Bits and Pieces

How to ride 114 km home

2011-09-12T23:52:00.022+08:00

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! :)

A very wet afternoon

2011-07-03T23:15:00.000+08:00

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!

Growth record (June 2011)

2011-06-26T12:46:00.002+08:00

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).

Not a baby anymore

2011-06-19T23:40:00.013+08:00

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.

A lab of my own

2011-05-18T23:38:00.072+08:00

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:

Vitamin supplement

2011-04-30T23:00:00.001+08:00

Exactly what I need to improve my health:

A new and shiny KHS Vitamin D road bike!

Teaching Genetics

2011-04-25T23:07:00.023+08:00

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.

Keelung River after dark

2011-04-12T23:36:00.038+08:00

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:

Family ride, then and now

2011-04-10T23:33:00.001+08:00

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:

40k

2011-04-09T23:43:00.012+08:00

Rode 40 km along the river in under 2 hours this evening. The weather was a bit windy (18 km/h) but that didn't bother me too much. The last time I rode this far in one go was about 20 years ago (before I have a motorcycle). Very happy that I am gradually getting back in shape.

Spring time at NTU

2011-04-09T22:58:00.000+08:00

One of the best things about moving back to Taiwan is that Ann and I get to visit NTU's main campus whenever we want. The place is full of our sweet memories, not to mention how beautiful it is in spring.

Little mechanics on the job

2011-04-01T22:27:00.003+08:00

A bunch of hard(?) working little dudes and their bikes.

Family ride along the river

2011-03-20T23:41:00.001+08:00

To celebrate David's big achievement, the whole family went out for a ride along the river this afternoon.

The weather was a bit warm but David made it to the 4k mark before turning back with Ann.

Alyssa and Vivian went on with me for a bit further; everyone had a great day today. :)

Wulai waterfall

2011-03-06T23:48:00.001+08:00

The trip was fun and the food was delicious.

More about Wulai here.

Vivian's new ride

2011-02-28T22:33:00.001+08:00

Vivian got a 16" folding bike for her 7-yr B-day!

Everyone is so happy!

David learned to ride

2011-02-25T21:14:00.002+08:00

Finally it is the time to get rid of all training wheels in the house!

When in doubt, ask wife

2011-02-09T13:02:00.002+08:00

One thing that bothered me a lot after moving back to Taiwan is not having a bike to ride. When we lived in Tucson, I used to ride my bike to work everyday. While the bike commute can turn into a painful experience from time to time (e.g., riding in 100+ degree Fahrenheit with 20+ mph head wind), having the chance to spend about 2 hours everyday on my bike is quite a luxury. Unfortunately, with so many things going on at home and at work, I fell into the common trap of "if I cut out exercise, I'll have more time for X". Half a year later, this unhealthy and unwise decision started to take its toll and I decided I must get back on my bike.

I figured that there are two possible ways which I can squeeze out some time to ride from my busy schedule: one is to ride to work just like before and the other is to go out for evening rides after the kids go to bed. However, this creates a dilemma for choosing a new bike (my old bike was sold before our big move). For commuting, I will need a folding bike so I can keep it in my office and not have to worry about thieves. However, if I can stick to the plan of evening rides, a road bike will make it much more fun (and probably give me better results from the work out). As usual, I got caught in the details and couldn't make up my mind about which way to go. Days passed after my resolution to ride and I grew restless about all the missed riding opportunities. I finally talked with Ann about my dilemma and she suggested an easy solution: why not get two bike?

And that, is how I ended up with four more wheels. In case anyone is wondering, yes, the one and only reason for me to write this is to brag. :)

No cure for geekiness

2010-07-27T21:48:00.004+08:00

Alyssa is learning the multiplication chart recently and likes to ask me to test her all the time. Being a lazy geek, here is my solution in perl:


#!/usr/bin/perl -w
my $script_name = 'multiplication_test.pl';

# Chih-Horng Kuo 
# multiplication skill test

use strict;
use warnings;

my $answer         = 0;
my $count_question = 0;
my $count_correct  = 0;
my $count_wrong    = 0;

print "\n";
print "*** Multiplication Test\n";
print "*** Type 'quit' to end the test.\n\n";

while (1) {
 $count_question++;
 # get 2 random integers
 # the first one should be between 2 and 9
 my $a = int(rand(8)) + 2;
 # the second one should be between 1 and 9
 my $b = int(rand(9)) + 1;

 print "\n";
 print "\tQ$count_question:\t$a x $b = ";
 $answer = <>;
 chomp $answer;
 
 if ( $answer =~ /(\d+)/ ) {
  if ( $answer == ( $a * $b ) ) {
   $count_correct++;
   print "\t\t\tYeah!\n";
  }
  else {
   $count_wrong++;
   print "\t\t\tOops. The correct answer is ", $a * $b, ".\n";
  }
 }
 elsif ($answer eq 'quit' ) {
  last;
 }
 else {
  print "\t\tYour answer is not a number. Try again!\n";
 }
}
print "\n";
print "*** Thank you for playing!\n";

my $count_total = $count_correct + $count_wrong;

if ( $count_total > 0 ) {
 my $score = int ( ( $count_correct / $count_total ) * 100 );
 print "*** Your got $count_correct questions right",
  " and $count_wrong questions wrong.\n";
 print "*** Your score is $score%\n";
 if ( $score >= 90 ) {
  print "*** Great job!\n";
 }
 elsif ( $score >= 75 ) {
  print "*** Good work.\n";
 }
 elsif ( $score >= 60 ) {
  print "*** That's okay.\n";
 }
 else {
  print "*** Try harder next time.\n";
 }
}

Initially I wasn't sure if it's a good idea to use a while loop, however, after she got a chance to play with it, I am very glad about the decision. She simply can't stop!

Did someone say "secure erase"?

2010-05-24T05:33:00.000+08:00

I am a free man

2010-05-18T12:45:00.002+08:00

Resigned from my postdoc position today and currently living without any formal affiliation. I will remain a free man for the next 2 weeks or so. It actually feels kind of weird this way, perhaps I have spent too much time at work.

Potato harvest

2010-05-10T13:50:00.002+08:00

The kids were thrilled to find the three tiny potatoes they planted gave them quite a bit of return on investment.

It is official!

2010-04-09T13:28:00.003+08:00

The contract for my new job finally arrived, so I guess it is safe to say this out loud now: I will join the Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology at Academia Sinica in Taiwan this summer as an Assistant Research Fellow (a tenure-track position that's equivalent to an Assistant Professor in the universities).

We are all very excited about moving back to Taiwan, however, how we are going to handle the upcoming move remains as an unsolved mystery...

A man of many talents

2010-03-29T14:24:00.003+08:00

My most memorable line from the movie "The Sound of Music" is when Captain von Trapp sarcastically refers to himself as "a man of many talents". I don't really know about Austria, but recently I realized that home-ownership in the US provides plenty of trainings for me to move toward that goal.

When we bought our first house a couple of years ago, I started with some simple woodworking and gradually moved up to making furniture, replacing windows and doors, fixing toilets, replacing faucets, and today, advanced to mixing mortar and setting tiles. I never thought that I will learn all these, more or less all by myself (with a bit of help from the For Dummies books and Google) when I grow up in Taiwan (where people hire professionals for almost everything). I wonder what will be the next in my curriculum.

Pen Review: my "precious" Edison Pearl

2010-03-27T16:47:00.012+08:00

Also posted on the FPN.

0. Background
When I saw a picture of an Edison Pearl back in October 2008, it was love at first sight. The design is so simple and elegant, I know I must have one in my collection. The question then, is why I waited for more than a year before finally putting in an order? Both parts of my answer have something to do with it being a custom-made pen. First, Brian at Edison Pen Co. offers a dazzling array of possible materials to make this beautiful pen and it is really difficult to pick just one. Furthermore, the idea of having a pen custom-made just for me somehow creates a luxurious aura to it, so I have been waiting for a special occasion to celebrate with such a special pen. Finally, something wonderful happened at work this spring and I quickly decided that an Edison Pearl would be the ideal milestone pen for this occasion.

It took quite some time, not to mention dozens of emails, to figure out what exactly do I want for this pen to be like. Initially, I was thinking about a colorful celluloid pen. However, after some unexpected twists, I ended up going to the other extreme and got a stealth-theme pen for its understated elegance (partly inspired by the Savage Detective Pearl). Working with Brian is a pleasure; he was fast in responding to my questions and provided many helpful suggestions in the process.

I waited about 3 weeks for the pen to arrive after placing my order. The waiting period wasn’t much fun because I really wanted to hold the pen in my hand immediately after spending weeks finalizing every detail of it. To his credit, Brian always kept me updated about the status and gave me a pretty accurate time estimate in the beginning. The positive side of this long waiting is that I lost interest in any other pen while I was waiting, so my pen budget got some time to recover from my recent pen-buying frenzy.

