Driving trip to San Diego ~ part II

Read part I | Photo album
It was a nice sleep at the Super 8 Motel. Although expensive, it's nice to have a place to stay, since everywhere else is full. A simple breakfast is provided in the lobby, the service is named "Super start (TM)", but it is extremely simple. There is a choice of doughnuts and crescents, and drinks of black tea, coffee and juice. There is also apples. I didn't like the oily feel of crescents, so I got my self a glazed doughnut, getting a taste of ultra sweet american breakfast, and to dilute the sweetness, took that with tea.

First thing in the morning, we went to Vons to get discount tickets (which we found the day before when we went for supplies) for San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park. For 25$ each ticket, we saved 3.5$ each person. Then we were back on the road to the zoo. Since there is free WIFI in the motel, I already got all the driving directions for today, the the drive over is straightforward. 9am on a Sunday morning, there is not much traffic on I-10. Going along with the flow of traffic, I can easily get a speed of 80mph. Yes, I know that's speeding, but when everyone's doing it, why be a law-obeying road block? There is a limit to speed, though, that is the van's own system. From a previous inspection of what's under the hood, I knew that the van has quite an empty engine space: big space, tiny engine. Also, the van is heavy, and the transmission is laggy. Already apparent during yesterday's drive, the gas paddle has quite a strange correlation to engine power input, the line is not linear. From the first bit of your step on the paddle, you get a little to much power, resulting in a jumpy start from a stand still, so you've got to get used to the high sensitivity if the paddle in this part. Then, as you push more on the paddle, the response lapses, you see no acceleration, and you start to see the rpm drop. Then, if you floor it, you feel a jump of the transmission - after a lag, that is - and then power comes in, but slowly. So it's a combination of insufficient power, laggy transmission, and nonlinear acceleration. I could manage to get by on normal highways, but on I-15 to the zoo, there is many hills, and whenever we go up hill, you see the majority of the near by traffic pass by, throwing us behind... Man, if I were driving a civic, I'd sure be the one cutting people off :D

Anyways, we got it to the zoo wildlife park in a reasonably short time, though, thanks to the good traffic (80mph, no sweet :) ). Parking is 8$. And the tickets from Vons requires no farther exchange, it itself is the ticket, and you just walk in. The Zoo got much better then the last time I got here. Seems like attractions have more then doubled. We originally planed half a day for this, but realized that it could not be finished within 2 days, so we skipped a lot of places and shows. As for the animals, I'm sure picture convey the message much better, so be sure to check out my photos on Zoto (link at the end of the post). Worthy of notice, there's these cute little mammals called merkats, furry little social animals with sentries that stand on high places on the look out, while the others dig holes all around. To me, those sentries look more like they're "musing". Also, there's the interesting gorillas, that just seem like over sized kids in black fur. Some times they're climbing the rocks, sometimes chasing each other, sometimes fighting, sometimes just sitting under a tree. And while sitting under a tree, it really seems like it's thinking, or just plan lonely.



There was this new ride that's a big yellow balloon that takes people up for a panorama of the whole valley. But each ride costs 15$. We really wanted to take it, but it was pretty damn expensive. Next to the balloon, there's lions just behind a glass, so you could see it real close. The mother is usually staying in the lier caring for the young, but we lucked out and saw a cub ran out to play, with it's mom coming out and biting it back into the cave. There's also a camping ground next to the lions and balloon, we really should camp there, if we did enough homework before going... Lunch is expensive burgers and sandwiches. Nice, but too expensive, and a little too much in amount. I got this weird "greek chicken wrap" that is literaly chicken sandwich (minus the bread) in a red soft wrap. It's nice that it's cold (good for a hot sunny day), but really doesn't have much taste, it's quite dull.

The must-go-attraction of the park is a monorail that takes you around the whole park, explaining, teaching and telling stories of the park and the animals, a tour of 45 minutes. When we first got in line, there is some kind of medical emergency on a train halfway on the track, resulting in a prolonged delay. So we got out and went to see a bird show instead. After lunch, the emergency is cleared, but another train broke down on the track. This time, we waited, we did get on the train, but we ran out of time, and couldn't leave the zoo on time for our next stop: aircraft carrier USS Midway museum in downtown San Diego, which stops selling tickets at 4pm. We left the zoo at 3:50pm, I guess. what a shame.

Anyways, we still went to the aircraft carrier in the San Diego bay: at least we could see the outside. Highway 163 to downtown is a small route of only 2 lanes, winding in the mountains. With the curves, the ups and downs, less traffic and high speeds, it's a real pleasure to drive, and best of all, it takes you directly into downtown SD. Downtown San Diego is a clouded city full of one-way streets. there are road names of 1st, 2nd~11th street, and also, crisscrossing with witch, A street, B street..., F street.... Also, each of the streets are one-way, with interchanging directions, this one going to the left, the next one to the right, and the next to the left, and vice versa. Eventually, with the help of Earthcomber, we got to the shore of the bay, where USS Midway is permanently anchored.

Having never seen an aircraft carrier, it sure is magnificent. No matter how large you previously think it was, you'd never imagine it to be this big. You could easily see the hangers under the deck, the huge lifts that lift planes from the hangers to the deck, and there's also a fleet of planes on the deck. As we got there, we were just in time to see the last of the visitors unboard the ship, and the staff locking the door to the ship. Now I really want to be here sometime next year. The bay it self is also beautiful, with the sun going down the horizon, sail boats sailing past, and a big island out there in the distance. There's also a big wooden ship with sails on a far dock, but we can't get there because of a lack of parking space.

Then we went to the Gaslamp Quarter for a walk in San Diego's streets. Bicycle cabs are everywhere. Since it's a crowded city with narrow streets, bikes are apparently the way to go. Many of them are even very nice bikes, like a Specialized MTB with a trailer of 2 seats connected behind on the seat post. But rides are for 10~20$ each person, yet another ride that we can't try. This part of city is crowded with high-end restaurants, crowding my Earthcomber map with spots. There's also some interesting stores, such as a really shinny yet cheep jewelry shop, an Oklay shop, a Quicksilver shop next to a Puma shop, and also a city souvenir shop with "I love SD" shirts. There's also this hip shop full of clothes but also with strange book. We found a book called "Fuck this book", full of photos with every verb substituted with the F word, making it really funny.

Dinner was Tai-food, since we can't afford steaks nor lobsters. The food is like Chinese food with a twist of special sauces. The original price was OK, but there's a tip, a state tax and a city tax. Ouch!

The drive back to LA was via 163 -> I-15 -> 78 -> I-5 -> 405. This is finally my time to sleep, and I tired from worrying about car burglars all night. So contrary to the previous drives, I didn't drive, nor track the route in Earthcomber for everyone. I slept and just answered questions when my friends don't know which way to go. But I was still awake half of the way, I guess I was just too tense and worried too much to sleep well. As far as I know, it was all nice and fast untill we got to I-5, where, as usual, it's jammed badly, and jammed all the way till 405. Then it got exciting on 405, as the gas level closes in on the empty line. We got back to the Co-Op with barely anything left in the gas tank, was that close.

After photos of us all back at the Co-Op, we all gathered to exchange photos, then to bed.
---
The next day, I drove the one who's just here in CA for the weekend and is going
on to another place to the airport, and also to return the car. We returned the car with an empty gas tank, resulting in a gas charge, ouch. Also, I left my own keys in the car all together with the car keys... RATS...

Spear keys of the Co-Op cost 18.5$ each, and I lost 2 of them, CRAP.

---

Photos of the trip on Zoto

Adding Ad's?

I'm considering to add some google ads here on my blog.
The travals, trips and mistakes of this summer is getting expensive, and I've got to save money for next summer's biking trip to Hokkaido.

So what do you think? Do you hate ads on blogs, or are you willing to click on it to help me out? (Ad payments are on a per click basis) Please do post comments, thanks.

我在考慮要在這個blog上放google的純文字廣告，這暑假花太多錢了，明年還想去北海道。當然，開學後也要開始打工/找家教了。大家覺得如何呢？無論你是討厭廣告，還是願意點廣告幫我，請務必po個回應。畢竟這個blog要有大家在看才有意義。

Driving trip to San Diego

It all started last week. A friend here living at the Co-Op said that a friend of his is coming to the US on the weekend, and they may have no chance to meet again in the next 4 years. So we started to plan a trip to San Diego in the weekend, to give his friend an experience of her life.

We searched on the net for points of interest, hotels and ways of going there, almost working every night, but it's very sophisticated and confusing. The bus is inconvenient, the train is too slow and the schedule isn't good, car rentals are very expensive and inconvinent in terms of age restrictions and insurance. Almost every affordable hotel, hostel and motel is shown as full on their website. So we gave up planing, and just go.

