Back to Ithaca

It takes a little getting used to to be back, even I was away just for three months.

Not that Ithaca is not nice. Actually, Ithaca is such a beautiful place in summer. The gorges, falls, trees, wild flowers and of course, Cayuga lake. The road trip across CA was amazing. Stanford was splendid with its vast campus, Palm drive and Mediterranean style buildings. Muir woods were breathtaking. But talking about natural beauty, they still fall a bit short of the Finger Lakes area and Cornell.

Everything looks a bit surrealistic, though. The meadow and trees near my apartment are unattended and quiet all day. There are no high ways which in CA are only a quarter mile away from my door, there is no crowd that jam all the high ways in peak hours even some have 5 lanes, there are clouds and thunders in the afternoon instead of endless blue sky, and I see baby deer instead of more IT companies than I can name on my way to the office. This change of environmental setting, more importantly change of pace, makes Bay Area and Ithaca two different worlds.

It's easy to be active, excited and alerted in CA, with so much going on and so many geeks around. And then there is the laid back peace of mind in Ithaca, relaxed and contended for its little window to the outside. I am going to school in a place more for vacation, and spent my summer 'vacation' time deep down in the heart of silicon valley.

Now, sitting again in my office with a nice view of Ithaca downtown and west hills, I want to keep that valley rhythm which is still beating inside me. Viewing grad school from a slightly altered angle and more background, I think I am ready for a busy-than-ever semester.

Stories about debugging

I have very talented coworkers. I'm not just saying that (I've ended my internship today so there really is no need), I can show you. Here are two examples:

When Neo first came to the company, my manager (also his) asked what he wanted for the first assignment. Without too much thought he answered, 'just give me the toughest bugs'. If you realize how much engineers hate debugging in general, even though bugs were nothing but their uglier babies, you would understand how unusual that was. Actually Neo IS an expert. He used to program embedded system, so playing fire with registers don't scare him; and he's been debugging real time OSes, so exception handling and memory dump can't even make his eyebrows rise. Seeing me using Visual Studio this afternoon, he threw out a comment: " VS is the invention of Microsoft to make programmers even dumber". Then he explained the more efficient way to gain a lot of debugging experiences and learn techniques should be debugging with gdb and hand-generated labels. I am not sure I'm gonna follow that far, but I definitely know whom to look for when I am bugged in the future :)

Filip is a big Worms (the game) fan. He uses that as ringtone for his sms, and that keeps giving me the impression that he is playing that fabulous game behind our manger's back (literally). But acutally he was a very normal engineer compared to Neo. By normal, I mean he dislikes bugs, especially when it was the first thing he got when he came, without volunteering for it. It was tough for him at the beginning, then he managed to find meaning in it and turned much better. So you will wonder what was the trick. The answer would be naming: every bug that goes to him gets a pretty girl's name immediately. So far I think he has two, Cindy and Rachel. He actually explained to me the many benefits of doing that. First, it gives bug a personality, you are no longer staring very hard at a piece of code, you are looking into the (mysterious) eyes of a woman. Second, bugs and girls are both hard to chase, you think you find them here but they are actually hidden somewhere else, or show you a completely new perspective just when you think you 'understand' them. Third, guys never play with the same girl for too long. Filip is finishing up with Cindy now and looking forward to spend more time with Rachel from next week :) What a genius idea, Filip! Let's just wish him luck. For me, I do like the whole naming practice, but handsome boy bugs just don't raise my appetite as much. Maybe I can name them with pet names, you know I never kept my pets for very long, oh well that was some sad stories, which obviously have little to do with this topic. So I'll stop right here.

Interesting Street Naming

I was looking for direction to the nearest 99 Ranch Market. Then I noticed at the intersection of E Homestead Rd and Wolfe, North Wolfe Rd is on the south of South Wolfe Rd... If one follows the Wolfe Rd for a couple of blocks to the north, again she will run into North Wolfe Rd after crossing E Evelyn Ave. Interesting... wonder if anybody has seen a similar pattern else where.

