The beginning of July

We went to the buttermilk creek farm. A small but nice berry-picking farm.
A lot of blueberries. Blackberries and Peaches will be ready in two weeks.

Tanger outlet at Mebane NC.
A small outlet but I got a $10 jeans from Converse and it amazingly fits to me.

Allen & Sons BBQ
Traditional southern bbq.
But a little bit expensive. Not many selections for the side dishes (bbq joint (the pig) is better)
Sweet tea is the best.

A happy day.

Structure-based drug design to Molecular Dynamics Simulation.

Is it really such a big difference?
Please give me some response.

State farmer's market (in Raleigh, NC)

Aleck suddenly decided to visit the farmer's market. 
I told him I only went there once because it's too far away. 

It turned out there was a lot of fun. 

I got blueberries which are much better than the ones I bought in wholefood. 
The taste is so sweet and has lots of flavor, not waterish.
The strawberries are also nice, but less comparable to the surprise I got from the blueberries. 
We also got a lot of yellow squash and portobello mushrooms with low price. 


I never cook portobellow mushrooms before. They are meat-like but don't have as strong flavor as in shikate mushrooms. I feel it can be cooked by grilling... 


 

Eno River State Park (NC)

We went for hiking on Sun. (May 22)

This park was introduced by my friend and we like that trail(Holden Mill trail) a lot because it's very close to the river.

This time we chose the Buckquarter creek trail, which is also close to the river.

It was a lot of fun. 

We crossed the Fews Ford by bare foot. (It was more like having a foot massage. (wading shoes... sigh)

We "heard" many many cicadas. It was just like the wave hitting the seashore. VERY NOISY.

We saw many many cicada's holes on the ground... and the shells in the trees.

I can't help wondering where the birds are. Don't they eat cicadas?

Are the cicadas over-populated?

We also saw a snake, a locus, and a frog. Many dogs and kids. Eno River is really a popular park!

The good thing about the trails in Eno River. They are kind of short and flat? (Maybe we chose the flattest ones) and they are loop-wise. 

Trip to Disney World

5/12
We made several good decisions:

1. We took the Southwest Airline to Orlando. This was a better decision for us because we had several bags needed to be checked. If we had took the Delta (similar time and similar price), we would need to pay extra $25 to just check one bag!
2. We choose the Magical Express service. Since we stayed in Disney's resort (pop century) and we didn't plan to go to other places except Disney World, it sounded reasonable to use this free service to travel between the resort and the airport. It turned out to be magically good! The direction from SW terminal to the motor coach is clear. The driver is friendly and the bus is quite cozy. More important, we didn't need to claim our luggage and our 4 bags magically showed up after we came back from downtown Disney!
3. We went to the downtown Disney directly instead of going to play mini Golf. I was amazed that how my family loved the stores in the marketplace. (I don't care those collectables too much). We had a good time buying cute stuff and checking the Lego store (and the chopped caramel nut apple). However, they were not so interested in the bean dish that I recommended. Orz
4. We used the complimentary water taxi service. Our walk tour started from the marketplace and ended at west side. It was enjoyable to take the water taxi back the bus stop in the night wind. 
5. We didn't rent the car! It's quite convenient to use the complimentary bus service in Disney World if you stayed at one of the resort. 

5/13
After the serious consideration, my sister decided to go to Hollywood Studio. She was well-planed.

1. Fastpass. Definitely it was such a important decision to go to get the Fastpass of "Toy Story Midway Mania", the most popular attraction in Hollywood Studio when we entered the park. Even though we tried to be as fast as possible to get to the spot, we could only get the 2:30-3:30 ticket.

          There are some rules about the Fastpass:

• Although it indicated that we should come to the spot between 2:30-3:30, actually it meant that we could use it any time after 3:30
• After taking one Fastpass, you need to wait a certain amount of time to get another one. (My sister discovered this because she tried to get the ticket of the "Tower of Terror" straightly after the "Toy story")  

1. This was her route. (she tried to finish as many as attractions as possible, of course, the attractions that we were interested in).

Get the Fastpass of "Toy story" => Go to watch the musical of "Little Mermaid" => "The great movie Ride" => "Beauty & the Beast" => Lunch at Sunset Boulevard and get the Fastpass of "Rock n' Roll roller coaster" => "Indiana Jones Stunt show" => walk back to the front of the park, shopping, and wait for the Parade => "Toy story" => "Lights Motors, Action stunt show" => "Prince Caspian" => "Studio backlot tour" => buy dinner and join the line of "Fantasmic" => roller coaster

• We all like the "Little Mermaid" musical. Cool!
• Movie ride would be more interesting if I was more familiar with those movies.
• Although it was cheap eat, the lunch at "Fairfax fare" was quite enjoyable. My father like the turkey leg. He thinks it is juicy and cheap compared to chicken breast and beef rib. 
• Prince Caspian is ..... not so good
• We can't finish the "Studio backlot tour" because of the T-storm.

