台灣路面整修...

Yahoo!奇摩 blog | 台灣路面整修

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

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

[お笑う] お宅変身！

Mobile 01 | [開箱] 宅男變身日誌

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

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

話說，大雄眼鏡我國小戴過說...

(聲明，我不認識那篇樓主，只是覺得太好笑了，po過來)

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

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

可以再更機車一點啊！(ノ`Δ´)ノミ┷┷

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

隨隨便便料理教室：きつね月見うどん

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

幾天前去附近的韓國超市閒晃，帶了一瓶神奇的調味料回來：「キコマン本つゆ」

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

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

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

所以呢，就來用本つゆ煮個烏龍面試試看吧！

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

• 先用滾水小火煮麵兩分鐘，把麵撈起來，用冷水沖一下讓它保持QQ的嚼勁。
• 同一鍋滾水，下白菜燙一下，放到碗裡的麵上。
• 切好一點蔥茉，也放到麵上。
• 同一鍋滾水裡（水量注意一下），加入1/3碗本つゆ湯頭（基本上是4～5倍稀釋）。

這時，是決定要加什麼料的時候了。日本火車站月台烏龍麵，最基本的是只有湯跟麵的「うどん」300円，豪華一點的：「きつねうどん」350円 (豆皮烏龍) 或 「月見うどん」350円 (加一顆雞蛋讓蛋黃看起來像湯裡面浮著一顆橘黃色月亮) 或合體 「きつね月見うどん」400円，甚至更豪華的「てんぶらうどん」400円 (炸蝦烏龍) 或超豪華的豆皮＋雞蛋＋炸蝦組合。我不會玩炸蝦，就做「きつね月見うどん」吧！

• 豆皮、雞蛋投入！豆皮煮越久，湯越香，但相對的豆皮本身越無味。雞蛋則是為了要看起來像月亮，蛋黃不能全熟。
• 好，把湯鍋的東西全部加倒裝麵的碗公裡，撒點芝麻海苔香鬆，完成！
  

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

ニコニコアニメチャンネルきた------!

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

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

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

KSHV up regulates the TLR pathway

J Virol | Upregulation of the TLR3 pathway by KSHV
West and Damania J. Virol..2008; 0: JVI.02590-07v1

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

Interview and travel thoughts

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

The Demographics

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

What's Great About BioMed Grad Interviews

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

Airline Tidbits

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

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

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

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

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

Airports

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

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

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

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

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

Hotels

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

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

More Photos...

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

UAB photos | UMass Med photos | UF photos | UPenn photos | UTMB photos

ソニー ウォークマン NWZ-A728 買った、でも... (edited 4/2)

The latest beauty from Sony. Haven't seen a Walkman looking this good for a long time.


Here's the package, with BestBuy markings. At this stage, I'm not sure if it's just different packaging or different product, but we'll see later.

This is where everything is made. Very surprising to see that only the USB cable is made in China, usually only the unit isn't made in China (like my Clie), or everything is from China (like all things Apple).

So, let's open the box!
Here's everything that came out of the box, including accessories, CD-ROM, and papers.
Papers include (left to right) a high-volume-causes-hearing-loss sheet, a BestBuy Sony headphones 20% off coupon, warrenty info, BestBuy/Rhapsody Music Store ad, Sony software info, software license info, unit use safety warnings, a Quick Start Guide and a Troubleshooting guide. A printed manual is not included, it's only in the CD-ROM as a pdf file. As far as I know, only the Japanese get printed manuals for Sony Walkmans.

The packaged accessories, including a USB cord, a video watching stand with a string to tie on the unit, a plastic insert for the cradle that you can buy, real good earphones, and different sizes of the in-ear earbud cups.

The included EX-082 earbuds, music players coming with actually usable earbuds are really a rarity, and here is how Sony showed how bundled earbuds can be of good quality.

This is how the included piece of plastic works as a plug-in stand for you to watch videos.

The right side, with volume buttons and the hold slider.

The underside, with a headphone jack and the "WM-port" for USB connection and charging.

