Free Software Alternatives

I probably will install Windows 7 soon. I'm noting down the software applications I've installed so I remember to install them on the new system. I see I that use some free software programs that are alternatives to Microsoft programs. People who want alternatives may check them out. They're all free.

Google Chrome and Mozilla FireFox. Web Browsers. Alternative to Internet Explorer.
OpenOffice.org. An office suite. Alternative to Microsoft Office.
VLC media player. A video player for many types of media files. Alternative to Windows Media Player + RealPlayer + QuickTime Player.
Winamp. A media player that's been around longer than Windows Media Player (WMP). I still use it for playing music files like MP3, even though VLC also plays music too. Alternative to WMP.
GIMP. An image editor. Alternative to Adobe Photoshop.
CDBurnerXP. CD/DVD burning. Alternative to Nero Burning ROM or the very slow CD burning function of Windows Vista.
CDex. CD ripper. Alternative to Windows Media Player.

Yes, I dislike Windows Media Player. I find the user interface confusing.

Getaway Bus

When the bus I rode this morning stopped at a bus stop in the CBD, a policeman came to talk to the driver. He came up to have a look and left. He was probably looking for someone on another bus. I couldn't hear what he said to the bus driver. But I heard what the nearby passengers said. Two ladies said something like:
"Is there a suspect on the bus?"
"A suspect uses the bus as the getaway vehicle?"
"At least it's an express bus. Maybe he saw 'Express' on the bus number."
(chuckles)

閱

我有想過，看完了朋友寫的blog 文章，我也許可以都留個comment表示來看過了，這樣作者知道有讀者而且是誰。可是如果沒意見的話要留什麼好呢？能不能跟老師批作業一樣寫個「閱」就好了？

我印象中只有幼稚園還是小學低年級的老師曾經有這樣在作業上用紅筆批「閱」。而且當時年紀太小還不認得這個字，老師字也寫得草，我一直誤認為老師寫「肉」，也一直不懂是什麼意思。

近來有在寫 blog 的朋友也不多就是了，可能也沒什麼機會留「閱」。Anyway, if you see I leave the comment「閱」in your blog, I just indicate that I've read it.

By the way, 本來就想寫這篇，結果正好碰到無名氏留言，Who was the anonymous that left three comments on some of my old articles on 14/12/2009? I guess leaving an anonymous comment is the opposite of leaving a「閱」. The author knows somebody reads it and responds to the author. But the author doesn't know who's talking. I find it quite baffling. 腦裡浮起「敵暗我明」這個詞. Anyway, if you're the anonymous, let me know.

Hm, should I ask for this?... Alright, let's experiment and see what will happen...
OK. I'm asking everyone who reads this article to leave a comment. You have read this article to this point. Please leave a comment to let me know that you have read this. Don't forget to put your name. Thanks! If you don't want to say anything in particular, just leave a「閱」or "Read".

雜記 20091203

今天想用寫 microblog 方式寫 blog，其實這樣也不錯，比直接寫 microblog 少限制也容易整理。

前幾天看了電視播的一個紐西蘭的紀錄片，這次主題在講邪教，紐西蘭也是有一些奇怪的團體和社區，有些是幾百人住在偏僻隔離的社區。我想恐怖片的情節會不會真的發生，在鄉間路上開一開迷路了，開到偏僻的小鎮，感覺村民怪怪的...

最近作息越來越晚，感覺越來越像去年的同學。九點起床，兩點午餐，七點半離開辦公室。如果都往前移兩個小時應該會正常一些。

辦公室有原本三個碩士生，再加上三個做暑期 project 的學生，總是有人在房間裡，一整天進出都用不到鑰匙。

最近當同學的實驗 participant，試用軟體，在填資料的時候才 realize 自己年紀比想像的大。

咦，褲子怎麼又變緊。

建築上和路邊的有科技感的紅色綠色聖誕燈飾越擺越多，這詭異燈光總是讓我覺得有邪惡的氣氛。

在家裡打死一隻蟑螂，討厭奧克蘭蟑螂變多。

我有幾個 Google Wave invitations，想試用的人跟我說囉。

對誰過敏

我妹走進客廳，指著紅腫的右臉說：「媽，你看我對兔子過敏。」

原來我媽一會兒前抱著兔子，出其不意捧兔子去磨了一下我妹的臉，結果皮膚就紅腫了。

我妹離開客廳，幾秒後兔子就溜進客廳來，在我媽的身邊盤旋。我對我媽說，你看一下兔子身上有沒有腫起來？搞不好他是來跟你說：「媽，你看我對妹妹過敏。」

研究者就在我的學校裡？

在寫論文查資料的時候，追查一篇學術文章的作者有沒有再寫相關題目的文章，到了他的首頁，看到他的照片覺得很面熟。讀了一下介紹，他有在我的學校當榮譽客座教授！對，我好像有在我的科系的網頁上看過他的照片，因為年紀看起來特別大，服裝和項鍊也讓我感覺他像是傳統的歐洲老學者，所以還有點印象。

難道跟我論文相關的研究者就在我們學校嗎？是系上的隱藏人物之一？我開始擔心，如果真的是的話，那會不會我的論文研究又會更加複雜？這個學者會加入我的指導老師的研究組嗎？我必須跟這個學者聯絡討論我的研究嗎？雙方研究有衝突怎麼辦？會不會牽扯系上什麼政治問題？

弄這麼複雜太不值得，而且我 reference 這篇文章也只是我的研究中其中一個概念的其中一篇文章，不值得花這麼大功夫，我實在不想跟老師講這件事。趕快查一查，他到底在不在學校裡，不在的話我就要有很強力的理由支持把這件事隱瞞住。他十一月在奧克蘭有演講！喔，還好是去年的十一月，他現在的演講在歐洲。似乎這個學者德高望重，近年是在世界各地演講。在 Wikipedia 上還有介紹他的條目，七零和八零年代時對科技有受尊敬的貢獻。至於跟我們學校的關係，他好像十幾年前有來做過一年客座教授，之後應該就只是掛名是榮譽教授了。

嗯，這樣就好，那這件事我知道就好，就不用跟老師提了，免得弄得複雜。理由很多，主要是他的文章只關聯我的研究的一部分，他又不在奧克蘭。而且他只是那篇論文的作者之一，應該只是掛名，之後沒有再發表相關題目的論文。

再加三個結論。一、用照片推銷自己是有差別的，有的時候別人看到名字沒有連結，看了照片反而想到誰是誰。這個學者好像還滿常提供照片的，或者也許只是他演講太多次，照片常在報導裡曝光。二、如果你在一個領域成為一個受人尊敬，類似大師級的人物，光是到處去演講就可以當作是你的主要工作，也可能得到一些榮譽的稱謂。最後一個結論是，眼尖有時不太好，會導致不必要的複雜。我覺得要是別的學生讀了論文可能不會查到學者的網頁，看到照片也不一定想到哪裡看過，偏偏我會莫名注意到一些細節。咦~ 有時看不清楚人生比較簡單呀！

Why are you so expensive?

Link: Clients From Hell

I read some of the annoying things clients say to the designers. My designer friends probably resonate with them the most. Interestingly, I find that software engineers probably feel empathy to some of the stories too. My favourite is this one:

1. Prospective client: $400 for a logo?! Why are you so expensive? My nephew has Photoshop—I can just get him to do it.
2. Me: Does your nephew have Microsoft Word?
3. Prospective client: Yes.
4. Me: Then have him write you a novel while he’s at it.

source: http://clientsfromhell.tumblr.com/post/256073142/prospective-client-400-for-a-logo-why-are-you

Hehehe. Yeah, I agree. Your nephew has a computer. Why don't you ask him to program you an accounting software too?

Creative work and knowledge work are sometimes not valued by some people. They fail to understand that the work requires more than the tools and the physical materials. "Can you add this function for free? It probably just takes you a few minutes to add a few lines of code." People also argue why software is expensive. It's just code. "It doesn't cost anything", which means it doesn't use up physical material. The engineers probably want to shout back "why don't you write the code yourself then?"

Respect the work of your designer friends. They don't just draw. Respect the work of the software engineers. We don't just type.

跟驢講話

A: 為什麼我感覺像在跟驢子講話？

B: 因為你就是驢子。

靈感來自今天跟一個朋友講話，他說了第一句。其實他自己更聽不進別人的話，下次他再講這句我就回他第二句。

給關心的路人(這裡哪有這種人呀)：我沒有對我朋友不爽啦。只是覺得滿 ironic (諷刺)，所以聯想到驢子跟同伴說驢話這個情景。

Ninety Mile Beach 沙很大

Andy, Jesu and I went on a two-day trip to Ninety Mile Beach. We took the bus tour to travel on the beach and reached the northern tip of New Zealand. :)

The main thing for the first day was to drive to Kaitaia. We stopped at Whangarei and Bay of Islands on the way. We took the ferry from Paihai to Russell in the afternoon. It's a small and quiet town on the East side of Bay of Islands. There isn't much there. We strolled along the beach of pebbles. For me, the best thing was that we saw beautiful scenery on the ferry cruise.

We took the Ninety-Mile Beach bus tour on the second day. The bus ran on the long beach like driving on a highway. It was cool to watch the waves this way. The vast empty beach with endless waves was a nice scenery. We travelled on the beach for an hour or so.

We then arrived at the sand dunes. We got to toboggan down the sand dune. We had to climb up the sand dune before we slide down, though. It was quite tiring as the slope was steep and the sand slides down when I put my feet on it.

We got to the top eventually. Here we go. Let's slide! I accelerated quite fast as I slid down. Then, I'm not sure what exactly happened. When I reached the bottom and waited for it to slow down, I flipped and flew out of my toboggan, and landed my head on the sand. I couldn't open my eyes for a while as there was sand on my face, in my eyes, ears, everywhere.

A short while later I climbed up and slid down again. I was worried that I might run into one of two rocks at the bottom, though. Luckily I went between them. This time I tried getting out of the toboggan myself at the bottom and I didn't fall this time. It was fun! Climbing was very tiring, though. Also, I got sand everywhere, even in my mouth and nostrils. For the whole day, I saw sand fell from somewhere on my head when I touched my face or hair.

Next, we headed to Cape Reinga, the north most tip of New Zealand. The scenery was beautiful. We then had our lunch at a beach in the same area. The wind was strong and the waves were high.

The bus then drove southward and stopped at some other locations. The most notable one was Rarawa Beach. The sand on the beach was very white and fine. Too bad we had only a few minutes on the beach. That's the downside of this tour. We only stopped at each place for a short time. So we couldn't enjoy the beach leisurely. But I guess Cape Reinga really is very far in the North. It takes many hours just to travel between places.

Another interesting thing was a staircase in a show room that was carved out of a kauri log.

After sitting on the bus for the whole day. We still had to drive four and half hours back to Auckland. We only stopped at Whangarei to have a dinner at Quayside. My back was so stiff when we returned to Auckland at night.

Andy played the tower defence game on PSP throughout the journey; in the back seat, on the bus, in the motel. Determination! Jesu likes to take photos of himself. hehe :)

Conclusions (寫論文...)

沙很大、風很大、浪很大、樹很大

(photos? pending.)

管他什麼音樂

目前卡在腦裡的歌： 范曉萱&100% 的「管他什麼音樂」

我想應該比之前卡住的一堆重複詞的歌好吧，霍霍霍、sorry sorry、啵啵啵、對呀對呀。

嗯，以前也卡過蘇打綠的「小情歌」，所以不疊字還是會卡住，旋律才是揮之不去的原因。

Attention Control

I have a problem with controlling my attention this year. I agree with this article:

Work Ethic 2.0: Attention Control

As all my work is done on computers with Internet access, both work and non-work are just clicks away. The only thing to separate myself from distraction is my attention contorl.

