2011年4月10日，旧金山缆车站。

拉关系当然也不是自高自大，妄自菲薄或舔腚沟子。从我的经验来看，只要懂得微笑和聆听，讲一下自己的体会，听一下别人的经历和故事，就很好。卡内基书里说得那些玩意儿，当然很多都是常识，挺管用的。

像昨天和Percona的一帮家伙和其他人喝啤酒，大家聊天胡侃。其中一位女士接到男友的电话就走到旁边去接，别人就开始八卦，说男友是个消防员。和我的中国同胞和其他地球人一样，我美国同胞有很多崇拜英雄和名流的倾向。警察和消防员是小朋友常见的英雄选项。就有人说据说那个消防员的管子很粗，大家哄笑一场。

然后就和Percona的一个哥们步行去参加MySQL社区晚餐，一帮人湊在一起吃饭聊天。这哥们学过几年汉语，能简单说几句，对佛教很感兴趣，好像也学过梵文。走在路上，他和我讲了下他对佛教的理解。我很想听，因为我对佛教一无所知。我们谈了谈我们对于中国的物欲横流的物质主义的看法。他表示了对此的关注和担忧，并礼貌地说起了文革。我说我同样有这样的担心。我讲了下我的观点：文革前的各种运动，文革，文革后的拨乱反正和七十年代底、八十年代初的对老冒和以文革为主的各种运动的初步评价，和邓小平、陈云等人当时认为在当时的历史情况下不好对毛做出客观的评价的一些谈话，和他们对以后重新评价老毛和文革的希望。也谈了后来的89事件，南巡讲话等。我感觉我们当时的“伤痕文学”有疗伤的作用。但后来有了89事件，所以我以为我们没有真正走出老毛的滔天罪行的阴影。我不明白的是，我们国内的对毛的一种持续的符号化的崇拜：像把他的头像搞到更多的纸币上，一些影片和电视剧对他的持续的歌功颂德，还有他在天安门上的头像和在广场上的给人展览的僵尸。我理解毛在解放前的作用，也不想同时也不能抹杀毛的功绩，但建国以后的大动乱、给国家和人民的巨大的心理和生理伤害，以及激情和纯真破灭后所造成的钱权崇拜和社会良知的缺失，这些东西，不是他造成的，还能是谁？

因为说佛教，也就谈到了西藏。我不知道怎么说，但就想怎么做才能真正增进各个族群的互相了解和尊重呢？怎样做才能使大部分人有真正实惠的同时也保留对传统文化的尊重、保护、和创新呢？怎样才能在发展的同时做到不丢失自我呢？这些问题，我们的传统文化和外来文化，可以有什么启示吗？我最后向他说起了我本家兼老乡季羡林翻译过的一些梵文著作。

扯远了。到了那个社区晚餐，和一帮Oracle的人坐在一起喝玛格利特，吃墨西哥饭。同桌的做销售的菲利普刚从北京和上海回来，我谈了下我所观察到的中国的MySQL的应用，和他的取得调酒师证件的一些趣事。提到中国的阿里巴巴、淘宝和一些政府和科研部门对MySQL的应用，相谈甚欢。同桌的还有两个来自巴西但现分别居住在加拿大和美国的两位男士。我问了下巴西政府派武装部队到里约搞治安为奥运做准备，美国同胞对此知之不详。这两位巴西哥们可能意见不同，一位嘲笑本国的政府的无能和可笑，另一位想得更多一点，说挺期待本国的世界杯和奥运盛事。我觉得巴西办这个挺好的。

回来路上有开始调侃，我们四个大男人挤在车后座回旅馆。这是小车，四个男人在后边应当违法吧。但大家都很high，开始说点荤笑话，挺有意思的。

不写了。干活去，接着交流，接着侃！

在大学时凑热闹地过耶诞节。但对我本人来说，直到1998年第一次去瑞典时才体会到这个节日对西方人的重要性。那是我第一次也是最后一次遇见我的岳母。她在我儿子出生几个月后因癌症去世。耶诞节之与大部分西方人，正如春节之与大部分中国人。

