红酒·绿茶 / Red Wine & Green Tea / Vin Rouge et Thé Vert

View from Killington Peak Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . We had been planning a Christmas skiing trip to Killington, Vermont since two months before because it was a very popular, allegedly the best ski resort on East Coast. It turned out to be an experience of a lifetime. Although I usually didn't think of myself as a sports person or associated myself with adjectives like "athletic", I still tried to keep myself in a good shape by going to gym two or three times a week. It finally paid off with this ski trip. Surprisingly even to myself, I learned to ski quite fast ; when I took a beginners' class on the first day, I quickly realized that I had had gone through more than the class could offer. So I didn't waste my time on it and started to challenge myself with more difficult trails right away. Bin and Li, who were experienced skiers, were kind enough to lead me through my first mountain trail - Great Eastern. I was all excited about how beautiful

I was checking out some funny Bush clips and couldn't help laughing at the "Fool Me Once, Shame On You" clip , which easily became one of the most hilarious clips I've ever seen. Maybe Jiang's (former President Zemin Jiang of PRC or Jiang Core, as we call him) "Too Young, Too Simple, Sometimes Naïve" clip could be a contender, of which I could only find the transcipt .

Went to Ski Roundtop , a small ski resort in Pennsylvania not far from Baltimore, for my first time ever skiing. They had a very nice deal of $19 package for beginners through the beginning of the ski season. I was exhausted after a whole day of learning to ski and having fun. My friends were all experieced skiers; they were excited for newfound fun in snowboarding. So nobody was watching over me except for a brief course by our ski instructors Willie and Jessie. After some practice and not so many falls, however, I was doing pretty well. People on the lift were yelling at me: "Doing good! Keep it up!" and knocking their skis to pour some snow onto me when I was passing underneath them, which by the way was a "common practice" of having some fun while on the boring lift. Will shop for more gears today.

I-76 in Snow Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . I had a hard time driving back home the other day due to ferocious winter weather. It was snowing hard and I had to drive in the snow before the road was cleaned. Fortunately I drove back safe - in seven hours! (It should have taken four. Saw a dozen of accidents along the way.)

Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . I missed the Cathedral of Learning in University of Pittsburgh last time I came and couldn't afford missing it again. It was unbelievably magnificent. (BTW, I found their live cam pretty interesting. You could actually control its movement!)

Vincent van Gogh: The Plain of Auvers, 1890 Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . At my request, Rong and I then went to nearby Carnegie Museum of Art . It was a midsized art museum with decent collections which were not going to be shy in every major period if compared to others. Unlike others, it had pretty good light over the paintings or sculptures so that I could take nice photos of the works.

Art Cafe Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . After two days' exhausting meeting in Carnegie Mellon University , I finally got the chance to visit my friends in Pittsburgh, PA. Rong was kind enough to spare his time to show me around the campus. I especially liked the School of Fine Arts building, inside which eight marble sculptures spanning Greek, Roman and Medieval times were illuminated, creating an immediate and unmistakable visual impact of Western fine arts. Meanwhile, art from other parts of world such as Islamic and Indian could be found outside the building, suggesting the School had an eye for all arts in the world although it was the study of European art that was at its heart. I also found their Cafe had a nice neon sign simply saying, what else, "Art".

Saw a few good European movies recently. Two in French: "Les Invasions barbares" (The Barbarian Invasions) and "Comme une image" (Look at me); two in Spanish: "La Mala educación" (Bad Education) and "Hable con ella" (Talk to her). They successfully catched the subtlety of human relationships (as opposed to Hollywood-style phony emotions) and delivered a strong sense of humanity through (extra)ordinary eroticism. Probably only "Before Sunset" and "Before Sunrise" can be mentioned here for American cinema.

Today was our lab's annual Christmas party at The Inn at Government House . For afterparty, we went to Red Maple . Both places were nice, but I felt old. I wasn't a fan of alcohol before; now it's my best friend. I don't understand those who don't drink: they must be either a genius who never fails or a child too naïve to feel the pains in life. Like Jorge Cham presented in his talk that survey says 95% of the Ph.D. students have felt overwhelmed during their graduate study, then he went on and commented: "I don't know what the hell the other 5% are doing, either."

Even in a day packed with overwhelming frastration from a poorly designed, twisted minded and profoundly stupid programing language, I didn't forget to watch the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on CBS featuring live performance by Seal and Ricky Martin. Yeah! Nothing gets in the way between me and sexy lingerie models! (Oh, my sweet Heidi Klum and Gisele Bundchen ! Thank god Tyra Banks is retiring!)