5/14
Ready to go back to reality.
We would like to enjoy the Resort Airline check-in service. However, my family's flight was international. Therefore, they couldn't check their bags at Resort. But the staff was very friendly to allow us to store the bags and we could enjoy our breakfast.
The bus of Magical Express showed up promptly.

I feel my family enjoyed this trip in Disney World. The friendliness and professional of Disney really make people feel warm and enjoyable.
However, I wonder if it's a good idea to bring kids there to "make their dreams come true" by spending money to make them become princesses or get materials or ...
Being wasteful (lots of toys and collectables stuffed on the shelves).
Moreover, to make them think you ought to buy things to them. (Sometimes, parents don't buy the toys that kids want might due to the price. However, small kids won't understand. Instead he might think this just because you are unwilling to pay. )

being humble. to treasure the nature. A value. not in Disney World.

The movies that I want to see yet unavailable on netflix

Dust in the Wind (戀戀風塵) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091406/

The Terrorizers (恐怖分子) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091355/

Vive L‘Amour (愛情萬歲)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109066/

Tropical Fish (熱帶魚) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117970/

The Personals (徵婚啟事)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212423/

A Brighter Summer Day (牯嶺街少年殺人事件)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101985/

Jerry Maguire

I don't remember when I watched this movie before.
But some famous scenes just never fade.

"You complete me"
"You had me at hello"

I hope both of us already found our own peaceful land.

Inside Job (film)

I haven't found a movie I like a lot for a long time. But this is really a good one. I never pay too much attention on those financial news. I don't really feel what those people in Wall Street did can affect my life. But actually it did. It'a a chain. Maybe the 2008 meltdown also partly contributes the current status of computational chemist in industry. 

House buyers <=> lenders <=> investment banks <=> investors

Before 1980s, the chain stopped at the second arrows. Regulation. After that , deregulation

lenders (predatory lenders) provide subprime loans (risky loans), which have high interests, to house buyers. Then they sell the mortgages to investment banks. Along with other debts, these are called the collateralized debt obligations (CDO). The investment banks can sell these CDO to investors (e.g., the retirement fund). They investors could buy the kinds of CDO based on rating companies' "opinions", which are paid by the investment banks. Many toxic CDO are sold  by investment banks with AAA rating. 

In this way, lenders don't care if the house buyers can buy their loans or not. They just want to get the mortgages to sell to the investment banks. And investment banks prefer subprime loans because they have higher interests and higher CDO values. More and more subprime loans. Everyone can get a house. Because of the need, the price of houses skyrocketed. 

Unfortunately, when the house buyers can't buy the loan, they face the foreclosure. They lost their houses. And the investors are also losers because they bought the toxic CDO.

There's another branch. The insurance company (e.g., AIG). They sell the credit default swap (CDS), which is insurance to the CDO. If the CDO went bad, they need to pay the insurer. However, CDS is not like the general insurance, which insurer can only insure their own property. Everyone can insure CDO. 

So if the CDO is good, the insurance company can earn short-term money (bonus to the workers) but if the CDO went bad, this would be a disaster. Because the insurance company needs to pay many people.

Moreover, before the 2008 meltdown, the investment banks even insured their own CDO. That's crazy. They even didn't believe their products.

Finally... the bailout of AIG... with money from taxpayers. 

The part that make people angry most: none of those "economist" or "directors" were convicted. They still have their bonus. They are still the major roles in administration. When they were forced to confess, none of them showed any regrets. 

For some of the killers, at least they admitted what they did is bad. 

my first somewhat big c++ project

yeah... finally this is not a "Hello world" program.
I rewrote the whole EnTess program to c++ plus pymol visualization.
Today I tested the new program (in my laptop) and the old one (on emerald).
Although it's not fair, I am still happy to find out that the new program only took  2 sec to generate 1 descriptor compared to the 18 sec by the old program.

UPDATE: 0.2 sec. to generate 1 descriptor

Besides, this really helps me build the confidence...

Interview trip in DC

I got an interview in DC during the early of the April.
Coincidentally, the NTU SOP reunion would be hold around that time. The SOP seniors arranged some interesting events, for example, the tour for DC annual cherry blossom
Additionally, Danny kept telling how great the last reunion was and how important it is to build the network
Therefore, I decided to attend the reunion before my interview.