One special thing about Edison Pen is that Brian has a webcam set up in his workshop so you can watch him making pens. He told me about the date he scheduled to make my pen and invited me to watch if I want. Unfortunately, things were quite crazy at work on that day and I ended up missing it completely.

1. Appearance & Design
The pen arrived in a simple box with the Edison Pen Co. mark on it. Since I expect this pen to be in use most of the time, I don’t really care what the box looks like. In fact, I am happy to know that only a tiny fraction of cost went into the box.

The material I choose is a black acrylic, which Brian refers to as "faux ebonite". According to Brian, this material is almost indistinguishable from ebonite in term of the look and feel. I don’t have any ebonite pen and I am happy to take his words for it. I opt for acrylic because my two concerns about ebonite: the smell and the oxidation problem.

I chose the satin finish for this pen and I am very happy about this decision. The understated look of this finish is quite elegant and it does not attract fingerprints at all. The best part? It is wonderful to touch.

These photos were taken by Brian and he has graciously agreed to let me use them for this review.

Before getting the pen, I was a little bit worried about the step between barrel and section. Fortunately I don’t really notice it when I use the pen.

2. Construction & Quality
The pen is extremely well made. All threads are nicely done and the finish is excellent. The only imperfections I can find were some tiny tool marks on the cap lip. They are not really a big deal but when I asked Brian about how to polish them out, he immediately offered to take the pen back and make a new cap for it. I was stunned by this extraordinary level of after sale service. I struggled with this decision because (1) I didn’t want to part with this wonderful pen, and (2) as I mentioned, these are really tiny marks and I felt like I was just nitpicking.

Finally, the desire for a ‘perfect’ pen got the better of me and my new pen went on a brief 2-week visit to its birthplace. I included a note in the box to tell Brian that a new cap wasn’t necessary and I’d be very happy if he can just polish out the tool marks. I am not sure if he had followed my suggestion but when I got the pen back the cap feels like a new one. This time, I can’t find any imperfection no matter how hard I try. Really amazing.

3. Weight & Dimensions
The specifications of a standard Pearl below are taken from Edison Pen’s website:

Weight w/ Cap: 16g
Weight w/o Cap: 11g
Cap Diameter: .610"
Body Diameter: .610"
Length Capped: 5 1/4"
Length Uncapped: 4 3/4"

I made two requests to modify the design so the one I have is slightly different. First, after trying out a bunch of different pens, I found the ideal length for me is 5 1/8” uncapped (I don’t post). Second, instead of the regular concave section used for Pearl, I asked the section to be slightly slanted toward the nib side with a lip in the end (similar to the design used for Huron). Brian accommodated both of my requests and delivered a pen that is ideal for my needs.

4. Nib & Performance
The black/silver dual-tone 18K gold nib is truly a beauty. The color scheme is unique and goes well with the “stealth” theme of this pen. Furthermore, I like the Edison Pen Co. logo engraved on the nib a lot. The logo looks like a light bulb with a nib in it; I think the Edison-connection here is quite clever. The logo also makes me looking forward to having some ‘Eureka!’ moments while writing with this pen.

I requested a custom regrind for a 0.6mm stub nib and Brian did a great job on it. The balance between smoothness/feedback and the wetness were both exactly what I have requested. Although I may like a 0.5mm cursive italic nib that Richard Binder did for me just a tiny bit better, the two are really close and both are my favorites.

It is worth noting that the nib unit can be screwed out for easy swapping and Brian sells additional nib units at a very reasonable price. I don’t have the need for extra nibs at the moment but it is good to have the flexibility.

5. Filling System & Maintenance
By default, the Pearl is a C/C filler that can be converted into an eyedropper. Although it is also possible to order a Pearl as a bulb filler, I prefer the simplicity of a standard C/C filler.

6. Cost & Value
A standard Pearl is priced at $250 and I paid some more for the gold nib upgrade and the custom nib regrind. Brian didn’t add any charge for my requests to change the dimension and the section profile of the pen. I feel the price was quite reasonable for a pen of this quality. Considering that it is a pen custom-made to my spec, just for me, I have to say the value is quite good.

7. Conclusion
This is my first experience of ordering a custom-made pen. I really enjoyed the process of being involved in the making of my ideal pen and I am extremely satisfied by the end product. The pen certainly will be a daily user for the years to come. My only problem now is that I have already started thinking about what my next Edison pen will look like.

The new moon arrives!

2010-03-23T13:04:00.002+08:00

No, this is not about the bloodsucker movie. While the special effects are quite entertaining, I don't really care for the crazy teenager love story. What got me excited was the arrival of a Taccia Staccato in Lunar Blue. The pen is big and light and extremely comfortable to write with. The color is slightly darker than I would like but the perceived depth of the resin used is truly amazing.

Live and learn

2010-02-26T13:07:00.002+08:00

Just read something like this in a magazine: a child who is constantly making negative comments is not necessarily unhappy, he/she may be a deep thinker who is taking a highly analytical approach to understand the world around him/her.

I have to say that I am quite far from achieving this Zen-like state of mind.

Fiddle contest

2010-02-22T12:04:00.013+08:00

With the encouragement from their violin teacher, Alyssa and Vivian attended their first ever fiddle contest today. It was a pretty big event in the Reid Park with a fairly large crowd.

Without any experience in competition and not having much time to practice, we only hoped that they can have the courage to go up to the stage, finish their songs, and have fun along the way. We were pleasantly surprised by how well they did. Both of them ended up in the same age group, the "Pee Wee", for kids up to 9-year old. Alyssa was the 2nd one on stage for the whole event, playing "Old Joe Clark", "Country Waltz", and "Long, Long Ago":

Vivian was the 5th one, playing "Boil 'em Cabbage Down", "See Saw", and "Long, Long Ago":

And while his sisters were busy with the contest, David had quite a lot of fun running around and having delicious kettle corns:

When the scores came out, we were really shocked. Vivian was in the 5th place and Alyssa was in the 3rd place!

They were very happy to share the good news with their teacher Ms. Laura:

It was definitely a fun day for our entire family, especially for the two girls. In addition to the medal/plaque and all other goodies, they also won some cash awards ($10 for Vivian and $25 for Alyssa). Now there are two rich girls in the house contemplating how to use all that money!

Growth record (Feb 2010)

2010-02-16T11:36:00.000+08:00

Alyssa: 7 yr 11 mo, 132 cm, 22.7 kg.
Vivian: 6 yr 0 mo, 115 cm, 19.0 kg.
David: 3 yr 7 mo, 97 cm, 15.5 kg.

No cure for a busy mind

2010-01-30T11:14:00.001+08:00

Things have been quite intense and stressful at work during the past few months. Fortunately, the situation is more under control now and I somehow retained my sanity through all that craziness. After being told to relax repeatedly by several people, I decided to do something that always works for me: shopping for a new fountain pen!

However, this turned out to be anything but relaxing. After failing to find anything that meets my expectation, I started the process of ordering a custom-made pen. With so many decisions to make, it actually requires no less work than designing a research project or writing a proposal. Well, at least these are the "good" kind of problems to have on hand. :)

The secret handshake

2010-01-24T12:02:00.002+08:00

Finally my boss approved that I am worthy material and granted me the privilege of reading his treasured copy of "Academic Gamesmanship: How to Make a Ph.D. Pay" by Pierre van den Berghe (ISBN: 0200717154). The author's cynical view on the inner working of academic world was hilarious, which makes the reading experience some sort of a guilty pleasure. The level of sarcasm is truly astonishing; Bill Bryson's work reads like children's literature in comparison. Too bad the book is out-of-print now (1st edition was in 1970) and the price of a used copy is simply outrageous (ranging from $35 to $468 on Amazon), otherwise I'd want one just for the fun of it.

Frustration, frustration, frustration

2010-01-23T03:11:00.001+08:00

My brother said "... My little brother has a bright career in science, making a shitload of money is not his top priority in life. It's just like I am in business and you can't judge my success by counting how many research papers I have published...."

My mom heard "blah blah blah. Your second-born is a loser. blah blah blah. Your first-born is a failure. blah blah blah"

Seriously, WTF?

That's what friends are for

2010-01-21T13:50:00.002+08:00

Quite unexpectedly, an old friend from college called to congratulate me on some great things that happened to me recently. More importantly, he volunteered to offer some very useful info that I didn't even know I need (but found extremely helpful after I learned about it). The kind act was deeply appreciated.

hPDA rocks

2010-01-12T14:00:00.001+08:00

As a part of my recent experiment with GTD, I started using a hPDA to organize things in my life. Incidentally, I had to make yet another intense week-long business trip to Taiwan earlier this month, which provided a good opportunity to test out this new system.