日本 viral 關鍵字

最近好像懶得說話耶，糟糕。

那就丟關鍵字就算一篇：

到底真正有多少日本人喜歡 Magibon 和 鼠先輩？

20080210 tidy my room

我在整理檔案時發現我有一篇去年二月寫的 blog 文章，那時找工作找一陣子不順利，幾週後研究所開學。有可能是寫完之後網路不通所以沒放上blog；或是當時是像我文中提到一樣在整理心情，可能沒有特別想將這比較私人的思緒放上公開的地方；或是我根本還沒寫完。不論如何，今天我把當時的內容放上來。

今天我讀了它，覺得，我還真的該多聽自己的建議呀。看來當時整理、紀錄自己的心情，的確是有些幫助，意外地，也讓一年多之後的自己又整理和提醒了自己。

分隔線後的文字是在 2008 年 2 月 10 日寫的。

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前兩天狠下心整理房間的東西，最特別的是把幾個抽屜都整理過了，清掉一些垃圾，也把從高中到大學各個年代丟進去的東西整理一番。翻出來各樣的東西，有橋牌club的手冊；有保齡球的Frequent Bowler Card；有跟著樂團出國參加活動的手冊，上面有低音提琴legend Gary Karr的簽名；有幾場跟別的高校學生下chess的棋譜；有張TYA把我中英文名字都打錯的會員卡；有School Certificate 的考卷；有電影票和音樂演奏會曲目；有張去玩 laser strike的計分卡，背面還有寫幾號player是誰，滿特別的，那一群人並不常玩在一起，而且現在那8個人散落在奧克蘭、台北、雪梨、墨爾本、布里斯本、北京；還有歷年來有收到的賀卡和信件。

這十幾年來我把這些東西丟進抽屜，都沒有好好整理過一次，整理抽屜，感覺起來是花時間又不能證明什麼的事，所以一直不願意花時間去做。人們是不是常有這種想法所以不花時間做一些好像該做，又感覺沒什麼了不起的事呢？至少我是。

我覺得我有另一個不想去碰抽屜的原因是我有點懼怕回顧從前。擔心什麼呢？我也不知道，我猜可能是擔心自己看到從前，會想起失去了什麼，會想起自己有些什麼遺憾，也會想起從前對未來有些什麼期待，現在卻沒有達到。

的確，我覺得回顧過去會感到遺憾的是看到一些收到的信件，發覺以前某些認識的人後來就失去聯絡了，尤其當其中一方去了另一個國家，感覺有一點可惜。

也有翻到一張以前自己設下的一些目標，讀了一下覺得，有些目標並不是現在想要的了，有些則是沒有達到，自己並沒有那麼厲害，或是自己並沒有那麼努力。

我覺得紀錄也是一件感覺沒什麼了不起但是對以後有影響的事，因為很多的感覺和 moments 都是稍縱即逝，事過境遷後，沒有紀錄的話，就可能就永遠記不得了。

寫blog或是日記也是，一部分是記錄，一方面也同時整理自己的思緒與心情，也讓自己練習將這些感覺轉換成文字語句表達出來。我想這會對我有益，就算寫出來的字句不順暢，也是一個整理自己想法的過程。

這一陣子的set back其實也讓我有些豁達，人生不一定會按照你原本所想的去進行，自己如果有很遠的目標，著急也無法達成，只能一步一步按著自己有能力走的路走。

嗯，的確我又跟台灣的朋友們少連絡了，主要是覺得自己現在還在空轉中，關於我的生活，目前沒有什麼好分享的。不過就算不分享我也應該記錄下來讓自己以後回首。

分享我的生活，這也是我的一個課題。我經常覺得自己的生活不夠精采不值得提出來跟朋友分享，所以常常沒有主動讓朋友知道一些關於我生活的事情。我應該要能更有自信點，更開放的去讓我的朋友更involve in my life.另外一方面是要讓自己的生活有趣一點，多一些值得分享的部分。

之後有什麼改變嗎？我不知道，我已經有些厭煩一種循環：不滿現狀所以想改變，著急想有大的改變但是無法開頭或是短期效果不大，接著覺得沒有改變所以放棄，結果繼續不滿現狀又想改變。應該學習跟整理抽屜一樣，一方面要考慮全面的改變，決定如何分類和個別的抽屜如何應用；另一方面則是在翻抽屜時要一樣樣物品拿出來，一樣樣去決定最終放的位置，要有耐心，一步步做，做得徹底。不要只是做一部分，有些抽屜部分還是沒整理到；或是每次拿出一項物品就急得把它放去一個新的地方，結果分類或是抽屜的規劃沒做好，最後的結果還是有些混亂，或是之後又要再一次花心力來重新放置這些物品。

忽然想唱溫嵐的「傻瓜」

傻瓜 我們都一樣

被愛情傷了又傷

相信這個他不一樣

卻又再一次受傷

傻瓜 我們都一樣

受了傷卻不投降

相信付出會有代價

代價只是一句傻瓜

不過除了歌名以外好像不太符合自己的感覺，反而覺得這個歌詞很符合熱衷股市的散戶。

Mr. Brain 日劇感想

Meh.

報告完畢。

ㄟ，太偷懶，多寫一點好了。

Mr. Brain 是木村拓哉主演的日劇，共8集。木村拓哉的角色是腦科學家，故事有點像CSI，一兩集破一個案，但是比較注重利用人腦的特性、盲點等等來讓兇手現形，有時是心理戰，這點倒是和CSI不同，還挺有趣。

除了木村和兩個警察，其他鑑識組的角色不太令人注意，木村的助手是女主角，感覺不出厲害的地方，當 comic relief。雖然幾個主要角色有時也滿好笑的，這種追查犯罪的故事像CSI一樣不算喜劇，不太歡樂，有時還有些血腥。濺血咧。有些故事也滿悲的，啊 CSI 嘛。

大部分偵查的過程會吸引人繼續看，算entertaining，但是看到最後偶而有點覺得，嗯，就這樣喔？或是，這樣有證明他是兇手嗎？不過這可能是偵探故事的特性吧，有些是過程比結果有趣。

有些破案線索滿原創的，有關漢字和日本樂理的線索不可能是抄襲CSI來的，不過當事者能在一瞬間想到並且留下這種線索，也實在厲害到有點不太可信。另外，有塊頭小的女子襲擊警察這種劇情，嗯，覺得也太厲害了。

像CSI一樣，鑑識中心總是很stylish，隔間都用玻璃，有很多很炫的工具，我每次看這種劇中有電腦在計算時閃來閃去的一堆圖片，心想真的軟體介面應該沒這麼炫，應該就只是放著給他跑，最後顯示結果而已，工程師懶得寫這麼複雜的介面，頂多運算過程顯示一個陽春 progress bar，或是多給你一個舊 Windows 用的沙漏圖示。

另外不同的案件也有不同的明星來參與演出。我認得的有小雪和另一個面熟的女星，查出來是仲間由紀惠，我好多年前有看過她演的「我倆的未來」那科幻故事。她在這Mr. Brain裡演的角色和故事比較沉重、暴力，但是也是比較抓到我注意力的故事。反之，小雪演的那一集故事是最差的。

喔，劇中有個剃光頭的長臉高個子，有兩集都在到處晃和吃糖，我看到他都想到在當兵的Ray呀！

我爸媽好像都會看木村拓哉的日劇，這次我順便跟著看，CSIㄟ，不過他們也覺得沒特別好看。總結，普通，沒看到也不會找來看，看到了也不會想關掉。Meh.

Enjoyment: 3 stars

挑剔詞彙：避稅天堂的邊際效應

haven 不是 heaven

haven 是讓船隻躲避風雨的港灣。

heaven 是天國。

tax haven 是指稅率低或免稅的國家地區，也許翻譯為「避稅港」，有時會見到的「避稅天堂」這個詞可能是以 "tax heaven" 來翻譯，並不太正確。

邊際效用 不是 邊際效應

經濟學的 marginal utility 是邊際效用或邊際效益，不是「邊際效應」。Marginal utility 的意思是增加下一單位的貨品或服務會帶來多少效用。

例如 Jack 愛吃很多不同的 pizza，那他每多吃一片會對他增加多少益處呢？

假使:

吃 0 片滿足感是 0

吃 1 片滿足感是 30

吃 2 片滿足感是 60

吃 3 片滿足感是 80

吃 4 片滿足感是 90

吃 5 片滿足感是 95

各片 pizza 的 marginal utility 則是:

第一片是 30

第二片是 30

第三片是 20

第四片是 10

第五片是 5

一個普遍的現象是到一個程度之後，繼續增加貨品或服務會帶來的效用越來越小。像是 Jack 吃到第四片、第五片的時候，一片增加的滿足感就比吃第一片、第二片增加的滿足感少很多。這種情形稱作 diminishing marginal utility, 邊際收益遞減。

我不知道當媒體上有人用「邊際效應」這個詞，意指的是某個東西的 marginal utility 還是 diminishing marginal utility 的情況，還是在形容別的事情 (查到生物學有個 edge effect)。總之，「邊際效應」不是正確的講法。

如果我的描述不正確的話歡迎告知正確的解釋，謝謝。

Transformers 2

Spoiler ahead. Don't read on if you don't want to know the story before you watch the movie.

It really isn't my type of movie. I should be watching foreign films with subtitles with Hari. :P Not really. That's his specialty. But I do enjoy those films more. (I've just realized that I mentioned foreign films when I wrote about the first Transformers movie too. ha) Anyway, I enjoy the second Transformers film more than the first one. I guess I adjusted my expectations this time. I expected it to be noisy, with lots of robots fighting, and a plot that doesn't make sense to me, just like the first movie. That's exactly the case. It's pretty much like the first movie. I do find some aspects are better.

The fights are less confusing. There are fewer annoying characters and storylines that don't go anywhere. It just has a single storyline. So perhaps it's less annoying and more boring, which I prefer in this case. And I appreciate the presence of Megan Fox more this time.

I like that there's a variety of robots this time. They're mostly Decepticons, though. They have different animal-like robots of different sizes and abilities. The Autobots don't show much variety and lack personalities this time.

The fighting scenes are clearer than the first movie. You can see better who's fighting and who's winning. However, the opening sequence of the film is confusing. Nobody in our group knew what was going on.

劇情大綱 (LC亂解讀版)

Megan Fox 再次擔任美麗的主角，帶著男友趴趴走。主角因為夠漂亮所以不用上大學，男友則搬去另一個城市讀大學，開學兩天就起乩好幾次，主角察覺不對勁，過去找他，兩人一起遇到 terminator，確定壞機器人 Decepticons 又來啦。後來得知男友是肉身硬碟，腦裡裝有 Decepticons 要的資料。途中 pick up 兩個諧星一起解謎，找到資料所指向的鑰匙，硬碟帶賽搞砸鑰匙，但是堅持還是帶去給機器人當草藥。主角就帶著硬碟帶著草藥，穿著輕薄地橫跨沙漠，在一堆爆炸中慢動作跑了半個小時。抵達終點後草藥變成針灸，讓機器人活跳跳，救了地球。

主角愛不愛男友

主角抓姦時超鎮定，男友快被機器人解剖時也看起來沒非常擔心，可是後來自己和男友躲在屋裡怕被 Decepticons 機器人發現那一幕，為什麼慌張得快哭出來呀？我覺得怪怪的，不一致。也許是希望讓 Megan Fox 有機會表演不同的情緒吧，可是這樣演，我會覺得主角不太愛男友，不關心他的死活，只有自身有危險的時候才在擔心自己。

因為我覺得主角不愛男友，有一幕硬碟掛掉，Megan Fox 和 Fergie 老公兩人對看，我還想說他們是不是看對眼，而且暗自高興下一集他們兩個就可以當主角了。

為什麼Megan Fox不是演機器人呢？我想看Megan Fox和terminator兩個美女機器人打架，也許兩個美女機器人還喇舌。(有看原片就知道這其實不性感...)

認真就輸了

Do not think about the plot. Do not try to make sense of it. Because I tried and I found it make less and less sense. Just watch it and forget about it.

Lots of things I don't understand. The number one thing is probably

Why did Megan Fox have to run in slow motion for half an hour?

Why didn't the US army send troops to get them faster? Why didn't they meet at the place where the find the key? Why didn't the Autobots transform into vehicles that suit the desert terrain to carry them to the destination faster? Maybe a vehicle that drills into the sand or something. Why do the humans have to run on foot for so long?

Why do I feel that the boy is most helpful to the Decepticons? If he didn't carry the key there, they couldn't activate the machine. He found the key for them. He carried key to the machine for them. He did all this even though the Decepticons never managed to extract the data from his head.

There are other things I don't understand. But mostly, why did they have to make Megan Fox run in slow motion for half an hour?

Have I seen that before?

Some how, some scenes remind me of other movies:

Bruce Almighty, Johnny Mnemonic, The Matrix, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret, and Transformer 1 of course

Enjoyment: 3 stars.

That's because I adjusted my expectations and I was in a good mood.

