[敗家中毒] Puma Aqua Mostro L + Sony MDR-EX300SL

最近事情一堆，心情也像雲霄飛車般每天起伏不定，不知道在瘋什麼，竟然花錢開始隨性起來orz

Puma + Sony... 住在一個各種商店都走路就會到的城市真的是很...... 傷錢包。而且誘惑也不小，服飾、鞋子算日常必須用品，免稅。

最近住處附近新開一家Sony Style，竟然走路時分鐘就到了；如果是一般Sony直營店定價就算了，還給我耳機全面8折... 還剛好是我EX-082耳機線剛斷掉不久，可惡。也許這就是跟商品有緣吧！
購物袋上Comcast Lab吊牌還滿有質感的說


這次包裝終於比較有誠意一點是紙盒裝，而不是塑膠blister pack封死的。這麼說來，為什麼耳機包裝比Walkman好很多？

背後規格。本來想要在Amazon買金屬殼的上一代EX90的，但是EX90是中國製，這組是泰國製，而且這組還比較便宜，那就選它嚕。

側面配件表

打開後，耳機、整線器、耳塞都在此，說明書、保證書跟收納包在後面


收納包中有個整理架方便你收耳機，不過這樣收還收滿久的，若到機場要過海關時臨時想到要收耳機，那懶惰的我大概是隨便卷一卷丟外套口袋吧。

收納包太小了啦，Walkman塞不下

整線器看起來像是塑膠的，其實是軟橡膠喔。本來以為用不到，不過看到插頭那樣又小又脆弱的樣子，那把整線器的一端夾住插頭外皮算了，希望這樣可以用整線器保護到插頭跟電線的交接處。歷年來我3隻Sony耳機都是斷線斷在這裡orz

跟前一附Walkman附贈的EX-082比較，前一代的單體跟耳道呈約20度斜角設計；這一代跟耳道垂直了。EX-082看似完好，但其實插頭裡面的電線已經完全斷了，呈現最高品質靜悄悄= = 仔細一看，它的插頭尾端沒有風琴狀可彎折式保護設計，EX-300就有。該不會Sony故意拿EX系列來吸引Walkman用家上耳道式大單體耳機的賊船，然後把它設計成容易斷掉，這樣說來我是完全上了賊船orz

拆下耳塞套，裡面歪歪地很隨便的塞了海綿...... 這看不到的地方的組裝品質真是糟糕。

這組是我買過最高級的耳機，會選EX300主要是因為EX082是13.5mm大單體，而又不想買EX85，所以EX-85之外最便宜大單體耳機就這款EX300啦。
新一代橡膠耳塞真的減少很多漏音。EX082的（跟85/90同架構）戴上去有耳殼被微微撐開的感覺，卻還是覺得周圍有鬆鬆的隙縫在；EX300的就很服貼，戴上比較舒服，耳殼沒有受壓力的感覺，卻明顯感覺到隔音效果。
音質部份，剛買還沒run開，只能當參考，還沒有到驚艷的感覺，但已經比run九個月後的EX082清亮很多了。各音階的細節還要慢慢run體會；整體來 說，低中高音比EX082均衡，以前EX082低音相對強會把中音階的細節蓋掉，要用Equalizer調回來；EX300把EQ關掉就很棒了。
古典音樂跟搖滾，我很喜歡可以清楚分辨各個樂器的感覺。流行音樂部份，一青窈伴奏的鋼琴可以聽到高級鋼琴那種共鳴的流暢感；Five for Fighting - The Riddle更是可以明顯聽到鋼琴弦鎚敲擊琴弦的感覺；陳明章的歌聲更有磁性了XD 不過電子琴聲卻因為更清楚了，有種電子花車的感覺...... 總之，用新耳機再次聽自己熟悉的音樂感覺有全新的體驗。
低bitrate的mp3則聽起來又更悶了，看來下次回老家很多留在家裏的CD都要重新轉檔了。尤其高中時代轉的96kbps戴上EX300還滿鳥的。

高感度有個問題，Walkman系列一貫的「逼逼」操作音變大聲了，有點不習慣。但是這組的感度真市太敏感了，只要戴著它什麼東西都有明顯底噪阿！！！MacBook底噪超大就算了，Clie TH55也差不多（Sony你的Handheld engine DSP似乎還有進步空間喔），最糟糕的是Walkman A728只比TH55好一點點但還是很明顯，只剩下CD Walkman D-EJ885的底噪是仔細聽才有了（但還是有），該不會我又要為了高音質回到CD時代了？底噪在聽流行音樂時只要音樂大聲點就會忘了它的存在，但聽古典 音樂時可以從頭到尾都很明顯阿。換個角度想，高底噪似乎把我拉回小時候聽錄音帶的回憶了，不過錄音帶可以開Dolby Noise Reduction來降噪，mp3哪來Dolby NR阿？

總之，EX300比上一代EX系列更舒適了，漏音改善很明顯，音質更是在run開之前就贏了。不過Sony一貫的傳統：耳機線非常脆弱，插頭也很小，不好拔，建議另外找一段短短的延長線接上去以免多次插拔又讓好耳機掛點。
因為底噪放大效果很明顯，搭配Network Walkman有點糟，搭配電腦更是浪費。用Walkman NWZ系列的不用浪費錢買EX500了，高階耳機留給CD就對了


下一個，Puma帆船鞋，買了一週，捨不得穿，先寫開箱文好了

嘿，開箱啦！之前曾經去幫天母的Puma store做過宣傳，之後拿到一雙經典紅白配色的Puma 3 time lo leather就逐漸對Puma的鞋子產生興趣。真的不錯穿也耐穿，只是需要好好保養皮面。這次買黑色的就比較沒有紅白款那麼容易髒了。

出現！黑白配真是太有質感了，也好搭配。街頭不是最流行「帆布鞋」，為什麼我這是「帆船鞋」？因為它有做週邊防水處理加上鞋底特別防滑設計，就是為了帆船競賽船員設計的。也許因為鞋帶在船上容易鉤到，所以用黏扣帶吧。我不會玩帆船，若有機會是想玩玩看，不過現階段鞋子好看最重要XD 另一方面，一般運動鞋不是慢跑就是球鞋或登山鞋，我就是要來點特別的

背後的logo跟防滑鞋底

越南製喔，我的產地情節再度發作。就為了產地，現在運動鞋都買德國品牌了；只要美國品牌都是中國製的。

轉個角度再拍。嘿，平日還是捨不得穿，有機會碰到正妹時再說好了。

[筆記]馬達加斯加環島？

一個瘋狂的點子...

有時間我要好好研究一下馬達加斯加單車環島可不可行，每天晚上5pm~3am虐蚊蟲到處飛會不會對旅途造成太大阻礙...

單純想想

Irish Shamrock

從來沒有想過自己會是個亂買盆栽的人，也許離開了亞熱帶台灣，想念植物帶來的綠意吧，看到可愛的小盆栽就會開心一點。St. Patrick's day 快到了，來點愛爾蘭氣氛吧；也希望クローバ可以帶來一點好運（雖然這一盆都是三葉的XD）

其實我的名字是愛爾蘭名字耶，是否該下週去買全套綠衣呢？

Florida Disney World 週末快閃旅行

Flickr photo page
Got no spring break, but really wanted to go on a trip with friends, so flew out for an exciting, ephemeral yet intense weekend vacation, just joining a tiny part of their week long vacation. Well, no time for long stories now, enjoy the photos while I continue with my experiments...

Sony Cybershot HX1

DPreview intro | Gizmodo hands on

This time Sony almost did all the important things right:
Jogdial right where your thumb is: on the top back of the grip right below the mode dial

• Zoom control right below the shutter button
• Metal mode dial
• Infolithium battery is back!!!
  
• Manual mode & EVF still there as all H series cameras

Some great to have features:

• Mechanical shutter
• on board photo stitching for wide angle shots
• 1080p video recording
• Exmor CMOS with an emphasis on less noise
• 20x optical zoom
  

Some points I'm not sure are good or not:

• The CMOS size is still 1/2.4", the CCD on my H9 is 1/2.5", which is tiny. I blame it for all the noise. I hope switching to CMOS would reduce the noise, but come on, can't you make a Cybershot with a 2/3" sensor just as the F707? I don't need 9Megapixels, 5 is enough.
• What's "Sony G lens", how does it compare with the Carl Zeiss lenses that were standard on Cybershots? Sony's never known for lenses......
  

But I really want to try out this camera for sure :)

「草食男子と肉食女子」という話、台湾にきた？！

自由時報 | 日兩性革命 肉食女等著獵殺草食男
毎日新聞 | 特集ワイド：「草食男子と肉食女子」男の言い分

今天自由時報出現了這則日本時事報導，剛看到想說難不成日本真的跟動畫中演的一樣，女生都很主動嗎？然後想，台灣好像不會這樣吧？不過到源頭去看日本那邊的解說，根本就是日本社會的時空文化背景下的產物。每日新聞解釋為「女權運動過剩，男人乾脆一切隨緣」，這有點牽強，但畢竟日本的時空背景日本人自己最清楚，我們當趣聞就好了。

重點是，台灣喜歡亂貼標籤的媒體又找到新標籤了。幾年前從日本挖來「宅」這個標籤，然後在台灣濫用本詞彙， let it take on a new life of it's own，造成了目前台灣「宅」無所不在的亂象。這下好啦，另一個日本社會特殊時空背景產生的標籤又被帶進來了。自由時報以趣聞的方式報導，接著，陰森新聞很自動的就以「這現象在台灣不是也有了嗎？」做結論，正式把標籤貼到台灣來：
東森新聞 | 求愛主動出擊！　「肉食女」不再猶抱琵琶半遮面？
好耶，記者們又有得炒作了。

莫名其妙。

Timbuk2 messenger bag

I've been looking for a good messenger bag for a long while. Usually I take my backpack on bike rides, it's a real good Jansport hiking pack, but I've had a bad accident with that one, which left holes in it making it no longer rain proof. And hauling a big backpack on city streets seems a little dorky, shouting out either "I am a nerd" or "I am a collage student". Well, as the story goes, I happened to notice some bank that's giving out free messenger bags to people for opening checking accounts with them last year. The bag looks nice, and opening an account cost nothing, so I went with it. The free bag lasted for just a month and then all the compartments inside started to fall apart...... at least the main structure was intact so nothing is falling out, but it already looked like a nasty bag made out of old dirty rags.

So, I started my search for a real messenger bag that doesn't fall apart. Timbuk2 bags seemed to be the most common ammong bikers on Philly streets, and the quality really feels nice. So after a long half year wait for some store to offer them on sell, I finaly found it at Performance bike's winter clearance sell, and here it is.

This tag truely shows it's designed with urban bikers in mind. As seen in the previous picture, there's 2 reflective strips for your safety around town, really useful although definatly doesn't mean you can ignore crazy drivers.

The whole inside is a big white water proof layer of plastic.

The back of the bag look pretty much the same.

"Legendary Quality" well, I'll see about that in the future, but all the on line reviews point out that this bag is "close to indestructible". I hope they are true.

There's this huge organizer attachment at the front side of the inside. The small pouch the the left has an inner coating that prevents scratching your precious gadgets, yet that pouch is so small I can't fit my phone nor music player in there. Mind you, my Walkman is about the same size of an iPod nano, and my phone is not a smartphone either.

There's a neat red key strap inside the largest zippered comapartment, but I prefer to keep my keys with me, so not so useful for me. There's also a wrapped up support strap in this compartment for fastening the bag to your body if the shoulder strap didn't provide enough stability.

The other side of the instructions card in that support strap package.

The reflector straps are detachable in case you don't want them swinging around when not on the road.

After a week's use I am most impressed by the fabric of the bag. The outer cloth of normal bags tend to absorb water and mud, and thus after just 10 minutes of in-the-rain riding, you've got a really dirty splatered bag with black spots all over. Some of the stuff might not be just mud but some dark oilly stuff that would take a huge amount effort to get off absorptive cloth, as with my previous free bag. Will the Timbuk2 bag has dirt/water repelling fabic on the outside, and I was surprised when just with a simple brush of a hand, I've cleared off all the dirt and it's still shinny. I tried washing the bag with water, and water just formed little droplets on the fabric, with absolutly no absorption. This is so handy, and it is not even advertised on the tags!

I guess Spring is comming...

春がきたみたいね...
Or at least my little bamboo thinks so :)

Turk-duck-in...

This is so amazing I have to take notes here...

So it is said that there is some thing in Iowa called "Turk-duckin", after clearing out all the guts, you stuff a duck in a chicken, then the chicken in a Turkey, then put the whole thing in the oven and roast it. Now, if you cut the whole thing, you get a 3 colored, 3 layered stack of poultry meet.

Oh, and then there's this thing called "Bacon burger blast", where you wrap bacon around a hotdog, dip it in battered egg (to make it stick together), then warp the whole thing with beef. Wow, the calories... if they just bread it and deep fried it, it'd be... urrrrrr...... fabulous...

