ARRRRRRG! SOP!

SOP General outline

What and why I want to study at grad school

• Simple introduction or what in my life pointed me toward my intrest in this field of research

Experiences in the field

• College experiences relevant to my intrest
• Research experience, what I learned from them, the responsibilities I had, who I worked for. How I think this research experience is relevant to my research field of application

(Short comment on GRE or GPA scores, explain)

Future goals

• Goals in grad school, what I hope to learn, and why I am confident to be successful in grad school.
• Why the program in question is a good choice for my career goals, what is especially appealing about the school/program to me. (change this according to the school/program in question)
• Mention what type of work I wish to do after grad school, list the possibilities. (focus on the program in question)

Summarized from all the outward links from the Wikipedia entry on SOP.

嘉年華？同樂會？工地秀？

昨天到醫學院去參加Lab Meeting。台上有學長姐在報paper、報data，窗外有一群人用大聲公、大喇叭跟他們比大聲。

有演講、有口號、還有唱歌、露天卡啦OK咧......

那歌也很奇怪：「阿扁你快下台，阿扁你快下台......」
吵死人，你以為這樣忘我的喊阿扁下台，他就要下台喔？憑甚麼？

那是個娛樂節目。
各種節目一個接著一個上場，24/7 non stop entertainment，有得吃、有得看、有得玩，一整群人很high。

原來一人捐100是娛樂費。

老闆說：「他們在唱KTV喔？」

台大醫院的病人全部不用休息，學生全部不用聽課，倒扁秀場最大。

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「我們反貪腐，不過民進黨的陳水扁無論定案與否，罪該萬死；國民黨的許財利就算被判刑了，他市長還是做不錯阿！」

Yet another computer battery explosion

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2069019

This time it's a Think Pad, and it exploded RIGHT IN LAX airport!!!
What's more, it's said that no police nor TSA official showed up, that's strange...

Since the battery's all burned out, it's still not clear if the battery came from Sony, but either way, Sony is already in deep shit.

The end of summer (柴咲コウ/invitation)

一個精彩的暑假，就這麼隨著開學而結束了。
用一首充滿夏天的感覺的歌：柴咲コウ/invitation
來悼念這個充滿回憶的夏天。

(video from here | Official site )
接著的這一年也會充滿挑戰，加油吧！

06 Fall semester time distribution

School has yet again started, but this time, my last year both in university & Taiwan. This time, I should be really careful of my time management.

Main:
1. BioTech lab class assays
2. Other class assays
3. GRE subject test prep
4. Grad school application
5. Paper reading
6. Other reading
7. Lab work

Leisure:
8. Part-time job
9. Hokkaido trip planing
10. Rest & Contemplating
11. Excersise

Should cut back:
12. Cyclub activities
13. Reading geek sites & other computer/internet related time waisting

Flexible, but should limit:
14. Socializing

This is really crowed, maybe I shouldn't take Intermediate Japanese class?

Bizzare Ad of the Zune

Maybe you've heard that Microsoft has come out with an answer to Apple's iPod, and dubbed it the Zune.
Looks nice, but I 'd like to see it in person before I decide if I like it or not. The user interface, looks cool; but I don't think it'll work with a Mac, so, not for me, I guess.

Anyway, the Ad is really cool(and it did gave me a good laugh), check it out!

Original page

Day of new software testing

Yesterday was a day fo playing with new software :)

1. iTunes 7 (for Mac and Windows)
-Seems like many people have been reporting lags and sound quality problems with the windows version of iTunes 7. So, windows user please don't update untill a newer version is avaliable!-
With Steve Job's anouncement of the new iTunes movie store and new iPods, Apple also released a new version of iTunes. My favorite new feature is: CoverFlow. Although Apple bought this from a 3rd party developer (there was a iTunes plug-in called Cover Flow), but it's still really cool, reminds you of those huge 100 CD changer Jukeboxs.

Other then that, the sidebar is now more organized, and there are minor face lifts, such as the buttons and scroll bars. And there's the new iPod related updates to drive the new functions of the new iPods (which really doesn't matter to me). Oh, and one more thing, the icon is now blue, instead of green.

2. Skype for Mac 2.0 Beta
Another update of Skype. Seems like they're focusing on the Mac version this summer. This update seems to be touting the video call function, which is already in the 1.5 video beta that I was using. So, I don't see any change other then a number change. But there could always be those "minor bug fixes"...

3. yep (Mac only document organizer)
They say it's the iPhoto for your PDF files. I like the idea of an organizer for my PDF documents, but I still find the tagging management system a little clutter some. And it's a little hard to delete stuff. But it's a free beta, so maybe it'll be great in the future. It is a great concept!

