Space: Memory

Fish

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 01:26:28 GMT

Oversea Fish Tank

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 22:48:40 GMT

想养鱼很久了，可是一直拖着，或是忘了或是没时间，或是想等个鱼缸deal，或是怕麻烦。鱼缸的名字也是早就想好了的，叫做‘Oversea’，不知道确切的中文名应该叫什么， ‘海外游鱼‘，’海外水鱼‘，，‘四海之鱼’。鱼缸中的鱼名呢，当年的想法是用在Oversea认识的ID命名，给记忆增加点内容。当然在鱼缸中的ID是要得到ID本人的许可的。如果没有ID同意，那就只好以自己的ID命名，然后变几个花样，名字总会叫起来的。

去Petco，PetSmart看过几次，差不到也知道要买个啥样的了，本来还想再看看的。但是今天忽然心血来潮，于是决定今天就买了。直接驱车去Petco，买了个29加仑的Kit，包括glass fish tank，filter, heater, hood light, thermometer, 119刀，还可以忍受。回家安装的时候发现没有石头和水草，就又回去先买了15磅石头，两根水草，20刀。按照上面的指示按照完毕，先测验鱼缸。感觉还可以。等鱼缸稳定后（大约一两个星期）就可以慢慢买鱼和其它的装饰品了。

鱼名的征集从今天就开始了, 可以直接在这里留名，或者联系prospect。

意大利夺冠

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 04:13:40 GMT

假球迷一个

爱热闹更胜足球

不喜欢法国队

也许是98年满怀希望巴西夺冠，结果被东道主法国3：0搞定而郁闷

或许根本没有理由，喜欢一个东西不需要理由，不喜欢也不需要理由

也没有特别喜欢意大利

也许不喜欢它一贯的球风

欣赏的是雷厉风行，行云流水的进攻打法

不管怎样，还是祝贺意大利捧回久别24年的冠军奖杯

一向不怎么喜欢鸡蛋，看到用头故意顶人, 被红牌罚下

竟然有点大快人心的感觉，发现自己做人越来越不厚道了

也许是近来生活中碰到不少不厚道的人，慢慢觉得对不厚道的人其实也不用太厚道

胡言乱语了n多

世界杯结束，继续笑对生活，自己开心最重要

Crab Catching

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 06:29:18 GMT

It has been a while since we started thinking of crab catching this year. Finally we planned the event on today.

It is a cloudy July day with temperature not too high. When the world cup game between Germany and Portugal was almost finished, we left for Island Heights to meet the crabs. It’s about 4:30pm on a Saturday afternoon and the traffic is not too bad. With chatting and music, it did not take long for us to get to the destination although the physical traveling time is about an hour.

We took out chicken legs, cut several holes into the meat, tied them to ropes, and threw the chicken legs into the water. When the rope looks tightened, a crab (s) is eating the meat and trying to take away the meat. We would tug the rope little by little very carefully until we see the chicken legs or the crab(s) that is eating the delicious chicken. A net will be quickly put in the way that the crab (s) would retreat and the crab(s) would fall into our hands. If a crab is too small (smaller than 4.5 inches), it would be put back into its home and enjoy the sea life.

They are a lot of small naughty crabs that kept six of us very busy. They would come to eat the chicken, get caught, be put back into the sea, and come back to eat the chicken. We as the crab catcher enjoyed watching them biting the chicken and catching them. Yet after a while we got annoyed by those little naughty.

The weather was very beautiful with breeze and we enjoyed the view. An old man came to us asking if we had a badge for crab catching… We did not have any and had to buy two badges from him in order to continue crabbing there. It sucks to pay $10 to catch crabs on a free bay.

After about an hour and a half, we only caught 6 qualified crabs, one for each of us which is not too bad. It was already 7:30pm. So we left for home. Since we did not have many crabs, we decided to dine out at a Chinese restaurant and got full stomach.

After the dinner, we came back to my place to watch a movie while enjoying two rounds of deserts (Korean seafood pancake and Tiramisu) which was vow vow. Finally came the steamed crabs, one for each. Though it tastes veli good, I have to say that the process of crab catching is much more enjoyable than that of crab eating. Process is typically more important and enjoyable than result in life.

