make careful consideration when "Friending" someone. Well, not anymore. There's nothing wrong with going open. But sneakily playing bait and switch is just playing dirty.

I won't delete my profile as some friends are still using FB as an important contact tool. But I well be deleting most of my info, and avoiding posting stuff here. Photos would stay in my Flickr account as before, and all notes on the wall are synced from my blog as this one.

For Reference:
WIRED | Facebook's Gone Rogue

跟老美唱歌

跟老美去卡啦OK bar唱歌還滿有趣的。

不同於亞洲人大多喜歡抒情歌，美國人覺得唱歌就是要大家同樂，所以就是要點high歌，最好是全場所有的可以很high的一同合唱、一同手舞足蹈的那種high歌。（當然，還要一同喝酒嚕，不喝酒還叫老美嗎？）

也難怪他們喜歡「卡啦OK bar」的形式而不是包廂形式，因為他們不管陌生人、好朋友都要一起同樂、一起high。

不過一直唱著80年代的超嗨芭樂歌，怎麼唱完有種「我好老」的感覺？！
（對啦，老子就是比較會唱老歌啦，年輕人的歌唱不慣啦XDDD）

Ethiopia... notes

從首都Addis Ababa到咖啡產區Yirga Chefe似乎是可以4天內悠閒的騎到（若估一天100km）。這樣算起來若搞趕路模式的話2天就到了耶。中間還經過某個國家公園呢。
Gmaps路線
嘿嘿，越研究越心動，我想看世界最古老的咖啡儀式^^

機場現場辦理簽證$20USD也好方便呢

據說每個村落都有旅館、餐館，也許不用背帳篷睡袋呢。只是據說廉價旅館很多兼營酒館+妓院，似乎要帶耳塞吧XD

只是如何把單車帶上飛機、如何請多於兩週的假、如何弄到便宜機票、如何學會Amharic 56字母，都還是大挑戰。

中國觀光客喜歡青天白日滿地紅 T shirt

歪!新聞 | 大陸遊客喜歡國旗T恤　六合夜市賣翻天

這麼有趣，原來中國觀光客喜歡青天白日滿地紅 T shirt阿

呵呵，政治敏感度來說，似乎跟去台灣買民進黨「勿通匪類」T shirt 的某位中國朋友有異曲同工之妙

不過怎麼我看覺得這國旗T會令我想到......「國葬」orz （身上蓋國旗不就是「為國捐軀」嗎？）

The curious story of Claritin

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/11/magazine/the-claritin-effect-prescription-for-profit.html?sec=health&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Some interesting bits...
- Claritin, sold at 10mg is shown to reduce allergies better then placebo. (Claritin v.s. placebo is 40% v.s. 30%, only a little better) An FDA scientist suggested that Claritin is more potent at 40mg, but at that dosage it's not "non-drowsy" any more. As "non-drowsy" is Claritin's main selling point, they sell at 10mg, where drowseyness is minimal, yet efficacy is also minimal XDD
- Claritin is one of the most strongly marketed drugs on the market. As on page 7 of the linked article quotes Marcia Angell from The New England Journal of Medicine: ''Marketing is meant to sell drugs, and the less important the drug, the more marketing it takes to sell it. Important new drugs do not need much promotion. Me-too drugs do.''

Interesting stuff indeed. No wonder Loratidine (the generic name of Claritin) never works for me, but Loratidine still makes me drowsy :D

Amharic

如果說日文五十音不好記，這個衣索比亞官方語言（唸作「阿嗎另亞」）56個字母更是大魔王orz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amharic_language

免費Amharic教學：
http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php?page=Amharic

小筆記：
Amharic 你懂嗎？ = 阿嗎另亞 阿五嘎嚕？

Time square car bomb suspect caught...

已經抓到了，好快，超驚人

一般這種大案件都習慣等幾個禮拜以上的新聞連續追蹤報導說...

