The Icon A5 - Sport plane?

Doesn't it look like a sport car? This little plane can go up to 120mph and requires only a 20-hr sport pilot training, it's going to turn the aviation of mankind to a new page.

A Little Gift Box

閒記就是這樣容易令人忘記。筆者忘記去寫，讀者忘記去看。

今天收到太太寄來的小禮物，自不然就想起要「update」這個「龜 blog」。因為這幾天氣溫已降至近乎零度，本想關了外門的小窗，卻竟發現一個小包裹就在門與門之間靜待著，可說是雪中送碳。

想不到一轉眼又回來了美國一個半月，踏入PHD的第四年，要是你不是一個想「hea」的人，總也會覺得壓力及工作都大加，實是不容易過的日子。做PHD或是說做學問的，總算是會有點抱負吧！可以的話，莫論會否投身學術界，也倒想有一點成績或貢獻，如此說來，壓力就是難免的，希望畢業的時候能夠有五份「first author」的文獻，而有一份可達「impact factor」20 的就好了，當然這個是「best case scenario」，但唯有就是盡力而為，無愧於支持我的人！
話又說回那小包裹，內有很多香港特色東西，有玩的，有賞的，有熱氣的，也有清熱氣的，可算是頗有心思。而值得一提的，莫過於森姆與Cathy的遊戲碟，好為沉悶的學習增加點點色彩，多謝熊生熊太同熊女！說到家人及一些老朋友，總令我想起香港的萬分好。
無論如何，盡快畢業才是最實際！

ISMB 2008 Toronto

Just came back from the ISMB (Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology) 2008 conference at Toronto! It was a 5-day conference from 19th to 23rd. Due to the 'expensive' registration fee (550 at least for early bird), we chose to just drive from New Haven to save cost. Originally I thought an 8hr or more drive would be very exhausting, but it turned out the road trip was not that bad and was kind of fun. I guess it might not be too much worse than flying considering all the waiting and connecting time. So we (I, Mohamed, Pavi, and ThaiBinh) drove to Toronto on 19th in the morning and arrived at 8:30pm. We stopped by the Niagara Falls on the US side and visited briefly. If it was not raining, we would have spent a longer time and took a boat trip there. But it's not a problem since there is always next time : ) We spent most of our time (relatively) on the conference so we haven't really explored Toronto that much. But as usual, there are always talks that you can skip : ) So in the afternoon before the day we left, I bought a one-day pass and did a super quick sightseeing of Toronto. I took the Metro subway to the Queen's Park, University of Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, Casa Loma (some sort of castle), and then took the street car to the Lake Ontario and back to our Hotel on King street. My overall experience of Toronto is that people are in general quite nice. The subway is clean and convenient. The city is also quite organized. The bad thing is that the QEW always seems to have traffic and the conference didn't have enough food and water provided, ridiculously. Besides, we were also invited by Meisha to have a get together at her home on Sunday and enjoyed a very nice treat from her whole family. And also we got a chance to meet with Pavi's mum as she is now working in Toronto. Her mum was so nice that even treated us a lunch at the Richtree restaurant : ) On our way back, we visited Rochester (Mohamed's feel-like home) and RIT, and almost tried 'something different' for our dinner. And finally, under the quite severe storm, we safely came back around 2 in the morning!

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/hugolam/ISMB2008Toronto

MS Graduation

On May 26, 2008, we, the CBB 3rd year students, walked at graduation all together and took our MS degree en route to PhD. It was such a fun and memorial moment not only because we walked together with the presence of our families, but also because we witnessed the conferral of the honorary doctoral degrees to Paul McCartney and Cesar Pelli at the same time! P.S. it was the first graduation ceremony that I attended!

Mac OS X

After my IBM (Lenovo) T60 died with a couple of hardware problems, I got a MacBook Pro as a replacement. When I was using Windows, I had a perception that Mac is a legend in the OS field as its stability and usability are so well received. Considering they build the OS and the machine, plus the OS is Unix based, it still makes sense to have such a reputation of performance. Honestly, I was quite happy with my Mac in the first week and with no doubt its usability is so much better than Vista, which I think unnecessarily imitated many of the Mac UIs that don't fit very well into their realm. As a user that extensively uses Linux daily, I feel more convenient using Mac with its built-in terminal, ssh, sftp, vnc, and virtual desktop (spaces). And most admirably, it comes with Java out of the box. That's everything I need. I would be really pleased if it can truly maintain its stability, at least for longer. As an IT professional, I wouldn't blame the OS because of individual program crashes. As in the past years I had never thought Windows was really that bad, considering it runs on a large variety of machines, until Vista came into play. I would say Windows 2000 is so far the best version of Windows I have ever used and Vista, in my opinion, is somewhat comparable with Windows Me, sadly. No matter what, the bottom line is that in my theory, an OS that is claimed to be good shouldn't in any case crash just because of an individual program crashed. Unfortunately, my Mac crashed twice in two weeks so far just because of individual program problems, not to mention some other minor bugs that are well discussed in the forums but are still outstanding. I originally thought it could be some sort of memory problem. However, the best memory tester for Mac, MemTest, said they are good. Although I am sure many people would have never encountered such an experience with Mac, nor they would have been aware of it, if it does happen and my Mac OS is genuine, I am a little bit reserved in its legendary stability, at least with that of Leopard.