二伯母去世了

她是我爸爸二哥的前妻。今年也就六十出头。前几天骑车经过怀德桥下桥时摔倒，当场昏迷。随后送到医院靠呼吸机维持了几天，但因为摔跤时脑部受伤严重，最终宣布脑死亡。据现场的目击证人说，二伯母是自己摔倒的，没有受到撞击。二伯不是很相信，但是由于意外发生五个小时后才通知家属到医院，当时当地究竟发生了什么，恐怕永远要留个问号了。想给妹妹打个电话，听说她还能承受，我二伯那边，反应估计要更平静一些。

爸爸兄弟四个找的四个对象里，用家乡人爱说的一句话，算是最没本事的，除此之外，估计也算最没有脾气的。二伯母胆子不大，在家说话也没有太多分量。小时候去妹妹家玩，伯母总是很少发表意见，跟我说话都只挑优点客客气气的。做饭洗衣服基本包干。她下岗后在家愈加没有发言权，因为我二伯单位效益也不好，一家人日子很清苦。我和几个堂兄弟姐妹小时候都向着爸爸，想来我妹妹也没有帮她说过很多话。为了挣钱她摆过小摊，当过临时工，后来终于熬到退休年龄可以稍微休息一下。前几年她和二伯离婚了，他俩一直性格不太合，时有争执，好在妹妹长大了，也就无须再维系这个家。离婚时并没有反目成仇，为了孩子的缘故还会在一起碰头或者过年时和我爸爸这面的亲戚走动，但终究也没有复婚。

二伯和二伯母的第一个孩子，一个据说长得很清秀的男孩，因为先天性心脏病一岁多就夭折了。所以二伯后来又有了个比我还小两岁的孩子，就是我的堂妹。这也许也是她心中一道永远的伤痕。当时我还没有出生，其间如何，家里人甚少提及，如今更是不想再问。

二伯母做饭不像奶奶一样有天赋，但是她做的粽子味道很好，每次做了都拿好多给我家，吃了多年白食，从没有想过要用什么东西单独感谢她的勤劳。

在妹妹旧家墙上有一幅他们的结婚照片，那时照婚纱照不像现在这样基本算必修课，比如我父母就没有照。布景衣着虽然平淡无奇，在我看来还是很漂亮的。然而现实褪色得，终究比裱画要快些。

一个最平凡的小人物死了。昨日她火化时，没有悼念仪式，到场的只区区五人。因为她是我的二伯母，所以我有些触动，想写点什么。提笔之下，才发现她的事迹生平，我竟一无所知，生活琐碎，也仅存一二。

有时人生就是如水般寡淡。她教育子女，挣钱养家，交际游历，都不算擅长，对社会贡献不可谓大。她的谨小慎微，与世无争，心地善良，并没有给她带来出世的超然闲适或入世的市井快乐，这世界给她的也不能算多。她努力过，痛过，付出过，获得过，最后生命嘎然而止。但无论如何，她曾经来过。天空一抹云霞，也有她的痕迹。

I wanna play basketball!

Watched the 2008 NBA Finals. Saw interns playing basketball (half-court) on campus. Friend surprised by the fact that I started this game 13 years ago.
Having a tender right knee for 6 years almost eliminates the possibility of any serious practice, and even in my dreams this morning, when I was playing again with my best basketball buddies from high school, my dribbling skills failed me as a qualified point guard.

I feel a surge of returning to the court, even just to practice shooting from the rim.

For the record, I also dreamed of delivering a 12-year overdue love letter for my best friend in primary school.

On Tibet Issues

Shortly after Mar 14, the first reaction when I heard the news was confusion. Why did they protest with violence when they now live a much better life than before? Obviously, that is not the image seen by western media. The big gap between what's claimed by Chinese and western world made me dig deeper into the issue.

The whole thing looks like a big conspiracy. Linking politics to Olympics, decorate fancy stories with fake pictures, lies, selective reporting and ignorance. The media make me sick. They have exhibited enough bias during the democratic election, and this time they prove that they can still do much worse.

The slogan of "Free Tibet" shows, to some extent, a lack of consideration. Does it mean that Dalai Lama and monks should again rule the country, and put 95% of the population in serf status as they had been doing until 55 years ago? Freedom is such an appealing concept that we very often ignore the difference between an independent sovereign and freedom of individuals. For me, supporting a government that rules OUT freedom of its people can never be a just course. In the case of Tibet, that kind of ruling was what the exile government was doing, and probably planned to continue if Chinese government did not intervene. Even today, I have no confidence that the returning Dalai Lama actually has a clear plan on how to govern modernly and differently.

A repeated counter-argument against the “freedom” advocates is that if Native Americans feel they might be better off on their own, will U.S. legislation approve their petition to free and form their own country at the proposed "Lakota"? Talking about democracy and freedom as much as they want, the old ugly truth still holds in this case. When it comes to matters of other regions, countries, or continents, the unspoken language is always economic and political benefits every nation wants to take into their own pockets.

Same Difference

I ran into an old photo of atppp today. It was an old photo taken in 1992, the era when every pupil wore a red scarf and simple clothes. At a first glance it looked exactly the same as my elementary school picture, which stunned me because I don't know him in person. Even after staring it for a while, I still can't escape the feeling of similarity. I see a resemblance to my own childhood buddies on many faces, though I cannot match any of them to a known person. Do all old pictures carry a taste of elapsed time more than their actual content?