I am happy to say that the ingenious hPDA works great for me, particularly when things are getting crazy with an international trip that was filled with dozens of important meetings in a week. The flexible formatting of hPDA worked much better than any app that I can find for my iPod Touch. Furthermore, the portability/robustness/responsiveness of a hPDA is way better than any electronic alternative. Although backup and syncing remains as an issue with hPDA, I think I am hooked.

Vivian's 1st violin recital!

2009-12-13T06:53:00.003+08:00

Vivian had her 1st violin recital today. Instead of the Twinkle song, she picked Go Tell Aunt Rhody for her 1st solo play on stage:

Alyssa picked a difficult piece for her solo (Gavotte from Mignon):

The 1st time for us to see the 2 girls on stage together!

Learning about money is hard (not just for kids)

2009-12-10T14:46:00.004+08:00

Recently David is getting very good with counting and some simple math. We thought that this may be a good indication that he is ready to learn about handling money and started giving him allowance last month. The little dude has been watching his sisters buying their own toys for quite some time now and is quick to grasp the idea. Not surprisingly, he requested to spend some money to buy his recent favorites: Matchbox cars.

I thought that this is a perfectly reasonable request and the $1/toy price tag works great for our purpose of teaching him money management. So I took the kids to the store last night and allowed him to find some cars that he wants to buy with his own allowance. As expected, the pile quickly grew to more than what he can afford so I suggested him to pick maybe 3 cars that he likes the best. He happily accepted my suggestion and made the decision. What surprised me was that, as we were on the way to check out, Alyssa pulled me aside and asked if she can buy a car for David with her money, "because I want to make him happy".

Understandably, I was thrilled to hear about that. After learning to manage her allowance for about 2.5 years now (we started back in July 2007), she has a pretty good idea about what this is about. She learned to spend money to make herself happy (certainly not as easy as it sounds), save up so that she can make bigger purchases, delay her decision to buy something so that she would be less likely to regret about it, and resist the urge to buy something just because her sister is doing that. Without a doubt, all these are pretty important lessons to learn. However, figuring out that money is a tool that can influence not only oneself but also others around you apparently is another big step.

So we went back to the toy aisle again and I got the second surprise. Alyssa didn't just get one, she ended up getting three cars for David, "because I think he will like all these".

My dilemma with these pleasant surprises is how to reward her decision for positive reinforcement in an appropriate way (still have no good answer after thinking about it for a day). After we got home, Ann and I both praised her and told her that we are very proud of her decision. However, I tried not to make too big a deal out it because I don't want to make her feel like she need to do this to gain our approval. Also I have to resist the urge of compensating her in material (money or other things), otherwise it will teach her the wrong lesson. Although I have to say that the temptation of doing so is quite strong for an overjoyed father.

Walking the fine line of financial education is indeed a tough business. It's not just the kids, the parents have a lot to learn along the way too.

What was I thinking?

2009-12-06T13:32:00.002+08:00

I was going through my old files this afternoon to get rid of things that I don't need any more. A mid-term report from the Evolutionary Genetics course that I took during the first year of grad school caught my eye with the following paragraph:

"Godzilla godzillus is a large reptile species endemic to the Hollywood Desert in southern California (Emmerich 1990). Due to its popularity on pet market, human collection caused extinction of several natural populations during the past decade. Of the five remaining natural populations, three of them have very small population size (N<=60, Figure 1). To preserve the species, a captive breeding program was initiated at the Hollywood Fantasy Zoo (Emmerich 1998). However, the founding individuals used in this breeding program were all collected from one population (A1). This raises the concern that future restoration efforts will greatly change the genetic composition of the species. To access the level of genetic variation and pattern of genetic structure in remaining populations, this study collected samples from all five remaining populations in the Hollywood Desert."

I honestly don't remember doing such silly things. Good thing that they didn't kick me out of the grad program.

Interesting travel experience

2009-12-05T13:25:00.000+08:00

Had some quite interesting experience today at the airport. First watched the US Air Force One took off up and close (that thing is HUGE!) while waiting to board at the gate, then got seated at 1A on my flight (although still economy class) and saw how busy the flight attendant was the whole time.

Cool little dude

2009-11-30T07:59:00.004+08:00

A phone conversation that I overheard today:

Grandpa: 弟弟你今天是穿長褲還是短褲?
David: 我是好酷.

Here's the translation:
Grandpa: Are you wearing long pants or short pants today? (note: 'pants' sounds like 'cool' in Mandarin)
David: I am very cool.

Rocks and ruins

2009-11-29T13:23:00.004+08:00

Taking advantage of the Thanksgiving break, we planned a 2-day trip up to Sedona, AZ to enjoy two things that I found fascinating: natural wonders and ancient civilizations.

On our way up, we first stopped by the Montezuma Castle National Monument, which is a 20-room high-rise apartment built into a cliff by the Sinagua people around 1,000 years ago:

After enjoying a short hike there, we got back on the car and took AZ SR 179 to enter the Red Rock Country. The various rock formations along the way are spectacular (even more so with the fabulous lights provided by the setting sun):

Our original plan for the next morning was to see the Devil's Bridge (the largest natural sandstone arch in the area). Unfortunately, the unpaved road to the trailhead is too much for our minivan to handle and I decided to turn back before it's too late.

As an alternative, we took another trail next to the Midgely Bridge on US Alt 89A to get down to the Oak Creek:

We are all very happy to see a creek with water in it again (you don't see that very often in AZ) and the kids had a lot of fun play with the water:

On our way back, we took a detour to see the Tuzigoot National Monument, which is a huge pueblo on a hill top with 110 rooms:

Before we head back home, we stopped by the downtown of Cottonwood to enjoy the atmosphere there. The kids are thrilled to find a rock shop and each got away with a pretty crystal to hold the sweet memory of this wonderful trip.

Our little silent singer

2009-11-27T10:16:00.003+08:00

Vivian has always been a slow eater since she was a little baby. When we are not in a hurry, watching her savors every single bite of her food is actually quite enjoyable. However, the long wait it takes for her to finish a meal drives us nuts from time to time.

This week we noticed that she is eating even slower than usual (hard to believe that this is even possible). What's really strange is that she has been exceptionally quiet during meal time. While Alyssa and David were fighting to tell me about their day during dinner time, Vivian just sit there and said nothing. In the end, it took me three days to figure out this mystery. As it turned out, my little girl was sitting there and singing to herself in sign language everyday. Finally, she perfected the whole song and showed it to me before went to bed this evening.

My kids are truly an inexhaustible source of amazement.

Lost & found (plus a new one)

2009-11-24T12:01:00.010+08:00

Perhaps this is just another variant of the Murphy's Law: if you can't find something, it will show up when you buy a replacement. This is exactly what happened to me recently.

Several weeks ago I was frustrated about my tremolo harmonica went missing. As I keep looking for it, my urge of wanting to play a harmonica grew stronger. Although I still have a diatonic one, somehow it just doesn't feel right and playing with it did nothing to help; in fact, it was more like pouring fuel on fire. Finally I broke down and ordered a new tremolo. Not surprisingly, the old one surfaced right after I received the shipping confirmation.

Initially I was a bit upset about this. However, I am quite happy after I received the new toy today: a shiny 24-hole Suzuki 2 Timer tremolo harmonica in A major. It is for sure a big step-up from the Hoher Echo Celeste that I have. As soon as I tried out the scale, I was shock about how well it performs. It is effortless to play and every note coming out of it is so clean and beautiful, despite the fact that I am still a unskillful player after all these years. In addition, this is my first experience with a harmonica that's not in C-major, and I am quite pleased by the different feeling it brings. Although the $27 price tag is almost twice that of a Hoher Echo Celeste, the joy it brings me certainly more than justified the cost. No wonder people are willing to pay some crazy price for good quality music instruments. Good thing that I am only into harmonicas, not violins. Even buying a Suzuki Humming or other top-of-the-line models won't break the bank.

On a side note, the name "2 Timer", like the English name of many other Japanese products, are positively confusing (Sony Walkman is a classic example), and worse, doesn't sound good at good. Is it referring to the double-reed design of a tremolo harmonica? I have no idea.

Growth record (Nov 2009)

2009-11-22T12:23:00.002+08:00

Alyssa: 7 yr 8 mo, 131 cm, 22.7 kg.
Vivian: 5 yr 9 mo, 115 cm, 18.2 kg.
David: 3 yr 4 mo, 97 cm, 14.5 kg.

Pen Review: Delta Napoli

2009-11-03T15:03:00.000+08:00

Also posted on the FPN.

This is a short review of Delta Napoli, a FP/RB set that I received as a gift from my parents-in-law. According to the box and the booklet that come with the pens, these pens belong to a Fountain Pen Hospital exclusive limited edition of 100. Strangely, I can't seem to find any information about these pens on the web, not even on FPH's own website.