愛情抑制劑？

NYtimes | Anti-Love Drug May Be Ticket to Bliss
Nature | Being Human: Love: Neuroscience reveals all
PNAS | Genetic variation in the vasopressin receptor 1a gene (AVPR1A) associates with pair-bonding behavior in humans

Nature 那篇說可以用 oxytocin 來做婚姻改善藥，不過 NYtimes 那篇提出的「愛情抑制劑」用法感覺還比較實用。適時的抑制對愛情的渴望也許可以讓生活品質好一些，相信世界上一堆為愛情所苦的人都迫不及待想試試看。

不過，更有趣的是這「愛情抑制劑」的運作機制。如果只是單純做一個 V1aR inhibitor 來抑制 oxytocin/vasopressin receptor，那麼，這個receptor是否對於分泌端有負回饋？如果跟大部分的神經傳導物質一樣的話，那受器被藥物抑制時，分泌會增加，來補足被抑制的部份。於是用這個「愛情抑制劑」就會像嗑藥一樣，劑量需求越來越多，一旦停藥，藥癮發作時就會有反效果，瘋狂的愛上身邊的任何異性。

Transformation in 10 minutes

This is totally amazing.

The Invitrogen Oneshot Top10 competent cells had 2 protocols on the instruction sheet. One is the traditional add DNA->on ice 30mins->heat shock->recover 1hr method, fair enough, although it's always a little annoying to wait for that 2 hours. But then the other method was a so-called "rapid" protocol:
Add DNA to cells -> on ice 5mins -> heat shock -> on ice 2 mins -> plate on a pre-warmed Agar plate.
And it worked wonders! Just in less then 10 minutes!

喝酒

西班牙sangaria調酒、比利時修道院啤酒、法國紅酒、加州白酒、德國黑啤酒、氣泡水果酒、各式各樣的啤酒、甚至小量特釀Expresso啤酒、巧克力啤酒、荔枝啤酒...

喝過這麼多種酒，沒有一個比司馬庫斯小米酒好喝的。香甜、甘醇、口感豐富度、滑順感、後勁，全部都是小米酒最棒阿！

還是台灣最好阿！

Re: [敗家] 衣櫥永遠缺一件衣服

本來想回應 Key大在上一篇問的問題，不小心長篇大論了起來...... 獨立成篇好了。

我也還在學習中，觀察對象包含動畫、CD封面（flumpool可以參考，整個樂團都是イケメン）、日劇、台灣連續劇（命中注定我愛你 這一部真是越看越上癮，以前對偶像劇的俗氣印象煙消雲散）、路人、時裝店中的擺設搭配。

我所知打扮最糟糕的是加州的大學生，標準打扮：帽T+方格短褲（很像睡褲那種方格）+夾腳拖。糟糕打扮：整套睡衣+夾腳拖。聽朋友說某加大的校車司機也是穿睡衣上工的orz


目前整裝標準有幾個，以下代表我自己的打扮口味，不一定是最好的建議。

1. 搞清楚什麼場合要配合什麼打扮。
   
   • 日常
     T-shirt或Polo shirt + 牛仔褲 + 運動鞋。
     T-shirt我喜歡有點水墨畫風格的動物圖樣，例如 ；牛仔褲在膝蓋處一定要有刷線，整片統一的藍色實在受不了（在紐約的Levis專賣店竟然全都這種素色版）
   • 冬天日常
     上半身套帽T或多層T-shirt+Flannel shirt 方格襯衫套在外面；下半身同上
     
   • Pub or 中高級餐廳
     直條文襯衫 + 黑色牛仔褲 + 休閒皮鞋。外面套上 Blazer 短外套
     根 據某正妹好朋友的建議，條文要密一點的看起來比較年輕。顏色部份要注意不要太多藍色，看起來太頹廢不好。若有參著一點紅色或紫色細條文會看起來氣色比較 好。灰黑色的牛仔褲，跟亞洲人的黑頭髮黑眼睛真的很配，某日本朋友說他只買黑色的牛仔褲，其他顏色都不接受。休閒皮鞋，我憑感覺選的，也還沒整理出個調 理，總之黑黑的亮晶晶的XD
   • 半正式（比Pub高級一點點的社交酒會or高級餐廳用）
     同上，牛仔褲換黑色棉褲或深色卡其褲，襯衫扎進去一點點，拉出一點點外翻折好小小蓋住腰帶。冬天可以在襯衫外面套上毛衣。
   • 科學研討會、研究所面試
     科學家的場合只要到半正式就已經算分常用心打扮了，穿西裝去研究所面試完全over了...orz
     
   • 正式
     西裝配比較正式設計的皮鞋，沒什麼好說的吧？
   • 運動服
     隨性、舒服就好:P
2. 注意層次感，搭配的簡單原則就是深淺色搭配。外面穿暗色系，裡面就套亮一點的。
3. 上半身跟下半身的搭配也是深淺色搭配，有時可以外套跟褲子同色，裡面上衣選個對比色
4. 衣服偶而要燙一下，尤其棉襯衫，拉塌與帥氣之間就只是有沒有皺紋的差別而已。
   衣服用烘衣機烘到半乾再吊起來晾乾也能達到防皺效果。但若完全沒有烘乾機也沒曬到什麼太陽就直接室內陰乾，就會皺得可怕...
   