耶诞节，和春节一样，会有很多好吃的。很多人喜欢精装的各种风味的放在盒子里的小块巧克力。在瑞典，耶诞节的食品有腌鱼（pickled herring），火腿，烟森的诱惑（Jansson’s temptation，翻译成“烟熏”有时更贴切一点。这是砂锅类（casserole）食品，地蛋、洋葱、小鱼、奶酪等混在一起后在炉子里烤出来的东西），红的园白菜，肉球，甜菜（beet root），香肠（sausage），面包，稠的含不少牛奶的白米粥（rice porridge）。这白米粥会和泡沫奶油（whipped cream）还有糖等混在一起当饭后的甜点吃。我在孩娘的外婆家里还吃到过马肉。

看岳父做火腿比较有意思。他把一大块肉拿来先煮，锅里放那种叫leek的大葱，洋葱，少许蒜。煮完了，他竟然把那leek，洋葱，和蒜扔掉，让我暗暗心疼，因为那于我是好吃的东西。后来我跟孩娘调侃说这个，她听了后哈哈地笑。

在耶诞节期间，所有的瑞典同胞会喝一种叫“有了某司特”（julmust）的软饮料。这玩意只在耶诞节前出售，我喜欢。若干年前在瑞典，我喝上瘾了。由于签证问题困在瑞典，我和岳父一起生活了两个星期，稍微有点尴尬并且幽默。他问我想喝什么，我说那个julmust不错。他告我节后很难找并且我们也真没找到。

瑞典人庆祝耶诞节也会看很多电视里的歌曲等晚会表演节目。至少在我看到的晚会节目里，瑞典电视台的摄影师也喜欢用我记忆中的国内晚会节目的“慢慢消失”技术。这个我定义的“慢慢消失”指两个或更多的摄像机的拍摄影像切换时，先前的那个影像会“慢慢消失”，所以新的影像和旧的影像会有所重叠。八十年代中后期，我家买了个十四寸的黑白电视，应当是山东台放完《霍元甲》、《聪明的一休》等之后我该上初中的时候吧。手调节那种伸缩型的和圆形VHF和UHF天线时，掌握角度、离墙的远近、人所处的位置等，比较有意思。那象征着中国和其它国家一样进入万恶的屏幕时代的开始。一开始几次看到这个“慢慢消失”现象时，特别是晚会的光影交错，光线构成了闪耀晃动的十字，我不禁眼前一亮，暗暗称奇！

瑞典人在十二月二十四号庆祝这个节日，不是二十五日。下午三点左右，全国人民在洋溢着浓郁的节日气氛中一起欣赏一个小时的唐老鸭电视。四点了，tomten，瑞典版（家人装扮的）耶诞老人敲门给小孩送礼物。瑞典，和美国等其它西方国家一样，耶诞节的礼物对孩子的成长和打击有着深刻的影响。

很多年没在瑞典过耶诞了。但为了保持和传扬给孩子瑞典的文化，我们每年都会做瑞典式的耶诞菜。并且都会参加瑞典裔美国人在芝加哥的博物馆的耶诞节晚宴。老婆在网上看瑞典电视，听瑞典广播，聊慰思乡之情，很不错。

还有很多的St. Lucia和Star boy之类的瑞典传统活动，姜味饼干，格拉格甜酒（Glögg 温热，含葡萄干儿、坚果和一些调料）。不多写了。读者朋友，如你也过节，祝你耶诞和新年愉快。God Jul och Gott Nytt År！

会接着往下读，看后来如何。列侬和披头士的音乐，我还是喜欢的，他的卖弄和尖叫疗法暂且不论。

－－－

读完了那本《山楂树之恋》，和我早先的预期来比，稍有点上当的感觉。有点怀旧，还好了，一般般。

－－－

读完了叶永烈的《我的家，一半在台湾》。从我有限的对台湾的了解，一个最深的印象就是台湾和闽南的类似：国语口音，闽南话方言，建筑，民俗，和文化的方方面面。有机会，真想到台湾看看。