The opening dinner was held in Far East restaurant in Rockville. I was surprised there were so many people.
The dishes were pretty good. Even the plain bok choy + garlic tasted very juicy.

Intermittently, the seniors reported the current stage/progress of SOP and  discussed about the vista.
I felt I was touched after Dr. Jane Hsiao's inspiring speech. She explained the difficulty in dealing with school politics when she decided to donate buildings to school and her effort to solve the problem.
I wondered what I could do here (in US).
I have been fighting for survival since I came here.
The cross-talk performance was also very touchy... somehow I hoped I could see more my classmates.

Except the opening dinner, Aleck joined the events. We went to the Tidal Basin, which was surrounded by cherry trees. Then China Town restaurant, Tony Chen.... but I guess this is the most decent one they can find in China Town.
Great Falls park is amazing! Kayaking Orz
Kenwood Cherry Blossom. These trees should be the earliest cherry trees in DC area according to the wiki.
A nice suburb.

A very nice reunion. The organization and new friends.

Interview.
Q&A slides are so useful and necessary.
Compared with many scientists in my interview in Industry, I really feel they are so energetic.
I hope I can get this job. Although I don't want to live alone, somehow I feel this might be the best makeshift I can find now...
If I don't catch up with Aleck, or at least be more experienced, there will be just even no jobs in the future.
According to the scientists in NCGC, the environment in  Industry is getting worse...

After the interview, I need to pick up Aleck in DC area. the Rossyln station ... It's hard to pick up people in downtown Orz

When we were back to CH, it was already around 9pm. Restaurants were closed.
However, the dishes in Boston Market with Aleck after the trip tasted so amazingly great! (plus the good service)

Trip to Florida

> Heading to St. Augustine from MCO
Supposedly a less-than-two-hour driving.
However, due to the incident (we guessed probably the fire nearby the highway, very smoky), we spent over 3 hrs on the highway.

When we arrived at the St. Augustine, It was already time for dinner. 

We went to the Columbia restaurant. http://www.columbiarestaurant.com/

• paella 
• Spanish bean soup
• a kind of pulled beef

I remember that I was impressed at the restaurant and the whole restaurant is special 

But this time I felt it is just another American chain restaurant. 

Good part: The St. Augustine downtown is still pretty and interesting. 

Next morning, we went to the a cheap but delicious Spanish Deli

The tasting room to go http://www.tastetapastogo.com/

• Empanada (We ordered ham and cheese but I felt too much meat >_< but it's tasty)
• Fresh bread with roasted garlic hummus
• blackberry panna cotta
• Cafe con Leche (Spanish default , something similar to Latte)

To conclude, this is a  price friendly deli and dishes are great!

> To Premium outlet on International Dr.  

Nice. Lots of stores. 

We found the Chicken Now in food court is so good. Chick tenders are juicy. 

http://www.chicken-now.com/

> To Disney all-star Movies resort and Animal Kingdom

Safari is alright.

The most interesting show is the flights of wonders. Pretty cool.

We ate our lunch the booth. Cheap. Just OK. Parade is fun. But We are more amazed at the efficiency they clean up after the passing of parade.

> To Fantasia mini golf and downtown Disney

It was fun and I won.

Full of expansive food in Disney downtown. We went to Pollo campero instead. 

http://www.campero.com/index.php?showPage=38

• The Campero beans are delicious.
• free salsa bar. 
• Fried Yuca fries!

I feel so good that I didn't eat at those fancy restaurants.

> To Dali Museum

On the way to Dali museum, we stopped by at the La Teresita (Cuban restaurant). I planned to go to the restaurant but we ended up in the cafeteria instead. When I first entered the cafeteria, I feel all the eyes landing upon me.

We tried several dishes. http://www.lateresitarestaurant.com/en/index.php

• Oxtail in the sauce (very delicious. The meat is so tender and soaked)
• Codfish in sauce ... Orz....
• Roasted pork ... Orz...
• Yuca ... ok
• Spanish bean soup and black bean soup 
• Chicken soup
• Fried ripe plantain.

The tour guide in Dali museum is great.

> To St. Petersburg Beach

We stayed at the Tradewinds grand resort. 4*  I got it from priceline but there is a  hidden amenity fee made me unhappy. 

But the beach is nice. It's great that our resort has Sauna that Russians like. 