The mess started Friday night. We took a bus to LAX, to pick up the girl who's coming, just to find out that our guy here doesn't know her flight number, only vaguely knows her approximate arrival time and what airline she "might" take. We learned the hard way that her plane delayed an hour, and it took really long to get through the customs. We waited 2 hours in the arrival terminal. During the long wait, we called several car rentals. Most aren't even picking up the phone, also, a total of 6 people means that a minivan is needed, which is really expensive and hard to find. With all of us under age 24, it gets even harder. Eventually, Budget agreed to provide a deal for a minivan, an international driver's license and drivers of age 21. But things get even more complicated when our friend finds a problem with his credit card. In the end, the rent is on me, who has a CA driver's license, an American bank issued credit card
a US address and US phone numbers, making the situation simpler for the car rental, but putting the burden on my self. We got a Pontiac Montana. It is a minivan, so it need some getting used to. The parking brake is foot operated, the shift is located on the dash board, and it's really hard to see what's going on in the back. However, with some help and advice from my friend, after not driving for 2 years, and only been on the highway once, I managed to get the car back to the Co-Op intact, and fast. The feeling of driving is slowly getting back to me.

Next morning, all 6 of us got together and loaded into the van. We planed to get going at 9:30am, but ended up leaving at 11... So much for getting up early. Because my friend got his license in Taiwan, and is using an international license, he forgot that it's illegal to park near a curb. And a police car just went by when we are preparing to leave. Crap, we've started to trip with a ticket. It was a grudging traffic jam on the 405. Getting inpatient, and with insufficient driving experience, I made thousands of dangerous lane changes just in one morning. After 1~2 hours, I gradually got better with dealing with highway traffic, drove more smoothly and decreased my lane changes dramatically to increase safety. We got from the 405 to I-5 around noon, and made a stop at a Subway restaurant for lunch. This is also where I exchanged seats with my friend, letting him drive the rest, for fear that I might fall asleep after prolonged driving.

Halfway, we stopped at Oceanside to go play at the beach and take a walk on the pier.It was a nice sunny day, with a fine sandy beach and many people. It feels so great to get wet in the sea water. But once the water gets into your mouth, it's so salty that you could hardly take it. After getting out of the water, I got a pair of cargo pants with pockets of salt and sand, leaving me with salty pants pockets to deal with for the rest of the trip. The pier is much simpler then Santa Barbara or Santa Monica. It's just a plain long wooden pier with less then 3 stores on it, and the rest of it filled with people fishing. It is a simple public beach, all fun, less places to waste money, and free parking.

Another mess came our way after we leave Oceanside and head on towards San Diego. We started our search of hotels in Oldtown, which is near Seaworld. But what we got is: "full, full, full, no vacancy, full..." One even told us that as far as they know, every hotel in San Diego is full. Just as we are starting to get desperate, I fired up my Clie PDA, launched Earthcomber, set up our location, and zoomed out the map, taping randomly to find a hotel/motel, thinking, any vacancy is good enough. Luckily, on my first tap on a place with sufficient spots on the map, I got a Super 8 Motel, with their phone number listed right there in my Clie. I called, and got their last available room. Never thought Earthcomber could save my ass, but it sure did this time. Over the phone, the operator said that 6 people is OK, but we opened the door to find a room for 2. After realising that it's the last available room, we packed in. One interesting point is that the bathroom took half the size of the entire room. The twin bed consists of a mattress on top of another, so we split the to layers and there we've got a nice but clouded bed. We went to the near by town for dinner. The surrounding area is near the intersection of I-15, I-8 and highway 163, and the roads are very confusing, full of left/right turn only lanes, no U-turns and narrow roads with occasional road side parking. We often missed turns, encounter "no U-turns" and, as a result, drove on in the wrong direction for a long distance before we could turn back. I originally expected to have fast food or a dinner, but, with 5 Taiwanese and 1 Chinese on board, and most of us feed up with the junk food at the Co-Op, we went to a Chinese restaurants.

So that concludes our first day...

Photo album | Read part II

Monster House 3D

今天在還搞不清楚這部電影在演什麼的情況下就去看了Monster House。想說GRE考完了，就跟一群共同住Co-Op的台灣朋友一起去看電影。

It's really a very special movie. It's a slightly scary movie, for kids. But all those childish behaviors seem very cute to us adults, so I think people of all ages could enjoy it, although in different ways. The animation is so great, with THX sound systems and 3D effects, you really feel that you are some where in there. All the charectors' movements seem lively and smooth, showing all the power and activity you'd expect from a growing kid. But I love the first scene most, where you see a leef drop to the floor, drifting with the wind, simply beautiful, although seems more like a show-off scene to show how good the animator is.

It's an original story, full of immagination, and certainly no trace of your run-of-the-mill Hollywood script formula. No expected hero, no expected kisses, every development of the plot would surprise you if you expect it to be a benal Hollywood movie. It's simply full of unexpected excitment. But it's still sad that most people still like no-brainer formula compliant cliches, since when we got into the theator, it's almost empty (and add the point that we got in in the last minute). What a waste of this great work.

The 3D gives the screen depth, instead of making the things come out at you. It's not as realistic, but less likely to make you feel dizzy. You can feel which things are far away, which are close. It's really feels good to have a feeling of depth.

What suprises me is what I found on the net about this film. It's produced by Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, director of "Back to the future"! Also, it's premire is here at Westwood, the Fox theater where we saw it, why didn't I know? Finally, the director is a new director, who just graduated from UCLA! Scroll down to the bottom of this post to read more from the links. This movie is expected to be in theaters by Aug 25 in Taiwan, you'd definatly got to watch it. (Yes, expecially you, who wanted to study animation in UCLA...)
A model of the Monster House in the theater

All of us Taiwanese friends who went

Links:
UCLA DAILY BRUIN: A Monster Opportunity
Trailers on Apple's site
Official site

回應7月31號的PTT2...

可魯...

支援時也慘遭閃光彈攻擊的可魯。
(以上來自http://komica.dyndns.org/wiki/?%E5%8F%AF%E9%AD%AF )

BX 版實在是太閃了啦

北海道地圖 網站 介紹

作者: chroma966 (找回遺忘已久的感動) 看板: chroma
標題: 北海道地圖 網站 介紹
時間: Sat Jul 29 13:11:52 2006

http://www.rickstudios.com/hokkaido/map/map.htm

http://domestic.hotel.travel.yahoo.co.jp/special/hokkaido/index.html

japan national touriest organization
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng

住宿--------------------------------------------------------------------
(便宜住宿)

北海道的yh
http://www.youthhostel.or.jp/chinese/menu.htm
辦證 約3000日圓一宿

天氣-------------------------------------------------------------------

北海道當地天氣
http://www.stv.ne.jp/weather/index.html
日出日落時刻
http://www.njwa.jp/weather/cgi-bin/sunmoon.cgi

交通-------------------------------------------------------------------

其他--------------------------------------------------------------------

在札幌火車站及地下街
很容易就可以看到一台粉綠的電話機
它可以免費打電話
只能打日本本土
打手機 1min
打室內電話 3min

--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢兔(ptt2.cc)
◆ From: 61.62.79.138

How I got to LA: @Narita

(Continued from this post)

Just after we got out of the airport at Narita, we took a free shuttle bus to Hotel Nikko Narita, the Japan Airlines owned hotel, where you were offered a free night's stay for transit. On the road, I see lot's of bikes on the side walks, I even spotted a beautiful white Specialized, which doesn't seem to be locked...


Because I'm going back to Taiwan later then my family, our tickets aren't reservered together, and thus, I was arranged to have a room to my self.

It's a nice small room, but the bath room is big, since it took half the space of my room.

As always, we got on the free hotel bus bound to Narita city, and went to the small city for dinner. A tiny japanese Ramen shop is always our first stop: Ramen Bayashi (ラメンばやし, which means Japanese noodles master). They serve delicious ramen and fried dumplings(餃子/ぎょうざ). Although expensive (about 700yen a bowl), the noodles are very good. It's slightly chewy but still soft (咬起來很Q), and you'll know that it's great noodles just by the feel of bitting on it. I like the Tenmen (天麺, vegetable noodles), which has a simple salt based soup with a generous ammount of fresh, crisp vegetables. You could actually hear that sound "crunch" when you chew. The down side of it is that the soup is different this year. Last time I went, the Tenmen is lightly flavered, but this time, it's a little over salty. My sister's fried rice and dumplings are also good but very salty.


After dinner, we walked around, going to the supermarket to get Japanese big peachs and Japanese instant noodles(which, as I realised a week later, is also very salty). We also went to a book store, to see what comics and novels they read. The Japanese verson of "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" are in easily spoted spots, they are pocket sized, and each cut into 3 volumns, nice to bring around.

Then, it's back to the Hotel. Since our flight is in the afternoon, we were planning on a more in depth tour of Narita next morning...

(My roommate just turned off the lights, to be continued...)

