intellidryad's blog

雙十？？

2011-10-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

這一天似乎是大家比愛國的日子。不過這一天到底該怎麼度過我從來沒有一個肯定的答案。Identity crisis? (笑)目前大部分朋友的觀念似乎是「中華民國＝台灣」，所以愛台灣就要慶祝中華民國國慶。不過對我來說，中華民國是1911年在南京創立的國家，建國時台灣這塊土地屬於日本。國旗上1/4的面積是國民黨黨旗，反應著這個政權超過半個世紀黨國不分的歷史。「青天白日滿地紅」從小唱到大是個事實。但是隨著年歲增長也越讀越多歷史，於是「慶祝中華民國國慶」這件事情對我來說就變得跟南京人慶祝日本天皇誕辰或猶太人慶祝納粹黨慶一樣的奇怪。沒有要批評任何人。經過蔣經國跟李登輝兩位前總統的建設與改革，中華民國已經成為了我們民選的政府。當年李登輝高喊「中華民國就是台灣」似乎就已經宣告政府本土化完成。只是國號、國徽、國旗都因為隔壁隨時要打過來而被迫維持那個當年屠殺台灣菁英的政權的相同名號。是否因為時空背景的不同而可以轉而接受當年欺壓者的名號？我心中沒有答案。

加拿大航空 Air Canada

2011-08-10T19:57:00.001-07:00

這趟從中歐回來搭Air Canada，因為便宜。另外也想說美國的航空公司都很糟糕，以達到「提供最爛的服務為榮」，那就來試試看加拿大的如何。

登機後的第一印象還不錯。空姐不會像亞洲的航空公司只限年輕貌美，不過沒有阿嬤級空姐。而且最重要的是都很友善，不像某些美國的班機一登機就一張晚娘面孔歡迎你上機。機倉似乎只有分商務跟經濟倉，不過這是我見過最大的經濟倉座位，這種座位大小在別家似乎該稱「豪華經濟倉」吧。每三個座位有兩個電源插座和三個USB充電孔，挺不錯方便的，不過我的座位的這個USB接頭怎麼往內陷進去了...orz

打開航空公司的雜誌翻一翻，看到了一篇加航形象廣告：「加航被評選為北美洲地區客戶滿意度第一名!」我笑了。當他們南方鄰國的同業都在努力搶錢跟搶客戶厭惡度第一名時(美國航空業:『咦?加收的那個行李拖運費似乎每年漲十元是個好主意耶...』)，加航似乎不用幹嘛就可以穩拿北美滿意度第一了。

阿，終於上餐點了。只有素食跟馬鈴薯泥+雞肉可以選，當然選雞肉啦。熱食部分上有個塑膠封膜，似乎跟平時常見的鋁箔蓋不太一樣耶。撕開一看不得了，TV dinner耶！(美國很流行比ㄆㄨㄣ還噁心的冷凍微波食品，因為時常在電視上廣告，所以又稱TV dinner) 索然無味的雞肉，軟軟爛爛又黃掉的青豆莢，還有爛到已經毫無顆粒感更沒有馬鈴薯味的「馬鈴薯糊」，整個再泡在Gravy中游泳。我覺得自己好像買了一盒lean cuisine (微波食品品牌)。腦中瞬間浮現了一個聲音，說著「Welcome back to America!」吃完一半快吐時，想說改吃沙拉好了...... 打開一看：Potato salad。都是potato都沒有蔬菜，啥鬼?

