易雅馨居

水果季节到来，榴莲、山竹、芒果都基本跌倒最低价了，喜欢的可以在附近bazaar看看

以前对榴莲没什么兴趣，属于不讨厌也谈不上喜欢。直到尝了次天乐里的榴莲布丁，完全改变了我对榴莲的看法。Durian is best serve chilled !!  现在很喜欢吃颜色稍深，甜中带苦的榴莲。

新鲜榴莲过夜要放冰柜，所以晚上收摊前价格基本是下午的一半。我现在一般买回家冷藏或冷冻，吃前拿出来。冷冻放的时间长，像吃雪糕，我还是觉得冷藏的口感更好。不过放冰箱切忌一定要用密封盒！

另外，榴莲火性巨大，最好和山竹搭着吃，通常我一般买两盒榴莲配两KG山竹。

It seems to be quite a while I didn't pen down a single word on music. Anyway I dun do this for a living.
Now is the time to show that I am never far away from music and log something for the past season.

I continued my almost routine concerts attendance, with my dearest or with my music buddies. I didn't really count, but at least 40+ concerts/opera/musical for the past season. Of course, classical music still on the center of stage here.

SSO continued to be my daily meal. They did great job. However like most orchestras they have their own form, sometime excellent sometime so so.

Luckily visiting orchestras and musical travels are the supplements to my main course.During the past season, I've heard Los Angeles Philharmonic (LAP) and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, St. Thomas boys choir and more recently the Deutsche Symphony Orchestra, Berlin, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and Dresden Staatskapelle.

For LAP, a top 10 in the new Gramophone ranking. I had a high expectation, maybe too high. The perfermance of "La Mer" was great, but I can't say it's better than what I heard from the SSO's interpretation of "La Mer" on their SACD release. Of course, this recording is the best for SSO over the years and confirmed by many critics.

RPO with Slatkin played a safer way here by playing the Enigma Variations. The "Nimrod" was so memorable that the applause immediate after was the most sincere I ever heard. Not an improper or naive one in between movements. Opening the night was William Walton's suite for Henry V, another surprising work. (Realized choosing MacMillan's "The confession of Isobel" my favorite contemporary classical music, I find myself towards the British music again. Yes, I'm a big fan of British pop/rock too!)

Though shadowed by their derby Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Deutsche Symphony Orchestra is also performing at high level as one of the major orchestras in Berlin. The horn section was superb. Strings was also refined and disciplined. Probably the only problem of that night was slightly lack of power for Bruckner's symphony No. 7.

Japanese orchestras seldom tour. This is my first time hearing a Japanese orchestra live. Like other products from Japan, they are generally known for their quality, in musically terms technical skills and refinement of execution. Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra not only showed this but also a disciplined and wooden European sound. I guess credit goes to the conductor Kazuhiro Koizumi and their music director Inbal

Couple of weeks ago, I heard Dresden Staatskapelle (another top 10 in the gramophone's new list) in Hong Kong. I'll blog more together with my Hong Kong trip.

(All photos are from Internet)

周六和心雨及部分北纬的网友去乌敏(Pulau Ubin)外拍 ，请各位驻站达人指导拍砖！

40D + EFs18-55 IS

1. HDR

2. HDR

3. 领导的足迹

4. 领导拍的，调了曲线 Canon A610

===============以下为其他高人拍摄=========================

5 : )

6. ^_^

7 -_-

8.

9.

==========附赠前几天拍的晚霞===========

10. 无后期

刚刚赶完工作报告，趁正月还没过完，来space除除草。赶紧总结下"刚刚"过去的一年。

看了下上篇的日期，发现居然两个多月没更新了，我都不好意思在标题栏里写08总结之类的标题。。可能创了纪录，居然会有人在本博留言问我"你结婚啦？"

注: 以下部分内容可能被归类为xyt或cggdxyt。博主以纪录总结为目的，对于部分读者幼小心灵可能造成的强烈震撼表示歉意。由此带来的各种直接及间接伤害，本居表示深深的遗憾。请心理未成年人事在监护人陪同下阅读。

话说老妈早些年去过一次普陀山，给俺算了个命，起初没告诉我。到了03年俺走背运时，老妈安慰我说，算命的说08年俺就能走好运了。科学比起宗教还是幼稚阿，下次我去普陀一定要给还个愿。

08上半年最值得纪录当属和朋友们一起组织北纬一度BBS赈灾捐款[1]。可能老天爷被感动了，没多久就奖励了俺一位火星小天使^_^ 也便是08年乃至俺这辈子最大的收获。套用LD的总结，牦牛怪这颗流浪的心终于找到了归宿。为了保持一向不8g，低调的工作作风，此处省略若干字。缘分来了挡不住！

Engineering for living, arts for life, love, one thing above all!