飽求婚: as the closing credit rolls

這一段是發生 Peter 的 facebook 影片後的一小段。

在影片最後，你可能有聽到 Peter 說海報背面有 Peter 密碼，是什麼呢？在拍攝影片結束後，我們把海報翻過來給 Jesu 和 Lydia 看。在不同的角落上有個別寫字，寫得不大，有「敢」、「思」、「不」等字，拼起來是「請三思」和「勇敢說不」。呼籲 Lydia 不要衝動，要考慮清楚呀！嗯，Lydia 這時候才看到已經來不及了吧。哈 :P

那是我們畫海報的時候想要故意寫來作弄他們的，不過想說求婚只有一次，不要惡搞，所以寫在背面。

看完密碼之後，海報的製作群在海報背景面畫手印、簽名。紀錄完成功德一件。(也許 Lydia 覺得不是功德啦 :P)

飽求婚: The Making of

這一篇超 lag 的呀。因為實在寫很長，我只能自己慢慢寫慢慢記錄。

話說我們在四月 Easter 期間有去 Hamilton 和 Waitomo 玩兩天一夜。在 Hamilton 的那一天晚上... you know what happened. 請看 Peter 在 Facebook 上放的影片。

所以 Jesu (要正名為 Ming 嗎？下次吧) 突擊地下賭場，並且把一個穿睡衣的賭客變成未婚妻。(錯誤，大誤，請看影片了解真相)

So, 這場求婚記上演之前是怎麼準備的勒？以下是從我的角度來記錄幕後的過程...

我某天在公車上接到 Jesu 打來的電話，問我能不能幫他忙，我不知道是要做啥，故意先說不要。接著他說他想在 trip 的時候求婚。我沒想到他這麼快就要結婚了，先愣了一下，又是驚喜。喔，是這樣的話這個忙就不能不幫啦！所以Jesu就找我一起計畫求婚的setup。

不過我那一陣子沒空，好不容易忙完後開始計畫，一開始的時候先 brainstorm 一些不同的方式，像是我就說要在 Waitomo caves 裡面，不過 Jesu 想要穿西裝拿花，在 cave 裡面的話限制很多。Jesu 提議參考一個網路上看到的影片，把女生帶到停車場，把車子的後車箱打開，裡面滿滿都是氣球。我覺得這怪怪的，把後車箱打開，然後勒？我想像的是看到車箱內有一具屍體，像是在 CSI 一樣；或是打開後車箱，然後拿啤酒出來，大家在車上喝 :P 反正我不懂打開後車箱要做啥，不懂為何在停車場這個場景，更不知道有什麼藉口可以把大家帶去停車場。

在出發一週多前，星期五的時候，Jesu請半天假，下午跟我和Peter去買東西和商討計畫。買了氣球、象徵性戒指、和寫標語的板子。那天我跟 Peter 像是天使與惡魔，例如在找戒指的時候，Jesu 想說是不是要買一個大的誇張的，我說是是是，越大越好，Peter說感覺太搞笑，找一個類似她想要的樣式的戒指比較好。Jesu 最後是參考 Peter比較合理的建議。啊，我沒有要幫 Jesu 呀，我完全是在考量最後YouTube影片的爆點呀，啊媒體是亂源哪。

除了買東西，再來就是要想一個計畫讓 Jesu surprise 進場。嗯，要在哪裡呢？晚上在餐廳裡？有可能，可是在餐廳裡可能無法控制的因素太多，場地不適合，人太多或什麼的，所以沒有選在餐廳。事後回想，我還滿希望看 Jesu 在餐廳裡把小抄拿出來唸的時候其他客人的反應。 :P 我們三人想一想覺得還是在住宿地點比較有機會 set up 東西，Peter 和我都不喜歡停車場這個場景，那就是在房間啦。可是Lydia跟大家一起行動，要怎樣趁 Lydia 不注意的時候把東西準備好呢？道具藏在哪裡呢？是放在我車上，還是Jesu房間，還是另一間？那之後誰要去拿？ Jesu 要換衣服要去哪裡拿西裝去哪裡換？我們大致上討論出來的是要

把大家都帶去其中一間房間，然後有人要找理由離開房間拿道具，Jesu要出來換衣服，又要不被發現。我們思考有什麼理由要單獨離開房間呢？去買東西？去隔壁房間拿飲料？最後敲定是說 Jesu 去隔壁上廁所。咦？這樣行嗎？據說 Jesu 常常在別人家蹲廁所，所以這應該滿自然，不會被懷疑，我是平常沒在注意我朋友上廁所的頻率，反正他們說這理由很合理。

我們還有討論海報要寫什麼，是 Marry Me 還是 Say Yes ，是嫁給我還是台語的嫁乎伊。是不是要切成兩張，兩個人拿。到了五點左右，Jesu 先走，假裝下班了，同一天晚上，大家聚在 Peter 家，要假裝下午沒跟 Jesu 碰面，我提早到 Peter 家也說是同學順便載我來的。啊 Peter 還提到海報和當天 Jesu 車子壞掉的方向燈，嗯，有些破綻，不過，還是沒有被揭穿。晚上 Andy 載我回家，我和 Andy, Alice 在車上時就提了這件事，懇求 Alice 幫忙畫海報呀。

星期日，這是出發前的最後一個週末，就只有這時有機會畫海報了，而Jesu週末一直跟 Lydia 在一起，沒空溜出來準備。Alice, Andy, 我集合到 Peter 家畫海報。我在美術方面真的是留在小學程度(or 幼稚園)，大家一開始說先各自在紙上畫自己的想法，再來看看要選哪一種設計，幾分鐘後，大家各有草稿，我沒idea，只在紙上重複畫圈，說這是 The Ring (西洋版)。 Alice 的構圖是一隻河馬的頭在一顆大愛心的上面，果然會美術就不一樣，我盯著空白的板子只會想說到底要寫 Marry Me 還是 Say Yes。大家覺得 Alice 這張很好看，所以決定用這個構圖。大家開始用鉛筆畫outline，塗塗改改，愛心太尖了或是左右不對稱，擦掉重畫；河馬的鼻孔看起來像眼睛，讓河馬看起來像是有兩張臉，修修線條，這段實線那段留白。我這天的角色基本上就是監工，只是在大家猶豫的時候說幾句「OK的啦！」，讓大家有信心畫下去。還有加上擦草稿線和著色這種比較工程的工作。喔，還有帶蘋果汁給師傅喝。師傅很專業，道具都是師傅準備的，麥克筆啦、彩色鉛筆啦、還有一本 POP 字型的參考工具書。別問我，我根本不知道什麼是 POP 字型好嗎？Anyway，就這樣一部分一部分完成，幾個小時後，產生了最後在求婚過程中關鍵的海報呀！這一張海報就放在我的後車箱，準備之後旅行時載去。

出發前幾天，我在大學時 Jesu 打電話給我，他訂好花了，問我看要何時去拿，問我要不要他先去拿，接著載來市中心給我，我再捧回家。我想說拿著花坐公車太麻煩了，最後是決定 Peter 當天早上去花店拿花，我再去 Peter 家載他和把花藏在我的後車箱。不過我們原本說好當天是 Jesu 去載 Peter 再跟我這部車集合。現在有變動又要編個理由，所以就想說當天我要假裝傳簡訊給 Jesu 說我太早出門，所以就順便去載 Peter。關於這束花，據說是特別選的，有粉紅和白色的玫瑰以外，還有 Lydia 喜歡的花還是什麼草的？這部分我不太清楚，據說 Peter 之前在跟 Lydia 談話之間套話問她喜歡什麼花，我也不知道他怎麼做到的，我想像不到聊天要怎麼聊才會聊到喜歡什麼花。

週五，出發前一天，我傳簡訊連絡一下 Jesu，一開始 Jesu 回簡訊說 Lydia 在旁邊，不能談。隔了幾個小時，Jesu終於回電，Jesu 說，這次收到簡訊後 Lydia 一直想看簡訊，他要一直不讓她看，兩人還差點吵起來，真是危險呀！Anyway，我們討論了一下明天藏花、道具的事。還有我工程師的訓練，就要想到 error handling，要考慮失敗的時候要怎麼辦，所以要考慮的是，如果 Lydia 在我們設計的時間前就發現 Jesu 的計畫的話，那是不是就要當場開始。嗯，如果真的被發現的話，這樣做大概是最好的方法了，但是我們希望不會例如一開始在超市/麥當勞的停車場集合的時候就被發現，那一下子就要在停車場求婚。也許這種情況 Jesu 就可以打開後車箱拿啤酒出來 :P

Easter Weekend 的星期六，終於要出發了，照著劇本傳個簡訊說要去載 Peter。在 Peter 家想辦法把花放在後車箱，又怕壓壞又怕倒了水流出來。Peter也把其他道具放上車，忽然收到 Jesu 寄來的簡訊問我們好了沒有，因為我幫他們來載 Peter ，所以他們也提早準備好，已經在停車場等我們了。所以我們也就快快上車開去集合，停車場碰面時，我特別把車子停得稍微離 Jesu 的車遠一點，車頭面對他們的車，這樣子打開後車箱的時候才不會露出車裡的道具。出發時 Peter 坐 Jesu 的車，結果他們彎回去 Peter 家拿東西，因為 Peter 只顧著放道具到我車上，他自己的行李忘了帶，還得回去拿，據說被糗得很慘，Peter 很想說出真相，但是為了朋友還是忍下來呀！

我們在 Hamilton 先逛 Hamilton Garden，之後到了住宿的地點，嗯，先小心觀察隔壁房的動靜，趁他們還在隔壁房的時候去把道具拿進我們房間，花還是先放車上，之後 Jesu 溜出來的時候再去我車上拿，不過這也代表我要找機會給 Jesu 我的車鑰匙。這時我們打電話叫 Peter 過來，一邊藏東西，我也順便把第二把車鑰匙給 Peter，讓他交給 Jesu。還沒藏完東西，最難偷偷搬進房間也最難藏的就是那一大張海報了，而且我們最後這個設計一整張是沒有分割的，這麼大一張，我們把它藏在雙人床下。還有 Jesu 的西裝，要放哪好呢？不對喲，西裝放我們這間的話，Jesu 溜出去的時候就沒辦法換西裝了。西裝應該要放他們的房間，可是 Peter 回房間的時候手裡也不能拿著這一袋，會太明顯，所以說好，等下出門去吃晚餐時，Peter在那一間要留到最後，我們這一間最後的時候要趁這個空檔把西裝交給 Peter 讓他藏在那一間。結果，要出門時，Lydia一直擋在門口看我們好了沒，我們就一直在門口 awkwardly 耗著，最後 Lydia 終於先走一步，我才把一袋衣服丟給 Peter。

晚餐吃飽飽回來之後，就依照計畫，我們打電話叫他們來這我們的房間打牌。Andy 已經觀察好地型，要讓 Lydia 坐在背對門口的單人床上。他們進來我們房間後，Lydia 果然先跳到雙人床上，somehow Andy 就很自然得叫 Lydia 移到單人床上，面向另一個方向。從另一間過來的 Lydia, Jesu 和 Peter 都已經洗好澡，換了睡衣了，這下可好，等一下有人會跟穿西裝的看起來差別很大。現在大家開始表現正常得打牌，玩的是五人的拿破崙，所以有一個人只能旁觀。我們定的規則是輸的人要下場，如果拿破崙沒達成叫到的合約，拿破崙就下場，如果拿破崙吃足牌數，那對方三家吃最少張牌的要下場。玩了幾場，Jesu 滿常下場休息的，我想說正好，這樣他就趁機會去換衣服拿花，可是他一直躺在床上休息，而且一直叫我們其他人去洗澡。看Jesu沒有動作，我們這一間三人也輪流去洗澡，這樣大家都穿睡衣，Jesu你滿意了吧。嗯，遊戲繼續玩下去，一個多小時過去了，Jesu怎麼還是沒有行動，其他三個知情的人可能也有同樣的疑問吧？

終於，這一次Jesu下場後，說要回去房間蹲廁所，我們也附和幾聲說不要弄臭我們這間廁所，去另一間，Jesu就依照計畫出去，去我車上拿花，回他房間換西裝。再打了一兩場牌，Jesu還沒回來，Lydia說：「你們有沒有發現杜xx掉到馬桶裡了？」(名字消音) 我們心裡有數，跟著附和。一副牌打了一半，聽到了敲門聲，我去開門，進門的是穿著西裝捧著花的Jesu。目前 Lydia 背對著門還沒看到。Jesu走到床邊，Lydia回頭看，嚇一大跳，我們其他四人快快就位，Andy 拿相機錄影，我拿相機照相，Peter準備從床下拿海報上來。

接下來的畫面就是 Peter 在 Facebook 上放的影片。這邊只簡單描述一下，詳細完整的過程還是看影片啦！Lydia先是移到床頭，不知道在躲什麼，可能沒有預期，太過驚訝了吧？ Jesu 也緊張，跪下來開始講他那照理說應該感性的演講，還沒完整說一兩句話，Jesu就拿出小抄來看！大家傻眼。大家聽不懂他講什麼，只聽懂結尾的一句「你願意嫁給我嗎？」這時 Peter 把海報高高舉起秀出河馬 Marry Me！ Lydia 終於鬆口說OK！

喔耶，成功！

把第一次獻給金曲歌后

一陣子沒更新，決定學習立委、市議員只挑力氣少就有作秀效果的事。

I've never embedded videos in my blog before. As I said a long time ago, embedded videos made the page slow to load, especially for people in NZ with slow Internet services at that time. Years have passed. People seem to have faster Internet in NZ. So I guess I can embed videos occasionally.

