Congrats!

This is a belated compliment for A-shin.

So my dear friend, A-shin, surprisingly joined her commencement on 22th, May 2008. After struggling for her thesis, she's finally done her tremendous work and graduated from Tulane U, New Orleans, LA USA.

And now she got her doctor of public health (DrPH) degree she dreamed of for long time. Congratulations A-shin.

Way to go, girl. Way to go. I am so happy for you. :)

(Oh, by the way, could I get to have some souvenirs of New Orleans Hornets or Chris Paul??)

Is That a Sick Joke or What?

I was contacting a friends who I've never been met in months. I asked him some of other's frineds' recent conditions.

When I asked about one friend's, he told me, ''he had a stoke.''

''What? Say again?'' I said. '' Is that a sick joke or what?'' I was thinking simutaniously.

''No shit, you did't know that? He just had it several months ago.'' he said.

''Darn, but he is still so young, less than 40 years old.''

''He got all the risk factors, and I am not so surprised about that.''

''But I still can't believe it. Did you see him?''

''Once, when he just got it. Right side paralysis. The speaking was not articulate. But not since then because it's too far from my working place. Never had another chance to go.''

''How's he doing now?''

''No idea about that. Maybe he'll get some motor functions back after rehabs.''

After the call, I couldn't get the mood back where it was. That's shocked news to me. Too shocked. A guy so young and he got a freaking stroke. And his life is half-screwed...

You know, things change. But it is really hard to catch on for laymen.

God Loves Us

Guys, miss me or not, here I am, to update my blog. It's been a long time.

Maybe you heard about this, "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." So I have a t-shirt printing this cool quote on it. Guess who said that?

No, I don't think you have a clue.

It came from Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). You still have no idea who he is? Never mind. Let's just DRINK!

Somebody Missed Me a Lot Today?

This afternoon, it just started. Ahh-Chooo!!!

God, I sneezed like crazy. My sneezes are continuous, consecutive, unlimited ones. It was very distracted. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring any antihistamine along. So I couldn't do anything but consumed a lot of tissues. Wearing a mask didn't help much. You know how tired it makes people feel.

I suspected that someone was thinking of me a lot today.

Okay, whoever you are, I appreciated that ,and I missed you, too (Whatever). Having a runny nose isn't fun at all.

It's my fantasy. Heh...

An Unexpected Call

On Monday afternoon, when I was in the middle of something, somebody called.

I didn't recognize the number in the beginning, and it seemed to come from a landline. I hung it off. I believed if it was urgent, that person would call again. And he really did. About every 3 to 5 mins once. It was somehow annoying because I was busy. I hung up on him again, and again, and again. More than 10 times, I believe.

After my errand was done, I went to Watson's to look around. That person just didn't give up. He called again. I picked it up. A familiar male voice showed up, '' This is Mr X. You Jeff?''

''Yeah'', I answered, and a voice rose up from the bottom of my mind-oh shoot. There was one second that my mind went blank. Because I didn't expect a call from Mr X since I have e-mailed him that letter. He explained and clarify what he was thinking and there might be some misinterpretation about his talk. The discussion went very well. The call lasted for 32 mins and from the conversation I knew he loves Taiwan, and respects the human rights and freedom. Maybe I misunderstood him.

So much better than just an email reply with a boring thank you. I was really appreciated that he called and it was an unsual chance to exchange our opinions. Can't say it's shocking, if any, but it's a surprise.


給X老師的一封信：有關奧運火炬抗議事件

Times Topic Today - Chien-Ming Wang

Sunday, April 13, 2008 NY TIMES

王建民是Yankees中最重要的投手之一，他在未來甚至有可能變得更有價值。他在情緒表現的不外露如同一個人在打盹一樣。他穩定地製造滾地球如同一個教練在對內野手做滾地球練習。

王，在2005年非正式加入Yankees後，已經變成了球隊的關鍵。他也在他的國家-台灣，變成了一個英雄。

這位右投投手最常依賴他的時速96英哩(約155公里)四縫線快速球。但是，他也擁有下墜球、滑球、變速球與指叉球等武器。

Chien-Ming Wang is one of the most important pitchers on the Yankees and, presumably, will become even more valuable in the future. He shows as much emotion as someone who is napping. He produces grounders almost as steadily as a coach tapping them to infielders.

Wang, has become a lynchpin to the Yankees since joining them unceremoniously in 2005. He’s also become a hero in his home country of Taiwan.

The right-handed pitcher depends mostly on a four-seam fastball around 96 miles an hour. But, he also has in his arsenal a diving sinker, a slider, a changeup and a split-finger fastball.

