2008

I am so happy to have friends over for 2007 New Year's Eve.

The huge screen (110 inch) was a blaster to all of us, and totally tranformed the definition of home theatre and Koraoke.

 

Thanks for Jay and Ming to motivate me to clean up my house and I will hold more parties to share happy times with you.

 

 

读李白诗有感

今天看到李白这首诗。

李白 下終南山過斛斯山人宿置酒
(五言古詩)



暮從碧山下， 山月隨人歸；
卻顧所來徑， 蒼蒼橫翠微。
相攜及田家， 童稚開荊扉；
綠竹入幽徑， 青蘿拂行衣。
歡言得所憩， 美酒聊共揮；
長歌吟松風， 曲盡河星稀。
我醉君復樂， 陶然共忘機。


想到高中时候听夏青朗诵的版本，是何等向往这种把酒临风，对饮无忌的畅快淋漓。现在有了Koraoke, 有了超大屏幕，但是成了技术的奴隶，没有了那种随性所致的洒脱。

Creator

I came across one wonderful monologue "Balthus Time Suspended", which features collection of paintings and drawings of the brilliant eccentric artist, Blathazar Klossowski.

It's thrilling and almost frightening to see a self-claim creator who paints 7 hours a day without rest and can't stop because "it is painful to stifle creative needs." Today I created some artistic thing too. I washed up all the pebbles on the bottom of my fish tank, and put them into an empty bottle, and then seal the bottle. I put just the right amount of stone, so the bottle is buoyant in the middle of the water. That's pretty cool.

Lately I have cleaned up a lot of clusters in my house. It's gradually becoming a wonderful home. That's really something I can be proud of at the New Year's Eve!

 

free music. A lot of them

"While the RIAA continues to sue people for p2p file sharing, the record labels have made an about-face and given their blessing to users sharing MP3s via the social networking site imeem.com. In May this year the site was being sued by Warner for allowing users to upload photos, videos, and music to share. However to everyone's amazement, instead of being flattened, imeem.com managed to convince the label that this free promotion was a good thing. In July imeem.com signed a deal with the label. Since then the site has added Sony, BMG, EMI, and now the biggest fish of them all, Universal. Imeem now has the royal flush of record labels supporting its media-sharing service, each getting a cut of the advertising revenues generated by their catalog. Finally someone has figured out a way to do 'YouTube for MP3s' without getting sued out of existence."

drifter

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Suzanne Vega Lyrics  if(window.$WebSecurity){window.$WebSecurity.FlashDetection.HandleEmbedCode('1c0d10a0-119a-4091-9f63-037a699b912e', '\x3cembed src\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fmedia.imeem.com\x2fm\x2fyRtYr_E4ii\x2faus\x3dfalse\x2f\x22 type\x3d\x22application\x2fx-shockwave-flash\x22 width\x3d\x22300\x22 height\x3d\x2280\x22 wmode\x3d\x22transparent\x22 pluginspage\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.macromedia.com\x2fgo\x2fgetflashplayer\x22 allowscriptaccess\x3d\x22never\x22 allownetworking\x3d\x22internal\x22 \x2f\x3e');}else{if(window.flObj == null){window.flObj = new Object();}window.flObj['1c0d10a0-119a-4091-9f63-037a699b912e']='\x3cembed src\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fmedia.imeem.com\x2fm\x2fyRtYr_E4ii\x2faus\x3dfalse\x2f\x22 type\x3d\x22application\x2fx-shockwave-flash\x22 width\x3d\x22300\x22 height\x3d\x2280\x22 wmode\x3d\x22transparent\x22 pluginspage\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.macromedia.com\x2fgo\x2fgetflashplayer\x22 allowscriptaccess\x3d\x22never\x22 allownetworking\x3d\x22internal\x22 \x2f\x3e';}

Ski and Life

I found there is a lot of similarity between skiing and life as a whole.

While skiing,the worst situation is going down a steep slope without control.

At such moment, one has to fight against the inertial and make a sharp turn, push all the weight on one leg. All this sounds more dangerous than keeping both leg straight and just hold on tight.

But the abrupt turn will help you to regain control, and save your life, while falling with gravity will lead to crash.

 

Another analogue is when I first learn skiing, I only look at snow within 10 feet range ahead of me. When I finally have control over my skiing, I looked further ahead and realize that it's such a beautiful picture right in front of me. I was never aware of that.

In real life, we struggle with day-to-day chores so much that we forget to appreciate the big picture.    