A close up. You can already see a finger print around the buttons area. This thing is a fingerprint/perspiration precipitate magnate, just like my Clie TH55's glossy screen cover; yet unlike my Clie, those finger marks are VERY HARD to wipe off.

疊疊樂！A size comparison with 2 of my previous devices that I depend on for music. As seen in the photo, I have a CD Walkman D-EJ885 and a Clie TH55, a heritage of Sonys, as I like sony designs, logical user interface (UI) and great sound quality. Americans like to say how Apple's UI are easy to use, well, it's easy and dumb. Sure you can control everything easily the first time you pick it up, with out reading the manual. Yet with this kind of "dumbed down UI" it takes too much steps to do just about anything (although already much better then Microsoft in this regard). I feel Sony UI do have a little learning curve, yet only after 30 minutes of exploring around the menus, you get the logic and can start blazing through the menus with minimal steps to get the functions you want.

Modern technology, this new Walkman sure is thinner then my Clie PDA or CD Walkman. But then again, my Clie is developed back in 2004 considered thin back then, and now it's thicker then the 2008 announced MacBook Air.

Well, done with the exterior, next to charge it and turn it on. And this is where the disappointment comes from. Turns out that this is a "BestBuy" customized model, and thus there is a "Real player/Rhapsody" icon on the home menu. I'm OK with that, as it's just one icon that I don't like. But, the menu language option is not there! I'm not sure if this is just the "BestBuy" version or are all US versions like that. I called Sony customer service, the dude, with an Indian accent, told me that all US versions has no language options, yet as he had a hard time understanding the model number of my Walkman and was looking up some "database" on his system, I am not sure if I could trust him or not. Anyway, if the non-BestBuy version has language settings, I'll be doing a return and re-buy. If the guy at the call center in India was right, I sure am returning, and not even re-buying. Maybe I'll stick with my Clie again, try to get the Japanese version or see if a "Worldwide version" shows up in Taiwan.

Another problem is with the music album art support. Unlike PSP's or iPod, the Walkman doesn't support jpg files embedded in MP3 ID3 tags. You are forced to either use the Media Manager software, which rips out the pictures from the MP3s and put them in a separate folder. Or you need to use Windows Media Player 11. If it's that hard, giving up drag n' drop support and going with Sonic Stage seems easier, which is not all that bad as said on the web. I also get lossless support, on-the-go playlists, gapless playback, line-in recording and noise canceling with the Sonicstage-tied Japanese version. Something to consider after I return this thing...

Added Note from Apr 2nd:

After some use, there are some stuff I'd like to say.

First of all, Windows Media Player is a pain. It insists to sync all the music and photos on your computer to the Walkman. I only wanted the songs in one playlist to transfer over, so I canceled the syncing of all the other songs (it makes a default sync playlist called "all new songs"). Well, WMP never remembers your settings, and the playlists you just canceled last time gets synced again everytime you connect the player to the computer. Also, WMP never checks wither one song is already on the player, so I get several duplicates of one song on the player, thanks to WMP's dumb syncing.

The joy begins once you disconnect the Walkman from the computer. Navigating the menus is very easy, with several ways to find your songs, by artist, song name, album, genre, year, or even folder. The superb screen makes the album art looks so clear that it's like it's printed there. You can access a clock or the "now playing" screen from anywhere with the option button. And best of all, sound quality is so nice and clear that you can clearly hear every detail at extremely low volumes. If you like, you can set the Equalizer your self to whatever you like, and the bass is very nice and powerful if you crank it up. There is also a "DSEE" sound enhancer you can turn on to make the software fill in the missing parts of sound wave data that were lost as a result of MP3 compression. In other words, the Walkman does calculations to make up for lossy compression, making them less choppy. Of course, this "sound patching" can never make it up as good as original high quality files, but it kind of brings 128kbps MP3s up to the quality of 160kbps, better then nothing.