這辦案效率之快簡直是讓案發到抓人之間發生的事件還不夠John Grisham寫一本小說XD

這次事件：
車子未爆提供大量線索->由引擎號查到車子原賣家->發現兇手拿來當汽車買賣聯絡用的email帳號還在用->從email帳號確認兇手身份->對國家安全局公佈追緝兇手->乘客名單比對在飛機上找到兇手
6個步驟逮人，真的是簡潔俐落呢

RIP Continental Airlines

Continental, my favorite airline in the US, just got eaten alive by the one I hate the most: United.

I guess it's time to say good bye to clean-as-new cabins, comfortable seats and free airline food. The last US airline that treated passengers as real humans just died.

I guess all we can do is wish some foreign airline (like Virgin) expands it's flights in the US.

Update:
They've got a new website for this, turns out the new "United" would be using the Continental logo, how weird.... United CEO would take over as Chair while the Continental CEO carries out the actual operations. Let's see which company's culture is stronger. If Continental's attention to passenger comfort takes over at the new United, this might be a good thing.

CNN interviews Taiwan's President Ma (馬英九)

CNN | Ma: Taiwan won't ask U.S. to fight China

CNN had a recent interview with President Ma, and I have to say, he is really good at giving a good talk. If you believe all that he says, you would be easily convinced that he has done an excellent job as president of Taiwan. Sadly, the reality shows that he is a politician of speech. The way he handles issues (by avoidance), the way he addresses the economic crisis (by neglect), all shows signs of an incompetent imbecile. The sad thing is that there is yet no viable alternative president candidate that seem better then this imbecile.

Article downloads trends on PubMed Central

From: Nature news

I wondered why the available articles in the bottom graph is a steady increase, while the download counts in the top graph is a periodic zigzag. To explore the cause of the periodic fluctuations in the download counts, I matched the peak and valley points down to the time scale and found a trend. The low points of downloads repeatedly correlates with Augusts and Decembers, suggesting an association with summer and Christmas vacations. We thus hypothesize that the majority of paper downloads are from students who download for class use.

(Oh no, the grant proposal writing style is sneaking into my blogging, too...... I guess I'm having a little prelim overdosage)

HP buys Palm

Wow, just wow.

And guess who's the head of personal systems group at HP?

Todd Bradley, previous Palm CEO.

I guess everyone's a family now

Subaru Impreza

硬皮鯊是個開過就令人念念不忘的車。

真的是，去年到黃石租一台來相伴一週之後，一直很懷念那感覺

雖然組裝上有些小毛病（某塑膠飾條鬆鬆的）、雖然四速自排變速箱很鳥、雖然比較吃油

開起來就是好順，對油門、方向盤的操控，每一個動作都有迅速直接的反應

尤其過山路彎道時，車子重心貼住地面的穩定感，真的會令人上癮

這就是有個性的車啊！

還好還沒開過更高級的好車，不然口味越來越重XDD

不過說起來，在這之前我似乎常常開爛車啊
以前的車是台二手福特escort跑車版，老車有種隨時會熄火的驚險感；開高速更有種引擎要死要死的哀號聲orz
第一次租車租了台Pontiac Montana minivan。號稱七人坐旅行車，引擎看起來比Corolla還小。果然油門踩到底，過了20秒之後，引擎才回過神「啊，該加速了！」。正當你想說終於有反應了，才發現怎麼... 好弱... = = 那小引擎配大車的感覺簡直就是叫一頭驢子拖砂石車一樣的感覺。

Thoughts on mobile device user interface designs

There are several user interface elements that I hate to see on mobile devices, I simply hate them with a passion because they are a pain to use.

