Valley Forge Biking trip

好幾個月沒有這樣玩長距離整天的單車旅行了，更精確的說，很久沒有單日破40km里程了。最近cloning玩到爛了，就離開實驗室來找回當年隨便就單日爆80km旅程的感覺吧。

這附近景點說多不多，說少不少，就挑Valley Forge國家歷史公園來挑戰吧。去年隨性的沿著河濱公園走，卻因為單車專用道路面品質不好，河濱又太蜿蜒，還沒到就累翻了；這次就請Google大神規劃了避開高速公路的最短路徑。期間會經過比較糟糕的West Philly，但早上出發還算OK，就走啦！

一路沿著Lancaster Ave.往西北走，其實感覺West Philly早上比傍晚好太多了，除了髒亂以外，真的沒什麼，也許週日早上真的大家都在睡覺。而一過City Ave.就沿路都是高級住宅了。Philly的區域分佈真有趣，單身中產階級＆有錢人在市中心，平民區就在外圍，再往外是超有錢豪華區，中產階級家庭住最外圍，這群人每天通車最辛苦呢。

一路上是丘陵地形，沿路分佈是小鎮->住宅區->小鎮->住宅區。很多小鎮的市中心都有些歷史古蹟，還有很多可愛的小店，很有趣的感覺。也許在小鎮逛街也會別有一番風味吧！

這裡連連鎖店都可以開得很有情調呢。

郵局也是，Brwn Mayr郵局比Philly市中心那個黏滿灰塵污垢的老郵局漂亮太多了。新蓋的郵政總局雖然閃閃發亮，但現代化的鋼骨外露設計又少了那麼一點人文氣息。

騎著騎著，不小心發現原來全國知名的大學校際籃球超強學校（今年好像有進前四強，害我在微生物所的籃球賭盤輸很慘XDD）Villanova就這麼近啊！

校園小小的（比台大小），但很美麗，看起來應該是天主教學校吧。據說這裡的商學院也算滿強的樣子。

校園裡最漂亮的就是這個教堂了

穿綠色長袍的教父正在招待來做禮拜的信徒。綠色長袍，怎麼讓我想起了「史萊哲林」...
旁邊的草皮也很美
聖人雕像似乎是基督/天主教學校必備的

宿舍看來很豪華呢！

接著來到了Strafford古色古香的市區，配上越來越藍的天空、越來越像棉花糖的雲朵，真的很漂亮。照片中這個旅館怎麼可以這麼漂亮呢，真想去住住看呢

這火車站也太有趣了，完全不像火車站，長得比較像客棧
翻過一坐山，穿越一個高級住宅區後，終於來到了Valley Forge國家歷史公園。此時碼表顯示19mile，跟Google估計的20差不多。

前方有一望無際的丘陵草原，讓我回想起了北海道的美瑛；只是這裡整個是綠的，沒有五彩拼布的感覺。


仿凱旋門的獨立戰爭紀念碑

國家公園管理處管的地方總是有精美的地圖，當然一定要到遊客中心去拿一份嚕，而且也快中午的，進去問問哪裡可以覓食。
有點像教堂的電影放映廳，介紹當年獨立戰爭時，華盛頓在此練兵準備隔年把被英軍佔領的Philly搶回來的故事。當時因為補給缺乏，很多軍人在這裡無法過冬，造成了寒冬比英軍殺了更多人的悲劇。


小木屋紀念品店有賣便宜又好吃的簡易三明治，和最棒的明信片

園區內的教堂，每週三晚上有免費演唱會，可惜太遠了，不然在這麼漂亮的地方一定很棒。在軍營中的教堂前還有幾尊大砲，構成了一個不協調的景象。恩，軍人打仗還是有信仰的。


當年軍隊睡的小木屋，如此寒酸，難怪當年情況很慘。

華盛頓司令總部！這......上校住得也跟軍隊差太多了吧？去過Mt. Vernon是知道Washington以前經商家裏本來就很有錢，但屬下受苦時住這麼豪華感覺有點誇張......後來才聽到解說員說「這是他當時跟阿姨租的房子」，喔，那比浪費物資新建好很多了orz

裡面房間也很豪華


藍藍的天空，綠綠的丘陵，真的很有美瑛那種童話故事的感覺

然後又一路飆車回去跟朋友聚餐去。沿途肚子很餓，Energy bar又忘在家裏沒帶，就來吃吃看這家超有名的Hope's Cookies吧！
這一小杯Frozon Yogurt要$4，真的很貴>"< Fat-free也讓口感單調了點，不過爆餓的大熱天，這樣還是很好吃的^^ 很順口的就這樣整個吃完啦！

Sick of Facebook...

"Making friends" on Facebook amount to nothing. If you are good friends, you'll keep all contact channels open anyways; if you are not going to be good friends, you are just a bullet point in a friend list.

Meeting in person or making phone calls remain the best way to connect.

Thus I am cleaning up my Facebook profile. I'll mainly use it as if a virtual business card. If you are interested, there's my contact info. That's it.
---
By the way...

有些人用Facebook的邀請功能寄邀請到我的Yahoo帳號（我用來當MSN帳號的垃圾email），好久沒去檢查那個信箱了:P 今天去看了，有些人竟然是一點印象都沒有，搬家搬了半個地球之後，有些人不再聯絡，竟然就好像上輩子的朋友一般完全沒印象了。PDA通訊錄中有紀錄的還會有筆記這個人哪裡認識的可以喚醒記憶；只加過MSN，沒寫進通訊錄的就真的是完全記不得了orz

Communication is not just about accomplishing tasks, it's about managing relationships.

~Scripps College of Communication dean Gregory Shepherd
from WIRED-17.08 Aug 09

ABC news | Ex-Marine Kills 300-Pound Bear With Log

ABC news | Ex-Marine Kills 300-Pound Bear With Log

最近對熊的資訊越來越有興趣orz
結論：出去露營前要練出可以把大樹幹抬起來丟出去砸熊的大肌肉？！（大誤）

薑薑薑薑～ A story of Ginger

室友在廚房擺了一顆生薑，沒有收進冰箱。他喜歡吃薑燒豬排 (豚の生姜焼き)，偶而就拿那顆流理台旁邊的薑切一塊來用。

有一天，我說「Wow, it's growing! That furry thing looks like mold, but it's actually the roots.」

室友回答「Yeah, it's germinating..., is that the right way to say it?」
（果然是植物學背景的人，發芽竟然用germinate這個字XD）

「Mmm... yeah..., germinal centers, huh?」
（為什麼生物背景的人聊起天都會往學術方向聊？）

「Maybe we could grow it, we'll have tons of ginger!」

*** *** ***

過幾天後，當我在幫我的酢醬草澆水時，室友拿起一顆綠綠的「薑芽」跟我說「Maybe you could also plant this, it fell off the ginger today.」驚，這小小的薑竟然偷偷地在行出芽生殖，發芽後還會自動掉下來變一棵獨立的小薑芽；仔細一看那薑上還有另一顆帶莖快要掉下來的小芽和第三顆剛開始長的小芽。這繁殖力還真是驚人阿！

於是我真的拿了一個塑膠小盤裝了水就把小薑芽放上去擺窗台上培養了XDD

一顆綠芽用四根「毛毛的腳」站著，活像小外星人；又那塑膠小盤其實是實驗室帶回來的過濾器蓋子，一整個有組織培養的感覺。

發芽後，室友還是喜歡吃薑燒豬排，偶而就拿那顆流理台旁邊的薑切一塊來用。

*** *** ***

今天吃晚餐時，室友又問我薑的葉子能不能吃。
我說不知道耶，等它長大可以試試看啊。

[政論] It all started with this...