I spent a whole day to figure out what's going on in my C++ code with a lot of templates. The lesson: ALWAYS INSTANTIATE YOUR TEMPLATES! or INCLUDE THE IMPLEMENTATIONS OF YOUR TEMPLATES! Because the compiler will miss A LOT of errors which could have been detected if you don't. When you have errors in the template, it is the linker, not the compiler that will complain. And the worse thing is when the linker complains, it gives you completely misleading messages. The other two sources of errors were 1) forgetting to give dummy implementations for constructor and destructor; 2) forgetting to typecast the pointer to the father class into that to the daughter class for accessing daughter-specific fields. P.S. The most relevant documentation is here . Time to spend more time reading geeky online user's manual and/or documents. :(

Homewood House Magnet Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Visited Homewood House , a historic Colonial architecture from which the Hopkins campus got its name. It was snowing outside but the house looked great in candlelight with a harpsichordist playing periodic and holiday music. I even got this cute magnet featuring a 1990 watercolor by Joan Hanzlik.

I have been taking a swing class taught by our lovely teacher, Nancy for eight weeks and last night was our "graduation party" at Gardel's , a nice restaurant and bar with a dance floor. We had a very good time kicking and swinging. (Well, actually no kicking yet cause kicking steps are not for beginners; but Nancy wouldn't have problem with that.) Finding confidence and inspiration in dancing is a recurring theme in movies: "Saturday Night Fever", "Footloose", "Napoleon Dynamite", "Shall We Dance?", to name a few. And I can also feel, if not find the inspiration from time to time, if not always. What I feel most exciting is the challenge, the challenge of putting my body in the right position at the right time, the challenge of finishing a step with both accuracy and elegance, the challenge of spontaneously interpretting the music, the challenge of expressing myself through my moves, the challenge of overcoming my deepest shyn

Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus would Freeze Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Philadelphia Museum of Art suprised me with its breadth and depth underneath a modest appearance. Not only did it feature awesome collections of European medieval and renaissance art, it also had several architectural installments including an early Christian church, a Hindu temple, a Chinese Buddhist temple and a Japanese teahouse, among others. I liked this work by Hendrick Goltzius called "Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus would Freeze" , which really reads "Without food and wine, love would be impossible". No wonder people start dating by asking girls out for dinner!

Once you spend a substantial amount of time (wasted) on public TV, you will get to know a lot of commercials, some of which I found very entertaining. In order to reinforce the viewers' memory without boring them, a series of commercials delivering the same message through various situations or characters within a predetermined form becomes popular: CapitalOne, Geico, MasterCard, Volkswagen, among others, are using it quite successfully. For example, a MasterCard commercial will inevitably enumerate three merchandises each followed by its price and the fourth thing, usually not a merchandise at all, and its price: priceless. Then it concludes with the catchphrase: "There are some things money can't buy; for everything else, there's MasterCard." (An interesting episode actually mocks itself by saying "blah blah blah: blah dollars" three times.) Unlike MasterCard, which has been running its commercial series for a long time, Geico started quite recently. T

For four years I've been eating a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at my host family's lovely house. Linda, John and Elliot have been treating me like a family member ever since we met and I have felt the same way, too. How much I appreciate it is something I can't possibly express in words. I've been through a lot in the past four years, much more than I could have ever imagined; it was their kindness, sense of humor and passion for life that have encouraged and inspired me to get through my darkest depression and hardest time. This year's dinner is special because they are going to relocate soon. I can still remember that four years ago when I first came to this beautiful home, I was warmly welcomed but couldn't really understand what they were talking about and barely spoke understandable English. However, there was a connection beyond words that I could feel, a feeling that made me instantly comfortable and home. I've become a frequet guest/extended family

Washington National Cathedral Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . My timing to visit the Washington National Cathedral was perfect because we just finished "Gothic Art" chapter in "Introduction to History of European Art" course. Had I have not taken that course, I wouldn't have appreciated so much of the architectural beauty of the Cathedral as a perfect example of Gothic art. Another reason for me to be there today was an organ recital by a virtuoso organist, Wayne Marshall . I had a great time coming so close to hear and watch the Great Organ , which has more than 10,000 pipes, in action. The experience was unforgettable. By the way, do you know you can find Dath Vader on the Cathedral ?

Ann Hamilton's Palimpsest, 1989 Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Sunday is a very good time for a day trip to Washington, DC because the parking won't be THAT much of a problem. The first stop of today's trip was Hirshhorn Museum , a Smithonian institute for modern art. Having been to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in NYC, I was curious about how Hirshhorn would compare with it. The verdict: Smaller in size but not in quality. Focused more on modern sculptures and installations than paintings, Hirshhorn features big names in modern art such as De Kooning, Warhol, Bacon, Calder, Still and Giacometti as well as household names like Picasso and Matisse. An especially interesting work was "Palimpsest, 1989" by Ann Hamilton.

A fellow PhD student once told me that I wasn't serious about my graduate study if I had never felt for some alchohol. I haven't understood what he meant until recently. So I went to a liquor store, found a 2001 Two Vines Merlot from Columbia Crest Winery , Columbia Valley, Washington and drank the hell out of it.

Then I thought since we were struggling to improve machine translation all the time, why not have some fun with it? So I put the poem into the best (and ironically non-statistical) machine translation system available online, Systran and here was what I got: In front of the bed the bright moonlight light, doubts is the ground frost. Raises the head looks the bright moonlight, lowers the head thinks the hometown. Surprisingly as good as some of the human translations. Oh yeah!

