Quoted Jokes...

Just wanted to share a quality joke... and a good oneliner...

from James' blog...

"Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing.

He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."

"OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the President sits, head in hands.

Finally, the President looks up and asks, "How many is a brazillion?"
"



From my friend's message on MSN:
"Speech is like a miniskirt. It must be long enough to cover the important part, but short enough to be interesting."


Cheers...

For the first time...

For the very first time, I forgot the 23rd of the month... Since last year August (2004 that is), I've been very particular about 23rd of every month... why 23rd? well, since u have to ask, meaning u haven't been visiting my blog often enough... :-) well, for the one and only reason that I left for the States on the 23rd of Aug last year... and I have been counting the months (although sometime I do count the days and soon, I'll be able to count the years too...)

So, after 1 year and 1 month, I forgot about the 23rd... I forgot last Friday was 23rd...

Classes been busy, homeworks are picking up... and well, midterms will be coming soon after too... and I've been 'plague' by this 'sickness', a hint of not feeling well every now and then... what's wrong with me? Not enough of sleep? I don't think so... The weather? I love the weather now... although it's getting colder and colder... where I need to wear a wind breaker or a vest to keep myself warm, I find this temperature to be nice...

Anyway, today is my Mom's birthday... Happy B'day to my beloved mummy...

Tomorrow, football, Michigan will play @ Michigan State... hopefully, we will end our ridiculously lousy form and kick some spartans' ass...

'Wonderful Chinese Essay" 一篇气死了九十九个老师的学生作文！

"Quoted from Ren Jie's blog, where he again quoted from somewhere else..."

今天是国庆日，因为英明伟大的政府建设国家、爱护百姓的功绩罄竹难书，所以放假一天，爸爸妈妈特地带我们到动物园玩。
　　
　　　　按照惯例，我们早餐喜欢吃地瓜粥。今天因为地瓜卖完了，妈妈只好黔驴技穷地削些芋头来滥竽充数。没想到那些种在阳台的芋头很好吃，全家都贪得无厌地自食其果。
　　
　 　　　出门前，我那徐娘半老的妈妈打扮的花枝招展，鬼斧神工到一点也看不出是个糟糠之妻。头顶羽毛未丰的爸爸也赶紧洗心革面沐猴而冠，换上双管齐下的西 装后英俊得惨绝人寰，鸡飞狗跳到让人退避三舍。东施效颦爱漂亮的妹妹更是穿上调整型内衣愚公移山，画虎类犬地打扮的艳光四射，趾高气昂地穿上新买的高跟 鞋。
　　
　　　　我们一丘之貉坐着素车白马，很快地到了动物园，不料参观的人多到豺狼当道草木皆兵，害我们一家骨肉分离。妻离子散的爸爸 鞠躬尽瘁地到处广播，终于 找到到差点认贼作父的我和遇人不淑的妹妹，困兽之斗中，我们螳臂当车力排众议推己及人地挤到猴子栅栏前，鱼目混珠拍了张强颜欢笑的全家福。
　　
　　　　接着到鸡鸣狗盗的鸟园欣赏风声鹤唳哀鸿遍野的大自然美妙音乐。后来爸爸口沫横飞地为我们指鹿为马时，吹来一阵凉风，唾面自干的滋味，让人毛骨悚然不寒而栗，妈妈连忙为爸爸黄袍加身，也叮嘱我们要克绍其裘。
　　
　 　　　到了傍晚，因为假日的关系，餐厅家家鹊占鸠巢六畜兴旺，所以妈妈带著我们孟母三迁，最后终于决定吃火锅。有家餐厅刚换壁纸，家徒四壁很是美丽，灯 火阑珊配上四面楚歌，非常有气氛。十面埋伏的女服务生们四处招蜂引蝶，忙着为客人围魏救赵，口蜜腹剑到让人误认到了西方极乐世界。
　　
　　　　饥不择食的我们点了综合火锅，坐怀不乱的爸爸当头棒喝先发制人，要求为虎作伥拿着刀子班门弄斧的女服务生，快点将狡兔死走狗烹，因为尸位素餐的我们一家子早就添油加醋完毕，就等着火锅赶快沉鱼落雁好问鼎中原，可惜锅盖太小，有点欲盖弥彰。
　　
　　　　汤料沸腾后，热得乐不思蜀的我们赶紧解衣推食好大义灭亲上下其手，一网打尽捞个水落石出。
　　
　 　　　火锅在我们呼天呛地面红耳赤地蚕食鲸吞后，很快就只剩沧海一粟，和少数的漏网之鱼。母范犹存的妈妈想要丢三落四放冬粉时，发现火苗已经危在旦夕， 只好投鼠忌器。幸好狐假虎威的爸爸呼卢喝雉叫来店员抱薪救火，终于死灰复燃，也让如坐针毯的我们中饱私囊。鸟尽弓藏後，我们一家子酒囊饭袋，沆瀣一气，我 和妹妹更是小人得志，沾沾自喜。
　　
　　　　不料结帐的时候，老板露出庐山真面目，居然要一饭千金，爸爸气得吴牛喘月，妈妈也委屈地牛衣对泣。
　　
　　　　啊！这三生有幸的国庆日，就在爸爸对着钱包自惭形秽大义灭亲后，我们全家江郎才尽，一败涂地。