長途越洋班機都有降落前的第二道簡餐，像長榮的就會給你吃家鄉味的稀飯或燒餅油條。加航的呢? 來了一盒熱的東西: 雜牌Hot Pocket！ (Hot Pocket是一種美國賣的冷凍微波袋狀pizza) 加航你好樣的，冷凍微波食品始終如ㄧ。

所以，如果你喜歡大座位和冷凍微波食品的組合，加航歡迎你！

071811 unfinished

2011-07-20T16:38:00.000-07:00

從費城飛國際線，一個很妙的感覺，總覺得費城機場對我來說感覺好像ㄧ個不小的國內線機場。正在期待著使用那「機場比較華麗的部分」時，發現SEPTA也把這機場視為國內線專用...... 從SEPTA火車月台下車後竟然只有通往國內線航廈的通道；到國際航廈請自己沿著馬路走過去。另外，費城的國際班機不多，所以安檢排隊也很短，不過呢，旅客們挺聰明的，隊伍中八成都是國內線乘客跑過來的，反正進入管制區之後航廈是相通的。

費城飛法蘭克福八小時，幾在小位子上昏昏沉沉之中過了兩小時，想說應該至少在大西洋上空了吧? 打開地圖一看，竟然還在加拿大上空...飛那麼久還是脫離不了新大陸啊。德國漢莎航空還不錯，優點就是沒有啥大缺點，缺點就是沒有啥優點。座位不大不小，空服員挺友善的，機倉還算乾淨。總之，跟米國的各家「以服務爛為榮」的航空，現在搭飛機還真容易滿足。晚餐吃雞肉與馬鈴薯泥，完全就是美式食物；哈，德國漢莎就直接跟費城的廠商訂餐的吧。我長途飛行時喜歡常常起來走動。太平洋航線的波音747或777在機尾的廁所旁總有個寬走道可以讓我做做體操館拉拉筋。然後逃生門上總有很棒的窗戶可以拍外頭。這台空中巴士A340機尾(咦A340不就是華航在名古屋跟桃園那個... 想太多XD)沒有廁所就算了，整個空間都用作廚房去了...... 歐州人的空間利用也太有效率了吧?還我河山、還我體操空間!!!

法蘭克福機場的海關很帥氣。本來看到整班飛機的人只有三個官員，有點擔心。不過我走比較快，趕在大夥之前先到海關檢查哨排前面。然後輪到我時，那德國女警看了我一眼，靜靜地說 Hello，接過我的護照只喵一眼照片就以迅雷不及掩耳的速度蓋好章還給我。天啊，我回本國入關都沒這麼快的(本國海關至少還要花時間說「歡迎回來」說XD)。接著更妙，一般應該要申報入境課稅物品的檢查哨不但空無一人，只有一個寫著「Nothing to declare」的出口。啊我如果很誠實的想要申報違禁品也找不到申報櫃檯耶。你也乾脆一點把「Nothing to declare」的牌子拿掉寫「Ausgang/Exit」吧！還比較省預算呢。

這入境大廳一點都不像機場，天花板超低，人超多，還兼商店街。媽，我是不是走錯地方不小心來到了新宿火車站？不過可樂一瓶4歐多是比新宿車站貴啦。恩，這機場看來跟新宿車站名一樣，悶悶的另人想要快進快出，可是轉機要等四小時耶。索性買了票進城去。火車一趟十分鐘，3.7歐，么壽哦。月台上巧遇一個行李上掛著華航牌子(還寫著臺南市的地址)的大學生，哈，同鄉，交個朋友。這位同鄉好厲害，大三就到法蘭克福來參加研討會發表論文。我博三才第一次出差耶，徹底輸給了有為青年（長江後浪推前浪啊～）。有為青年面容害羞靦腆的說是第一次出國反正我也是閒晃殺時間，就兩人一同逛法蘭克福中央車站站前區。依照亞洲邏輯，車站前應該最熱鬧，商家匯集吧？這車站很大很雄偉，不過附近似乎沒什麼東西。除了早上未營業的酒吧不少以外，竟然還一堆中文字的招牌。發現一家雜貨店就進去看看，老闆看起來挺印度人的，裡面賣的東西也不知是印度還中東的東西。喂，這是站前商圈？這是 Chinatown + Turkishtown吧？路邊還有大量的妓院海報，好吧，至少這裡的照片不會像美國的廣告Model一樣醜到另人倒胃口。

