New home

第一天....

房間有陽台,冰箱,電視,網路,浴廁,還有14人共用的廚房和洗衣機,神奇的是電視竟然有cable,有bbc,cnn,discovery,TV5...

第二天....

去Amsterdam市中心逛了一下,還有時差,凌晨3點就醒了

第三天....

今天的任務是尋找我失蹤的包裹,據說它上星期就到了,但郵差並未留下線索,今天只好先去Amstelveen的郵局詢問,結果不在這兒,櫃員說寄往我家的包裹應該會在XX的一家書店內的小郵局...好,坐TRAM來到了XX,左右都像是森林,那就先往右走好了,還真的找到了家書店,但也不是這兒,經店員指示往回走,終於來到目的地,結果...booboo...什麼都沒有...它該不會消失了或已經被遣返回國了吧??

第四~七天....

去梵谷美術館,參加學校贊助的免費運河遊船行,採購生活用品,煮飯,探索跑步路徑

CCF

年度 比賽項目 打擊率 打點 全壘打

---- -------- ------ ---- ------ ----

1997 亞錦賽 0.429 14 4

1998 世界杯 0.379 12 5

1998 亞運 0.444 3 3

1999 亞錦賽 0.125 3 0

2001 世界杯 0.429 14 4

2003 亞錦賽 0.500 3 1

2004 奧運 0.407 8 1

2006 亞運 0.389 4 2

2007 世界杯 0.302 8 2

2007 亞錦賽 0.500 6 2

2008 奧運 0.143 0 0

---- -------- ------ ---- ------

總計 平均 0.368 75 24

花蓮之旅

8/15
東華大學-鯉魚潭-戴記扁食-自強夜市-新城康樂村海邊
8/16
銅門慕谷慕魚-公正街包子-鳳林月盧-林田山(下雨)-光復糖廠-理想大地-煎麵-南濱夜市
8/17
牛山海邊-三棧溪谷戲水-王記茶舖-七星潭原野牧場-騎單車
---

Diary

又到了奧運，一定要復習一下四年前的上原和去年的達爾

最近整理房間發現10年前的日劇vcd-長假，就拿來復習了一下，以前的廣末涼子好清純啊．．．話說，我也放了近三年的長假，呵

還有看了Dark Knight，正義使者給人很無力的感覺，這才真實嘛，永遠都是正義必勝有什麼意思

在圖書館借了日文版的東京鐵塔，理解度大概只有一半

319-July 2008

7/25
南澳-蘇澳 (153)

南澳車站外的7-11正好在南澳與蘇澳的交界處，可以一箭雙鵰

不過本計劃也到此宣告失敗了，沒有趁冬春天氣涼爽穩定時多玩玩，等到夏天就懶得出門了，而且要台灣走透透還真的需要蠻多的熱情...不然就是像我這樣半途而廢，所以只能期待各微笑商店的章在未來幾年還能好好保存著，也許我還能慢慢完成

完成縣市：台北縣市，台中市，基隆市，新竹市，桃園縣，宜蘭縣，花蓮縣，金門縣，連江縣
達成率：153/368=41.6%

宅男的世界

最近在整理房間，把不要的東西清掉





從小到大，花在電動，模型，棒球卡，籃球卡的錢不知有多少??
當然這些都不是不要的東西，以後拿去開運鑑定團鑑價，說不定我就在不知不覺中成了有錢人

小新聞

[毎日新聞 - 2008/7/6 18:32]
今季最高の跳躍を見せ、かみ締めるようにこぶしを握った池田＝函館市千代台公園陸上競技場で２００８年７月６日、梅村直承撮影

此人跟同為運動員的親友約好要在奧運跳出7公尺, 但親友先走一步, 而她成績不振, 甚至連參加奧運的資格都有危險, 直到今年7月這一跳後, 才出現這張照片

The road not taken

Robert Frost (1874–1963)
1. The Road Not Taken
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
(.....)
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-----
Recently, I happen to read this piece in two different places.
I feel....I did not really "take"the road. Of course what I did helped shape the path. Though, it's just 一念之差,因緣際會,時勢所趨 (徵翻譯)

Marat keeps going

Safin plays in No.2 court (2006)

It's Wimbledon season again, and surprisingly, Safin is still in the game, and he will be facing Federer in the semi.