1. A "Start menu" should not be on anything, not just mobile devices
   Microsoft used to put a start menu on everything. The idea is that everything is in one place, thus everything is easier to find. Nope, that idea does not fly. Let's say you want everything in your home to be easy to find, so you throw your cups, toothbrushes, pens, shoes, towels, pots, pans and underwear all in the same box. Right, enjoy digging through that huge box everytime you need something. To Fix this, Microsoft came up with the idea of folders in folders. Back to the "everything in one box" analogy, you put boxes within boxes to categorize your stuff, each box only has a label that tells you a vague category. So, to get a toothbrush, you open box after box after box, then, OOPS, wrong box... Close all the boxes and start again, arrg, messy night mare.
   That's why I hate Windows mobile, good thing they are trashing it.
2. Widgets are designed to waste screen space
   Android & Nokia's Symbian are mainly Widget platforms. Widgets are tiny apps that show snippets of info in a eye candy package. But mobile devices have tiny screens. Do you want a Widget that shows a huge "CNN" logo next to a box so small that you can only see two words of the headlines at a time? Or do you want the actual headlines?
   Nokia's Widgets are much worse offenders then Android's. Nokia took the great and mighty EPOC OS and turned it into the abomination that is Symbian. Now they see a threat from the new generation of platforms, what do they do? Bring out Symbian^3, ^4, ^5... ad infinitum, all of them are more of the same widget crap. Big FAIL.
   
3. A bar of "dynamic keys" under the screen
   Remember Nokia invented on phones the concept of a bar of text on the bottom of the screen that tells you what the top most two buttons do? That was a huge waste of screen. They are still keeping that crap on touchscreen UIs. With touchscreens, the beauty is that you can put buttons anywhere on the screen that would make sense to the user, and only show them when needed. Why do I always need the "OK" and "cancel" buttons on the bottom of the screen?

Yup, this is all to vent on Nokia's new N8 phone with Symbian^3 OS. It's great hardware with rubbish software.

有質感的牙膏

莫名其妙的喜歡有質感的東西

為什麼這個新款的牙膏
http://www.aquafresh.com/IsoActive.aspx
只因為是裝在加壓鋼瓶裡，我就會莫名其妙的願意花3倍的價格去買回來玩。

又因為是加壓鋼瓶，按一顆按鈕就會自己流出來，感覺特別好玩，又會有「哇，真好玩，再擠多一點出來吧」的衝動...... = =|||

這個商品包裝的設計者一定有研究過人類心理，讓我忍不住要「買貴」又「多用」orz

Trial and error

The whole point of trial and error is to try several times, learning something new each time you fail, while aplying the newly learned to the next try.

What if every time you try, despite the different approaches, you get the same out come and learn nothing new?

Then what's the point of further trying?

......There, I said it. Maybe I'm ready to try again XDD

不怕死的單車女孩

早上通車時，在胡桃街的橋上看到了一個女孩，長髮、亞洲人、休閒服裝，一副就研究生的樣子

沒帶安全帽，穿休閒皮鞋，騎量販店牌Y型管雙避震車，還踩高轉速一路晃阿晃

喂，這裡是一堆人開車不長眼睛、到處都是路面坑洞的費城耶！

這麼瀟灑...... = =

好吧，我輸了，妳比較不怕死

（好險不是認識的人，不然會小小擔心呢XD）

小白...orz

我就是人太好，花了一個晚上幫一個陌生人提供網頁設計意見（只能說待過同社團吧，不認識）花了半天時間在他身上，念書、睡眠時間也都犧牲了一些。

最後在說清楚我因為資格考而只能當顧問無法實際幫忙設計時，他翻臉了......
「你們老人都知道我的狀況卻看著讓我死......」

喂，是誰在deadline一個禮拜前才忽然來求救的阿？我已經畢業很久了，為什麼要犧牲資格考去幫你？哪裡欠你了？

真的是，同情心需要看對象給，好心卻被反咬一口 = =

iPhone OS 4

It's announced, and it has "limited" multitasking.

But hay, how can they make the UI so UGLY?! (No, it is so ugly, I'm not posting pictures here, to protect your quality of vision) The previous iPhone OS UI was clean and decent, now they took that and layered on ugly stuff. What's up with that studded metal background for picking background apps? More of the same crap for the so-called "app folder" popup.