[單車] 北海道計畫002--裝備&路線

作者: chroma966 (找回遺忘已久的感動) 看板: chroma
標題: [單車] 北海道計畫002--裝備
時間: Sat Jul 29 15:56:35 2006

自行車後掛袋*2。
Topeak單車修理工具(補胎片、多用途工具組)；潤滑油；內胎*4
；打氣筒。
安全帽；遮陽帽；單車手套*２；墨鏡。

(露營裝備)
帳篷、睡袋。
snowpeak瓦斯爐；鈦鍋具；打火機、瑞士刀、頭燈。

(衣物)
Gore-Tex外套；Gore-Tex長褲。
保暖外套，保暖長褲。
自行車衣褲*2。
運動涼鞋。
其他衣物 (T恤*1、短褲*2、長袖上衣*1、長褲*1、泳褲)。

(個人用品)
盥洗用具、防曬用品、護唇膏。
醫藥包(外傷和一般疾病用藥、中藥按摩藥膏)。
繩子和曬衣夾、洗衣粉。
針線包。

(記錄用品)
日記；文具包；色鉛筆；計算機。
數位單眼相機 ( CANNO 800 )。

(重要財物)
隨身護照袋 (護照，機票，旅行支票，日元現金)
錢包(當地貨幣，信用卡)。

(其他)
地圖；Lonely Planet旅遊指南。
聯絡簿、名片、外交部駐外單位名冊。
隨身書籍。
文房四寶、小禮物。
旅行用泡茶組、茶葉。

--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢兔(ptt2.cc)
◆ From: 61.62.79.138

作者: chroma966 (找回遺忘已久的感動) 看板: chroma
標題: [單車] 北海道計畫002--路線
時間: Sat Jul 29 14:57:15 2006

慶典

6/14-16 北海道神宮祭
6月第三個週日 阿寒湖火花大會 阿寒湖
6/28 葡萄酒祭

7月中 薰衣草祭
7/20 海洋祭
7/20-22 釧路霧祭 釧路
7/28-30 小樽潮祭
7月最後一個六日 層雲峽峽谷火祭
7/28-29 北海道肚臍祭

--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢兔(ptt2.cc)
◆ From: 61.62.79.138

Sites to read carefully

For planing the Hokkido trip
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/
http://www.jrhokkaido.co.jp/index.html

Bike trip stories and info:
http://www.geocities.co.jp/SilkRoad/7808/
http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/meisaku/hokkaido/index.html
http://www.horae.dti.ne.jp/~tabi-pr/s_bike1.html
日本語の大挑戦ですね〜
and:
北海道單車騎士的資料收集：http://www.outdoorjapan.com/activities/cycling/activities-cycling-routescourses.html

當然到jcc(日本單車協會)找資料
http://www.japancycling.org/v2/

單車遊北海道的遊記
http://www.journeyintojapan.com.au/Cycle_Hokkaido.html (澳洲人)
http://www.logos.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~sugimoto/cycle/hokkaido95.html(日本人95夏)
http://homepage.mac.com/freeman588/bike/index.html(台灣人)
http://www.japancycling.org/v2/inter/reader/jerry/(台灣)

Also, visa info:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/essential/visa.html
http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/toko/visa/annai/visa_2.html
Anyways, US and Taiwan citizens may stay without prior visa appication for 90 days.

Stupid automated systems

"That tree ate my kite!"
Nah, I'm not Charlie Brown, but my ATM card was eaten by the mechine.

今天生平第一次使用ATM。因為剛收到Co-Op的statement，要交這個月的租金，提領金額頗大，於是提心弔膽的，深怕被搶。

中午，豔陽高照，來到Westwood一個十字路口的 ATM mechine。
拿出沒用過的全新ATM card插進去，接著輸入密碼。輸入第二個碼時不小心按錯，找不到backspace，就按了cancel，沒想到卡被吐出來了！！！很好，那我再推回去，重來。結果它就只是一直叫，叫我把卡拿走。但此時卡已經被我推的太進去了，拔不出來了，也沒有任何退卡鈕，我只好推的更進去，結果機器還是一直叫我把卡拿走。

怒，我拔不出來你也不吐給我。

此時，叫聲停了。

卡鏘！

卡被吃了．．．

此時忽然想到小冊子上說的，卡片忘記帶走時會被機器自動回收，以免被撿走．．．囧ｒｚ

今天不知罵了幾十萬個「ㄍ．ㄢ．ˋ」．．．

－－－

服務小姐曰：「We're sorry for you're inconvenence, and I'm very sorry that you're check card was eaten...」

不過更不爽的是，用手機打銀行的1-800 number (等同於台灣的0800)，竟然還扣我6分鐘通話時數！又多一個東西要argue了。

Email, bloging and shopping

My Gmail account is fixed, so it's working now. (Thank god...)

I've got tons of storys to blog about, but this week, my blogging time is alocated to GRE score damage control, so, no storys this week :)

If any of you in Taiwan wants anything that could only be bought in the US, you may send an email to my Gmail account, with your name, and a clear discription of what you wish to get. submissions would be accepted from Aug 1st thru Aug 24th.

The heat

It's so hot here in San Bernadino. The wind outside is like what comes out of a oven: you've got scorching hot air blowing in your face. It's so hot that you practically just want to sit around and do nothing. There's a cloud pattern in the sky, making the air a little more humid, and locking the heat in.

The TV news seems more like horror story shows, with extream heat all around Southern California, electric outages here and there, and the highest temprature in Los Angeles county history: 119 fahrenheit!

One good thing, it's still much dryer here then in Taiwan, where you are all sweaty and sticky.

Yam Map

在美國這邊習慣了Google Map/ Google earth 的方便
（Google只有美國有地址/地圖資料，其他國都只有衛星圖）
要找哪裡都上網查，還一步一步告訴你怎麼走
就開始想，為什麼台灣都沒有像美國這麼方便的免費網路地圖
（之前找到的都要交錢加入會員，而且很難用）

不過，剛剛亂逛亂逛，讓我發現蕃薯藤有地圖服務！
http://maps.yam.com/
而且使用界面還跟Google有點像，同樣都用了快速的AJAX技術
真高興，終於不用依賴PaPaGo了

不過呢，搜尋功能還有待加強
搜尋「台大」，第一個回傳值竟然是「台大加油站」
不過正宗台大正門，還可以在右邊的列表中找到
連台大Burger King都找到了^^

接著嘗試地址搜尋，打了自己家裡的地址
可惜的是，它只找得到「街」的層級，巷弄都沒資料
不像Google 查美國的地址，它可以把方位準確的指出來，還能在衛星圖上看到你要找的建築物

不過呢，這樣，已經很棒了
以後出去騎車，規劃路線又多一個工具了
希望它繼續壯大，大家多支持本土的蕃薯藤吧^^

Email down notice

!!!
I screwed up on my Gmail account, I changed the password, which, some how doesn't work after the change. So now I'm locked out of my account. I forgot the secondary email I entered in the account info, but it's likely to be one of the emails accounts that I no longer use and is deleted (such as Netscape).

Thus, I'll keep trying to recover my account, but I can't get your messages from that gmail account before I recover it. In this period, please send any messages to my old Yahoo mail box (the one I use for MSN regestration)

Good thing I have a 2nd Gmail account, which is working as my web drive. I just invited myself to a 3rd account and would switch to that one, if I unfortunatly can't recover my original Gmail...

隨筆

哇哈哈，我這幾天有趣的事情多到不知要寫什麼了，就來胡亂發揮吧！

我住的Co-Op housing已經不只是普通聯合國了。有中國團、有法國團、有韓國團，不過其他國的人，如台灣、日本、越南、印度，甚至道地美國人（白人&黑人）都是小貓兩三隻，無法成團。我表哥說Westwood算是大學城，應該亞洲人＆美國人約略各佔一半人口。結果，據我觀察，在街上逛的以白人居多；UCLA校內大概一半一半；Co-Op這裡呢，亞洲人壓倒性勝利XDD 來這裡簡直是英文聽力大考驗，要聽懂中國腔、韓國腔，就是大挑戰了；中文就更神奇了，中國人可以每個人的腔調都不一樣（不同省吧），其中，我認為廣州腔還算跟台灣接近:P

來這裡可以化解族群隔閡，我以前有偏見的韓國和中國人，現在發現都有其可愛之處。我們台灣經濟輸給南韓我現在認了，我的韓國人室友只有一個強字可以形容。除非有朋友來，他幾乎隨時都在唸書，那認真的程度，在台大絕對拿書卷。不過他有個更強的功力：電視開著唸書！讓我想起班上的書卷，王冠中，邊玩三國誌（電腦遊戲）邊唸書，期末考跟大家炫耀：我又統一中國了！然後拿書卷。而實驗室的另外三個比我早進去的大學部學生(UCLA student)全部都是韓國人，也全部都超認真的。我要振作啊！中國人，我老闆就是，很親切也很關心學生，不過這禮拜不在，我也才剛來，所以還不夠熟，只知道他超帥超有形的（羞）。我另一個室友呢，是浙江團的，也就是我老闆跟浙江大學合作組的暑假研究團。給人的感覺就是一個老實的鄉下人進大城市，對一切都既緊張又小心，不過待人誠懇，他講中文的腔調也滿好懂的，還滿喜歡他的:D

Co-Op check-in 時剛好有一位中山醫大的研究生排在我前面，聽不太懂櫃台（那個同學是韓國人）的英文解說，由一個同實驗室的廣東人當翻譯。在國外時還是覺得同鄉特別親切吧，我們吃飯偶而會一起吃。有趣的是，那廣東人見到我通常都講英文，而那中山的女生只要聽到英文就把嘴巴封的死緊，跟我交談絕對只用中文。她是我所知道唯一一個同樣是台灣人的說。

