2011/09/12

How to ride 114 km home

Here is my brilliant calculation when I found myself in the middle of nowhere and started to wonder how I ever going to get home against the crazy headwind and blazing sun:

(i) Although the trip is 114 km, because I am looking at the big picture here, it is not necessary to concern about the details (such as that pesky 4 km). So, the trip is only about 110 km.
(ii) The last 30 km is along a pleasant bike path that I know like the back of my hand, so that does not really count. With this tiny adjustment, the trip is now 110 - 30 = 80 km (hey, that's nowhere close to 100 km!)
(iii) After I got out of the bed and before I realized what I committed myself to do this morning, I already rode 34 km, so there is only 80 - 34 = 46 km to go.
(iv) If I plan a short break halfway, there is only 46 /2 = 23 km to go before food/drink (and possibly a comfy chair).
(v) 23 km? That's only about half of my usual evening ride! What a piece of cake, of course I can do it! :)

2011/07/03

A very wet afternoon

When there are a bunch of young kids (and adults who are young inside), a relaxing afternoon in the courtyard can quickly turn into a crazy water party... :)

















BTW, this little warrior turned 5 today!

2011/06/26

Growth record (June 2011)

Alyssa: 9 yr 3 mo, 141 cm (4' 7.5"), 29.9 kg (66 lb).
Vivian: 7 yr 4 mo, 126 cm (4' 1.6"), 24.9 kg (55 lb).
David: 4 yr 11 mo, 107 cm (3' 6.1"), 18.6 kg (41 lb).

2011/06/19

Not a baby anymore

Two milestones for Alyssa:

1. Yet again, she claimed to have outgrown her bike. I can't even remember how many times this has happened. This time, she took over the 20" folding bike that Ann and I were sharing, so technically, she is adult-sized now.
2. On our family ride today, instead of going with Ann by car, she rode 4 km with me in Taipei's crazy street traffic to get to the bike path. I am amazed by how well she managed her first ride on the street.





2011/05/18

A lab of my own

I found it hard to believe that almost a year has been passed since I started my current job as a principal investigator. What's even more amazing is the fact that the renovation of my lab space has F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. progressed to a point that we (i.e., two research assistants and I) can say goodbye to our temporary office and temporary lab. For the record, it is not really done yet but at least the space is usable (e.g., there's a window with no glass installed in the wet lab...). Here is what it looks like in my brand new lab, yay!

One of the most critical things, a fancy name plate on the door, is not ready yet. This is our temporary solution:


The wet lab:









The dry lab:





The meeting room:



My office:



2011/04/30

Vitamin supplement

Exactly what I need to improve my health:











A new and shiny KHS Vitamin D road bike!

2011/04/25

Teaching Genetics

If you ask me which course influenced me the most during my college years, the answer would have to be Genetics. After all, I went on to get my MS and PhD in Genetics and my current job classification can be broadly defined as a geneticist. For this reason, I got this funny feeling when I was invited to give two guest lectures in the Genetics course at my old department. Was it a sense of pride? Maybe. Can I give those kids some inspiration as I got before? I certainly hope so!

I finished the first lecture today and felt exhausted afterwards. Lecturing for three hours on genome mapping and sequencing certainly is not something that one does for fun on a daily basis. I just hope that at least some kids got something useful out of it. Guess I will know in a couple of weeks after the mid-term...

On a side note, I found students with their laptops a bit distracting as an instructor. Are they so happy because I gave a good lecture? Or they found something funny on Youtube? I don't really know.

2011/04/12

Keelung River after dark

Follow the signs:


Fun begins here:


The long road ahead:


Taipei 101:


Free light shows every night:


Quiet bike rental station:


Empty boat:


A small temple beside the bike path:


The Miramar Ferris Wheel, looks like a giant firework in the night sky:


A big and impressive bridge:


A small and charming wooden bridge:


A sleepy dragon:

2011/04/10

Family ride, then and now

Amazing how much has changed in 4 years. When we lived in Athens, our "family ride" involves 2 bikes + 3 child seats:





Apparently the bike seats we got were pretty good, see how David loves them all:




Fast forward to 2011, now it take 10 wheels to get all 5 of us on the road:










The little dude made it to the 5.5k mark this time:


The girls got a bit further with me:






Oh, and this is what happened on our way to dinner: