Windows Vista

Got a brand new WD 250GB HDD during the Thanksgiving Weekend. Instead of stuffing it in an external HDD enclosure, I decided to give it a spin of the new Windows Longhorn/Vista for a test drive.

There are many great Vista reviews on the Internet, like the one written by Paul Thurrott. Yet I consider myself a "half-geek", and I'm not satisfied with only looking at the screen shots - gotta have my hands on the dirts! Here is my 2-cents about the experience:

Installation: One thing I can say is that the installation process for each new version of Windows is getting much better than the previous one. The one for Vista is the best one yet. If you have installed W2K or WinXP, you know that the "initial" stage is actually under DOS - all option selections are done by using Function Keys. It is only after most installation files are copied and pasted to the HDD, Windows will continue its installation in 800 x 600 resolution and support mouse commands, which reminds people of Windows 98. This is no longer true for Vista. You mouse works for the 1st screen that comes up to you (at 1024 resolution, I think), and the whole installation process ONLY needs the user to make a simple choice on the partition selection. Everything else is intelligent detected and taken care of! After a couple of clicks, my new HDD was formatted in NTFS format (I was not even noticed), and the installation kicked off in a thrill and is completed in about one hour (No, I did not log the time. And my computer is not the fastest).

User experience: Another huge difference between XP and Vista is the GUI setup. There are similar, but they’re also totally different. I hope that Mr. Gates will not hate me if I say that Microsoft literally tried to copy some of the graphical design styles of both Mac and Linux. Anyways, if my words are not good enough, check out my screen shots, and you will get the idea. Bottom line, it’s fancier. Did I mention that the size of Windows Vista is about 2.4GB (so I’m sure it will be shipped in DVD or several CDs)? It takes about 4.8GB on the HDD after the installation, and I’m sure it will be even bigger when it’s on sale next year.

Check out my screen shots below (click for bigger a picture):











Internet Explorer: I read lots of speculations and discussions about this. IE7 is definitely “re-engineered”. I’m actually a FireFox user, and I believe there is a reason that FireFox takes 10% of Internet browser share at the moment ? User friendliness and stability. Microsoft definitely learned a lot from it. They finally adopted the “tab” feature in IE7, and it supports multiple search engine choices (as oppose to stuck you with MSN) and RSS feeds.

Microsoft Desktop Search (?): I don’t know the name of this one. But if you use Google’s Desktop Search, you know that the software performs indexing at the background for better and quicker search results. Microsoft also offers their version of “Microsoft Desktop Search” in Vista, and the icon is available to check out at the right bottom corner. Does it work? I don’t know and I will tell you why in a bit.

Oh well, I did not give myself enough time to check out the stability, reliability and other fancy things of Vista. I didn’t have the time, and I knew that I would be lost in there forever if I try to make everything to work ? there is no driver available for most of the hardware in my desktop (e.g. sound card). I also don’t want to waste time and install games or document processing software to check out the system performance. After all, the installation process and the new experience was a thrill to me. Although it is sad, I formated my new HDD again and put it in my external HDD enclosure for what it was bought for. The Vista's ghost is lost forever.

After all, the new Vista looks great. But I would think twice before purchasing a Windows Vista next year since Mac OS will be available on PC by next year as well. I’m not sure which one will be “better”, but I can tell you right now that there will be lots of discussion and arguments in 2006 about these two operating systems. ? Can’t wait to see the big fight! =)

BTW, the Start-up and Shut-Down delay of Windows Vista are truly improved by Microsoft from XP. It takes the same time for Vista to turn itself off for my XP to fall asleep ? about 5 seconds. Amazing!

Bye bye bye, DTW

When I left San Jose, I thought leaving SJC was bad, but I did not know that flying from DTW was worse.

When I got up at 5:00AM, it was still dark. It was raining like crazy last night. Gusting wind and splashing rain was knocking the window. I couldn’t sleep well. I couldn’t sleep well at all in the last one week. I’m not sure if that was because of time lag or comfort.