5. 洗衣服要乾淨。我在這邊看過一個念工程的中國人穿著汗衫，上面還留著萬年醬油漬就跑到新生酒會來嚇人orz
6. 把鐵絲衣架處理掉，這種細衣架會破壞衣服，吊久了，衣服肩膀部份都被撐凸了。Ikea有賣超棒的塑膠衣架，兩端渾圓比較不傷衣服。襯衫的話用有塑型的木衣架保持直挺的型吧！
7. 鞋子，黑色的比較容易搭配。
   帆布鞋我還沒玩過。
   我有一雙白色有紅色線條的Puma真皮休閒鞋，因為顏色太亮眼了，所以一定搭配紅色或白色的上衣。
   容易汎黃的白色慢跑鞋還是少碰為妙。
8. 牛仔褲要配休閒風格的皮帶，西裝皮帶留給卡其褲或西裝褲。
   
9. 遠離標準阿宅打扮（請參考電車男日劇）：
   皺巴巴的方格襯衫＋單一顏色無刷線的藍色牛仔褲＋西裝皮帶＋汎黃慢跑鞋＋大鏡片眼鏡
   然後襯衫扎進褲頭，露出西裝皮帶orz
10. 喔，我好幾年不碰淡色系卡其褲了，容易髒、容易皺，介於正式與休閒之間的不舒服地帶XD
11. 我的衣櫥裡沒有橫條文的衣服，橫條文總是讓我想起好萊塢電影中的胖子。
12. 好的襯衫領子裡會有兩片塑膠片撐著保持領子平整。烘洗衣服、燙衣服前記得拿出來，穿之前記得放進去。烘衣服沒拿出來，領子會翹得像品客；不小心拿熨斗燙到則會變波樂。（是的，兩個蠢事我都幹過）
13. 古龍水是好物阿，清倉特價時記得殺一點回家。若怕大罐太貴，買隨身罐當試用也好。
14. 黑色晶亮的金屬指針錶才Man阿，小小的數位錶感覺像小朋友。只可惜還沒有錢去玩真正的機械錶。
15. 除了刮鬍刀之外，鼻毛剪也是個必要的投資（羞）
    跟鼻毛又長又多的某教授面試過，我親身體驗了憋笑45分鐘有多痛苦，體諒一下身邊的人吧！
16. 除非要去運動，不然不要穿純白運動襪。白襪配皮鞋是職場菜鳥的正字標記。若褲子太短讓白襪跑出來就更糟糕了。
    

努力尋找新花樣中。

• 未找到的已確定目標：
  容易搭配的V領毛衣、V領T-shirt、灰黑色Flannel shirt、曠野風格大靴子（如Timberland）、適合搭配Pub打扮的皮帶、下一隻金屬錶（正在尋找更晶亮黝黑的:P）、好看的涼鞋
• 達不到的目標：胸肌阿～～囧

目前愛用品牌：
GAP（美式休閒）、Banana Republic（好襯衫）、Uniqlo（日式）、Anchor Blue（加州風與和風的融合）、H&M（歐風廉價+地攤貨品質）。配件部份，Fossil手錶跟Aldo皮鞋打折後都非常超值。
不過以上似乎台灣全都沒有orz 台灣有個港商Samual&Kevin風格還不錯，但耐穿度很差，要自己會修補。Heng Ten兩隻香港腳的，很耐穿但保證買回家只穿第二次就覺得俗氣了。
還有不管在美國還是台灣，Costco都是便宜購入高級貨的天堂，據說有出現過Calvin Klein 襯衫只賣$12USD (台幣384而已)

[敗家] 衣櫥永遠缺一件衣服

人家說女人的衣櫥永遠缺一件衣服

我不是女人，我的衣櫥永遠缺十件衣服，而且衣架也永遠不夠用 |||orz

不知道是不是大學、中學時代從不搭配、隨便亂穿之後的心理反撲
覺得穿得拉塌一點就會心情差一整天
還是對自己的外表永遠不滿意、缺乏自信...

總之開始賺錢以來像瘋了一樣，幾乎每個禮拜都買一件新衣服
每週固定去服飾店的清倉區挖寶

反倒是電氣用品店已經好幾個月沒有認真逛了

還是說這是女性化之路XD

搞不好不久的將來也會開始逛化妝、保養品之類的東西了
那個什麼ManQ來著的，好像在台灣頗紅的......