The Guts to do something completely different

I was reading Jack Perkowski's new book "Managing the Dragon --- how I'm building a billion dollar business in China".
After 20 years working on the Wallstreet, Jack asked himself "Do I have the guts to do something completely different?" Then he did. He moved to Hong Kong in 1991.
I think it's important to keep up with the new challenges, and never get too comfortable. Every 10 years or so, I would like to re-invent myself and do something completely different.

improbable research?

I knew most research are much fuzz over nothingness, but things published here is really pushing the limit of human absurdity. Check it out at

Below is the CNet blog's coverage of the story.
"

The Annals of Improbable Research,
best known as the host of the Ig Nobel Awards, will now offer a free
online version of its journal.

The Ig Nobel Prizes
ceremony, an annual event held at Harvard University and parody of the
Nobel Prizes, honors discoveries in science and technology that "first
make people laugh, and then make them think."

Past winners include: Mayu Yamamoto of the International Medical
Center of Japan who invented a way to extract vanilla fragrance and
flavoring from cow dung; an Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton,
Ohio, who invented a chemical weapon that when dropped causes
heterosexual men to become attracted to each other; and Howard
Stapleton for his so-called electromechanical teenager repellent device that produces a sound audible only to those 30 or younger.

The Annals of Improbable Research journal, while now available free online
will still continue to be offered in a print version "for subscribers
who like their electrons blended with protons and neutrons," the
publisher said in a statement.

"

Christmas Is Wonderful

Today is the day after Christmas, and I am pleasantly surprised by the following goodies.
1) I ordered some cable from monoprice.com and they processed the order and send the shipping info to UPS the same day (Dec. 24).
Later on (Dec 25 morning), I found that there is a Wii component cable at monoprice, but their CS is already closed. So I just send an email asking them to add the cable to my order. Low and behold, I found the Wii cable in my updated order this morning (Dec. 26) and they didn't charge anything extra for shipping.

2) I was depositing some checks at BOA in the lobby downstairs. The cashier went out of her way to add a "keep the change" feature for me. Where whenever I use my BOA debit card, the charge will round up to the upper dollar amount, and the change is going to my saving, and BOA will match that change by depositing the same amount to my saving.

3) While I was setting this "keep the change" up, the banker suggest me to have a debit card with new background picture design. So I just picked the world traveler. My BOA debit card has been missing for quite a while, now that I am getting the new card without any extra hassle.


Kudos to monoprice and BOA! Yeah!

Can't imagine myself doing this.  = )

WOTD

Due to Christmas holiday, there is no toastmaster meeting today. But I happened to encountered an excellent word of the day.

contemplate

(kŏn'təm-plāt')
v., -plat·ed, -plat·ing, -plates. v.tr.

1. To look at attentively and thoughtfully. See synonyms at see¹.
2. To consider carefully and at length; meditate on or ponder: contemplated the problem from all sides; contemplated the mystery of God.
3. To have in mind as an intention or possibility: contemplate marriage; forced by the accident to contemplate retirement.

v.intr.

To ponder; meditate.

WII remote as an infrared camera

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Summer 2003, Mike Sinclair made an infrared laser pointer for me and I made an infrared camera using a deep red filter and a Creative webcam. After some tracking and geometric mapping, I build a remote controller using the laser point. I showed the demo to Bill Gates in MS science fair 2003.

Granted, the same setup can be used to demo a touch screen using the laser pointer. But at that time, we thought touch screen as a given, and there is really nothing exciting in inventing another one.

Right now, I think the innovation Johnny did was about lowering the cost of building a touch screen. Johnny is a talented guy. I like his $14 stablizer, too.

1st time Tabletopic Toastmaster

Today I got to be the tabletopic toastmaster for the first time. I raised a fairly simple topic.

 

"Fellow toastmasters, today's topic is Personal Computer. Everyone here owns 1 or more PC at home or at work. We use them everyday. Overtime, we developed a relationship with our own PC. Sometimes, the relationship gets more personal than we wanted. Just like any relationship, there is ups and downs. Please tell us a story between you and your PC."

 

This topic sparkled more volunteers than I had expected: Tod talked about his $100 sinclair when he was a teenager. Nitin talked about his calculated that had to be hammered to turn on. VJ talked about a miracle where he format a harddrive but still found all the data intact.

 

Nan and Julian were both very positive with my job today. Too bad I don't have my leadership workbook yet, otherwise I could have scored a project on there.

成功的标准2

Ages ago, I wrote a blogpost on 成功的标准. Now that I know better, I think instead looking inwardly all the time, I really should redefine it in a broader way.

The most important thing in the world is not to make myself happy, but to make people around me happy. So if I can put a genuine smile on someone's face; that's a real success.

And there is no ultimate success or eternal happiness. There is only one small success at a time, like little shinning pebbles along my trace.