從前從前，有一天，台北市長選舉，陳水扁敗選，馬英九勝選

在此之前，陳水扁當市長當得有聲有色，馬英九也還沒進入政壇，一切都是如此美好

此後，馬英九當上市長，台北市從此市政一路擺爛；然後郝龍斌接手，讓世界見識到原來市政除了消極的擺爛以外，還可以積極的向下沉淪orz (hint: 貓纜、內湖捷運)

陳水扁敗選後，下定決心雪恥，當選了總統，然後把李登輝留下的繁榮景象搞成了爛攤子
(hint: 經濟)
然後驅長接手，把爛攤子搞成了大廢墟orz

想當初，把陳水扁留著當市長；馬英九不要讓他進入政壇，也許台灣還可以再繁榮個幾年XDD

Nature interviews Chi-Huey Wong on Taiwan's biotech industry

Nature News | Taiwan's hopes for a biotech revolution

Seems like they are planning to strategically invest government funds into the industry. One major problem noted is that experienced and skilled scientists prefer to stay abroad, and thus a shortage of young scientists. Well yeah, when the grad school stipend in the US is way higher then real scientist jobs in Taiwan, you've got serious under pay. Add in how Taiwanese companies love to work employees overtime while underpaying, good luck recruiting! Dr. Wong (翁啟惠) did acknowledge how they need to increase salaries, but he is saying that as head of Academia Sinica(中研院), let's see how he can convince the private sector to actually put that into practice.

Another major problem in Biotech is that it's always thirsty for research funding, it's just the nature of the industry. Few countries in the world have as large the capital as the US of A, and yet the Biotech industry is still not working too well in the US. Taiwan is now deep in debt, just as the rest of the world is, and trying to invest in this high failure-rate, capital-burning industry is a huge gamble, especially in this deep-shit economy. Some highly strategic financing is really required here.

It's good to know that Dr. Wong really knows Taiwan's strengths in clinical trials and gadget engineering, and it's always a good thing to start out with what you are good at. Yet I think Taiwan has a little too much people doing "glucose sensors". Heck, you can already get blood testing machines at Walmart for cheep, why waste your time trying to tweak something that's already good enough to perfection? We need truly ground breaking research, not evolutionary tweaks that have not significant market value.

Well, yeah, wait and see how it goes, it's still almost a decade before I finish my training. Maybe I'll contribute to the development, maybe I'll stay in academia, or maybe I'll stay here in the US. Never the less, wish them good luck.

Runnin' semi-barefoot

Wired | To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes
Vibram | Five fingers
C. Rolian, et al., Walking, running and the evolution of short toes in humans, J. Exp. Bio (2009)

Wired had this interesting article on running barefoot, or with Vibram's sock-like shoes that tries to emulate the ergonomics while protecting your foot from scratches. Maybe running shoes aren't that good of an idea, they are a moist and warm incubator for fungus & bacteria, and some of them might have bad ergonomics. Yet the most interesting point in the article is that with additional protection and shock absorbence of the shoes, we relay too much on them and start walking in ways that abuse our feet. Best argument is that humans have evolved those feet to walk & run without any shoes for eons, so we should be well off living barefoot.

Wired's video review of those finger-y shoes:


I like walking barefoot indoors, but don't like the stones outside pinching against my foot. The Vibram Fivefingers looks very interesting, albit a little overpriced.

料理

自己煮的飯也吃膩了

糟糕，該開發什麼新花樣嗎？還是單純自己煮自己吃覺得無聊呢？

帶小朋友做實驗

實驗室來了個女高中生說要來學做實驗的（放心，我對老外女高中生一點興趣都沒有:P）
高中一年級，剛學會DNA雙股螺旋而已，要來實驗室做什麼呢？

一般來說，來實驗室學經驗的學生，老闆都會交代給lab manager去當小助手。可是，這次lab manager渡假去了 = =
老闆說，「先學個簡單的吧，阿（看著我）你最近做很多 miniprep 嘛，可以帶她一起做阿」
我說「Errrrrrrrrrr......al~right」（心中想著我已經miniprep鬼打牆兩個禮拜了，難道要給小朋友來個科學研究失敗的殘酷體驗？！）

比起來，以前帶BCT實驗課真是太簡單了，BCT學生都大三大四了，基本的東西都是一講就懂；高中生，真是挑戰啊，你在講她狂點頭，但只要一停下來問「懂不懂」其實都不懂XD 高中生的生物基本知識程度還需要一段時間揣摩阿；說起來也許這之中我們互相都在學習在研究生與高中生兩個程度之間如何溝通吧。

帶了她又跑了一個禮拜的miniprep鬼打牆之後，今天總算有進展了；想說每次都只給她操作簡單的東西，其他都只能看，大概很無聊吧？於是把一半的sample指派給她說「這些就完全交給你了」；又不好意思只把心目中知道成功機會不大的爛sample給她，怕她挫折感太大，於是也把一些好的sample交給她了。一路做到最後一步，她竟然給我忘記標記sample名稱，做出來那一管是什麼東西完全不確定 = =||| 以前當BCT助教見識過很多耍笨又搞笑的大失誤，這次竟然給我碰到笑不出來又欲哭無淚的鳥失誤orz 好吧，把重要的sample完全交給她是我的錯，我應該多弄一份她專屬的sample去給她玩的吧？

恩，明天收今天的爛尾，希望最後有好結果。

大學社團...

大學時代太單純，很標準乖乖牌的「一切以課業為重」，一路狂修課，大四下只差一學分就可以提早畢業 = =

如果我重念一次大學，我大概會去狂玩社團，然後延畢一年吧

若我重念一次大學，除了單車社一定要繼續玩之外，我大概會去玩玩看咖啡社、調酒社、國標舞社、土風舞社、攝影社、登山社、童軍社XD

話雖然這樣說，但沒有大四到現在這幾年的各種經驗、體驗，我也不會覺得這些東西會好玩吧。高中剛畢業的大學生就是那樣單純阿，雖然光一個單車社就讓我整個人生有了重大的改變。

話說回來，高中時期專門找類似海鷗社性質的鬼混社團還真是笨得可以orz

Up

Nope this is not the animated movie, this is history :)
Wired | July 2, 1982: Up, Up and Away With 42 Balloons
Very cool, although a sad ending in a twist

漂白水

洗衣服時，很無腦的臨時起義「加點漂白水消毒好了」

於是加了1毫升的漂白水到運轉中的洗衣機中（沒錯，不多不少1ml，我有strip pipette XD）

結果那漂白水剛滴下第一個碰到的枕頭一個、襯衫一件，就這麼被我瞬間毀了

應該先稀釋均勻再放東西下去的orz

去年的這時候，剛到一個新環境，也剛脫離一整年的「家裏蹲」生活。當時極度渴望認識新朋友，一來想說要從0開始建立新生活圈；二來也期待是否能遇到好女孩。於是不管是怎樣的人，只要新見面的人都積極的去認識、互留資料。

今年此刻，見到新來的新生、學妹，竟然心中只有一個「累」字。

學妹...

台灣同學會某正妹朋友說她大學學妹今年要過來我們學校當新生。

結果今天副會長說「妳那學妹把同學會每一個男生都加了MSN跟Facebook，女生都沒加耶，妳有沒有提供資料給她阿？」
那正妹朋友說「沒有耶」

我聽到，說「這麼說來我不是男的嚕」
副會長「好啦，碩班男生好嗎？」

原來，積極佈線的學妹忽略了我，囧
（迷之音：難道她沒聽說，這邊男的都死會了嗎？這存在感比較低的研究生是例外XD）

好吧，上次看朋友Facebook上的學妹照片時說人家「化妝有點濃」是我的錯XDDDDD

Jason Mraz / You and I Both

You and I Both [Live Acoustic] - Jason Mraz

Yellowstone

Some links to sites that would suggest some unusual points of interest in Yellowstone. I want to visit some places that your typical tourist wouldn't visit.

• Snake river kayak
• Nat. Geo. Adv. overview
• Nat. Geo. Adv. overview 2
• Nat. Geo. Yellowstone intro
• Nat. Geo. Adv. Secret Yellowstone Map
• USGS map locator
  Great topo maps for trekking into the wilderness, with important geographical details. Yet, most of the maps were never updated since the 1980's

By the way, maybe it would be fun to think outside of the tourist mindset:
Think not where are the most popular points of interests, but what I want to see, what I want to do...... What I want to get from this trip. I want stories of experience from a trip, not just checking out points as if collectibles. Maybe someday you meet a new friend: "Oh I've also been to Yellowstone" Your typical tourist would say "I went to here, here and here", and the new friend would go, "Oh, I also went to here, here and here". Yet it would be great if you said, "oh, I did this crazy thing there and saw this and that..." Stories are always better then bullet points.