1. Appearance & Design
The pen comes in a big blue box, with some very nice scenery printed on the outer paper box.

According to the booklet, the cap/barrel is hand turned from a solid bar of light blue resin. As a result, there is no seam in the material, which adds to its attractiveness. The main design features are two big engraved 925 sterling silver bands on the cap. The top one has some elegant patterns and the bottom one has the scenery from the bay of Naples in addition to the word "NAPOLI".

The serial number is engraved on the top of the cap:

and mine is the matching set of 065/100.

The blue colors of the resin is very beautiful, and they remind me of the movie "The Big Blue" directed by Luc Besson. The choice of the platinum-plated furniture compliment the body quite nicely.

2. Construction & Quality
These are substantial pens with very good construction quality. The barrel is quite thick and all the threads work perfectly. The engraving on the cap is done beautifully.

The only thing that I can nitpick about is the lack of attention given to the matching of the resin patterns between cap and barrel. While most of the resin is in a darker blue, there are two layers of lighter blue in the material. I thought that it would be nice if the these parts can match up between the cap and the barrel when fully closed to from a nicer flow. Unfortunately both of the FP and the RB have the same problem of mismatched resin pattern between cap and barrel. Considering that this is not really that hard to do, even a $10 Pelikan Pelikano Jr. can have threads that make the nib and the logo on the barrel lined up perfectly everytime, it is disappointing to see an expensive limited edition pen to fail at such tiny detail. Well, at least these are not faceted pens, otherwise it would be really unsightly.

3. Weight & Dimensions
The pen is about the same length as the Pelikan M800.

Capped:

Uncapped:

The diameter is slightly larger than the M800. However, it actually feels lighter compare to M800, possibly due to the fact that this is a C/C fillter and has no complicated filling mechanisms inside. I like the way that they put the engraved silver bands on the cap, which makes an attractive pen while maintaining a light body. The large size and light weight makes it my favorite these days. I can write with this pen for a long time and feel very comfortable.

4. Nib & Performance
The FP comes with a mono-tone platinum-plated 18k gold nib, about the same size as the Pelikan M800 nib. Right out of the box, the nib performance is a big disappointment. I need to press down pretty hard to get the ink flow started, and the nib makes a squeaking sound when I write. Even without looking, I know the tines are probably misaligned. A quick examination under a 10X loupe confirmed my suspicion: the tines are pinched together way too tight, and the right tine is higher by about half of the nib's thickness.

Fortunately, the nib is quite large and soft, which makes the adjustment relatively easy to do. After 10 minutes of tweaking, this pen quickly becomes one of the best writers I have. The F-nib writes a true fine line with a hint of springiness. It is softer than a Sailor 1911 nib, but not quite as soft as a Pelikan M800 nib. The extreme smoothness of gliding this nib across paper gives a very nice sensation that I enjoy a lot.

5. Filling System & Maintenance
This pen is a standard C/C filler. Nothing exciting here but it works as intended.

6. Cost & Value
As I mentioned in the beginning, this pen is a gift from my in-laws. I have no idea about the listing price or the street price because I can't find any info of it on the web. Judging from the construction quality of the pen and the usual going price of the Delta's LE pens, this pen is easily the most expensive pen by far in my collection (my Pelikan M800 being the runner-up). A pen in this price range is way out of what I'd feel comfortable to spend on a single pen so I can't comment on the "value" either.

7. Conclusion
This is my first experience with pricy (>$300) LE pens and also my second Italian pen (the first being a Signum Orione). I don't really know what to expect from such pens and was pleasantly surprised for the most part. The beautiful design, detailed engraving, solid construction quality, comfortable ergonomics, and nib performance are all big pluses going for it. However, the lack of attention to details (resin pattern matching between cap/barrel) and poor quality control of nib tuning in such expensive pens both left me baffled.

Overall I like the pen a lot because of how well it works as a tool. However, I don't see myself spending this kind of money on a FP now or in near future. To me the most important thing about these pens is that they are gifts from people who I love and respect, so I would cherish and enjoy them while I can, and eventually pass them down to my FP-loving children. NOPE, not now and not in near future either. Those Pelikano Jr. ought to last for quite some years to come. :)

Crazy windy days

2009-10-28T13:59:00.003+08:00

The weather in desert can get quite extreme sometimes. Today we have 25+ mph winds with 40+ mph gusts. And as if that is not enough, the winds are expected to continue into tomorrow and bring the daytime temperature down by about 30-degree F compared to today. Perhaps I should consider taking a break from biking.

Another trip to Taiwan

2009-10-26T13:28:00.004+08:00

Back from my second trip to Taiwan in two months, very tired but nevertheless quite happy. It is interesting to see how my body adjust to these frequent international travel and jet lag. Last time I slept quite well from day one, but lost my appetite almost completely and couldn't taste the food at all. This time I had trouble sleeping for the entire trip, but thoroughly enjoyed all the delicious food that Taiwan has to offer.

Work aside, I got to see my mom and my brother's family again, and of course, my nephew's excellent performance of making faces:

I also visited my in-law's new house

and saw a bunch of orchids and roses that have been keeping my father-in-law busy:

Luckily, my travel schedule allowed me to stay for my father-in-law's birthday, so I prepared a Think Tigre FP for him

and also a Lamy Pico for my mother-in-law as a very late b-day gift. What I didn't expected was that I'd come away with some really awesome party favors, including a Delta Napoli limited edition FP/RB set (FPH-exclusive)

and a yellow Aurora Ipsilon.

Now while I deal with the jet-lag (yet again), I will have some great time playing with these new toys.

Sleep seminar

2009-10-14T12:16:00.005+08:00

While falling asleep during a seminar may not be all that rare (I do that some of the time and see people do it all the time), listening to a seminar about the science of sleep is definitely a first for me. Having good sleep during the night is difficult for me most of the time for as far back as I can remember, so when I saw the seminar announcement entitled "Sense & Nonsense to Improve Sleep", my interest is piqued and I can't wait to know what Dr. Richard R. Bootzin have to say about the subject. Here are the things that I learned today:

1. Sleep problems in toddlers and teenagers are good predictors for other problems (depression, substance abuse, etc) 10+ years down the road. Presumably, the same logic applies to adults.
2. Having <6 or >9 hours of sleep per day is not good; 7-8 hours would be the optimal for most people.
3. The use of bright light (in conjunction with darkness) is one of the most effective ways to influence circadian rhythm.
4. The stories about those crazy cyclists who participate in the Race Across America are absolutely fascinating. The hallucinations about aliens and such when one is under tremendous physical/mental stress and sleep deprivation can make very funny stories.

Pen Review: Libelle Season Collection

2009-10-13T14:52:00.002+08:00

Here is a short review of the three pens from the Libelle's Seasons collection: Autumn Leaves, Summer Breeze, and Winter Storm. This is also posted at the FPN.

0. Background.
Well, it's not that I have never splurged on 3 pens at a time, but this is definitely a rare event. The main culprit of this crazy-impulse-purchase, although much delayed, is the Autumn Leaves, so I figured that I'd start with a background story.

I first saw the pen about an year and a half ago. My second daughter, Vivian, just started school that year. The first song she learned at her school is called "When the leaves are red and yellow in the fall", which is to the tune of "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain". The lyric goes like:

When the leaves are red and yellow in the fall, (clap, clap)
When the leaves are red and yellow in the fall, (clap, clap)
When the leaves are red and yellow, then the apples taste so mellow,
When the leaves are red and yellow in the fall. (clap, clap)

She enjoys singing the song at home all the time, and she looks so cute when she does that it melts my heart every single time. She kindly agreed to sing the song again for me today, but she is very shy this time:

Note: I believe that having a song as a part of a pen review is never done before at FPN. :)

One day, I had a chance to stop-by the Artlite pen store in Atlanta, and saw the Libelle Autumn Leaves there. The beautiful color combination of green/yellow/orange quickly caught my eyes, and when I learned about the name, I instantly thought of Vivian and her song. I almost bought the pen on the spot, but refrained from doing so because I really have too many pens and we were about to move all the way from Georgia to Arizona at that time. However, the image of this pen etched deeply into my mind, along with Vivian's song. For this reason, I simply can't shake the pen out of my mind. As I followed the pen, I noticed the subsequent release of Summer Breeze and Winter Storm in the Libelle Seasons collection, which are also quite stunningly beautiful. I keep telling myself that I really don't need another pen, but well, you know how that goes.

1. Appearance & Design
Each pen arrived in a nice cardboard/faux leather box. The black/white combination of the box did a good job to showcase the brilliant colors of the pens.

Inside the box, there is the pen (of course), a converter (with a bead in it), an international cartridge, and a small instruction card.

I've only seen the Autumn Leaves in person before I ordered the pens, and its colors are as wonderful as I remembered. The name pretty much said it all about what you can expect.