我对闽南有了解，主要是因为在厦门上了四年的大学。我很高兴我在南方上了大学，因为这开阔了我的眼界和思路，虽然我一开始也有着对南方人的偏见，就像一些南方人对北方人有偏见一样。这个世界，有那么多的国家，民族，语音，和风俗，但你了解多了，就会知道，在这表面的差异下，我们都是人。

我不知我高考后如去北大等名校后又如何，但从个人的观点，我对我受到的非名牌教育非常满意。我有点后悔的是，在厦大四年，是有机会学闽南话的，但我因为当时的北方偏见，没有学。

叶曾去日月潭涵碧楼的博物馆参观。那里面的关于可能的国共谈判，太有意思了。有图有真相，我就不打字了，希望不算侵权。老冒这个混蛋，我意淫下，解放后当即驾崩就好了，那台湾问题就会解决。但历史不容意淫，各种因素的变化和互动，太复杂了，不是想当然的事儿。

叶永烈，菲利普－诺曼，约翰－列侬等算我的父辈，年纪相仿。

－－－

读了村上春树的《东京奇谭录》一些短篇，感觉到小资和后现代化。

－－－

在Hair Cuttery剃了头。理发师是那个越南来的华裔移民。我问了问她去加州的情况。她说她的81岁的母亲心脏开刀，真难办，因为不懂英文。

她提到了她的一个朋友的母亲，94岁了，现在是个植物人一样，倒还不如安乐死。这个，我有点赞同。你和我，对，就是现在读这个东西的你和写了这个东西的我，或早或晚，都会死亡，这个不论你现在多大年纪。如果这吓到你或你觉得不吉利，我深表遗憾。上天堂，下地狱，指望来世，下辈子投个好胎，等等等等，这些玩意儿，从我个人的角度，都靠不住。生命的意义为何？我以为那要看你的投入了，那要看你有没有勇气，耐心，坚韧，和百折不挠，去给与和接受爱。

空想不行，高谈阔论不行，想和谈论当然会有意义，但关键是行动。这行动也并不一定，并且绝大多数的时间里也不会是像党报宣传的模范和最新的荷里活制造的英雄一样光辉，耀眼，潇洒，和夺目；也不会像心灵鸡汤读者文摘样的小资般的感人。那些自有其意义，当然可以欣赏受激励，但注意不要误入歧途。因为这行动，可能很不耀眼，也不一定会立竿见影，比如你有没有和你亲近的人沟通，有没有帮你的配偶做家务，有没有饭后收拾洗刷碗碟，有没有和你的孩子谈天和读书，车子，窗户，屋檐有问题，你都做了些什么？我们能一直宅男宅女地“宅”下去吗？和知心或陌生人（如树洞）交心会有好处，因为一些东西，你要说出来，说出来的过程也是思考的过程，但一味地抱怨顶个屁用？你该做些什么才能真正地改变处境？

哇塞，写得跟知心姐姐似的。

－－－

说海宝侵权的人，请问这个算不算侵北京奥运的权。英文强势啊，这报下，那转载下，再翻译下，事儿就大了。所以有“没被英文报道的事件就没有发生”的说法，有点道理。

－－－

我根治网瘾的做法有效。说到这儿，我该停止了。

I highly recommend Golden Day, 好日子, a Hunanese restaurant on 118-120 Shaftesbury Avenue, phone number 020 7494 2381, not too far from Leicester Square, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus area. Here are some pictures.

干锅鸡

芹菜花生米

7 messages
wife Sat, May 22, 2010 at 11:44 PM
To: Haidong Ji
Hi

Hope you could catch some sleep on the plane.
Have fun exploring London. Don’t eat too much

Mom and Ben
Haidong Ji Sun, May 23, 2010 at 10:02 AM
To: wife
Thank you honey and Ben. Your message is very much appreciated.