Hmm... I want to try kayaking or rafting, swimming in the wild, hiking in the backcountry. And if I could find a foldable mountain bike, definitely want to try that too, in the REAL Wild, Wild West.

Info on bears
I guess I scared someone with a book that's intended to be funny...... (oooh, bears love that Sneakers bar in your pocket......) so here's some information on how to avoid bears:
Yellowstone backcountry
Backcountry planner (pdf file, this contains the best, complete instructions)
Short intro on Bear encounters
I guess we should get some bear spray (pepper spray)

Info & documents to get hold of

• A good map
  
• Bear info (got it)
  
• Backcountry permit
  
• Wolf observation sheet
  
• Watching Yellowstone & Grand Teton Wildlife by Todd Wilkinson

時間管理

我需要找到有效利用時間方式，減少閒晃時間，不然積欠工作越來越多，壓縮到休閒時間。

Being on the under dog network is fantastic

People always complain about Sprint customer service, and people were leaving in droves.

I did the opposite, I signed up for Sprint when they are in the most need for customers. I guess they've learned their lesson, I've just got the best customer service call experience, ever. Very easy to reach a real human to answer questions, representative was nice and helpful, call was picked up after just one ring tone, and problem was resolved in minutes.

Now that is respect.

In contrast, Verizon DSL is the worst.

Palm Pre is a huge disapointment.

• It lags just as bad as the iPhone, albeit much better then the G1
• The apps/functions that come with the device right out of the box is only half of that of similarly priced feature phones
• It takes at least 5 seconds to launch the calculator (typical app launch time, partly due to the fact that Sprint's demo video is running in the background, wanting to launch it self every 5 minutes)
  
• Multitasking is great, but it runs out of memory fast
• It's very difficult to select text for copy & paste, even harder to figure the short cut to do the copy & paste. To copy a sentence, to takes me 2 secs on my Palm OS Clie, 3 secs on a Sony Ericsson flip phone (that's just $50 with T-mobile contract), but 30 secs on a Palm Pre. 25secs of that is just to get the touch screen to select the right segment of text.
• There's only 2 language options: English & Español
• The PDF reader & document reader is only for email attachments, you cannot download a PDF file from the browser and read it (no paper reading on this phone)
• WebOS 1.01 still has some bugs, the copy & past short cut doesn't work
  

室友一二事

室友跟一個已經回日本的postdoc接收了一整套日文「20世紀少年」漫畫，現在那整套在我們客廳。這種複雜的漫畫雖然以前看中文版很爽，日文版超複雜超難懂的啊。

搬家時，搬了一整箱啤酒跟兩大袋的米過來。兩袋米裝滿了一個大型登山背包（塞得下睡袋帳篷跟一整個月份衣服的那種背包）orz 本來以為搬家前先把家中食物吃完是基本常識，原來只是自己的習慣。

日本有個小說家筆名「馳 星周」，室友也是有一整套。這筆名會不會太搞笑了？日文小說，就算整句都會念，整段的意義我還是看不懂啊～

原來以米飯為主食是這樣啊，日本人三餐全都吃飯，電子鍋的定時功能是睡前可以先洗好米放進去，早上起床時自動煮好，配些香鬆、醬菜就是早餐了。我這早餐偷懶吃麵包、麥片的輸了orz

青菜用滾水燙過，加點醬油、醋、麻油、一整包柴魚片，就是一道簡單的菜了耶，好神奇啊。

在我的小蘇打粉戰勝室友的五大包小魚乾之前，我已經習慣了冰箱中的魚味了orz

Goodbye Jay Leno~

Last Friday's NBC "Tonight show" was the last day of Jay Leno hosting the show. Jay was host for the past 17 year, ever since I've know the show existed.

See it here if you are in the US

[半開箱] Dyson Root 6 六分鐘短暫的強大吸力

咦，背包怎麼這附德興，肥成這樣...

還五花大綁？！

原來裡面塞了那麼大一盒東西，肥到背包關不起來還要綁繩子...... 這就是玩過童軍、單車社、單車露營旅行之後的人想從1.5英里外騎單車買家電回家的瘋子會做的事。Kids, don't try this at home!
只要有了繩結，沒有什麼背不回家的東西啊（咦？）

喔，出來了，Dyson最小隻的手持式吸塵器！

開箱！嘿，包裝還頗炫的

大品牌的包裝總是頗用心的
...
這時，我室友下樓過來火速的開了所有的包裝迫不及待要開始用了
...
所以沒開箱了XDD

外星人科技造型，好像可以發射什麼雷射光束之類的手持炮

可是，下面的圓形透明容器又好像咖啡壺，可以邊打仗邊煮咖啡嗎？

指揮挺組合！充電中...

剛拆開包裝一看，赫然發現一張吊牌「Charge 3 hours for 6 minutes of use」。靠，花大錢敗入最高級英國名牌Dyson的入門款，竟然每次充飽只能爽6分鐘？！附的是一顆我筆電的電池一樣大的鋰電池，沒錯，就是筆電用的那種電池。我的筆電用3小時，這傢伙6分鐘就吸乾乾了，可見這顆馬達超耗電的阿！原來超強吸力是用暴力法達成的orz

使用時三顆很亮的電力顯示LED使它更炫，更像外星人武器。同時，透明集塵筒中的毛屑、灰塵會集成一顆小球在裡面轉啊轉，展現Dyson當家的cyclone technology。

好，high完後，又要充電了orz

搬家...

搬家好累，多搬幾次就可以變肌肉男了吧orz

找了日本室友，家中漫畫變得很多很多XD

然後冰箱從第一天開始就塞了5大包「還滿大條的小魚乾」，到他舊房間去更是滿屋子的小魚乾味 orz 結果幫忙搬家時，每走進他房間我就忍不住一直念「さかな、さかな...♪」(魚的日文發音)。

胡思亂想的後果...

原來，人家胡思亂想只是心情煩躁

我胡思亂想會在市中心十字路口犁田...... 今天差點就給他出車禍解脫了orz

年初雪季時犁田在膝蓋留下的疤爆了漿，沾了一大片血的牛仔褲真不知道該怎麼洗了......

なるほど

ならいい。

老鼠......

[以下內容可能會造成噁心、不適，想看者請做好心裡準備然後反白以下空白部份]
剛搬進這個租屋時小強還不少，倒是用各種花樣殺蟑螂殺的頗開心......美國蟑螂比起台灣蟑螂好打多了。後來到了秋天蟑螂越來越少，想說見一隻殺一隻策略奏效了，結果原來是住進了一隻小老鼠。常常在廚房做一些悉悉蘇蘇的聲音，但從來不亂咬對我重要的東西（電話簿、洗碗精包裝、原本就爛爛的流理台......就隨牠吧）。

我是個喜歡小動物的人，又看牠長得跟實驗是小老鼠很像，不忍心用捕鼠器或毒藥殺牠，就採取被動措施，牆壁的小洞堵起來，食物、有氣味的東西管他能不能冰全部丟進冰箱，希望老鼠餓了自然會出去找有食物的新家。主動措施，在老鼠住的流理台底下撒些漂白水，希望臭味可以把老鼠趕走。結果老鼠都乖乖的住在那，不走但也不吵我。恩，好吧。

報告房東說有老鼠，房東比我更消極的買了一顆長得像小喇叭，「號稱會發出老鼠討厭的超音波噪音」的廉價趕鼠器叫我裝了。我說你原本已經裝兩顆了，明顯沒用。房東說裝了就是了，一副「我也不想管」的嘴臉。本來因為覺得住這邊不錯，找室友找新住處的計畫採取消極的態度，多了老鼠室友，變得更積極了。搬走，老鼠留給房東處理吧。

因為要搬家了，今天開始打掃出一些可以丟掉的東西，結果赫然在一個陰暗的角落發現了那隻老鼠......的屍骨。整個乾了，沒肉沒內臟，剩下一組僵硬的骨骼跟背部一點毛皮。顯然死了幾天了，但很神奇的一點氣味都沒有。用三層塑膠袋收了屍，然後噴了一堆漂白水跟70%酒精，再把黏在地上的毛皮擦掉。幸好明天會收垃圾，馬上拿出去丟。

幸好，我要搬走了，但那老鼠的頭骨還是烙印在我腦海中。走到流理台旁踢了踢，有點希望死的不是我熟悉的那隻老鼠，但果然沒有回應了。搬走前，可愛又惱人的小室友先走了。

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This book has been popular for quite a long time, and it sure has been lying around my apartment for several months before I got the time to read it. It is until this month that I've finished all the classes, exams, and slowed down on my paper reading a little to have a chance to give it a good read. It really is a nice book that I'd recommend reading. It's amusing, entertaining, simple, gets you thinking and fills you of courage to face the challenges in life; and it's short, I finished it in one afternoon, and then a morning.

