per te

Italian, "for you". Word I learned today.

English word I learned today:
hobbledehoy
noun: an awkward, gawky young fellow.

I wish I know more words or languages.

How Money Is Wasted

We got a shipment yesterday, a big package with 9 kilograms of dry ice. Inside this big box was 250 micrograms of 1Kb DNA ladder. We had to dig through 9 kg of dry ice pellet to find this small red/white box.



Ten minutes later, another identical looking box arrived, from the same company, also with 9 kilograms of dry ice. Inside was 1 milliliter of prestained protein markers.



OK, we did order them on two different days last week. But isn't it a good practice to try to consolidate shipments if possible? Both were shipped on last Friday, within one hour, via the same carrier. And 9 kilograms of dry ice? Even though this was over the weekend, it still seems an overkill. Well, at least I found a place for the dry ice. I donated it to the lab where I always steal dry ice from. They were happy to have it to fill their almost empty dry ice chest.

Parking, Amsterdam Style

Photo: Courtesy of Milan

Imagine parallel parking here.

I dare NOT try.

Merrily We Roll Along

The Longwood Players' new play, Merrily We Roll Along, is actually a musical. It was quite an experience to see it on Saturday, in the almost packed YMCA theater. It was only the second musical I've seen in theaters. Compared to Broadway productions, there is definitely room to improve in singing, but over all it is very impressive for a small group (18 actors) to put up such a show (it runs for almost two and a half hours) with live music and acting in such a short time.

It is said that it took Stephen Sondheim and George Furth nearly fifteen years of tinkering before getting "Merrily We Roll Along" right. Apparantly I wasn't able to associate their names with entertainment before I went to this show. Though Sondheim is quite big, I thought most songs sound too plain to me. That is, they are not very tuneful. Nevertheless, there are several numbers that are quite memorable.

The story is about a successful composer (yet he had lost everything - love and friendship) and his two best friends. It begins at the end of their friendship, and goes back through times of their lives. It was a little hard for me to get it at the beginning (just like the movie Momento). Luckily it soon got better. In the end we knew all the answers. We saw three young aspiring artists on a New York rooftop in 1957, watching the first man-made satellite, dreaming about their future. It is a better ending than the other way around. At least we can still dream about the paths they could have taken, all the possibilities in their future, and how nice it is to be young.

For a review of this production, see here.

Young and aspiring
A pre-dawn pajama party on the roof

The set. Foreground lights dim. Lighting from behind.

The set. Full view.
I helped (a little bit) painting it.

Josh Groban, A Beautiful Voice

The first time I heard Josh Groban was on one episode of Ally McBeal. That was the December after 9/11, and the episode was dedicated to its memory. Josh sang a most beautiful song, To Where You Are, at a memorial service for the fallen firefighters of this little town. It was very very moving and I had to watch the song again and again. I really love his voice. It is pure and powerful. Over the years I came upon his duet with Charlotte Church, The Prayer, which is also very beautiful. I hoped I could hear more of his songs, and yesterday I found not only one, but two albums from my local library! I was very very happy!

Looking through the CD inserts, I learned that "To Where You Are" was written by Richard Marx. No wonder it is so romantic (remember his "Right Here Waiting"?)。 一如Jade语，“浪漫地撒狗血“（出自Jade's post 一天生活流水账)。To hear his songs, you can go to his official website, and click Music to play a song on the upper right side, or you can go here.

Isn't he great?还是帅弟一名啊！

Added on March 31, 2006: I found myself hopelessly fell in love with Josh's voice. It is so romantic and powerful. It is the best crossover between classical and pop.


"To Where You Are"

Who can say for certain
Maybe you’re still here
I feel you all around me
Your memories so clear

Deep in the stillness
I can hear you speak
You’re still an inspiration
Can it be (? )
That you are mine
Forever love
And you are watching over me from up above

Fly me up to where you are
Beyond the distant star
I wish upon tonight
To see you smile
If only for awhile to know you’re there
A breath away’s not far
To where you are

Are you gently sleeping
Here inside my dream
And isn’t faith believing
All power can’t be seen

As my heart holds you
Just one beat away
I cherish all you gave me everyday
’cause you are mine
Forever love
Watching me from up above