We had a tradition of presenting a poem at town hall meeting. So when one day I learned from a Chinese colleage that the poem "Night thoughts"（《静夜思》）has nine versions of translations in English, I decided to present it. You can find it online but I also put it here as a backup. 静夜思 李白 床前明月光，疑是地上霜。 举头望明月，低头思故乡。 1). In the Still of the Night I descry bright moonlight in front of my bed. I suspect it to be hoary frost on the floor. I watch the bright moon, as I tilt back my head. I yearn, while stooping, for my homeland more. （徐忠杰） 2). A Tranquil Night Abed, I see a silver light, I wonder if it's frost aground. Looking up, I find the moon bright; Bowing, in homesickness I'm drowned. (许渊冲译) 3). In the Quiet Night So bright a gleam on the foot of my bed--- Could there have been a frost already? Lifting my head to look, I found that it was moonlight. Sinking back again, I thought suddenly of home. (Tr. Witter Bynner) 4). Night Thoughts I wake, and moonbeams play around my

Little Italy is a cozy neighborhood in downtown Baltimore near the Harbor. Went to a nice dessert shop "Vaccaro's" . It was great. I liked their tiramisu.

Jorge Cham, the author of "Piled Higher and Deeper" gave an inspiring talk in Hopkins on the power of procrastination (what?). We were laughing (at ourselves!) during the entire talk. I felt much better by laughing it out loud and knowing that I was not alone. He signed my books with a picture showing where Panama, his birthplace was.

It was even more beautiful than I thought. Shenandoah National Park is one of the few national parks on the upper east coast. Named one of "Top 11 Foliage Hot Spots across America" by AOL Cityguide , it has been on my "TO-DO" list for a long time. Waiting for the best time in a year to see the colors of the fall, I was watching closely to the weather when October came. My first attempted trip on the weekend before last was literally soaked by the rain. So when the weather forecast said last weekend was going to be sunny, I couldn't wait any longer. As high as my expectation went, Shenandoah still surprised me with its unbelievable natural beauty. See for yourself. Those were among the best of the 103 pictures I took with my digital camera until the battery ran out. I also enjoyed the driving on the Skyline. And it was the first time for me to drive 350 miles in 12 hours, a personal record so far.

Shenandoah - Sunset Originally uploaded by nuance1979 .

Shenandoah - Big Meadow Originally uploaded by nuance1979 .

Shenandoah - Snow Originally uploaded by nuance1979 .

Shenandoah - Woods Originally uploaded by nuance1979 .

It was a tremendous pleasure for Hopkins Symphony Orchestra to have Jiebing Chen , a virtuoso erhu soloist to perform "The Butterfly Lovers" (梁祝) concerto, originally for violin, later arranged for erhu and gaohu, which are traditional Chinese two-string fiddles. Based on a "Romeo and Julie"-style story about two lovers who could only be united by death, the concerto was composed for violin to imitate the sound of erhu. So it seemed natural to wonder how this piece would sound on an erhu. Rearranged by one of the composers himself, the concerto was premiered exactly by Jiebing Chen, whose performance tonight was absolutely fabulous. The encore was "Gallop of War Houses"(战马奔腾), one of the most delightful pieces ever written for erhu, in which the instrument, together with a virtuoso player, splashes its capacity of expressiveness as well as entertainment.

Went to a wine tasting in Boordy Vineyards , one of the best wineries in Maryland. It was ok but the wines were sort of over-priced. I did get a Boordy glass, though. The best we tested was the "Syrah-Chambourcin 2003" from their Landmark series.

I Got It! Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Went to an 8-hour night-time ocean fishing in Cheaspeake Bay. I got two spot fish - one big, one small. It was fun! We left home a little bit late but thought we could make it up on the road. However, the traffic in downtown Baltimore was terrible that day. So when we finally got on the highway, we drove as fast as we could. The place we were boarding is a little island on the south end of the land: Solomons Island. And the boat we were going to go fishing with, "Elizabeth", was kind of, um...um...well...crappy.

Snake Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Finished it today. What a great game!

It was the determination of a friend that made me drive 163 miles to go to this Dalai Lama talk in Rutgers University . Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet was warmly welcomed when he appeared in the sight of an audience of thousands in the Rutgers Stadium. He returned the hospitality of the audience by thankful gestures. After receiving an honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Human Letters, he chose to give his impromptu speech while sitting in a chair, just like he would have done in a Buddhism morning teaching. He spoke understandable English with occasional help from his Tibetan-English intepreter. The way he talked was very kind, peaceful and sometimes funny. What he said, however, was vacant, primitive and alogical. He didn't address any sensitive topic, such as his troubled relationship with Chinese government. As a Chinese, I respect His Holiness Dalai Lama as a qualified spiritual leader of Tibet and applaud his non-violence approach of resolving problems. Hi

Went to a nice Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concert featuring Gershwin's "An American in Paris", "Rhapsody in Blue" and Dovrak's "Symphony No. 9". Pianist Fazil Say was stunning in "Rhapsody in Blue"; he also gave an intriguing encore where he put one of his hand in the piano to make it sound very strange and raw. This special effect worked pretty well with this piece. Maestro Yuri Temirkanov chose to begin his last season with BSO with his favorite Gershwin pieces. He didn't use a baton when conducting and his hand gestures were quite interesting.

