an awful week

i've been struggling with my final term project for a while.
(AIPS is really confusing and processing VLA data is really frustrating!!)
i think what i can conclude is, after finishing it up, i won't be a radio astronomer !! XD

i would love to thank Pei-Ying especially, for her kindness responding me tons of questions emails and for her patience not being angry when i bugging her on skype whether during daytime or at night. she is so lovely and nice! oh, and she is really helpful, always answering my questions in the right way (unlike our radio astronomy course teacher, he often answered B when we asked him A question).

well, it's time to go back to my final homework...i also struggled with my programs using several thousands SF models to fit the data. but at least, i've solved that after several days..Ahhhhhhhhh...why it's so time consuming!

it has been an awful week. for working whole day long. i have to go back home in the evening and have dinner in an hour and drive back to my office and work until midnight. in the past few days, i only saw one car or two passing by when i drove back home along route 116 at 1 am. well, it was a little bit scary at first. but then i get used to it. no matter what, working for such a long time really made me almost exhausted and unconscious sometime. pump it up, cindy!!

I Love Spring!

期盼已久的春天終於又來了，感覺今年冬天特別難熬。
看到枯枝漸漸長出新的嫩芽，花朵不知不覺也已到處盛開，心情不禁跟著愉悅起來。

慢慢體會住在這美國東北角的好處，能深刻體驗「春夏秋冬」的四季變化，是當初料想不到的驚喜。
天氣變得好溫暖宜人，假日終於可以和朋友出外踏青爬爬山，
連我的supervisor都說："today is a beautiful day! isn't it? enjoy it!"
真喜歡春天啊～:)

Walk for Hunger 2009

Carla約我們參加一年一度的Boston走路活動--Walk for Hunger (held by Project Bread)!! 這是第41屆了，從Boston Common出發，經過Boston, Cambridge, Newton等城市，也會經過MIT, Harvard, and Boston College，繞一大圈，最後回到Boston Common。全長20miles (相當於32公里)。
我先在活動網頁上報名，參加了Carla組的迷你13人team-BUCC. 除了自己捐款外，也鼓勵親朋好友一同有錢出錢、有力出力(就是走路啦！)
很早就報名這個活動的我，算是期待許久。心裡總想說，啊不就是走路嗎? 我很喜歡走路啊！應該很好玩吧 :D

前一晚借宿在朋友書維家，快一點才睡。早上六點起床，八點半開始走，我很訝異大家走路的腳程都很快，不像是悠閒的散步，而像是快走！XD 仔細想了一下，嗯～的確需要走快些，要不然太陽下山前應該是走不完全程的...中途有設一些check points，免費提供飲水和流動廁所(portable restrooms)，還有義工們會幫我們在地圖上畫笑臉:) (註記已走到某某mile)。路上交通管制，整個人群隊伍就大剌剌的走在馬路上，感覺真過癮！也有許多人沿途幫我們大聲加油 and give me five！也有band在一些定點演奏音樂，若真的走不動了，有些地方有公車把妳載回終點站。

好多人喔....

春天的Boston很美，沿途百花盛開，又有涼風徐徐吹拂，真是個適合走路的好天氣啊，感謝老天爺！

 Carla, Caitlin and Kate. Caitlin也有下來走一段路喔.. :)

中間走走停停，但是都是只喝喝水，吃些小點心，上個廁所後就又繼續走了。我發現從10.5miles後我們就沒有休息了。朋友彥含和我走在一起，彼此加油打氣，還confirm現在酸痛到哪個程度了..我們發現我們都是從腳指開始痛(我是因為下坡某腳趾一直撞到鞋子)，接著膝蓋後面下方小腿處很酸痛，下一階段是腳掌前半塊很酸痛、有灼熱感(喔天啊～我怎麼記得那麼詳細@@)。不知道走到幾miles後，就開始一起痛了！而且我們發現，這時千萬不能停下來休息，一停下來，要再重新啟動就非常困難。走到最後，簡直就是靠意志力在撐。同儕壓力很可怕，本來腳很酸好想坐下來休息，但看到周遭還一堆人在走，就繼續努力。路邊很多可愛的大看板很encouraging..像是Keep it Up!  Pump it Up!  You can do it!  You are the Best!  You're gonna make it after all !

沒錯～親愛的腳啊～請堅持下去。再撐一下，就快到了！！

終於..在下午五點時，我和彥含做最後衝刺，還奮力小跑步了一下，衝過終點線！YEAH！we made it！20 miles walk!! i found myself crazy doing this, but isn't that awesome?! ;)

彥含、Caitlin及我。Caitlin是我們的小天使，她總在我們休息時很大方分享給我們她的食物，抱抱我們，說些可愛的話。看著她，體力又迅速恢復啦～不過Carla和Jason很辛苦，能夠推著Caitlin的stroller走完20miles，真的很不簡單！:)

喜歡走路嗎? 來參加這種有意義的活動吧！:)

PS:
1. 今年約有44,000人參加，募得捐款截至目前為止共$3.8million美金。

2. 很多朋友乍聽到這個活動，第一個反應竟然都是: 那你們中途有吃東西嗎? (OS:我們當然有喝水和吃一些小點心啊..要不然應該是爬完全程吧XD) 然後又很「嚴苛」的說: 不是為飢餓而走嗎?! 那怎麼還吃東西呢? (OS:嗚嗚..我們是響應這個活動啦..但是自己生命還是要顧的..^^")

3. Why Walk?
    Today in Massachusetts, more than 522,000 people are struggling to put food on the table. They include the Commonwealth's most vulnerable citizens--children, senior adults, people with chronic illness, and the working poor. They're suffering from an increase in poverty and the high cost of living. Last year, Project Bread-funded emergency food programs provided more than 43.4 million meals to hungry people.
    As a Walk for Hunger participant, you've just demonstrated your personal commitment to helping us alleviate hunger.