 

Ski Notes

My first ski was in Lake Tahoe in May 2005, when I first started working in Palo Alto. It was really late season and only the double diamond was open, so I rent a set of gear and take the lift up to the top, wearing my jeans and a wind breaker.

As the lift was gradually rising, I knew I was in trouble, but there is no going back. I had to get off at the top and ski (or shall we say fall) all the way down the slope.

That was pretty bad, although my DSLR bag (yes I also so naive to have brought my camera with me) took more hi from the crash than my head. My only instruction was given by another skier sitting beside me on the lift, who said "you need to turn."

Well, I guess that saved my life.

 

My 2nd ski was around Jan 2006 in Japan, where I ski with Guangyu at Nikko. Neither of us knew anything about ski. Except guangyu didn't have the bad experience I had. At the end of the day, we were able to stop without hitting someone or crash. That was good.

My 3rd ski was in Kirkwood, CA, March 2006. I went with a group of friends, I learned a bit more about scoping the fallline from skiing with Jason. He was a snowboarder, and architect. The next weekend I went up with the same group, because we got too many lift tickets and the season was about to close. From there I did learn a lot of skiing and was able to try blue runs for once. But I am still more comfortable with the green runs.

 

My 4th ski was 2006 winter in Steven's pass, with another Jason, my colleague. This time I did even better, but in the end of the day, when we were almost finished, I crashed into him and knocked him out. That left a psychological trauma to me and a physical one to Jason. Both of us recovered well.

 

This weekend was my 5th ski. I am really getting the hang of it with sharp consecutive turns. I can negotiate 40 plus deg slopes without crashing. That was pretty amazing. My ski instructor, Reggie, taught me the following tips:

1) always lean forward (dynamic balance is different from static balance)

2) relax your legs and don't panic (that's especially helpful when the surface gets bumpy)

3) tilt both of your skis to one side will give you smoother ride. (I practice a bit, and that was really fun)

4) keep your knees bent and lean against your ski boots. Your leg muscle will go sour, that's part of the game.

 

The Crystal lodge was absolutely awesome, rooms are spacious and well-equipped. Next time, definitely get a room close to the outdoor hotwater pool.

     

Latest on Team Cringely for Google Lunar X Prize

Apparantly Jeff's Blue Origins lost a lead engineer to Cringely.

"So Team Cringely now has a Program Manager, a role I gladly hand over so I can go back to evangelizing and raising money. Our Program Manager is Tomas Svitek, who has a PhD from Caltech, was a systems engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the NASA Mars Scout, Mars Surveyor, Mars Sample Return and various Discovery Missions. He was the Principal Scientist for Orbital Sciences Corp., Project Leader for the BlastOff Lunar Lander project and AeroAstro's miniature spacecraft project. He has managed and completed projects for NASA, the U.S. Air Force Research Lab, Microcosm Inc., and SpaceX Corp.. He was lead engineer for Jeff Bezos' Blue Origins crew capsule and has long run his own space consulting company in California.

With the help of Tomas and the rest of Team Cringely we will within 18 months land on the Moon and claim the Google Lunar X Prize. Doing so -- and doing it at a profit -- will show the world there is another way to explore space, drawing new players with new rules into this exciting future.

"

Dr. Svitek has a daunting resume. But is that enough to launch a rover on the moon? We will see.

Japanese economy

Nikkei 225 plummet 4% last Friday. I felt fortunate for having cashed out earlier.

It's interesting the way they describe the market as if it has a life and free will of its own, e.g. " 'the market tried to make its way back and couldn't hold it', said Yuichi Matsushita, a market strategist at Nikko Securities. "  

 

Truth is, anything excessively good won't last long.

 

Do I hear any echo from Shengzhen and Shanghai? 

Whatever will be will be

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Avocado

Avocado has a really distinct taste, that can only be acquired after you first make up your mind to accept it.

One way to persuade yourself is to try California rolls or Guacamole, an avocado-based relish or dip.

 

Another way is to read the following about its nutritional value (from wikipedia):

A whole medium avocado contains approximately 35 grams of fat, though most of it is monounsaturated fat. Avocados also have 60% more potassium than bananas. They are rich in B vitamins, as well as vitamin E and vitamin K.^[5]. They have the highest fiber content of any fruit - including 75% insoluble and 25% soluble fiber^[6].