郑智化

Sat, 08 Jul 2006 04:45:56 GMT

n久前的老歌

还是那么有哲理

每次听

心理都会颤动一下

"天其实并不高海其实也不远
人心其实比天高比海更遥远 "

天体海滩

Tue, 04 Jul 2006 13:54:13 GMT

独立日长周末, 没有外出远游的计划。天气真是去海边晒太阳的好时期；朋友大力组织了大三角地区了n人去Sandy Hook。后来才发现这Sandy Hook就是传说中的天体海滩。

一堆准备工作，买西瓜，买牛肉，买cooler，做面包，带玩的，….。头天晚上还好多朋友一起吃饭然后打牌，唱卡拉OK。等睡觉的时候已经1，2点了。

7点多闹钟声中醒来，洗漱完毕做了6个三文治。草草吃了个面包，喝了杯牛奶，把东西装cooler和背包，满满一车。等出发的时候已经快九点了，路上买了袋冰，直奔Sandy Hook。

有朋友说10点后进Sandy Hook，可能就没有停车位了，于是专心赶路，一路超了好多蜗牛，现在的世界真是蜗牛横行的世界。天有点热，空调自然也努力工作着。到达Sandy Hook里面大概10点多，幸好还有n多停车位，虽然要走不少路才到海滩。Cooler里面装了个30来磅的西瓜，10来磅的冰，。。。，真是相当的沉。还好YMSW的LD昨天买了个带轮子的cooler！一群人边说边聊，也缩短了不少走路的距离.

未到海滩，众人看见一穿丁字裤的男银，齐声感叹：猛男。后来才发现他是算保守的。J. 到了沙滩，大家安营扎寨，撑起遮阳伞, 支起沙滩椅。女生们坐沙滩椅，男银们就地打座。这时沙滩上已经人头窜动了。开始没注意不远的地方就是天体区；我们这边是保守区。

大家于是先踢沙滩足球。很久没有踢球了，猛奔了几分钟，已经累的上气不接下气，只好小憩。看来得继续加强锻炼。

涂上防晒霜，换上Trunk，几个朋友海里游泳。这是第一次在海里游泳。虽然以前去过n次海滩，但是都不敢下水游泳。顶着烈日吹着海风迎着海浪前进，感觉不是一般的好。想在海里玩足球，被海边救生员制止了。

游累了，上岸晒晒太阳，聊聊天；海滩走走，吹吹风；然后继续游。看见不少钓鱼的，有人钓上一条长了类似翅膀的鱼，有人钓了一条好大的龙利，可惜都放回去了。

开饭时间，大家津津有味的吃着自带的午饭。做的三文治被表扬了，高兴ing。呵呵。沙滩上很多讨厌的牛虻不停的叮人，它们可能也知道这天体海滩。。。有女士已经受不了这可恶的牛虻，还有那烈日了，想打道回府了。

稍微去天体区搂了一眼，可惜大失所望。。。还好先吃了午饭再去的。有朋友明言：身材好的美女，一般去要钱的海滩，要么去找有钱的，要么已经有钱了。J

离开海滩前，把cooler里面那30磅的冰镇西瓜抬出来，手起刀落瓜开，二三十人吃的不亦乐乎。爽就一个字，就是觉得西瓜还不够多！

开车回一个朋友家，继续卡拉OK，打牌。4点半的时候，因为有几个全国各地的朋友来我的地盘一次难得的聚会，顺便给一个朋友送行回新加坡，我只好早早退出那二三十人的fb了。