Chien-Ming Wang News - The New York Times

給X老師的一封信：有關奧運火炬抗議事件

Dear X老師：

老師在上課閒聊時常常會講出一些驚人之語，有些很有道理，有些卻不甚合理。一般來說，我們心裡都是是很尊敬老師的，但老師今天有關抗議奧運火炬的話真的無法讓我苟同，讓我心裡滿生氣，心裡也是痛苦萬分，上課那時手邊要是有一台筆電，我很想當時就開始寫這封email。

老師的話語，說老實話，不知道為什麼『與中國的看法一致』。這種似乎是『民族主義之陰謀論』只是侮辱了為了人權與自由的抗議者！我承認抗議者中可能有純為 了反中國而反的人，但是這裡面有多少這樣的人？是否真的佔了絕大多數？這樣子只是單純的將這『一大群』抗議人士（美、歐、亞洲人、台灣人、甚至還有一些中國華僑都加入了抗議）歸類成因為排斥中國的言論根 本就是不公平，甚至可以說是不合理的。要是奧運火炬會來台灣，我想我是會毫不猶豫的就參加抗議奧運火炬的活動，我想，甚至會有不少台灣人也會毫不猶豫的加 入，難道說，我們就該被歸進歧視中國人的行列中？難道這成千上萬的抗議者都是傻的嗎？

這麼多的人，不論國別、不分種族，都加入了抗議的行列，就是因為這次中國武力鎮壓西藏，而起因是因為西藏人的在抗暴紀念日49週年的『和平示威抗議』，為 了『和平示威』就被中國出兵暴力鎮壓，被中國視為二等公民的西藏人長久的怒火早已按耐不住了，導致中國軍隊殺害數百人、逮捕上千人。世界上很多人根本看不下去，而中國就是不鳥人，一副就是『你們能奈我何，要怎麼殺、怎麼關他們 都干你們屁事，因為西藏是我的』的姿態。這次無論各國官方、民間發起的大規模抗議，就是希望中國能正視人權與言論自由的問題，否則中國的一言堂，只准州官放火，不准百姓點燈的作風 在這種追求民主的年代，不是更顯得讓人無法接受？中國在爭取奧運前，保證一定會改善人權記錄，拿到主辦權後，真面目就露出來了；即使奧運近了，抓民運、人 權人士、暴力鎮壓西藏，人權問題根本就是exacerbate。中國重視北京奧運，世界也重視北京奧運，就是因為這樣，這可能也是唯一的機會要求中國改善 其人權與基本言論自由了。而擁有自由民主的國家為了自由遭受迫害西藏問題發聲是一種普世價值。For example,女星黛瑞漢娜、演員李察吉爾、南非大主教屠圖等人都加入抗議；今天連二○○四年諾貝爾和平獎得主瑪薩伊都表示將不參與奧運火炬在非洲的傳 遞，他說：「是的，我退出了，我決定與關心蘇丹達佛、西藏與緬甸人權的其他人士團結一致。」因此我認為老師的言論，未免把抗議者的判斷能力看輕了。

老師應該知道，在中國沒辦法看到很多國外Blog吧，連CNN、BBC有關西藏的新聞電視都會變黑。中國的新聞，都是『妖魔化』達賴喇嘛與抗議人士，更說 達賴喇嘛是這次抗議的mastermind。也禁止國外媒體進入西藏調查真相（之前的媒體團還必須要走中國規定的路線），我想這樣不是欲蓋彌彰嗎？中國為 什麼不肯讓媒體去調查？還盡全力封鎖，只要別人相信他的官方消息（中國官方媒體公信力早已蕩然無存。更不用說有傳聞與照片傳出中國派武警裝扮成藏人與喇嘛 去大肆燒殺破壞，為了塑造藏人暴力抗爭的形象，以讓中國官方名正言順的武力鎮壓。）但是在這網路當家的年代，中國盡全力封鎖消息的老式手段只有在中國國內 有效很多畫面還是經過網路流了出去，網路化時代的威力連號稱最會過濾網路的中國都抵擋不住。而老師對法國的意見，我也認為太不適 合。法國，大革命的發源地，也是近代發展自由民主最重要的起源地之一！他又是傳遞奧運火炬的第二站，抗議奧運火炬怎麼會少得了他們？老師又何苦將偏見強加在法國身上？

X老師你是讓我們很多學生尊敬的，而老師的話對學生也是有一定的影響力（不論是正向或負向）。No offense, 但我認為老師今天提出來的這種想法可能真的會對學生產生一些不好的影響。若老師在某些方面認同我的說法，如果可以的話，請老師能在課堂上提出適當的修正，謝謝。


Sincerely Yours
Jeff