A fatty triol (fatty alcohol) with one double bond, avocadene (16-heptadecene-1,2,4-triol), is found in avocado and has been tested for anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. These properties are likely related with the curative effects of avocado described for a number of ailments (diarrhea, dysentery, abdominal pains and high blood pressure).^[7]

脆弱与坚强

It used to be that I could sit and watch any movie from Miike Takeshi or Sogo Ishii. But since I become a Christian, I get much more vulnerable to cruelty, mentally or physically, exhibited in those movies. In that sense, I am weaker now.

My old rational was like what Jean-Paul Sartre said "Hell is others." In such a world, cruelty is a given, and one should train himself to get used to it, although not necessarily apply it. In some sense, I appeared stronger. But my casualty is losing all emotions together with my consciousness.

In the world of a Christian, everyone is blessed by God, whether he is a believer or seeker. This makes me much less cynical about right and wrong. Cruelties and lies are WRONG, period. They are caused by Satan, who seized the person acting that way.

Deep inside, I am now confident that I am doing the right thing and sticking to my core value, which makes me much stronger everyday. 

the wisdom to know the difference

I wasn't determined whether to go to SFCC until 11:30am. A lot of thoughts were going through my mind. I got so many things to do; maybe I should go back to work? maybe I should do some shopping? 

Fortunately I eventually decided to go. The minute I started singing with my friends, I know I have made the right decision.

We also witnessed the baptizing of Cathy, Tsuyu and Ted. They all gave very touching testimony of their path in accepting God. By listening to them, I got to resolve some of my own questions.

Finally Pastor Solomon's speech on "missing peace in life" was exactly what I have been experiencing.

During the service, I can feel the great burden that has been on my spirit the whole week were lifted from me Piece by piece. By the time I left SFCC, I was so relaxed and peaceful.

If there is any take-home message, I think it should be the following prayer that Tsuyu shared with us:

"
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
"

This prayer was originally given by Reinhold Niebuhr (http://www.lewrockwell.com/vuk/vuk10.html).

Multi-touch on a large display

I used to work on pervasive UI for large displays for some time, and when I first saw iPhone, the first reflection was "This is exactly what we are trying to do on a large display!"

Imagine or the iPhone gestures being ported to a 19" LCD screen and you can pinch to zoom in, flicker to scroll. How cool will that be!

And technically, it's quite viable. The hardware is almost there: HP's TouchSmart IQ770 PC uses two cameras on the top corners of the screen to turn a regular LCD screen into touch screen.

If we tweak the software, detecting multi-touch is not that hard.

However, there are rumors that the new Dell tablet  Latitude XT is going to support multi-touch. Well, we will know by the time XT is out this coming Tuesday.

29 years and counting

Thanks to all my friends and their kind wishes, I had a wonderful b-day.

This has been my best birthday ever. I am deeply obliged to people around me. They gave me the strength to turn my life around.

 

After all the turmoil, I am happy to find myself surviving the past year and eventually get back on a thriving path.

Just as I said a year ago, things are only going to get better :D

 

Today for the first time, I gave the dinner prayer. I was so nervous that I forgot to say "Amen" after the prayer. He knows everything and blesses me through friends with true belief.

a month with iPhone

It's almost a month since I dropped my Samsung Blackjack in Lake Washington and bought a iPhone on the same day. Every time I told people the story, they were like "that's exactly what I was planning to do."

Anyway, my courting with iPhone started like any relationship, I was suspicious about it and missed the features on my Blackjack (corporate email, wireless synch or calender and contact). I eventually found a solution to corporate email (thanks to Visto), which adds another $10 to my monthly bill (Darn, I could have implemented this solution myself).

As for calender and contact, I would just have to synch them through USB connection, which is less convenient but not too bad.

Did I mention the web browser in iPhone? And the pinch, flicker and zoom features? Absolutely love it! Especially now that most of my favorite websites have an iPhone version already. MultiTouch plus the large display, made it a day-and-night difference with the scroll only web browsing on Blackjack.

As for MSN chat, on Blackjack, there was a dedicated application, on iPhone I had to use meebo. But AT&T charges me separately for each MSN message I sent through Blackjack. It seems those messages were going through SMS instead of data network, which is probably why the latency was so terrible. iPhone + Meebo is way better. My only complain is that I have to enter my password every time I leave meebo and come back. And meebo reloading was also a bit corky. 

AT&T had intentionally leaked that iPhone2 is gonna ship early 2008. I am convinced that this cool toy is only going to get better with a 3G datalink and more applications. I hope apple would offer a firmware upgrade to at least give us incombants the new applications. But again, it's from the greedy Apple, so I am not counting on that kind of charity.

下一步烧什么

看了一眼 Leica M8和Panasonic LMC-L10, 发现自己已经过了迷信德国货的年纪。
看了一眼 Nikon D3, 觉得大块头已经烧到头了，该上口袋机了。
Ricoh GR-II is so overrated.
现在唯一的指望是:
Sigma DP-1早点出来吧!!!!