[糟糕] 日本動畫 v.s. 偶像劇

跟講日文的萌萌動畫蘿莉比起來...

操著淡淡的台灣國語又參雜著一點點台語、英文的偶像劇正妹還比較有感覺XD

--

對了，另一方面的比較... 都有劇情公式的：
動畫中男角只要被他喜歡的女生親一下，那個男角不久就會掛掉
而偶像劇呢，只要當女主角就一定會被車撞到orz

[開箱] Rip off power block

In an unfortunate mixture of bad luck and stupidity, I had to get a new power block for my MacBook...

很漂亮的手提袋，很有質感，可惜MIC...orz (塑膠袋這種簡單又輕便的東西還要進口啊？)
果然Apple Store裡面的東西100% made in China


出現了，只是個充電器，包裝卻意外的漂亮；漂亮包裝的代價：貴到哭妖orz

左邊抽出一個小抽屜，第一個看到的是包裝精美的說明書。有清楚的圖示說明如何接上延長線、收線的小耳朵怎麼用（為什麼買整台電腦就沒有說明）。

分層，白豆腐在下，延長線在上

為什麼接縫這麼大（囧），我原本那組裝很棒的阿...
看底下標示是三星（Samsung）在廣東生產的，該不會經過三星加持組裝品質變爛了吧？

Hectic holiday travel: East to West coast in 2 days

It has been a totally crazy week, collected the last batch of my experiment data Monday morning, took an exam in the evening, and then worked on slides for my lab presentation way into the night. On Tuesday, did last minute changes to the slides and then did the presentation; and after that needed to fix up all the stuff I haven't written into my lab note. Then on Wednesday, capped off my rotation with my PI, went to a seminar, did last minute Christmas gift shopping, and then started packing two hours before setting for the holidays. And all that busy mess lead to even more hicups along the way...

So I headed out to the 30th street station around 3pm to take the SEPTA R1 regional rail to the airport. 30th street station is huge, and the SEPTA platforms are kind of hard to find. Turned out that they are hidden behind all the Amtrak platform entrance and ticket offices. Somehow people decided that train tickets to airports should be priced higher then other trains. SEPTA implamented this by defining the airport to be at the highest priced pricing zone; also, all airport tickets are rush hour rates no matter what time you go. But even after all those premiums, taking the train is still much cheeper then taking airport shuttles, such as lady liberty.

The 30th station platform actually looks pretty nice, it has an old-styled look to it. There was an electronic display that showed the next trains comming and if it's on time. Turned out that display was fluctuating between "on time", "late 1 min" and "late 2 mins" every few seconds...... whatevers, it's all approximations.

Interestingly, all the pillars that don't have other stuff beneath it (ie. right over people's heads) have rows of spikes installed on them. Maybe to prevent birds from pooing on passenger's heads; or maybe someone did get the "avian potty treatment" and complained or sued.

Here comes the train. The terminal is elegant, but the train it self is ugly and utilitarian. Unlike in Kansai, Japan, where the airport train is especially clean and beautiful (partly justifying the airport train fee premium), This R1 train is just as ugly as all the other lines.

The interiror consists of also utilarian rows of seats. The cars are not clean, but not too dirty either. Maybe about on par with the trains in Taiwan 10 years ago (臺鐵十年前的整潔度). I was expecting something worse... (as dirty as the SEPTA trolleys), so I guess I was pleasently surprised.


The South street bridge. I thought they were going to just bomb it down, but seems like they are doing it slower. Maybe bombing stuff down is more Hollywood style?


The last station before getting to the airport. All suburban stations are just un-manned platforms, this one doesn't even have ticket vending mechines.


The airport is just around the corner


And here I am at the airport train platform of terminal D. The departure terminals are just across the railroad overpass.

Where do you get to see revolving doors other then at the airport? The airport look much different then what I saw last time, as it's mostly covered in wooden boards for renovations.


Check-in lines are a little too long for comfort. At first I thought it might just be because of the Christmas holiday crowd, but then I started worrying about the check-in cut off times. Check-in closes 45mins before the flight, and I got there just 1hr prior to the scheduled time, as this has always been fairly early judging from past experience. And then I started hearing that every single flight that day was delayed due to fog, so I won't have a problem with the check-in cut off. Turns out the long lines are because agents have to work out every single person's connections, as people are not going to make the connections when the first flight is delayed 2hrs. And of course, no one's happy about the connection mess-ups, so the lines were hardly moving.