Finally cut my long hair in Tenpachi . It's funny that it was the same place when I got my first haircut in United States and totally lost confidence in getting my haircut in the right way by the hands of an American hair stylist. I think this time my stylist and I had a better communication.

"Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater" has totally blown my mind away. Fantastic!

Went to Great Falls Park in Virginia. It was cute.

When I was watching "Sunset Blvd." , I couldn't help thinking of "Mulholland Dr." . These two films resemble each other in not only the names and locations but also in their equally witty plots, profound satires and powerful casts. Of course the latter, after fifty years of evolution of film as an art and as an industry, is more sophisticated in technologies and story-telling techniques which are unique to films as opposed to, e.g., plays. It is a pleasure to compare them.

Saw "Not Another Teen Movie" again and felt it was really underestimated. They put a lot of efforts in this "teen movie of all teen movies" and you would appreciate it much more if you were familiar with/tired of all the teen movies and their clichés it was referring to/laughing at. Accidentally saw another teen movie "Mean Girls" by Lindsay Lohan. You still get tons of those clichés but teens/we just can't get enough of them, can they/we?

Went to Northern Central Railroad Trail in Gunpowder Falls State Park . It was actually my first hike in United States. We hiked about 7.6 miles. The trail was monotonous but we did see some opportunities of biking and kayaking. I was a little alergic to the pollens though.

Went to The Walters Art Museum on Saturday, when their permanent colletion is free. I was surprised that Baltimore had not one but two pretty decent art museums. (Another is Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) .) Walters has a very good collection of Asian arts while BMA has the famous Cone collection which specilizes in Matisse, Picasso, Cézanne, Gauguin, van Gogh and Renoir. Also worth mentioning are BMA's gift store and restraurant .

That day I was meeting with my advisor on a report I wrote. He opened our meeting like this: "You know, your writing in English is quite good." I was totally flattered, thinking: "Oh my God, finally! All my hard work (of exercising my wrting by blogging) paid off." "Thanks!" I replied happily. However, in one second he continued, "...I mean, much better than your speaking..." "..."

Che Guevara Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Went to Noah and Karen's (announce of) engagement party in Little Havana , a very nice Cuban bar and restraurant. Nice environment and nice food with a great price. I really liked they put Che Guevara 's famous picture on men's room with the Cuban (I suppose) word for "men" and a female version of that picture and the word for "women" on ladies'. (For the female version, think about Madonna's Che-inspired cd cover for "American Life".)

Watched "Chicago the Movie" on cable. It was a nice adoption which exploited advantage of the forms of both motion picture and musical play. The cast was stunning for any film and Zellweger (Roxie Hart), Zeta-Jones (Velma Kelly) and Gere (Billy Flint) were more at home when playing the "movie" part of this film, as expected. Comparing to "Chicago the Musical", their on-stage singing and dancing were only good enough for themselves even though Zellweger and Zeta-Jones were way better than Gere and Reilly (Amos Hart). I liked the smooth transition between the movie part and the play part and how they purposefully blurred the line. By the way, after watching the musical, someone was accusing the play for repeatedly using actors/actresses for small characters instead of hiring more people. To me that was totally a joke; it was exactly one of the pleasures I had when watching the play, that is, to see how painstakingly economic the playwright was trying to be

Finally settled down in the new apartment, unfolding my American life. Oh yeah!

We were shopping for used furniture and found a free sofa and loveseat. So I went there to check them out. They were too old so we didn't take them. The owner was quite nice, packing her stuff and sweating in a hot summer afternoon. Then she asked me if I liked classical music. I said yes. Then she gave me a box of cds saying they were her friend's leftover. I was very happy to find two DG recordings and loved them: One is a compilation of Spain-inspired music called "Bolero: Images of Spain" by Ravel, Chabrier, Rimsky-Korsakov and De Falla; The other is Bartók Violin Concerto No. 2 and Rhapsodies Nos. 1 & 2 by Gil Shaham, violin and Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Pierre Boulez.

Orchid Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . I walked out of the gallery, exhausted. So I had some food and drink and took a nice little nap on the grass. It was amazingly refreshing. Without too much time left, I entered my last destination, National Botanic Garden . The moment I entered the conservatory, I realized how much I liked plants better than animals. Those plants were exotic in both color and shape. For example, this unbelievable orchid. They had a section of rain forest plants with a very appropriate name: "Jungle". They also had a "Dessert" and an "Oasis' for that matter. I couldn't help taking pictures after pictures until my battery of the camera finally ran out.

Bodhisattva Figure from India Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Having said hello to my animal neighbors, I went to the Freer/Sackler Gallery , an awesome collection of Asian art. Both Buddhist and Islamic Asia were adequently represented. The quality of this gallery was excellent, like this one from India depicting a graceful female Bodhisattva. Besides, good museums always have good shops; Freer/Sackler is no exception.