His career is characterised by ups and downs. Won a grand slam, injured, played not so well, won another grand slam, injured, and played not so well again. And he's back one more time.
----
Some interviews....

Q. When you walked off, the BBC man asked you about your next opponent. You implied you didn't expect to get past Djokovic, and you didn't know who youwere going to play next. Is that right?

MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, true. But if you have a second round against Djokovic, the guy won the Australian Open, semifinals of French Open, winning the tournaments left and right. You play against him, and the last time I won two matches in a row was I don't remember when. So what do you expect? Of course that you are not really in a position to look anything after the secondround.

Q. You quite rightly didn't have huge expectations coming in because of your second round opponent. Have you looked at the draw the last couple days andset a new goal for yourself?

MARAT SAFIN: Well, match by match. It's just you don't want to have a lot of expectations, because when you start to have a lot of expectations you just end up losing in the third round to God knows who.

Q. How much of your happiness overall has to do with winning?

MARAT SAFIN: I'm 28. 28, a lot of things already happen in my life, you know.I'm not gonna be excited of winning just another match, just running around with a big huge smile. But just for me it's more like a relief, you know, that I made it -- first time in my life the semifinal of Wimbledon. But it's great. It's unbelievable. So it really means that I can play on this surface.Of course I'm happy, but just it's a different happiness. It's not the samewhen you're 20 years old and the first time you make the semifinals. Youthink you are flying. You are not even touching the ground. But now it's alittle bit different. It's nice, of course. You need to enjoy it, but it's a different way.

How to get a PhD (Part 1)

為什麼還沒開始唸,就可以寫"How to get a PhD"呢?

如何申請學校

1.成績單
修課內容可能比成績還重要
例如:(70分的高等微積分)>>(99分的投資學or財管or諸如此類的營養學分)
2.英文考試成績
如果你的母語不是英文, 就要考TOEFL或IELTS
考高分=>應該的, 考低分=>被踢掉
3.讀書計劃
Why PhD? How good and how motivated you are? Research interests? Can you survive? Career plan?
4.研究成果
通常用碩士論文來充場面
5.推薦信
有學界大頭的話最好
6.GRE or GMAT
考你的語文能力和數學能力, 只不過是用英文考

以上的東西寄去學校, 有緣的話就可以去唸啦!
-----
下集預告:
Part 2: 修課階段
Part 3: 寫論文階段

Accommodation in Amsterdam

Single room


據說這是我未來一年的家

Type of room : Single room with shared facilities
Size in m2 : 14
Location: Uilenstede area, Amstelveen
Facilities:
Lavatory / Bathroom facilities : Yes, Private
Kitchen : Yes, shared with 14 persons
Washing & drying : Yes, shared with max. 14 persons
Parking facilities : Yes, on premises
Phone line: No
TV, Internet: Yes, included in the price for the accommodation.

Personal pre-session starts

As my new life is approaching, I need to adjust my life style from "work:leisure=2:8" to the other way around.

And I'll have to get myself ready, to some extent, for stuff like:

1. Economics (Micro, Macro)
2. Finance (Asset Pricing, Corp. Finance)
3. Tools (Math, Econometrics, Software, Language)

But it's not exactly compatible with my motto, "having fun"....
So where is my next travel destination~~~~???

極樂BALI

天空藍

溪水跳躍

陽光留了情面

大雨叨擾

民謠歌曲在回響

耳裡還有遊樂園般地嬉鬧

誰的聲音最嘹亮

綻放姿態的曼妙

是我未曾見過的景象

島上

有星空的夜晚分外迷濛

再敬一杯稍縱即逝的美好

by 文藝少女

---

Nobody is shy

from radiating their shine

This is the scene

that never shown in my eye

Straying in the starry night

we keep the fleeting ecstasy alive

Let's raise one more shot of wine

Cheers

for you and I

The Last Lecture

卡內基美隆大學資科系的教授Randy Pausch罹患了胰臟癌，在他人生的最後一刻站上講台，跟學生以及聽眾分享他這一生所體會到的經驗。

延伸閱讀
http://blogs.myoops.org/lucifer.php/2007/11/08/randypausch

完整影片
http://fs.myoops.org/independent/20071108-01/Randypausch.wmv

319-May 2008

5/2~5
東引-南竿-莒光-北竿 (150)
船去飛機回，大部分的時間花在東引和莒光，東引很像電影裡大金鋼的那座島
-----

5/9
復興 (151)
Mileage: 118.8km
Time: 7:33
家-新店-三峽-三民-復興-羅浮-關西-(國光客運)-西門町-家
累到暴...