It was a brilliant, using a word the Brits like to use, day. Clear sky, sunshine, pleasant temperature. I went to the British Library and spent a few hours there. Too bad the Asian and African reading room is closed on Sundays. But I’ve got the see the British Library treasure exhibition, very impressive: Shakespeare’s writing (or what most people believed to be his handwriting), the Beatle’s handwritten lyrics, the Magna Carta documents, old Bible, Koran, and other religious text, including some fascinating old Chinese publications from China.

Then I went downstairs to see the Map exhibition. Once again, impressive. London is such a place with so much history and culture.

Love you both. Got a busy week ahead of me. I will probably go to a Chinese place for dinner. And I also want get some Python coding done and tested, and make plans for what I want to accomplish here.

Dad

wife Tue, May 25, 2010 at 11:38 PM
To: Haidong Ji
Hi,

How ya doin? WeRfine. (see-I’m writing in American- Hope u still understand-OK I am simply brilliant would you not say?! ) It’s been very hot (+90F) since you left. I have trouble sleeping.

We planted the potatoes yesterday. I also bought a tomato plant. You will have to help me buy some more dirt this weekend since the bags are more or less impossible for me to lift. I managed to buy four but that won’t be enough. I’ve also bought a sprinkler and a “wooden” moose now named Hälge. He’s guarding the back door.

The restaurant business is going fine.

Have you tried fish and chips yet? It’s probably a deadly sin to have been in London twice and not have tried this.

And I am really expecting you to follow the semi finals of the Eurovision song contest this week (Sweden on Thursday night-Finland did not make it to the final ). It is mucho importante to all Europeans- and I really mean ALL!!!! So try to blend into the European culture while you’re there. I’m sure people aren’t talking about anything but this important event. The final is on Friday. I guess you’ll have to miss it. Too sad!

Have you responded to Alex Kw party invitation yet? It’s on Sunday so response is needed soon! I’ve bought him a card.

There will be a BBQ in Gary and Vicky’s garden on Sunday June 6th at 4pm. I was told it is cause the neighbors want to meet us………or perhaps they just like beer;-) Anyway I said we’ll be there. I did not tell her that I’m a vegetarian yet because I didn’t want anyone to feel they had to make special arrangement for me. I figure there will be more than one grill (maybe we will have bought ours by then) and I can be the master veggie grilling chef.

I will paint the walls in the sunroom tomorrow- Hawthorne pink of course.

Good night zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Haidong Ji Wed, May 26, 2010 at 12:05 PM
To: wife
I am doing just fine. Jet lag got me on Tuesday: I set the alarm at 6:50, it woke me up. Since I didn’t go to bed around midnight and was tossing around couldn’t fall asleep for a few hours earlier, so I figured I needed 15 more minutes. That 15 minutes turned to 3 hours…

Super busy though. Planned to go to the British Library again on Tuesday, because it opens longer Tuesday nights and I’d love to visit its Asian and African reading room. But since I woke up late so I worked to mignight on Tuesday evening. Too much work, too little time.

One of my co-workers told me about a good fish and chips place so I will probably go there tonight.

The Brits are a bit snobbish toward people from the Continent so I think they tend to have a sarcastic view towards it because they never win.

I will write to the KWs tonight. Nice to have a bbq over the weekends. Yeah, we should get a grill before then.

Terrific that the potatoes and tomatos are in. Hawthorne yellow is fine. Thanks.

Got to go back to work. Did I say I have been very busy?

Love.

wife Wed, May 26, 2010 at 10:54 PM
To: Haidong Ji
Hi,

I’m sorry you’re tired and too busy. Hope it’ll be better today.

Here it is still HOT. I take cold showers before I go to bed.

Almost finished the walls in the sunroom- only have the hard to paint places left to do.