Engineering也算是稍微有点转运，又两篇Journal被接收了，期刊算是top，文章当然都很水，不谈也罢，赶紧把thesis交了才是正道。

08年也终于有了第一个interview，第一个工作offer，继续做research这份非常有前途的工作。。

为了把被research恶心坏了的心情改善一下，继续着多年音乐厅座霸的日子，当然和LD一起去的次数有明显增多。一起去影院的次数比更是趋紧无穷大，为繁荣文艺市场做出进一步贡献。Hi-Fi系统小升级，唱片千余张。。这些回头再开文详述。

长跑也照旧继续，而且由于爱情使我更加强壮(至少体重上)，导致马拉松成绩有一定滑坡。。

09年已经开始快两个月，牦牛怪给各位拜个晚年，祝大家牛年牛X，没事偷着乐！

下期预告: 上周入了单反，本博诚邀各位摄影达人长期光临驻站指导。

I've been running the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM) for three years. Each time running SCSM, I understand this slogan more.

Due to this year work/study/travel, my training for this year SCSM was barely enough. Starting only 8 weeks before the race, on average 20KM/week, peaked 45KM/week. As a result, my strategy was to run at 4:00 pace until 25KM and decide to maintain the pace or slow down for a safer speed. I was also monitoring my heart rate from the start. By the time I reached 25KM, I was still running @ 11Km/h. But my heart rate monitor reading showed that my heart rate over 90% of the max. If continued running at this speed, there is a risk I may cramp or exhaust before reaching the ending point. However tempted by sub 4 result, I tried to maintain the speed till around 28KM and decided to let it be and enjoy my race.

For the rest distance, I used it as an examining of my hydration/dehydration process. At 35KM point, I stopped by the road to help stretch runner who had cramp. Accelerated again at 40 KM, I finally reached the end point as fast/slow as my maiden marathon in 2006 and much slower than last year. This was also my first full marathon without cramp.

After the race and the massage, met with a few friends from SGrunners for group photo and joined other friends for lunch. When finally retured home and had a rest, I heard the shocking news one of my fellow runners, who runs regularly and  participated the half marathon, collapsed at 18KM and was sent to hospital by ambulance. Luckily, not too serious after receiving treatment. This is the first time such accident happens to someone close to me. Following last year's fatal accident in SBR2007, I always tell all friends training with me to run safe and train enough before race. For people like us, who has no chance (or a chance smaller than winning a Toto) winning a top place in such running events, finishing safe is always the first priority. "Impossible is nothing" "Just do it", dun be fooled by such slogans. One thing you must keep in mind: the cost for breaking the limit might be your own life and happiness to your entire family and circle. "Run Your Own Race", there is nothing more precise than this.

TIME: 4h:25m:14s (gun) / 4h:24m:40s (net)

Result in Gender (Male) - 988th place, 9552 finishers behind. About 9% of finishers ahead

前几天和朋友在论坛谈起apple，顺便编辑下放博客里，以示更新。。(space又变风格了。。。老了，跟不上潮流了。又得适应一段时间。。)

首先声明，我既不是apple fan也不是偏执的anti-apple，这里仅从一个消费者理性的角度探讨一下。(所使用过的apple产品: apple TV   落灰中，ipod video (记不清几代了) 落灰中)

我一向认为apple的产品自成体系，有特色，但离完美还差太远。即使和其他一些厂商比也是输多胜少性价比很低(商业上或许相反)。

本来打算买台iphone 3G的，原计划作Xmas gift。。但随着了解到iphone无法播放flash（这倒是小事，我用的也少。据传是Jobs (apple CEO)个人喜好问题，不确认），无法拍video，更发指的是无法发MMS, 无法转发短信，无法复制粘贴内容！如果需要实现以上手机本应有的基本功能，那么就需要经过hack或者各种其他第三方软件还不一定都能解决，这与apple一向忽悠的易用性相左。我相信给我台iphone，这些功能我折腾折腾也应该能部分解决。不过何苦在其他手机性价比更高的情况下扔钱给Jobs呢？ 因此apple的漂亮是依据主观在于个人的，易用则是相对的，而且对不少人来说代价太大，这里代价不单指价格，还有功能和折腾的时间。唯一客观的就是低性价比。

假设万一某一天Jobs说打电话是个多于的功能，用WiFi + Skype就行，这才是未来的方向，那么。。。假设。。仅仅是个假设。。其实也不完全是个假设，apple的Macbook Air笔记本不就没有网线接口么。人家说Wifi代表了未来的方向，什么USB, LAN能没有就没有了。咱们apple要的是薄，外形要能电死人。笔记本温度高点无所谓，烫不死人就行了)

这里再单独说一下apple一贯所缺失的FM功能。之所以要单独说，因为我个人的使用习惯不符合前面提到的大多数理性消费者。。。FM对我来说比mp3功能要重要的多。基本上我室外听FM，室内听CD。我以小人之心揣测一下，Jobs一定是还指望itune卖mp3，也就当然不能让你舒舒服服听上FM。

总体来讲，apple过于自我，不会通过产品来对消费者期望做出反应，而是想尽办法让消费者适应自己的产品。因此有时是好的，例如ipod的成功，但有时则让人无法容忍。跟定apple就像赌博Jobs是上帝派来领导消费电子的大使。因此根据统计学基本原理，这个万恶的资本主义企业是不能代表广大消费者利益的。

我想Jobs眼里的apple消费者应该都是粉丝而不是上帝，呵呵

另一家比较自我的公司就是SONY，有趣的是正是由于SONY若干年前固执的推MD而不是mp3，令apple有机可乘，成就了ipod。也让apple从垂死中走出，重新回到消费电子类。如果当初SONY早点悔悟，那么以walkman的金子招牌，apple恐怕很难撼动整个市场。而现在apple自己称王一方，估计也怕下一次消费电子革命被别人篡位?