HERO and 英雄

有許多不同的Hero：久利生檢察官，無名長空殘劍飛雪，比呂與英雄

What makes them special?

To get things up and running, we seek to have the right people in the right place, with the right incentive structure. Difficile, isn't it?

In the corporate structure of XXX, being a nice guy doesn't seem to be a good option. Pour quoi? Parce que bad guys are not punished, and get the same salary. Does this justify a re-think of the incentive strucuture? Shall we move from the left to the right, and become more like a compete-with-your-colleague corporate scene? If so, will our relationship be the same?

My belief is that being a nice guy earns you some tiny self-respect and friendship. Tiny things like this may make the differences in your life.
正義は勝つ，そう思うけど...

BTW, accompanied by Matsu Takato is an incentive as well. This is one of the reasons I'm still thinking of the parallel world, which I've taken a left-turn and could only imagine it.

Adidas 10K

10KM跑48:38，我應該沒那麼快啊
所以不是里程不足，就是X小姐的一聲加油有發揮功能

250km

最近這趟桃園新竹行，用摩托車騎了250km，經過不少摩托化步兵留下的足跡：
1.龍岡大操場
王ｘｘ旅長的德政包括250km行軍，雄獅操演，還有龍岡大會操（每月找一天，各營由駐地行軍到龍岡大操場舉行五項戰技競賽，那五項？不知道，因為我生得逢時，沒經歷過），這次看到的龍岡大操場，民眾和樂融融打棒球，玩搖控飛機，練開車，練街舞呢，喔，還有旁邊的龍岩營區好像變廢墟了
2.凌雲岡營區
在龍潭的聖蹟亭附近，以前是裝步的營區，現在不知變什麼了
3.湖口北測
附近義民廟，寶石大橋都是行軍常經過的地方

1勝6敗,1勝就能進奧運

Admission:
Tinbergen Institute w/ full scholarship (2 Years M.Phil + 3 Years PhD program )
Rejection:
ESSEC,UMannheim,ULausanne,UZurich,VGSF,SSE

Background:
BA Econ from NTU, GPA:3.6
MSEF from Warwick, distinction
3 years experience in industry
1 year experience as RA in CIER
GRE:660,800
TOEFL:waived
Publication: 1 paper in an unknown journal; participated in some NSC research projects
Reference letter: one each from supervisor in Warwick and CIER
----
大學時代是成績中上的普通人
後來經歷當兵,工作,唸碩士
剛到英國也覺得:"靠,比我想像的難十倍"
不過經過一段適應期,要吃飽睡足的畢業倒也不難
畢竟人生中比唸書困難的事情的多得是

回國後面臨學界or業界的抉擇
要放棄曾發過10個月年終的穩定工作是個蠻難的決定
從自己和別人的經驗,我也知道phd不是件好差事
而且同齡的人都已經在結婚生子買房子照顧車子
所以除了phd之外,也認真考慮過別的可能性
但最後還是跳下去了,考量的原因有二:
因為我相信"錢多犠性多"的道理,所以不想往高競爭的業種發展
而留在低競爭的前工作,又會覺得"難道人生就這樣了?"
第二個原因是我以為學術界的生活,可能未來會比較自由吧 (誤??)

申請結果如上,申請前我也不知道歐洲學校到底難不難申請
拒絕的原因多未明講,就是發好學生卡給你
研究成果應該還是很重要吧

最後感謝幫助過我的人
還有我的父母,讓我能夠自由找尋我的方向
-----
posted on PTT

319-Apr 2008

4/7
三芝-石門-金山-萬里 (120)
阿輝伯老家+n年沒去的野柳+沒什麼特別的劉家肉粽
-----

4/12~13
平鎮-龍潭-楊梅-湖口-新埔-芎林-橫山-竹東-新竹香山-北區-東區-新豐-新屋-觀音-蘆竹 (135)
參加UMC 21k路跑，發生繼Curt Schilling後又一起血襪事件!
-----
4/16
烏來 (136)
果然...怕爆胎就會遇到爆胎...冏冏冏
Mileage: 47.8km
Time: 3:04
-----
4/25
頭城-礁溪-宜蘭-員山-大同-三星-羅東-冬山-五結-壯圍 (146)
時間不夠，沒去什麼景點，純蓋章有點無趣

Some activities

1. Nine Songs (九歌) (Nov, 2007)

-quite impressive

2. The Firmiana Rain (梧桐雨) (Nov, 2007)

-so-called modern opera? quite bizarre combination of language and...