The Summer Breeze is a combination of white and blue with pearly irradiance, which reminded me of those wonderful times we had at beaches in summer. The Winter Storm is a very powerful/striking combination of black and white. I am very happy with the appearance of all three pens, and they are much better looking in person than any of the photos that I've seen on the web. Here's a shot of all three pens together.

Initially I thought that I wouldn't like the black part used for the cap/barrel ends because I always like pens that use the same material through out. However, this design feature makes the three pens look really great together, and I have learned to appreciate it on each individual pen.

To match up with the pen, I have PR Orange Crush for the Autumn Leaves, Pelikan Turquoise for the Summer Breeze, and Visconti Black for the Winter Storm. All three pen-ink combos look great for the moment.

2. Construction & Quality
The cap/barrel are thick in these pens, which makes them feel quite substantial. The construction quality is pretty good. I would prefer the barrel to be made thinner, such that (1) the pen can be lighter, and (2) the fit of converter wouldn't be so tight (you can feel a vacuum when you pull the barrel up and down, but this is a pretty minor issue). BTW, because the threads are on a metal part, eye-dropper (ED) conversion is out of the question with these pens.

3. Weight & Dimensions
I don't know the exact weight, but these pens feel heavier than my Bexley Americana and are similar to my Pelikan M800. These are definately full-sized pens, here is a shot with a Pelikan M800 (top) and a M200 (bottom) for comparison:

I like the balance of the pen when un-posted. The cap can be posted, but I don't do that for any of my pens except for Pilot M90.

4. Nib & Performance
The pen comes with a standard stainless steel Iridium Point Germany (IPG) nib, with M-nib as the only available option. All three pens that I got worked well right out of the box. They are all smooth writers with a medium ink flow (5 out of 10).
Although I probably should be happy with how well they write, I do have some complaints about the nibs that are not related to their writing performance. First, at this price point, Libelle could have use a nib that carry their own logo (the dragonfly should look pretty good on a nib). Second, the nib feels too small for the pen. It probably will look more balanced if a larger nib is used. Third, given that a generic IPG nib is used, they should have make it a screwed-out so that user could replace/upgrade the nib. Last, more nib size options should be available.

5. Filling System & Maintenance
These pens are standard CC fillers. Not much to add here.

6. Cost & Value
The MSRP is $80, and I bought them new for $56 each from TheInkFlow.com (standard disclaimer here). To me these pens are in the same category as the Levenger TrueWriters, so I think they will be a good benchmark to determine the "value". The Libelle pens look much nicer than the TrueWriters so they win hands down in the appearance part. The build qualities are similar. However, I am not so happy with the Libelle nibs, plus the Levenger TrueWriter can be had for a touch cheaper (or much cheaper if you go with the Levenger Ebay outlet), so it all depends on how much you like the look. Rationally, I think the Levenger TrueWriter has a much better "value", but then again, the reason I bought these Libelle pens are not entirely rational, and I am quite happy with the pens that I got for the price.

7. Conclusion
Overall I am pretty happy with these pens. To me the most important value of these pens are not how good they write or how good they looks, after all, it is difficult to put a price on the good memories from my daughter's 4-year-old days (yeah I know that this sounds like those cheesy credit card ads, but it's true). Now if Libelle come out with a Spring one with some cheerful colors, I would not hesitate to add that to my collection.

The ridiculous health insurance bill

2009-10-10T11:50:00.000+08:00

Just been hit by the new health insurance bill: a 42.4% increase over the previous year. Honestly, I didn't get the memo about some hyperinflation going on in the US.

So, here is my plead to the guy who just won the Nobel Peace prize: Could you please do something about this ridiculous situation? *Sigh*

Growth record

2009-10-09T14:48:00.001+08:00

Alyssa: 7 yr 7 mo, 130 cm.
Vivian: 5 yr 8 mo, 112 cm.
David: 3 yr 3 mo, 95 cm.

Fall is here. Really?

2009-10-09T14:43:00.003+08:00

It was like someone just flipped a switch somewhere. The temperature suddenly dropped from mid-90s to mid-80s and has been stayed like that for a week now. I even feel a bit chilly on my bike rides. Is the summer really over? Is that even possible in Tucson?

And that's the last of it

2009-10-08T13:50:00.003+08:00

Tucson is a great city for biking. Most of the major roads have dedicated bike lanes and the weather is simply great. We have 350+ sunny days here, so for the most part I don't have to face the situation that I hate the most: riding in the rain. However, all that sunshine and dry weather comes with a great pain in the a$$: cacti and all sorts of thorny plants are everywhere!

Even with Continental Ultra Gatorskin for both my front and rear, I managed to run through 5 inner tubes in 3 months. Initially I was worried about the broken glasses/metal sharps on the road, but so far all my 10+ flats are caused by thorns. The last fresh tube in my stock went into the front today. Guess it is time to stock up again. *Sigh*

Incidentally, I noticed a Motobecane Fantom Cross Outlaw started to show up in the bike enclosure at work this semester. The disc brakes and the wider tires looks really cool. Could that be the answer to my problem? Hmm...

Ouch the itch

2009-09-27T14:47:00.007+08:00

Somehow I managed to stay clean from buying fountain pens since May this year. The two wonderful Japanese pens that I got (a Platinum 3776 Jade with Music nib and a Pilot/Namiki M90) have kept me occupied for quite a while. Alas, such thing is not meant to last; it appears that the resistance is futile and I was bitten by the bug yet again.

The three available colors (Autumn Leaves, Sea Breeze, and Winter Storm) in the Seasons collection by Libelle all look stunningly beautiful. Taccia is not helping either; their Momenta is very attractive in any of the five colors (Chocolate Espresso, Merlot Swirl, Marine Waves, Midnight Clouds, and Onyx Black) and I really like the Staccato in Starry Night or Lunar Blue.

Oh what to do? What to do?

Family website remodeling

2009-09-26T14:15:00.001+08:00

I wonder how often a "normal" person would say "Hey, it's Friday night. Let's write some Perl scripts for fun!" But anyway, that's exactly what I just did.

Several years ago, I decided to setup a website for our family, mainly as a way for our parents in Taiwan to see the photos of their grandchildren. Gradually, the site evolved into a huge archive of all our family photos. It works out wonderfully for us because we all enjoy having convenient access to all the old photos; the kids always want to see what silly things they have done when they were babies. However, with the ever increasing capability of the digital camera, the file sizes (particularly for videos) have now become too big for our parents to view over the slow connection. Finally, I got the chance this evening and converted all the thousands of video files into flash format. Now, while I am waiting for the files to upload, let me polish my geek badge a bit. :)

A not-so-hot Ninja

2009-09-21T07:05:00.003+08:00

The temperature here has finally come down to the mid-90s and make it so much more pleasant to go out for a ride. I particularly like the fact that the engine doesn't threat to overheat whenever I stop for a red light. I am also very happy that I somehow made peace with the strong winds in the mountains and no longer feel intimidated by them.

The slightly extended ride this afternoon reminded me again the beauty of Tucson. I think riding on the back of a motorcycle provides a good balance for enjoying the sight. Traveling in a car makes me feel encapsulated and isolated from the outside world, whereas riding a bicycle simply can't get me very far (not to mention the sweaty part).

David's statement of rebellion

2009-09-18T11:48:00.002+08:00

"I don't have to follow the rules because I am going to be a not-nice guy. My sisters need to follow the rules." I guess it's tickle time again. :)

Alyssa's TV contract

2009-09-17T13:01:00.003+08:00

There is one thing that we really like about Alyssa's school: they teach kids how to manage their time in a very effective way. At the beginning of every week, each kid will get a contract that lists everything they need to learn for the week. The kids get to decided when and how to get the jobs done before the end of the week. Being an impatient kid, Alyssa always managed to finish her contract early, sometime as early as Tuesday, so she can arrange the rest of the week how ever she want.

We thought that this is a very good system and encouraged Alyssa to do this at home as well. So when she comes home, she makes up her own to-do list, sometimes for the evening and sometimes for an entire weekend. Because this is not school, we let her have complete control about what she wants to put on the list and how soon she want to finish the things. Usually she just put down things such as doing workbooks, practice violin, and other things like that. So I was quite surprised when she used the reason "I have this on my contract" to ask for some TV time this evening. Ann and I had a good laugh. Guess we still need to teach her the difference between to-do list and wish list.

A short trip back to Taiwan

2009-09-15T13:13:00.002+08:00

Still recovering from my trip back to Taiwan. It was a great trip, but in the same time totally exhausting.

During the trip, I took a chance to visit my alma mater, National Taiwan University, and had a lunch to catch up with some old friends from college.

It is stunning to acknowledge the fact that we all graduated from college more than 10 years ago. When we talk about all the amusing memories, they all seemed to have happened in last month or so. It is also very funny to see how almost everyone is pretty much the same as they do back in college.