Co-Op 的食物很奇怪，老爸說要讓我體驗美國人平常都吃什麼。我現在覺得，當台灣人真幸福，美國人很可憐；以後要好好珍惜活大的ㄆㄨㄣ XD 第一個晚餐簡直是震撼教育，seafood soup 的腥味，可以在5公尺外聞到！很多東西起司＆奶油的用量超高。不過我也逐漸習慣這裡的食物了。恩，一般來說呢，所謂的蔬菜有兩種處理方式：用滾水燙到又爛又黃（青椒啊、紅蘿蔔、花椰菜、豌豆之類的）；不然就是洗乾淨生吃。所謂生菜沙拉呢，不一定有醬可以沾。生菜每餐一定有，我們所熟悉的沙拉醬沒出現過。吃法很多，我第一餐配蔓越莓醬，不過還是直接撒鹽又方便又好吃。很多中國或韓國人則使用大絕：拿出龜甲萬（有一罐一加侖裝的）狂加。所謂濃湯呢，就是奶油比水多的一種濃愁物，今天的cream chicken soup甚至只有奶油和雞汁，連個雞的碎片都沒有。主餐通常都是馬林薯泥或義大利麵，不過因為亞洲人眾多，白飯每餐都有。因為覺得美式爛菜配白飯很難吃，所以我就跟隨美國人不吃白飯。24小時供應的東西不少，如酸黃瓜、豆芽菜（生）、紅蘿蔔、橄蘭、豆腐，還有cereal（那種加牛奶吃的玉米片之類的）、土司、牛奶、豆漿，甚至汽水、果汁、咖啡、冰淇淋都是隨時都有。還有各式調味料，除了常見的鹽、胡椒外，還有醬油一筒、橄蘭油兩桶、番茄醬、芥末醬、牛排醬都是隨時供應。我有發現有人每餐都可以吃cereal。對付太濃的奶油味有個大絕，狂加番茄醬或酸黃瓜。酸黃瓜這種東西配什麼都會以自己的酸味掩蓋掉其他味道，把整個變成美味。不過呢，伙食有在進步吧，越來越好吃。昨天的西班牙飯一不小心拿太多，還是很高興的吃完；今天的主廚現身在那切一隻比保齡球還大的烤雞。

正如美聿說的，這裡的人穿著都很隨性。不過加州風也許就是如此吧。T-shirt + 海灘褲隨處可見，不然牛仔褲也很多，很少襯衫。墨鏡超多的。不過呢，最有趣的是鞋子。喔，不，鞋子很少見。涼鞋不少，不過拖鞋最多。拖鞋有名牌喔，有Nike、Fossil、Merell甚至Tommy Hill-Figger......。今天還看到一個女的，穿著短褲，屁股上寫著”Jackass”（囧rz）配件呢，最常見的就是那看到膩的iPod白色耳機。

校園車都很高級，大部分都是Shimano A系列（Acrea, Altus...）。常見的有Giant Boulder, Rincon, Yukon, 還有Specialized, Trek, GT, Fuji 等各大廠的入門車都有。在這裡，沒有快拆的車才算稀有，於是各種防盜措施就出現了。有拆坐墊的，有拆前輪的，當人，最保險的「搬進室內」還是有的。不過，校園中有飆車的，有定竿的，說起來這裡的人騎車技術比台大好多了XD

加州日夜溫差超大，白天快晒傷了，晚上著涼感冒。今天在實驗室鼻涕狂流T_T 另外，空氣超乾燥的，什麼東西都是一放就乾，什麼發霉啦、生鏽啦、長苔啦都看不到，野草地都是枯黃的，有灑水才有綠地；結果呢，我最近常流鼻血。難道這叫水土不服？

不知何時大家便聰明了。這裡現在到處都掃得到無線網路，但是都有加密，都不跟外人分享。真是的，WIFI隨時隨地上網的時代似乎不會來臨了，以後要靠超貴的3G手機系統了。

A walk in Westwood village

Today, after dinner, I set out to the streets in search for a bicycle store, also, to explore the surroundings of UCLA.

So, I pulled out my Clie handheld, with maps loaded on Earthcomber and walked out heading south. Earthcomber found many of the resturants and banks in the area, but didn't list bike stores, since that's not what a normal tourist would look for.

Westwood is a beautiful town. Most buildings are less then 2 stories high and have an intresting Spanish style that is common among Californian cities.

The streets are stright and wide, and lined with palm trees, adding to the sunny feel of sourthern California.

A Haggen-Dazs ice cream store, nostalgic brick styled building. I'll bet there would be a long line in front of this store if it opened in Taipei.


Westwood village is like a mall in that there are guide maps in corners of the streets, with listings of stores. So with the help of the guide, I finally found "Helen's cycles", only to notice that it's already closed at 7pm. From looking inside the windows, I can see that it's quite spacey, and the front window is filled with Cannondales. Maybe I'll try some other day.


Intrestingly, I noticed a psychic near the bike shop. It's got neon lights reading "palm reading" and "tarot cards", and there's peculear head shaped ornaments and curtains, much like in the cartoons :D

My temparary phone

Last Friday, when I was attempting to go back to where my family is, I some how took too long on the bus that took me from UCLA to Holywood, where I transfer to a subway and then to a train to San Bernadino. I took about 1 and a half to get to the subway station (including waiting time), and, realizing that I can't get the last train, another 1.5hr to get back to UCLA. A full 3 hours, I was unreachable to my family.

So, we got a new phone, that was just needed for the 2 months in the US.


Got the cheepest phone, 20 bucks, and added 20 bucks of airtime. I chose Virgin mobile mainly because it has the cheapest phone model, plus, it's not Motorola, which has the worst user interface that I know of. It piggy backs on the Sprint network, a great one. But other then that mentioned above, I hate the corporate image Virgin is trying to make. It's all flashy and colory, more like what they think a teenager would like, which, in my view, is tasteless and stupid. It's filled with dumb ugly wallpapers and ringtones of electronic sounds. I don't like them. I set my ringtone to the normal phone ring. Also, the customer service line is answered by a stupid unintuitive computer voice recognition system. The automated answers are in the language of kids, unprofessional and confusing. Also, you need to read keywords to make your choice; I prefer the old way of pushing numbers, or yet better, talking to a real human operator. The nice thing is that once you get a real service personal on line, the service is quite nice.

Crappy flashy phone, but it does the job. 2 functions to note: a painfully slow "web browser" to check your account and download ringtones and stuff; the most retarded function that you could get on a phone: a built-in LED flashlight.

This was never my idea of my first color screen phone :P

愛情...

似乎以成了我的弱點

只要讀到了跟愛情有關的文章，或任何讓我回想起兩年前的回憶的東西，我又會陷入憂鬱的漩渦，什麼也不想做，發呆胡思亂想個兩個小時。真沒用。

真糟糕，那些東西，明知道自己會受不了，還是會情不自禁的想看。

以後，還是少上B比較好

不過，這愛情恐懼症若改不過來我就真的要好人做到老了

First time into the GAP

I usually wear crappy clothes, just get the ones that fit and are comfortable. But then I had the thought to look better. So I told my self that I should get better looking clothes is summer.

My cousin suggested that I goto a GAP store. So there I went.

It was really cool and trendy and everything, but not the kind of place I'm used to be. The on sell price is just slightly higher then the normal cheep stuff that I get, so I went on and picked a pair of jeans. They've got a lot of spacious trying rooms and even buttons for calling for help on picking the right size. I picked the most conservative style of jeans, just plain blue, no wear and wash marks, no holes. The fancy one, although more trendy, just isn't my style.

Then I went on to look for a shirt. Most of them look good, really good. But then suddenly, out of nowhere, I've got a strong feeling that I don't belong. I'm used to the crappy discount stores, not fancy stuff, even if they're on sell. I feel like a dumb old villager in a city of vogue. So I put back the shirts, and only got the jeans, thinking that I might as well just wear cheep and wrinkled T-shirts with the jeans...

***

Later, as I walked down the isles of a cheep and messy Wal-mart, I feel much more comfortable and got the feeling that this is where I should be...

***

It's kinda strange that I prefer cool gadgets, such as the glossy Sony Clie TH55, the white and shiny Macbook. I even want my bike to have a good combination of colors when picking components, and want to wipe my bike clean and shiny. But for the looks of my self, I wear clothes from discount stores, I prefer my hair to be short and don't prick at my ears or neck, never caring about the style. I look like a man of the slums using cool gadgets. I am a GEEK.

If I really want to look good, guess I'd need a friend that knows how to look good to drag me around and make me buy this and that, like in one of those movies. But in reality, geeks make geek friends. So, whatever. On making a good visual impression, I give up. I feel like a fish out of water.

First day of my summer trip 1

Jul 4th...
Went biking the day after my final exams ended, then invited friends to my house just after I came back from the trip, and today, the day after that, I’m on my way to the US. Never had such a tight schedule, but this sure is my idea of an efficient use of time.