And how to close a running app? Tap and hold the icon until the little close button shows up. Right, imagine doing that for 5 apps for a row... Seems easier to just throw the iPhone at a wall.

And I thought Android 1.0 was ugly enough, Apple just snitched the title for king-of-no-taste-design from Google. Android 2.0, on the other hand looks decent now.

How had times changed? Microsoft made the ugly Win 95, which looks like a night mare; then Apple came out OS X, the pioneer of polished modern UI looks. Now Microsoft's Windows phone 7 actually is a looker; while iPhone OS 4 is a downright disaster.

Palm's webOS is looking all the more fabulous......, and functional, too.

Cannondale

唉，過去心目中的理想單車品牌 Cannondale 被賣掉給加拿大的財團了，新東家把賓州的車架廠關了，以後會在台中的GT工廠生產。

以後的 Cannondale 不再特立獨行，不知會不會變得跟GT一樣索然無味。真要買台灣單車，我寧願省錢買美利達，幹嘛給美國人跟加拿大人多抽一筆？

看來要買純正 Cannondale 要趁今年去搶庫存了。若搶不到，那要買好車就回台灣搬美利達就好了。

（我絕不在這邊買捷安特，因為巨大機械台中廠的車沒有賣美國市場；美國的捷安特我只找得到中國貨。而美利達，嘿嘿美國買不到 :P）

Virologists...

Some virologists assume that their own pet virus can be the prototype of all viruses. Some people think plaque assays are universal to all viruses.

These people don't understand how different gammaherpesviruses are from other viruses. By being lymphotropic, the field of gammaherpes is wildly different from what you would call classical virology, and thus many assays are also very different.

I hope most of my prelim committee members would be people who recognize this. Yet I think I can be sure that I have not seen the "you should do plaque assays with EBV, too" people around here :D

若有這種東西應該會熱賣吧...

三餐睡前各一顆，人生天天精彩完美

Img original source

薰衣草發芽了

資格考

X的，管你什麼輸在起跑點的，我給你贏在終點！！！！

看清楚了，老子從國中課業、高中聯考到大學指考都是玩這套的，人家本來就是臨時抱佛腳大王！

跟你拼了！

可怕的怪夢

(note: If you were wondering... you are seeing this on Facebook notes just because it syncs with my blog)

昨晚莫名其妙的睡不好；更莫名其妙的做了怪夢... orz

夢到自己接收了家中的Camry，還莫名其妙的有了個嬰兒兒子

兒子的媽... 在夢中臉看不清楚是誰 = =|||

當然，兒子可愛極了，但不知為何我為了一堆瑣事，抱著兒子在工作與家之間一直開車來回跑，然後又因為太忙一下子把兒子忘在家裡，一下子又忘在車上... 每過一陣子猛然想到又衝回去把兒子「撿回來」，兒子竟然不哭不鬧只是很開心見到爸爸......

夢到了自己當個不負責任的迷糊爸爸，還不知道是跟誰生的...... 簡直是近幾年來最另我不寒而慄的惡夢

除了可怕之外，連做夢都離青春越來越遙遠了，天啊！那該不會幾年後開始夢到自己被丟在養老院裡面......

好了，惱人的心事吐出一些來希望可以靜下心來準備明天的presentation，真是亂七八糟

實驗室的PostDoc們...

一個懷第二胎，一個兒子不到一個月大

兩個午餐時間大談育兒經...

最近實驗室...

最近我們實驗室真是一片喜氣洋洋
一個PostDoc新婚
另一個懷孕一陣子了
還有一個剛當爸爸

難道我們實驗室有強烈家庭運的磁場？！ XD

Puerto Rico Coffee from Old city coffee @ Reading terminal

First try tastes like tortilla soup with char-grilled sweet corn
南美風碳烤甜玉米湯耶～

New Toy... Lavender in a bamboo pot 竹筒薰衣草盆栽

A lavender growth kit from Reading terminal market. The pot just looks too beautiful to resist...