我覺得第一次嵌影片不能隨便獻出去，心中一直保留給金曲歌后。

其實我是放了聽音樂用的，影像沒什麼特別。

而且，她真的有得金曲獎啊！

OK, I'm random.

Related Link:

全民最大黨 施主席的轟趴 洗錢功

Deadline is extended

The deadline of the conference paper I'm writing has been extended for a week. Yay, it's good news for me because I've been stressing out about it for a couple of days. The problem is that I tend to look for details. So I want to figure out all the details to have a clear idea what to write. I've been stuck with some things that I can't figure out or decide. So it's been a slow process. Now I've got a bit more time to sort things out. :)

But I'll have to do some marking first tomorrow, though. I have to mark a few project reports and software. Hopefully I mark them fairly.

LC's Previous Bottom Meal

LC's Previous Bottom Meal is ... 火鍋!

因為 Korean BBQ 成為新任的最不想在外吃的餐。

嗯，最近這一個月把這兩樣都吃了。所以之後聚餐吃的都只會更好了吧！

我不喜歡在餐廳吃要自己料理的餐，我就是懶呀！雖然火鍋也是要自己煮，Korean BBQ 更花功夫照顧食物。換錫箔紙，怕吃到生肉拉肚子，又怕烤焦。換錫箔紙，而且爐子會噴油燙人。換錫箔紙，五個人一爐也烤得慢，這一餐吃很久。換錫箔紙，吃完一身都有烤肉煙味。換錫箔紙，而且每隔一會兒就要停下來做一個動作，換錫箔紙。

反正久久吃一次，體驗一下。明天會更好。

只為了下標題而寫這篇，早知道這個就可以佔一篇，就先不用寫今天的前一篇了。 :P

聽說 NZ's Next Top Model 已經選出來了。我一集都沒看過。

Workrave reminds you to take a break

I'm still busying writing a conference paper and marking some assignment reports and programs. So the long lagging post has to wait. I'm just taking a few minutes to write a short post. (It still got long. ha)

I've tried small software application called Workrave for a few weeks. It reminds me to take a break periodically. It works quite well for me.

The application can be downloaded from the official website: http://www.workrave.org/

It helps me to remember to look away from the computer screen and relax for few seconds every now and then. I find that I get tired more slowly. I have less eyestrain. The program is also supposed to help people to prevent or recover from RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury).

It's really simple. You set timers for the intervals that the program reminds you to take a break. One timer is for the micro-breaks, which is to pause and to let your eyes relax for a few seconds. The other timer is for rest breaks, which is to take a break for a few minutes after working for an hour or so.

The application is quite configurable so I can tweak it to make it suitable for my usage. Currently, I use a 10-minute timer for micro-breaks and take 15-second breaks. I use a 50-minute timer for rest breaks of 5 minutes.

It detects your mouse and keyboard input. So if you leave the computer for a moment. It detects that you have no input for a while, it assumes that you've taken a break and resets the timer. This is quite useful so it doesn't remind me again soon after I've just taken a break myself. However, one problem is that I often read documents when I work at the university computer. Because I don't use the mouse and the keyboard while I'm reading, it resets the timer. So, I turn off the function of resetting timer when no input is detected.

Another setting that I set differently for home and work is whether it blocks the keyboard and mouse input during breaks. I'm afraid that I may have more urgent operations to do when I work, so I turn this option off for my university computer. In fact, the program can block the screen too. I guess that forceful approach is needed for people who are recovering from RSI.

I guess many of us use computers for many hours a day. I recommend giving this application a try. You can get rid off it later if you find it annoying. Hopefully it reduces the physical strain of using computers over extended time.

Ice Skating

After weeks of delay by flu, back strain and whatever, we've finally gone ice skating. We hadn't done this for years. In Andy's case, he had never done it before.

The weird thing was, I got on quite well from the start. Somehow I managed to stand and skate quite steadily as soon as I was on the ice. I guess the years do make me wiser(???). I felt more relaxed and it made it easier to stay steady. I didn't know how to go fast, though.

Peter, Alice and Lydia had no trouble skating at all. Andy was new to this. He started by walking on the ice. He looked relatively steady for somebody who was just starting out. He kept saying his feet hurt, though. Jesu was like an old man on the ice. He skated slowly and often had to put a hand on the fence or on other people. Eventually he got better after a couple of hours. LC the stalker took two photos of the couple.

The phrase "in sickness and in health" came to my mind. I suggested that they should put them in the slide show on the wedding. They weren't keen. It's a pity that they didn't wear the yellow TYA T-shirts that they had in uni. That would be more nostalgia.

The guys all fell a few times, except maybe Peter. Andy fell big time as he tried to go fast. Oh, and Andy's feet hurt the worst. When we took off our skates, he found that he might have put the left and right skate on the wrong feet! :-o

One thing I don't understand is why some teenagers could wear short sleeves or shorts. Weren't they cold?

Oh, by the way, after we returned to Peter's place, Lydia somehow could break even or win over the house at blackjack. Then later, Jesu won the poker game. Yes, you read that right. We played Texas Hold'em and Jesu won. :-o

當你年紀已經比完治大

今天中午吃拉麵時，聽到店家放的歌是那超老超熟悉的東京愛情故事主題曲，這首歌真的從小聽到大呀，聽到現在自己的年紀都比劇中的完治的年紀要大了。

最早看完治和莉香的時候，我是高中生？不，是小學生，當初好像沒看完整也沒看懂。後來不知道是在高中還大學初的時候又看，印象中偽19歲青年Hari當年是真teenager的時候覺得結局很悲，我卻覺得完治承受不了莉香那種逼得很緊讓人窒息的愛法，兩個人還是不要勉強在一起可能對彼此都好。

Anyway, 那時應該是看著完治這樣剛進社會工作前幾年的年輕上班族，努力打拼又有如此的精彩的愛情糾葛，想像將來自己25歲會有怎樣的際遇？會往了什麼目標努力？會遇到怎樣的莉香？

下午跟同學聊天時，揭露了自己的過去，先讀工程系再 computer science 再上班又回來讀書，現在26歲，硬是比他們兩個去年剛念完 Bachelor of Engineering 的大上 4+ 歲。他們都說看起來不像26歲，我開玩笑說 Because I'm Asian. :P 其中一人原本以為我24歲。

之前在公司同事是驚訝我年紀那麼小，通常以為我比實際年齡大幾歲，HR 有一次還特別跟我說原來我年紀這麼小啊，他整理員工資料才發現我是公司第二小的。三年過後，我現在反過來是在用年紀大來嚇人的。(add a mandatory comment here: 唉，歲月不饒人啊！)

寫到這裡懶得寫了，太晚了，要睡覺，而且也沒什麼好說的，只是要 point out, especially to the my fake 19 year-old friend, that we have reached the age we dreamed about (He probably dreamed more than I did :P). Things might not have come true. But hey, we don't live in 12 one-hour episodes.

(標題本來聳動、誇大、又有濫用的流行用語，但是被編輯刪掉了)

機會是給準備好的人，最近有這樣的想法。週一去了學校的 Careers Fair，主要是看看有哪些公司有相關的工作。也提醒我應該更新履歷表，準備申請一些工作。

另外一方面也覺得自己習慣獨來獨往，懶得整理自己，尤其經過去年之後，就覺得很多都不care了，自己高興就好。可是我最近就想啊，嗯，哪天正好遇到了，那時，準備好了沒？而且不知最近怎麼的，轉運了還是怎樣，居然跟女生講話的機會多了起來，這兩天有跟至少五個女生聊天吧，這跟去年比可能成長了十倍吧？我的 department 的人口比例和路上看到的實在差很多。我的 department，尤其是 postgrad 程度，絕大部分是男生，而且幾乎都是在海外出生，所以另外一件在我 department 難做到的事是，跟紐西蘭本地出生的白人講到話。

扯遠了，反正呢，沒看到職缺也最好先把履歷準備好，看到招人的廣告的時候才能快快投過去；那自己是不是在個人的想呈現的部分準備好，遇到了才可立即表達。我實在很工程師，我想到的 analogy 是軟體要包好 stable 的版本，這樣客戶來訂的時候才能隨時可以出貨。另外一個 analogy 是今年聽到幾次的 "elevator pitch"，就是說你有個 research project / business plan etc. ， 當你偶然跟一個重要的相關人物一起搭電梯時，重要人物說: "So, what do you do?" 你只有一趟電梯大概一分鐘的時間可以 sell your ideas，你要如何介紹而讓他能盡量對你的計畫有興趣呢？當然，如果事先沒有準備的話，當場才整理說詞，機會可能就流去了。

By the way, 跳 tone 一下，之前跟我 (hopefully 是開玩笑) 說要我在 lab 上班時碰學生握滑鼠的手的朋友們，two words, "sexual harrassment"！應該沒什麼進展就先被開除了吧！

喔，被刪除的標題是

窮學生宅男大改造

我希望尊重 ND 和仔他們熱衷 ACG 的人，所以不跟著誤用「宅」。那「大改造」呢，也會是誇大，我還是會照樣隨心所欲，只是要有準備好的狀況。(為何我現在想到的怪例子是，不會有捲髮的道具還嵌在頭髮上就出門去？...) 原本想放「大改造」只是希望朋友們能多多給意見. So, now you know. Welcome to comment.

好像這篇有些部分寫得滿抽象? 但是我想應該 *右手握拳敲左胸/肩兩下，再食指指向你* 

Simon & Garfunkel

I've been writing "the making of" Jesu's proposal. It's long a it's taking a long time. In the mean time, I'll just put up another "trivia" article. These things are not really trivial. They are actually well known to certain groups of people. They're just less known to my friends, I guess. For today's topic, I don't know them either.

I first heard of Simon & Garfunkel when communitychannel mentioned it in her video. She's got to the ticket to their concert. Last week, I browsed http://www.aucklandnz.com/ to see the events in Auckland. I saw that they're coming to NZ too, and my dad recognizes the duo. Yesterday, my mum mentioned that her bosses tried to buy tickets to their concert. When I got home today, my mum is playing their concert DVD, which she just bought today. So, somehow, their names have been popping up in the recent weeks.

But I have absolutely no idea who they are. I don't know what they're famous for. According to Wikipedia, they were an American singer-songwriter duo that was famous in the 1960s. They broke up and they reunited for a couple of years in the early 80s. I think my parents might know them from that time. Then they broke up again. It seems like they've broken up several times. Anyway, now they're touring around the world. My mum said that Auckland concert was sold out in less than 20 minutes after they start selling the tickets. So I guess there are still many people who want to see they perform.

The odd thing is, as I listened to a few songs in the concert DVD, I couldn't recognize the songs. If they've been so popular, howcome there aren't many songs that are played on Classic Hits or other radio channels that play old songs? By the way, I don't find their songs interesting...

So, my friends, leave comments if you know what they are famous for, what their most memorable songs are. Also, if you're going to their concert, let me know why.

Bump into engineering classmates. 3 times!

I bumped into my old engineering classmates 3 times yesterday. What a coincidence!

I went to the general & science careers fair in uni. Michael was there too. He recently graduated from his PhD. I bumped into him on the graduation day a couple of weeks ago too.

Then I saw Brian in the shared postgraduate computer workspace in the computer science department. I've seen him a few times there. He came back this semester to study a postgrad paper. It's funny how we end up studying in the same place at the same time after so many years.