A tight schedule is sure tiresome, as I woke up this morning with an sore muscles all over and a stomach ache. Packing this year is especially challenging, since my backpack is quite small and I’ve got a Macbook to stuff in. Worsening the situation, I’m staying for 2 months and doing lab work this summer, so I’v got to pack in more clothes and some materials for my research.

Also, I need to pack in my GRE preparation stuff. The result is having to bring an additional bag, which is a first for me whose used to stuff it all in one single backpack.
And so we arrive at the airport, TPE. We are boarding from terminal 1, but JAA is changing to terminal 2 soon, so I’ll be at new terminal 2 when I come back, sweet.


The food at the airport is real expensive. (No wonder most of the resturants of 2 years ago are no longer there)They've got beef noodles for 160NTD, twice the normal price. There's also a Burger King, which has each meal only 5NTD more expensive then normal. But we, brought our own food, and a coupon for Burger King's onion rings^^


The plane we took was not painted as a normal JAA plane. It's, instead, a special paint, with beautiful flowers and a humming bird. It says "Reso'cha" and "JALways" on it. Looks beautiful. Even the inside is decorated with nice graphics of those flowers and hummingbirds.

Nice food, Japanese cold noodles, mango jelly and sashimi salad. There's even free French wine^^ The main dish is curry beef. I wanted the "Japanese special", just to know what it is, but I somehow slept over the lunch time, so, no choice. Later on, Mom said that the "special" on the menu was fish.

Narita Airport is still beautiful and clean, but I don't like the fact that there is no free WIFI.

... It late, guess I'll post more when I have time.
You may see my photos first, though.

Macbookを得る！！！

Got my Macbook today, finally!

I'd post the details when I have time in the future.

First thoughts:
1. It's so hot, you could fry bacons on the back
2. It's heavy, but well, acceptable
3. Screen's gorgous
4. Frontrow remote is very nice
5. Looks good and shiny, much better then the iBook

One issue:
All applications can connect to the internet, except Dashboard. Real weird.

Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference

Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference - the Inquirer

Wow! Better be careful with cheep and crappy laptops. Wonder what's the cause, though. I'd expecially like to know if it's an isolated case, a problem with Dell, or a problem with some component provider that also provides components to other brands.

Drying up

My blog is drying up...
But that's just because I'm in the middle of my finall exams.
Yet, it'll be dryer next week, as I go biking for 5 days :D

Oh, well, here's a little venting...
Where is my Macbook?
I was told that it would be shipping on about 6/10~6/15. It's now 6/21 and the store still has an empty stock. Stupid Apple Taiwan... They shipped plenty of the expensive black models, while letting the cheapest white ones deplete. Now, they're like:"If you can't wait, just pay more for the black." But hay, that's one of those unethical sells tactics, isn't it called "foot in the door"? Of course I'd like a black Macbook, but I can't afford it, and besides, if I could, I'd just go with the lighter and cooler Sony Vaio SZ.

So now, I've got 3 options:
1. Wait untill Sunday and test my luck
2. Just go get it in the US
3. Fine, I get to save my money, and just stick to my handheld. Then, no cyclub site updating, no BBS posting/replying, no photo uploads to Flicker, and blogging in English and Japanese only (no Chinese posts). (Oh, and no more Pandora.com radio nor Skype, crap...)

The last one seem like the most likely to happen. Fine, I'd have a lighter load on my back and backpack.

Article link: Words of wisdom for 2006 grads

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0614/p13s01-legn.html
I'm graduating next year, not now. (But I do know people who are graduating this year.) Never the less, it's a great article. Several suggestings from adverse fields, for being a person with better inner strength, for being a useful person to the society, to the country. Some are patriotic, and only for Americans; some others apply universally; some point out the US society, but may also apply to other countries.

A great site to see weather satellite photos

http://weathernews.jp/satellite/
It's a beautiful flash site, the photos are big and clear, but wait, it's a ... video!
I know it's a Japanese site, but since Taiwan and Japan use the same weather satellite, you can still get the see photos. Just click on "アシア広域"(Asia wide area) and you could clearly see the whole east Asia, including Taiwan. To zoom in a little, click on "日本広域"(Japan wide area), and you can still see Taiwan in the left bottom corner. Neat!

Cars

http://www.pixar.com/featurefilms/cars/index.html

Any one wanna go watch Cars with me??

ARRRRRRG! STOP THE RAIN!

I've had enough! Stop it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wholesome life

Sometimes, it's nice to be busy.
Preparing for the finals, the reports, GRE, summer research, Wuling biking trip, graduation trip, my new Macbook, grad school application, scholarship application...... Life targets, things to look foward to, to anticipate, making every tomarrow more enticing.
This would sure be an intresting and meaningful summer. I like it.

Independence or intemacy?

Sometime ago, I've been reading the book , which discusses developmental psychology from a woman's point of view. Since most of the developmental psychology theories that we've read in our psychology text books are based on studies on men, it's nice to see how different it is in the other sex.

It is usually stated that from ages 18~25, people are in search of intemacy. Gilligan corrected this by substituting the "people" above to "men", and then giving us the other half of the story. Men, from their childhood, are always in search of independence, so in their post-adolscent ages, they need to fullfill their other need: intemacy, which, since they're unfamiliar with, are kind of afraid to face it. Woman, on the other hand, are the antithesis of this. As girls, they are adept in handling intemacy, while reluctantly face independency when they grow up.

That's the case before the 80's(when the book was written), I guess. Now, we are in a different age, when woman are more, will, indepedent. I now see my female friends all doing great with both indepedence and intemacy, while many of us boys are still afraid of intemate relationships. Seems that girls have advanced in their development, while boys are lagging behind. Maybe I still have some growing up in this part.

However, the theory seems to confirm in my case on the independence part. From grade school to collage, I've been switching districts each time I graduate, starting with a fresh pack of classmates eachtime, never seeing an old friend in the new school. I even attended a highschool far away from home for a better education and the adventure of going into the city alone. Next step, for grad school, I'm going to the US. Leaving the country, leaving all my friends behind, for a better future, for the adventure of the unfamiliar. Yup, I'm always on a plan to get farther independence alright. But intemacy? Left for fortune to decide. Should I fix it? How? When? I'm not sure, for now.

New Cyclub president

新任社長當選後的表情...

囧

社會亂象

今天在台科大吃晚飯時，餐廳的電視正撥著TVBS新聞。看到了不少令人不爽的事：

• 新聞報導不公正，參雜著偏見：
  在看完李泰安和趙建銘相繼的報導後，明顯的感覺到，新聞界喜歡李泰安，討厭趙建銘。
  在報李泰安時，把他拍得和藹可親，又拍了一堆鄉親、鄰居、支持者的關心，好像他是個被誣告的英雄似的；另一方面，趙建銘的待遇就大為不同了，捕風捉影的，報了一堆沒事實根據的「疑似......」，越抹越黑，好像整個電視台都是邱毅的走狗，大家一起亂槍打鳥。
  事實上呢，我想明眼人都很清楚，李泰安和趙建銘兩個人目前都處於被告身份。在一個法治社會中，再為定案前，所有嫌疑犯都應該視同無罪看待，待調查完畢，一切底定後，才能確定他是否有罪。
• 接著出現邱毅受到支持者歡迎與鼓勵，還有人叫他選總統......。這社會是怎樣？一個扮演只會亂咬人的瘋狗，卻沒有認真審理法案的民意代表這麼偉大？
• 國民黨黨中央正在對馬英九開砲，說該出來積極推動總統罷免案。其中有某位發言說：「罷免是我們的權利，身為在野黨，我們應該使用它！」啥？有權利就該用？不見時機，不爽就用，這叫做濫用權利。那麼，有解散國會的權利的總統，是否明天不爽也該來解散國會，立法委員全部重選？

之後，又在台灣日報上看到李登輝說，台灣的民主正在倒退，本土政權不能捨棄自己的路線，領導人不適合就該換掉。這發言呢，基本上是對的。我也對陳水扁的一事無成感到不爽。不過問題是，若罷免了，那該選誰來代替？目前的政壇上我看不到任何的是任人選。其實呢，若說要解散國會，那更棒了。「利」法院一直是我們社會最大的亂源，幾年下來法案幾乎都被封殺，我們的法律和政策一直停滯不前。不過呢，每次改選出來還不是那批混帳？

仔細想想，改選後似乎不會更好。因此，考慮改選的龐大社會成本，無論是罷免總統或解散國會，現階段都是不適合的。仔細想想，該反省的是選民：為何每次改選後，還是同一被垃圾當選？再這種選民亂投票的情況下，對任何政黨都沒有進步的誘因，大家恣意腐敗。目前的的政壇，無論泛藍或泛綠，我看不到一個真正有心要為國家做事的，我也看不到一個愛國的（只有愛錢、愛勢、愛中國共產黨三種）。可悲的是，放眼望去，人民中愛國的也了了無幾，難怪大家亂投選票。
---
其實我一直覺得台灣缺少一個能激起全國向心力的英雄。我們需要一個類似日本的小泉純一郎首相的領導人，一個有魄力，解散國會，重組政府，拯救國家的英雄。話說在陳水扁之前的李登輝和蔣經國也是很棒的領導人，兩人的努力，造就了台灣在90年代的繁榮與民主自由。怎麼開始覺得非民選的兩位總統比民選的更棒了呢？悲哀啊！

And the $ goes to...