Comes with a bag of dirt, some seeds, rubber feet to help the water drain from the pot into the saucer (yes, there's a hole in the bottom of the bamboo pot), and instructions.

Wonder when would it grow...

School food punishment - futuristic imagination

美聿介紹的「東のエデン」片尾曲，是個會上癮的搖滾樂說

特別喜歡旋律有流動感的音樂

相機...

I need a compact camera that can fit in my pocket. My H9 is too bulky for everyday use, it's more like a camera for travels; plus, the shutter button is going bad, one minute it's working, one minute it's not.

The sensor needs to be big, I'm tired of the noise that the minute 1/2.5" CCD on my H9 generates. Night shots are horrible.

And as always, I only use cameras with dials to access manual shutter speed & aperture controls fast. Buttons are a pain. View finders are also a must. Call me old school, I never liked framing with a screen.

Seems that my choices so far are:
Canon G11: still too big
Canon S90: if only it has a view finder
Panasonic LX3: Where's the dials???
Olympus EP2: I could tolerate a larger camera if the lens is interchangable... but what's up with the price that's way higher the DSLRs?
Samsung TL500: I never liked Sammy, but before I can even question if they make good cameras, I noticed there's still no view finder.
Sigma DP2: The senser size is great, but then again, where is the f***ing view finder???

Somehow, I wish the Sony V3 is still available...

雜記

• 上週末是新生面試/招生週，很高興終於又出現台灣人啦，不知道會不會來倒是真的；去年來面試的動物系學長竟然說「我已經錄取了Yale跟Harvard，我覺得比較喜歡Yale耶......」結果果然開學沒出現
• 來面試的有個中國女生是個超級high咖，一聽到我是台灣人就很興奮的說她現在在加州借住一個台灣朋友家，學到了說對朋友的長輩要用很嗲的聲音叫「叔叔、阿姨！」orz
• 除夕夜再度參加TSA春酒，這次去吃的餐廳跟去年一樣吃中國城的「瓊華」。因為去年感覺很不錯，所以今年找同一家很合理。但今年菜色竟然變成「華麗版Food Truck菜」。除夕夜端出左宗堂雞跟炒麵有沒有太誇張了一點。深深覺得這屆幹部被這家餐廳陰了，明年記得告訴下一屆找別家阿
• 這兩年在這邊到處參加party擴展人脈，但似乎自己不太應付得來。一堆人見了面，自我介紹、握手之後開始在腦中搞混。「那個瘦瘦的到底是Tom還是Bill？還有這一位Michael到底是我認識的第n位Michael？那一位穿西裝的到底是念法律還是念商的？」到最後，全盤忘光光。一個小時後再見面時已經不記得見過面了，再一次自我介紹+握手... orz
  看來參加人脈擴展party最好有酒喝，把人搞混、忘了都可以借酒裝瘋
• 除夕夜續攤到朋友家，五杯日本清酒是很爽沒錯，但宿醉+熬夜的結果是隔天早上爬起來還是搖搖晃晃的
• 嗯，對某件事已經徹底進入主動逃避狀態了
• 實驗室大樓（Wistar）有一位警衛看起來粗估年紀大概50~60間吧。但今天看到她報著一個小嬰兒，竟然跟我介紹：「這是我曾孫......」天啊，老美也太會生了吧，還沒退休就抱曾孫了？！

How culture shaped the human genome

Nature | How culture shaped the human genome: bringing genetics and the human sciences together

文化如何影響人類演化呢？簡單阿，如果一個族群的文化裡，頂客族蔚為流行，那這個文化當然對「天擇」有重大的影響XDD

Today's coffee readings

... A smile :)

My Palm Pre is similar to my 1st gen MacBook in so many ways

I got my Palm Pre on the first day it was launched; I preordered my MacBook and got the first shipment.

The Pre is my first smartphone; the MacBook was my first Mac and first notebook computer.

The Pre is the first to use the new ARM cortex A8 CPU; the MacBook was one of the first Intel CoreDuo computers.