The Milk Crisis

Across the corridor outside our office is the mail room, which also hosts two big fridges. One of them serve CS students and staff dairy products at cheaper prices than on-campus retailers. The way it works is everybody registers an account at the milk czars, and cross-marks on a sheet whenever they get something from the fridge. One can deposit money to her account and has a 20$ credit line if the account is in debt. The prices of each item is slightly higher than its cost in bulk, how much depends on how accurately people report their purchases. Consumption statistics and new prices are published on a regular base.

There was a major trust crisis in the mail/milk room last month. Normally, the reporting rate of dairy consumption falls somewhere between 85% and 95%, and exceptions are very rare. However, after the spring semester began, updated statistics showed 35% items were unreported. It was really hard to believe many registered account holders suddenly decided to take "free rides" simultaneously, especially at a time when prices just reached a historical low. Then the question is, who are they? Since people having the keys of the mailroom are largely constant and completely traceable, it is also hard to believe abrupt changes in the behavior of key-holders. Finally, we will have to turn our eyes on transient population in the building. How people without keys get into the mailroom remain a mystery to me.

The crisis agitated the milk czars and they took action. Warning sheets were stuck to both outer and inner sides of the fridge, with exclamation marks flying around. Prices were raised, sadly. After another cycle in the mailroom, latest stats shows we now hit another near-perfect record, only 1 item was not claimed, giving us a 99.5% reporting rate. In other words, the crisis and counteraction not only stopped emerging free-riders, but also refresh the morals in everybody else.

We have survived the crisis. How long this trend can keep going I am not exactly sure. But the wound is still fresh, as the prices now match retailers' to make up for the previous losses. However, things could have been worse, with the corrupting morals infecting everybody and bankrupting the milk foundation. The equilibrium in the mailroom is fragile. There is simply no proof that we will always bounce back from the edge of breaking down.

Things I learned here

I have realized that serious cooking for one person is neither very time effective nor appetizing. It takes too long to cook a meal, and after that, too many days to finish. So my passion for cooking has shrunk significantly. Not that I do not want to try new things or make up for the terrible Chinese restaurants here, I just start to accept the fact that fast food and dining halls can be reasonably acceptable in gradschool life.

Cooperation is important. Being too much of a loner, I could be very tough cooperator, and annoying. Discussion and cooperation can be a wonderful thing, you just have to treat others with respect and understanding. Nobody always gets her way, absolutely true even for me. I still have a long way to go before becoming a good team worker.

Winter can be pleasant even it is cold and long. With the snow, the cool breeze (some time blizzard though) and beautiful winter creeks, Ithaca unfolded a wonderland right in front of my eyes. Roads could be slippery and snow inches deep, but you never get bored.

Chinese students speak very bad English. I thought we were bad but not this bad. We are practically the worst, well maybe students from southeast Asia (Singapore excluded) are our fellows. But there are numerous Chinese that speak excellent English, we do not have a persistent accent that cannot be corrected. It's up to each individual.

Americans are more open-minded than I expected, because they are used to multiculturalism. But at the very core of this society, its value system is more conservative than I would have hoped to match its open-mindedness. It's like the difference between de facto and what is right.

Best Memory in the World

Today's Yahoo! pushes this article to top story section: A man and a woman who can remember every single day in their life like rewinding a movie.

How scary is that?

"Most have called it a gift, but I call it a burden," she wrote. "I run my entire life through my head every day and it drives me crazy!!!"

Quoted from the journal. A burden, exactly. Compared with difficulty to remember anything, remembering everything can be a greater misfortune. Think about elves in contrast to mortal men. Their brains are like a huge pool saving every drop of information that flows in, while normal people have another pipe called forgetting.

Human brains are amazing machinery. The potential in this man and woman probabily lie deep in every one of us, with perhaps one trigger in genes. What are we gonna do if we are bestowed this ability? Are we literally going to be haunted by our own shadows?

Total Eclipse

I saw a total eclipse of the Moon for the first time since I-cannot-even-remember-when. And it inspired me, as well as many others, to search for a song name Total Eclipse Of The Heart. Matching up great.

Music Genes

After using Pandora for a while, I started to believe music genes do exist. After all, I haven't encountered any really lousy songs during my user experience. What's more convincing is, when songs recur, it is always the same ones that I have sufficient impulse to mark them as 'favorite', even when I barely remember I actually heard it before.

The question is, if this is true, what are the compositions of music genes? How do people use mathematical or logical expressions to relate one piece of music, one musician to another? More generally, are musical genres like races? If most of us are bound to like certain genres of music, are we all born racist?