世間刻板印象告訴我們說德國是強國；而像捷克這種前蘇聯成員國比較落後。可是布拉格機場乾淨得閃亮，不像法蘭克福灰暗又髒亂。捷克印象加分，德國扣分。不過入境大廳空空的感覺讓我聯想到北海道的機場。機場交通方便，往市區公車5~10分鐘一班，不過公車管理處售票亭只有一個人，前面好多慌亂無祝的遊客，排隊好像Disneyland一樣又長又不會動。哇哈哈，好在我有先做功課，總之到公車站牌前售票機投幣就是了。沒想到這售票機「不收50元硬幣」......有沒有這麼台的投幣販賣機啊？就這樣，讓我逐漸認識了捷克這個好有臺灣味的「外國」。

公車上發現一個跟我同班飛機過來的女生，在登機前就覺得這女生看起來有點像同鄉。現在聽到她用英文問司機車資跟轉車問題，我笑了，標準臺灣腔英文。朋友多多益善，當然上前打招呼啦。這女生好寶，塞兩個兩歐硬幣給司機問這樣夠不夠？司機說一個就夠了。我後來告訴她說，兩歐還是太多耶，38捷克幣只比一歐多一點說。她竟然很驚訝捷克不用歐元，還說她出國前換的都是歐元。到市中心要公車轉地鐵，就帶她一起走啦。不過聊天聊過頭，地鐵轉車站搭過站。哎呀，耍帥破功。

作為一個古城，道路彎彎曲曲的，要迷路很快。而且路名都寫在一個鐵牌上訂在轉角建築的牆上。迷著路到處亂走，發現有如西門町的逛街鬧區，有如臺南的彎蜒小巷，有如Disneyland般擠滿觀光客的古城廣場，還有很多藏在四方形建築中庭裡的商家......就是一直找不到我訂的青年旅館XD 後來發現青年旅館在一家pub樓上，裡面則是有如共產國家的老公寓，聯看得到骨架的陽春電梯都有。......

Destination roster

2011-07-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

Places I want to go:
- Chicago (see friends)
- Seattle (see Pike place market and Boeing factory at Everett)
- Glacier National Park (gotta go before it all melts away)
- Alaska
- Key West (Cuba surrogate :D )
- Peru
- Italy (biking)
- Ethiopia (coffee farms in Yirgacheffe)
- Madagascar (Lemurs!)
- Vietnam (HaLong bay)

Holidays are never enough...orz

[Review] Ikea SUNNAN solar rechargable desk lamp

2011-06-27T17:29:00.000-07:00

Why would I write a review of an Ikea product? Since when did someone get excited about cheap Ikea stuff?

Well, this lamp is an LED lamp, and solar powered. Also, the solar module is detachable and packs three AA NiMH batteries. At $20 this makes a cheep solar battery charger.

The LED part seemed to be constructed by three LED units; however I did notice that there are also some in the store with a 4x4 array of tiny LEDs instead. I'm not sure which is better, but I picked the three LED one.

Removing the bottom four screws of the solar recharging module reveals three AA-size NiMH 1200mA batteries. The innards are surprisingly simple. The solar panel, three batteries, connections that lead out to the lamp, and a logic board with a resistor and a fuse. I hope the fuse wont blow under normal use, but maybe it's there just in case you leave the unit under some strong desert sunlight for too long. This simple construction also means that there is no over-charge protection, so you should follow the recommended charge times if you want the batteries to survive through more charges.

Just imagine the possibilities of this as a stand-alone battery charger. This could be very useful on hiking/biking/camping trips. I recall on many previous camping/biking trips we were always looking for power outlets in camp site bathrooms and visitor centers, just so we can steal an hour or two's worth of juice for our power-thirsty bike headlights and cameras. With this baby we could just fix the unit on somewhere with ample sunlight and it will be charging as we go.

Oh, and the LED is pretty bright.

The Internet is full of Bull Shit

2011-06-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

...and then bull shit gets shared on Facebook, effectively proliferating into perpetuity.