Dinner is at St. Petersburg Nights (Russian Restaurant)

http://www.stpetersburgnights.com/

• beef stew. Nice~
• small dumplings (filling is cottage cheese or potato) sour cream is the sauce. 
• special chicken wrap (similar to pork cordon bleu according to my friend). Delicious

They said the business is not good. So they have the special show... Orz sort of strip dance.

> To Clearwater Beach and Premium outlet on Vinelane Ave. ==> MCO

Full of people. But the beach really look whiter and smoother. 

heading back to another premium outlet on Vinelane Ave. 

Higher class. 

Prefill will be stupid if the tank is full when returning the car because it means that you need to pay for a whole tank. 

The small Asian market in Durham

When I first came to Chapel Hill five years ago, the seniors brought me to the small grocery store in Durham.
They told me I can buy the majority of the necessities for Asian dishes here.
If I want to buy more varieties of cookies or snacks, I can go to Grand Asian market, where they also provid the very delicious buns and hot meals.
The buns, Taiwanese bread, and hot dishes are the major inducement for me to drive ~40 mins to Raleigh once a month.
Although there is another Korean market nearby small Asian market, the price is really not friendly to students. That's the reason the small Asian market can happily survive for so many years because we need it.

Now nearby the small Asian market, there is a newly open Asian market occupied the location of previous bankrupt Circuit City.
You can imagine how big this grocery store is.
I won't say anything bad about this new grocery store since it just started its business. A lot of hardware and software of the grocery store needs to be improved.
But the existence of this market already crashes the business of small Asian market.
Of course this also depends on if the new Asian market can improve its service in the future.

But today when I went to the small Asian market (because my friend wants the German bread, which is provided next to the market), the cashier seems desperate.
They were chatting about buying the lottery in the hope of getting the prize since they envision that they might be out of business soon.
(But they also try to give more discounts to survive, which is good to customers.)

This reminds me the scene in the movie (You've got mail), where the local bookstore was forced to close when the enterprise bookstore (I don't remember the name but something similar to Borders) entered the business.
(However, the Borders in Durham is also going to close probably because the competition with the internet bookstore like Amazon)

I wonder the consequence since both of them have things to improve. But I am glad I can buy things with 10% discount and 20% discount next time (this month, hopefully longer time) and without the obnoxious smell in the new Asian market.

Special and precious dishes

Very delicious.

• Salad

Cucumber + Tomato + Olive oil + salt + fresh dill + hard boiled egg

• Stir fried chopped potatoes + onions (not the sweet, big one) + fried eggs + fresh dill 
• Polish sausages (so juicy and tasty) + fried eggs + fresh dill

I found the fresh dill has similar function as the green onions in Chinese dishes. And now I like the smell. 

Trip in China (21 days) in 2002? or 2001?

I checked my old diary.
Unfortunately, many of them are lost or no records.

Will try to record them as many as possible.

7/22
成都
華陽古鎮
辣到爆的川菜
豆花
都江堰 寶龍口
川劇 變臉

7/23
成都市街 殺蛇
鍋蓋麵 單純有嚼勁
鴛鴦鍋
三星堆
巴國布農
書城 圍城

7/25
青海湖 青稞 紅土
塔爾寺
羊肉串

7/27
蘭州
劉家峽
炳靈寺
黃河
青葡萄
夜臥火車

7/28
西安
兵馬俑
仿唐歌舞秀

7/29
碑林 褚遂良碑
大雁塔
灌湯包 羊肉泡饃

7/30
北京
天壇
全聚德
東來順 羊肉 芝麻醬 蔥花
天安門 紫禁城
雜耍

7/31
長城
老舍茶館
天地劇場 雙簧

8/1
北京大學 清華
頤和園 圓明園
豆汁 麵茶
王府井

8/3
南京

8/4
蘇州 上海
庭園
上海灘 內攤 外灘

沒記了...
但我記得 之後的景點都比較普通

從台北到北卡的轉機經驗 (爸媽來玩時的注意事項之一)

這次搭的是
delta
從台北飛東京 之後下飛機 到另一班去底特律 之後直飛RDU
台北安檢是啥都不用拿出來 鞋子不用脫 皮帶不用脫 筆電不用拿出來
到東京之後 要先過安檢 筆電要拿出來了 但是鞋子跟皮帶都不用脫 外套要脫
兩班之間只有一小時差距 也蠻趕的 想吃碗拉麵都沒時間
從小飛機換到大的
*爸媽要注意的是轉機的電視  看departures 的地方 找Detroit  找gate之類的 (倒數第二欄)

delta 這邊國際線的影視非常的爛
我又坐在電視前面 老實說 看電視會頭暈
reading light 又壞了 但全飛機客滿 不能換地方 好險他們說會給我2500點數
稍微看的一部 "get low" 其他的大概連個明星我都認不出來 ("easy A")
旁邊坐了個正妹跟一家子
都要填i-94 跟海關申報表
能帶不能帶的東西已經之前查過了
這次填 food 那欄 還是寫沒有 但是food 圈起來 旁邊註明一些 cookie candy dried food 之類的
total value of articles 填了 $500

