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.