Outside of the campus, I saw some interesting sights in Taipei. Here is a restaurant called Tamago Ya (literal translation: Egg House):

I wonder what they sell inside.

Right next to the campus, I am surprised to see that Taipei is running out of the space for everything, including bicycle parking:

The main point of taking this trip was work-related, so as rare as this sort of things happen, I need to be in suit and tie:

The evening before my return flight, I met with my mom and my brother's family. Here is my only nephew who was trying to have some fun making a mess for his mom to clean up:

Anyway, really need to get some sleep now, which is very hard to do. Will see how well that melatonin pill works.

Home sweet home

2009-09-13T11:35:00.001+08:00

Finally get back from my week-long trip to Taiwan and settle back to my normal life. It is amazing how much stress/anxiety/excitement can do. Sleep deprivation? Not a problem! Jet lag? Doesn't feel a thing!

The only problem is that when the payback time comes (and it did), it sure is punishing.

Can we be friends?

2009-08-31T14:15:00.002+08:00

We went out to shop for a pair of shoes for me this afternoon. The salesman at the Dillard's was a very friendly guy and kept chatting with the kids while I tried the shoes on. One part of conversation that I overheard goes like this:

Tony: Hi, my name is Tony. Can I be your friend?
David: My friend is Peter.
Tony: Oh, I'm sure that Peter is a great guy. But can I be your friend too?
David: Ummm... Okay!

I thought that was hilarious.

Waiting for the great sale

2009-08-22T14:16:00.002+08:00

While we were in the bookstore this evening, Alyssa saw the 20% off sign and asked me what does it mean. So I used the fairy book that she wants to buy as an example to explain the concept, instead of $5, she only has to pay $4 with the discount. She thought about it for few seconds, and responded: "Wow, that's cool. I am going to wait when they have a 100% off sale!"

Well, good luck my silly girl.

Handy daddy

2009-08-15T11:38:00.002+08:00

Our car need to have the battery replaced, and I thought that this is a good chance to show the kids how things work. So I brought Vivian with me to an AutoZone, got a new battery, put it in the car, returned the old one to the store, and explained to her what I was doing at every step. Unfortunately, things didn't go quite as expected. Here is the conversation that we had on the way home:

Me: So do you know how to replace the battery in a car now?
Vivian: Yes!
Me: Good! So you think you can do it when you grow up?
Vivian: No.
Me: Why not? Daddy just showed you how to do it.
Vivian: When I grow up and my car needs the battery to be replaced, I will just call you.

Ummm, that not the way it works okay?

Apples, grapes, pecans, and more

2009-08-03T12:27:00.006+08:00

We took the kids to Apple Annie's Orchard in Wilcox (http://www.appleannies.com/) this afternoon. We all had a great time picking apples/pears in the orchard. Because some of the fruits are hanging so low, even David can do it without help:

On the way back, we stop at the Crop Circle Winery and I got to have a bit of fun tasting wines. I know that there are some wineries in AZ, I was just surprised to see one that is not that far away from Tucson and we happened to see it on our way home.

The nice lady at the winery told us that there's a pecan farm right down the road, so of course we made one more stop to pick up some nuts before heading home. All in all, everyone had a great day and we now have lots of farm-fresh fruits at home. :)

Mexico!

2009-07-26T14:30:00.005+08:00

We had a day-trip to Nogales (a boarder town between Arizona and Mexico). Here are some pictures from the trip.

Getting close to the boarder:

Interesting contrast of the development on the two sides of the boarder. Mexicans build all the way up to the fence.

The gate from the US side:

A welcome sign right after we cross the gate:

Some random pictures of the street views in Mexico:

It is always an interesting experience to see a foreign country, although we know this is not representative of what most parts of Mexico really looks like. Being a boarder town that thrives on tourism, people there are very friendly and always eager to sell us all kinds of souvenirs. It gets a bit annoying after we stayed for about an hour, but we did have a good time during our stay.

On being a good son-in-law

2009-07-25T12:11:00.004+08:00

Because of my boss has joint appointment in different departments, and also because UA is doing some departmental reorganization to deal with the budget crisis, my appointment here gets transferred around quite a bit for accounting reasons. Within a year, I have been associated with three different departments. Fortunately, my boss told me to stick with the first one on my CV, so I don't appear to be job hopping like crazy.

My latest appointment, starting from this month, is in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. When I found out about this today, I thought it is quite funny. Everyone in Ann's family, with the exception of Ann, is a chemist. By being a postdoc in a chemistry department, I am truly becoming a part of her family, maybe even more so than she does. Ann got so excited and instantly called her parents when I told her about this, and they just couldn't stop laughing.

I wonder how many people out there has this kind of strange experience.

The rainbow bikes and my new helmet

2009-07-14T13:55:00.005+08:00

Ever since my bike helmet celebrated its 5-year old birthday in April, Ann has been trying to convince me to get a replacement. Being a cheap bastard, I can be very stingy even though it is my head that's on the line. Finally, after realizing how much money I have been saving by bike commute and how much time I have been spending on my bike, I agreed that it is time to buy a new helmet.

Initially I was thinking about getting a Bell Alchera after trying out a bunch of different helmets in our local Performance Bike shop. Unfortunately, they do not have a red one in stock and Ann insisted that I get one that matches the color of my bike (no, no more blue helmet with a red bike). So after lunch, I took Alyssa and Vivian with me to another bike shop to see if I can find something there. Before we left home, I jokingly asked Ann that if I can't find a good helmet that matches my bike, can I get a matching bike to go with a new helmet. To which, Ann replied with a smile and said do whatever I want. :)

So on the way to the next bike shop, I joked with the girls about how I am going to get new helmets and bikes in all colors, such that I can ride a red bike on Mondays, an orange bike on Tuesdays, a yellow bike on Wednesdays, and so on. Then somehow Vivian got the idea of getting a "rainbow bike" that has all the colors for her. I told her that I don't know where to find such bikes, and Alyssa quickly responded: "Vivian, when you get into elementary school, grandpa will give you a laptop, and then you can take a look at www.rainbowbikes.com and see what kind of rainbow bikes they have for sell". I was quite shocked to hear about this. How come young kids these days know so much about these kinds of things?

As it turned out, the second search was not fruitful either. However, when we went to Target to do some grocery shopping after dinner, I saw a Bell Adrenaline in the store that looked quite good. Initially I was skeptical about anything the claims "one-size-fits-all". Luckily, this one turned out to be a perfect fit for me. In fact, it fits even better than all other ones that I had tried in the bike shops. What's even better is that it carries a $22 price tag, which is something you don't often see in the bike shops. So I am really happy with my new helmet and looking forward to the bike ride tomorrow!

Finding a part of life that I missed

2009-07-12T14:14:00.003+08:00

Just watched this great movie that was written and directed by Steve Stockman: Two weeks (Official website at http://www.twoweeksmovie.com/movie/, IMDB link at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448166/).

The story was about the days that four siblings spent with their terminally ill mother. The movie brought up a lot of feelings and emotions because it reminded me the fact that I was not there for it when my dad died. This is something that I can never make up for it for the rest of my life, and I can't help but having some mixed feelings of regret, sadness, and loss whenever I thought about my father's passing. Particularly, I feel sorry to my brother as I "cheated" by living in the U.S. and leave our parents to him all these years.

Too hot for a Ninja

2009-07-12T07:11:00.004+08:00

Maybe I am getting used to pedaling in hot weather, when I took my Ninja out for a spin this afternoon, I felt the ride was quite pleasant even though the temperature was about 103-F. Unfortunately for my little Ninja, the slow ride around town under the scorching sun is a bit too much and the temp gauge kept threatening to go up to the red line. So I cut the ride short and came home to give my bike a good chain-cleaning session. Now that this is done, I am so happy to see the chain and gears become shiny again.

Gators in the desert

2009-07-11T09:26:00.001+08:00

After providing nearly 4 months of trouble-free service, the Gatorskins I installed on my bike finally succumbed to the relentless attacks of thorns on my commute route. I was a little bit disappointed, as I have read so many good things about their puncture resistance, but this is already much better than the almost weekly flat tire repair I had to do before. To be fair, it has stopped several thorns that are about 3-4 mm in length during this time, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

Instead of jumping on the bus or calling Ann for help this time, I decided my tools should start to pay for themselves. The Topeak Mini G MasterBlaster Bike Pump I have been carrying in the bag worked okay; it is easy to get up to 60 psi, difficult to get up to 75 psi, and becomes painful beyond that. Nonetheless, it is good enough to get me home, and better yet, I still managed to beat the bus.

Out of the sight, but not out of the mind

2009-07-10T12:33:00.002+08:00

My mom had a minor stroke last week. Fortunately this happened when she was visiting my brother in Taipei so he was able to take her to the hospital at the first sign of trouble. It was really scary because if this has happened when she is in Tainan all by herself, who knows how bad it can get? I hate to think about it but there is no denying that mom is only getting older and having her lives alone is becoming more and more worrisome.