Cheetah Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . I love the Smithsonian Institution because it offers a great amount of museums and galleries with very high quality at the cost of free. As a (poor) student, nothing comes sweeter than that. So I decided last Saturday I should take more advantage of it when I still could. I got so excited in planning next day's trip that I couldn't sleep until about 3am. My first stop was the National Zoo , where the mother cheetah and the mother panda, Mei Xiang, had given birth recently. As a good neighbour, I felt I should say hello to those lovely families. However, it was hot and I arrived a little late, by their standard, to their home so I didn't get a warm welcome. In fact, they were all flagging, taking naps under shadows. I ended up taking a remote picture of the cheetah family: the pandas wouldn't even care to show their faces to me.

Mozart Piano Sonatas, played by Uchida , have been my treat to ears for months. Thanks to Steve! Unlike Beethoven, my love for Mozart's work was quite natural. His blissful spirit prevails via gorgeous melodies, demanding my full attention then I will be relaxed after it ends. I can't sleep in Beethoven's music; it makes me awake. I like to relax in Mozart's music.

Rumble Roses Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . I've been waiting for this game for a long time: "Rumble Roses" , an all-female wrestling game featuring a mud pool where two chicks get very very dirty fighting.

March of the Penguins Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . "March of the Penguins" is the single movie you should not miss this year. What was amazing was not only the story itself, but how those National Geographic photographers caught it on tape. Told by Morgan Freeman, who has a painful but affirmative voice, a perfect choice. I've also got a poster of this film. :)

Finally finished Division 1 Leauge and Cup and ML Champion Cup. My Real Madrid now is an all-star team: CF: Nuno Gomes, Raul, Kily Gonzalez, Morientes, Chiesa MF: Ronaldihno, Figo, Gerrand, Simone, Emerson, Nakata, Babangida, Miranda DF: Maldini, Roberto Carlos, Hierro, Kohler, Ayala, Nadal, Valery GK: Van Der Sar, Perruzi Formation: 4-5-1A Caption: Maldini Kicker: Ronaldihno (Free), Figo (Corner), Nuno Gomes (Penalty) However, we couldn't get the Best Shooter and Best Assist because in an all-star team like this, everybody can score and/or assist. (Roberto Carlos has 3 goals!) My last game was ML Champion Final vs Arsenal. Nuno Gomes scored the only goal of the game finishing his fantastic season.

一口气看完了金庸 《袁崇焕评传》 ，文字不错，论点还是他一贯的“民本主义”，虽然有些单薄，也还言之成理。对于神宗的评论显然不如《万历十五年》，对崇祯的批评也肤浅了一些。金庸文胜于史，毕竟中国历史自钱穆以后就没有大师了。

Finally bought the watch I've been longing for in SoHo. Suits well my also silver Powerbook. Haha!

West Point Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . The next day we went to West Point . They have a nice view of Hudson River. We were too tired to go CIA so this concluded my Independence Day weekend trip. Best ever!

Girl Before "Girl Before a Mirror" Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Pablo Picasso. Girl Before a Mirror. 1932. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Modern Arts, New York, NY, USA.

Chicago the Musical Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . The Big Apple has so much to offer that you can hardly decide where to go. This time, however, my goal was clear and simple: A Broadway show. It was the first time I drove to New York City so even the driving wasn't boring. With the help of my newly required EZPass , I was able to beat the crowd in the toll line, making my trip a lot more easier. I was also wise enough to stop by a service area before a heavy thunderstorm poured down. We waked up early the next day driving from upstate New York to the city. So prepared we were that by 10:30pm we had got our tickets for our first choice, namely "Chicago" . So we took the spare time to visit MoMA , which has an awesome collection of Cézanne and Pissarro studying the same subjects showing how Cézanne learned from Pissarro and finally broke up with impressionism to pioneer a glorious age of modern art. Needless to say, they also have a lot of invaluable treasure

Watched a women's semi-final between Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams on TV. So sorry Maria didn't win. Hope she can make it to US Open 2005. See you in Flushing, Maria! :)

Watched "Closer" for free! Natalie Portman was stunnning in this film; so was Clive Owen.

Addicted to World Soccer: Winning Eleven 6 International, the best soccer game in the world. In its master league mode, you have to compete in an imaginary league of world's best soccer clubs, starting from an ordinary division 3 team, by aggressive playing and thoughtful management. A lot of decision-making and coaching makes you more involved in this game and finally becomes addicted. My first major player purchase was Nuno Gomes (CF), an underestimated Portugual forward, which turned out to be very successful. With his unstopable goals, I finished division 3. Then I purchase Klos (GK) from German, Kohler (CBT) from German, Simone (DMF) from Argentine and Ronaldhino (OMF) from Brazil, making my team strong in both defense and attack. Recent purchase was Kily Gonzalez (OMF) from Argentine, with whom I changed my formation from 4-5-1 to 4-3-3. Terminology: GK - Goalkeeper CBW - Sweeper CBT - Central Defender SB - Full Back/Wingback DMF - Defensive Midfielder OMF - Attacking Mid

Sweet Cherry Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Went cherry-picking in Shaw Orchards . Driving on a scenic two-lane highway was such a treat.