My Dell(R) Laptop : Chapter II

My 4-month old laptop, an Inspiron 6000 went comatose last weekend Saturday, while I was listening to some tunes and chatting with Lili and Chye, u know, the infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).

(there was a home game, EMU @ Michigan... we smothered them.. 0 - 55...that's a great match, well, the fans were lousy though, many students went back at half time, well(at least Quang and I stayed until there's 3 minutes left - sorry for being a pot calling kettle black kinda person) ... Putt came 20 minutes late, and left 2o minutes early... he was kinda sick, and went to Lili's place to rest... scandalous. We went to meet up with them after the game... So, we just chilled at Lili's place (watching America's Next Top Model)... until dinner time. For dinner, we had italian fastfood at Za's cafe... not bad, had the usual, Barbeque Chicken Pizza and a slice of CheeseFactory cheese cake... Lili and Chye came to my room after the visit...

wow, sorry for the long introduction... well, have to explain why Lili and Chia Chye were in my room rite?

Well, since this is not really uncommon, this kinda BSOD is expected to come visiting once in a while, so, i thought that it was no big deal, just forced restart should do the trick...

but, nope, the laptop just couldn't get pass the Windows logo... while loading, it just went BSOD again...

alright, safe mode.... loading... --> another BSOD

nvm, last known good configuration... loading... --> yet another BSOD... dang... my palm started sweating... this wasn't what I'm expecting... this scenario only happened when something serious was wrong...

as i'm desperate (i'm that kinda person that can't live another day without using the computer that's connected to the internet), I even tried formatting my computer(restoring it to the factory settings (reads losing all my data). And the reformatting went well, but the rebooting just couldn't get pass the Windows logo..

Alright, after wasting 3 hours playing with this and that, I finally gave up and went to bed...

the next morning, I went down to the computer lab of the hall to get support from Dell... well, i started with an email, and i think some kinda computer reply me that my RAM have issue... alright... so, i started a chat session with a dell Rep... so, I explained what was wrong with my com, and what i had tried to recover it but the recoverings were in vain... so, more than an hour later, we finalized on Dell sending me 2 replacement RAMs, and a harddisk...(just in case my harddisk fails too)...

it took 2 days for the parts to be delivered... so, on Tuesday evening, I got those parts, and replaced the RAMs... and everything went really well.... i spent 2+ hours reinstalling all those shit (softwares) and another hour transfering songs from my iPod back into my harddisk...

now, my laptop is running fine... so, the moral of the story... is to fully utilize ur warranty... by running ur laptop 24-7... :)

guess wat, i'm back to factoring prime number again... go google for "GIMPS" to learn more about it...

alright... talking about my research program... my involvement in Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP)... so, after those interviews and all, I finally got a project...

Project Title: Growth of Retail and Service Chains in the Economy...

and I'm really elated as this is also my first-choice-project...

Really looking forward to start my project ASAP...

Homeworks are catching up too... readings...
oh yar, about readings... these books that I've just finished recently are really good read...
1) Freakonomics by Stephen Levitt...
2) Blink by Malcolm Gladwell...

go check them out.... even if u don't have time...

all right... got to go...

Busy... Really Busy...

Sorry again for not updating this blog for more than a week... almost 2 week actually.

So, it's been really busy (in a good way) for me. Classes are catching up with me now :-). So are the homeworks and assignments. And the readings too. I'm so into reading nowadays that I'm currently reading 4 books (2 are assigned, and 2 are extras) and that's not including the endless International Economics and Anthropology textbook readings.

As Monday, Wednesday and Friday are the lecture days (i have my Econ lectures on Mon and Wed, Anthro lectures on Mon, Wed and Fri), I practically spend 3-4 hours preparing for those lectures on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday night. And there's Math and Stats homework coming up. And there's Saturday football, and I want to go for Monday night Salsa, and Tuesday and Thursday table tennis... and breakfast job... and guess what, I just got a position in doing Undergraduate Research (that's another 9-12 hours work per week).

Those are my forewords... So, where and when should I begin?