Driving away from Windsor was an easy drive. The old Huron Church Road had many trucks preparing to get on the bridge and ship millions of goods as exports. I don’t see them any more in California. I used to feel a little weird driving in San Jose because there are few trucks on the highway. The U.S. Custom was alright. The same old if-you’re-Chinese-then-I-gonna-see-your-photo-ID attitude and tone, I can’t say anything about that. After all, I’m neither white nor black, and I was not born in the U.S.

I didn’t know that buying a U.S Airway ticket that is operated by America West requires to board at an America West check-in counter. Does this make sense? I know U.S. Airway is small, and I know the flight is operated by America West, but as far as I’m concerned, the money was paid to U.S. Airway. At the Smith Terminal of DTW, America West and U.S. Airway check-in counters are besides each other. The line was awfully long at American West, so I attempted to check in at U.S. Airway that had a much shorter line. However, the stupid machine couldn’t locate my reservation, and the lady at the counter was polite enough to tell me I did not belong there. So I went back to stand in line for America West, only to realize that the line became longer. I arrived DTW at about 6:15AM, and I walked into the security check at 7:05AM. One hour was spent just for check-in. I finally realized why the merge of America West and U.S. Airway call themselves “The world’s largest LOW FARE airline” ? If you want it cheap, then you need to find a trade off. America West is famous for long check-in counters and delaying people’s luggage. I’m just hoping that I can safely get back to San Jose with my bag arriving at the same time.

Security check is always a fun place to be. No, seriously. It’s a very busy place. After traveling many times for various reasons in the last year and a half, I consider myself a “mid-range” frequent flyer. And most American airports follow the same procedures. First, you walk in the line and show a person your board pass and an ID. A person must use identification to obtain a boarding pass at the check-in counter, but the home land security offices like to see them again in case someone stills another person’s boarding pass. (I guess it’s another way of creating job opportunities by the government when more high-tech positions are moved over to Asia.) Following that, I call the next procedure “Strip Dance”. Jackets, shoes, belts with metals, hats, wallets, cell phones, and any other personal belongs with metals (such as chains, etc.) need to be taken off and put in a gray plastic box. And it’s interesting to see how much stuff and how many gadget people like to carry, family pictures, poker, condom, or panties, etc. Then you walk on the dirty floor with your socks and your boarding pass in your hand/pocket to pass the meter detector (and chemical sniffer for advanced equipment). At this stage, it feels like prisoners transferred to a new facility. But the fun part is you gotta watch others around you ? Some people really get stuck. People with lots of tattoos, people from mid-east, people wear nose-ring/tone-ring, and people who look weird will be stopped regardless and checked by an officer. At the time, I was suddenly thinking that if the weather is warmer (like summer), I will have much better views of boobs and butts at this place. (No, I’m not a sexual criminal. But maybe you can call me a sex addict. Just kidding.)

Now, I just woke up from one-hour of sleep. The airplane is cruising above the clouds at a standard 33,000 feet. It’s beautiful in the sky. Nothing is around except sunshine and air turbulence. The planes shakes a bit like sitting in a jeep and rushing at 50mph on a country road. There is always some sort of “humming” noise from any airplane I took (A320, B737/740/760, etc). That’s the air noise, and it’s unavoidable. So the music from my iPod Nano sounds much weaker. Thank god the music helps me to kill lots of time, and it comforts me to catch some sleep on the flight.

I believe that when the airline charges people for renting a headset during the flight or buying a box of food, they’re trying to make money back from customers’ pockets. After all the low quality of services, one still needs to pay ~$10USD to enjoy more comfortably for the flight, and I call that ridiculousness. But the airline managers can argue that it’s better than filing a Chapter 11 case. Survival is always the No.1 choice, for any person or any organization.

The guy sits beside me is between 40 and 50 years old. I can’t always make a conclusion about people’s age, and he’s black. I believe he’s an alcoholic. At least he must have had some strong drink before getting in the plane, and it smells. Why would a regular person drink alcohol at 5 or 6AM in the morning to catch a flight? Anyways, I’m going to put my laptop into hibernate so that I can relax a bit in the next a few hours.