After I finished my lab demonstrating job around 10pm, I ran downhill to try to catch a bus that leaves soon. Then somebody else was running too. He called me. I turned my head and saw it was Willy. So I chose to take the same bus as him and transfer at a trasnport centre. Willy is still working on his PhD. Interestingly, it sounded like he had worked on something that was related to what I did in a project when I studied engineering. It brought back the memory. Mostly bad memories. But it's alright now because that's far away. I've matured a bit to realize why things weren't how I imagined it to be, and what we could have done differently. Anyway, PhD really takes a huge amount of work. All the PhD students I've met all feel it's hard to finish at the end. I hope Willy will work through it without much trouble.

搬離無名小站

這一篇只跟有網誌在無名小站的人有關。我只是在轉寄資訊。

無名小站要在2009年5月26日終止一些服務，其中包括網誌備份XML下載這個功能，所以一堆用戶現在在備份放在無名的網誌，準備搬家。擔心以後沒有備份功能，放在無名的文章就只能留在無名搬不走了。

所以你也想趁還能搬家時搬走的話，可以參考這個文章和工具來搬家：

如何從「無名小站」搬家到PIXNET痞客邦 ？ （含搬家公告） by 重灌狂人

我自己沒有無名小站的帳號。多年前想用網路相簿時差點申請了，申請無名到某一步驟要我填身分證號碼，我就不爽，放棄它，後來找了Flickr來用. Good choice! 個人覺得使用介面和板面比無名的相簿整潔多了。也沒有奇怪的廣告圖片夾在前後圖片的 thumbernail 中間或是什麼煩人的位置。

後來聽說無名小站經營的一些 dodgy 事情，更是被我打進我看不順眼、希望它倒的名單上。dodgy 事情像是它最早是偷偷利用交通大學的學術網路，卻拿來營利；轉成商業公司時招募白金會員卻沒依照原本的承諾；速度慢卻只怪Hinet，還叫用戶打電話去中華電信抱怨；無名小站與交大的回饋金的問題；商業化後也有人發現還有偷用交大學術資源 etc.

Anyway, I haven't put my stuff on their services and I won't use it in the future either. I simply watch it losing its dominance over time.

Related Links:

[公告] 無名部分服務退役，終止服務 by 無名小站

如何從「無名小站」搬家到PIXNET痞客邦 ？ （含搬家公告） by 重灌狂人

丁丁大站到底幹了哪些好事? by MMDays

「有名」Q&A by XDite

Happy with your quality of life?

Kiwis happy despite lack of wealth - OECD

The news article says a survey shows New Zealanders are satisfied with their lives even though we have lower income in OECD countries.

It also mentions how we spend our time. We spend the least time watching TV. We spend 2 hours a day to eat and drink. That's the second longest, just behind France. That's great because I eat slowly. I'm in NZ and people spend lots of time eating anyway. :P

Then the newspaper asks the readers for opinions.

"Are you happy with your quality of life?"

Yes. That's what I would say, given it's a yes-no question.

We've got clean water and good sanitation systems. There's still a significant portion of the world population without those basic needs. We should be grateful for what we have. OK. Even if we don't think in such a large scale, just the cities of developed countries, Auckland is still pretty good in my opinion.

Of course, different people with different situations probably feel differently about their quality of life. I'm just fortunate enough to have a life I'm happy with.

I've lived in Taipei and I've lived in Auckland. I think it's no use to dwell on things that you don't have at the place you are at. For example, if I keep complaining that Auckland doesn't have 7-11, 捷運 and 燒仙草, it doesn't help me. It just makes me miserable. So, do what's available here. Walk some tracks. Enjoy the beach. Eat some pies. Perhaps, develop patience while waiting and taking the slow buses. Hey, at least I get to sit in the bus. I almost always stand in the MRT in Taipei.

If you ask me the same question when I was in Taipei, I would answer "yes", too. There are things to enjoy in Taipei. The convenience, the food, the events and performances. For Hari, the girls too, from a distance. :P

So. If you really don't like your city, you should move. Otherwise, just enjoy the city you're in. Appreciate what you've got.

I guess I'll make an exception for people living in 高雄, though. You have the right to be miserable. :P I'm joking. I've never lived there so I don't really know.

川貝枇杷露

最近天氣多變化，一堆人感冒了。我今天晚上工作結束在關lab的時候居然看到有人留下這瓶：

我已經不知道有多少年沒喝這種東西了，連看都很少看到。現在回想，最接近的應該是喝 Vicks 吧，不過那也是很多年前。

By the way, 在台灣比較有名的是另一家川貝枇杷膏，照片裡這個好像是香港的。

Spongebob 撿到死亡筆記本

無意間看到這個影片，我忍不住想記下來，分享一下。

海绵宝宝版死亡笔记

真不知道作者怎麼有這個構想的？完全意想不到，把Spongebob 的畫面套在死亡筆記本的聲音上，而且配合得真好，對嘴很自然，畫面又符合聲音描述的劇情。

不過，可能要知道死亡筆記本和喜歡 Spongebob 的人才會覺得有趣吧？如果你沒聽過，死亡筆記本的故事是說主角夜神月撿到死神的筆記本，把人的名字寫進筆記本就能殺死那個人，他決定要把全天下的壞人殺光，主宰新世界。

南北分割成兩國的島

有一個島上，有兩個族群的人，他們的祖先在歷史上不同的時代來到這個海島。其中一群人想要和祖先來自的國家統一，另一邊反對，結果發生了衝突與政變。最後這個島南北分割，一個族群佔領北邊，一個族群住在南邊，各自宣稱自己成立的國家。

你覺得我講的是一個虛擬的故事？在想像福爾摩沙/台灣這個島上未來的情形？

並不是，我講的是賽普勒斯 Cyprus 這個島的真實情況。這只是我對 Cyprus 粗淺的了解，都是 Wikipedia 看來的。我在讀它的描述的時候的確聯想到台灣的情形。當然，情形一定是不同的，Cyprus 有種族上的差異，希臘和土耳其這兩個「祖國」似乎也一直有干涉島上的事務。只是我開頭講的那些部分會引起聯想。

有興趣可以讀讀有關 Cyprus 的描述，像是 Wikipedia 上的 Cyprus 的條目。

拿破崙

我想跟 Hari 玩拿破崙。因為 Hari 對於遊戲一定自認為很會玩，然後我猜他玩拿破崙的 style 一定跟我差很多，的確，Peter 說他喜歡搶著當拿破崙，而我通常很少叫上去。我猜 Hari 會搶著吃牌，大牌也會握到最後。我則通常一開始就把 A K Q J 丟出去，喜歡送給別人，也逼拿破崙要早早出大牌來吃。這會是一場帝王與庶民的較勁呀。

造口業

從三月底到現在比較多事，沒來寫什麼，三月底先是趕著寫一篇 conference paper，花一大堆時間讀學術文章和寫自己的文章；之後四月初有四天是有個紐西蘭本地學生辦的 conference，感覺起來有點像是全國 computer science 的研究學生聚會，不過大部分是 PhD 學生；接著是 Easter holiday 去 Waitomo Caves 玩，而且還要求婚，是 Jesu 求婚啦，是有動員到我們其他人。結果我反而先上來寫昨天晚上發上的事，因為我要來向神父告解我造了口業。嗯，神父和口業好像是不同信仰的概念，我亂提宗教又更增加罪過呀。

主要呢，我提到 Jack 了，唉，他偶而就我被我在背後念，後來離開了就很少再念，昨天又被我提起了。有人昨天問起了 Jesu 和 Lydia 一開始再一起的事，聽他們兩人的描述，我覺得 Jesu 在我心目中變得越來越厲害，重點就是，一皮天下無難事呀。臉皮厚、神經大條也是一種 EQ 高的方式呀！可以很泰然作自己，遇到批評也不會退開，揮都揮不走。

不幸的是，Jack 被我拿來作比較，我以前想說他戰績輝煌是猛男，但是以結果論來講，是誰準備要結婚呀？所以啦，我說了壞話，造口業。我也很明白的說了，我一直暗地裡 pick on Jack 是因為最後他在紐西蘭的時候要找他每次都說沒空，"maybe next time"，就算約好了，當天也一定會臨時說有事不能來。所以試著找他的朋友都覺得滿鳥的。然後，因為找不到他，只能在背地裡念他，不能當面罵他。所以啦，我偶而就拿 Jack 來念念。這一切都是我氣量小。

So, Jack, 希望你看到這篇之後知道我在你背後說壞話。這樣，我就不算是在你背後說壞話了。(???)

還是 Jack 你該不會在我送訊息給你說我在這篇講你壞話，給你link你還是不點進來看？

有一句話說：「愛的相反不是恨，而是冷漠。」你看看，我會罵你代表我還在乎你 :P 那你呢？

我真是講太多壞話了。

Addicted to Browsing the Internet

I'm worried. I think I'm addicted to browsing the Internet.

When I'm in my room, I turn on my computer and immediately start up Google Chrome, then I just click on the links that show up on my front page, Plurk, YouTube, NZ Herald. I also check Google Reader quite often.

When I see something new, I click the link to see it. When I have a question, I immediately Google it or read the Wikipedia article. I just use the Internet too much.

I think I might be doing it to avoid other complication in life :-(

In the odd days, TV was the problem. Now it's the Internet.

Maybe I should pick up some books. ha. Or maybe I should meditate.

OK, I'm closing my browser now.

The Lake House (film) 感想

看這片還滿愉快的。穿梭時空一定是不合邏輯的，可是這不是愛情片的重點所以我並不太在意 time travel 的漏洞。我居然覺得這比 Déjà Vu 好看，大概是期望不同，我覺得 Déjà Vu 的穿梭時空是重點，所以比較期望是合理和獨特的。

The Lake House 和 Kate & Leopold 這種愛情片中的 time travel 只是製造特殊情境用的一個機制，接受它就可以了，不合理也沒差。

不太懂片中為什麼要扯到 Jane Austen 的 Persuasion 那本小說，好像是要點出 "waiting for the right time" ?

Persuasion 是我在高中還是大學前兩年看的，不太記得了。大致好像是男女主角年輕時因為女方家庭嫌男方窮所以分手，多年後兩人變成大軍官和老處女時再碰面，重新相處有沒有第二次發展的機會。

So, Lake House 是 refer 說兩人必須要等待適合的時間點 or something? 還是其實是編劇要 refer 兩個演員在經歷公車炸彈後多年，變成了救世駭客和偽選美小姐，再次合作拍片有沒有第二次火花。

居然忘了寫一開始想寫的詞：

靈異信箱是韓國人發明的

因為這部片是翻拍韓國電影的。

Enjoyment: 3 stars

愛吸

我愛吸L&P

也應該用台語. 哇尚尬意速L&P ... or something like that.

在台灣喝黑松沙士，在紐西蘭就喝L&P.

Working on my report

Working on my report this week. Busy. I probably won't write much here until April.

黑白中一抹紅，乳溝讓世界更美好

週三晚上六點上班，所以五點就去學校附近的台灣餐廳吃飯，沒什麼人，但是有一桌坐著兩位(媒體是亂源說某個朋友喜歡的)金髮白人女生，其中一個穿著粉紅色短袖胸口很低的棉質休閒衣服，露出豐滿雙峰間的乳溝。

這位美女整體給人的感覺是有氣質而不低俗(註1)，頓時我覺得這平庸的地方有她的點綴而變的美麗有色彩。我心中的畫面是像那種黑白相片中有一抹紅色的那種感覺，像是水泥牆上有著一朵紅花，讓人一眼就注意到，也跟平凡甚至醜陋的背景成對比。(註2)

這一朵紅花讓旁人很難忽略，兩位美女離開後我聽到店員也短短談論了一下，「穿粉紅色的比較辣。」我聽到某個女店員這麼說。

我忽然希望世界上有多一些這樣的氣質美女露乳溝，讓乏味的畫面加入更多顏色，這樣世界會更美麗、更美好。

後記：後來上班時有個亞洲女學生也穿了滿低胸的衣服，嗯，感覺沒那麼美好。不糟糕，只是沒有一抹紅的吸引力。既然我已經 wish for 更多乳溝，so 我心裡就頒了她一個最佳勇氣獎，想說，yes, this should be encouraged.

註1: 我想像如果有台灣鄉土歐巴桑看到這位露胸的金髮美女的話，可能會說"沒見笑"，然後再稱讚她像芭比娃娃一樣。

註2： 我講的畫面有點類似這種感覺，不過背景要更都市或更工業的感覺。

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44254071@N00/138345490/

(我給連結而不直接嵌圖進頁面，因為覺得這樣比較尊重照片的作者)

Round the Bays

In a sudden turn of events. I actually ran Round the Bays on Sunday. When I met Joseph on Thursday. Just before we parted, he mentioned that he was going to run Round the Bays on Sunday. I've always wanted to run at a road running event. This time I had a friend who was in it. So yeah I registered just days before the event.