加勒比海十二日

准备

Ever这次可以说是认真负责，航海的行程安排，停泊和补给，都是他订好的，还做了一个wiki，真是很专业的说。 他还专门去学了scuba diving，为了给他当diving buddy, 我也学了两个周末。

11/7号Ever召集所有人开了个web conference。Alex自告奋勇搞定Puerto Rico的住宿，我负责租车和diving gear。

出发 11/15

半夜10:45的飞机，我和Ever照例提前一个半小时赶到SeaTac。Ever那天坚持要吃汉堡，后来才知道那天是他生日。习惯了coast-to-coast 的redeye，飞机还没离地我就睡的直冒泡泡了。到Charlotte 转机的时候，是东部时间凌晨6点。Layover 两小时，我们在机场吃了Mexican早饭，也可以算是rehearsal了。

到达 11/16

我和Ever下午两点到达San Juan机场, 一下飞机，就被热浪席卷，等行李的时候，我就换上了夏天的小衣襟短打扮。我和Ever乘Cape Air的九人小飞机去St. Thomas。Ever试图Standby早一班的飞机，但是找到出口时已经错过了登机时间，于是又回来和我碰头。整个旅程中AT&T的手机信号都很好，使得我们可以随时兵分两路。

Check in的时候Cape Air的人不光称行李，还要问体重，搞得我很担心自己会把飞机拉下来。 四点半到St. Thomas，在机场租车花了一个多小时，因为Rental car的柜台只有一个工作人员。等排到了我们，本来想租的吉普都租出去了，只好要了一辆Civic。Ever要赶在Yacht Club关门之前赶到船上，所以我们没来得及吃晚饭，就饥肠辘辘的往Compass Point Marina开。Ever一边开车一边说，“别忘了提醒我靠着路左边开，要不然我们都玩完。” St. Thomas的Downtown很小，路也很窄，我们刚好赶上了Rush hour, 堵的像蜗牛爬。一路上给Yacht Club的人打手机，生怕错过了拐弯口。那里的路都是编号的，我们也有地图，但是就是关键的拐弯口从来不标清楚哪边是什么路，有点八路军迷惑鬼子的阵势。 好容易在赶到Marina, 一个很和蔼的黑人兄弟Dennis正在Office外面等着呢。他帮我们把行李运上船。 我们chart的是一艘叫Dreamscape的48 feet的sailboat, 船舱很宽敞。

我和Ever同睡一个cabin, 相当于是船上的主卧室。

我们去路口的food center买了一点面包,香肠和水，就简单的解决的晚饭。Ever回机场接其他四个人，我找到Harbor里面的无线网，开始查email。

Ever, Alex, HC, CH, X十点多才到。Alex走下Companion Way，握手很有力。HC竟然是我老乡，我们来不及泪汪汪，就开始面临蚊子的猛烈攻势。

当大家听说可以无线上网，就拿出各自的笔记本，开始改Thesis, 回email, 船舱上下，变成了home office. 因为第二天不用早起，加上USVI的时区比NYC还早一个小时，大家那天都睡得很晚。

Alex, HC, CH, X是第一次在船上overnight, 对波浪轻柔的怀抱，还挺适应的。

启航 11/17

17号一早，吃完早饭，我和Alex到food center按照拟好的shopping list扫货，Alex是一把说干就干的好手，使我对以后的旅程信心百倍。

USVI的grocery store有不少与美国大陆不同的地方：首先是没有sales tax, 所以有些东西比在Seattle买还便宜，比如我买的倍受称赞的富士苹果，一磅只要79 cent。 另外就是店里店外的shopping cart是严格分开的，Checkout的时候，有黑人兄弟用店外的shopping cart送到车上，不过tip就免不了要破费了。

中饭我们乘charterboat自带的dinghy去harbor对面的一家grill店。这里的服务是标准的island time, 上几个burger的功夫，我们已经给栏杆边上的两只蜥蜴(iguana)拍了n张照片了。

吃完饭，我到diving center租了全套的diving gear（BCD, regulator, 4 tanks, diving flag）, charter company免费提供fins和snorkel。
下午一点，我们启航向St. John出发。因为Channel很窄，Dennis负责帮我们开出harbor.