The Alchemist is a story of a boy who goes on a journey to follow his "personal legend", in other words, the challenge his is born to face, the reason of living. All's colorful and straightforward like a child's story, yet it is full of lessons and insights. In this way it remind's me of Saint-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince(The Little Prince). There's event after event in a fast past that keeps you going on to the next page. There's no chapters, depriving readers of excuses to let go of the book for a rest. All in all, it keeps you flipping to the next page until you finished the whole book, satisfied, feeling full of wit.

But then the twist comes several hours after you finished and put down the book. You suddenly realized that the boy in the story had his life too easy to be true. The major moral of the story is "when you are following your personal legend, the whole universe conspires to help you." Yet, from experience, we know that even if you are full of enthusiasm, confidence and drive, you'll never have an easy life. Yes, several factors would add up in your favor, people would help you, but life always deals you with cruel failures, one after another, until you finally give up or stand through all of it till the goal. This story here feels like an RPG game where you've obtained the cheat code and entered "God Mode". Actually, in the story, god (I use lower case because the god in the story wasn't specifically from any existing religion) is directly helping the boy. (人家說「如有神助」，這還真有神助？！人家齊天大聖孫悟空都沒你偉大......) Everything went so smooth, god had someone point out the way when the boy is in doubt; god has someone help him when the boy needs it; god put omens in front of the boy that's too easy to spot. God has helped the boy through every single challenge so easily that it no longer is a challenge. Heck it's easier for the boy to survive bandit threats then you getting Verizon to honor your DSL modem warranty. It's easier for the boy to get a girlfriend then you to order a pizza from Pappa Johns'. Life without struggles is not real life. This is in stark contrast to The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, in which the main character is dealt with despair after despair, it is not until the final few pages that he found a little happiness in life that we are so fortunate to have taken for granted.

Saving up by making yourself believe you are poorer then you really are

Checking your credit card balance more often then your savings account balance kind of helps you focus on what you have spent, not what you saved; thus activating your feeling of guilt more often.

Funny yet effective.

Google's CEO Eric Schmidt: "Turn off your computers!"

There you have it, it's at 11:30 of the video. Google CEO Eric Schmidt talking at Penn's graduation commencement. "Turn off your computer, and discover all that is human around you."

Interesting that it's coming from him.

Quote note

實驗室的義大利朋友至理名言：

You might be winning when you think you are losing; you might be losing when you think you are winning.

HIV免疫學教授也說：

Things are not what they seem to be.

這世界越來越奇妙了:)

Is this the end of free Credit card rewards?

NY Times | Credit Card Industry Aims to Profit From Sterling Payers

So Congress just passed a bill to limit credit card companies from charging ridiculously high interest rates on people who can't pay their credit card bills. So for the people who never got a clue on how credit cards works, these banks usually charge higher interest rates on people who don't pay their bills on time; if they didn't pay on time because they don't have enough money in the first place, this interest hike would get higher and higher as the days go by in a vicious circle driving people into bankruptcy, while the rich banks get richer at the expense of the poor. Now that's the view of sympathy with the poor; but from another view point, these people might just be irresponsible people who borrow money viewing it as free lunches. Either poor or irresponsible people, congress is moving in to protect them. As this takes away a huge chunk of revenue from the banks, they now turn to charge fees on people who pay their card bills on time. They say that people like us, who not only pay on time, but also happily earn cash back or bonuses, don't bring in revenue, and should pay up for service.

Well, here's my take. I use plastic to avoid coins and change, and like it that my spending record is done for me. I use a specific card just because of the cash back, from which I just got a notice for the cutting back of cash back. I liked it when there is cash back, but I can live with out it. Credit cards are a convenience, not a necessity for us penny pinchers. Charging fees from this group of consumers would be much harder then from irresponsible people or people who really need the credit to borrow money. Once you throw away the benefits and introduce charges, it's time to say good bye. It's a free market, we can always look for other credit card companies, use debit cards, for fall back to cash. It is until then, we will see who needs who more.

This is a country of greed, big greedy corporations trying to squeeze out whatever's left out of the middle class and the poor. In a twist, this economic crisis is a nice punishment to the greed.

Update: Here's the details:
NY Times | Dealing Consumers a New Hand in Credit Cards

Evening workout ride

傍晚送走朋友們到研討會開幕晚會後，自己一個人心情雜亂的到河濱自行車道散散心。

傍晚的河濱公園總是有它獨特的美，配上涼爽的春天天氣，真的很舒服。

騎著車晃啊晃的騎了約兩英里後，看到了一隻獨自坐在河邊的大肥鵝。

「好大、好肥、好可愛啊」心裡想著，隨性的停下車，到路邊蹲著看牠（滿草地鵝屎，不敢坐下）。看牠呆呆的望著映著夕日餘暉、亮晶晶的河水，翅膀放鬆得微微張開擺兩邊，小小的頭往左晃晃，又往右晃晃，然後又抖抖翅膀，搖搖身體。

「好可愛啊～」心裡又想。

然後牠又抖抖尾巴、扭扭屁股，

接著冷不防的，屁股後面強勁而有力的噴出了一柱黑黑濃稠的迷之液體

此時口中反射性的罵了一聲國罵，心情瞬間變糟，一臉大便的騎著車離開現場...

囧

車社北橫老照片

橘白色蝴蝶
Originally uploaded by intellidryad

翻到了2006年的老照片，好懷念啊！這可是我當年得意作呢！

發卡orz
Originally uploaded by intellidryad

還有當年流行發好人卡XDD

Notes on life decisions

Do, not dream.

Proceed, don't chicken out.

--

可惡，胡思亂想時就要把自己之前熱血的文章往前頂...

"恁爸係台灣人"blog貼紙

牧梅哥blog上看到的，真是太威了，我也要貼！

Plastic bags no longer free?!

Philly.com | That plastic bag could soon cost you in Phila.

Aw man, the days of free garbage bags are over? I don't mean that I don't support plastic bag reduction, I my self use reusable bags from time to time, but I also need to keep a healthy stock of bags to use as garbage bags. Buying bags exclusively for garbage use seems wasteful...

「華麗なる一族」日文教室

「華麗なる一族」真是精彩，那種勇於面對難題的行動力真的是值得學習的。

很喜歡鉄平說得幾句話：
（為了不懂日文的朋友，弄了點解析）

勝ってるがどうが、とにかく やって見る
ka t teruga douga、tonikaku ya t temiru
不管贏不贏得了　、　總之　 試試　看

僕　は　僕　の　力　　やって見ます
boku wa boku no chikara ya t te mimasu
我　呢 自己 的 力量　 　 試試　看
(文法重整翻譯：我用自己的力量試試看)

另一方面呢，万俵兄弟的名字取得很有趣：
鉄平掌管鐵工廠
銀平當銀行高官
人如其名，一個管鐵，一個管銀

說到鉄平，木村拓哉主演，果然木村不管到哪都是那個招牌髮型啊XD Wiki查了一下忽然想到，木村拓哉所屬偶像團體SMAP裡好像還有之前酒醉裸奔事件男主角草彅剛嘛～「裸だったら何が悪い？」XDD (小譯：這是草彅剛對巡邏警察說的名言：「脫光了有什麼不對？」......好像扯遠了orz)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I saw this last friday, why writing about it this late? I'm kinda busy, kinda lazy, I guess...