By the way, I also realized that I actually walked for 7.5 km a few weeks ago, so the 8.4 km run of Round the Bays shouldn't be a problem. So yup, let's do this.

Actually I kind of warmed up before the race on Sunday morning. I missed the bus that is nearest to my home. So I had to walk further to catch the bus on another route. They were the express buses. Many people in athletic gears all tried to get on the bus. I got on and took one of the few remaining seats. Then at the next stop, there were like 40 people waiting to get on the bus, it took like 8 minutes to board passengers at that stop. Some people were left behind because the bus was full. The bus was full people going to run and I saw people in team t-shirts. There were Tower at the back of the bus, NZI in the middle and Sovereign at the front. Why were all these insurance companies squashed on the same bus? Luckily it wasn't a day for hostility. And even better, nobody tried to sell me any insurance product. :P

Joseph and I said we'd meet at 9.10am but his friend was late for driving him there. The starting line on Quay Street got really crowded so we couldn't meet before the run started. Oh, while I was waiting for Joseph at the start line. I met somebody else. Tony Wang! He was there with his family. He said he had run at this event for the past few years.

Luckily Joseph and his friend waited at Mobil near the start of the route and we met up. It delayed us and kind of put us at the back of the crowd, though. At the beginning part of the run, it was crowded and difficult to actually run. The event organizer said walkers on the left and runners on the right. However, I encountered a few walking people every few seconds when I tried to run on the right edge of the road. I couldn't run in a straight line and had to change direction and pace all the time. Soon, I was separated from Joseph and his friends. We agreed to make our own ways there and meet at the finish line.

I got to the first water station. Cool. I get to grab a cup of water, drink it, and throw it on the road just like those marathon runners I saw on TV. There was also a person who held a hose to spary water over the air so people could run through it to cool if they wanted to. Hey, isn't that Tony? Ha, somehow I met Tony again. We just exchanged a few words and we started running again. They weather was perfect. It was sunny but not too hot. It didn't feel humid. It was very comfortable to run.

After a while, the road became less crowded. People were more spread out. I could run more easily. I kept my pace slow and steady so I didn't burn out. After running past Mission and other beaches, I finally crossed the finish line at St Heliers Bay. woohoo~ That wasn't too hard. ha :P

I met up with Joseph in a few minutes and we found a place where you can print out your time. My time was, 72 minutes and 4 seconds. Joseph was a few minutes slower. Hey that was quite good. I checked other people's 2008 results on the web site before the race and found the average was about 80 something minutes. So, 72 minutes was quite good, and we were probably faster because we were delayed at the starting line for a few minutes.

沒圖沒真相... 這邊先留空，之後跟Joseph拿了照片再貼圖。

Hey, you don't believe me, you can go to Round the Bays web site and check people's results. You can also check if people you know were in the race :P

Next year, if I practise before the event and go to the front of the starting line, I'll aim to finish under 60 minutes. I think I can.  :) 

距離時差小失落

今晚找兩個在不同時區的朋友找不到，感覺有點失落。

距離時差是事實，也不能怎樣。只是在很想找人問問時，發覺只有自己，有點失落。

Busy Thursday

There were a few things that took place on Thursday. I didn't get much work done that day because I went to different events from noon onward.

At noon, I met up with Joseph to have lunch together. Joseph's in NZ for a month to do intern(?) at Auckland Hospital. We went to Occidental and ate a pot of mussels each. :)  The bad thing was, somehow I feel so much fatigue this week, I was so sleepy in the darker lighting.

Then, not long after I got back to my office, I went to the demonstrator workshop. This is for my part time job in the computer lab in uni. The workshop was to let the demonstrators discuss the possible issues that happen on the job and how we can better assist students. Even though I've done this for two semesters. Some issues surprised me. One was there was a couple who made out in the computer lab. Hm... right... why would you want to do that in a computer lab?... That doesn't sound romantic. Although another person mentioned that there was a couple who sit on one seat and watched a movie. He said the only thing missing was the popcorn! Movies. Maybe that's why.

Another issue that surprised me was that we're required to declare it to our boss if we're dating the student who comes to the lab. Furthermore, the demonstrators of the labs for particular stage 1 classes are forbidden to date their students. I didn't know these rules. Not that I've got those issues.

Soon after the workshop, the next event I went to was the IT student's club event. It's a new club that just started this year. This event was "poker night". There were pizzas too, of course. So I played poker in a table of six players for about an hour. My somewhat cautious approach got me to third place at this table. A few sponsers spoke during the game. I don't know if they got their messages across. ha.

Okinawa Massage Therapist

Just random silly stuffs. It's my silly words, right? I've been thinking about changing the name of the blog, though. Perhaps it'll include the word "thesis"? :P

I probably didn't sleep enough this week. So I felt really slow and sleepy in the morning. I hope a lunch would solve it. It didn't. So I went to the library to find a spot to take a nap. To my surprised, there many people on level 1 and level M. It proves that uni student do study, just like Jack when his mum was in NZ. Certainly, there are many other business students who don't.

It was an unusual thing, though. I don't go to the library much and I don't remember having a nap there. ha. I did feel better after the nap.

On another topic. Last time I was chatting with a friend who lives in a relatively cold city. He said he likes somewhere hot. After some thought, I suggested Okinawa. It's hot and you get Japanese girls as company. It's a paradise. :P

But really, which cities do you think are good places to live (and you haven't lived there)? Sydney and Singapore have long been on my list. People have different opinions and perceptions, though. One friend thought Sydney might be racist and another friend thought Singapore was communist. (Note 1)

I read a news article about a massage therapist talking about her job. I thought hey, my friend J could do that. It's somewhat similar to physiotherapy which he's interested in. And he might get some female clients to request for extra services. :P That's unprofessional but who says he is. :P

Note: Communism might not necessarily be a bad thing. It's an economic ideology. When that friend and I chat. He actually leans towards socialism and I'm towards capitalism. But our actions seem to be the other way around?? But that's another topic.

My Favourite YouTube Videos

I felt it was a negative thing to just leave the previous post about Internet phenomena there without some positive forces to show that the world is still bright. It looked as if I only liked mindless stuff. Actually I've been wanting to write this post for quite some time.

So this time I'm writing about the YouTube videos I have bookmarked. I've already mentioned some of them in previous posts. 反正唱片公司也會出新歌加精選嘛 :P They are good enough to be brought up twice.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)
(Click HD at the bottom right of the video in YouTube to watch the high definition version)
I first saw this from Peter and I loved it. Dancing with people around the world. It's so peaceful and happy. The music fits with the video perfectly. I really like it and I've watched it many times.
Did Matt dance in your city or your hometown? Watch the video to find out.

Related links:

The 2008 video is actually Matt's 3rd video.

The original video posted in 2005

The second video in 2006

Official web site

Wikipedia article about Matt Harding

Sort Of Dunno Nothin' - Peter Denahy
A funny song that portrays a typical aimless teenager. Always answering yep, no, nothing, dunno etc. I'm sure I did that when I was a teenager. I think I still do that sometimes. :P Some friends do that too.

Diet Coke + Mentos

Mentos + diet coke = eruption should be common knowledge by now. You haven't heard of it? Well, watch this video to see how mentos and diet coke can be used to make an interesting display.

Related links:

The official web site has another mentos experiment that relies on chain reaction - The Domino Effect

Ken Lee

Be warned! If you choose to listen to this song, you might have it playing in your head all the time. (at least for a while) :P

She makes this song her own. This song is now called Ken Lee and people sing "Ken lee... tulibu dibu douchoo"

Actually, I haven't written about the two channels that I subscribe to. I'll talk about them next time.

Walk to the beach

I haven't run for a couple of weeks. I guess I'd struggle if I run Round the Bays next week. "No la, maybe next year."

The weather is more unstable than the previous summer months. I went jogging this afternoon as the weather was sunny. Well, I mostly walked because I'd been inactive and got fatter. Nevertheless, I walked to the beach on the east coast and back. Google Map says that round trip is 7.5km. It took about 80 minutes.

It looks to me it's really nice to live near the beaches. It'd be convenient during the summer months. Just walk a few minutes to the beach. So nice. But I don't live that close to the beaches. It takes at least half an hour to reach the beach on foot. I guess it's already really convenient, though, if I drive. But that's still different. Say if I live just 10 minute walk / 5 min run away from the beach, I can just walk there whenever I want, whenever I have a bit of spare time. Someday, someday.

Anyway, I'm just babbling. And I just want to try this quote function:

我家不靠 Bay

Does that look like a quote in magazine? hm, it doesn't look like it with the current style of my blog.

無意義的網路流行

本篇無意義。

Hari 隨興了寫下「大哥是對的！」這個留言，說是看了投名狀之後就有衝動想講這句話。我懂我懂，之前我已經遇過別人隨機說出「大哥是對的」，這好像是看完投名狀之後的症狀。

我沒看過投名狀，但是我自己也會隨興喊出一些無意義的詞，「藍藍路」、「丁丁是個人才」、「殺很大」，還有會隨時唱起 Never Gonna Give You Up。網路上還有其他人也是這樣，這都是一些無意義的網路流行呀。

「藍藍路」

依順序擺三個手勢，一邊說「藍藍路」。源自日本麥當勞的電視廣告。無意義。

簡單的介紹： 四小折's 繪本日誌 - 藍藍路～

「丁丁是個人才」

大致上是諷刺某人跟天線寶寶一樣腦殘。

介紹：重灌狂人 - 名詞解釋：「丁丁是個人才！」

名詞的最初來源：焱的繪圖小站 - 炫耀文!!!PS3入手!!!

「殺很大」

這之前我寫了一篇提過，是一個線上遊戲無意義的電視廣告的台詞。

前天在Peter家，Peter放這個廣告給大家看，現在Andy, Jess 偶而沒事也會講殺很大。

一般朋友連這篇看廣告影片: 重灌狂人 - 殺很大… 看完真的很想扁人！

H... 呃，某友人請連這邊看圖片: osaki's Blog - 殺很大、插很大(+瑤瑤寫真性感精選35P)

最後，這個是我硬塞進這一篇的 (因為塞很大塞不用錢)

"Rickrolling"

情人節的時候我寫了這一篇說我要給大家禮物，自己表演盒中鳥。可是像Hari 就說沒看到我在影片裡呀！因為我放的連結是 Never Gonna Give You Up 這首歌的音樂影片。其實我是要Rickroll 大家呀，我又沒伴又不喜歡這種商人用來賺錢的"節日"，我比較可能去參加去死去死團，沒那麼好心要送禮給大家，只想惡搞一下。

Rickroll 是假裝提供一個很有趣的連結，結果真正放的是 Rick Astley 的 Never Gonna Give You Up 這首歌的 music video. 只是耍人一下，無意義。

例如給 Andy, Peter: 新版 PS3 Lite 搶先看!!

例如給某友人：網路內衣節 - 內衣公主比賽

不過這首歌還滿好聽的啦，所以我也沒事聽一下。也滿 catchy，所以會隨興唱一下。

Rickroll 之後有改編的歐巴馬的 Barack Roll，再來還有歐巴馬踢館版。

Rickrolling 在 Wikipedia 有詳細的解釋

Write More and Read Less

I try to write more and perhaps read less.

I often feel overwhelmed by the amount of information. I read emails, site feeds, plurks (note 1). Some of them then point to blog articles, videos etc. Information overload! Some days I find that I do nothing all day except consuming information.

So I started feeling all this input doesn't do very much. It only has some kind of results if I output something. So I thought I should also produce, not just consume.

Also, It took me a LONG time to write my summer project report. I realized that was something I could improve on. It motivated me to practise writing, especially in English.

I used to be too busy reading and didn't get around to write.
I came across this article, Cory Doctorow: Writing in the Age of Distraction. It suggests writing for a short time consistently, daily. That's what I'm trying.

So you see that I've written more posts recently. Even if a lot of them are worth little, it's a practice for me. Hopefully I sharpen myself. Hopefully this continues. I hope things don't get busy and I stop writing. Fingers crossed.