St. John距St. Thomas只有半个小时的航程，我们很快到达St. John的Caneel Bay，所有人都迫不及待的要下水，可是玩之前先要把船固定好，也就是mooring,  因为船上的钩杆太短，我们捞mooring buoy的技术，受到了严峻的考验，Ever来回绕了几圈，才把船停好。

Ever一声号令，大家就纷纷跳上dinghy，开着小船上岸去拥抱加勒比的白色沙滩。Alex更是二话不说直接跳下水游了过去。 我们第一次snorkeling，竟然就看到了stingray, 听说有好事者被stingray的尾巴扎死，我只敢在上方跟着它游。stingray原地转弯的时候，翅膀扇动着，有一种外星异形的感觉。

 

当晚，我们在Ma
ho Bay mooring overnight。 

 

晚上HC主勺，我做副手，完成一顿丰盛的spaghetti和steak, 收拾完碗筷，我们开始在甲板上打Texas Hold'em。

HC不愧是做饭高手，一边打牌，一边看着炉子上的炖牛肉。

开始挂彩以后，作为MBA代表的Alex的运气无人能敌，我顷刻之间就被show了两把hand。HC虽然手气和我一样差，但是坚持value bet, 每次都能把桌上个人的牌估个八九不理十。Ever认真负责，一边看海图一边下注，也输了不少。CH则继续改她的thesis,让我们汗颜。

晚上因为天气热和避免断背，Alex和HC没有共睡一床。HC在主舱的沙发上将就了。CH和X似乎相安无事，只是蚊子把CH狠狠的咬了个伤痕累累。

潜水 11/18

18号天一亮，我就醒了，看着甲板上的朝露，和东方的霞光，想：“这才叫渡假呀！”

我决定给大家做bacon煎鸡蛋。在摇晃的船舱里做饭，是有些tricky的，比如炉子的底部要松开，让它自由的象秋千一样晃。

上午，我们向British Virgin Island行驶，虽然法律上我们是不能过境的，但是看看周围没有海岸警卫队，我们还是仗着胆子往BVI的水道走了不少。说起来我们也算去了英国了。

中午，大家在船上吃自制的三明治，还有HC炖的牛肉。

下午，去Trunk Bay看著名的underwater trail，那里水深只有不到10 feet, 人在上面snorkel, 可以看到下面的各种生物和珊瑚礁，还有不少路牌说明旁边的生物是什么。

我们在Francis Cay mooring overnight，因为那里既可以scuba diving, 也可以snorkeling。我们下水之前先用dinghy把X送到岸边wind surfing的地方。

回到船上，我们开始准备第一次Caribbean scuba diving。这也是我和Ever第一次在没有教练的情况潜水。我用背滚式如水后，才发现忘了inflate BCD，整个人跟着氧气罐象石头一样向下沉，好在有呼吸器，没有喝水。不过我一浮上来就赶紧告诉Ever,别忘了BCD。HC和CH 在一边看得直捏一把汗。

Ever也有点紧张，把snorkel当成了regulator放在嘴里，结果一下水就喝了个够。我们都很庆幸没被教练看到我们的菜鸟错误，要不一定给吊销潜水证。一番有惊无险以后，我们游到船头，顺着mooring buoy的链子下潜。Ever一边下一边捏着鼻子，我在30feet的海底朝上看，阳光被海水过滤成了蓝绿色。Ever带路，我们开始往靠近岩壁的海岸游。看到的鱼和上午scuba diving的时候差不多，但是可以自由上下，我用呼吸来控制深度。

三十分钟潜下来，我的tank里面的气已经从3100磅降到1000磅，Ever却还有1500磅。Ever说和我做diving buddy划不来，我没气了，他也要上水面。但是他后来想到了用换用氧气罐的方法来
让我们同时没气。

Alex时不时的用各种姿势跳下水，直到我们告诉他船上的human waste全排在周围了，他才赶紧上了船。

潜水 11/19

上午我们绕道BVI去Coral Bay, 一路上风很好，Ever决定升帆，谁知刚开始sail, 瓢泼大雨就到了，因为船舱里面很晕，所有人都披着塑料袋在甲板上。BVI到St. John之间的Channel不是很宽，在半顶风的情况下，我们tack了好几把，所有人都累得不行。Ever决定收帆。老天爷就是喜欢开玩笑，刚收好帆，雨就停了。

在Coral Bay停船，我们用dinghy把HC, CH, Alex和X送St. John岛上去hiking，我和Ever回到船上，想找到沉船的遗迹，未遂，于是随便找了个小岛边上，七手八脚的穿上gear, 小潜了二十分钟。我用完了第一罐气。

晚上我们上St. John吃晚饭, Alex去购物，和一只绒毛小海龟失之交臂，令他唏嘘不已。

饭桌上，大家聊起一天的行程，才知道hiking的小分队在岛上做了半个小时惊险刺激的“过山车”，被晃到了岛另一端的游客中心；他们一致认为，还好小巴是all-wheel-drive，要不真就没命了。 St. John岛上很荒凉，当地除了游人就没啥可玩的东西了。Alex和HC, CH坐车去一处ruin参观；X，要了本地图去scenic points拍照。