Home Sweet Home

I remember a couple years ago the TV drama "Triumph in the Skies" (衝上雲霄) said pilots not only take people to their destinations, but also help people reunite. This is particularly true for people staying away from their families and friends. Last week I was still on the other side of the Earth and now I am writing this passage in Hong Kong, meeting up with friends and getting together with my family, it is pretty amazing. This is the first time I take my spring break in Hong Kong, and I hope after "recharging" myself I could have more energy to cope with the qualifying examination coming soon :)

Sun Certified Enterprise Architect

After so many years, I finally got some time to take the SCEA exam. This exam had long been my dream since day one I started my IT career. People have been saying that it requires at least five years of IT work experience, or else it means nothing even certified. But just by the time I got enough experience, I decided to pursue my PhD so it had been postponed until the end of last year. To get certified as a software architect may help a bit in job hunting, but most importantly it is a recognition and satisfaction for anyone who is enthusiastic in object oriented analysis and design, or in general software engineering.
* Special thanks for the support of my wife, and all the resources and information from my best friend Felix, an SCEA too!

新春快樂

恭喜發財! 祝大家鼠年行個大運! 身體健康, 龍馬精神, 萬事勝意, 做生意者一本萬利, 打工者步步高升, 讀書者學業猛進! 恭喜恭喜!

香港奇案

近日城中最熱門的話題, 莫過於一批被譽為不雅的照片. 照片的不雅程度, 仁者見仁, 智者見智, 我亦不在此談. 我第一次知悉這件事時, 卻花不上一分鐘去理會它, 可是實在太多人談及這事, 加上報章連日旳報道, 令我也不由得對此事加以思考. 藝人其實亦不過是人, 做出這類事根本就不足為奇, 有些人接受不了外表清純的偶像做出如此放盪的行為, 可能是他們忘記了戲子就是做戲的. 而有些人會憤慨娛樂圈淡化當時人攝錄這些照片的不道德行為, 但正如我所說不雅程度是見仁見智, 難道你不許娛樂圈覺得這是家常便飯嗎? 所以奇的不在於娛樂圈, 而是在於香港的執法者. 為何破照片案會比那些殺人放火的來得更快更要緊? 為何法官會對未被定罪的市民有如此前所未有的嚴勵對待? 難道警務署長真的這麼空閒去處理這些芝麻綠豆的事? 就連主角以及他們的經理人公司也對此事不再作回應, 可能就是因為警務署長已經把這事當作自己的事辦罷了. 更神奇的是警務署經常投訴警力不足, 今次竟然可以出面勞煩國際刑警以及中國政府, 加上大量警力, 連一般市民也不放過的去找出源頭, 真是令我感到欣慰, 因為香港現在一定是天下太平了.
此處也希望跟大家分享一句我覺得很應景的網上留言: 如果這些照片是EDIT出來的, 那麼這個EDIT出來的人應該是EDIT神.
事件的對與錯和著眼點, 我相信大部分香港人應該是心中有數. 我真的怕一哥再查下去, 會發覺照片的源頭就是主角本人... 可憐的是政府往往都令我們在國際上成為笑話. 真的希望他們做事多一點智慧, 多一點心思便好了.

小別勝新婚

二零零八年二月一日, 滂沱大雨.
清晨起床送了一位朋友到車站, 原因是他太太要回國半年, 而從他的住所到車站又有好一段距離, 再加上不少的行李, 故此便決定給他行個方便, 免他擔心太太趕不上飛機. 原意本想直接送他們到甘乃迪國際機場, 可是又碰上一年一度的Visiting Weekend, 要照顧前來參觀的來年學生, 這個忙始終都幫不上. 看著他太太一大一小的行李, 令我黯然想起一個半月前亦是此情此景送別太太. 離別總是教人傷心, 我很明白這個朋友的心情, 但時間總可淡化這種傷感. 傷心的時間不竟是過得比較慢, 歡樂的時光倒又過得比較快, 這兩種情感交集起來, 可說是非筆墨所能形容. 就如轉瞬間自己參觀耶魯大學已是三年前的事, 而不經不覺今天就是結婚半週年的紀念日.

閒記的起源

寫週記難, 寫日記更難. 對於文學收養極為淺溥的我, 可說是倍加難度. 正因為此, 我挺喜歡閒記這一概念, 有時間便寫, 沒時間當然就不寫. 談及閒記這一詞, 不得不提及它的出處, 明顯地我不會曉得它真正的由來, 我說的是它從何時何地何人引入我有限的詞滙中. 還記得中學的時候, 花了一整星期時間, 四處奔走, 好不容易才找到一本我原以為用來做日記的RURU日記簿. 老實說, 我那陣子就連RURU這個名子也沒什聽聞過, 更莫說RURU的產品. 只是從某個女孩子中聽及一些簡單的描述, 便不由分說的四處尋覓, 最可佈的就是這本RURU日記簿話說已是絶版, 而那個可愛的女孩也只是跟它有過一面之緣. 幸而皇天不負有心人, 我還是找到了它, 一本以閒記之用的日記簿. 隨著時間的流逝, 我也漸漸遺忘了這個好像是懶惰的人才會用的詞語. 但近年來隨著網誌的流行, 再加上太太仍然對閒記鍥而不舍, 把它從RURU的世界帶到互聯網中, 泛起了我寫網詓的一鼓衝勁.