Most surprising of all, from a fully charged battery, I can leave it playing music from 10AM all the way to 7PM, and only see one missing space on the 4-block battery meter. Seems ridiculous! That's about 4 full days per charge, or 9 hours per 1/4 of battery life. Multiply that to an estimate of 36hours, and the battery life is way more amazing then the advertised 30 hours. This is the first music device that I don't need to even consider power conservation, as the device does it for me.

If it wasn't for the lack of multilingual menu support, I would be loving this device...

[GradAppの1] Planing for Grad school

(As most of my friends who need this info would be Taiwanese, I'll be writing in a mix of English & Chinese. If you are interested and only understand English, let me know.)
研究所申請大致上都結束了。因為整個申請過程是個好幾年的漫長摸索過程，而且很多同學在當兵玩、碩班畢業後、也要開始申請了，所以就來寫寫一些經驗分享吧。也當作在申請完到開學前這段「英英美代子」的時間中沒事找事做吧。不過，有了北海道遊記的脫稿前科(やばい...)，我也不知道寫不寫得完... 若我斷掉的地方對你很重要的話，請盡量催稿XD

本系列以美國的 BioMed Ph.D graduate program 為主，當然美國的情況不代表全世界，我只能就我所知得來寫。

因為是連載系列文，給個Tag吧：GradApp

------ 閒話分隔線 ------

申請前的計畫階段

申請研究所，首先首要的是要先確定自己有堅定的意志要走研究這條路。要有堅定的意志才有辦法在申請前強迫自己去建立一個可以寫出漂亮履歷的人生經驗；才有辦法撐過那些機車的考試；才有辦法寫出漂亮的申請文(SOP)；才有辦法在面試的時候表現出自信的研究熱誠；最重要的，才能夠撐過那5~10年到畢業。從學校的觀點來看，招收一個學費全免又要支付薪水的研究生是個很大的投資，所以也希望找到不但能力夠，也有意志與熱誠撐到畢業的學生。

假設你已經從自己過去的修課、實驗室、人生經驗中確定自己想要走研究這條路，那開始規劃吧！要擬定計畫，若可以先了解到申請所需的東西會比較好規劃：
1. Statement Of Purpose: (State out the purpose of your application, and why you are qualified and need graduate traning) 一篇短文，來說明自己的申請意願，說服校方說為何你是個好學生。
2. Transcript (where your GPA / grade point average comes from): 大學部/碩班成績單。
3. GRE general test scores: 美言之為智力測驗或研究所適任檢定，其實ㄜ，除了校方以外，大部分人都不覺得這考試有何意義，可惜的是這成績很重要。
4. Letter of Recommendation: 推薦函！
5. CV: 履歷表（學校不會要求但有附有加分）
6. Research experience details: 研究經驗各個project的簡述，若沒有paper就自己寫個簡介吧！學校不會要求這個，一般也沒聽說可以這樣搞，但個人發現這東東可以狂加分，再說吧。
7. GRE subject test: 專科考試，需不需要依學校而定。
8. TOEFL: 給英文非母語者的語文能力測驗。
9. Others: 其他可以加強自己的形象的東西，如自己出過的paper、任何特殊研究技術訓練證書、證照...

所以為了以上項目，請預先規劃以下（我的規劃是入學兩年前開始）：
1. 在學成績不要太差。（想像一下你的競爭對手：對岸中國學生的成績都比班上的書卷漂亮...）
2. 實驗室經驗
3. TOEFL (考試後成績2年有效)
4. GRE general test (考試後成績5年有效)
5. GRE subject test (考試後成績5年有效)
6. 跟老師的人際關係(你需要三個以上推薦人)
7. 其他可以加強資歷的東西

其中1, 2, 6, 7就是平時就要注意的東西。
實驗室經驗，最好有1~2年以上經驗，盡量學，並跟老闆打好關係。有問題盡量問，有想法盡量提，實驗有難關就去克服。每進一個實驗室就把自己的形象經營好，但不要太做作。總之你需要有對你印象深刻的老闆/老師幫你寫好的推薦函。選老闆時，若可以找到在國外人際關係很廣的老師最好，這樣推薦函更有力。另一方面，要充實自己，對自己的project要有充分了解，而且說得出假說、實驗結果、使用的技術、並做出結論與延伸討論。最忌諱的就是除了follow protocol以外什麼都不懂，這樣在申請時鐵定被刷掉。