Some thoughts on viral genome research

Here's some important notes from reading a paper:

To examine the function of a viral gene:

1. See when (eg. stage of gene expression) & under what conditions/environments is the gene expressed, by testing the transcribed RNA
2. Confirm the above by examining the protein expression
3. Do a gene knockout:
   -Choose a gene inhibition/knockout method, double check the method to see of it works by testing the RNA/protein output
   -Use that method to examine the viral infection after knockout (Positive and negative controls are essential here)
   

In a simple flowchart, that's examining the following levels in order:
RNA expression -> Protein expression -> Phenotype

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This is starting to make sense. Doing virology, we could more easily do the 3rd step in the flowchart, and get some real data. In contrast, immunologists are often stuck in the 2nd step, and can't make farther sense out of their discovery. (Could you knock out IL-2 in a real human?) Guess this is the kind of stuff I should to put on my statement of purporse: why I like virology over other things.

罷工？

若是電視新聞媒體要罷工，我舉雙手贊成

要是某水果日報搞罷工，我更高興

讓大家靜一靜，也讓洋基隊能好好的打求，免受搔擾

老天不允許作亂

有群人唯恐天下不亂，想要無止盡的在總統府前面作亂

雖然說總統做的不是很好，不過現階段我們需要的是穩定的社會。
對總統不滿可以陳情，可以抗議；希望他下台，可以依法定民主程序罷免
罷免不成功，代表支持他下台的人不夠多，應該理性的接受，大不了下次選舉再努力

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不過至少，靜坐的目前不多
已經連續兩天了，都被豪雨伺候
後面還有個颱風等著要來

Have fun!

Knowing more about my self

I started this summer vacation with a goal of contemplating many questions, trying to know more about my self. I wanted to grow stronger, internally. With the belief that changes and adventures make people learn more, that is just what I did this summer.

First of all, I planned an independent group on a biking trip to Wuling, the highest point of Taiwan's roads. We took a route that has never been taken in the cycling club's history. I now have the experience and confidence to plan adventurous biking trips, and I now am very sure that I love bicycle tourism.

Then the trip to UCLA for research. I originally wanted to get more research experience, and another bullet point to put on my CV. But I got lots more. I made sure that my favorite field is virology, instead of immunology, and I have a more clearer idea of what it's like to be a grad student in the US. Farther more, by living in the Co-Op, I now know how students, with the enthusiasm and confidence, can do a great job in operating an institute such as the Co-Op housing association. I know a little more about countries and cultures around the world, and I can clean bathrooms and paint walls better now :D

Finance and credit arangement in the US is sophisticated, you may need help at first, but it's really not as hard as it seems on paper, and I'm glad I get to try it a year before I move over to the states. Also, taking a driving trip is easy and enjoyable. Maps, guides, Google earth and Earthcomber on a handheld may all come in handy, but Google earth is by far the best. Making random itinerary changes also adds to the fun and excitment.

The future no longer seems so uncertain, since I've got a taste of what to expect. I guess the point is making sure what you love. The topic of research, the work, the place you love determines what you'll do, where and what grad school you'll apply for. In addition, as a geek, I also have an idea of what car, what computer, what handheld I love. Now there's one question of the future left, relationship. Should I once again try my best in finding a mate? What I can do with a relationship? Now that's really hard questions, but one worthy of contemplating on.

Back in TW

恩，2天前回來了。
Oh, the heat! 亞洲島嶼國家的24小時高溫蒸汽浴真的很難受；LA就算太陽再大，整個暑假都還是有涼風吹的說。
回來大致上都滿順的，天氣都不錯，飛機一路上都不太晃。從美國到日本的路上，旁邊坐了一對日本母女，試著交談了一下，不過又證明了自己的日文辭彙認識的不夠多。基本上在美國、日本都火速通過行李、證照＆海關檢查。一直到回到台灣，碰到以下照片中的景象：

我們偉大的政府不是常常在喊要拼觀光嗎？喊的陣天架響，結果在人家還進不了國門就以這種方式迎接觀光客，真是高招啊！通關時，似乎境管局的官員都在吃中飯，3~4班飛機的乘客一次擠在那。（一班飛機約200人吧，自己算一下吧！）我到時，至少有1~2班飛機的人已經卡在那了，等了半小時後，直到後面又來了2批人（包括我這批）後，才開始增加人手。人家美國和日本都有派人只揮「你排這裡比較快」，我們就沒有。本來想說，是不是跟美國一樣，外國人比較慢；仔細觀察下，台灣人、外國人都卡在那... = =|||

過海關前，有台灣精品展覽：Giant TCR（是Advanced嗎？沒看清楚），T mobile粉紅塗裝
台灣海關也是就可一場。本來看到申報單上說行李總額超過2萬就要報稅（沒錯，2萬!），啥？我光一台MacBook就爆了喔？結果行李提領區寫著：6萬元。很好，申報單沒有update...