And I believe
That angels breathe
And that love will live on and never leave

Fly me up
To where you are
Beyond the distant star
I wish upon tonight
To see you smile
If only for awhile
To know you’re there
A breath away’s not far
To where you are

I know you’re there
A breath away’s not far
To where you are

我的第一幅山水

又学了六堂山水课，终于画出了一幅东西。只能算半成品吧，因为觉得缺了点鸟儿啊，船什么的。过几天再画吧。

山水真是比花鸟难很多。功夫都花在基本功上了。前四堂课画了四礼拜的树，从枯树的树干画起。这两周画的是石头，下四周要把它们放一块了。

My 360 Pixels on Nature.com

This picture is linked directly from Nature.com. It is only 60X60 pixels. I can't make it to display any smaller here.


Ok, this is actually about Milan's Graduate Journal in Nature, the most prestigious science journal that every scientist dreams to publish in (ok, there are also Science and Cell). I only found out that Milan has a column in Nature today, and he has already published two journals! Mmm, I wonder why I am always the last one to know this sort of things.

Milan is a very good writer. I had enjoyed reading his blog (Milog on my sidebar) back in the days when he regularly updated it. I remember telling him, "Maybe you should make a career in writing or editing or publishing." So I heard that Nature saw his blog and then asked him to contribute to a column. Well, I need to confirm this with the author, but for now, we'll believe that it did happen that way.

Checking out the page I saw a familiar picture. It looks like a portrait of Milan I took last year. And I remembered that he asked for that picture about two months ago. It all came together just like that! It is confirmed by the author that his picture on Nature.com is my work.

Oh wow! Now I have 360 pixels published on Nature.com. Too bad it is not credit to me. Too bad it is not my scientific contribution to the human kind. Still a long long way to go!

A Man Among Orcas

Orca
n : predatory black-and-white toothed whale with large dorsal fin; common in cold seas [syn: killer whale]

Picture: Courtesy of David Reichert

David Reichert and Friend

Wildlife filmmaker David Reichert befriends an elephant seal during shooting for A Man Among Orcas. The Crozet Islands are so far removed from human civilization that many of the animals living there have never seen a person before. With no reason to fear this peculiar, two-legged creature, the seals reacted to David with nonchalance and even curiosity.

Checking my email at 5:30pm, I found a new message from V, my first roommate when I started graduate school. She wanted us to watch a documentary on Animal Planet about a wildlife photographer filming orcas (and other wildlife) in the Crozet islands. Then she said, “That photographer happens to be my brother.” She apologized for the late notice. She was in Australia. Things were a little crazy before she left. She sent the email at 5:19pm EST, and the premiere of the documentary was 7pm.

I hurried to finish my work and got home in time for the program. I’ve heard from V that her brother is a photographer and makes films, but today is the first time that I saw his work and saw him working. The documentary started from David’s preparation back home in Jackson Hole, WY, for the trip to Crozet Islands in the southern Indian Ocean. Eleven suitcases were packed including three cameras and underwater housing, among other things. Everything has to be in the best working condition. David would stay on the island for 4 and a-half months.

The Crozet Islands are a volcanic archipelago belonging to the subantarctic island system. It is extremely and constantly windy and no trees can grow there. The weather changes dramatically and it rains almost everyday. However, the islands host a lot of wildlife found in this remote area of the world. David settled down among the king penguins, elephant seals, sea birds, and orcas. This documentary reminds me of “March Of The Penguins”, which I really love. But unlike the best documentary of the Academy Awards, David’s documentary did not overly portrait penguins as humans (such as “love is the only thing that concurs all”). He simply showed us how beautiful these king penguins were, and how cute their chicks were. But they, as cute as they are, are still below in the food chain for the orcas.

Another prey for the orcas are the elephant seal. I have to say that I find male elephant seals ugly. I especially don’t like their trunks that earned them their name. But I do like their pups. With their big watery eyes, long whiskers, chubby bodies, and wrinkly skin, they easily win my heart over. One pup’s mother abandoned him early, because she herself was starving. Desperately seeking another mother for nursing, the pup was only turned down and thrown out every time. The poor pup looked at David for help. But the human being had no way to help it through. This was just like one of those heartbreaking moments in “March Of The Penguins”. Nature is sometimes so cruel.

