This Week's Agenda

The agenda for this week is, again, work work work. A never fulfilled routine but still need-to-be-made agenda.

One different thing this week though. Here it is: If I work hard (defined by myself) for a couple of days in a row, I can take one weekday off for a movie marathon. I am going to see The Time Traveler's Wife, (500) Days of Summer, and Star Trek. Maybe not Star Trek, the theater I want to go doesn't have Star Trek anymore. I'll find another one to fill in.

My reward seems too big for tiny little effort. But whatever.

戰況空前

暑假看了很多影集，有的是新開發的，有的是之前看一半沒追上的，如果以季為單位，不分是哪部影集，我應該看了五季以上，換算成集數，應該超過百...。

算一算，九月一開學我應該會很忙，不是因為要教一門新的課，也不是因為論文要趕進度，而是現在趕上進度要和電視同步收看的影集包括

1. The Big Bang Theory (Season 3)

2. How I Met Your Mother (Season 5)

3. Brothers and Sisters (Season 4)

4. Grey's Anatomy (Season 6)

5. Scrubs （目前還在Season 7，還差一點才會趕上秋季的Season 9）

還好現在電視公司都會把剛撥完的影集放到網站上，不然我每晚光握著遙控等著時間到就夠了。

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事實再次證明，越忙的時候越有空做閒雜事，兩年多前閒閒沒事的時候，花了一整年才把【The West Wing】七季看完，而以上1、2、4和5都是今年才開始看的。

Angel and Demon

In the days that I work, I can stand up as a decent human being. But in those days I dodge doing my job, I feel myself nothing but a terrible person.

They say people do not need others to justify the existence of oneself. Pathetically, I do need hard work to justify myself.

Free Wi-Fi at Barnes & Noble

剛意外發現 Barnes & Noble 有提供免費的 AT&T Wi-Fi。因為現階段研究需要連到學校一個研究中心的 terminal server 用 Stata，雖然喜歡在咖啡店唸書，但常常受限於有些咖啡店沒有免費網路，或是網路訊號不強。

傍晚跑來 U Village Barnes & Noble 裡的咖啡店工作，一開始只連到一個訊號很弱的網路，正想說都特別跑來了卻又什麼事都沒做，就連 AT&T Wi-Fi 看會不會貴，沒想到居然免費，真不錯。查了一下，是七月底才開始的。以後有空可以來這唸書。

適合睡眠的氣溫

Cold Temperatures Improve Sleep

研究指出華氏60-68度（約攝氏15-20度）有助於睡眠。西雅圖很多時候都是氣溫攝氏十幾度加陰天，難怪我隨便都可以睡上十小時。如果斜對面那棟房子可以趕快蓋好會更好，不要每天一大早不到八點就開始動工，擾亂我的美夢。

今晚氣溫攝氏16度左右，正是適合睡覺的好天氣。經過上星期的高溫摧殘之後，現在非常欣慰有這種涼快的天氣。

最近太陽下山的時間從之前的九點開始提早到八點半了，盛夏好像就這樣過了。

Bookmark

I used to save articles of New York Times in New York Times' own bookmarking system. Then New York Times no longer had the bookmarking function and my files were transferred to the suggested bookmarking site, Furl. Now Furl became Diigo. Even though Diigo provides the migration of data from Furl to Diigo, somehow my old files in Furl are all gone.

Things change too fast for me to get used to. Now I'll give Delicious a try.

Crazy Global Warming

What's wrong with the places I stayed? My hometown Hsinchu and my second hometown Seattle have broken the records of high temperature last week. Both reached around 40C.

I am not the person who can stand the heat (I am fine with cold weather). Last week I felt dying in my top-floor apartment facing the west with only an useless but annoying electric fan. The long-lasting sunset made my room a sauna. I couldn't stop sweating and even had difficulty of falling asleep. Growing up in the windy city Hsinchu, I've hated wind for my entire life. But I felt very grateful to have some breeze later last week. I finally got to have some sleep.

Back-to-School Gadgets

Incase Nylon Backpack is one of the 25 best back-to-school gadgets selected by Time magazine. It seems to have several compartments with different functions. I don't really need that many pockets though. I usually bring only a laptop, a cellphone and a wallet. Not so many gadgets I would like to carry around. What attracts me is actually the mustard color and its comfy material. I usually don't buy yellow stuff. But this mustard color looks cool.

I am an adzuki-bean/heather-grape color addict. Sometimes I buy stuff just because the color is attractive, regardless of their usefulness. I just can't say no to things with certain colors. Like they should belong to me.

Anyway, the bag is little bit expensive. I need someone to talk me out of it ...

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I've decided to abuse my blog, by writing this kind of non-article nonsense. It helps prevent me from abandoning my blog.

我在西雅圖的飲食癖好: Happy Hours

在美國很多餐廳傍晚和晚上打烊前都會有特別的減價時段 Happy Hours，有些平常價格不便宜的海鮮餐廳也會推出這種減價時段來吸引顧客，很適合像我這種收入不高的食客去淺嚐美食（說是說淺嚐，我還是常吃得很撐），最常去的幾家包括在 Downtown 碼頭的 Elliott's Oyster House、離學校不遠的 Ivars Salmon House，和在 Ballard 的 Matador （上圖）。

夏天是去 Happy Hours 的好時刻，坐在 Downtown 碼頭， Lake Union 旁的 dock 上，點上一打的生蠔，或是各式炸海鮮，配上冰涼的啤酒或檸檬汁，或是在有異國風味的 Ballard 街頭，吃上一大盤的 Nachos ，實在是物美價廉的享受。有時候中餐沒吃等著下午三四點去 Happy Hours 中餐晚餐一併解決，不過常因為空腹的狀況下啤酒下肚，食物還沒吃完就開始有點微醺了。

Summer Movies

看了幾部暑假電影預告片，滿多片都想看，像【Up】、【The Time Traveler's Wife】等的。炎炎夏天最適合的活動就是去電影院吹冷氣耗上一天。

昨天看了【Confessions of a Shopaholic】，覺得 Hugh Dancy 真的好可愛，於是就去搜了一下他的其他電影，發現他最近有部【Adam】，七月底會上映，其實前幾天在西雅圖國際影展有撥，可惜已經結束了。他在【Adam】裡面演一個有 Asperger Syndrom（好像是自閉症的一種） 社交障礙的科學家，裡面好多情節都好像【The Big Bang Theory】哦，只是男主角稍微憂鬱了一點。Hugh Dancy 演呆呆的樣子也挺像的，很有 Forrest Gump 的味道。

預告片裡不覺得他有什麼自閉症，只是比較 socially inept 一點。還滿期待看這部的。