怪車

2011-06-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

誰能告訴我「碳纖跑車車架+淑女車握把+單速飛輪」是什麼怪車？

囧

隨身聽轉錄

2011-05-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

中學時代喜歡帶著錄音帶隨身聽到處跑
錄音帶隨身聽方便的一點就是聽到喜歡的歌就可以隨時錄下來，有時是從收音機直接錄，有時候接上ＣＤ播放器轉錄到錄音帶

進入MP3時代後，音質比錄音帶好多了，可是卻失去了那隨時錄音的方便；什麼都要透過電腦

今年初在日本買了新的MP3隨身聽，順道買了一條專員的line in錄音線
又可以不經過電腦就直接接線錄音了，有一種懷念的感覺
Sony把這功能做得挺方便的，可以設定歌曲開始時自動偵測有聲音就開始錄，沒聲音了自動停止錄音
然後接上電腦，錄音檔回傳電腦後有專用的軟體會自動把歌名歌手都幫你找好

雖然說這樣用錄音的似乎有點雞肋，都是只要有電腦都做得到的事，但還是個挺有趣的功能
不過又是個日本限定的功能，外國買的隨身聽都不能這樣玩orz

喔對，若用這玩意而錄youtube上的音樂，還是救不了youtube上的爛音質就是了XD

[Coffee] Tanzanian AAA - RUVUMA Organic

2011-05-07T18:31:00.000-07:00

喝了好幾天的放太久的咖啡以後，終於有時間去買新鮮的豆子了

這次買的是Old city coffee 5/4-5/10的special: 坦尚尼亞 AAA級豆

這支豆子是中度烘焙的，豆子偏淺色，煮完下來後的咖啡也是像紅茶那樣的淺棕色
煮的過程中沒有什麼特別的香氣，就那新鮮的發酵味。下來也沒有什麼油脂泡沫。

喝起來也淡淡的，微苦清甜，沒有焦味或任何雜味，一種乾靜順口的感覺。

Old city coffee說這支豆子應該要有像葡萄酒般的多重口感，和一些莓子的味道(berry flavor)。大概剛烘不久，買回來馬上煮，還沒展豆完吧。下週應該會更好吧，這麼漂亮又順口的豆子我覺得放幾天一定變更好。

最強的國際化

2011-04-18T18:31:00.000-07:00

美國有中國城跟韓國超市完全不稀奇

加州 H-mart 有賣台啤也不算啥

我實驗室門口，白人開的路邊攤有賣伯朗咖啡才酷阿XDDDD

Magic Carpet, 很受歡迎的一家中東風格素食餐車，最近忽然開始賣Mr. Brown coffee了。我問攤販怎麼會有Mr. Brown，他說「I don't know, but it tastes pretty good, I like it」

我有檢查，正宗台灣生產製造！

再遇硬皮鯊

2011-04-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

PhillyCarShare買了幾台新的Subaru Impreza，有幸趕在他們今年全面漲價的一天前租來去REI把我保養完的Marin登山車領回來。

到現在Impreza還是我感覺開起來最順的車啊。方向盤轉起來很順，很直覺的轉多少車就轉多少，不會有任何難轉或哪時驚覺轉不夠或轉過頭（這也許表示動力方向盤很夠力吧）。然後油門也是很直覺的線性反應。一般日系車都是踩一點點就爆衝，再踩深一點卻反應遲緩（人家說這叫起步輕快orz）；而我唯一該過的歐系車Volvo則是踩一點點沒什麼反應，踩深就動力充沛（人家說這叫做沉穩）。Impreza的油門就是很直覺的踩多少就動力多少，沒有油門行程中任何一段會有令人驚訝的突發反應。另外，重心很低，所以車子就穩穩的貼著路面，不飄不晃（哈，Corolla的完全相反）。開車時駕駛員的每一個操控動作都完全而精細的傳達到車上，讓車變得好像自己身體的一部分一樣聽話，這樣才是好開的車阿！