Orcas live in small, close-knit family units called pods. A pod usually has a matriarch, who can live up to 90 years (Wow!). They hunt together and sometimes they would deliberately strand on beach in order to catch prey. To get close to the orcas, David waded through the marsh, climbed up the cliff, and found the best observation point. David also dived to shoot footages of orcas. It was amazing to see him only feet away from the pod of killer whales. Maybe he really gained their trust by observing them for months.

I am always fascinated in programs of Nature. This one is very special, because it features V’s brother. It reminds me of not only how hard life is for the animals out there, but also how much the filmmakers had to endure to make documentaries. The trip from Wyoming to the Crozet Islands took David 3 weeks. After that it was 4 and ½ months among the animals. This is hard work. I really enjoyed the program. My many thanks to David and V.

George Washington’s Dentures

What's wrong with his mouth?

One thing I learned this week is about Washington’s dentures. While reading the February issue of National Geographic one evening, I became totally fascinated by one fact in a short article about reconstructing Washington’s image: he owned some dentures that were made from not wood, but human teeth!

Talking to my colleagues the next day, I was surprised to find that the myth of Washington’s wooden dentures is widely spread. After researching online about this subject, I learned more about Washington’s serious dental problems in his lifetime. By the time of his inauguration as America’s first president in 1789, he had lost all but one tooth. He was only 57 then. He had many dentures made but none of them really fit. That is why you see him pouting in most of his portraits – because he had to close his mouth shut to keep his denture in. And the human teeth in his dentures are most likely his own.

Oh that makes me feel less awful! How could you keep someone else’s teeth in your own mouth? It is just weird. I’m all for heart transplants, kidney transplants, to name a few. But I am just not ready for human teeth denture yet.

Luckily I have good teeth. One physician saw my teeth and commented: “they grow good teeth in China.” Of course this is all my parents’ credit. Besides, my grandpa, who is 91, also has good teeth. It seems I have the good tooth gene. I shall not worry about human teeth denture.

To see a picture of GW's dentures, click here.

Word of the Day -- Dilettante

Word of the Day for Friday March 3, 2006

dilettante \DIL-uh-tont; dil-uh-TONT; dil-uh-TON-tee; -TANT; -TAN-tee\, noun:
1. An amateur or dabbler; especially, one who follows an art or a branch of knowledge sporadically, superficially, or for amusement only.
2. An admirer or lover of the fine arts.

Dilettante comes from the present participle of Italian delittare, "to delight," from Latin delectare, "to delight," frequentative of delicere, "to allure," from de- + lacere, "to entice."

What a coincidence! It sounds just like ME!

10Am This Morning

I must have jinxed our weather. Look, it is only 15.3F outside:


Of course, inside it is warm and nice:
I love my Oregon Scientific alarm clock. It is atomic. I never have to worry about the accuracy of the time.

Puppy Radar, aka Roodi II

"What's That Big Thing Pointing at Me?"

Puppy Radar reported to work on Monday (President’s Day). He is exactly 9-weeks old. He spent much time sleeping in his kennel, but when he woke up, he instantly became the center of all attention. Words can't describe how adorable he is. He's got big grey/blue eyes, a wrinkly face, and two big ears. His tail is very short and he wags it all the time. He is very soft to touch: soft coat and soft body. Even his paws are soft. He played with his toys a lot, showing a great attention span on any single object (unlike his half-brother Strider). He is very brave, and is curious about everything: in fact, he attempted many times to check out the lab. Of course we wouldn't let him. He loves to play with people. He climbed on our laps, kissed us, rolled over for us, and enjoyed belly-rubs. He has very good instincts of a hunting dog: he knows shake-to-kill, and he almost pointed today!

In L's Arms

"My Puppy Belly"

I'm not sure whether a puppy so cute helps us pushing the frontier of Science or distracts us from doing that. I should limit my picture taking to some reasonable number.

Radar and Strider are really half-brothers. They have the same father, who is already 13-and-a-half years old. Radar's mother also happens to be his father's granddaughter. So you see, it's all complicated and very in-bred.

"I Can't Sit Quite Right Yet."