Sun of the Beach Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Went to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware on Friday. Now that IS summer. Woo-hoo!

Well, not mine. Congratulations, Spurs ! Yo, Tim!

Sliver Dancers Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Woo-hoo!

Tim Duncan Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . NBA Finals Game 7 is coming. Oh yeah!

I got my first parking ticket in March when we were dining out in an Indian restraurant downtown. It was very difficult to find a parking place so when we found someone was leaving his/her spot we were so happy to wait him/her to leave and parked in. I couldn't park in so Veera did it for us. I remembered we did look around to see if there was any "no stopping" sign and there wasn't. However, when we left at about 11pm, I was terrified to find a little piece of white paper on my windshield. I was thinking: "This is it. Finally!" It was ridiculously charging me for "obstructing/impeding free flow of traffic" for $77! That's a huge number for me, a poor student. So I asked to stand a trial and waited the subpoena to come. The trial was scheduled on today. So I had my first United States court experience, which turned out to be both enlightening and entertaining. Since we were dealing with some not so serious cases, the judge was telling jokes fro

Went to Charles Theatre alone for legendary Hayao Miyazaki 's latest film "Howl's Moving Castle" . A masterpiece! Incredible imagination and very nice music!

NBA Finals 2005 Game 5 was good. Tim Duncan was doing well almost all the game except for final 5 minutes. "Big Shot Bob" rescued them with a confident trey; his last slam dunk was also unforgettable.

Got the last iSee , a transperant plastic case for iPod, in Towson Apple Store. iLike it! As some people pointed out, you'll get your iPod scratched if you don't use the protective jacket, a.k.a. iUnderwear, before slipping it into the case. After that It works great. Plus I got the iTrip after staring at the price tag for a long time and a final relief of "what the heck". Just in time for my next New York trip. Oh yeah!

After about two weeks of "ipodless", I finally got my ipod back from Apple. They couldn't repair it so they sent me a replacemant. I'm going to buy a case for it tomorrow.

Went to a cozy local French restaurant tonight. It was good. I liked the snail appetizer. Even the chocolate cake! Definitely a place worth going for a second time.

Accidentally bumped into a good news investigation about Wal-Mart on PBS "Frontline". It's a shame that we haven't asked the same question: Is Wal-Mart good for China?

Finally watched "Super Size Me" , a film which has been on my list for a long time. Amazing! One of the best documentaries I've ever watched! Given the situation I know about how fast food is corrupting Chinese people, especially kids, I can't help wondering if this film has been translated into Chinese. If not, I would like to volunteer.

Watched an outdoor film on Saturday night. The movie was bad; I was there not for the movie but for the moon, the stars, the grass and the fireflies. What a cool night!

Went to "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" yesterday and left disappointed. Could've been a great movie if they put more effor in. They had a better story to tell than "Paycheck" and the casting was great. However they lacked John Woo's action cinemotography and the comic punch lines needed obvious refinement. Bottomline: One good story and two good stars wasted.

Full Metal Panic Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . A hilarious anime ! Reminds me much of Ranma 1/2 , "a great mix of comedy, romance, and action".

See THAT is the right headline . Those guys didn't get it.

Ever since I started to pursue a Ph.D. , I got a lot of questions like "How many courses do you have to take to get a Ph.D?" or "It's been years and you still haven't graduated?", which essentially misunderstood the nature of a Ph.D. It is a title to be conferred upon someone who has demonstrated one's ability in independent scientific research. The way of learning that ability is via apprenticing with a more skillful worker in this job. So when we were watching "Star Wars II: The Attack of the Clones", when young Anakin Skywalker was complaining about how his Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi critisized his lightsabre skill and the Jedi Counsil refused his request of the "Master" title, saying something like ANAKIN SKYWALKER He's always not content with me, saying I still have a lot to learn. I hate him.

I've always dreamed about California and will probably visit it this year. But after reading an article in NY Times, I started to wonder if California, specifically Silicon Valley was good for me. I've never liked ferocious competition and life-consuming hard work. That's just too much for me. All I want is to work on the things I like, to be proud of what I create and to cheerfully enjoy my life. Be myself and never follow the crowd. My deepest criticism for being "Moneymen" is that it blurs the line between path and destination and THAT is dangerous. Life is too short to get lost.

Found my new apartment today. Going to move in on July 30. Quite different from and better than where I'm living right now. Let's see what's going to happen.

Blue Angels Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Diamond Formation Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . I had a very nice Memorial Day weekend with my friends at the NAS JRB Willow Grove Air Fest 2005 featuring the dazzling Blue Angels and much more. Best Memorial Day weekend ever!

Nice shot! Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Well, this was the best my Sony Cybershot DSC F707 could do. From the Hopkins vs Virginia game. Enjoy!

NCAA Men's Lacrosse Division I Champion 2005 - Johns Hopkins Blue Jays! I watched the final game on ESPN2 at the Rocky Run , a local pub near the campus. Proud to be a Blue Jay!