I never liked the other X-men movies, they were much better in the TV cartoons as I remembered. But this one is all about Wolverine, my favorite character back in the time; and all my friends are going; and I don't have anything better to do that night, so why not?

Well, I'd say this. The previous X-men movies were boring, guys in funky tight suits discussing irrelevent stuff, I once saw it on a flight while channel surfing, watched for 10 minutes and decided it was so boring that I wanted to kill my self.

Now this Wolverine movie is light years better.
Action packed? You got it.
Entertaining? Definately.
Wanna see it again? No.

Will, yeah, you get flashy special effects, sound effects were kind of gimmicky, and Wolverine sure is popular. But wait, how about the story line? No, I am not going to spill the beans here 'cause there's not much to spill. The story is dead simple, kill, kill, kill, and save the princess. Yup, your typical boy's cartoon story plot formula.

About 20 minutes into the story I started to realize it was the conventional formula, so I started to look for something else to focus on. And as soon as the iron claws showed up, I got my eyes glued to it.

Wow. Just wow.

Wow...... looks like plastic claws with metallic paint, yup, just like that cheep silver colored electronic you get from Walmart 5 years ago. How did they made the "plastic claws" so life like? after deep contemplation, I decided it's because real iron ware would be so shiny that it'll show reflections of the surroundings. In the movie, the reflections were only specifically drown on there in close-up shots. Other then that, it's all shiny, in a fake, plasticky way. I am sure doing the reflections all the time would shoot up the animation cost at least double what it was, but I just can't help it, my brain was shouting "Plastic! Plastic!" through out the last 2/3rds of the movie.

So what's good about this movie? Well, it's nice if you really have nothing else to watch, or if you love plastic... Girls seemed to like the leading actor...... now what, it this a chick flick?

Whatever, not my cup of tea.

一青窈・栞

（影片畫質的確很差，找不到更好的，但一青窈一向主打歌唱實力與寫詞才華，臉看不清楚應該沒關係吧:P）
一青窈　上一張專輯「Key」中的第13首，整張專輯最喜歡的一首歌。從去年五月買了CD回來後，一直到現在百聽不膩，還越聽越有味。
單純聽就很好聽了；換上高級耳機，歌聲中的情感更加清楚；配一壺熱ほうじ茶（日式焙茶）別有一番風味；配上不同心情也有不同的感覺。

一青窈寫的歌詞總是如詩如畫，但正因為如此，總要拿著歌詞本跟著念個幾十遍才會懂。這情況下CD附贈的「僅供參考」中文翻譯很少有幫助的，甚至偶而有誤導作用。這首「栞」（書籤）跟唱了快一年，歌詞還是很多不懂的。主旋律中「栞はさんだ僕」直翻好像是「書籤 夾著 我」，主詞受詞怎麼配都感覺不對說orz

Bike rentals in European cities

NYtimes | Europe on Two Borrowed Wheels

I've always thought I got to take advantage of the great public bike rental programs if I visit one of those bike friendly European cities, but as in this article, turns out those rentals wouldn't accept US credit cards. But I sure am happy to read that many hotels are providing bike rentals, a trend that's also popular in Taiwan. If I don't have my own bike with me when I get the chance to visit Europe, then I guess I should look for hotels that provide them.

[お笑い]造熱大陸

果然被轉載到Youtube去了，真是熱血到一整個經典啊，お米食べろう！

不過有ニコ帳號的還是看日本鄉民原版比較熱血吧！


背景說明：松崗修造是日本知名網球選手，後來改行當運動電視評論家，也拍些廣告，後來因為他太會搞笑，被日本鄉民拿來剪接無腦熱血搞笑影片，紅了起來XD

--不懂日文的朋友翻譯服務區--
「心裡跟身體都好冷喔～」
...這樣想著的你
有馬上熱起來的方法喔
跟你說，一直喊冷當然冷嚕
要喊熱～
好冷，其實好熱阿！（前奏演奏中）
好冷，其實好熱阿！
好冷，其實好熱阿！
好冷，其實好熱阿！
ㄍㄧㄚ、ㄍㄧㄚ、ㄍㄧㄚ、ㄍㄧㄚ、ㄍㄧㄚ
一定能達成目標的！
Good Luck!

更熱一點啊！！！！
為什麼為什麼那樣就放棄了，那邊的你？
是阿
事實上都是你自己的想像啊
別放棄啊
一定要說出來啊
做得到喔
機會絕對、一定會來的
你該不會只說要吃午餐吧
大家，吃米吧！！！
吃了米的話...
大家，請多多指教～ZU~RA
感謝！
海ㄞㄞㄞㄞㄞㄞ，咦？
關於我，來了！
Bamboo
這個看一下啊
你看吧！m9(^д^)
什麼啊？哈哈哈哈哈哈，什麼啊？
不行不行，絕對不能放棄啊
更熱一點啊！！！！
那邊，那邊
修～造造，修～造造，修～造造，修～造造，修～造造造，
啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊～
修～造造，修～造造，修～造造......
（有空再繼續翻譯XDD）

Express shirts

Express Men 的襯衫真的好棒，材質平順有光澤，觸感舒服不易皺；花紋簡單大方；領子不需要特別燙就已經很挺，而且領子的剪裁也很有sharp look的感覺；MX1 shirt系列還會多送一組鋁合金collar stay，可彎折來微調領子的角度；原價$50，只要換季拍賣時就可以用$16買到。

而且，重點是很容易買到Made in Taiwan喔（這年代我不知道哪裡還可以買到台灣製的衣服）。

去年特別喜歡香蕉共和國的襯衫，條紋設計有沉穩內斂的感覺，但比較難搭配，很容易皺（還很難燙回來），而且全部 Made in China。然後特價都還要$30，只有運氣好時找到真的賣不出去的清倉貨才會低於$20。（Made in China不是為了cost down嗎，還賣比較貴？）

所以我就換了愛用品牌啦！

Open book test

A classical way to screw up on an open book test, is to forget to bring some of the in class handouts.

Although I could still find bits of what I need in my text book, and other bits in my own brain :)

The week of the finals

Just studying and taking exams for a whole week, what a waste of such nice weather...

Old lab, old notes, new life

經過一個月的猶豫，依照研究計畫的開放性與發展性選擇了當初剛來時待的第一個lab定下來。阿，這群害羞又認真工作的labmates就是我未來幾年的工作夥伴阿。剛做完選擇後還是滿後悔離開那個歡樂又high的實驗室，讓舊老闆、夥伴們希望落空有種罪惡感，也覺得以後沒這麼歡樂的工作環境我會如何呢？不過這邊的新計畫真的明顯比較刺激有冒險性，我想，離開熟悉的夥伴自己往未知的未來前進也不是第一次了吧，離開基隆到台北念高中、離開台大到這邊念研究所、捨棄武嶺會師衝北海道......雖然總是要做會讓自己後悔捨棄了些什麼東西的決定，但「冒險」總是有種莫名的吸引力。

翻開去年夏天的實驗記錄簿，看著當時的自己認真寫下的筆跡，真的過了兩個學期整個心態都不同了。剛到時，經過了一整年沒學校念也找不到工作的窘境，剛入學時有種「機會得來不易要好好認真的心情」。後來到了第二個lab因為新計畫一直失敗、跟新的labmate一直保持點頭之交的距離、又在感情問題與人際關係上想太多，一度失去了方向與衝勁。第三個lab時因為被第二個lab的老闆拉了回來，又開始往前衝了；不過現在回來第一個lab了，看看剛過來時的自己，發覺還是有一部分衝勁還沒完全找回來。

還沒資格考就差點變成老油條心態...... 真的要小心啊。期末考考完後，新的計畫，找回衝勁重新出發吧！

Tax

所得稅繳出去後，信用卡帳單真是太可怕了阿...... T_T

不管了，唸書唸書XD

To do & see in Baltimore...