不能免俗

上个月看了两部国产大片，觉得其中一部实在是让我失望，于是写了这个破玩意。没想到99.9%的观众看完了和我有同感。以后是万万不能再上这种自吹自擂的宣传的当了。

原本以为事情就已过去了，没想到陈导要告胡戈和《馒头血案》。这下可让我笑坏了！以前我还不知道有这么一出《馒头》呢。上星期天在家当了半小时才看了一半《馒头》，就笑得我前仰后合。这《馒头》的娱乐功能可不能小看啊！我都不再去抱怨看大片而浪费的时间了，只是觉得这大导演这么会这么的心胸狭窄呢？莫非是江郎才尽了吧？

现在我忽然觉得我很可怜陈导了！因为舆论压根就在他的对立面。失了人心，难道这不是最可怜的吗？

Puppy Ruby

Ruby is a 9-week-old Shih Tzu. She weights about 4 pounds. She's a cute puffy ball.


Ruby is in the backyard with her toys.


Ruby with sister Pico, a 4-year-old border terrier.


Pico likes to sit on people's laps. She's a lap dog anyway. She weights 18 pounds.


Ruby looks out from behind H's leg.

今日晚餐

今天下了一天雪，出不了门就在家待了一天。发现我好像除了写博客就是做吃的。今天是元宵节，所以早上起来就煮了元宵吃。然后蒸了糯米做酒酿。中午做了水煮鱼。晚上就想包饺子。我给自己提了严要求，今个儿要自己杆皮儿！说干就干。我活了面，醒了两小时，杆成了薄薄的皮儿。我努力杆得比较圆，还向妈妈喜欢的“中间厚边上薄”的方向迈进。



馅儿呢，就做的是荠菜猪肉馅。我本着平均分配的原则，完成了48只饺子，皮和馅正好都用完。


我把饺子排成一圈，就像山东老家一样。


吃起来倍儿香！

从开始杆皮儿到吃完共花了一个半小时，还须努力提高效率！

好了，现在得去挖车了。

This Winter

This season has been quite mild since the beginning. The jet stream mainly stayed in Canada and the warm air from the south made the past January the 4^th warmest in New England since weather records were kept some 130 years ago. Of course this is nothing to complain, and I really enjoyed days with temperature in the 50s. I only hope that this post is not going to jinx our luck for a nice winter.

This is in my front yard on Jan. 21. Hyacinths and daffodils sensed spring. They couldn’t wait till April.

Inside, this plant bloomed for the first time (since I knew it).

Only two days later that Monday, I woke up to six inches of snow. It took me 30 minutes to shovel my car, and I barely got out my parking spot after the tires lost grip for a minute or two. It was 11am already and roads had not been plowed yet. The city was not prepared for the storm at all. It was really hard to drive. On my commute I saw one car accident (collision), two trucks got stuck on the low-clearance Storrow Drive (this happens a lot! Drivers just don’t pay attention to traffic signs). I only felt lucky when I arrived at my destination without any mishap.

After another stretch of warm days and a colder week, we are now in winter again. Last night all the roads were spayed with salt, and plows were mobilized. A foot of snow was predicted for today with blizzard conditions. It seems a perfect day to stay home.

This city emergency worker came around my neighborhood every 10 minutes to plow the road.

I am not looking forward to the shoveling I have to do tonight when the snow ends. One thing I am sure about is that I will have a good workout from that.

水煮鱼

今天大雪封门。待在家里终于有机会做了水煮鱼。味道还不错，只是不够辣，可麻味却正好，多谢萍从成都背回来的汉源花椒。这只大碗是我的最大的碗，是詹尼亲手做了送给我的礼物，直径一英尺吧。我是什么时候都做不了这么大的陶器，技术不对，纵使手臂再粗三圈也不成。

My Dashboard and Solved SuDoku

Useful widgets: Genetic Code, Amino Acid Table, Entrez Search, Translator, Calculator, Elements Table, Weather, Radar In Motion, Calendar, Word of the Day, World View, Green Thumbs, Gmail Notifier, and SuDoku.

I solved Daily SuDoku of 1/8/2006. It was a little hard. I did it in just under 16 minutes.

小花两朵

还被虫子咬了许多洞。

Old Silver Beach, May 2005

At a winter night like this, I remember a Spring day on Cape Cod.