It was a game I could never forget. Hopkins fans know too well of Virginia men's lacrosse: It was they who defeated our Blue Jays right in the Hopkins Field in 2003 semi-final putting us heart-broken. So when once again Cavaliers were meeting Blue Jays in NCAA Men's Lacrosse 2005 Semi-final in Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, you could feel the feud. Both team couldn't score in the first quarter; they did have a lot of shots and saves, though. It was Hopkins who broke the ice as a result of more effective shots. They kept the momentum to push the score to 3-0 when Cavaliers started to score but still couldn't reduce the gap. By the end of the third quarter, Hopkins took a steady lead 6-3 and the statistics were on their side. Had sports games all gone with statistics, they wouldn't be so inspiring to their spectators as well as players. And God has his weapon of defying the statistics: "Let there be wind and shower." So there was. A big one. When the

They say you can't choose your family but your friends are the family you choose. Today I have to say goodbye to one of my friends of this kind; he's leaving for a very nice job in California after graduation. I owe him so much because not only has he been looking after me like a big brother for three years, but also his own life has been such an inspiration for me whenever I lost my courage to move on. We went to a Chinese restraurant like we always did, eating and talking like families. He is going be a dad soon and I can see how happy he is. I sincerely wish them healthy and happy. Bon voyage!

Desperate Housewives Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . According to this quiz , I am likely to date or marry Bree of Desperate Housewives because I "lack discipline, and this put-together homemaker is just the one to provide it." Sadly that is so true. :P

Go Blue Jays! Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Hopkins beated UMass 19-9 in NCAA Men's Lacrosse Division I quarterfinal today! I'm going to watch the semifinal and/or final in Philadelphia . Yeah! Go Blue Jays !

Au revoir Sex and the City! Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Finally saw the final two episodes (except the final 15 minutes), "An American Girl in Paris (Part Une & Deux )" today. What can I say? I would say Mr. Big was very lucky about timing and it was a very nice show.

Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Saw it at the Senator , a very nice independent-run, historic movie theatre in Baltimore. I personally think it is the best of all six episodes for its state-of-the-art sci-fi special effects and the most dramatic part of the story. (Some of the lines are cheezy, though.) - Finish the Ph.D. we must! - May the Force be with us!

Apple PowerBook G4 Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . You have no idea what it means to me. :)

Plato and Aristotle Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Interesting book which I'm reading. The picture is from Raphael's "School of Athens". Plato is on the left; Aristotle on the right.

"You understand how to have fun with others and to enjoy your solitude." My favorite.

Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Amazing anime. Liked the opening song very much. Found its lyrics here . Anime Lyrics: Ghost in the Shell (Stand Alone Complex) Rise 2nd Opening Song Music: Yoko Kanno Lyrics: Tim Jensen/Origa Sung by: Origa I'm a soldier, значит я И ответчик и судья Я стою на двух концах огня Огибая виражи, обгоняя смерть и жизнь Я бегу сразиться с тенью лжи Сколько б нитей не плёл обман Покажет лик света истина *Save your tears for the day when our pain is far behind on your feet come with me we are soldiers stand or die Save your fears take your place save them for the judgement day fast and free follow me time to make the sacrifice we rise or fall I'm a soldier, born to stand in this waking hell I am witnessing more than I can compute pray myself we don't forget lies, betrayed and the oppressed please give me the strength to be the truth people facing the fire together if we don't, we'll lose al

Cherry Blossom in Washington, DC Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . It was a beautiful afternoon.

It's funny that I like "Sideways" very much cause I understand it. Relationship doesn't end with breakup/divorce; it ends with another relationship/marriage. it was not until he drank that precious Chateau Cheval Blanc in a plastic bottle that did Miles finally stop glorifying the marriage, look at it down-to-the-earth and move on. We've been educated since childhood about how marriage is holy and the prince and princess lives "happily ever after". Unfortunately that's just a benevolent glorification of the real world. I'm not saying glorification is bad; I'm saying it's addictive and should be stopped at some point. In fact I'm a pessimistic person and I should do more glorification of my oridinary life to cheer me up. But somehow I see people do it too much - well, which instantly proves I'm not only pessimistic but also cynical. Ok, I'll stop it.

Found an awesome IM client on Mac OS X: Adium X . Simply the best IM client ever! Even though I don't use IM often anymore... I just LOVE that icon, an adorable duckling. Makes me smile every time I see it. :D

Thanks to Steve, who encouraged me to this concert and warned me the possiblity of sold-out! We were so luck to get two wonderful seats where I could see Yundi Li's fingers jumping above the keyboard like bullets, literally! And thanks to Yundi, who generously signed my program booklet and, above all, gave such a wonderful concert! I am so proud of you as Chinese! Best of lucks!