They started processing the people without connections first, and then taking the time to take care of us mess-ups. Eventually, I made it up there, and was presented with the "official story":
My flight from Philly to Houston was delayed 2hrs because of bad weather in Houston, and our plane was supposed to come in from Houston. (Will, looking at that whole row of "canceled" Southwest & USair flights, I guess "delayed" means I at least have a chance of getting some where...) So I was presented with 2 options: 1) return to the Philly airport the next day at 3 in the morning for the next flight out that can make a connection to California, 2) fly out to Houston on the delayed flight anyways, and betting my luck on the connecting flight also being delayed; if not, stay in Houston for the night and continue the journey the following morning. I asked for transfering to even later flights so I wouldn't need to catch a 4am flight, but was told that all the later flights were fully booked until the end of the holidays (how sweet? to think of it, I don't know if this is just a lie to keep things simple on the agent's side...).

I made some phone calls before making a decision. For a moment I thought that I might be stuck in Philly until next year. Luckily, I got a friend in Houston who's willing to take me in for the night, what a relief! So I told the agent to just cancel my original 2nd flight and rebook for the next day, I don't believe I'd be so lucky that the 2nd flight would also delay, and besides, I got this chance to see a good friend, a chance that presented it self in one of the utmost bizarre way.

So I checked in, got my boarding pass and entered the waiting area with 2 hours to kill. Remembering that the international departure terminal is much nicer then the messy and crowded domestic terminals, I walked over looking for a place to relax. Walking from terminal D all the way to the international terminal A, the domestic terminals of this airport seemed much better this time around. It look completely renovated into a something more along the lines of a mall. But I went on, and found a seat in terminal A that's next to an outlet. I pulled out my notebook, and rummaged through my backpack... "Oops, where's my MacBook power adaptor?" I couldn't remember if I packed it into my bag or may it be dropped when that TSA officer was going through my pack looking for that liquids/gels ziploc bag I forgot to pull out? I ended up walking all the way back to the TSA check point. Sure enough, they did not see a missing white power block. And I remembered that my 3.5-year-old MacBook battery only holds 1hr of juice. Okey, my trip was just elongated into 2 days, which pushed back my original plans, and I am stuck in an airport for 2 hours with a computer on my back that couldn't provide me the needed entertainment for time-kill. Oh, not to mention I have to get a new power block for the rest of the holidays, given it's an Apple, must be at rip-off prices.


A long night stranded at the crowded airport. Without the powerblock, I didn't want to pull out my MacBook, but still had time to kill. On the good side, my Clie TH55 PDA was still as reliable as it was for all those years, and it connected nicely to the Philly airport free WIFI. I was up and running with my email and Facebook in a second, while a girl shareing the same power outlet with me never made got a usable connection on her Dell notebook. Meanwhile, a quick check on Continental's website showed that my original connecting flight was still on time 1.5 hours after I checked in. I figured I made the right choice, and smiled.

The flight wasn't as packed as it should be, seems that there's a fair amount of people who canceled because they could not make the next connection. Somehow, through all the mess, I forgot to have dinner, and was having a stomach ache. Snack sized cheeseburgers and salad were served on the flight, which did help a little. I had a father and his kid sitting next to me. The toddeler was so cute that it made me fall into that deep thinking mode, wondering when would I have a family...... But I was not left in wonder-land for long, as the kid somehow found it amusing kicking me continuously. The father looked apologestic, but didn't want to be mean to his child, so it ended in a cycle of kicking and the father pulling the legs back, and the legs struggled free and started kicking again.

When landing at Houston, the fog outside was downright amazing, it seemed that visibility was less then 10 meters. I can totally understand the delay now, but also amazed how we could still land perfectly with radar assistance. Once I got to the baggage clam, a fire alarm sounded and there was an automatic anouncement telling people to evacuate; yet I see no one, absolutely no one evacuating.

I've only been to Houston twice on grad school interviews, and now the city already seems oddly familiar to me, somehow I could still make out a sense of what is where in the dark. From what I've hear from my friend, Houston sounds, in a way, to be a funner place then Philly. It's easier to get good food, it's closer to the sea, there's good shrimp and crab fishing at near by Galveston, and there's a very amusing culture of Texans and Latinos. And best of all, everything is very cheap. On the other hand, everything is so far away and there's not as much night life as Philly.


The next morning, it was still very foggy in Houston. But it's still tolerable for driving and my flight mannaged to take off smoothly.

Breakfast was nice on the plane, with a good book (Sarah's key) and good music. The food was rather simplistic, but it's been so long since I last had a breakfast this relaxing. I liked Continental for being the only domestic carrier to be serving free food and keeping the planes clean, and I really am enjoying it.