然後就是申請進度時程表了，我分short term & long term兩個schedule。
這裡先看long term，short term是申請開始後的事。
藍色區塊表示可以規劃考這些試的時間段，GRE有效5年，TOEFL有效2年，而且每個考試需至少半年唸書時間。

我當初的規劃是這樣的，一切考試在預定考試半年前報名：
大三前暑假開始念TOEFL，之後的聖誕節考機考，考完剛好開始應付段考，這樣TOEFL成績剛好有效到畢業之後那個聖誕節。
大三下之前的寒假開始念GRE general, 升大四前的暑假考。
大四上衝實驗並開始申請工作，同時那個11月考GRE subject。

其中要注意TOEFL是考機考（用電腦考試），所以只要搶的到時段，考試日期原則上隨你選。
GRE general 在中港台韓四地為了應付「機考題庫大家分享」問題，只能考筆試，其中作文還是機考，據說每年6月；選擇題部份為筆試，聽說是每年暑假＆年底各一場。不然就出國去考機考。據說機考較簡單，但我只考過機考，無從比較。
GRE subject 印象中是3或4月一場、11月一場、12月一場，每年共考三場筆試。台灣考區考生不足，12月那場不舉辦。Subject test成績大部分學校是可有可無，而且要求要有的大多通融在申請的同時考11月場，在投件deadline後（通常12月～1月間）還可以補送剛考出來的成績；但12月場的就來不及了。
除了GRE subject有校方通融外，不要太晚考。考完到成績出來約需要1~2個月，送成績還要2周～1個月的時間。

所以呢，就這樣規劃吧。在申請投件前約兩年時間，把申請需要的東西都準備好、考好。盡量一次考好，若有重考，據說GRE送到學校的城機會列出過去3次考試紀錄，況且，每次重考之間還有間隔時間限制：每次考完後禁止短時間內重考。沒事就到gre.org、toefl.org 看看規定吧！

關於這段申請前準備工程，Baylor 的申請網站有很棒的解說；另UC system寫的Continue the Journey也是很棒的資料來源。了解整體狀況會對申請很有幫助的。

各位追夢的朋友們加油吧！

奇怪的美國

在美國...
狗有外套、雨衣可以穿。

狗住一晚旅館要$100起跳，比人還貴。

若不小心讓誰家狗受傷了，會被告的。

據說有狗健康保險。

高級狗飼料中什麼好料都有，還追求營養均衡。

另一方面...
有些父母為了方便每餐餵孩子吃熱狗。

我在購物中心親看過美國的父母逛街時，用繩子綁著小孩「溜」...

是不是哪裡倒反了？！

馬當選

這下立法、行政、總統全藍啦，國民黨要好好感謝陳水扁才是。

在陳水扁的帶領下把民進黨搞爛，讓也沒多好的國民黨輕鬆當選，陳水扁真的是國民黨的大恩人。

民進黨今後該如何呢？就讓他收攤算了，別再跟心中真正有台灣的候選人搶選票了。

這次選舉好的一面，是看到馬英九針對西藏事宜嚴詞譴責溫家寶，也看到國民黨會繼續推動聯合國事宜。希望這些不像陳水扁只是喊喊政治口號，而真正有所行動。不然四年後等著三次政黨輪替，除非馬英九使出「賣台順便變身永久特首奧步」（若這樣台灣也真的玩完了）。

2000年代高階相機的感動

Mobile 01 | 旋轉鏡頭數位相機大系（二）：顛峰期

真詳盡的好文，推薦一下。

真的很懷念那個時代的相機啊！市場競爭激烈之下創一百出，常常新的相機出現就有心的驚喜。而且在那個DSLR還太貴的時代，高階消費型數位相機還是有用心在做的，以DC的價格與體積可以享受到高品質成像與高性能才是我最喜歡的感覺阿。糟糕，又開始懷念那台Sony F707了。現在各廠商有真正用心投入開發的都是DSLR了，只是像F707的旋轉鏡頭、雷射對焦這些好用又有趣的功能大概不可能在DSLR看到了；而真正高階的DC也快絕跡了。

看看DC的歷史緬懷一下美好的過去吧。

馬什麼時候變得比謝更有台灣意識了？

Yahoo奇摩新聞 | 馬英九：若西藏問題惡化　不排除停止參加奧運
Yahoo奇摩新聞 | 謝長廷：馬不排除抵制北京奧運 犧牲台灣權利

哇，之前同學跟我說「謝比馬更親共」，現在竟然在西藏問題上明顯的表現出來了。當然，不排除雙方都是選前拉攏對方選票的選舉語言，但以台灣意識的觀點來看，我對謝長廷的不滿真的是與日俱增。

藍不再是以前的藍，綠不再是以前的綠；現在看似兩黨都已經偏離各自黨綱上的統獨立場了，以公開發言來看反而有對調立場之感。另，以政見來看，馬英九有提出少數親共政見；謝從頭到尾只會抓馬英九的缺點，給人零政見的感覺。

越看越無奈...

有沒有什麼法律漏洞可以讓這次選舉無效阿？真希望可以把這兩個爛貨打發掉，我要的是蘇貞昌或王金平啦！

A metastasis determining protein found in breast cancer cells

Nature News | A protein that makes breast cancer spread
Nature | SATB1 reprogrammes gene expression to promote breast tumour growth and metastasis
Han, H.-J. , Russo, J. , Kohwi, Y. & Kohwi-Shigematsu, T. Nature 452, 187–193 (2008).

Cool! A protein that changes the DNA conformation of many genes to make the carcinomas survive in other tissues, and is both necessary and sufficient for breast cancer metastasis.

The un-cool: I can't read the paper unless I pay for it...

Cool, MacBook palmrests cracks!

http://www.oikos.com.tw/v4/viewtopic.php?pid=356565#p356565

Due to a design flaw (no, people in the IT industry call these stuff "features"), the MacBook cover/screen closes down to hit on a piece of weak plastic, so after a year or two's use, it cracks, just as in the photo in the link...

Well, mine hasn't cracked, but sagged down to form a groove at that place, maybe it'll crack in some more months. (It's my 2nd piece of plastic, got a free change when it turned from white to gray to a greasy yellow)

But this is when the Apple extended protection plan comes into work, 5 year warranty :) Good thing I already figured out that Apple was never good at producing quality hardware, contrary to what fanboys are saying. I bought the MacBook just for the Mac OS X, and knew that warranty is a must to support Apple's hardware.

これ欲しい！Walkman A820系

超美的，整個設計感就跟日系手機一樣。最新的藍牙耳機功能我不需要，據說美國版有去掉藍牙的版本，只可惜美國版 noise cancellation 也拿掉了。不過為了可以在Mac上用，也只能買美國版才沒有鎖 Sonicstage/Windows。

好，等美國版出了，我有收入了之後，買定了！

（嘿，我偏不買iPod，觸控轉盤我很討厭，會轉過頭；touch會lag，還會出背景雜音；而且街上、飛機上，每一個人都iPod，我幹麼要買個「制服隨身聽」啊？制服一般的東西我中學時代就受夠了）

ニコニコ動画 SP1になった、すげえな〜

昨天ニコニコ動画停機３個小時後，從RC2再改版變SP1版。

剛開始只是覺得介面有點改了，不太習慣。

不過現在發現了可怕的更新：現在可以上傳H.264編碼的高畫質mp4 影片，而不再局限於 Flash video 的 flv 格式了！今天最新出現的mp4測試影片，畫質輕吸的可怕，可以說大概介於VCD跟DVD畫質之間吧！

不過nico的那播放器還是小小一個，把影片放大看，才真是棒阿！在DivX Stage6倒站不到一個禮拜時間後，ニコSP1就升級到接近stage6的畫質了，感動啊！