我们马不停蹄的在上菜前继续打Taxes Hold'em. Ever则消失了，后来才知道，一向负责的船长是去跟当地人陶瓷，问去St. Croix的情况。因为天气预报说有雨，我们做了两手准备，明天如果下雨就留在St. John, 如果天气好，就按照原计划出发去St. Croix。

航行 11/20

因为从St. John要航行6-8个小时才能到St. Croix, 我们6点钟起床，天气还好，只是天边聚集了一片乌云。我们决定跟老天爷赌一把，7点向St. Croix启航。有了18日在大雨里行船的经历，我们分外小心。瞄准乌云的缺口用Motor行进。

只等到路程过半，确认过了雨云才升帆。东风不用借就充满了帆，基本一路都是beam reach，很适合我们的西南南的航向，我们一路port tack不用换。

 

终于在下午一点左右赶到St. Croix的Green Cay Marina, 我们下船吃了一顿午饭，租车到downtown Christiansted。

mooring两天之后，我们终于重新靠岸停船，得以补给船上的食物和淡水，睡了一个不那么摇晃的觉。

Buck Island 潜水 11/21

上午我们开船20分钟左右到Buck Island，Motor了一段，Alex在船头发现海豚，一群海豚在我们的船周围跳跃，翻滚。

我还是第一次在水族馆外面看海豚表演。 Buck Island的水道只有不到8 feetæ·±, 所以停在那里的都是不用keelçš„Catamaran，我们冒险停船的时候，风把船吹向更潜的地方，rudder在水底轻轻蹭了一下，Ever用他第一个tank里面剩的æ°
”，潜下水看了看，damage不大，才算放心。

我和Ever又scuba diving了40分钟，我用完了另一罐气。其他人都在四周snorkeling。 Alex的评语是“Buck Island就是浪大点，景色尚可，下面黑漆漆的一片珊瑚也挺吓人的。”

下午我们上岸，驾车去St. Croix岛的东端的Point Udall ，那里也是美国的国土最东端。

晚上Alex和X到了Marine office买了几个代币，洗了四锅衣服，咬了两口汉堡。我和HC开始研究如何beat Korbell赢得$1million的Netflix competition。之后继续开牌，Alex前几天赢得近30块，被他的克星船长3把5把show掉了，心痛不已！  

"The Wall" 潜水 11/22

St. John的Cay Bay有个著名的海底悬崖，人称"The wall", 不能不去。Alex和X各花$65买了discovery tour, 可以private guide带着下水，不用潜水证。他们在导游的带领下，直接乘小艇到the wall的正上方，下潜40 feet左右, 看到了真的海龟。上来后两人都说一边耳朵疼，可能是equalize的不够。

我和Ever问清楚做小艇出去要一人$60, 决定自己从岸边游过去。我们给tank罐了气，问清楚路线，从沙滩下水。据当地人讲，因为海底悬崖的缺口，那里的海面下方，有向海里涌的rip tide, 与海面上向岸上涌的浪的方向相反，所以游泳的人，若是离开岸边一段距离，就会被冲离海岸，非常危险。

我们自恃有scuba gear, 还是下水了。游出去一点之后，就有靠着rip tide的帮忙，很顺利的从The wall的一个缺口出到海底悬崖的外侧。下潜之前，我的weight belt突然松了，我在水面上费了好大力气才重新系好，浪费了不少tank里的压缩空气。

这一次是我们潜得最深的一次，达到80多feet, 不过大部分海洋生物都在30 feet左右。潜得深，空气也用得快，所以我们没有在80 feet多待，沿着悬崖潜水，确实很酷，有武林高手飞檐走壁的感觉。

回来的时候，要逆着潮水游，我被冲到了满是礁石的左侧岸边，就在脑袋险险要撞在礁石上的瞬间，我下意识的一转身，气罐重重的撞在礁石上，肩膀上被锋利的石头划出了几道深深的的口子，我转过身，趁着下一个浪头还没来，赶紧往岩石上方爬，HC也从岸上过来拉我，我算是死里逃生。之后我就在岸上喝啤酒压惊，连掉在近海的weight belt，也不敢去捡了。