不知為何PhillyCarShare買了配備挺高級的車款，連藍芽接聽都有。把自己的手機拿去跟只租幾小時的車做藍芽配對不是怪怪的嗎？雖然方向盤上有接電話的按鈕頗炫的啦。車上的音響不錯，有接隨身聽的接頭，甚至連充電用的USB插座都有了。可是音質有點空洞，感覺就是塑膠共鳴箱喇叭那種音質。

CarShare 的 Impreza 是掀背款，本來想說這樣單車比較好裝，結果還是要把後座放倒... 小車的後車廂空間還是窄阿。

---

剩餘時間就過河到Cherry Hill去找同樣久違的Wegmans超市。這家竟然比在Rochester逛的那家還要大，簡直世界各國的食物都有；而且除了牛奶以外，隨便什麼東西都比費城市中心便宜。它附近還有很多店家可以逛，簡直就像超大型Mall。看來以後我大概會更愛跑Cherry Hill了XD

不過New Jersey像迷宮一樣的道路規劃實在是...... local的每個十字路口都比高速公路交流道還錯綜複雜阿orz

Booting up a Windows PC is slow because...

2011-04-05T21:50:00.001-07:00

Well, I guess Windows it self isn't slow. But then there's just too much stuff that tries to run when you boot up a PC.

There's the antivirus, the firewall, the anti-adware, maybe the glorified video card driver that insists that it needs to show you "Nvidia's website" every time you turn on your computer, maybe the PC manufacturer also has tossed in some stuff running in the background, and then Windows wants to install more updates everyday, and the list goes on and on. There's just so much junk your computer has to process before you can start using it.

And then, you are greeted with thousands of pop-up windows that needs your attention. "Scan for virus now, this is important!", "Install this important Windows update NOW!", "Update your Java plugin NOW!"... All those software companies seem to think that taking care of your PC system is more important then what you actually need to be working on, for example, finishing that business document. We buy computers to get things done, not to be constantly and slavishly making sure the system is up-to-date and happy.

This madness is essentially why the experience on a Windows PC feels so bad. Anything would be better then this. It's not totally Microsoft's fault, but they let a whole industry develop into this abomination.

未來希望的思索

2011-04-03T09:57:00.000-07:00

人們看到小嬰兒時總是直覺的覺得這孩子的未來充滿了無限可能與希望
沒錯，孩子的未來充滿了希望，正因為我們對於這孩子會長成什麼樣子的人一無所知

是否「無知」成為了希望與正面思考的能量來源？

隨著我們年歲的增長，我們逐漸了解自己能力、個性上的限制，還有社會給予我們的限制。了解越多限制、經歷越多挫折，我們對自己的未來逐漸的變得悲觀、迷惑，視野越來越狹隘。

可是，這其中，我們也忘了我們在成長之中也逐漸了解自己的強項、社會給予我們多少自由。這時不應該是善用對自己強項的了解，好好發揮來實現過去夢想的好時機嗎？

也許，夢想用想的很簡單，所以人們快樂；當感受到要去實現夢想的壓力時，人們苦惱了起來。然後，「大人」們就覺得與其辛苦的去實現自己的夢想，不如去幻想著小孩的未來來的輕鬆。

在了解自己之後，正面思考成為了個需要練習的技能。要多多告訴自己，只要還活著，我們隨時都還有改變的機會。

......一些自我提醒

Maredsous Abbaye-Abdij

2011-04-02T21:56:00.000-07:00

試了Maredsous 三種選擇中的 Brune Bruin。甜甜苦苦的，泡沫很香，body不錯。跟Chimay差不多吧。

但期待著像Stille Nacht那樣濃厚而多變的body和油脂感的自己還是失望了。我要更濃厚、更多變的口感啊！

下次試試看Maredsous Tripel，希望會好一些。

我想，我已經厭倦像水一樣的超淡口感了，還是比利時的濃厚口感比較好。真搞不懂米國人為何喝得下像Rolling Rock那樣淡到不行的東西；Bud light之流的更糟，比水溝水還噁心的味道。