It’s nice to going back home (where is my “home” anyways?). But I know I have tons of things to do in the next a few weeks. This is life.

陌生男人的照片

一夜激情之后，阿林起身从裤兜中掏出一颗香烟，但却找不到他的打火机，于是阿林问那女孩身边有火吗。“第一个抽屉里好像有火柴。”女孩回答。阿林打开床头柜的抽屉，看到一个火柴盒，火柴盒的下面有一张陌生男人的照片，阿林觉得很奇怪，于是好奇地问：“他是你丈夫？”“当然不是，傻瓜！” 女孩依偎在阿林身边。“那是你男朋友？”阿林接着问。“不，也不是！”女孩一边回答，一边轻吮着阿林的耳朵。“那，这会是谁？”阿林充满疑惑地问。“那就是手术之前的我。。。。。”

令人震撼的26张照片

令人震撼的26张照片

主题：医学院学生之色色事情 (摘自学校友录)

1.检验篇
检验老师在讲台前公布了下午要做实验的内容：精液检验。"请同学们务必在明天下午之前自带精液5ml，乘放在这个试管中，每人一份。。。。为了保证新鲜度请于中午自制。。。"
女生一听，慌了，："老师，我们没有！"
老师一个字，很精练的说："借！"。。。。。脸上很平静的说
那天中午，是个不平静的中午，虽然男生宿舍都有抱怨，但是在几分钟内还是装了热腾腾的5ml液体。
检验班30个同学，5位女生为借精液纷纷求救："就借我一些嘛！别小气啊。。。"听了暴寒
ps：精液检查，可以检查前列腺，男性liao道炎症等病症，是检验系学生都要会做的一项检查。

2.护理系篇
那个下午是不平常的下午，因为护理系的同学们要做灌肠实验了。
她们是在一个密闭的房间内进行这项实验的。。。。
可是护理班30个人，其中23个女生，7个男生.这个实验要2个人互相插管，最重要的是要脱裤子漏pp的~~
可是女生和男生都是奇数，好象要有一个男生和一个女生组成一组。结果。。。是谁和谁就不知道啦

3.师兄实习被处罚
我们一个师兄去医院妇科实习，大家都知道，女性的阴道比较短而且直，所以得病和感染都比男人多。我们敬重的梅艳芳就是得了宫颈癌而离开的，所以阴道检查也很重要。
检查的体位比较特别，常见的和大家做爱的姿势差不多。（我也是听说和偶尔看到过的做爱姿势，所以请不要BT我哦），但是检查时要求医生戴手套，而且要2人以上共同检查，不能单独和病人在病房内检查。
我那位可怜的师兄，就是因为没有带手套，并且一个人跑到人家PP的女病人病房内，用手指插到女病人的阴道内。这个方法叫：指检。
结果就被告非礼了，最后被开除。

4.解剖篇
大家都很关心医学生解剖尸体的问题，经常会问：怕不怕的问题，我是一个女生，也怕鬼什么的，但是一起和同学那么多人去上就不会害怕了的，自己去当然怕怕啦，有次我们解剖考试前的复习阶段，解剖楼是一直开放到晚上10点半的，有个男生就是11点才下楼，被1楼的伯伯锁在里面锁了一夜，不知道他怎么度过那漫长的黑夜的，怕怕~ 哦~

这个先不说啦，我想描述的是解剖学习到生殖器那一章的时候，我们就看死者的生殖器，有的男的被药水泡的很大很大，一女生惊呼："好大啊！"这样一呼不要紧，后来我们全年级的女生都跑到她们实验室去看那具尸体，真的好大哦~~~~~呵呵
女性标本面前就经常围观着男生，并不时的象老师提出这样或者那样的问题。纳闷了，他们什么时候学习这么积极了啊？以前都逃课的呢。。。
而且我们这章内容小测的时候都考了很高的分数我们解剖一男病人的时候，竟然从他的jj里面抽出了一根12cm长的管子。