After staying in the hospital for several days, she is recovering quite well, although the doctors couldn't find any abnormality in all the tests and can't really provide us with any explanation of how this happened or any specific suggestion about how to prevent it from happening again. So now mom is out of the hospital and my brother is driving her back to Tainan. I tried to call them everyday since I heard about this and try to stay up-to-date about the situation, but honestly, there wasn't anything that I can do from here. It is very frustrating, and reminded me a lot about my father's passing.

Oh, and to add to my frustration, my mom's first words to me last week were "Why did your brother have to tell you about this? It was nothing!". Yeah, right. Just like the incidence that I have to know about my father's skin cancer surgery through my mother-in-law when she asked me how my father is doing, months after he had the surgery.

Maybe they are trying not to worry me and all, but I really don't like this. I also feel very bad about leaving all the responsibilities of taking care of our parents to my brother.

A powerful recruitment tool

2009-07-10T12:27:00.002+08:00

A while ago Alyssa made a drawing of me and Howard sitting together at a table and has the words "best friends" and lots of colorful hearts on it. I thought it was pretty funny, as this is how she imagines what we are doing in the office all day, so I pinned it on the wall next to my desk in the office.

When Nancy saw the drawing today, she told Howard that he should use it to recruit new people, because "It is a proof of how good you are treating people in the lab. See all those hearts floating around in the air? If Chih-Horng is cursing at you all the time at home, his daughter wouldn't have drawn something like this.". I thought that this is a very interesting way to interpret the drawing, and even more so when I see Howard seems to be embarrassed by the praise.

The most embrassing event of the year

2009-07-07T12:29:00.002+08:00

THE GOOD: got the page proof, made corrections, and sent it back on the same day.

THE BAD: I misspelled my boss's name, twice, in the references.

THE UGLY: I didn't catch the mistake, my boss did.

Nails Fashion

2009-06-28T14:26:00.000+08:00

Alyssa (aka Jenepher) and Vivian recently opened a nails salon at home, completed with a business name (Nails Fashion), and a sign:

I was half-invited, half-forced to become a customer of theirs, and the manicure they provide mostly involved putting tiny stickers on my finger nails.

Surprisingly, when we went to our local mall this evening, they spotted the name of a nails salon there is "Fashion Nails". The two silly sisters were very excited to find this competition.

Pedalling for a "free" bike

2009-06-26T11:55:00.002+08:00

On my way to work this morning, I suddenly realized that the cost of my bike, divided by the days I rode it to work, has dropped below $5, which is cheaper than driving. To me, this makes the splurge on the bike somewhat justifiable.

Next goal: make the bike costs less than taking the bus. This will take a couple more months and quite a bit of workout, however, once I get past that, the bike is effectively free. How cool is that!

Happy Father's Day to myself, part 7

2009-06-22T14:09:00.003+08:00

I am still kind of shocked that I have been in this tough business for so long (even more so for surviving it). It certainly didn't get any easier with time, in fact, it has gotten harder and harder over the past seven years. But I guess I should "enjoy" it while I can, considering that a guy at the post office just reminded us this yesterday: "Your kids are really cute! Too bad that they are going to turn into teenagers some day".

Anyway, I had a very enjoyable Sunday. Kids were behaving pretty well the whole day, even made me some nice cards and crafts. I spend a fun and eye-opening afternoon visiting the Total Wine, which turned out to be a crazy super-doper-big store; I mean, holy moley! How can someone pick a bottle out of that store without going nuts is totally incomprehensible to me. Knowing my recently developed interest in wine, Ann got me a very nice set of wine accessories; I look forward to putting them to use soon. After the kids went to bed, Ann also told me a surprising secret. The kids consulted her several days ago about getting me a fountain pen for the Father's Day, because "We think that's daddy's favorite thing". They then decided not to get one because they figured a nice one is way beyond what they can afford on their allowance.

I was deeply moved. My daughters know me so well and have the thought and full intent to make me happy. I am so happy and don't even know how to express that.

Out of one writing, back into another

2009-06-22T12:53:00.002+08:00

The most recent writing frenzy at work has finally come to an end. Feeling somewhat relieved, the thought of blogging seems to be flowing again.

Looking back, no wonder I was sort of stressed out. Over the past month, I finished a manuscript from scratch and submitted it, got another revised and formally accepted, attended the SMBE meeting and gave a short talk there, and most importantly, sent out the first batch of job applications.

Time to get back to play with perl some more, while waiting for some good news.

DokuWiki is awesome!

2009-06-20T14:40:00.005+08:00

After poking around a bit, I settled on DokuWiki to set up a small experimental site. All the good things that I heard about it seems to be true. Setting up is totally painless and fast, it took less than 10 minutes from downloading the source code to having the first page up. The syntax is pretty straight forward, although I'd prefer the default rule for header levels to be reversed (without installing plug-ins). Customizing the appearance, either by tweaking the templates myself or installing custom themes, is also easy enough, but because I like the default ones, I don't plan to change that yet.

Guess now the really challenge is to put enough useful things there. Right now I only have some random notes on the site, serving as memos for myself. Hopefully I'll have the time to organize my major bioinfo protocols there soon.

Time to tidy up

2009-06-19T12:59:00.001+08:00

Just discovered a wonderful tool to tidy up my perl codes, Perltidy.

I don't think my codes were bad, but seeing them got "prettified" by this nice tool is kind of cool. Somehow they got this nice sterile, straight-out-of-textbook feel to them after the reformatting. Reading old codes is almost a fun thing to do after this, so I went crazy and reformatted my whole library.

Getting all confused

2009-06-14T11:26:00.000+08:00

In my dream last night, I was racing through Taipei's streets at 100+ mph on my Ninja. It was very exciting and all, but somehow, something wasn't quite right: Instead of using my left foot, I was using either of my hands to do the shifting. Then I looked down, and to my surprise, the handle bar, breaks, and shifters were from my bicycle.

Looks like I am spending too much time on saddles these days. When I woke up, I remembered something funny that happened several year ago. Soon after I got the Ninja, one day I noticed myself leaning into a turn when I was driving our minivan. Good thing that I didn't try to pull a wheelie.

It's not fair

2009-06-02T14:51:00.003+08:00

The girls had their last day of school today. We are all very happy that the school year is finally over and almost everyone can enjoy the summer vacation. But, here is what the girls have to say: "It's not fair! Why daddy has to go to work and not staying at home with us?"

Yeah, right. Why? Hmmm... may be I should throw a tantrum at work tomorrow?

Searching for a wiki software

2009-05-22T13:44:00.002+08:00

"Wikis, wikis in the world, who is the fairest among y'all?" -- chkuo

Looking for a wiki software to set up a site for managing my bioinformatic protocols and totally puzzled by the amazing array of possible choices. So far Dokuwiki seems to be great for my need, but then MoinMoin looks pretty good too. The problem is that I don't want to spend too much time and energy on trying them all out. What to do, what to do...

Serious backlog

2009-05-21T13:55:00.000+08:00

The stress of writing at work is a bit of overwhelming now, which makes me unable to bring myself to spend time on blogging in my precious evening time (hey, it's supposed to be fun). At the last count, there are 93 half-baked blog entires on my list. How depressing. I need a vacation, seriously.

What do you do?

2009-05-14T11:28:00.001+08:00

A poem by Alyssa:

What do you do if it's a red light?
You stop.
What do you do if it's a green light?
You go.
What do you do if it's a blue light with purple stripes and lavender polka dots?

A sleep-walking dog of our own

2009-05-08T14:22:00.003+08:00

Although there's no shortage of funny videos about sleep-walking dogs on YouTube, nothing beats seeing one in action in front of your own eyes. Too bad that our funny dog always wakes up the moment we decide to get the camera.

Postdoc milestone

2009-04-30T14:08:00.002+08:00

Today is a very exciting day: my first research paper from postdoc is formally accepted by Genome Research. I am very glad to reach this milestone before the end of my first year here at UA, and the fact that it got into such a great journal is even better.

Bowling is hard

2009-04-13T11:43:00.000+08:00

Particularly when there is a koala hanging on your leg, like this:

What the hail?

2009-04-12T14:04:00.004+08:00

We had some pea-sized hail this afternoon. I'm really surprised, considering that it is already mid-April and last week was kind of hot. The kids were very excited and each grabbed a bucket running around in the backyard to collect the ice.

Conservation delimma

2009-04-07T11:53:00.004+08:00

Dr. Donald Strong from UC Davis gave a very interesting talk on an invasive plant for our department seminar today. In addition to the ecology and evolution of this plant species, I found the implication on conservation very thought provoking.