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回家隔天，想說兩個月沒騎車了，來運動一下吧。很慘的是，號稱很乾淨的Prolink似乎不能像溼油那樣一直黏在鍊條上。兩個月沒上油，練條約有超過30%死目... (阿KMC原廠的黃油都跑哪去了？) 在上油又擦掉3次循環後，終於把鍊條完全救回來了，不過變速管線也卡卡的T_T

僑車僑很久之後終於上路了，在看了一個暑假的頭文字D並買了新的水袋的情況下，很熱血的以均速24殺到瑞芳，然後，我在上北106前的緩坡就虛掉了。兩個月沒騎車果然很慘，超緩坡竟然以時速7龜上去，體力恢復成新生等級。還好沒去衝環島，否則搞不好光到北宜就滑下來了；亂入泛舟團大概也免了。在真正開始爬得時候，速度有起色，不過是消耗膝蓋的那種暴力騎法，轉速完全帶不上來。爬了2/3之後，我餓了，沒帶補給品... 速度又掉到5km/hr，真慘。最後還是給他撐到106的最高點，開始往下滑。過彎時，腦中竟然出現頭文字D的台詞：「流して...」(應該是叫人家用慣性甩尾滑出去吧) 心裡驚了一下，單車若真的滑出去，不得了啦，要下山谷了。結果，壓車過彎變得怕怕的，煞車按很多... 我壓車也退步了T_T

Camera & GPS module for PSP released in Japan

PlayStation.com(Japan) | お知らせ | “アソビが変わるぞ。”PSP®「プレイステーション・ポータブル」向けカメラ、GPSレシーバー発売

Great. Now, in addition to the world's heaviest portable music player and one of the heaviest portable games, you could also get to have the heaviest crappy camera. 1.3 Megapixels with that kind of weight and price? No thanks.

As for the GPS. The only PSP map software I know of is for Japan only, so it's still useless out side of Japan. Also, I think using a touch screen would be easier than a joy stick to control the map. A similar case with mobile web browsing.

綺麗なウォークマン Sシリーズ ・ The beautiful Walkman S series

Here comes the new S series.
It's waterproof, includes FM radio and step counting funcitons, and supports MP3, AAC, WMA, ATRAC3, a broad format support that's not normally expected from Sony.
Best of all, it's got an alluminum casing, and the shape and jog controls are all just like the in-line remotes of previous Sony CD walkmans. Now this is a looker.
Also, you get the "3 min charge, 3 hour playback" and 18hours long play time as with previous Sony Walkmans.

If only it supports Mac OS, I'd likely buy one. But before it does, I'm still sticking with my Sony Clie :)

Links:
ソニ☆モバ posting
Sony's press release
Official website

Google's online Office softwares

Let's see what you get with your ordinary MS Office package... Do you know Google has an online version of most of them? (And this is what made Microsoft nervous about Google) The point of using online applications is that 1)It's free 2)Can do group editing, where everybody contributes, great for team works(How I with I had these when I was doing experiment course reports) 3)The files are online, accessible from any computer, with cross platform support. However, some of them are still not as powerful as desktop applications.

1. Word: word processor | Google's answer: Writely

Most of the essential formatting tools are there; table cell size relatively hard to control.
May upload files from your computer, and download them when you're done.
Because this app is accuired, integration with Gmail is not good, yet.
User account is also a seperate account of it's own.

2. Excel: spreadsheet | Google's answer: Google Spreadsheets

Most of the essential formatting tools are there; doesn't support hyperlinks.
May upload files from your computer, and download them when you're done.
Requires a Gmail account.

3. Powerpoint: presentation slideshows | Google has no answer to this
(Hay Google, want to try this one?)

4. Outlook: mail & schedule | Gmail & Google calander

First of all, I guess everybody knows Gmail by now, the famous email service with always growing storage (it's recently about 2.7GB), simple and intuitive UI, integrated IM & calender & mapping, great spam filter, and real time notificaiton via the Gmail notifier application avaliable as a download. If you want one, I have invitations :)

This has a similar UI as Gmail, and also offers event notifications via the downloadable notifier.
May import data from Outlook and iCal.
Supports Calender sharing.
Requires a Gmail account.

Also, for notes, I'm happily using Google Notebook

Are computers causing us more problems then it's solving?

This morning, someone in our lab asked me to help him send some pictures to his daughter. I thought it's just attach and send, so I went ahead to show him. First, he needs to find the photos he wants to send. The photos are on the lab intranet server, so he went to download them. But then, his connection kept disconnecting and reconnecting to the server every 10~20 minutes. It took him like half an hour to find the ones he wanted and get them on to his desktop. Then, I have to help him find the attach button in his Outlook tool bar. I have used Netscape mail, Thunderbird and Outlook express, and am recently just using Yahoo and Google's webmail UI, in all those cases, the attach button/link is relatively easily spotted. (Except Outlook express, which my junior high computer teacher telled us where it is...) However, I've never seen such an interface nightmare as I've seen today. Outlook launch this "Word email editor" window when you compose a new mail, and on top of the window, there's 3 whole lines of button icons there, most of them, of course, are stuff you'd never use. I felt like finding a needle in a haystack, but eventually found the "paper clip" icon, which I vaguely remember from Outlook express that means attach file (I'd never know what a paper clip means if I never used Outlook express). So there goes Microsoft's trick at it's best, using unsuggestive icons, and burying often used functions deep in a pile of junk.

But the nightmare does not end there. I don't know the outgoing mail size limit of UCLA's mail server, but he just attached 3 photos, reaching a size of about 7MB, and maxed out the size limit: mail blocked. After a futile attempt of compressing the photos into a zip file (size still near 7MB), we decided to send then photos one by one. But then his mail box it self maxed out. Maybe he didn't have the habit of cleaning his mailbox...

Should this be that hard? He just wanted to share some moments of joy of his life with his daughter. And our computing environment made this simple wish extreemly hard to acomplish. In the end I just gave him a Gmail account, which has a simple but useful user interface, constantly growing mailbox size, and 10MB outgoing size limit.
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One other night, a friend at the Co-Op wanted to log on to MSN messenger to chat with another friend. But her ACER notebook, also, kept connecting and disconnecting from the WIFI connection. I told her never buy an Acer again, and just let her use my ultra stable MacBook.
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Yet another friend, who also has an Acer, one day found out that his notebook somehow deleted it's CD/DVD burning drive's driver files, automaticaly, all by it self. The driver couldn't be found on Acer's support site. And the driver from someone else's Acer of the same model somehow didn't work either. After 2 days of trying, he gave up and recovered to the original factory settings.
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Computing should never be that hard, but we do have a lot of idiots in the IT industry.

With my MacBook and Clie TH55, my rate of having something crash in my face is less then once a week. However, it takes a geek like me to know to choose MacOS and Palm OS. It also takes a geek to know to stay away from Microsoft and wisely use Google's great services. Hope more people would get the know how to avoid computer problems and get their work done, not wasting their time solving stupid problems.

水袋入手！！！

一個月前買了個很棒的Jansport登山背包，來代替我原來的破爛Outdoor廉價品。因為想預留空間裝水袋，就選了個H2O compatable的。其實我之前的Outdoor就已經是Hydration compatable了，只是因為Walmart壓低價格，迫使製造商比需用很差的材料，用半年就已經破洞一堆了。Anyway，買了新的Jansport之後，我開始認真尋找水袋。主要的選擇有Camalpak和Nalgene，其中Camalpak很明顯是為自己的背包設計的；而Nalgene則是Jansport的御用水袋牌子，也是有名的塑膠水壺品牌。不過呢，兩家都很貴，1L的要20$；2L的要25~30$。

不過今天讓我不小心找到了最便宜的，Outdoor水袋小背包附贈2L水袋共20$，特價15$，比單買水袋還便宜！！！爽啊！Outdoor水袋小背包不是很好看，不過若要騎短程的路，只需要帶水的時候還滿方便的，而且透氣背帶和靠背導風溝都有。不過呢，若要出大活動，當然就用Jansport輕便登山包啦，只要把水袋裝過去就行啦^^

哈哈，Jansport登山包 + Outdoor水袋，可是台灣找不到的組合呢！以後我也可以當懶人喝水族了。

呆丸共和國

過去一直覺得台灣是個美麗的地方。風景漂亮，水果多，食物好吃，有人情味。不過最近覺得它已經成為一個解體中的國家。中國共產黨越來越聰明，以前採取鴨霸強硬手法，得到台灣人團結的反效果。現在靜靜的，暗中給新聞媒體和某些政治人物一些好處；他們就自行作亂，把台灣搞垮。真的是生於憂患，死於安樂，以前李登輝時代，有飛彈試射，台灣人就知道要自我保護。現在，共產黨裝乖，就靜靜的等你自殺。