Alright, last Saturday... I woke up at about 7.00am and got ready to tailgating with ESPN... it's a big match Notre Dame @ Michigan... Eff the Irish... after waking Quang up, both of us walked there at about 8am, and reached there before 8.30am (i think)

We were really early as there weren't many people there... We expected a huge crowd... but, there were like 30 students (at most). So, we started to visit booths (Dr. Pepper) where I got a free t-shirt after throwing a ball into a target..., then, to the LG booth, where I signed up for something and get a pair of thundersticks... then to ... got a few more t-shirts, then, on to the ESPN truck and took a pic with not one, but TWO hot chicks... <3...

Oh yar, I put on a "game face" too... just the Maize and Blue M on each cheek...

Alright... enough of pregame... the game sucks...it was a really sloppy game... with a lot of mistakes(fumbles, intercepts...)... a lot of reviews, and a lot of calls... and we lost the game... not because we were the weaker team, but we were playing really sloppily...

last game, i didn't take the pics of "key play" during the opponent's 3rd down...

and also the hand-waving thingy at the opponent's 4th play...

oh yar... just for your information, this is how huge a college football team is... try to count them... (WARNING: exceeds 100 players)


so, that was the sucky Saturday...

now, on to my busy-like-crazy Monday... so, the breakfast job from 7am til 10.30am(there was an unexpected number of people, causing a piled-up of dishes in the dishroom, where we helped out), then to my first lecture at 11am til 12noon... then, to my second lecture from 2-3pm, then to my interview(a faculty at the Business School as the sponsor of the research project) at 3.20pm... then, another lecture from 4 til 5.30pm... then, a meeting (the Student Actuaries at Michigan) from 6pm til 7+pm... and there was another meeting at 9pm, but i was just too tired to drag myself there...(but that's only an informational session, which I don't think I have to attend, since I'm well informed about the Detroit Project organization....)

so, last week was really a crazy week for me... Hopefully, that justifies my lack of updating of this blog...

alright... got to go again... u guys take care...

Big House Football...

"There's no football like BIG HOUSE football..." It's so true... I went to my very first football match(American Football) 2 days ago... on the 3rd of Sept, 2005... and it's a BOMB... It's really crazy to see so many people, so many fans, and it's really overwhelming...

This is a pic I took(panaromic view, combined from 6 photos... not a really good one as there are visible seams) But, hopefully, this give u an idea about how big the stadium is, and how crazy the crowds are...

How overwhelming? Well, Big House seats more than 110000 (that's 110 thousand... or .11 million) people... and Michigan Stadium is the biggest football stadium in the States... Not enough? It's also one of the best football program in the country... I'm really fortunate to be a Wolverine...On my way to the stadium, I can see thousands of people walking towards the stadium...and this is a weekly thing...(whenever there's a home football game...)

And on this pic, u can see the Blue Bus.....
Go BLUE!!!

Look at the massive crowd... Overwhelmed yet??

People are waiting in lines to enter the stadium...

So, what's the best reminder other than starting of classes and homeworks and assignments to tell u that Fall is here?? COLLEGE FOOTBALL... And you can always tell Saturday from other days, because it's Football Saturday...

I paid $157 for the football season ticket... and after only 1 match, I know that those money was well spent... and not to be easily contented or anything, I do think that my seating is not bad at all... although it's at row 76, because of the stadium seating, i can still see the field clearly...

This is the view from my seat... Nice right?
That's the press box... and some event staffs that check ur tix...

Putt and I before the game starts...

How's this for the home crowd? It's really hard for the opponent to play in here...

This is the Michigan Marching Band...(just part of it... the band is huge... and the football team is entering the field..)
I think I managed to get the entire Michigan Marching Band in this pic...

This is me...

Nice weather... Nice crowd...

An in-game shot... We kicked ass... well... it's just Northen Illinois...

Oh yar, people are kinda tossed into the air when we score a touchdown... and how many tosses? depends on the score... i think this is when it was 27...
Final score... N. Illnois 17, Michigan 33... Go Blue..

I've some short clips of the Marching Band playing some songs, the crowds cheering... I didn't managed to capture the Mexican wave though.. but, all in all, it's an amazing experience... and i've six more home games to go for this semester... Once again, GO BLUE!!!

People are back... and My room...

Hey peeps, sorry for the long wait... but I've been pretty busy with my job as an International Academic Peer Advisor... The job was really fun and great (it feels good to help people... :P).

Anyway, it's over now, and I've been settling in, and people are coming back to the campus, and Ann Arbor is back to it's full volume over the night... Yeah, now, walking down the streets, u can hear people shouting funny comments out from their car again....

All my friends are back in town, and it's all good again. My hallmates are really cool people... My room is pretty nice, except the view is kinda ugly... and the auto close and auto locking door...

This is my bed and my desk...

I wonder whether I can fit a 2 seater couch there...

That's my dresser again, my closet, and the door(look at the top part of the door, the auto close door)

To clean my room, I use quite a bit of TP...

Since this is already quite a long post, I'll talk about my first football match in the States in the next post...