5.调查报告
就我们学习专业的特殊，有位同学对学校50％的男生进行了性欲的调查。并对比其他各大学校的男生.
调查表明，医学院一夜情思想的或者yy的人数明显比其他专业的男生少。
一位师兄说的好：只要你去妇科，那一辈子就完了，很影响性欲的~~~
可能是我们太了解人的生理，太了解敏感部位和反应,所以就没兴趣了吗？准备回去寝室啦~~~

以前也曾经发过一次~解剖课考试：
解剖分系统解剖跟局部解剖，先考系解，下半学期才考局解。我们班女生居多，男女比例1:2，系解的问答题记得是考乳房结构（男老师出题），考完女生穷抱怨只考女性不考男性。考局解前猜题目，结果得知又是那个老师出题，各个乖乖看乳房淋巴回流，结果果然命中，考完继续874该老师……

普外科实习：
上手术台拉钩是习惯了的，但还是不习惯老师的直白……
某天替一19岁的男生做胆囊切除术，拉到手术台后麻醉，然后偶和老师洗手，准备消毒、插导liao管、铺巾，接着2男老师洗完手后拿起消毒棉球消毒JJ（插管），开始没觉得怎么样，后来消毒完了等了一分钟，老师盯着人家看，偶本来就觉得不好意思，走远点坐着，结果该消毒的老师对另一老师大声的说：看，反应真大，还树那么高……幸亏戴了口罩帽子，只露两个眼睛，不然满脸通红窘死了……

6.做诊断标本的男生要脱脱~~
我们学完一个部分的内容，就会找一个男生给我们检查这个女生是不用做标本的，身体构造的原因啦~~
一群人就围在这个可怜无助的男生周围在他身上摸来摸去,我记得有个男生有很浓重的体毛,因为这个他还开始不愿意，越不愿意老师越挑他。。。
当众脱衣服算不算色情表演呀？
ps：当然留件小内裤啦

7.我想起自己刚上第一节解剖课
一个早上5节课，最后看的很恶心,去打饭的时候都不敢吃肉啦
打了份番茄，要后悔死我了,那红红的颜色。。。。。
后来我们学脊椎，吃排骨的时候，我就和同学们在饭桌前讨论这个是哪块椎体。
后来身后一个声音传来："错了！"
晕。。。。。一位师兄

8.还要加上一些有趣的实验
有机化学里面有个烟碱实验，制造的毒气熏的蚊子都掉头飞.
还有吗啡实验，基本和制造毒品差不多啦，但是我们提纯不够。免疫实验最可怕的是细菌和病毒的实验，自我保护意识要强烈。那些小白鼠受到破伤风杆菌的侵袭肌肉痉挛强直。还有绿容菌，肚子变的好大~~还有产气荚膜菌造成老鼠体内内脏全部腐烂变质。自行培养的金黄色葡糖球菌等等在血上形成漂亮的梅花样。。。。

预防实验册氮氧化物的含量，我们的测量工具很象炸药包哦. 出门还被警察叔叔问。。。
病理实验看到阴囊橡皮肿的那些部位，真的好难想象能变那么大呢。
组胚实验，小孩子从几个星期到几个月的生长过程真的很奇妙~~
有个同学将解剖完的兔子拿回去打牙祭~结果没冲洗干净~~~~吃了后嘴麻了半天~~

9.俺们老师上解剖课第一天教认骨的时候就说：不许把骨头拿回去。偶们问老师为什么，结果她说前几届的师兄师姐老拿环椎当钥匙圈，已经严重短缺了。老师的教棒是根股骨。
记得那会儿上解剖，两个女生指着挂图上的男性生殖器问旁边的一个男生：你的有这个大吗？然后不等那个男生回答，就开始哈哈大笑，而且笑声可以用震耳欲聋形容了。真是寒啊……

10.记得那会儿上生化试验，带试验的老师用一个250的烧杯喝水，哥们儿们都觉得很酷，于是几天后班里得爷们儿们几乎人手一个烧杯，搞得学校里人人侧目的。

记得中医外科考试，问题是乳房位于前胸___至_____肋骨水平之间，某位女生当场在身上试验，最后填了四至七（正确的是三至六），被众人嘲笑mm下垂，更有猛女填三至八的……那个寒啊……