So you have a new invasive species coming in and taking over everything, needless to say, many other species in the ecosystem are affected by these drastic changes. Now the problem is this: there are two endangered species of birds involved, one being harmed and the other being helped by these changes. You get rid of the invasive plant, one of the birds goes back to its old miserable way of life; you let the invasive plant goes unchecked, the other bird is going to suffer. It is like asking whether you are going to save your son or daughter. No really an easy question and probably have no good answer.

Difficult is difficult

2009-04-06T13:08:00.003+08:00

Alyssa: Daddy, pick a difficult word for me to spell.
Me: Okay, try "difficult".
Alyssa: But that word is too difficult!

See what I mean? My daughter is really difficult.

Pens, inks, and rocks

2009-03-29T14:05:00.002+08:00

While still feeling bummed about missing the LA pen show this year, I saw on the FPN that the PenWorks in Carefree is having a pen show today. I was so excited about the fact that one can find a pen show even in AZ, I planned a family trip without hesitation.

The show turned out to be much bigger than I've expected. In addition to the usual suspects (Visconti, Lamy, Bexley, etc), the Penchetta line of pens (hand-turned by Anthony, the shop owner) really caught my eye. Some of the designs and materials are very interesting and good looking. Alas, I'm in my saving mode now and have to resist the temptation of buying new pens. In the end I came home with only a bottle of ink, Noodler's Zhivago, which turned out to be great (reviewed here).

After a short stop at the shop, we took the kids to the Deer Valley Rock Art Center to see the petroglyphs left by the Indians. Luckily, it happened to be their annual Rock Art Expo and there are a lot more than the regular exhibit to see. Everyone was pretty happy about this wonderful Saturday.

Nina, aka Jack

2009-03-18T10:21:00.002+08:00

Recently the girls' favorite game is the "Little House on the Prairie". For the game to work, they need a dog to play "Jack" in the story. Needless to say, Nina got this role uncontested. Now that she is pretty comfortable with either name the kids used to call her, I worry if dog can get dissociative identity disorder.

No wonder there are shrinks for dogs.

Getting hot

2009-03-18T10:19:00.001+08:00

It's only mid-March now and I already need a water bottle for my 6-mile bike commute. I really wonder how I survived last summer.

Idiotic racers in a truck

2009-03-17T14:22:00.004+08:00

Two guys in a truck yelled at me on my way home today, first time when they passed me on the road and second time when I passed them after they parked on their driveway. It was fast and loud so I can't quite understand what they were trying to say, but it sounds like something along the line of "We are awesome and you suck because we can drive faster in a truck than you can go on a bike". Pure idiots.

On a side note, the new tires I put on yesterday held up well to some unplanned tests. They are quite rigid compared to the stock tires so the ride wasn't as comfortable. The funny thing is that just seconds after I had this thought, I was forced to ride through two piles of broken glasses that spread across the entire bike lane. Maybe I am being superstitious, but it seemed like the tires want to convince me that puncture resistance is far more important than supple rides. You won, I am sold.

I hate flats

2009-03-16T11:55:00.003+08:00

While bike commute has many things going for it in Tucson (e.g., countless sunny days, well-planned bike lanes), the over-abundance of thorns and the generally poor pavements are definitely not. After having a good number of flats, I finally gave in today and spent some good money on a pair of Continental Ultra Gatorskins (700c x 25). Hopefully this will do the trick.

Now some observations about the tires before I have a chance to ride. First, they are pretty easy to mount. I read some reviews about how difficult it is to get these tires mounted and was kind of dreading about doing that. To my surprise, the ones I got (with wire beads) went on without causing my any trouble. In fact, they are easier to mount than the stock tires that came with my bike.

Second, the QC may not be as good as I expected. When I saw the asymmetrical thread pattern, I asked the people at the bike shop (our local Performance Bike) about the direction of rotation. The answer they gave me was to put the sizing label on the left. However, when I was mounting the second tire, I noticed that the sizing labels are on different sides for the two tires that I got. So if I follow this direction, I'd end up with two tires with opposite thread patterns. Although it probably doesn't really matter, this makes me doubt about what the label "Handmade in Germany" really say about them. Sloppy workers maybe?

Chess tournament and parenting thoughts

2009-03-15T12:29:00.005+08:00

I took Alyssa to her second chess tournament this afternoon. Despite the fact that she didn't win any game this time (first two were a tie and she lost the last one), we had a great time going out together. She enjoy the games and the chance to play with her classmates outside of the school, and I simply enjoy being with her.

I can't exactly describe what I experienced today, but somehow I got a deep feeling of pride watching her. It seems like a blink of eye, and she is almost full grown. I always have some self-doubts about whether I have been doing a good job as a father. Seeing that all three of them turn out to be such great kids seems like a perfect verdict for our success. More importantly, by being close with them, I feel that I somehow made up the regret of having a distant relationship with my dad.

Funny bees

2009-03-14T14:09:00.001+08:00

The biology in the Bee Movie is a terrible mess, but that does not stop it from being a hilarious movie. In addition to the main storyline, the film is choke full of little jokes. Some of the ones that I find really funny include:

The passengers on the airplane wait impatiently for the seat belt sign to go off

The depressed cow who felt like "a piece of meat"

The mosquito who is "preadapted" to be a lawyer

Anyway, it is a funny movie that worth watching if you want to get a good laugh.

How I got hired remained a mystery

2009-03-14T12:17:00.002+08:00

With the interview season upon us again, we have been seeing a number of people going through our lab and department. Just out of curiosity, I asked my boss why he decided to hire me on the spot when I interviewed for my postdoc here in his lab. Much to my disappointment, his answer was "Really? I did? I don't remember anything about that."

Well, at least I got the job and have been enjoying it a lot. I guess that's what really counts.

The ones that got away

2009-03-11T14:50:00.007+08:00

The True Writer from Levenger has proven to be dangerously addictive. The build quality is solid, the QC is good, many of available colors are attractive, and most importantly, they often can be found at a great bargain through Levenger's ebay outlet. While I would be hesitate to buy one at the full list price, the sale price really makes them a deal that I can't refuse. The sale price can easily go around $20, sometimes even lower. The record for me is a demonstrator for $10.95; considering that it comes with a converter and a bottle of ink, the pen is basically free.

To put this into perspective, I compare them to one of my recent acquisitions: a Namiki Falcon. While the Falcon is a wonderful pen that I absolutely love, for the price I can have 5+ colorful TWs, each loaded with a different ink. As much as I love the sensation of writing with the Falcon's soft and springy nib, TW wins hands down in the value department. Another big plus is that I feel comfortable about leaving a bunch of TWs in office so I always have access to some fountain pens at work. This is something that I'll never do with any of higher priced pens.

So even after owning more than 10 TWs, I still crave for more. Specifically, I am itching to get a Sea Glass (the color that got me interested in True Writer in the first place) and a Carnaval (gave mine to my father-in-law and have been missing it terribly). Therefore, I almost jumped when I got an email from Levenger's ebay outlet about another sale, with a Sea Glass, a Carnaval, and a Golden Tortoise (intended for CP) listed at <$20 each. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of waiting for kids to go to bed before ordering. By the time I sat down in front of the computer again, all three of them were gone (darn it, don't you people have a life?).

Well, to look at things in a more positive way, I did take the chance to get my hands on a couple more pens, including a TW Amethyst (the matching ink is a lovely medium purple), a TW Blue Illuminator (I no longer interested in metal pens and have gotten this one for my father-in-law; that said, the brushed metal finish looks/feels really good), a TW Obsidian (the stub nib is nothing to get excited about but it works reasonable well), and a Decathlon.

Now the Decathlon is really an interesting pen. While it is not really that different from a TW, the faceted body certainly looks much nicer and the clip design is much more elegant. Notably the facets of the cap/body lined up perfectly when the pen is capped. Given all the advancements made in the pen industry over the past few decades this really shouldn't be a big deal, but one would be surprised about how many higher priced pens are having problems with this simple issue (hey Bexley are you listening?). Although the $138 list price is more like a joke for this pen, I am more than happy to fork out $19.95 for a refurbished one.

As I ponder which inks to use in these newly arrived pens, I can't help but to wonder: when will I get a TW Sea Glass and a TW Carnaval?

Girls on a roll

2009-03-06T14:52:00.002+08:00

Seeing Vivian got a skateboard for her 5-year old birthday, Alyssa asked us for a pair of roller skates for her 7-year old birthday. Looks like we are going to see some intense actions in the back yard soon.

Impeccable logic

2009-02-25T01:09:00.000+08:00

David demonstrates his impeccable use of double negative at the age of two:

CH: 小弟你知道嗎？
David: 爸爸我沒有不知道。
CH: 那是知道還是不知道？
David: 知道。

Good parenting advise

2009-02-23T11:52:00.001+08:00

From Miss Cellania (where else?):

Enjoy your kids, but remember that your job is to make yourself unnecessary to them eventually.