現在大家似乎卯起來測試mp4新功能，然後測試片幾乎都是新海誠或京アニ的作品XD 高畫質果然都用最好的作品來測啊！
測試片大全：http://www.nicovideo.jp/tag/H.264

小小可惜，H.264 畫質太好了，我的PDA跑不動（使用TCPMP軟體），整個lag到畫面每10秒才一個frame...OTL 完了，這下更想買隨身影片機了... Sony, 你那新發表的 Walkman A820系趕快舖貨啊！

--

追記：やべえ、神話質AIR片頭出現了，原始上傳檔案解析度已經大到我的MacBook可以全螢幕了，而且據說是從Blu-ray disc 抽出來的影片。

播的時候可以讓我的Core Duo 1.83MHz 跑到67%使用率的怪物啊～

VirginMobile Kyocera Cyclops short review

Well, well, my funky old $20 phone (which I bought with the intent of it being so cheep it's "disposable") suddenly crashed and entered a reset loop / auto shutoff sequence during my campus tour of the University of Florida. I only bought it about 1.5 years ago and my real usage time on it hadn't even exceeded a year (taken I've had it laying around useless when I was in Taiwan), even for a cheep phone, this life time is kind of short. But oh well, it works very well, had very good reception and never had any problems during it's lifetime. And besides, it really looks like a toy, clearly designed for kids, which makes me kind of ashamed to pull it out in the public. So, it died, just the excuse for me to get a new phone.

Virgin Mobile has worked very well for me. Being a prepaid service, with my very low phone usage, I get to pay only $15/3 month, which averages to just $5/month. Compare that with normal contract based monthly plans at $30 and up, and they always add additional fees and taxes to make you pay $5~10 more each month then what they advertised. Oh, and don't forget that expensive activation fees and stuff upon signing the contract. With all of that adding up, I hate the big greedy telecos, and as shown in Consumer Report's (CR) studies, I am not alone in hating them; CR has rated telecos as one of the services industries that consumers hate the most, high up there in the top 2 with airlines. Also, I get to get about an hours' worth of free minutes every month by watching ads on Virgin's website, keeping my balance above $15 year round. On the service part, reception is always good; and I am very satisfied with their customer service, whenever I get to get a real human rep on the phone. Only down thing with them is that they target kids and teens as their customers, so there's funky/stupid icons, images and ringtones preloaded on phones, and customer service calls start with a stupid automated voice going "hay, what's up" in a strange accent.... Will the goods out weigh the bads, so I'm sticking with them on a prepaid plan.

Nice timing, as Target is selling the Kyocera Cyclops for $39 each, $10 cheeper then elsewhere. And it's a nice flip phone with the largest of all those tiny-screen Virgin phones, so I went to scoop it up.

After reading all those phone reviews on Mobile01 by Ln, I'm starting to like the feel of gadgets in an outdoor setting.

So starting with the packaging...

It's those hard-to-open blister packs. Hard to open by thefts, just as hard for paying customers. Every one except the retailers hate them.


Everything inside. Got the phone, battery (Li-ion, 900mAh which gives the phone pretty reasonable battery life so far. I forgot to take it out of the phone before taking the photo...), travel charger, booklets and ads, and even a neat bag for sending your old phone back for recycling, free of charge.


This charger is much smaller and lighter then my previous one. The plug is collapsible , too.


Here's the phone, with a great one-line outer screen.