資本主義社會中的不公平

2011-03-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

有些人不但聰明、專業技能很強，也認真敬業，可是就是因為某些因素而失業

有些人技能不怎麼強，整天打混，但因為老闆人很好，每天上網看新聞還領薪水笑哈哈

樓下實驗室一位我很尊敬的研究員因為老闆去世，即將失業；卻因為自己年紀、資歷都不小了大部分可以做的工作都「over qualified」。看他很勉強的擠出一點微笑對我說「回家領失業救濟吧」，感覺真的很惆悵，也不知道該如何回答或安慰他了。

也許，正因為這世界上沒有很多鐵飯碗，所以將來事業上的難關都要努力熬下去。為了自己也為了將來的家人。

回憶的配樂

2011-03-28T05:49:00.000-07:00

有些歌不一定特別好聽，但在人生某些時刻中，也許那旋律與歌詞的組合特別符合我們當時的心情。於是在當時就會不斷的重播那首歌，來陪伴自己當時的特殊心情。於是，那首歌就成為了那段人生經歷的配樂。

隨著時間，情緒過了，也不再聽那首歌了。

當自己哪一天又一時興起，開了隨身聽的隨機播放模式，無意中又再度聽到那首歌。那段回憶的點點滴滴、酸甜苦辣，就隨著那首歌的旋律再度充滿了腦海。

[普利司東公司/please don't...] 水管阻塞…

2011-03-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

親愛的室友啊，請你不要在我從實驗室拖著疲憊的身軀回到家後，留著一整個水槽的洗碗水，然後用那無辜又可憐的眼神看著我說：「廚房水槽還是不通耶~~」

你是公的耶，好歹也試著修修看吧？

而且，那種眼神的使用權請留給我未來的可愛的老婆好不好？

Comprehention and interpretation

2011-03-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

Communication has always been an important part of human interaction. However, each concept can be worded in multiple ways; while each string of words can also be interpreted in several different ways. During this communication process between two individuals, the message can thus morph in unintended ways on each side, be it worded wrong or interpreted wrong.

Sometimes a complex concept is familiar to the message initiator, and thus he/she expresses it in a rather simple way. The message receiver, however, might be completely unfamiliar to this concept, and thus unable to decipher the full meaning of the message.

People might assume that the person seems stupid in being unable to comprehend the message. Enter the concept of intelligence. I think it is reasonable to define human intelligence as the ability to make links between concepts. Thus, a person who is generally perceived as "smart" would, for example, upon seeing a new form of tool, make a link of this new input with something pulled out of memory, and thus come up with a new idea of how to use this tool. Or, upon facing a problem, the person would be able to make a link with a solution pulled out of memory, and apply the solution. Coming back to message interpretation, understanding a message requires the ability to link this message to pre-existing concepts in the interpreter's memory. In the case of mis-communication of unfamiliar concepts, if the interpretor is not familiar with the concept that the message initiator is trying to express, then the interpretor has nothing in memory to link this concept to, no matter how smart he/she seems.

In conclusion, life experiences and prior reading that are stored in memory is crucial to expanding the pool of "linkage candidates" upon exposure to new concepts. And thus, our ability to comprehend and interpret is proportional to the amount and range of our previous-storied memories. Meanwhile, assumptions of messages "going through" when it was interpreted in a different way, seems to be an important component of everyday conflicts.

這社會好奇妙

2011-03-09T13:37:00.000-08:00

有些人運氣很好，碰到了對人很好很好的老闆

於是，整天混吃等死也可以養家活口XDD

Old City Coffee: Sulawesi Kalosi Toraja Grade1

2011-03-06T09:50:00.000-08:00

Old City Coffee: Sulawesi Kalosi Toraja Grade1

This week's special at Old city coffee (Reading Terminal market) is a uniquely spicy bean from a little island around Indonesia. Low acidity, low in the oils (only slightly creamy), but pretty sweet with a woody flavor, a hint of maple syrup, and leaves a lingering taste of dark chocolate in the mouth. Also, the ground powered gives a slight smell of cinnamon after the infusion.