The Pre randomly shuts down due to a loose battery; the MacBook randomly shutts down due to a faulty fan controler... Both issues were fixed by switching out faulty parts for free.

The Pre USB port door has a hinge that's designed to crack easily; the MacBook has the palmrest area designed to crack easily. Both issues were ignored by Palm or Apple.

Both are very plasticy, but both look nice.

Both are examples of superb software in hardware with many issues.

Why I hate the Apple iPad

1. First of all, for the last few months, it has flooded all tech news websites. I am tired of overexposure.
2. It's based on the iPhone OS. Which means that you can only launch one application at a time, just because Apple likes it that way.
3. The iPhone OS also means to change settings of anything you have to quit an app and jump back to the home screen, ditto for copy & pasting across different apps.
4. In the above two ways, it makes the iPad way less useful then netbooks, but it costs almost the same as higher end netbooks.
5. And so, it's just an iPhone with a larger screen, but it takes the space of a netbook. Now, would you prefer bringing something in your pocket, or bringing around a backpack?
6. With that huge screen, it should include the full version of iTunes, not just a huge iPod app.
7. You need to sync it to your computer, so it's just a computer accessory, the same idea as Palm Pilots. If it's the size of a computer, why not just bring your whole computer?
   

Gadling - travel blog

http://www.gadling.com/

Oh no, a great travel blog, another reason to procrastinate at work... and dream of traveling :)

藉口一堆，好像很挑的樣子......

主要原因還不是簡單的兩個字：膽小

咖啡筆記

不新鮮的咖啡豆要
1. 磨粗粉
2. 水上來後約九秒就要讓水下來了
這樣才不會甜味被焦苦味蓋掉

這樣還修不回來，就可以打豆子丟了XDD

哇哈哈，Hario Siphon入手！

My Newest toy...
My new Hario Coffee Syphon(vacpot, 虹吸式咖啡壺) set with an optional gas burner for better flame control.


The beauty of high quality glassware, glimmering.


I guess the sticker says "Syphon coffee's got the real taste - heat resistant glass, Hario"


Firing it up with clean hot water to clean the whole system.

2009 年底東京之旅

2009年年底，回家。

因為家人要到東京玩個幾天，就決定找個在東京轉機回台灣的班機，順道在東京跟家人會合。這次訂票一樣的驚險，因為厭惡美國的航空公司的爛服務，就決定一定要搭亞洲的航空公司；又因為要東京轉機，就變成只剩日航跟全日空可選了。年底適逢日本返鄉過年潮，機位一票難求。本來規劃自己搭bus到紐約再搭計程車去機場搭飛機的，希望這樣會比較便宜，沒想到因為日本過年，日航票價上漲到一趟$4000USD之譜；而全日空也到$2000去了。幸好朋友介紹在Flushing, NY的國泰旅行社，不但幫我找到好機位，還是從費城飛出去的。

12/29 早上從費城搭United到Chicago轉全日空。本來以為「鼠悉部炸彈客」之後，要檢查很嚴格，於是拜託朋友提早兩小時半載我到。Check-in小姐也以為安檢很耗時，於是也沒問我要啥座位，30秒內Check-in完成。結果沒想到連安檢都是火速完成，在無聊的費城機場枯等2小時。

上次搭United是小學時代了，對他們的印象就是髒亂態度不佳；再加上十幾年前發生空姐沒關好門，氣壓不平衡而炸機的意外；過去面試時的同伴有行李不見的又全部都是United在Chicago ORD機場轉機時把行李吃掉...... 總總原因讓我把United列為拒絕往來戶。這次，沒得選了，ANA就是跟United合作，於是就硬著頭皮試試看。沒想到United機艙竟然是近幾年來我搭過的美國班機中，繼Continental後第二乾淨的，而且座位意外的寬敞。奇怪的是，飛機中段劃為「Economy plus」，除了座位更大一點，跟一般經濟艙沒兩樣，卻貴了些。於是整架飛機是經濟艙8成滿，「經濟+」艙空無一人，有沒有這麼無腦的航空公司啊？更糟的是，經濟艙8成滿，所有人擠在一起，不像一般劃位會把人把散。把我劃位在一排三人坐滿人的走道位，往前一看卻有一整排空無一人，所幸自己換位置去享受隔壁沒人的舒暢感。另一個美國人有樣學樣，坐到跟我隔一個位置的旁邊。United這架空巴A319也真兩光，窗戶塑膠框好大一個裂口...... 我知道這不影響機體結構，但不免心理毛毛的。