近海關時沒去上廁所 一路直奔去排隊 後來證明這是對的 因為如果之後又有飛機來 你去上個廁所 就被新來的一批人淹蓋住了 但是他們的轉機時間又是會比你長的
Detroit的海關並沒有要拿i-20的人自行填寫那些i-20上的號碼 其實這又是讓時間拉長的原因
過海關很順利
* 但如果被盤查的話...

但是即使這樣也超過1個小時
行李不在轉盤上 很明顯被翻過了
*baggage claim 注意行李轉盤上的飛機號碼 通常他們會廣播 但那都是英文
from tokyo ...

要出去時被攔了下來 在申報單上寫了個大大的A 就被要求去x-ray了
好險這次有查好  非常確定自己沒帶違禁品
過完x-ray 就好了(正妹被check了)
* 這邊也會拖時間

出去時見到delta的人 給他看你的登機證 他會指示你把行李拿去哪裡託運
再來又是繁複的安檢 鞋子皮帶都要脫 外套也脫 筆電要拿出來
這些搞定之後再去看電視上的轉機資訊

Graduation! 1/28/11

Eventually.

My advisor gave me a pretty "cold" and neutral introduction, saying that I am independent, quiet. He can't remember too many things about me. 

(That's true. I can rarely discuss science with him because I can't. I guess one way not to show your flaws, i.e., slow reaction, is to shut my mouth)

During the ending of my graduation study (yes! during, because I was thinking of graduation since last April),
I was thinking of reviewing some of my old hand-writing diaries for following reasons:

a) My poor memories (or maybe it's a good thing, I usually don't remember the uncomfortable things) Thus, I don't remember many of details of the two important trips in my life.
the over-20-day trip in China during my college and the 2-week-backpacking trip after graduating from college (actually, not exactly "backpacking", we used luggages)
Of course, there are still some memorable trips, e.g., to CA with family, to Bali with family, to Japan for Sakura.
However, some has no records...

b) to review my adolescence (yes, I am pretty late)

emotion management

I feel so sorry that I had so many times of mental breakdown today.
My parents. I feel so angry that my mom keeps complaining the coldness in Taiwan but still reluctant to buy a heater, which is not expensive at all.
I am tired I don't understand their logic. They are willing to give me more money to let me spend them unreasonably but they don't want to spend very tidy amount of money to let themselves feel less uncomfortable.

Why being parents. I don't like this kind of attachment. I really hope they can take care of themselves.

I feel bad what I did to my lover. I feel so weak in front of him. I mean I could be stronger in front of my friends.
I don't like the feeling that I am so spoiled that accepting the notion that I like to be protected although this seems the truth.
practice not worry so much. But I am not worried.
I am just each time I saw the slides I recalled the embarrassment. Subconsciously I feel I killed all the barking people.
I have been vowed to become someone I would like to be. But being an actress on podium just never works.
I need to write down the comments (sentences ) for each slide or it never works.

Things about F1 status of international students in US

If you drop your program, then you need to leave in 2 weeks.
However, if you complete your program, you will be granted to stay in US for 2 months without any status.
This is the "grace period"

You could apply OPT at this time but the start date of OPT has to be before the end date of grace period.
OPT is a thing to let you extend your F1 status in order to work based on what you have learned in US. (So the job has to be related to your profession)
Once you got the OPT issued "and" EAD card received, you can work.
However, OPT is not something that allow you to stay at US without working.
You can only be unemployed for 3 months. After that, you has to leave (in ?? weeks) or the tricky way is you can find volunteer to work with your advisor (without pay) or some other institutes related to your profession, and ask them to write you a letter to show you work. Then you are not considered as unemployed.
Question: 3 month is accumulative or not? YES

When should we apply OPT? and How long for the application time.
It depends. My friend took 3 and half month to get the OPT issued.
You had better to apply that once you have confirmed the defense date.
But once the start date of OPT is passed and you still can't get your OPT issued and EAD card received.
So you can't work and the unemployment days start to count.

What I need to do tomorrow? Prepare the OPT forms and fill them out. I guess I need to submit them soon.

I understand many things are reasonable but somehow there are also some things that make no sense to me.