生活，是美好的。

小水手连环fb之第三天---满汗1/10席

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 02:11:02 GMT

清晨7点半, 天阴

小水手半骨碌起来

时差, 有点惯性的时差

或是对满汗1/10席n天的期盼

更或是对芝加哥老大们翘首期待之情

或是对陌生地点的新鲜

总之, 小水手早早起来了

洗漱, 退房, 上网, 灌水

联络老大们

重新定房

小水手精神爽快, 六口气完成

dency也是早早起床

努力的改论文ing

小水手对dency的敬佩更加滔滔江水

清晨9点多, 天继续阴

肚子有点饿

开车到附近一个餐馆

早饭, 轻松地进行

三人(dency, 小水手&LD) 谈笑风生

小水手香肠, 鸡蛋, 面包噌蹭下肚

饭饱水足

开车飞奔Buffie家

路经小水手当天要住的宾馆

搞定一个面密歇根湖和芝加哥河的21楼的房间

小水手心情开朗

眨眼到了buffie家附近

停车, 可怕的闹区停车

打了n个弯

油门刹车不知道被踩多少回

n双眼睛左看右望不知道m次

总于还是没有找到街上停车的地方

众人只好灰溜溜回到小水手所在宾馆停车

然后步行去buffie家

路上雷雨忽来

雨中疾行, 兴致昂然

只要心中fb大旗不倒

闹心的停车, 意外的雷雨都是小菜

电梯到了6楼

阵阵肉香飘来

一鼻就闻到了buffie家

大D和花已经后来先到

吃牛肉干ing

众人相见

天忽然亮了许多

高兴的光, 激动的光,

红烧肉的酱红色, 青菜的墨绿色, 樱桃的紫红色

五光十色

满汗1/10席继续准备中

众人谈笑风生中

边看世界杯, 边侃天下事

开饭

一声令下

众筷飞舞

菜纷纷少了

边吃边谈

浑不知道外面天气变化

好一个满汗1/10席

一直持续到3点多

小水手连环fb之第四天---忙&累但快乐着

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 02:06:41 GMT

没有闹钟

6点多, 小水手自然醒来, 睡了个回笼觉, 7点起床

个人卫生完毕, 温习要去玩的地方, 用小水手自创的方法优化了旅行计划, 同时在房间

里凭窗欣赏了下芝加哥河和密歇根湖的优美风景

8点多, 左手地图, 右手相机, 向Millennium Park徒步进发, 几分钟后到达

看, 站, 拍,

继续看, 站, 拍

不少地方忘了叫啥名字了, 有个Gate比较好玩, 有个音乐厅比较有趣, …

肚子一点点e, 腿儿有点点s

在Corner Bakery 买了点吃的, 喝的, 小息一会

继续匆忙赶路

去了箔金汗喷泉, 然后湖边逛了逛, 拍了些照片

继续匆忙赶路

赶到Michigan达道上的Wendella Boats, 刚好在10:14am赶到, 船是10:15am出发. 游了

芝加哥河和密西跟湖, 一个半小时.

看了n多建筑, 听了n多典故啥的, 看了湖, ….

感觉这20刀一个人狠值. 期间听得头天晚上住的hotel是Chicago第三大的, 感觉那点,

那停车钱也花的值了…

电池没电, 赶回hotel取了备用电池, 继续赶路

向Hancock进发, 途径Magnificent Mile

到达Hancock, 打听了一下, 向signature room 进发(95th floor)

开始给了一张不是临湖的桌子

后来小水手点菜前发现有一张临湖的桌子

和Manager聊了聊, 搞定那桌子

无比开心ing

看了下菜单决定吃自助餐, 18刀一人, 有牛肉, 鱼, 好多蔬菜, 好多salad, …

临湖边吃边看

…

后来猛然发现1点多了, 本来想赶去看1点半的Imax 3D deep sea的… 尝试了一下赶路太

累, 临时改变计划, 逛Michigan Ave.

慢慢走

途径Chicago最好的爆米花店, 排长队买了Chicago Mix, 味道是赞. 呵呵

嗯, 然后就差不多去Hotel取了车, 直奔机场了…

行程紧, 累&快但是快乐着.

6点半起了

Thu, 18 May 2006 11:24:18 GMT

没有闹钟, 没有杂音, 六点半忽然一觉醒来.

昨晚睡的比较晚, 希望今天白天别困.

早起的生物钟看来是没有问题了, 接下来几天努力调节早睡的生物钟, 保证充足的睡眠. 以后就进入早睡早起, 或者晚睡早起一族了. 哈哈.

早起

Tue, 16 May 2006 13:24:10 GMT

早上七点忽然眼睛睁开, 也许被恶梦警醒, 或被美梦兴奋坏了, 但梦醒的我浑然不觉梦中情形. 想想习惯性的早起已经是在久远的记忆里了.