I hope it will rain tonight. If not the lawn will need to be watered soon.

I bought a cordless electrical lawn mower from Sears (WORX ECO WG780 19-Inch 24-Volt Cordless Electric Lawn Mower). The “sale” price is $450 (Ordinary price $550). The price at Amazon is the same. However since the mower is not sold by Amazon I would have to pay shipping charges +$50 if I bought it from there. AT sears I can pick it up at the store in 9-11 days. I also get an additional $100 mail in rebate which is nice since the cheapest cordless lawn mowers start around $350. It has good reviews and is supposedly good at mulching (cutting the grass in very small pieces-the grass can then be left on the lawn- will save a fortune since won’t need to use so many yard waste bags) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015GH5UG/ref=s9_simh_gw_p86_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1AB1J4GST8XJ09YV78QB&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Please let me know that you have RSVPed to Alex Kw. It would be very rude not to have done so by now.

I’m doing laundry right now. I think i should move the bed down to the basement. It’s very nice and cool there.

I’m running out of meaningful things to tell you so…good night, sleep tight and don’t let he British bed bugs bite.

Haidong Ji Thu, May 27, 2010 at 5:08 AM
To: wife
Thanks a lot for the note, honey. I appreciate it very much. Nobody here seems willing to lend a shoulder for me to cry a river. What a cruel, cruel world it is…

Read through reviews for the mower. Looks nice. Thanks.

Anyway, went out for supper with a Chinese-Malaysian coworker at Golden Day. The guy does not drink. I hope he liked the food, although he did say the chicken was a bit spicy. Later we had bubble tea with the sago balls, and talked a bit about work, citizenship, green card, and such. Went back to the hotel and worked for a few more hours. I guess my Python prowess will improve if I keep at it like this.

Talked a bit about Eurovision song contest with a British co-worker. She thinks the whole thing is a bit political, and some people would watch this old fart making sarcastic and funny comments about it on TV. She mimicked last year’s winner’s violin playing, which was pretty funny. She told me Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote some songs for the event last year and did an active publicity campaign for it. This morning I picked up a copy of Daily Mail somebody left on the train to read, a practice that I’ve seen a number of people do, and didn’t see mention of the contest. It was all about a serial killer, David Cameron’s tax policy, Fergie and Sharon Osborn is even “bigger” in Hollywood now.

Speaking of the subway, the tube I took was absolutely packed in the morning a bit after 8:00. I did notice there are other lines that had a bit more room.

Will probably go for a fish and chips fare tonight. Hopefully I can catch a bit of the song contest and cheer on for my Swedish brethren.

Looked at a grocery market chain, the day I arrived, Sandbury’s (spelling?). Pretty decent selections. I debated if I should buy toothpaste there, but I got a dental kit from the hotel so that wasn’t necessary. I did notice no toothpaste advertising “whitening”, which I like. I looked for a type of regular toothpaste that does NOT advertising “whitening” in Chicago but couldn’t find it! Who knows what kind of rubbish they put in for this dubious “whitening” claim?

Had lunch at a butcher’s shop yesterday, went for the British Cornish, it was pretty good.

Seen this guy setting up his fruit stand on High Holbon street for a few days in a row now and hawking his ware. He was shouting some fruit names, I think, but I didn’t quite get it.

Haven’t seen a department store yet. I want to buy underwear here as the comfortable ones I got in Sweden a few years ago became a bit, shall we say, scanty.
I shall remember to get some crisps for Ben. Yeah, I did reply to the KWs, informing them our new address as well.

Should go back to work now. Later, give a hug to Ben for me.

Love

wife Fri, May 28, 2010 at 12:17 AM
To: Haidong Ji
Hi,

The fender on the car was damaged today when parked at Home Depot. It was hit by a truck from Stoughton Trucking. It’s not badly damaged. One corner is scratched and dented. The driver waited outside until i came out from the store. He has my information and I has the contact information for the safety supervisor at that company. Hopefully, everything will be taken care of smoothly.