飛進滿地雪的Chicago，謝天謝地最常因颳暴風雪而封閉的ORD這次只有積雪沒有下雪。Chicago機場寬敞明亮，地板乾淨到閃閃發光。Jennie會如此懷念Chicago似乎有道理。航廈之間的地下通道天花板上有很花俏的曲折管狀七彩霓虹燈做出電流流動的感覺，頗炫的。全日空不接受United幫我印好的登機證，說要到櫃檯去換全日空自家的登機證。換好後，全日空的小姐很自動的拿出我回程在東京過夜轉機時需要的旅館精美住宿券，連機場到旅館要怎麼搭車的說明都事先印好在裡面了。只可惜搭車說明竟然是簡體中文的；奇怪了只看到我名字就認定我要看簡體中文？！

果然日本年假也跟台灣過年一樣可怕，整班飛機客滿。全日空的座位還是特小的，我的身材就算在日本也不算大吧？竟然坐下就膝蓋頂到前面椅背了。不過至少我還有窗戶旁的小空間；隔壁的駐日美軍微胖，超可憐的，好像大海綿硬擠進小格子一樣。第一次搭全日空，想說日航主要競爭對手應該會有差不多的服務吧，但似乎cost-down是最近的業界共識，免費報紙、雜誌都取消了，點心也比過去的日航少（但聽說日航最近似乎砍得更兇）。飲料最一般的都有，但我有些懷念日航獨家的「日航奇異果飲料-Skytime」。至少，日式綠茶還是很好喝的。剛上飛機的擦臉毛巾還是真正的熱毛巾，日航幾年前早就cost-down成拋棄式濕紙巾了。餐點不難吃，但也是略輸日航。日航一定有沙拉、水果；全日空除了肉類以外，給了我五碟的碳水化合物外加一顆硬得不像話的麵包。嗯，沙拉也是pasta salad，還是碳水化合物......orz 但我想全日空似乎是要用「不營養但好吃」的食物來討好乘客，用餐完畢後每人發一杯香草Haagen-Dazs。機上的白葡萄酒很棒，La Baume Chardonnay（沒記錯的話是07年的吧），有濃濃的果香加上適度的甜味。全日空的個人娛樂系統很鳥，很陽春。在看地圖、飛航資訊、主選單時不能同時聽音樂，以電腦系統來說是單工的系統。光可以在選單中聽音樂這點，全日空已經日航、長榮、華航都輸了。很奇妙的，日本明明電子大國，卻兩家航空公司的娛樂系統都輸華航與長榮XD 就算長榮的有點台灣常見的「視窗架構土炮系統」的味道，但論娛樂性、通能性都樂勝日本這兩家呢。更糟的是，全日空的飛航資訊不能手動叫出「距離目的地還有多少時間」的畫面，去程中完全沒看到；回程中偶而會出現。這軟體有bug吧。

好在全日空今年要換座椅了，座位、銀幕都變大，而且多了USB充電插座跟一般筆電用插座。雖然華航幾年前就有筆電用插座了，但他們從東岸飛還在用航程太短的747-400，在Alaska降落加油後，整趟飛航時間多一倍，也就是說紐約到桃園要飛可怕的24小時。長榮、日航、全日空都是用777-300ER，航程長到可直飛，省油又比較快。