遥远的小学时代, 早起去学校晨读, 会为了点名册上一颗小小五角星很早起床, 睁着瞌睡的双眼, 摸黑抢着第一个到校. 那时生活无忧无虑, 早起完全为了好玩好胜.

久远的中学时代, 经不起瞌睡虫的诱惑, 总是在最后一刻从床上跃起, 闪电一般从宿舍冲到水龙头前摸把脸, 然后向教室狂奔,

依稀记得大学初期, 天天六点多天没亮就起来跑步, 然后早早光顾食堂后去上课. 那时的生活很是匆忙, 几乎天天宿舍教室食堂图书馆四点n面, 却很充实. 考G考T期间, 为了图书馆一点地盘, 每每早起去图书馆门口排队, 抢到座位后会先瞌睡半个小时. 进入大四慢慢睡懒觉了, 或因不忙或为少锻炼.

来美后最早的课是九点半, 慢慢成了晚睡晚起的习惯. 没课后更是无拘无束, 完全意思流晚起.

下个星期就要上班了, 只好从现在开始重新培养早起的习惯.

遥远的飞跃历程(2)

Sun, 14 May 2006 18:52:55 GMT

发信人: prospect (灌水无恒), 信区: AdvancedEdu

标题: Prospect’s Fly in Millennium: Flying

发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Wed Mar 20 06:41:54 2002)

First I planed to start from Beijing for there were a lot of friends who were flying to the same place. I changed my mind later because it was more convenient for my parents to see me off in Shanghai and the tickets in Shanghai were cheaper (1000RMB was not a small amount for me at that time).

The day I traveled turned to be a very good day. Several groups flied on that day too. My good friend was in one of those groups. :. Speaking in a whisper, that was my first time to take the plane. You bet I was kind of excited, maybe a little more than I eat fridged watermelon in the hot summer. I didn't feel homesick. I was quite quiet about leaving since I went to boarding school since when I was 11. I was a very good sleeper (Can you believe I can fall asleep when I stand on a bus?), so I got a very nice sleep in the plane without missing the beautiful scenes that first plane passengers would expect.

I didn't feel much difference when I arrived at my first stop, where I passed the checkpoint to enter the USA. I even hear notice broadcasted in Chinese, which sounds so familiar to me. J. I had the good luck to avoid suitcase being opened, while some of my friends got a bit bad luck. Upon arrival in the final stop, we are picked up by an air-porter that Chinese Student Association had reserved. It was a very nice trip. We got a welcome reception after we got to school. Instant noodles were tasty after a long trip. Later I found out that instant noodles in WAWA, which turned out to be not tasty at all.

I was tired after the fly. Anyway, my another dream was realized. A new prospect is waiting for me.

发信人: prospect (灌水无恒), 信区: AdvancedEdu

标题: Prospect’s Fly in Millennium: Courses

发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Wed Mar 20 06:42:45 2002)

Before I came here, I heard many times that course studies in States are more difficult; students are more hardworking, which made me kind of scared. I still remember that one teacher describes to us that one guy from my department always got full marks in MIT in one core course. It sounds a mystery to me, and I always admire him like TAOTAO River Water. In my first semester, my SHIJIE advised me to concentrate on generals and not to take too many courses. Yet, it turned out that the professors teaching my courses were nicer than those who taught hers. Moreover, in my department, one doesn't need to do any research during first year. He/she only needs to take care of his/her generals and courses. Another good thing is that there is no requirements like 'you must not get 3Cs in order to maintain you standing as a Ph.D candidate'. Therefore I had a pretty good time, watching movies, surfing internet, sleeping, and the grades for those courses were not bad. Sometimes I happened to get full marks too, which made me feel like flying a little since I didn't get full marks in college (:, kick). Some of my friends told me they were deadly busy, busier than in Tsinghua. Maybe they took too many courses. (cft). Sometimes courses could be difficult and time-consuming too. In my second semester, two of my courses had HW every week and had midterm and final. For one course, each HW usually took more than 20 pages. Undergraduate course has lots of HWs. One course I took requires one programming assignment every week, and one homework exercise each week.

In short, whether courses are difficult or not depends on the instructor. (I am the fish, he is the knife. J) Generally undergraduate courses have more HWs.