I had a message from the realtor today. The village is arranging “bike to open houses” day on June 13th. She wants the house to be available for showings on that day. I will just tell her that’s OK but I can’t guarantee this place will be cleaned up.

I might be in the house painting tomorrow when you get home. Give me a call.

Hope you have a nice flight home.

See ya tomorrow dude.

Your dudette

My Novara, the front facing one.

My original plan was to find time riding in on a weekend for some field research. But with the move, house painting (where my wife did most of the work), teaching my son Chinese, my son’s baseball, and other family activities, I couldn’t find the time. This morning I woke up a bit after 5 and decided, what the hell, might as well take it all the way today!

It was not bad at all. In fact, I enjoyed the whole thing. Going in: total distance 14.69km, average speed 18.60km/hr, peak speed 25.13km/hr, total time 47 minutes. Coming back: total distance 14.29km, average speed 18.35km/hr, peak speed 27.93km/hr, total time 46 minutes. Thanks Liz for riding with me on the way back. It’s nice to have a partner returning with you, with more people milling out and about than in the morning.

Well, I went to work without shaving, breakfast and shower. Not that I am set out to win a bushy beard competition or anything like that. While I am at it, I gave up on hairy chest competition long time ago. I’ve got to say, it’s not bad. I was a bit tired in the early afternoon. A quick snack of a banana and cheese stick provided enough fuel on the way back. I did save up a set of toothbrush and toothpaste at work. It’s good to brush after lunch anyway.

I am really excited and look forward to do more of it! Time to bed. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. 早睡早起身体好！

这里是在大英博物馆里拍的照片。

中国

读介绍之前，我根本不知道那是什么，叫不出中文名字。是旁边的一位台湾同胞告诉我这叫鼻烟壶。这是我第一次见到。

鼻烟壶介绍。顺便说一句，大英博物馆的翻译用的是早已是国际标准的汉语拼音。

博物馆里有一些鼎和钟。遗憾的是，这些物件大多是依墙或拄而立，所以背面和侧面的字很难读到。

我感觉他们的翻译都很不错，但这个礼品商店的茶杯是个例外：

What the Fu with the translation here? That’s really unfortunate. Pun intended.

18世纪初出口到欧洲的陶瓷

公元前3400年左右的埃及男性。他死后直接埋在沙地里，尸体很快风干，保存完好。而大约同一时期的另一个埋在棺材里的人，其尸体只剩下了骨头，因为体内水分出不去，身体软组织早已腐化。

之后我去了英国图书馆。我很想到这儿查一些史料，如近现代史的一些历史文件等，但查史料的请求要在闭馆前一小时提交，所以很遗憾。但愿以后有机会再来伦敦会有时间研究一下。

这是英国公司给清政府设计印制的邮票：

其它印象：

1 感觉我的英语口音，在英国时，美国味非常浓，以致于司机搞不清应当把我当成中国人（外表）还是美国人（口音）。对这两种身份，我都认同。我同样地热爱美国和中国，我也没必要并且不会为此解释和道歉。

老婆曾告诉我在我试着说一些简单的瑞典语（我很想学瑞典语、西班牙语、德语、法语、俄语、日语等，野心很大但没时间。需要找时间）时，我听起来像个美国人。这很有意思。我见到一些在中国长期生活过的美国人，和他们交流时，或许是他们的言行和举止，有时我心里会琢磨，嘿，这伙计有了不少中国味！换位思考，我想，他们会不会也认为我有美国味呢？当然我对作秀、炫耀、秀英文、装洋等一点兴趣都没有。

2 伦敦的食品很多样化。印度、意大利、泰国等食品都很不错。我倒没有品尝他们的炸鱼和炸薯条／Fish and Chips。在Piccadilly Circus附近有两家很好的中餐馆：川菜的水月巴山（Bar-Shu）和湘菜的好日子（Golden Day）。我力荐好日子。如果午饭或晚饭时间去，需要打电话预定桌位，不然的话要等很久。