Main info source: Wikitravel

1. See the Flying spaghetti monster billboard!
Google maps street view | More info | FSM on Wiki
3901 Falls Rd
Baltimore, MD 21211

2. Johns Hopkins University of course

3. Innerharbor: Baltimore Maritime Museum
site
Hmm... how many ships should I see?
10am-5:30pm
Piers 3 & 5, Baltimore's Inner Harbor | 301 East Pratt Street | Baltimore, MD 21202
410-396-3453

4. Innerharbor: Seafood! Crabs! Shrimp!

5. Strange food at Lexington Market (Faidley's coddies are said to be nice)
site (網站亂亂的，卻有不知道在high什麼的音樂XDD)
Monday-Saturday 8:30 am to 6pm
400 W. Lexington Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: 410-685-6169

Weekend in-lab

Possibility of a Grad student being in lab on weekends
= f(w, t, f, s)/D

Where f(x) is a function that determines the number of days that "x" is true with in range of sample
w= have Work to do
t= doesn't like TV
f= not much Friends in town
s= being Single

D= Total number of weekends sampled

Wissahikon X-country biking (again)

阿福羅萬歲！好久沒有這種人車一體的感覺了！

I've always thought the best way to use a sunny day in Philly is to go cross-country cycling on one of the many offroad trails in Fairmount park's Wissahikon valley. You get all the fun, the excitement, the needed exercise, the fresh air, and might stumble upon some good photo shots along the way. Only issue is that offroad trails burn through tires and break pad faster, but the fun makes up for that. The Wissahikon trails are actually neatly managed, and the bikers are overall quite friendly.

iSight camera dead

Somehow, my iSight camera on my MacBook died. I don't use it much and internet connections are usually so slow that Skype video can't get through anyways, so it took me months to figure that it's dead. Actually, I still have 2 months till my Applecare extended warrenty is over, but this is my only computer and I can't do anything for 2 weeks if I send it in for repairs. I guess I have no options other then just accept the fact that it's dead and live with it...

My family is the only ones I do Skype video chats with, they told me that I should dump my almost 3 year old MacBook and get a new one. The reason I went with such a nice computer is that I planned to use it for more then 3 years. Seriously, if I've got $1000 to burn, I'd rather spend it on something like a trip to Hawaii... Besides, all the essential functions of my MacBook are still going strong, why change? Add in the factors that I'd need to buy new copys of some software to work on a new computer, more money for Applecare, and I'm not too comfortable with the new OS (Leopard)...... all in all, makes the prospect of getting a new computer less attractive.

Unless, my boss would be willing to pay for it with traning grant money. I don't know if it's okey to ask for that right after joing the lab, doesn't sound right.

Thinking about it, I guess built-in cameras on computing gadgets are always the first to go. Exactly what happened with my previous 2 Clie PDAs. It's funny how the least used component bites the dust first.

燃燒吧～燃燒吧～小強♪（怕噁心者請自行略過本篇）

金變態，又在玩了:P

每次在家裏看到小強，隔天就會看到牠翻身半死躺在牆角，這是好事還是壞事呢？

為了消毒，拿出漂白水噴霧先噴一噴，ㄟ？還活著？
接著拿出餐巾紙把它抓起來......嘖差點給牠上演龜速逃，看我捏死你！
還有半條命，整個包起來，70%酒精噴下去一把火燒了

跟著高凌風大聲唱「燃燒吧～燃燒吧～小強♪」

可惡，甲殼素好難燒，燒了兩次才失去生命跡象，但軀殼還在......（似乎只是體液蒸乾而已）


記得上次跟老美同學說燒小強的故事，她兩眼直瞪著我看了好久..."Oh my god, Oh~ my god..."
聽說兩位老美同學在實驗室碰到小強的作法是躲到半徑一公尺外，不敢動牠
面對小強還是台灣人有魄力啦！

曾經、放棄

諦めたの後、あの綺麗な笑顔もう一度見つめました
微妙で、複雑な感じだな

下定決心放棄後，再次見到那笑容
心中有種複雜的心情

不變的美麗；不同的是，理性戰勝感性的自己

客家三姊妹wwwww

聽說有客家配音動畫耶，去年看原音的みなみけ今年看「客家三姊妹」好了XD

囧，自己客家話不好就算了，客家電視台用海陸腔配音竟然連我少數聽得懂的詞彙念法都完全不同。屏東的客家話果然跟新竹的差好多阿orz 不過最慚愧的是，日語版我反而比客語版更聽得懂。

Note...

Drooling at Baltimore steamed crabs...

Y! 新聞 | 醫學系擬改制 學士後再考讀6年

Yahoo 新聞 | 醫學系擬改制　學士後再考讀6年

所以那一大群死命要上醫學院的人怎麼辦呢？大學要念什麼？台灣可沒有Pre-Med major這種科系；那是不是說全部擠到生科系，生科系瞬間變成三類組第一志願？

生科系是個基本科學研究的科系，同學間有一起做研究、探索大自然的風氣。當初大一進去時就很喜歡那種有志一同的感覺，大家都是有志向、愛思考、不想走臨床醫學的夥伴。那麼，醫學院改制後，是否這群想走研究的人才被排擠，成為系上少數或被迫念其它科系？而生科系失去主體性成為升學跳板？那樣的話，生科系植物、生態方面的課都會面臨人數不足無法開課的危機。

想要一個大學部跳板請醫學院自己去成立一個Pre-Med系，不要破壞了台灣生物研究的人才進修管道。如果沒有這樣做，那生科系應該要改成90%招生採申請方式，否則這將等同生科系之死。

決めた！

To pick the most exciting adventure, I decided to make the tough decision to give up on HIV and switch to work on immunology. Maybe I'll steer the project toward a virological direction whenever I have a chance, since I am and always will be a virologist at heart.

Also, I want to cut the dependence on personal computers and quota restrictions of a pre-paid phone altogether. I shell have more freedom and more mobile. Hope I'll be a little more social without the restrictions. Well, once the Palm Pre is out, I'm on the band wagon!

そう決めた、そうするて。

[我又敗] お好み焼き、茶茶急須丸 & the Perfect Storm

終於等到好天氣，雖然冷的要命，風大得好像颳颱風一樣。不但騎上單車不知道要去哪，沒頭沒腦的逆風往10miles以外的Maido日本超商前進。一路上風都很大，車速一直很難突破10mph；這樣就算了，右轉壓車過彎還給我來個右方吹來的側向風讓車輪飄了起來差點滑出去...... 過了一個少騎車的冬天，真的是體力大不如前，看來似乎真的該忍痛花錢加入學校Gym會員才是。


Narberth 還是跟去年一樣的美麗又可愛的小城鎮，真是羨慕隔壁實驗室住在這裡的夫妻。


到Maido本來想說每次都點一樣的東西可以換個口味，看了看卻還是忍不住叫了豬肉、蝦、蔬菜綜合お好み焼き。不像大阪正宗お好み焼き那樣柔軟、燙口又多汁，但還是很好吃，而且清淡了許多。就算同樣都是關西人，技術還是有差的吧。

採購完日本食材，看看時間還很多，又衝市中心找不到的ACME平價超市，接著又想不開的衝H-mart韓國超市，好像反射動作般的拿出信用卡刷下了渴望很久的Hario 茶茶急須丸 = =|||

哇哈哈，這下得到了「如此想要趕快喝茶」的力量加持（啥鬼？）來開箱吧！
Hario耐熱玻璃虹吸壺在台灣咖啡界有著「摔不壞、煮不裂」的美名。這裡買不到Hario虹吸壺（下次回台灣一定要衝西門町帶個TCA-3回來），衝著這麼有質感的茶壺，那就買它來過過癮吧。