下午我们开车去Frederiksted Downtown, 看到一个很大的Cruise码头，只是因为大部分Cruise都停靠BVI, 那里显得有些荒凉。

当天晚上，我们找到渔民的市场，买到$5一磅的fresh catch龙虾，但是没敢买那些五颜六色的鱼。HC还在超市看到$2一磅的中国产兔肉，赶紧拿回来炖了。

我们的Texas Hold'em赌局升级到$5一把。由于Ever缺席，Alex赢了个盆满铂满，但是还是念念不忘他的绒毛小海龟。

返航 11/23

因为要6-8小时回St. John, 我们照例一大早出发。这次天气很好，我们一出港就升帆，一路starboard tack，航速约7-8 node, 最高达到10 node。SF的GPS不光发挥了必不可少的导航作用，还纠正了船上的测速仪的误差。

路上我们又看到海豚，不知和来的时候看到那些是不是同一拨。

 

下午回到St. Thomas, 船没有进港，我开dinghy回到diving center，又要了一副weight belt。到little lameshur停船潜水。

这一次竟然看到两只海龟，我还游到它背后试图抱住它，可是海龟在水里比我灵多了。我们的相机进水了，所以下面这张只好借用网上的海龟照片了。

 

因为是最后一次潜水，我捡了一个大海螺上船，发现里面还是活的，于是煮了吃肉，壳留下做纪念。

波多黎各游 11/24

从St. Thomas乘Cape Air的小飞机回San Juan。我们上了早一班的飞机，但是最后还是在寒冷的baggage claim等行李。

我去取minivan，从此Ever船长卸任，我由大副改任司机。

我们住在离机场不远的Old San Juan，那里的downtown很热闹，很难找到停车位，我这个司机就负责走到三个block之外的century parking去park车。 Hotel Milano里门童到领班都有一种意大利口音，但是lobby的装饰有不少是中国的假古董。顶层的全景餐厅，还有《重庆森林》里面的那种点唱机。

当天下午玩了两个城堡。El Morro比较大，是西班牙人防守San Juan岛的前沿阵地。历代受到荷兰，英国，美国的数次进攻。它外面的大草坪上，有很多当地人在放风筝，里面有小孩化妆成海盗。

Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Caba?a 是一个比较小的城堡，是为了防止敌人从内陆绕到El Morro背后进攻。我进去看到有一个日本的摄制组在拍摄岩壁上的蜡笔彩画。

    

晚上我们逛Old San Juan的石板街，窄窄的街道和几步一座的小广场，加上所有人都说西班牙语，更增添了一种南欧的感觉。那天是周六晚上，San Juan的酒吧门口车水马龙，震耳欲聋的音乐，到半夜三点还能听见。所以沿街的房间虽然方便看街景，也要配备耳塞才好。

   

Alex的波多黎各roomate介绍的炒饭很好吃，还有一种叫Medalla的local beer也很棒。

El Yunque 11/25

El Yunque的热带雨林要从Old San Juan开车一小时才能到。我们刚开始爬山，就下起了大雨。Well, that's why it's called rain forest. 好在我们在上山路上的小店里买了雨衣。

中午送HC上飞机，我们继续前往Bio bay, 去看泻湖Laguna Grande的"星尘之夜"。 我们本来想take kayak tour, 可是仅有的两家公司都book满了。我们在到处乱转找灯塔的时候，竟然在山腰看到了一个船主的后院，于是book了他的船，$45一个人。

然后一边吃晚饭一边等6:30pm开船。 我们都点了Pina Colada (一种由菠萝汁和rum配成的鸡尾酒), 只有Alex点了不含酒精的Virgin Pina Colada, 等上菜的功夫，这位帅哥竟然用问歌名这么老套的方法和waitress搭讪。

吃到6:30 pm，我们找到小船停靠的地方，经过和船主讲价，未遂，我们如数付了钱，上了船。乘小船穿过一片水中的树林（树枝上不时可以看到蜥蜴，奇怪的是导游仿佛知道他们在黑暗中躲藏的位置）。

进到泻湖里，我突然发现船溅起的水花是荧光的。船主解释是，水里面的微生物遇到刺激会发光。Alex干脆跳到水里，开始使劲打水，他的身边都是荧光。原来这就是所谓的stardust呀。还要在没有月亮的晚上才能看到。

返回 11/26

早晨天光微明我就醒了，顺手拿过枕边的iphone查email, 看到有一个HC的missed call, 是凌晨12点左右的。我决定送CH去机场，我顺便把lobby里面两个等出租车的人也送过去了。

最后看一眼Puerto Rico, 想起来在El Yunque偶然遇到的一个当地人，问我：“What do you like most about Puerto Rico?” 我想说是沙滩，阳光，但是如果只让我选一样，那一定是岛上悠闲的生活节奏：什么都可以做，什么也都可以不做。