很特別的一支豆子。照往常用syphon煮。剛下粉時有檀木香，水剛上來後那5秒內有陣陣香料味（一時認不出是什麼香料）。煮完後的咖啡渣有淡淡的肉桂香。

喝起來感覺弱酸，油質感也很弱。（不知為何Old city今年烘的豆子都不太有油脂感）有種濃烈的甜味，有點像楓糖又有點像麥芽糖的感覺。檀木香還是一直都在。喝完會殘留黑巧克力的口感在舌頭上，像台灣在賣的那種明治85% cacao的感覺。咖啡冷了之後開始有印度香料的感覺，還有一點佛堂線香的香味。

好久沒碰到這麼奇妙的豆子，這隻豆子 Old city coffee只賣到3/8喔，費城的朋友想試試的快去找XD

Body wash, Shampoo and Sodium lauryl sulfate

2011-02-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

現在很多蒐集好康、特價資訊的網站。我特別喜歡去逛「免費試用品區」，填資料，就有免費是用品跟折價券可以拿。這樣填久了，就不小心有機會用到各式各樣的沐浴乳、洗髮乳之類的有的沒的家用商品。

最近收到Aveda寄來一張「生日禮物兌換券」，說可以免費到店裡索取某某芳香系列產品一份，價值最高可達$25。咦，原來之前去填資料除了要試用品以外還有生日禮物可以拿阿，真好XD 雖然一直覺得身為男人走進Aveda這種保養品店怪怪的，不過免費無敵阿！

所以就拿著兌換券到市中心的Aveda門市去看看。本來以為會是幾瓶小瓶的有的沒的，也許可以拿去送女性朋友...... 結果是香水、美容鹽、沐浴乳三選一。咦，沐浴乳也許我可以用耶。店員到櫃子裡拿出一瓶白色的沐浴乳（瞬間有點小失望不是那種黑色瓶子男性專用款......但，驚，是一大罐約500cc耶），然後就說：「這個沒有香味的，我們有12種香味精油給你自己選，然後我幫你把精油加進去。記住，要選好你希望洗完澡是什麼香味喔。」

所以，就莫名其妙的拿到免費的一大罐「芳香自選沐浴乳」。店員說原價一瓶$20

用過後開始覺得奇怪，為什麼泡泡特別少。這時就想起Trader Joes買的橘子味天然洗髮乳好像也是泡泡特別少；難不成越高級越貴的反而泡泡越少？想起來似乎以前買的一瓶$0.67的廉價洗髮乳好像反而是泡泡最多的...... 然後就開始研究起成分了。畢竟我不是化學家，很多成分不懂，但看起來似乎越便宜的就越是以Sodium lauryl sulfate為主的配方。咦，這不就是我們跑蛋白質實驗常用的SDS嗎？所以說我如果每天用67cent廉價洗髮、沐浴乳洗澡，就是每天用deionizing detergent抹在身上？Lyse my skin cells and also denature all skin proteins? 這樣一想，覺得用廉價沐浴乳頗傷皮膚的說。但同樣容量的東西，有些一瓶67 cent，有些一瓶$2，有一瓶 $5的，然後還有那個完全不含SDS的Aveda高級貨：一瓶$20...