3 回来去机场时，和司机的谈话挺有意思的。我们聊到了英国皇室，竟然大部分臭味相投，就是英国当今宫廷很为英国人丢脸。刚愎自用、闹婆媳不和的女王，她的半调子希腊皇室丈夫，变态的查尔斯王子，半熟的亨利王子。威廉王子稍微有点人味，但也要操枪打狐狸以显示阳刚。还有那个徐娘半老的Fergie和她的女儿们，飞越大西洋，赚足了美国人的钱。我们的不同点是他尊敬甚至有点怜悯伊丽莎白女王，热爱黛妃。我个人觉得黛妃自恋极其严重，挺可怜的。但皇室的存在养活了大批小报，给人民提供了无穷的娱乐和幻想，挺有意思的。司机认为查尔斯王子快熬到头了，因为他的老母已经高龄，但他不认为查尔斯最终会得到王位，因为他的坏口碑。

最后，给你个谜语猜猜：茅房／Squat Toilet，打一城市。

1 一英镑的反面印着达尔文的像，这要在美国，还不被“折腾”到半死。我以为上帝造人，那当然就是真理，老子天下第一！价值（推一下就到普世了），你懂不懂？

2 英国人的牙齿为西方其它发达国家所不齿，拿它当笑料，但我喜欢，因为自然和真实。昨天看到一个自信微笑长着虎牙的年轻人，真好。大家都割双眼皮，整牙，除眼袋，笼胸，漂白，岂不怪哉？千万不要以貌取人。这个“貌”字，可以推广到地域、国家、宗教、趋向、工作、身份等。这玩意儿，说起来容易，做起来难，但要去做！

虎牙的妈给我拍的

3 我到过的西欧国家里，食物原料的质量都比美国好，菜有菜味，肉有肉味。英国人超重比例看起来比美国少；

4 Leicester按Leister读，ce在这里不发音。Thames按Tems读。昨天在Thames的游船上听地道的Cockney口音，懂了七八成吧（或许有点高估？），很有意思。

5 伦敦的中国城要比我见到的美国中国城干净宜人。我见到的美国中国城，街道上不少垃圾。

6 车轮滚滚，到处都是，玩洋文报纸公关，以满足别人的优越感来换取赞同后拉点小钱过日子（当然也不排除和一些组织机构互相利用），充满了仇恨、怨闷和悲情。瞧这日子过的，但还得打肿脸充胖子，一幅视死如归、抢占道德高地、发疯撒泼坚决表演下去的样子，至于吗？自恨、自卑、自贱、崇洋媚外、点头哈腰不行，自大、自狂、排外、愤青、老子天下第一也不是办法。

7 伦敦很好，很多样，很有活力，我喜欢。

8 真羡慕善于表达的人。我这儿吭吭吃吃，努了半天，也就这几码子字儿。打住，珍惜生活，远离计算机！但能表达还是很好嘀。

很奇怪，上周六，我们在中国城买完用来剁馅儿的芹菜回家后，我有点想家。（嗯，想家这个词儿有意思，还是别分析了吧，要不然一晚上都得耗在这博客上）我给自己做了芹菜炒猪肉吃，一共放了五个干红辣椒，蒜瓣若干，葱姜少许。我超水平发挥，竟然做出了一道色香味俱全的佳肴！老婆吃素，儿子不能吃辣，这盘菜，我一个人包圆了！我小盅喝辣酒，大口吃菜，直呼过瘾！老婆开始幽默，“看你老爹的模样，吃我做的菜时从来没有这么高兴过！”并再次奉劝我要学习烹调。我现在倒开始真有这个心思了。