The snow caps in SoCal was still as stunning as it was. I have this very nice girl from San Antonio sitting next to me on the plane, who was so excited about comming to the Inland empire/LA area, and was constantly asking all sorts of questions about the area (the weather, scenery, ...etc). Once the snow covered mountains came into sight she was frantically taking picture after picture after picture. Somehow, all the people I've seen from San Antonio were very excited about trips and outings, and the excitment was amazingly contagious. (Why I always manage to have a much more enjoyable conversation with girls I don't feel attracted to is way beyond me)

Ahh, the sun shine, the cool dry air, a feeling much missed.


And of course, Puff welcomes me back by taking over my coat momentarily.

Amazingly messy holiday travel

I was going to fly to SoCal today. It is foggy here in Philly, and the weather said to be worse in Houston, where I make a connection. Flight out of Philly delayed 2hrs because it delayed when comming here from Houston; not going to make the connection. The lady suggested that the connection flight might also be delayed, and wanted me to try my luck. The other option is to come back to the airport 3am tomorrow, all later flights are full...

Oh, oh, in all this mess, I realized that I either lost my computer power block, or I left it at home. Fabulous!
(good thing my Clie TH55 PDA is working great)

French real world Mario Kart

MARIO KART (REMI GAILLARD)
by nqtv

Who'd think he'd throw real banana peel, and it has absolutely NO effect on others :D

My new roommate?!

It is true that I am starting to think it would be nice to have a roommate, but this is not my idea of a "roommate"...

(taken on auto mode, using infrared night shot)

I have always made sure to keep everything that smells good in the fridge, and usually avoid keeping the trash in the house for too long... But, with no food, this little guy seems totally happy with having my phonebook for dinner.

The good part: it's a mouse, not a rat. The bad part: it looked exactly like lab mouse, just as cute too, making me not in the mood to call the landlord for pest control. Oh well, I guess I can just keep my home food-less and as inhospitable as I can, hope he decides to move out soon...

Free Coffee at Seminars

Sure, they are watery, somewhere between tasteless and bad tasting, but there is a good side: they still make warm drinks in the winter, and they are so thin that they don't leave stains on your shirts after spills.

Had a little spill today, and can't find any trace of the stain after I got back home, how's that?

[お笑う] 聯合報 | 國民黨增設五位副主席

聯合報 | 國民黨增設五位副主席

其中重點：「國民黨副主席總數高達八人」。

天阿，為什麼台灣的政治新聞總是好像綜藝節目一般的惡搞又搞笑？黨主席玩人海戰術有比較會比較強嗎？再算個榮譽主席連戰，這下有 黨主席*2 + 副主席*8 共十人的領導團隊，是這樣嗎？

這下我們執政黨走諧星路線，在野黨自願泡沫化...... 整個政壇簡直都在搞笑

edit:

NOWnews | 國民黨副主席「八仙過海」　蔣孝嚴連太太都保密

上一篇說可以組棒球隊，這一篇說是八仙過海...... 國民黨再搞笑下去大概演藝圈的都不用混了

腹筋返し〜！！

期中考太high啦～！

考前教授把大量考古題含正確答案放在課程網頁上給我們練習，考試open book，任何資料都可以帶。

結果考試第一題跟考古題完全一樣，一字不漏，只有排版變了 囧rz

既然open book，當然就很大方的把考古提拿出來抄啦......

抄完再三比隊友沒有陷阱，恩沒有

這種送分方式簡直比神奇調分公式還神奇，可以選擇性只給有唸書的人加分XDD

Two windows, two worlds

今天在家跟Actin cytoskeleton奮鬥時，猛然抬頭一望，看到這景象...

(without flash)

(with flash)
Cloudy on the left, sunny on the right :)
真是陰晴不定的天氣阿，不小心就給我抓到這有趣的景象。不過之前在北106縣道看到的「一躲下雨中的烏雲在晴天中像我飄來」更酷，只可惜那次既沒帶相機，而且還急著躲雨，上演「雨簾在後面追著我跑」的戲碼......

內心話不能隨便說出來阿...

不知為何今天早上一直回想起這件事...... 明明是好一陣子之前的事了......

某天，在逛街買衣服時，剛好碰到一位同學也在逛街
這位同學長得一表人材，今天穿得特別帥氣，手上還很帥氣的拿著兩件我光看到價格就不敢碰的衣服，看起來是要買了。
同學曰：喔，來介紹一下，這是我女友。
（心中OS：喔原來你死會啦......


!!!


咦，短胖、大餅臉、厚唇...... 噗...

不對，不可以笑，是一表人材強者我同學的女友阿，還頗有禮貌的...

囧）

我：ㄜ......你好！