先是蓋子卡在一塊紙板上

底下就是茶壺本體了

現身！裡面裝了精美說明書

不鏽鋼濾網很大又可以觸底，有充分的空間讓茶葉在水中泡。

來個單人Tea party吧！（加點粉色系M&M小小過個Easter）
茶壺有450ml容量，不太習慣，一不小心加了太多水，茶太淡就算了，不知怎樣竟然把有機ほうじ茶泡出了草腥味orz
也許下次回台灣還要帶點烏龍茶回來，據說木柵鐵觀音最近在舊金山/矽谷科技暴發戶之間流行起來了說。說來好笑，台灣竟然有如「走在流行最尖端」了。
濾網那麼大也可以考慮跟舊實驗室朋友、學長姐請教一下該怎麼入門花果茶了，盒子上的照片有一張可是濾網中塞滿了草莓跟奇異果呢。

聽一青窈的歌配ほうじ茶、看閒書，有種久違的愜意。也許是換lab、換研究project之前的平靜吧，一旦選定了要去哪個實驗室，配茶的就會變成了一整疊如山一樣高的paper了orz 說起來，手上這本精彩的The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger還真的要趕快在paper山來襲前趕快看完呢。看書比電影多了很多細節與技術描寫，（這是nonfiction不是小說喔）讓人更了解魚市場上的大魚是投入了多少血淚、汗水、生命捕來的；也對遠洋漁船漁夫這個全美死亡率最高的職業多了幾分尊敬。比起來，熟悉的基隆外海似乎比北大西洋平靜安全多了。若不知道The Perfect Storm是什麼的人，建議書跟電影都要找來看，對人生的意義多更深一層的思考。對了，故事中的母港是Gloucester, MA，若夏天有人想去Boston附近然後有興趣去看美國史上最老的港口，記得找我！

[回憶模式] 看Youtube上武嶺

回去看看06年武嶺網站上內嵌的Youtube 06年武嶺的新聞，看完出現關聯影片，「08武嶺 青蘋果樂園帶動唱」就點進去看看有沒有熟人...... 咿，這...... 不是邦尼嗎？囧

等下......掌鏡的聲音聽起來好像珊抓耶XD

咦，不對應該要唸書的阿，怎麼在掛Youtube...orz
好吧，其實本來要出去騎車的卻下雨，就變得懶洋洋的

thesis lab

gene regulation in immunology

HIV cell entry

Come on, pick one!

Making new friends is getting more complicated

People advance technology with the intention to make life better, yet in this regard it seems that it's making life more complicated.

When we make new friends we used to just exchange address and phone numbers, maybe birthdays, too.

Now, in the cyber-uber-networked age, we exchange:
1) phone number
2) address
3) email
4) Facebook
5) MSN/AIM
6) blog
7) PTT BBS ID&discussion board (Taiwanese only)
...
The list only goes on farther as more networking websites and services come into popular use. I sure am glad I haven't gotten into MySpace, Linked-in, nor twitter...

Maybe the Palm Pre's synergy would help a little to bring the IMs/text messenging/email in to one place, but it's still a little annoying to have so many protocols. Anyhow, meeting in person is still and will always be the best way of communication, if feasable.

櫻花季老友新知同樂一週末雜感

一長串的標題，因為是個太精彩的週末，想要把那歡樂充實的感覺全部擠進一個簡短的標題。上週，因為一直在煩惱選實驗室、找新住處的事情，沒有花太多時間期待、做規劃或準備，一切幾乎都在匆忙中完成。前一天還在參觀新公寓，週五從早到下午上課、念paper，不知不覺中時間就過去了，直到下午美聿他們到了，歐耶，雀躍而突然的丟下手邊一切繁忙，騎上單車出去跟他們會合。先做校園導覽，帶大家回家放行李、簡單吃個飯。空空蕩蕩好久的住處忽然熱鬧了起來真的很棒，人多助手多，所謂「隨便弄弄」的晚餐有了宏信靜純夫婦的幫忙一下子就變得超豐盛，菜頭糕、肉丸都超好吃的。運氣很好的剛好碰上First Friday，帶大家去看藝術夜市；運氣不好的，我忘了在哪條街上，而且吃飯也吃得有點晚了，到的時候已經很多人在收攤了，不過精彩的還是有看到。美聿果然專業的，很多畫作自己看都只是純欣賞、體驗畫中的意境，有了專業解說多了很多不同的了解。甚至，路邊看到自己覺得還不錯的作品竟然一眼就被點破是名作模仿。

週六早上為了搭同學會到DC的車，也為了煮咖啡，特別早起。好喝的咖啡真的要有人分享才會更好喝。同學會的DC包車，依照往例還是黃黃的大校車。本來想說校車嘛，搭過幾次都很ok的，沒想到這次時間很久、避震太晃、座位很窄、椅背近乎垂直，害這個前一晚沒睡滿8小時的不但睡不著還差點暈車。中間休息點真是一個大救贖，不然我真的就要吐了...... DC因為櫻花季遊行，市區交通呈現一片混亂，簡直從 Baltimore 就一路塞車進DC，進了DC還一直被交通管制員警耍，這邊不准停車那邊也不准，只能一直在市區邊塞車邊打轉，最後司機也怒了。在市區打轉太久害維克多社長一下車就衝向廁所XD 等到下車時，遊行也結束了，此行只剩下賞櫻花的份吧。感謝Keiko美味的糯米和菓子，櫻花季吃這個真是太棒了。本來想說，跟同學會的大家一起走吧，也可以把RIT三人組介紹給大家，擴展人際關係也不錯嘛。結果美聿一看到櫻花就拿出攝影魂開始脫隊取景、努力狂拍XD 剛開始時我兩邊跑，一下子跑到美聿那，一下子到同學會那邊；最後越離越遠，只好做出抉擇，陪伴多年不見的朋友的時間難得阿！而且似乎跟老友還是比較有得聊。櫻花很漂亮，加上湖水倒映尤其美麗，只可惜人多，除了特寫以外怎麼拍都有路人。

要跟珊抓在DC會合似乎很有難度，DC很大一個，然後到處人擠人，而我們還在慢慢繞著那個超大的湖...... 過了中午才在博物館區見面。剛見到珊抓嚇一跳，之前看到她的旅遊影片還以為是瘦高型的體型，原來本人也是小小一隻，只是比美聿有肉一點:P 果然單車社的人在一起就是比較歡樂，剛認識幾分鐘後就已經在玩搞笑踢飛照片了。

經過好幾通電話後才跟去遊湖的宏信他們會合。跟他們到博物館區吃高級印地安料理，真的不錯吃。點了「Indian taco」感覺好像是墨西哥chili+美式沙拉+印第安抓餅，亂有Fusion的感覺，不過好吃又吃很飽才是重點。每一個博物館都很大，走到印第安博物館再回到地鐵站花了很長的時間，偏偏穿了廉價運動襪+新買的Puma Mostro L，襪子粗糙、鞋子後面是硬的，差點把腳跟的皮膚磨爛orz 看來好鞋子不能配爛襪子阿T_T

剛回到博物館區地鐵站還想說有什麼活動為什麼一大群人好像大洪水一直往某條街「流動」...... 原來那個方向才是地鐵站路口。我們還要搭地鐵到市郊坐珊抓的車回去呢，地鐵站外面竟然萬人鑽洞、有如台北跨年人潮。原來地鐵站有人員管制，一定時間內只讓一定的人數進去。警察一開始放人外圍的民眾就有如洪水流入排水溝一般的衝入地鐵站orz 站區內因為人員管制還算空曠，不會太擠。售票機很爛很難用，買票的面額、人數都要用上下鍵慢慢按（裝個數字鍵盤或一站一顆按鈕是會死阿？），不過想說不快點買完後面的人潮擠上來我們大概就別想回家了...... 於是拿出高中通車每天按臺鐵售票機的看家本領（當年可是 「單人->全票->電車->基隆」 每一顆按鈕的相對位置、順序都用身體記住了XD），以最快速度刷卡買完大家的車票。（其實玩過的還有台北捷運、台灣高鐵、大阪地鐵、關西JR、LA metro、San Bernardino Metrolink、Boston metro、NYC metro的售票機，但當個火速購票達人似乎沒啥好驕傲的，囧）地鐵上宏信跟美聿幫大家解釋著照相白平衡問題，頓時有種RIT都是影像專家的感覺。