3. Bach: Mass in B Minor (Mar, 2008)

-just interested in how the soprano is doing

手帕王子來台灣

三月的某一天去天母看早稻田大學和台北體院的友誼賽

早稻田最有名的就是...手帕王子，齋藤佑樹

因為呢，在甲子園的投手丘上，別人都用袖子，但他會用折得很整齊的手帕擦汗

最後又技壓田中將大拿下冠軍

哈，不過今天他沒上場，只在場邊練投幾球就把觀眾都吸過去了

share

東京にもあったんだ

作詞・作曲：福山雅治　編曲：福山雅治/服部隆之

東京にもあったんだ こんなキレイな夕陽が

うれしいな 君に見せたいな 君は元気かな

東京にもあったんだ こんなキレイな月が

うれしいな 君も見てるかな 君に逢いたいな

いま以上　自分以上になりたかったんだよ

急いで　急いで…

勝つために覚えたこと この街のルールに

少しだけ染まったよ

お願いだ　涙は隠さないでくれ

お願いだ　心は失くさないでくれ

ほら　ごらん　一緒にさがしてた

明日に僕はまだ走ってるんだよ

--------------

不適合(or適合?)離鄉背井的人聽

319-Mar 2008

3/2
關西 (101)
上午爬山+下午美食之旅
------
3/8~9
林內-斗六-虎尾-土庫-北港-口湖 (107)
星期六猴子去斗六
------

3/12~13
太保-水上-嘉義西區-二水-田中-員林-彰化 (114)
吃了高麗菜飯和阿璋肉圓
------

3/28
八里-淡水 (116)
Time: 3:44
Mileage: 62.98km
首次自行車行程，嗯，有點累

最長片道切符之旅

Tor Left: Route, Top Right: Book Cover
Bottom Left: Sketch, Bottom Right: Diary
-------
列島縱斷鐵道12,000km之旅 by 關口知宏
最長片道切符之旅，就是以一筆畫的方式，只使用JR的路線，同一站不經過兩次，完成日本從北到南，共12,000公里的火車之旅；本書是作者沿途的繪畫日記，43天的旅程一天一幅
-------
還有中國版 http://www.nhk.or.jp/tabi/

2/12~19: Japan

此行的主軸是東北+東京+馬拉松，出發前安排了大致的行程和訂了每晚的旅館，當然計劃是一定會改變的，天氣也比我想像中還冷，不過除了山上的大雪外，天氣是很適合出遊的
Day 1:
Taipei-Narita-Tokyo-Morioka

搭飛機，坐火車
Day 2:
Morioka-Kakunodate-Akita-Morioka

武家屋敷，玩火的祭典，秋田有夠冷
Day 3:
Morioka-Sendai-Matsushima Kaigan-Sendai-Yamagata

仙台吃牛舌，仙台是伊達政宗的地盤；松島號稱日本三景；山形附近有阿信的故鄉
Day 4:
Yamagata-Zao-Yamagata-Tokyo Big Site-Minami Senjyu

藏王樹冰，就是一片銀色世界，不過實在太冷；晚上去拿馬拉松的東西
Day 5:
Ueno-Nagano-Matsumoto-Karuizawa-Minami Senjyu

長野買了小鍋釜飯，日本火車便當的特色就是美觀，好不好吃就不一定了；松本城是日本三大名城之一 (好像有不同說法)；輕井澤購物
Day 6:
Tokyo Marathon

還是超過了5小時
Day 7:
Yokohama-Shibuya-Tokyo Dome

中華街吃麻婆豆腐套餐，山手一帶有以前外國人住的房子；涉谷和東京巨蛋看看夜景
Day 8:
Tsukiji-Meiji Jingu-Omotesando-Roppongi Hills-Akihabara-Narita-Taipei
早餐在築地吃握壽司大餐，很新鮮很好吃，師傅也很有活力，但實在是貴(3,500Yen)；明治神宮就那老樣子，明治維新為日本建立現代化和憲政的基礎，但也走上軍國主義的路；六本本Hills是蠻新的景點，應該算是住商辦綜合區，主體建築的52及53樓分別是展望台及美術館；最後在秋葉原把多餘的日幣花一花就準備回家了，可惜沒見識到Maid Cafe