11.当年我们解剖尸体实物考试时，因为尸体在外面风干了，有一个女生被要求找男性生
殖器，一时没找到向我们男生求救问我们阴茎在哪里？可吓死我们了。
记得我们检验精液那节课是下午，刚一上课老师就叫我们男生去两个同学到洗手间提取精液，呵呵，当时啊全班的女同学都是翘首以待啊，并有人在检测的时候惊呼好可爱的小蝌蚪啊！

Oh Canada!

From SJC to ORD
Sitting in the crowded waiting area of SJC, my United Airline flight is about to board in ten minutes to taking off to Chicago. What a crazy morning - fighting against the cold morning weather, waiting for e-ticket check-in, standing for the intensive security check (yes, I have take my shoes off. I guess working at the security point is not a good job after all since one has to smell people’s socks everyday), and now I’m typing on my lappy to record the moment…

Where am I going? Canada. One fight to Chicago and a change flight to Detroit. I haven’t gone back to home ever since I moved to San Jose summer of 2004. That’s one and a half years. I forget the look of the snowing weather and the grayish sky. It’s too bright and too sunny in California…..

From ORD to DTW
Ok, now I’m sitting at Gate C21 of ORD. Four hours of fight, and I felt it was longer than the time that it took me from SFO to TPE. The big difference between SJC and ORD is that not only ORD is crowded, it is also big. I’ve heard about it long time ago, although I never had a chance to visit Chicago.

The sky is bluish. There is no dusty wind as the air traffic reported several times during the flight. I guess I’m lucky, but I need to wait until my flight to DTW takes off on time. Weather is unpredictable.

I met a lady on the fight who sits next to me. She grew up in Taiwan, but she lives with her family in Hong Kong now. Her daughter and son works and lives in the US. She was telling me how merciful Jesus is during the flight. I felt it’s interested because many Taiwanese we met in the last one year believe Jesus (I thought more Chinese believe in Buda than “western” religions, and I felt they were more pious than some of the white people. She showed me the pictures of her family, her son and her daughter in law, as well as her friends in Hong Kong ? No secrets at all. It made me to start thinking the influences that a religion does to a person. She was very open and friendly, and she said many times to me that I was blessed by Jesus to live the life I have at the moment - I really don’t know. If I agree to the point, then I am a true believer of Jesus. I guess I should pray and thank Jesus for his giving. If I don’t agree, I really can’t explain how my life ends up like the way it is at the moment. After all, I’d consider myself lucky to have many opportunities that I got, but I don’t want to deny my hard work and dedication.

Anyways, it is not something I have the knowledge to explain. Different life styles, different beliefs.

Oh Canada
Got out of DTW at exactly 7:05PM yesterday, a touch of snow caught me unprepared. The same old Detroit, the same old grayish sky, the same old busy Smith Terminal…Everything is so familiar.

Passing by the Canadian custom check-point, I told the lady I worked in California. She was about to ask me how long I would stay in Canada. Then she paused, and she said “Well, it doesn’t matter. Have a nice holiday!” I love the feeling of being home (Canada), no hassle, no stupid questions - I am a Canadian, and I am coming back home!

Not much changed in Windsor in the passed one and a half years, but the city looked much smaller in the night. There was much less traffic on the road, which was a contrast to the busy El Camino Real in Silicon Valley. Lazy neon signs did not want to attract the traffic for a quick stop. I guess it was a cold night. The car drives into the garage. I’m getting out, and I’m ready to check out the new house I never lived...