Opened


Main screen, with my own wallpaper. The built-in wallpapers were, once again, kid-target hip-hop style and downright horrible. At first I tried to use photos it took with the built-in camera, but the photos are a 4*6 ratio that left the long screen blank on the top and bottom. And besides, photos took with the built-in camera are all pixelated, heavy on noise, out of focus, and (again) downright horrible. It took me a whole afternoon trying to find a way to get my own photos onto the phone, as the for-purchase wallpapers on the Virgin Mobile's website are in the same style of the built-in ones, only worse. I tried all kinds of ways, including websites that put photos on a server for phones to download over the web, emailing it to my own gmail account and accessing Gmail over the phone browser. But turns out the whole download function of the phone browser was disabled by Virgin (hay, I paid a buck for that one day's web access!). In the end I found on the blog that photos can be sent to [my phone number]@vmpix.com , and that email would show up on the phone as a picture message (MMS). Pretty neat, except that each MMS costs a quarter to receive. Also, in the process, I learned that I could send SMS or MMS to any email address from the phone, which would be turned into an email by Virgin's system. SMS uses the [phone number]@vmobl.com address which MMS is @vmpix.com , emails sent to these address converts to SMS/MMS in the same way. A pretty neat way to use email, I like it.

The phone also came with a Java email application that never worked, oh well screw it.


Here's the main menu, with stupid icons. As Cnet's review pointed out, the icon link to view my remaining balance is represented as a piggy bank flying away, (quoting Cnet) "how appropriate"! I know it's again, targeting kids, but I really don't believe kids would appreciate these dumb graphics. Adults tend to guess what kids like and usually screw up.


Close up on the key pad. Buttons are big enough for comfort, but a little shallow on the travel depth of each press. Holding the opened phone to my face was not as comfortable to hold as a larger candy bar, but acceptable.


The Kyocera mark on the battery cover, which is a pain to remove. Oh, it uses the CDMA2000 "3G" network, but only utilizing voice/SMS/MMS and slow speed data services, there's no noticeable difference with 2G in the end user's experience.

Over all, I like it. The size is not the smallest, but small enough. Battery life is pretty nice so far. The 65000 color STN screen at a resolution of 128x160 px, although still tiny, is pretty nice for a budget phone (and all my previous phones are budget phones). The Camera is horrible, the worst in noise that I've ever seen. The menus, wallpaper and ringtones are stupid kid fanfair, but at least the outside looks decent, wallpapers changeable, and there are 2 plain ringtone choices. Overall, it's a very nice budget phone. Until I could get a Japanese high-end phone on my hands and working in the US, I'll be sticking with this baby.


To wrap it up, my old phone, stuck in the Virgin mobile logo of the booting sequence.
Interestingly, my old candy bar phone is just as thick as my new phone but much bigger in length, even without the antenna. To give it last words of condolence, that antenna really give it better reception then the new phone.

馬英九於BBC Hard Talk 訪談

我想，對這訪談內容，政治上的感想我就不在此發表了，因為事實上沒什麼好說的。
為什麼？很簡單，這反訪談中並沒有實質內容。
不是BBC的節目不好，也不是問題不好。

重點是，大家可以來觀摩一下什麼叫做「答非所問的最高境界」。主持人問的問題一個接一個，全部都沒有得到答案orz

霜月はるか・カザハネ

今天來介紹一首動畫歌。H2O～FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND～ 的片尾曲 カザハネ
（太棒了，單曲終於上市可以聽到完整版了）

霜月はるか這歌手就是專唱動畫/遊戲主題曲的，不過完全是個聽了會嚴重上癮的曲風。甜甜的歌聲，配上帶著淡淡東洋風味的民族曲風，在加上各種弦樂器、木笛、長笛、鈴、鐵琴等各種樂器交織出華麗的旋律，又帶著淡淡的哀愁。編曲真是絕妙阿！

歌詞@黑心人形の部屋

沒有ニコ帳號的抱歉了，別的地方我都找不到完整版，只好po動畫片尾版了

Blu-ray wins...

Toshiba just announced the surrender of HD-DVD, an end of this interesting high-def-next-gen video disc format war, just 2 years after it started. Sure is fast. Yeah, it's all cool, the fight, Sony's revenge after the loss of Betamax.

But I have one thing to say. I seldom watch TV and don't plan to buy a TV in the future. The internet+PC is the sole method of my home entertainment. Heck, I seldom watch DVDs on my computer. The last video format that matters to me is VHS tapes, after that, LD, VCD, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-ray, non of them ever played an important role in my life. Some years back there, programs and movies stopped being entertaining.