箭瑛大橋

小學時，有時週六會在活動中心播放電影，播的多半是國父傳，陳益興老師（虎頭蜂的那個，很古老吧），箭瑛大橋之類的...嗯，也播過七匹狼啦...好像還有好小子?

這次親身來到箭瑛大橋，故事就是...懶得打了，以下來自wiki
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箭瑛大橋是位於台灣花蓮縣鳳林鎮的一座水泥大橋，橫跨花蓮溪連結大榮里與山興里。最早大榮里與山興里之間的連絡通道只有一座用竹子搭建的便橋，交通不便而且危險。1977年10月6日清晨，黛納颱風來襲過後溪水暴漲，便橋遭山洪沖毀，山興國小教務主任陳國義與教師張箭、鄧玉瑛、林寶炫等人為了到校上課，冒險以手牽手的方式渡河，但因洪流湍急，加上泥沙的影響，結果多人遭大水沖走，其中張箭、鄧玉瑛二人不幸溺斃。此事件經過媒體的報導而轟動全國，時任行政院長的蔣經國也深受感動，決定在該處興建水泥大橋，以解決當地的交通問題，並為表彰張、鄧二位老師的克盡職守、因公殉職的精神，取張箭的「箭」和鄧玉瑛的「瑛」命名為「箭瑛大橋」。
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橋頭，一台車的寬度，中間有加寬供會車


看來要溯溪而過真是很危險


紀念公園與兩位老師的銅像

319-Feb 2008

1/31~2/1：(93)
秀林(太魯閣遊客中心)-萬榮(林田山展示館)-瑞穗(7/11)-卓溪(鄉公所)-玉里(7/11)-富里(鄉公所)-池上(農會超市)-海端(鄉公所)-關山(7/11)-鹿野(7/11)-延平(布農部落)-卑南(7/11)-台東(7/11)-太麻里(鄉公所)-金峰(好酒不見)-大武(7/11)-達仁(鄉公所)-東河(東河包子)-成功(三仙台)-長濱(八仙洞)

開車自然是很快，但也會錯過些什麼

2/23：
基隆：安樂-仁愛-信義-中正-中山-七堵-汐止 (100)

131艦隊+廟口+陽明海洋文藝館

萌~~Moe~~??

Heard an explanation of Moe by a non-japanese otaku, let's do some listening practice here:
source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSSqJZmn3AE&NR

A: Patrick...Moe? What is that?
B: It's a very mysterious concept. Let me see if I can explain this correctly. Literally it means blossoming, or sprouting, like a flower from a bud. But the kind of moe you get from the maids is more mysterious, more intangible kind of feeling. It's kind of like an overpowering cuteness that warms your heart. You can get this from kittens. You can get moe from anime characters. And you most definitely get it from cute girls who serve you cafe and cakes and call you master.
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extended reading ( from wikipedia)
萌本來是指草木初生之芽，但是後來日本御宅族和其他的動漫喜好者用這個詞來形容極端喜好的事物，但是通常都是對（尤其是動漫的）女性而言，因此，萌え(もえ)現在也可以用來形容可愛的女生。現今，樣貌可愛、討人喜歡的男性甚至非生物也可用這個詞來形容。

The new World Bank chief economist

From the WSJ
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林毅夫將成為下任World Bank Chief Economist, WSJ作了以下說明:
He was born in Taiwan and earned a master's in business administration from National Chengchi University in Taipei in 1978, the year that mainland China began its market-opening overhauls.
The next year, Mr. Lin, then serving as an officer in the Taiwan army, left for rival China. Numerous published accounts over the years have said Mr. Lin defected by swimming to China from the Taiwan-controlled island of Quemoy, also called Kinmen. Mr. Lin went on to study at Peking University, China's top university. He earned a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1986, becoming one of the first students from China to complete such a degree in the U.S. during the reform era.
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如果他選擇留在台灣, 不知會有什麼樣的發展?