First prize in Chopin International Piano Contest at the age of seventeen, three DG recordings programmed exclusively of Chopin and Liszt, that's as much of fuzz as a young pianist could bear. But is he really THAT good? From China? Those questions might explain the fact that Yundi Li's concert in Shriver Hall was sold out, a rarity even to this 80-year-old concert series. Then what was the answer? Well, let's just say those who missed it would bitterly regret. Dressed in a silky black shirt and black pant, Yundi came out with his trade-mark airy hair style. I was a little surprised by how slim he was. He addressed the audience's warm welcome with equally warm smiles and nods. The first in program was Mozart's Sonata No.10 in C Major, K. 330, a "high-spirited and light-textured work", by the program notes, presumably "reflecting the composer's optimism about his recent marriage and his newfound independence in the imperial capital" (Vie

Enchanting, energetic and electrified. Can't get enough of it. My favorite!

Great concert by NATALIA GUTMAN, cello and ELIZO VIRZALADZE, piano. I like the first movement of the Strauss' sonata and the second of the Rachmaninoff's. Powerful cello and shining piano. Next concert is Yundi Li, piano. Trying to get a ticket.

Drove to Washington, DC for the beautiful cherry blossom. My first road trip! :)

Dan Wang was good; but Juntao Wang was great. He's a serious thinker who really cares about building a better China. And he understands democracy profoundly. I didn't get the chance to talk to him but I personally thought freedom of speech was the most urgent step China had to take and it was also most probably the first right Chinese people could get back from the government.

Yeah! me vs Goban. Finally. He made a couple of stupid mistakes and I used "Go back" function several times for "Guan Zi". :P

export LC_ALL=C export LESSCHARSET=iso8859 sort -u chinese.file > chinese.file.sorted Thanks to Richard Sproat.

Did some research on this. Here's what I found: 1. Tuxedo(礼服, always black) + black tie(领结) is the most formal dress for men; while a dark suit(西服) + tie(领带) is considered to be formal or semi-formal. 2. Dark suit: A dark suit can be worn for all occasions, irrespective of the time of day, including at white tie events. The term dark suit simply means a dark grey, dark blue or black suit. The material can be subtly striped, but not pinstripe. 3. From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suit_%28clothes%29): The classic coservative suit colors are navy blue, grey, and charcoal. Black has only recently gained acceptance as a suit color, and still is not considered particularily conservative. 4. From Emily Post, "Etiquette", 1922 (an etiquette "bible", http://www.bartleby.com/95/34.html): (Business suits 4) A blue or black sack suit will do in place of a cutaway at a wedding, but not if you are the groom or an usher. Therefore I slightly modify my claim to be

From gcc manual: "It makes a difference where in the command you write this option; the linker searches processes libraries and object files in the order they are specified. Thus, `foo.o -lz bar.o' searches library `z' after file `foo.o' but before `bar.o'. If `bar.o' refers to functions in `z', those functions may not be loaded." Got stucked by this stupid mistake for a long time. So $(CC) $(CFLAGS) weight.o -loolm -lmisc -ldstruct -o weight works while $(CC) $(CFLAGS) -loolm -lmisc -ldstruct weight.o -o weight DOESN'T!!! Conclusion: put main() obj first!

An anecdotal account of the 9# reunion in Chicago. 03/17/05 Gossiping around 9#bbs'ers with ying and moron. 03/18/05 Visited University of Chicago campus. Saw the scence from "When Harry Met Sally". Went to the "Signiture Room", an elegant bar and restarount on the 95th floor of John Hancock building. Had a martini called "Signiture Pear". Very nice night view of Chicago city. Later went to strip club "This IS it". ID's from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Carlifornia, Maryland, etc. brought the club an instant "all-American" fame. 03/19/05 Went to the Art Institute of Chicago. They have a big collection of Monet and other impressionist. Some Rambrandt and Picasso, too. Went to karaoke in chinatown. Sang "Dong Feng Po" for the first time. Went to disco bar "Vision". Very nice place. strikes was the best male dancer, who attracted an American girl to dance with him. Later he complained about the funny smell from

to go to a strip club with girls. We were so embarrassed and restrained.

Short answer: Mozilla ThunderBird (Windows version) Long answer: I did some research on google. Surprisingly I found not a single article could give a simple answer. So I solved it myself. Problem: To import my old mail from Microsoft Outlook/Outlook Express to Apple Mail. Constraint: No Microsoft software on Mac, no registration fee for stupid sharewares. Solution: The problem is essentially a format conversion from .pst to .mbox. So it reduces to find a free format converter. Turns out Mozilla ThurderBird is a Windows-friendly, free-spirit, *nix-rooted mail client, which serves as a wonderful .pst to .mbox converter. Done. Yeah!

HTK: Follow http://htk.eng.cam.ac.uk/docs/faq.shtml "How can I compile HTK 3.2 on Mac OS X". One trick missing: in the HTKLib folder, open the strarr.c source and change #include <malloc.h> into #include <malloc/malloc.h> Cause in Panther (also FreeBSD?), malloc.h is in /usr/include/malloc/. Cxterm: Change int initgroups(const char *, gid_t) into int initgroups(const char *, int) cause that's the prototype in Panther(also FreeBSD?). Feels good.

可以用汉字吗？

My first blog.