Related Links:
Cory Doctorow: Writing in the Age of Distraction
中文版 - [productivity] 持續寫作這件事 – keep writing

note 1: I don't check Facebook because that's just too messy. Way too many notifications, invitations, whatever. The broadcasting is annoying. I just don't bother unless somebody can show me a simple way to manage the messages I broadcast and receive. And, Lydia and Alice show no intention of introducing me to their female friends listed in Facebook.

自己嚇自己

原本這一篇應該是恐怖故事，結果嚇到自己，不敢寫了。

今天晚上在做管理電腦教室的工作，結果到九點時所有人都走光了。想說可以提早下班，卻發覺正好趕不上公車，只好再等半個小時。自己就在那想說，這種無人的場景，應該可以編鬼故事吧。想說可以想像一下寫一篇，結果想一想就嚇到自己了。而且又想說，其實寫出來給別人讀，可能不熟悉環境的人可能也不會覺得可怕，所以嚇不到別人，只是自己嚇自己。還好我後來有想了惡搞版 ending ，心情有比較緩和，只是回家路上有任何聲響我還是很警戒。

丟東西，刪檔案

我在台灣住了兩年之後，特別愛整理東西，總覺得把空間清出來很重要。剛回來紐西蘭就收到 Ray 把 Kenny 遺留的衣服交給我，這讓我變得喜歡丟東西。

一開始收到兩大箱 Kenny 的衣服，裡面有很多 Ray 講的"潮牌"的衣服，我自己本身不會花那麼多錢買，我忽然有了兩條我想說這輩子都不會有的 Diesel 牛仔褲，我說 "It's like Christmas." 感受到對一個人沒用的東西，可能對另一個人是禮物。

後來這兩箱衣服我一件件試，我最後把大部分的衣服丟去舊衣回收，我只要覺得不合身或我不太會穿的衣服我就丟了 (有好幾件肩膀好寬的polo衫還有超長的外套)，因為就像我覺得是收到禮物一樣，應該也有別人會覺得這是禮物，與其讓他留在我衣櫃裡沒被利用，不如讓別人好好使用他。

我以前幾乎保存所有的東西，只要任何東西還有價值，我就留著；現在我的想法變成考慮我還會不會用到這東西，不會用到的話對我其實沒價值，也許別人還覺得有價值。以前是想：「這東西還能不能用？能用就留著。」；現在是想：「這東西我還會不會用到？不會的話就丟出去。」現在覺得留著沒用到的東西不但佔空間，更煩人的是下次整理時又要對同樣的東西再考慮一次。

週日在整理舊文件，也翻了一下舊電腦裡的檔案，我以前很用心地把檔案都留下，就算換了新硬碟也會抄過去，反正硬碟越來越大，舊檔案其實佔得很小。好幾年前的檔案都還在，所以工程系四年的檔案都在，挖深一點的話應該也找得到 "raymath"，一個高中時教 Ray 做數學作業開的檔案夾。最早ICQ的訊息記錄我也存了好多年，到後來發覺真的不太會去看我才沒有那麼勤勞保存紀錄和在每次出新版時轉檔。

對，就是「會不會用到？」這個衡量標準。這次整理時我也想著會不會用到？發覺這一大堆舊檔案後來也從來沒使用過。翻了一下，還翻到好幾年前自己在試著整理自己情感時寫下的一些文字，現在已經脫離那種情緒很久了，讀了只覺得有點尷尬，最好沒有人會看到這些。我第一次覺得這些過去是種累贅，忽然有股衝動想把這一大堆數年來的檔案全部刪掉。的確，不用再用到了，刪掉了也不會再喚起回憶，也銷毀了證據。

我並沒有真的立刻刪光，我遲疑了一下，這些檔案大概只對我有價值吧，刪了也不會對誰有好處。雖然現在的心情不想回想起過去，也許哪天卻會想追溯過去某個時間的自己。最後，我決定讓它靜靜存在硬碟上一個角落，我發現我算是救了它們，就想到這一句：多想兩分鐘，你其實可以不必刪檔。

BBQ at Cornwall Park

Hm, so I often write about the events a week later. Starlight Symphony was last Saturday. We went to Cornwall Park to have a BBQ last Sunday.

Again, we were worried about the weather. It was raining around 11am. Luckily, the rain had stopped by the time we met at 12.30. Andy and Alice got most of the food. However, Jesu and Lydia had the foil so we couldn't start until they bring the foil. They were half an hour late. People, you better to be punctual. Your friends might document your lateness in the blogs. :P It's on the record as long as Google lives. :P

Anyway, the food was nice. Most of the meat was marinated meat from the supermarket. It was an easy way and it did ensure that it tasted good. The sweet corns Lydia and Jesu brought were delicious too. I felt the food we had in this BBQ was much better than the BBQs we had in the old days. We had some hard to cook stuffs like chicken wings and drumsticks. Sometimes they weren't marinated well. Most of the time they weren't cooked well because somebody would grab it before it was perfectly cooked.

There was a Korean family waiting for our barbeque grill. Perhaps they thought we were about to finish. But we kept taking out new food from the bags.

Steaks, kumeras, capsicums, sausages, sweetcorns, kebabs. They were all tasty.

After the satisfying BBQ, we listened to the Jazz music performance in the park. Then we played catch (baseball) on a large area of grass. Then we bought a 2-litre pack ice cream and ate it at Peter's place. In retrospect, why did we do that?! ha. That was a lot of ice cream.

Ha. just keeping a record of what we did. 

Thank Alice and Andy for preparing the food. Andy did a lot of the cooking too. Lydia and Jesu's sweetcorns were wonderful too. Peter was all-round utility guy, provided the baseball gear and the common room. He cooked too!

I think I'm supposed to put photos in this kind of articles. I only took a few photos at the beginning of the BBQ, though. Alice probably has better photos in her camera. These are the best I can do. 

Preparation

Start cooking

No photo of yummy cooked food :'(

Computer tip: Ctrl + enlarges text

I use shortcut keys. Most people probably rarely use them. However, there's one I think that's really useful and people should know.

Press 'Ctrl' and '+' to enlarge the text.

This should make long articles easier to read.

In most browsers:

Ctrl +  makes the text larger

Ctrl -  makes the text smaller

Ctrl 0  set the text to the original size

Also, hold the Ctrl key and scroll the mouse wheel also changes the size of the text.

They also work in some word processors (e.g. MS Word) and PDF readers etc. In this case, they're more like zooming in and out.

I know it's useful for someone who just got a new 10-inch netbook in Taiwan. hehe. Even for me, my notebook has a 15-inch screen. I still press Ctrl + on most web pages. I don't like straining my eyes.

Starlight Symphony

I went to Starlight Symphony. Although this event had run for many years, I had never been there. What I heard about the event was that it was similar to Christmas in the Park but with classical music. It had a fireworks show at the end. As Alice is a fireworks fanatic, she mentioned about this event more than a month ago. I checked out the information on the Internet and found that this year Brooke Fraser will perform there! Brooke Fraser! So I was determined to go. But it turned out that Alice had another friend's event to go and couldn't go to Starlight Symphony. I thought it might start a chain reaction that Andy doesn't go because Alice doesn't go. Then Peter doesn't go because Andy doesn't go. And so. I was so determined to go that I'd go even by myself if nobody joins me. Luckily, the good guy Andy went with me. Later, Jesu and Lydia also came to Auckland Domain and Andy somehow managed to find them.

The weather was a worry initially. It rained earlier that day and I thought the event may be postponed. It turned clear in the evening. Other than a drizzle at the start of the show, it stayed dry for the rest of the event.

They played pieces of music that many people are familiar with. For example, in the beginning, there were several violinists featured one by one. They played different movements of the Four Seasons by Vivaldi. Andy commented on them like a 星光大道評審. Andy said a few of them sounded different from his CD recordings at home but they got their own styles. However, Andy said one was 太油. Ha, that comment is usually for 星光大道 or American Idol but not for classical music.

They played more pieces of classical music that I was familiar with. Some of them particularly interested me because I played them in high school in the orchestras. Auckland Philharmonia played Williamtell Overture, Finlandia, Pomp & Circumstances. Jeffrey, I wish you were there. Ah, good old high school orchestra times.

In the second half of the event, about 2 hours into the show, Brooke Fraser finally got on the stage. That was what we'd been waiting for. Well, "we" as many other people and I. Andy, Jesu and Lydia didn't know who she was. Brooke Fraser started by singing Shadowfeet, one of the hit singles of her second album. Then she sang Deciphering Me from the same album. The third song was Mystery, it's a less promoted song from the first album. So I thought she wouldn't end it with that song. Indeed, she then performed her first hit song, Better. Then she stepped off the stage. The host then asked the audience whether if we wanted more Brooke Fraser. Of course the audience said we wanted more. Brooke then came back on the stage and sat at the piano. She played the piano and sang the mellow ballade Arithmetic. I loved Brooke Fraser's performance. She played the piano for three of the five songs I think. The orchestra played the other instruments for the songs, which was different from her usual band, and it sounded great.

After that, another highlight was a laser light show. It was wicked.

Then the whole event finsished with Auckland Philharmonia playing the 1812 Overture and to accompany the fireworks. The fireworks were dazzling. That's one of the best fireworks I've seen.

So. I really enjoyed Starlight Symphony. To me, it was better than Christmas in the Park because I've heard those Christmas songs too many times. Also, the fireworks were magnificent. 

One thing is the same for both events, though. Wear warm clothes even though it's summer. It gets cold in the evening in such an open space. The other three people probably got quite cold by the end of the show. ha :P

Related pages:

Brooke Fraser's YouTube channel - Watch the music videos of some songs that were mentioned. 

Brooke Fraser's MySpace Music page - Listen to some of her songs that were mentioned. 

Brooke Fraser's Official Web site

骯髒的亞洲人正在摧毀我們的家園

鄉親啊！各位要一同維護我們國家尊嚴的朋友們，要注意，我們的家園正快速被侵入被摧毀，我們純淨的白人社會嚴重地受到威脅。我這幾天到奧克蘭去，發覺情況已經非常嚴重了，在市中心的街道上，路上不但有毛利人、島民，還有印度人、中國人和阿拉伯人，整個城市被汙染了。更可怕的是，奧克蘭的皇后街的街景居然是這樣：

阿娘喂！掛這些醜陋的紅球是什麼玩意？簡直是共產黨入侵，清國奴佔領我們的城一樣，天呀！奧克蘭根本沒有尊嚴了！

還有還有！這些黃種賭徒不但每天在賭場揮霍，居然也波及賭場旁的天空之塔，塔的底部居然被貼成這樣。

那是多醜陋的文字呀！我白人看不懂，覺得那看起來像蒼蠅被打死在牆上一樣。真是可惡！居然用這麼噁心的東西蹂躪了我們國家最高最驕傲的陽具型建築！

紐西蘭是一直以來是我們白人的土地，是我們的祖先辛苦建立的家園。當然，有人會提出說毛利人比我們白人先來到這塊土地，甚至說他們幾千年前是從在亞洲的台灣來的。經過我努力不求知的精神和極力蒙蔽自己的眼之後，這些都不會進入我那微小又阻塞的腦，全都忽略掉。反正，紐西蘭是屬於我們白人的國家，我們必須戰戰兢兢的保護著它，維持純淨的白人社會。

可惜我們的國人不夠團結，似乎大部分的人都被動地接受我們國家正在改變的面貌。可是，我無法忍受。這些外國人越來越侵入我們生活的各個部分，讓我覺得深深感到威脅，有很沉重的精神壓力，害我連看到哈利波特親張秋我都想吐；靠！我連看到海綿寶寶黃皮暴牙我都會緊張發抖。

我受不了了！所以，我決定要跟隨一位對我們種族有同樣驕傲的俗辣弟兄，搬去小鎮建立一個白人城鎮，保存我們純正優良的血統。雖然目前願意來的只有小貓兩三隻，但是這是必要的，你看，在澳洲有隻黃母狗計畫要播種讓我的孫子變成亞洲人，如果同樣的計畫也在紐西蘭進行，以後就沒有純種白人了，所以是有必要建立保護區保護我們這些稀有動物的。

鄉親啊！我這不是在講笑話呀！情況已經越來越惡化了。路上到處都是外國人，也越來越多白癡國民居然喜歡那些骯髒的亞洲人，一群叛徒！那些狡猾的亞洲人越來越活躍，不只看得到的地方換了我們街景，他們暗地裡八成也在討論、策畫要推翻我們。搞不好還有清國奴在網路上寫文章調侃我，欺負我白人看不懂。

哇，我也覺得很神奇，居然能寫出這一大篇，這麼多不同的字。平常我只會罵粗話和重複說「滾回你的國家」而已。可能我這兩天打了幾次老婆有增加我的智商吧！我這麼有心的打這麼一大篇，就是希望我們有相同想法的朋友們能夠看清情況，一起搬來白人小鎮。章魚哥，帶著你的單簧管也一起搬過來吧！

最後，我再強調是有必要保留我身上優越純正的白... 啊！香蕉！

滑了一跤，接著在路上被卡車壓過去了...