台灣兩大亂源：
政治、媒體

政治：
國親兩黨把台灣視為中國的一部份；民進黨將台灣視為「政治實體」（那是啥？）沒有人心中有國家，自然就不會有愛國，肯為國家做事的。民進黨當中每個人都只想讓自己權力坐大，而頭頭老扁只會到處討好別人，沒有在做事，反而得罪自己原來的支持者。「有夢最美，希望相隨」只是個選舉口號，老扁當選後，沒有夢，更沒有希望。而反對黨也不做好監督的工作，「為反對而反對」的立場一路走來始終如一，只有一心想把在位者鬥下來，跟幾十年前的共產黨權力鬥爭差不多。每個人心中只有權，沒有國。以前想說呆丸人怎那麼呆，都選些垃圾出來執政；現在發現，怎麼選都一樣，大家都是垃圾。

媒體：
媒體本來應該扮演另一個監督執政的角色，但是他們只知道作亂。新聞亂報，不實傳言捕風捉影，任何雞毛蒜皮都可以編成偉大的獨家。（不過從另一方面來看，某T字頭新聞共產黨轉投資的港商，作亂不就是其任務嗎？）但是這樣亂來也有收視率，只因為呆丸人懶得動腦，電視報什麼都照單全收，放任自己被洗腦。例如，新聞叫你去捐100塊倒扁，你就去捐？有沒有想過，施明德要那麼多錢幹嘛？倒扁靜坐需要那麼多資金嗎？又，有多少人想過倒扁後誰當總統？台面上幾乎每一個都跟老扁一樣爛，甚至更爛；有必要花那麼多社會資源去搞一個更爛的總統嗎？台灣音樂工作者陳明章說得好：「關電視救台灣」，不過有多少人民肯花腦筋去了解這句話的意含呢？為何向劣質媒體宣戰需要一個王建民出來發表聲明才做得到呢？為何出來宣戰的還只是以王建民球迷為主體呢？為何反媒體只有幾天的熱度，比那唯恐天下不亂的施明德倒扁運動還虛弱呢？

人在國外，反而看得更清楚。全世界在進步，台灣在解體。連住在這裡的中國人都覺得台灣很悲哀。我可能提過很多遍，不過台灣真的需要一個敢改革、有理想的英雄，一個能夠像小泉純一郎那樣把國家從解體邊緣救回來的人。把國會的垃圾一次清掉，政府官僚也一次清掉，換一批肯做事，心中有國家的人；全民關電視，讓劣質媒體一次倒光。有大破壞才有大建設，唯有把癌細胞清掉，才能把這個癌症末期的國家救回來。

Lab work comming to the end

As the end of summer vacation is closing in, the day when I need to leave the lab is also closing in on me. 2 months have past and not much accomplished. I'm gradually getting a clearer picture of my project with each week, and as I got the whole picture in my mind, I started to speed up my work progress. And now, I'm in the last 2 weeks of my project. Still not much accomplished, and I'm getting anxious. Time is running out, my presentation is closing in, the pressure growing, and I'm trying harder.

The last 2 weeks for a summer research program is always the hardest. All the expectations and anxiousness builds up, and under the presure that you apply onto your self, you start to crack. Tasks forgotton, worse planing in search for faster results, fetigue... all add up to screw ups in your experiments. And then the normal bad lucks and unexplainable random faillares seems to be hardder to cope with when you're really anxious.

Hope my luck would be much better for the next week. Give me all the clones!!!

A car from Silicon valley: Tesla Motors

And you thought Silicon valley is all about computers, yeah it WAS. But now, a start up from Silicon valley is making really cool cars. Tesla Motors, an electric car company, is now introducing their first product, and it's a roadster. It has zero emission, runs sillent, never needs gas, and no, unlike previous electric cars, it doesn't need to be recharged after every commute (the GM EV1 can only go 60 miles per charge), and it doesn't look ugly. It runs on a high proformance motor that is sufficiently powered, and accelerates faster then a Porsche, silently. It's got lithium-ion batteries that allow it to run 250 miles per charge, and be fully charged over night. And, it's designed by a designer that previously design Lotus sports cars, guaranteed to be cool. This might be the coolest American car since the downfall of Detroit's big 3.

Feel the weather getting warmer each year? Hate the bad air? Get a high proformance electric car. And although most of our electricity is from burning fuel also, those power generators are much more efficient than internal combustion engines.

You might not be able to afford a stylish sports car, but stay tuned, an economic, affordable electric car is in the works.

Read more:
Tesla Motors
Wired mag: Batteries included