我个人更喜欢IBM PC系统, Philips CD这些胸怀广阔，开放的厂商。
不喜欢非常自我的厂商，一上船就把你绑住，用了一件他家的还只能继续跟着他们走。

开放的厂商需要的是广阔的胸怀和长远的视野。
IBM开放了PC系统，最终不造PC了，Philips作为CD发明厂家也不生产CD机了。但生产PC,CD的还大有厂在。(这TMD是一种什么样的精神，这就是传说中的国际主义精神。。。才怪，这两家其实是发现PC和CD没apple忽尤来钱快，放弃PC CD生产了)。通过充分竞争，价格也更合理。这就是开放系统带给广大消费者的好处。

反观apple，消费者买了产品就只能以后等着他们更新软件/硬件。期望着软件/硬件改进能实现本应有的基本功能, 就如同虔诚的信徒期待着上帝Jobs给与恩赐(例如复制粘贴和开放FM，这两个功能从iphone发布到现在快两年了吧。我是不能相信apple有诚意解决消费者问题的了，一般手机更换周期才两年)。换了开放的厂商，你apple不做，立刻就会有其他厂商跟进，更不用说强大的山寨主们。

apple过于强调品牌/风格，这是时尚/奢侈品的本质。一块名表带几辈子，一件大衣穿xx年，apple哪个产品可以？(这里只针对绝大多数理性和不理性的消费者，不包括收藏家) 消费电子产品，功能才是最重要的！风格应该建立在基本功能完全实现的基础上。

所以，喜欢apple的继续apple，喜欢orange的继续orange~

Standard Charted Singapore Marathon 2008 (Dec 7th)
R u ready?
如果你打算参加两周后的SCSM2008或者希望开始跑步健身
本周末Sports@NLone将再次举办跑聚，欢迎新老朋友
时间：11月30日 周日 下午5点30分 (视天气情况)
地点：NTU SRC
Dress code:运动装/运动鞋/最好是跑鞋
跑步入门知识分享交流，装备选择，训练注意事项
长跑比赛技巧、注意事项
(典型问题: 两周后比赛，我还没怎么开始训练怎么办?^_^
热身后，训练路线先后为
1.SRC跑道跑圈热身 400M * 10圈
2.绕NTU一圈(6KM)

1.适合入门
1+2.适合准备下月SCSM比赛
可选参加1，2，两项我都将负责领跑，同时保证每个人都能跟上。
因周末无locker可用，建议不要带贵重物品
(在NTU跑一般只随身带门卡和手机，包就放运动场旁)

投去IEEE Trans的paper，小改被接收了。至此，终于在领域内top1 journal灌水成功。加上之前top 3的journal和另外一篇水文，也算有3篇了，毕业也稍微有点指望。
之所以说是灌水，那是因为东西确实比较水，和炸药奖有亿万光年的差距，所以paper status变成awaiting AE decision后，我久经马拉松考验的小心肝就忐忑起来。
本来早就计划要买的几套唱片，也没心思下单。心想还是等paper结果出来再说。如果paper被接收就算奖励自己，要是被reject就当安慰自己。今天终于等到全部唱片到货，已经从德国发出，这下半年内不愁没东西听了。

音乐与爱是一辈子的事，发paper灌水是阶段性的事。现在，还得继续过毕业前的日子。。

SBR = Singapore Bay Run (formerly known as Sheares Bridge Run)

The biggest run in Singapore in terms of number of participants. In fact, I found it took too more participants than it can handle... The result, if you didn't join the start fast enough, you will find a huge difference between your gun time and net time....

My race day experience started with mystery. My runner friends and I queued for toilets 30mins before the run. When there's four people ahead of us, the queue stopped. Both toilets (a queue for two toilets, and there were more than 20 mobile toilets.) side by side were locked. The mystery thing is no one since then came out of the two toilets. The guy in front of us knocked both doors and shoot. No one answered. We quit the queue and queued for another one. I called up two army staffs to check the two toilets. Didn't know what happen thereafter.By the time I reached the starting ppl, it's 2 mins before the start.My race starded with a huge crowd...For the first 10KM, was impossible to enjoy my own pace. My first 21KM ended with a poor timing. But luckily still not too late to catch the 6km fun run. The next 6KM was very enjoyable, and memorable, with my dear running beside me.
My SBR2008 ended with us holding hands together running through the finishing line: )