我看著身上到處流出來...

原來...... 我是包奶油的？

不是，在血泊之中，剛才有一瞬間，我看到了我的列祖列宗要來接我，我才知道，原來我的曾祖母是張秋。

----------------------------------------------------------

又要來說明很明顯的東西。這篇當然不是在以我自己的身分在寫我的觀點，我只是看了奧克蘭市中心有掛了元宵節燈籠的街景，加上之前讀到新聞，給我這篇的構想，假設那種想把自己封在白人小鎮的種族主義者看到了燈籠街景，會想說些什麼。當然，裡面很多是惡搞的，當然這種人不會寫中文更不可能用這麼多詞。唉，我實在覺得寫得很不像這種無知的人會寫的文章，可是我覺得若是一直說同樣的詞很無聊呀！也許哪天想修的話我再寫一版詞彙少一點好了，也許比較不會冒犯人，(竟敢叫 communitychannel 是母狗，冒犯到我了)，我很可能會寫到睡著就是了。

之前看了一篇 Matt Harding跳的傻舞，發覺人是可以有多愚蠢的，就算明白寫出來說是開玩笑的，有人還是忽略，直接跳去寫很笨的留言。 這裡路人不多，不然的話可能也有人看了標題就跳到留言謾罵我吧。

白人看不懂那個影片我從沒看完過，以前我問同事什麼是白人看不懂的時候，他就給我這個影片，我只看前ㄧ分鐘看到白人看不懂出現的地方，大概在影片35秒之後。

文章有很多不合邏輯的地方，尤其接近結尾的部分，還有好幾次奇怪倉促地變換語氣和觀點。反正這篇呢，並不是要符合邏輯或是有條理，只是隨意幻想。也沒有要表達那個族群優劣勝敗或什麼，除了畫地自限的一小群人。還有，這篇就是要

你滾回你的國家！滾回你的國家！滾回你的國家！靠，我想不到詞了，我要去打老婆了。

註：打老婆並不會增加智商，你相信的話那實在智商... 唉... 當然是被老婆打才會變聰明呀！還不快回家試試先。

Lantern Festival

元宵節過了一週，這一篇也拖了一週。

之前就有注意到有一位紅色長角三倍速前兩年都有精彩的記錄和解說在 Albert Park 的 Lantern Festival. 有2007奧克蘭燈籠節。(圖很多)，和毫無風水概念的奧克蘭燈籠節2008。  看了這精彩的兩篇，而且我也有3, 4年沒去了，打算今年去看看，除非像去年一樣下大雨。

這天是跟爸媽一起去的，雖然現在大家住在同一間房子，一起出門的機會還是不太多。這次難得老媽想去看，當然要支持一下。我們大概五點半在市中心停好車，先在Aotea Centre 看一個街頭藝人的表演。這週正好有 Buskers Festival ，在市中心幾個地點有街頭藝人的表演。我們看的那一個，表演的是要走在繩索上又一邊丟接幾把刀子。可能是真正有action的時間太短了，所以前面先跟觀眾互動搞笑弄了很久，也花不少時間提醒大家他唯一的收入是大家施捨的，請大家慷慨解囊。最後，好不容易在繩索上，空著手前後走都還好，可是拿刀準備丟時似乎有些困難，調整了很久，他好像是看著前方固定的建築試著平衡，他面向IMAX這一棟，結果一直有路人走來走去，他沒辦法專心平衡，他還喊說叫大家不要再走了。結果最後他宣布說他太累了, exhuasted. 這大概時他當天的第三場吧。他說他已經 try his best. 他還是試著丟了一下刀子，是有juggle了幾秒，但是短暫幾秒後人和刀子都掉下來了。人是沒事，我想他下來的時候應該也是有顧到安全。雖然不是期望中那麼精彩的表演，滿多人還是有給他一些捐獻，我們也投了個硬幣。

接著在 Queen Street 上短短逛一下之後，我帶他們去 Victoria Street 上的大黑拉麵吃，我也是第一次去，居然還坐到要盤腿坐的位子，累。

之後就走上坡去 Albert Park，上上下下的人很多。在公園的階梯上還會塞住。到公園上，哇，感覺滿滿一堆人，還有一些相對於台北燈會來說算是小的燈籠。我們就在公園裡繞呀繞。在人群中走呀走，看看四處擺設的燈籠。果然燈籠大都跟往年一樣，紅色長角三倍速那兩篇裡面記錄的燈籠大部分我今年在現場看到了。不過逛來逛去，怎麼沒看到牛的燈籠勒。

公園裡逛完一圈之後，我們在公園旁封街擺攤位那一條街很快的逛了一下，我們三人都對這些小吃攤位沒興趣，就沒買也沒久留。嗯，本來就沒特別喜歡小吃，我媽可能也覺得想吃的話花錢買不如自己做。經過攤位，從最接近奧大 quad 的公園入口又回去公園，終於看到牛了，原來牛年的主燈在這裡呀。不過也不是特別顯眼。結果，在這裡也正好碰到我正在做的 summer project 的兩個 supervisors，他們正要走回學校，嗯，這是週五晚上8點半ㄟ，他們好像一直都待在學校一樣，尤其是比較資深那位，之前我們在考試考完那一天去烤肉後來回到lab打電動、看影片，結果晚上12點半他還在進出他的辦公室，那是週六晚上/週日開始的 0.30am.

回到燈會，現在主舞台那邊傳來總理 John Key 的致詞聲，所以我們過去看看是否要有表演節目，正好 John Key 講完話，放了幾串滿長的鞭炮，炸了半分鐘以上吧，接著表演節目就開始了，我有從大螢幕上看到 John Key 就和新工黨黨魁 Phil Goff 和Auckland City市長 John Banks一起坐在前牌準備看表演。(註1)

第一個表演節目是一個我們從未看過的表演，可以稱作是魁儡舞獅吧？舞台上架了道具，上頭吊了一個球，是舞獅要去咬的。而舞獅不是一般蓋在人身上的舞獅，而是比較小的布偶(想不到適合的詞)，有繫著幾條繩索，繩索連到舞台後方的一群操作者，他們就以拉扯收放這些繩索來控制舞獅的動作。主要有三隻舞獅在上下左右前後的動作。舞獅在往前向觀眾衝的時候，媽媽就在看John Key有沒有被舞獅咬到，因為他幾週前在另一個華人新年活動從台上摔下折斷手 (註2)，我媽就說他屬牛應該要去安太歲。

之後有傳統戲曲的表演等等，我們後來就離開了，爸媽這年紀比以前容易累了。去Starbucks喝冰沙休息休息再開車回家。結束這愉快的一天。

eh? 感覺這一篇好像應該放照片才對？但是我懶得放，因為真的有九成的燈籠都在紅色長角三倍速的文章裡就有照片了。看2007的照片就差不多了。新的牛年燈籠也加在最新的文章2009 奧克蘭燈籠節之馬英九的車輪餅。(更新)，不過我沒看到他在最新這篇提到的車輪餅攤位和廣告。倒是車輪餅跟我下一篇文章有微微的關連。就是我好幾篇前寫說會有比較長的一篇 (其實沒這篇長)，我九成寫好了一直沒complete 和 post. 下一篇就先把他完成吧。

(註1) 給在國外沒 follow 紐西蘭政治的朋友補充一下時事。Labour下台 National 執政了，總理是 John Key；Labour 的 Helen Clark 辭去黨魁，前國防部長 Phil Goff 接任；Auckland City 市長 John Banks 是回鍋的，2001當過，上一屆2004選輸 Dick Hubbard，2007這一屆又選贏。

(註2) References for John Key breaks his arm during fall: [article], [video], [video, WTF is this? Watch it only if you're bored]

Happy Valentine's Day

I wanted to give everybody a Valentine's Day gift. So I performed my own version of the song that was mentioned in the last post. ha :P

Watch the video here. Happy Valentine's Day!

box.contains()

My classmate showed me a photo that he took in a class. It had the whiteboard, which the teacher had written some code on it. My classmate wanted to me see what was wrong about it. I didn't get it. He then pointed to this line that had:

box.contains(click)

I saw it... The c and the l in 'click' were hand written too closely together. hahahahaha. box contains... hahahahaha. Then I said, "oh, that! I think Justin Timberlake had a video about it." He was surprised I got it, so exactly! hahaha

hahaha, pay attention to your handwriting and variable names. hehehe

Here's the link to the video (for mature audience. 小朋友不要學，叔叔有練過). I'm sure there are people who do that for the Valentine's gift somewhere in the world today.

腦很小，腦不用錢

我原來不是要先寫這一篇，不過勒，忽然下週 summer school 要結束，現在要多花時間寫 report 和修程式，就先挑短的寫好了。

這篇要提的是不美好又無意義的東西，不想看請跳過。(i.e. 看了覺得浪費時間或被惹煩了不要怪我)

本篇重點就是分享一個很蠢的廣告，蠢東西要和蠢朋友分享... -_-

不知道先從哪個blog看到的，看到台灣一個線上遊戲很蠢的廣告，就是那個「很大，不用錢」那一個。我不想貼在這裡，因為實在太蠢了。

大家看了那廣告的反應 range 從搞不懂, 覺得無聊, 蠢, 嚴重的是很反感，想打人。

我看了那廣告，除了覺得WTF，這跟遊戲內容有什麼關係？也一直想問，Why? Why? Why? 為什麼要把廣告拍成這樣？真的有效果嗎？為什麼台灣有很多線上遊戲和電子字典的廣告都拍得很蠢？

網路上有些人說這支廣告成功了。讓大家都記得廣告，讓大家記得slogan，讓大家在網路上討論，包括像我現在也在寫一篇。可是我不認為讓很多人印象深刻的廣告就是成功的廣告。我的看法是廣告要讓公司多賺到錢才是成功的廣告，是要讓原本不會買這個商品或服務的消費者會來花錢買，這才有達到目的。

像是好幾年前的泛亞電信廣告，還有後來的新竹商銀廣告，在當年都是大家印象深刻，會討論的廣告。可是我懷疑到底有多少人因為這些廣告而去用他們的產品。我沒有資料，不過後來這兩家公司都被併購了。

線上遊戲拍這麼蠢的廣告，真的會有人看來想去花錢嗎？OK，曾經看過一篇文章提到不同族群可能有不同的消費習性，付費能力跟付費意願是不同的。像是在賺澳幣賺到可能破百萬台幣年薪的朋友 H 可能看了這個廣告會倒帶多看幾次胸部晃動的畫面，可是不管再這麼晃，甚至背景音樂換成是他喜歡的聲音會晃的歌手，他還是很理智，不會去玩這個線上遊戲，更不會花錢買虛擬寶物。

另一位個性像小孩的朋友 J ，當兵中可能收入少到不用繳稅 可能看了廣告覺得，唉呦不錯喔！也許，just maybe, 他就去玩了。雖然我覺得這廣告蠢到他也不會想去玩，頂多喊喊 slogan 而已。

So, I guess, 遊戲公司有調查過，知道有針對什麼族群打廣告最有效果。嗯？真的有族群會被這廣告導引到最後去花錢嗎？有的話，這廣告target的族群也太小了吧？為了那不到1%的人，放這種廣告惹惱其他 >99% 的人。

or? simply 遊戲公司 or 廣告公司就是腦很小，真的覺得大家會喜歡這個廣告，看了會想玩。

嗯，唯一收穫是看網路討論學會"童顏巨乳娃娃音"這個詞。哇勒，死小孩，亂學。

讀到這裡你居然還想看那廣告的話，好吧，你可以去重灌狂人這一篇看一看。 (H兄可能看了上一句的詞就很想看？)

看了廣告，誰敢承認有去玩這個遊戲呀？ OK... 我唯一微渺的期望是哪天J放假時上線跟我說他在玩，或至少唱個 slogan 吧.

如果你心臟夠強，敢欣賞愚蠢的事物的話，還可以看這一篇:

阿良的音樂網誌 笑-白爛線上遊戲廣告大集合