我们昨天包的水饺。买了现成的饺子皮儿，一些肉末，老婆用食品加工机把蔬菜打碎后我调馅。以下是我们包的水饺。面相不咋地，吃起来一般。

祝读者朋友虎年快乐，万事如意！

馅儿和皮儿

包好的饺子

成品和辣酒（孔府家酒，儿子称之为手榴弹酒，因瓶子的外形）吃饺子不就蒜，不是男子汉！请看小碟子里的蒜泥。之后，我笑逐颜开，熏倒外人无数，老婆称之为“Breath to Kill” （有揶揄詹士帮License to Kill之意）

最后，送一张写真给你，挑战尺度极限！抱歉，这篇写得有点自恋。

I took a different approach recently. Now I’ve set up daily goals to read 50 or more pages or a key section of a technical book, and follow through. I am reading two technical books at the moment: Itzik Ben-Gan et al’s Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2005: T-SQL Querying, and Baron Schwartz et al’s High Performance MySQL. It’s nice to read database books that focus on different vendor implementations (SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, etc.), because each one explains certain things from a slightly different angle, with slightly different language, and at times this gives you a better feel of the overall picture and clarity to certain key concepts.

Here I am talking about quality technical books, though, because the industry churns out way too much junk. It certainly is a waste of time and money on poorly thought out and written books.

Anyway, today I went through Itzik Ben-Gan’s performance tuning chapter. I used SQL Server 2008′s Management Studio to do tests against a SQL Server 2005 instance. I noticed an interesting change in terminologies: in SQL Server 2008, a bookmark lookup on a table with clustered index is now called Key Lookup, on a table without clustered index is (still) called RID lookup. Here are some screen shots:

Bookmark lookup in SQL Server 2005 on a table with cluster index

Bookmark lookup in SQL Server 2005 on a table without cluster index

Bookmark lookup in SQL Server 2008 on a table with cluster index

Bookmark lookup in SQL Server 2008 on a table without cluster index

To recap, here are the terms used for bookmark lookups in the 3 most recent SQL Server releases:

SQL Server 2000: bookmark lookup
SQL Server 2005: RID lookup on a heap, Clustered Index Seek on a table with clustered index
SQL Server 2008: RID lookup on a heap, Key Lookup on a table with clustered index

SQL Server’s clustered index implementation went through some interesting changes. Prior to SQL Server 7, all non-clustered index contains a pointer to the actual row(s) that has the value of the indexed keys. This pointer (RID, Row ID) physically points to the position on which page in which internal file that row is at. Starting from SQL Server 7, for tables without a clustered index (heap), the implementation stays the same. However, for tables with clustered index, the pointer is the clustered index.

This can potentially have a big impact for bookmark lookup on tables with clustered index. Here is why: to do lookups, SQL Server needs to traverse through clustered index, thus more reads. The number of additional reads this causes depends on the level of clustered index and how many rows the query touches. Suppose the clustered index has 3 levels (root, leaf, and one intermediate level), then a single bookmark lookup will incur 3 additional logical reads. If the query touches 2000 rows, then bookmark lookup will cause 6000 additional reads.

Note I am not bashing against clustered index though. Overall, in my opinion, the benefits of clustered index definitely outweighs its drawbacks. Now this post is getting long and I want to go back to my books, so I will stop here.

我在这儿介绍过怎样给英文版的Ubuntu安装中文输入软件。装上之后，发现这个软件提供好几种输入方法。简体的有二笔，二笔－QS，五笔，自然码，和智能拼音。繁体的输入法就更多了，我听说过仓颉和注音，而在下图里罗列的其它方法，以前还真没以任何方式接触或听说过。我用的是简体智能拼音。

Ubuntu上的简体中文输入法

Ubuntu上的繁体中文输入法

在Windows上，我用Google Pinyin，但我对其它中文输入法一直都很好奇：它们都有什么优缺点，哪一个更快（当然会因人而异），因为我只知道一种。不知读者朋友有什么评论和建议。

也曾想过用听写软件代替手输入中文，但从未尝试过，不知这种软件是否成熟。