Apple

I went to an Apple store (蘋果優勢, Appleuser @金華街) tonight to see if I could get to have an idea when the new intel Macbooks are avaliable in Taiwan. To my surprise, they not only have a clear answer (somewhere between Jun 10~15th), they also got one on display! Since it's not avaliable in Taiwan yet, they got one from Japan to let Apple lover in Taipei get to have a try before it's released. Boy am I impressed. Through a little sliming down, this baby look much better then the old, white, chunky iBook. It's also got a glossy wide screen, and a better looking keyboard now. But the best part is the price. People usually have the impression that Sony and Apple computers are among the most expensive models on the market. But not this one. The entry level Macbook is only 38900NTD (1211.88USD, tax included). It's got 512MB of RAM, intel integrated graphics, a 5400rpm HDD and a 1.83GHz intel core duo processor. And of course, WIFI(Airport, as in Apple jargon) and Bluetooth comes standard. No where else have I ever seen a core duo notebook under the 40000NTD price point! Also, you can now boot up Windows XP on these Macs, natively, no emulation. But the funny part here is that the infamous "Ctrl+Alt+Del" combo on PCs isn't supported on a Apple keyboard, which means no fast way out of crashs in windows :D

There are some drawback, though. In online review of the Macbook, it is said that this thing is hot and noisy (the fan). Also, it's still quite heavy, compared with the 13inch models from Sony. And it's assembled in China, which I defenantly don't like a bit. But the low price and great style justifies these drawbacks. So, I guess I'll be on the Mac ship in a few weeks. Here I come!

Vertibrate experiment exam info

脊椎動物學實驗期末考について

6/8(四) @12F
*考avian& mammals only
(考試說明錄音檔下載)

• 鳥的目的拉丁文＆哺乳類的各目（看到要認得）＆誰的親源關係較近(有配合題)
• 去梅峰看到什麼老鼠、鳥調看到什麼鳥(鳥調結果有上傳公布欄)
• 看標本時的list、台灣常見的動物、何科何目
• how to認鳥：嘴、脚、叫声
• 鳥叫CD 20種鳥
• 標本的標示牌上有的小東西？
• 小馬拍的照片？？

Others:

• 台灣的飛鼠：小鼯鼠、白面鼯鼠、大赤鼯鼠
• 鷺科鳥類的中指的一側有類似梳子的構造
• 刺蝟（小隻，食蟲目）&冠豪豬 （大隻，囓齒目）不同
• 黃鼠狼的分類：食肉目、貂科

Get a taste of Vista on XP

Craving for Vista? The next version of Windows, named Vista won't be avaliable to consumers until next year, and considering it's thrist of computing resources, your existing system might not be powerful enough to run it smoothly. Bellow is a screen shot of my desktop with some of the stuff I'll be showing off :)

Some features of Vista can already be tried out on XP, here's some:

1. IE 7 beta (download English version, Beta 2)

Yup, IE 7 is here, the first version of IE in history that has temped me to try it. Thanks to the pressure from Firefox, this supposed "Vista only" update is now avaliable for XP. The best new feature that I like is the new rendering engine that is updated and more standards compliant, which means that I can use more CSS coding in my future websites, and I could expect that my site would look more like it should be in a standards compliant browser such as Firefox. If you haven't done a website yourself, you might not know that the old IE 6 used to screw up your site frequently, requiring you to do specific tweaks to your HTML code, just to make it look right in IE, I hope those day would go away with people upgrading to IE7, or Firefox.

Other new features include all the features that you'd expect from a modern browser, including tabs, RSS, search box...etc, which is all already standard features on all other major browsers, like Firefox, Safari and Opera. Now, threatend by the popularity of Firefox, Microsoft finally put them in IE, by heavily copying features from major competetors, of course. One good thing is the tab implementation, which offers a clear new tab button out of the box. Firefox completely hid the tab function by default, requiring you to activate it. Another suprise is that the search box defaulted to Google, instead of MSN. It is said that it's because that's the settings it detected on my system(maybe Google desktop did the settings some how?), nice!

However, it's still in beta, which isn't stable enough. It terminates it self when you are low on memory, and it eats up your memory pretty fast. Also, you need to first click on Flash movies to "activate it", then it'll run, which is ridiculus. Firefox is still my top choice for it's stability, security and easy customisation; but IE 7 sure is a nice toy :)

2. Windows Media Player 11 beta (English beta here)

The last version, WMP10 took a page from iTunes, and made it my video player of choice. It has nice media file organisation capabilities, and video controls just the way you'd expect it to be. However, it still can't beat iTunes, as iTunes is still king of user friendlyness. With this update, it's copying the album art view from Sony's Sonicstage, and entering the "cool looks club". You can even make it search for album info and pictures for any song, but this feature is real slow, and some times screws up. It's yet another nice toy, with great usability. However, iTunes is still easier to use, and Sonicstage still looks better then WMP11. (Sonicstage CP4.0 rocks, it's only flaw is lack of multi-language support for files)

3. Google desktop (get it here)

2 major features of Vista are integrated file search and the sidebar with gadgets (well, toys like a clock and the news on your desktop). You can get both with Google desktop. Once the software finished scanning your harddisk, the search is blazing fast, narowing your list as you type in each letter. However, since I have my files quite organised, I found my self less frequently using search. Also, I tend to remember my files by location, instead of file name, which retards me from doing a search. the sidebar, on the other hand, takes up too much space on my small screen, and the widgets (gadgets in Microsoft jargon) arn't as good looking as Konfabulator's, mentioned below.

4. Yahoo Widgets(previously Konfabulator) (US & Taiwan versions)

Why use a "sidebar" when you can move each widget around? Here is the pioneer of the concept: get info from the web onto your desktop without opening your browser, and making your desktop beautiful at the same time. Since then, we've got clones such as Apple's MacOS X dashboard, Google desktop's sidebar, Microsoft's Vista Gadgets and Opera Widgets. But I still like the first one best. You can get traffic updates, news feeds, email notifications, weather and clocks and calanders on your screen in the form of wonderfull eyecandys.

5. XP power toys Alt-Tab Replacement
(choose Alt-Tab Replacement from the list on the right side)

Vista offers screenshots of the opened windows when you use Alt-Tab to switch between apps, to help you choose the one you want. Here's the equivilant in XP. (You can't see the app titles because it's darkblue on a black background, that because I installed something else to change the look.)

At the end of this post, here's another of my screen shots. This one better reflects my software usage, since I normally don't use WMP11 for music, nor IE7 for browsing. I use Sonicstage (official site & download link) when I want the cool look, and always use Firefox as my browser. The floting clock and circular memory meter is part of Yahoo Widgets. You may notice that my MSN messenger is skinned with Wave11. Also, my whole system (including the black statusbar) is skinned with Brico Pack Vista Inspirat (This is a system hack, it might screw up your system, so if you don't know what you're doing, don't do it) Last, I've got Objectdock on the bottom, to get a Mac like dock :)

期末教學意見調查

以下節自臺大電子報：

請於6月8至15日上網填答本學期課程期末教學意見調查，對於您的身份，我們會做匿名處理。 請同學以理性方式就課程作文字建議或意見表達，勿對教師作人身攻擊，若有非理性等文字將會被刪除，謝謝。
【辦理時間】95年6月8日至6月15日。
【辦理方式】學生於上述期間至info網頁點選「學生」中「教學意見調查」系統，以電腦選課密碼填答問卷，每位同學只能填答自己在本學期修習課程之問卷，且以填答一次為限。
（info網址：http://info.ntu.edu.tw）

大家記得去填啊（我有忘了填，選不到課的親身經歷... T_T）

回憶

早上剛起床，那段回憶忽然就這麼回來向我敲門。不知為何，它忽然是那麼異常的清楚、真實。整件事情，從開始到結束，每一個細節，都在短短幾分鐘內細細回味了一次。不只故事的情節而已，聯主角從頭到腳的穿著打扮，她的各種習慣，都歷歷在目。它曾經是段甜蜜的回憶，也曾經是段痛苦的回憶。隨著時間，沖淡了痛苦的成份，回來了甜蜜的部份。不過，無論回憶的性質如何改變，它終究只是一段回憶，事情的本身都已成過眼雲煙，煙消雲散。留下的，只剩深深烙印在腦海中，對自己情竇初開的年輕、無腦與幻想留下一段見證。帶走的，卻包括我當年的天真、幻想與勇氣。

Notebook search(2)

Last time I was considering the Vaio FJ(39000NTD) and the Macbook(really cheep, but only avaliable in the US for now), now they're both out of the list. The FJ is too heavy (2.4kg) and made in China. The Macbook also has the same problems (2.36kg & MIC...)