发信人: prospect (灌水无恒), 信区: AdvancedEdu

标题: Prospect’s Fly in Millennium: Generals

发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Wed Mar 20 06:43:56 2002)

There are several gates you have to cross in order to get a Ph.D. General is definitely one of them. Some schools termed it as ‘qualify’. Usually it is composed of written part and oral part and usually students have two chances. "what, how" is different from school to school and from dept. to dept.. For instance, in my department, there are several written generals, each related with one or two core courses. Each student has two chances to pass one particular general. If one fails in one general twice, then the game is over. Besides that, there is an oral general.

According to the official and unofficial history, few guys were kicked out in my department, which means almost everyone passes written general at their second time. Unfortunately, some take this fact for granted. In my year, about half of exam takers failed in one general. Maybe assuming that they would pass easily at their second try, several elected to retake it several month later without studying hard, among which only one passed after a long faculty meeting. Those who failed at their second time have to leave now, which is very sad. Some of them are my good friends (bless them). The good news is that Chinese students seldom fail in general. But sometimes it's not good to take it for granted.

Sometimes, life is a kind of game. To stay in, you have to work a bit hard.

发信人: prospect (灌水无恒), 信区: AdvancedEdu

标题: Prospect’s Fly in Millennium: Advisors

发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Wed Mar 20 06:44:39 2002)

Another hard choice sometimes arises if you are allowed to choose advisors after you come to states. Fancy projects vs nice professors are similar to YU and XIONGZHANG. Sometimes a fancy project turns out not to be interesting if you look more closely; sometimes a not-fancy project becomes intriguing to play with after you embark on it. Maybe, in someone's eyes, a tough professor may not be that tough, and vice verse. But in general, students have some common criteria about that, and more often than not they agree with each other about who is tough or not. It's advisable to talk with students before you choose your project, who have all kinds of secrets of the professors. Hehe. They were some fancy projects offered by some tough professors in my year. These projects were, are and will be hot (I think, at least in the near 10 years). Most of my classmates didn't pick up them because of the "reputation" of the professors. I finally choose nice professors instead of fancy project because I want to live an easy life in stead of becoming a tough guy (face red). Another concern might be: whether the project is one that your advisor(s) has worked on or has just stepped into, which will sometimes make life quite different. :

Difficult choice again? Whoops! How about flipping coins? :

遥远的飞跃历程(1)

Sun, 14 May 2006 18:51:52 GMT

听着老歌, 想起当年prospect 这个ID的注册和遥远的飞跃之路. 顺便从飞跃的精华区把那时的水文挖出来转过来了, 毕竟也算是自己人生比较重要的一部分.

发信人: prospect (灌水无恒), 信区: AdvancedEdu

标题: Prospect’s Fly in Millennium: Preface

发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Wed Mar 20 06:37:33 2002)

It has been a time since when I applied for graduate study in States, got offers from graduate schools and came to study in States. During that time, several good friends "fought with me shoulder to shoulder". With them I went through from uncertainty before application, anxiety during application, and a mixed feeling after application. I got a lot of help from my friends, from smth, from my elder department mates, from some friends abroad, from professors in my department, and from the graduate schools I applied. I had the idea to share my experience with others, especially those who are going to apply or going to apply for study abroad. However, after I came to states, I didn't find a good way back to visit smth. Consequently, I didn't go to smth very often, or more accurately, very very not often so that my initial ID was deactivated. I went to Unkown instead of smth and spent a lot of time there. It was in this semester that I began to revisit this once- familiar place: smth, with the thought to pick up what I experienced two years ago besides keeping a track of how my former classmates are doing. When re-registering in smth I couldn't come up with a romantic or meaningful ID. "prospect" jumped out of my mind since I walked across Prospect Avenue to my office every day. I picked up "prospect" to remind me in the future that I ever have spent one of my important times in my life at a place where is a prospect avenue, which road I hope will lead me to another place called success.

My experience might be neither typical nor unique. It is my not objective to teach you how to do this or that. My only intent is to share some of my experience with others, as I said above. If there were something bothering you in the text, ignore it since I know you are a PPMM or HHGG.