所以以後我真要花錢買一瓶$20的東西來洗澡？好像沒那麼有錢。那就買中間價位的好了，SDS還是有，但不會多的誇張orz

（給非科學背景的人：SDS是一種實驗室常用的detergent，就說它是類似肥皂粉的東西吧。這東東產生的泡泡非常多。用來讓油脂可以融在水裡、打破細胞油脂外膜用的。但SDS有個附加特性就是可以破壞蛋白質結構。）

人心

2011-01-27T15:26:00.000-08:00

邏輯思考跟自我意識，都是大腦皮質主管的
但大腦卻不是人腦的全部

正因為如此，所以當我們用所謂的「常理」跟「邏輯」想要試著解讀人心時，不是解讀錯誤就是只能部分解讀。

也許我們會因為自己理解能力不足而感到灰心，但人腦的情緒起伏變化本來就不是大腦能夠理解的阿，呵。

學著用寬大的心胸去面對自己的不完美吧

「男性雜誌」...囧

2011-01-21T08:35:00.000-08:00

因為好奇，也因為免費，就訂了某「男性雜誌」來看看是怎麼回事
（心裡OS：看這種東西會不會增進男子氣概？）

第一本送來了，很明確不是色情刊物，但真的是，囧。
裡面的題材包含：
- 名模比基尼照、名模喜歡哪些東西（名模長相一向不合我口味就算了，但名模喜歡吃哪種糖果為什麼我需要知道？名模的初戀更是干我屁事？）
- 如何把女生騙上床（喔，這雜誌編輯以為讀者全都精衝腦？）
- 如何打架，讓女生以為你是英雄（是，瞄準下部這種下三爛技巧任何小學生都會）
- 如何調理飲食（少吃垃圾食物不用你教，我不是小學生好不好？）
- 如何修馬桶（不會修馬桶，只會整天精衝腦的是什麼垃圾啊？還算男人嗎？）

結論是，垃圾男性雜誌是專為沒有大腦只有性慾的人設計的。簡直就是我此生最快丟到資源回收桶的雜誌。

我不會在此寫出雜誌名稱，垃圾雜誌不值得我為它增加曝光率。好奇的私下問我。

不過，也許這本雜誌有那麼一點點價值：這才了解這世界原來還有很多無腦的人，讓我相較之下，自信心又上升了一些XDD

混乱いています。

2011-01-17T05:02:00.000-08:00

以前旅行總是很清楚的知道我要到哪裡、要做什麼、要見誰、要買什麼。可以在腦中有個清楚的行程表、待辦事項，一切瞭若指掌。

這次莫名其妙的腦袋呈現一個混沌狀態，一切隨性、亂無章法，忘東忘西。

思緒、情緒一片大亂，感覺一點也不像我熟悉的自己。

回到實驗室硬塞下繁忙的實驗計劃，讓忙碌把腦袋逼回原本應有的清晰狀態。希望這招有效......

自信

2010-12-16T21:39:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-07T21:04:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-12-06T13:40:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-26T13:09:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-11-25T19:49:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-23T16:45:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-17T16:52:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-10T05:53:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-05T09:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-23T08:29:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-16T12:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-07T21:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-03T22:15:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-03T16:17:00.000-07:00

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.

―●●●-

2010-09-20T21:06:00.001-07:00

Rochester, NY...

2010-09-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-09-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-09T09:48:00.000-07:00

時間分配

2010-09-08T15:47:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-08-25T13:51:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

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

還找新手機？！

2010-08-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-26T15:43:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

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。

2010-06-29T14:27:00.000-07:00

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~~~~~~~~~~~!

2010-06-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

好熱～～～～～～～～～～～～～

2010-06-25T14:40:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-06-23T07:18:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-17T16:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

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

...

2010-06-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

棍，抗壓能力哪裡去了？

心理狀態爛到了極點

$500 買車？

2010-06-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-11T11:51:00.001-07:00

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

2010-06-06T20:08:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-30T21:04:00.001-07:00

Megabus

2010-05-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-05-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-06T06:50:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-05-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

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)

2010-05-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-28T15:38:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

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.

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.
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.
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

2010-04-23T22:44:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-21T06:52:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-03-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-03-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

三餐睡前各一顆，人生天天精彩完美

Img original source

薰衣草發芽了

2010-03-23T05:59:00.000-07:00

資格考

2010-03-22T14:20:00.000-07:00

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！