Then, I really liked the Vaio S, which is all well (Made in Japan, great looks, great specs with dedicated graphics, light and under 47000NTD), but discontinued and out of stock.
The new Vaio SZ is too expensive(51000+NTD) and too flashy. (seem to shouts out: "steal me!") It's rumored that the SZ is also out of stock.
And a problem with Vaio's is that they come with no CDs, you can burn your own recovery CD, but can't get all the needed drivers (which is not on the CD, and only some of them are avaliable on their site). So installing a clean new OS on a Vaio is almost impossible.

Then I started considering ASUS (Which is mostly made in Taiwan, nice). Well, their website is crap, with tiny photos, ambiguous specs and no price range. The U5 seems okey, but just okey. Light, reasonable price(39000NTD), and very unimpressive specs. It also has an unimpressive design, sort of blends in with the crowd. The W5 seem better, a little more expensive and heavier, but the camera on the top of the screen doesn't look right, sticks out like a sore thumb.

For the fun of it, I went to see the Dell Inspiron 710m. And boom! Seems like the greatest deal avaliable, nice specs, 12inch, under 2kg, and much cheaper then the closest ASUS U5. It's a WHOOPING 32000NTD!!! Just as I was about to like it, I saw the photo, and boy, this is certainly the most UGLY thing I've ever seen! Behold, the uglyist thick slab of plastic in earth: photos of the Dell Inspiron 710m Sorry Dell, I'd never want to hug that kind of thing around, you're out!

So far, the Apple Macbook seems to have the best combination of specs, design and low price. (1099USD/about 35000NTD) But could only get it in the US. I could goto an Apple store in LA, but then, my software collection would start from scratch. There's less freeware, and our school only provides us with the PC version of Office, which means I'd have to buy it. The Missing Sync for my Clie would be yet another investment. But hay, I might just use boot camp and bring my own copy of Windows and Office... hmm...

Or, I could look for more ASUS's...

Notes on the club site redesign

Links to look for advice:

http://www.rohdesign.com/weblog/archives/cat_design.html
Mike documented his blog redesign!!! Nice source of tips for me, now, seems that I should also bring around a sketch book of instant sketching of spontanious ideas.

http://www.jasonsantamaria.com/archive/2004/05/24/grey_box_method.php
Another tip on the design process, gotta read it...

Cyclub website new design

I'm planing to give the NTUCyclub site a face lift + an English version site
So, off to sketching!

This is my latest design, black & white blockyness, Japanese style. The main idea, came from Sony Japan's Walkman site, though.
But, still, need to ask for suggestions for this one before we move on to the computer.


This is my first remake. Thought it was cool, with colorful gradients and photos, also a washed out background photo. However, when my friend saw this, she asked:"Is this the drawing of the present one?" Then it hit me, yup, this just look like the recent one, marked up with some minor changes that are brought over from the current Wuling site.

However, the wild card in this project is that it could not be done if I couldn't get a new notebook for the summer. (Couldn't do image manipulation on a handheld, could I?) And now, Mom doesn't seem to like the idea of buying my a notebook... (I want a Sony Vaio, but it's too expensive, and also out of stock...) If unfortunately I can't get a notebook, I'd have to just translate the current website to English, which is quite boring; by editing raw HTML code on my handheld, which would be painstaking :(

Common Logical Fallacies

Things you should watch out for when reading someone's arguments, and which are most abundant in the news.

Also, what I should look for in the Argument-Analysis Task in the GRE.

What's sad is that my GRE prep book mentained that I may "remember a list of logical fallacies during my undergraduate education", while I didn't take any class as such. I only remember from Psychology: "Correlation doesn't confer cause." Is it that there's some class I should've taken, or is it something we lack in Taiwan's higher education?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_fallacy

http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/argument/fallacies.html

宅化現象

漫画を終日読むて、あの内のかわいな女の子にますます好きた、（審美観開始和現実脱節）......なぜ？

駄目〜〜〜！

I need to get back to reality. Back to assignments, reports and GRE.

Desperado/the Eagles

lyrics here

This is a great song that I've been listening to since young. I've always thought that it's about some exile in hiding, escaping something. Fast forward, years later, I've finally comprehended the profound meaning of this rock classic, as it's one of those songs which are impossible for the sophomorfic to sympathise with.

There was once a time that I only found the melody "not bad". But now, hearing the lachrymose lyrics, all the sorrow, the fear, the reluctance, the memories comes back. Every advice given to the desperado rings bells in my heart, but this pusillanimous thing just quailed and fleed at the thought of it.

I surmiss that wound licking is a continuous and perpetual process after all.

vocab practice(ventilation)

To recapitulate the actions of some guy:(but, of course, not as an obloquy, but rather, as a GRE practice)

An obdurate, recalcitrant, quixotic person, rapt in his lofty illusions.

Clearly we need a more receptive person.

What a Walkman phone should really be like

Think the newest Walkman phones from Sony Ericsson are cool? Wait till you see what they launched in Japan.

Here comes the first Walkman phone to be avaliable in Japan: The au W42S.
http://www.sonyericsson.co.jp/product/au/w42s/index.html

It has a swivel keypad form factor, a huge and bright color screen, big speakers, music in line remote, 1GB flash memory on board with a MS duo slot, can buy music on line, and also has the jog wheel from Sony's Walkman!

This is really cool, all the other Walkman phones are child's play. How come Sony Ericsson could never bring the cool Japanese models to other markets?

Treo 700p video introduction!

In my previous post, I was unimpressed with the spec sheet of the new Treo 700p, but after seeing this video, all I could say is: "Wow!"

See the videocast on mobilitytoday.com here.

You've got streaming video, streaming audio, instant news updates, online software searchs... etc. All the great implementation of a next generation broadband mobile network. SprintTV simply rocks!

The sad thing is that this is the next generation of mobile phones, our current GSM/GPRS networks cannot provide this kind of experience. This clearly needs 3G networks, which means global rollout of this model would be slower and harder, since most countrys haven't upgraded to broadband mobile networks.

But finally, we finally see something out of Japan and Korea that makes 3G networks really make sense.

Skype stuff

I'd always like to say this:
Most of my friends pronounce "Skype" wrong. The last "e" is a silent "e", you don't pronounce it.
It's read: "SKYP".
Just go to skype.com and see the intro video, and listen how they pronounced it.

By the way, SkypeOut in the US is free until the end of 2006, greeeeeaaaaaat! It'd be really useful this summer :D

Which book? Macbook or Vaio FJ?

The new Macbook or the Vaio FJ?
Just as I was about to decide on the Vaio, Apple released the new intel Macbook that replaced the iBook G4. Previously, I hated the white & cubic "plastic feel" of the iBook. But now, it thinner, it's lighter, and there's a black model, removing all that I hate about the iBook. What's more, the Macbook's pricing is really nice. With a similar hardware spec list, it's cheaper then the Vaio, but it's dual-core, while the vaio isn't. And it's got the ever-stable and friendly MacOS X!

But, what disapoints me is that the Macbook isn't avaliable here in Taiwan yet, and the cheepest model is still white. The black casing is restricted to the top model, which is too expensive to me. What's more, most 3rd party Mac apps arn't universal, or intel compatible, yet(requiring the rosetta powerPC emulator).

On the other hand, with the Vaio, it's got Sony eyecandy, but since it's the cheapest vaio, the specs are so-so. And, it may suffer if you load Vista on it in the future.

Macs have problems with processor transition; while PCs with OS transition. But damn, I need a notebook in this freakn' time period.

Should I just pass and depend on my Clie for the 2 months of summer? (Doesn't seem too good to me...)

Freshly announced Treo 700p & Vaio UX

After all the rumors, the "not so secret" Treo 700p is now officially anounced.

Comparing it with it's predecessor, the Treo 650, it supports EVDO highspeed networking, camera upgraded to 1.3MP, more memory, and the crapy Realplayer is replaced by the amazing PocketTunes(should have long ago).

So much for the incremental upgrades, this is not fun nor exciting, they are just doing a minor upgrade to the 650. (Boring!)


Although the Treo 650 was a big hit, not everyone liked the formfactor. Comeon, man, give us something new!


---------------
Now for something more exciting...
Sony has been hinting on this release for days with this flash movie.
Behold the Vaio UX ultra mobile PC, the latest update to the Vaio U series.

The Blog jkOnTheRun has a report on this, and many pictures. The Japanese Sony fansite, So-Mo has more on this.

It runs XP pro, instead of Microsoft's new "Origami" : XP tabletPC ed. for UMPC.

What's exciting about this is the way Sony's marketing presented it with a cool adumbrating flash site. It also seems to have many similaritys with Clies, such as the slider (VZ like form factor), a capture button and the Power/hold slide switch. However, it's way too heavy(yet another brick), and too expensive.

Kudos for Sony on the marketing part. Palm should really take a page from Sony's book. However, the price of the UX is restricting it to wealthy techies, it would never be a hit. Wish the next generation would be more friendly.

Anxiety of the future...

It growing...