发信人: prospect (灌水无恒), 信区: AdvancedEdu

标题: Prospect’s Fly in Millennium: Offers

发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Wed Mar 20 06:39:04 2002)

After submitting the applications, I was as anxious as anyone else about status of applications, as eager as anyone else about offers. It was on a snowing winter morning when I went to OpenLab to check my email as usual. My first offer was out of my expectation, since at that time I was only emailing to ask if school D had received my application. Yet I was notified that I was given an offer, with the offer letter on its way to me. I felt that suddenly I became rich. Never in my life had I thought that I would be given $1200 a month to study for my own degree. On that day, it was especially nice to walk with my friends in the snow to library to study for my finals. It was always good to get the first offer, even though it's only an offer from a backup school. I went back home after finals. My second offer came on my way home, which I received in one of my friends' home via email. I didn't express extra happiness since it's from a school (O) in my list of backups. I went to check my emails the day before Valentine's day. (:). This time I was excited to receive two offers, both from my dreaming schools (school B and P). I forgot how exactly I felt, but I must think that Valentine 's Day is a good day. Good luck may happen to you, whether you are expecting or not.

发信人: prospect (灌水无恒), 信区: AdvancedEdu

标题: Prospect’s Fly in Millennium: School Selection

发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Wed Mar 20 06:40:00 2002)

After I got offers from school P and B, I declined the offers from D and O immediately, recommending one friend, which turned out not to work. However, I was still waiting for another dreaming (maybe most dreaming) school M. Finally the refusal letter from M in the end of March (I couldn’t remember the time clearly) terminated my waiting process for offers. Though there were still several schools that had not given decisions about my applications yet, I began to make a painful decision between P and B. BTW, all of the remaining schools gave me refusal letter near or after 4.15, which is not too bad.

School P offers me more money. The professors and graduates are very nice to me besides it has a diversity of research areas. What’s more, it is one of the two schools that I most wanted to attend before my application. As some guys did, I asked some friends in States and posted one article in smth for suggestions. In smth, more guys advised me to go to school B than P. From information I gathered from internet, my balance tilted towards B. However friends in States put more weight on school P. I contacted with DGS of those two departments for quite a few times, asking a lot of questions. In early April, it was still not clear in my mind about where to go. I sent out my last email at around April 5 to both schools. (according to my knowledge, both schools don’t have waiting list, so don’t blame me on holding these two offers in hands). I got reply instantly from school P with answers for my concerns. However I didn’t get reply from school B until I sent out my acceptance of offer from P. Later, the professor in school B emailed me that he was in a conference in Europe, which delayed the reply to my email. He even apologized for the late email, which he though might cause my final choice of school P over B. Two years later, when I contacted with him, he is still very nice, which make me moved. (tears.)

In retrospect, it might well be the name that I chose school P instead of B. I read an article name “Refuse to Regret” in my high school”, which I tried to follow in my life. I hope I can say this after a decade. Sometimes, choices in life can be very difficult and there is no choice to avoid these choices. If you can refuse to regret when you make your decisions, then you are a saint.

发信人: prospect (灌水无恒), 信区: AdvancedEdu

标题: Prospect’s Fly in Millennium: Visa

发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Wed Mar 20 06:41:03 2002)

All was learned step by step in AdvancedEdu, together with my friends. All of us had I-20s that are not from the schools we wanted to go. I asked the DGS of that school if the I-20 needed to be sent back to him. After I got his answer "no", we began to apply for passports. One of my friends and I made the appointments for visa interview on the same morning. We went o WuDaoKou for some new shirts before we went there. It is not bad at all that we us, two GuangGuang,, went there shopping, hehe. Anyway, we arrived at Xiushui Jie on time with ourselves-satisfying new shirts and pants, lined up waiting anxiously, a bit nervously for the name to be called. The interview process went on no more than a couple of minutes, still a little nervous because of my bad spoken English, ft. To the surprise of both of us, we are not very excited after we obtained the visa. It seems to us that it shall occur naturally; therefore we treated our empty stomach only with needles in ZhaoLanYuan. J. After that, both of us took a good nap. Hehe, got too much sleep in the last year. What is worth mentioning is that we met with a high school girl that morning, who was there applying for visa to go to Princeton for undergraduate study with financial aid. Later we found out that the cool girl declined Stanford. Jesus!!!

Things seem difficult before we are headed for it. The process for success may be more exciting and enjoyable than the outcome of success.