曾经的过去和现在的我

今天，在整理旧网页的时候，翻起了两年前给老婆做的网页。 那个时候还是在上学，每天回家都在电脑前查HTML的技巧埋头苦干，也算功夫不负有心人，终于弄成了一个自己满意老婆也高兴的作品。。。一晃已经是两年多的事情了，现在那个网页也被网易关掉了。

偶然又翻到以前在网上弄的个人文集，蛮有意思的。在作者心情里面，我是这样写的：

等待，应该是个很恰当的词来描述我现在的心态。 我在等待我的爱人能早日与我团聚。 那点相思的感觉，有点痛，有点麻木，还有点无奈。 我能做什么呢？ 我能写作，在自己单身的生活中记录点滴，记录这漫长的等待。。。

时间是2003年11月29日 - 在我过23岁时日的前一天。。。转眼现在是2005年11月初，两年的时光飞逝而过。两年内发生了很多事情，也忘却了很多事情。 现在老婆已经在北美生活了快两年了，我们生活的心态也都改变。我少了曾经的浪漫和自在，多了一份责任和忙碌。现在的两个人为了生活而忙碌，为了工作而拼搏. 时间的速度没有改变，每天发生的事情还是很多。但我们能够留给自己的时间却少了，生活习惯也相对的改变。我不再有时间去在网络上漫游，没有空暇去和老朋友，网友聊天，少了唱歌学歌的时间，也忘却了为考试和学分拼搏的感觉 - 这也许是成长的路程必不可少的。成长，永远是飞快的过去，却又漫漫无期。

不知道再过两年，当我再次想起从前，那时的心情又是怎样。我会不会还像现在这样，在网络上留下点滴的感受。。。

爆笑梦话精选

爆笑梦话精选:
一： 一同学减肥期间，夜半忽然喊：“我要吃红烧肉，我要吃红烧牛肉，我要吃红烧排骨！！！！” 我差点没从床上掉下来！
二： 我高中同学，军训时，夜半用手拂起自己的头发说：“完了完了，掉沟里了.....”
三： 我几乎每天都说梦话，最傻的一个是：“老婆，我不敢了...”更郁闷的是这在出差的时候被同房的同事听见了！
四： 看来军训是梦话的高发期。我门班上一同学军训时说梦话：“小姐请问你叫什么名字？”然后自己换了一女声说：“我叫小丽。”寝室众人当场就笑晕了！
五： 偶军训时，偶们住上下铺，一天晚上我偶值班，结果听见一同学说了一句：“向左转！”然后听见一声巨响，那个家伙从上铺掉了下来---
六： 一大学同学：“我登上月球了！！！CHINA！！！”--俨然一爱国人士！！！
七： 我同学有一次睡觉的时候说：“胖阿姨，来一份红烧大排，青菜底！”
八： 偶寝室的MM半夜起来吃里一口达克宁，说了句：“不好吃”就接着ZZZzzz 了！
九： 大学夜里忽然醒来，看到一人影，站在老三的床前晃来晃去。开灯！是隔壁寝室的老六，摸者我们老三的脑袋。嘴里在念叨：“瓜熟了，瓜熟了”。后来我们在也不忘记睡觉锁门了！
十： 半夜里一个比我大的同屋爬到我床上，那时我在看古龙的小说，我吓了一跳问她受了什么刺激了。她无限妩媚的把脑袋放在我的肩膀上，咂八着嘴说：“妈妈，我换牙了.....”
十一： 我一同学暴强，一天夜里磨牙完毕后，阴阴的笑了一声说：“我已经500年没吃人肉了....” 吓的我一夜不敢睡觉！
十二： 一次半夜看书，对面床的MM突然坐起，知勾勾的看了我十秒，点点头说：“恩....好。”我问：“你要干吗？”她哼了一声就睡下了。好怕怕的........

胡扯的考试卷

Apple - What A Difference Eight Years Can Make

You know, as much as I hate Apple for some reasons that I cannot say in public (Don't get me wrong, I do love some of Apple's products - I got a iPod Nano two weeks after it's on sale), I respect "Apple" as a brand name of success, "mystery", and legend - And, it is led by Steve Jobs

It only took eight years for this company to "transform" from an "Apple Computer Company" to a "Apple, The Consumer Electronics and 'Fashion' Company". It is a tremendous success, and no other things are better proofs than Apple's stock growth and financial statistics....All due respect!