First of all, it of this year.
In the first place, I set my targets to get my self some better social/acedemic experience and challenge, to pacify my feel of self-childishness. I'm trying to grow up spritually, be independent. So, I'm going to the states for summer research, and I'm doing all the main planing of this summer's ride trip (Wuling), then, next summer, arrange to go biking in Hokkido. OK, so, sweet and grand plans, sure challenging. Now comes the problems. As the plans pan out, the expenses sky-rocket. Let's see, summer ride trip: 4000; to the US: over 30000, I guess; summer housing: Not found, but may be as much as 30000; GRE: 6000...... (all in NTD) I feel like a money sucking tick. And then I saw in the NY times that gas prices in the US are incredibly high, talk about my need to go between LA and Rancho Cucamonga each week, maybe I should cut that. And I may need to get a new notebook and backpack for the summer.

So, I just canceled next week's class trip. Guess I'd also have to cut back on the lavish bedtime snacks. And I'd certeinly be tutering next semester. But hay, I still can't find housing for the summer in LA, ARRRG!

And then, I'd be homesick for bad in 2008. 'Cause after I graduate next year, my ARC/student visa would be expired for good. Next time I come back "home", I'm a "tourist". Taiwan is where I spent most of my life, where most of my friends are, where most of my memories are, but I'm not part of it, I'm just a damn-ol' "foreigner". And the immigration office wants me out of the country within days of my graduation. No time to celebrate graduation, no time for rest, no time for party, no time for saying good-bye; it's just "pack and flee". On to the "familiar, but not so familiar" US, where the officers smile at you and say: "Welcome home!" This all seems like a parody. The place where you set up your self-identity, wants you out of here fast, like you're some kind of pest or something.

OK, it's approaching. My last year in Formosa, the island of beauty. Starting summer 2007, I'm out of here, no longer a resident, away from everything I know, I love......

OK, I've made up my mind. Before I leave this country, I want to ride around the island once again, savor all that I see, all that I feel, and remember for good, the wonderful tropical island.

Cyclub president election

That guy just doesn't get it! He is so naive!
He thinks that repairing bikes for the whole school is doable (WTF?), but he hasn't even repaired his own bike! He doesn't understand.

Why are the recreational ride trips so unpopular? They seem too difficult to out siders, but not challanging enough for clubmembers. You wanna advertise for every trip, every week? Fine, get expelled.

He is dreaming a fantacy, but he doesn't know that he isn't so "omnipotent". He has no experience, he can't fathom the hardships, but he THINKs he knows.

Go get experience, go see the world, get the whole picture into your mind, before you attempt to lead us. Before that, I don't want you to ruin this wonderful club. It's be a tragady to kill what you love so dearly by heart, with your own hands.

What do boys like?

禮拜三去夜騎平溪看螢火蟲時，芳諭問我說會不會喜歡上美國人然後就不回來了。我很理所當人的說我比較喜歡臺灣人，不喜歡高加索人。她竟很驚訝，並說大部分 臺灣女生反而喜歡外國男生！怎麼差這麼多？對我來說，我覺得烏亮的黑髮有種奇特的光彩，是金髮不能比擬的。小一點的身材和淺一點的臉部輪廓也有種比較容易 親近的含蓄之美。高加索種的女生當然自有她們美麗的地方，可以當朋友，可以當工作夥伴，但再怎樣也無法跟"喜歡"有所聯想，總之就不是我的type啦。

今天又看到報紙裡的小說說男生普遍喜歡長髮的女生。說到此，真的有點慚愧。總覺得能在風中輕輕飄逸的東西，舉凡長髮，長裙，甚至是跳舞時用的絲質彩帶或國 劇中的水袖，都有種致命的吸引力。而偏偏這些會隨風飄的東西都是在生活中極其麻煩的東西。為何會喜歡這些東西呢？這些東西對生存上的適應沒有任何關係吧， 為何會演化出喜歡這些東西的男生呢？

以上幾點的完美組合，也許是我一年級時被她所吸引，而被拒絕一年多後還是無法忘掉她的原因吧。真是白癡。不過，至少我現在已經比較會控制自己的心情，好好過活。重要的是，有車社的眾多朋友不用再怕孤獨。

梅峰野調

剛從梅峰回來，真棒啊～～！
先貼照片吧。
在即將考遺傳的狀況下大概也不能po遊記了
photos here

Altrusic behavior

這是怎樣？
幫忙朋友討好女朋友讓我感到高興；自己追女朋友時卻很痛苦？

為何者我這種只會增進別人的genetic fitness的基因會留下來不被淘汰？這不符合達爾文的適者生存演化論啊～～

What has Firefox done for the world?

I'm now playing with IE 7 beta 2. Seems nice, but not as good as Firefox. However, Firefox is clearly what made Microsoft push out IE 7. Let's see what Firefox has done for the world:

1. Let the world know how IE 6 sucks
2. Let people know that you aren't stuck with IE, you have a choice
3. Popularlized the concept of Free software
4. Popularlized tabbed browsing
5. Forced Microsoft to work harder on IE 7 (which is, frankly, quite nice)
6. Forced Opera to strip out the ads and be totally free
7. Reminded lazy website managers about the importance of standards and browser interoperability.
8. Made web surfing a much better experience
9. Taught the world that there's something called a "browser", and it's not "just the blue E"

Now, about IE 7.

The new interface seems nice, clean and provides more space for your webpages. I expecially like the way they made adding new tabs stright foward. But here's the complaints:

• You need to "click to activate" flash movies before they work.
• Takes a long time and a reboot to install.
• There's no way to import bookmarks from other browsers.
• No bookmarks toolbar, you need to dig-into the favortes menu.
• Slower then Firefox to activate.

So, IE 7 is my new toy, while Firefox sticks as my main browser :)

Congrats

要祝福一個很好的朋友幸福快樂
我終於看懂你最近的進版畫面了
不過不是約好先有的要請客嗎？
Where's my meal???

陳明章 重回現場 校園演唱會

今天晚上正心煩不想唸書時，剛好發現活大有陳明章的校園演唱會耶～～^^
於是，就臨時起意，給他走了進去

我想他算是很有名的台語歌手吧，之前「手牽手護台灣」的主題曲就是採用他的創作，有名的「流浪到淡水」，更是今天的壓軸好歌。一些熟悉的音樂，聽現場的真的棒很多。在台北住久了，很久沒有這種這麼親近這片土地的感覺了。我尤其喜歡他那種每一首歌都是以台灣的一個地方為主題的創作方式（讓人有點想要再來環一次島XD）。正港的台語，對於我這個台南人之子，更是倍感親切。

把電視關掉

今天他還講了不少有趣的銘言：
「教你們一個愛台灣的方法：把電視關掉。那些人都很糟糕。」
「中國文化最美的東西都在文革時被毀滅掉了，他們現反而要來台灣把它學回去。」
「不要使用簡體字，很糟糕。」
「有自己的文化，才能有自信。」
「人生是一張單程車票。要回去時要用感性，不能用理性。」

嗯，我想，我們真的要為自己的文化感到驕傲。

photos:

陳明章把飲料喝光後，在台上喝起歌迷送的啤酒
陳明章音樂的宣傳車吧
會後的簽名會（我也買了一張簽名CD耶）

有趣的是，這次示愛鮮家食品贊助的，據說老闆想辦「文化活動」，就找來了陳明章。
會後還每人發一罐「卡打車」單車運動飲料呢XD
還不錯喝，不過據說富含vitamin B，結果就是跟維大力一樣黃。瓶子不錯看，但是瓶口不適合邊騎邊喝，單手操作。（反而比較像是洗碗精的蓋子耶）

Links:
陳明章音樂工作室（留言板中有關於今天的留言呢）
愛鮮家食品活動網頁（為何還沒有「卡打車」產品網頁？）

[大私約]台大2團-武嶺宜蘭支線

今年武嶺我想走宜蘭支線
希望招得到4個人以上 (大家來啊! 好玩耶)

原訂行程五天，6/27-7/1
走北宜公路(台9)經宜蘭市轉台7->台7甲就是中橫宜支了
然後走一段台8, 到大禹嶺
然後再到觀雲山莊跟大家會合，最後一天跟大隊

不過...剛剛查過里程, 覺得應該可以4天解決耶
以下為PaPaGo所查到的資料
day1
台大 -74.7km->宜蘭市
day2
宜蘭市 -40.8km->棲蘭山莊
day3
棲蘭 -61.7km-> 武陵農場(住武陵青年活動中心吧)
day4
武陵農場 -61.5km-> 大禹嶺 -14.9km->觀雲山莊
day5
觀雲山莊 -36km->武嶺 -54.4km->埔里

若真的要玩5天, 那等於要在宜蘭玩一玩了
難道還要去礁溪泡溫泉???

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來寫寫為何想走宜支好了
一開始是覺得太魯閣我已經去過太多次了，所以去年有點羨慕師大團
而去年走過一次東段後，更覺得今年想走個不一樣的路線
再加上木瓜溪時感受到一個小團私約活動中，大家同甘共苦所得到的快樂，是參加多人大活動所不能比的。尤其是像武嶺這種超大活動，一大群人，跟大拜拜一樣；見到很多人，卻沒辦法深入瞭解任何一個人，結果回來後，連有誰跟著一起去都際不太清楚了。

真的希望能夠成行