12/30 在東京成田降落，跟家人會合後就到機場地下室的JR車站買N'EX+Suica套票。簡而言之就是機場特快車的外國人優惠票加上一張東京的悠遊卡。然後就這樣搭上酷炫的JR N'EX成田特快，很快的就到了東京車站，再換車到新宿找我們的旅館：西新宿hotel。新宿車站很大，十幾個月台，再加上無數的地下道通往不同鐵路線和地鐵的車站，外加好幾個跟車站共構的百貨公司。但一出車站就發現新宿不是想像中的大城市，附近的熱鬧度大概有如台南市站前商圈吧，甚至更小。熱鬧的似乎都集中在歌舞伎町一帶，而那離車站大概一個block。除夕的前一天，似乎每家店都準備好要關門過年假了；而路邊到處都有「年越そば」（跨年蕎麥麵）在叫賣。要不是旅館沒廚房我也來買一包。三人份700円真是便宜阿。

西新宿hotel是個超小的都會型hotel，藏在一個小巷子超多，每一棟大多不超過兩層樓高的住宅區。想不到新宿車站旁會如此幽靜。Hotel大約有十層樓高，但一樓是車庫，二樓就只有Lobby跟咖啡廳。所謂雙人房有一半面積是浴室；臥房就兩張超窄的床，床尾的空間窄到要側向通行。這就是東京阿～。

正煩惱晚餐要吃什麼時，發現hotel旁有個「鷹丸鮮魚店」乍看之下好像就是專門賣魚的菜市場攤位一般，但仔細一看，裡面似乎可以吃飯...。走進去，發現一個整家店充滿魚市場的豪氣的有趣小店。天花板上都是魚網，還吊著幾個塑膠籃子裝著menu。店裡除了有餐桌外，就好像菜市場一樣櫃檯上滿滿的冰塊和生魚。當然，男店員豪爽的「いらっしゃいませ」絕對不會少。店裡的小姐也是一整個豪氣的high咖，穿著橡膠雨鞋，帶著露齒笑容，不管說什麼都high的不得了XDD

看到賣鮮魚的，網走漁市場的回憶衝上心頭，就不由自主的坐下，大喊「我要鮪魚生魚片配啤酒！」與其看Menu不如看櫃檯，Menu是純文字的楷體日文，除了要很會讀假名外，還要懂魚的品種才會點。但看隔壁桌的都是到櫃檯前，指著魚說「我要這條」，再指著一籃生蚵說「我要這個」。接著，說清楚要生吃、碳烤還是火鍋就是了。啤酒一杯400円頗貴的，但鮪魚生魚片沒啤酒像話嗎？沒想到啤酒附贈一碟碳烤竹莢魚+一點不明魚內臟當下酒菜。天啊，這是鮮魚天堂吧？接著，鮪魚生魚片來了，沒錯如照片中一桶！

阿，新鮮マグロ久違的滑順感配上蘿蔔絲和Wasabi，人生就是為此刻而活啊！看到起司就眼睛發亮的妹只看menu上有起司就不管三七二十一就叫了。

於是就來了這碗公的碳烤海鮮起司沙拉，裡面滿滿的魷魚、蝦、干貝跟馬鈴薯。

走出店外，發現門口躺著一條比人還大的鮪魚XDD

一個人的旅行

單飛的旅行，比較自由隨性，但也因為個人比較貪心，而淪為狂趕路式旅行。

旅途中，住青年旅館、搭飛機都因為一個人而比較容易和陌生人交朋友，而不會因為跟固有旅伴聊天而忽略其他人。但這種狀況下交的朋友都是短暫的熱烈交談，離別後也許沒有留下資料，就算有留資料也許之後也不太會聯絡了。久之，孤單的感覺油然而生。

因為大學畢業後要找到時間、目的地能配合的朋友越來越困難，開始嘗試單人旅行。結果發現我並不能像一些女性朋友一樣自在的單飛，反倒更加想念起大學時代的夥伴們。

趕路令人疲憊，疲憊了開始想東想西，想多了孤寂感都來了。