上珊抓的車準備回Philly，問了一下「有地圖，知道怎麼走嗎？」，回答「沒有，不知道怎麼走耶」，當我心裡囧了一下時才又聽到「可是有GPS」。本人一直都不是很喜歡對GPS的完全信任，所以每次有road trip就算有GPS還是會預先抓好地圖帶在PDA裡，不過這次太慌忙忘了做功課，那就信任珊抓（的GPS）啦XD 剛上路一直被問「這交流道怎麼走」還真是緊張了一下，尤其Yeld 沒減速跟別台車近距離會車還真的是好刺激。直到被美聿說一聲「松智好緊張」才驚覺自己似乎有當年還沒考駕照前老爸在旁邊看我開車的那個樣子。之後自己放鬆了，珊抓開車也一切ok了XD 清大車社有大聲唱歌的文化嗎？珊抓邊開車邊唱得好開心，還是很有ptt鄉民味的歌詞。轎車座椅比校車舒服兩百倍，加上一車的人都很歡樂，感覺好像一下子就快到了。一路上討論著我們共同認識的人，好久沒有這樣車社一家人的感覺了；似乎畢業後，單車社的大家散落世界各地，但還是一個大家族；更神奇的是，台大、清大車社交流多到我兩邊都有些許歸屬感了。一路上最糟的只有一個又一個的收費站，$2->$4->$5一次比一次可怕，當下想說若手上有真正的地圖知道哪裡有收費站、怎麼躲過就好了，若是像汐止收費站一樣熟悉的我一定會躲過。

Eating cheese stakes
Originally uploaded by intellidryad

不過GPS也不是那麼難用，我們終究還是到了Philly，而且在我一時忘記Pete's & Geno's Cheesestake在哪，差點要衝加油站問路時被GPS救了。

Pete's & Geno's 據說都一樣好吃，只是Geno's有七彩霓虹燈、Pete's有台灣路邊攤的隨性風，於是我們分兩組個買一家。忘了先告訴美聿他們說點Cheese steak有行家點菜法跟觀光客標準點菜法，結果當自己用行家模式在Geno's選好cheese跟洋蔥後 (我點"Prov with"代表Provolone cheese with onions)，衝過去想找她們時已經來不及了，Pete's已經給了他們觀光客標準Cheese steak了XDD 好在觀光客模式的Cheese steak也不錯吃就是了。

珊抓的SET紙牌遊戲很好玩，大家眼睛一個比一個銳利。不過因為太晚到家又玩太久，還沒聊到天就已經3am了。不夠時間聊天真的是這次最大的遺憾。

隔天早上太累了，大家一起賴床了兩個小時才起床，然後又有信用卡不見事件，以致到菜市場已經快中午。參加過菜市場歷史美食導覽真的是受用無窮，每次有朋友來都可以滔滔不絕的講不完。到Art museum的公車一直沒出現，結果變成Parkway大散步一路從Love park散步到美術館去，接著又因為美術館太擠，又快打烊了，只好又散步回家。至少，這樣可以讓大家充分體驗到在費城到處都走路可到的好處。依依不捨的送走美聿跟吳家後，回家休息兼補看paper。本來想說不好意思讓珊抓自己一個人上網太久，火速把paper看完，才發現她已經呼呼大睡。晚上煎牛排、聊天，只認識兩天就可以無所不聊真的是很神奇的感覺。之前到UCI找政耀，跟他的同學也是幾天就熟了；反倒有些人認識了好久還一同出遊好幾次，卻沒講過幾句話。真的越來越覺得，電波合，當朋友可以一下子就熟起來；地波不合，認識一年後還是有如陌生人。

週一還是早起，想說之前煮給美聿他們喝的咖啡珊抓沒喝到，一定要再煮一次。有如實驗室學姊說的，總是要為了什麼好朋友做什麼事才會早起；若早上都只有自己的事就會懶洋洋的賴床。下午想說Philly到Baltimore的過路費太黑了，就去Google maps找了一下，發現Google的路線規劃有避開收費站的功能，原來每個過路費都這麼好躲啊。在珊抓離開前給她補帶了一次週五錯過的校園導覽。沒想到這次有經驗了，帶得比週五更完整。最後因為怕她不會跟著Google路線規劃走，花了20分鐘跟GPS奮鬥，把躲避收費站路線強制規劃進去了。

週二，恢復了往常平淡的單人生活，有些不習慣，卻也因為過去幾天有人陪伴，有些活力恢復的感覺；還很微妙的一度以為還週一。感謝大家帶來如此歡樂愉快又熱鬧的週末。

Consumerist | Reader Finds Card Skimmer On Bank ATM

Consumerist | Reader Finds Card Skimmer On Bank ATM

Oh... so now people are installing contraptions on ATMs to copy people's card info. Better check the card slot before plugging in your card into the next ATM. Sure's shady business.

Friends

有些人就是聊得開，就算每天見面也永遠有話題可聊，總是意猶未盡

有些人就是聊不開，就算幾個月才見面一次，也是一句話也聊不成

也許，電波合不合就是這麼一回事，電波不合的再怎麼強求都是枉然

Thesis project desision...

If just doing whatever the PI tells me to do, I feel like bad for not being independent enough, felt like giving in. Life should be more exciting then this...

Yet I really don't have any clue on a good project, so in reality, just accepting what people tell me to do seems like the way to go...

What the hell, I really am a mess...

日文歌台壓版中譯歌詞本

經過幾次日本旅遊實戰經驗、看的動畫越來越多、身邊日本朋友也越來越多，日文慢慢的進步了。

這下，拿出心買的高階耳機回鍋去聽大一時代喜歡聽的CD，驚覺很多以前聽不懂的段都懂了，更驚覺以前對歌詞內容的理解有很大的錯誤。翻出久違的歌詞本，日文歌詞跟中文歌詞翻譯依拿出來對照，哇囧，翻譯竟然翻出跟原歌詞完全相反地意義......原來我過去幾年都一直被這鳥翻譯騙得一愣一愣的還不知道XD

當年想說歌詞不合理還以為只是自己不懂文學藝術orz

另，高階耳機還讓我聽到了以前沒注意到過的「歌手不小心對麥克風吹了氣」的錄音瑕疵。了解越多，越不完美的東西真多阿。

大安區利萎補選國民黨低票勝選

大安補選／蔣乃辛勝選　得票率藍軍史上最差

這次兩大現象：1) 不管目前國民黨執政成績多爛，還勝選了；2) 不過是以史上最低得票率勝選；相對來說就是民進黨以史上最高票敗選。姑且不論蔣乃辛、周博雅個人因素，兩者都是老手了，也有一定的知名度；從黨的選擇來看，這代表了一件糟糕的現象：國民黨執政爛到連鐵票區都投票投得心部干情不願，但雖然如此，完全不相信民進黨會比較好。還「雖敗猶榮」咧，又不是某棒球隊...... 知不知恥啊？形象爛到連馬英九這樣越做越爛快一年了還是有一堆人支持。若是商場上一個公司的品牌形象這麼糟糕，通常會努力改善形象的；喔這個「民退黨」只知道繼續擺爛然後狂罵國民黨執政有多爛，這不就跟在野時期的國民黨又一樣的行為了？全國不爽「民退黨」執政就是因為看到他們執政時的行為模式幾乎都跟國民黨一樣，而且好的不抄只抄壞的。現在被嫌棄變在野黨了，卻換個位子繼續當模仿者，有沒有看過這麼腦殘的政黨阿？

去年的此時，我說過，「民退黨」對台灣能做的最大貢獻就是解散，把它的政治生態區位(niche)開放給新的政黨或台聯。沒想到一年過去了，這個推論還是成立。兩個政黨比爛是台灣最大的悲哀，現在全民最大的敵人已經不是在對岸備戰的共產黨了，而是自己國內實質上在搞破壞的兩大爛黨。