Read an article today discussing the cure of stress by science.
It starts with a story about a professor in Stanford to inspect the stress of baboon in Africa. The professor found that the ranking of baboon in their highly hierarchical society can great affect the level of stress. The result is also confirmed by other studies of rat, civil servants in England. Some interesting findings say that high demanding work like high level executive may not be stressful, as they have more control over their job. However, low level job like security and typist are more stressful as their can't get any satisfaction from their jobs. The punch line is the higher your position is, the longer you live. :-) SO, it's a perfect reason why everyone want to get promotion!
It also unravels the chemical factor of stress. Some chemical, (can't recall the name) generated by the amygdala in brain may increase when people are in stress. When people are in stressful state, other functionality of the body may be suppressed as all the energy may be used to handle the stress, as the natural consequence of evolution.
When people are in chronic stressful state, their body tend to be venerable as the immune system, neuron system may not be functioning in good status. Stress can result in heart stroke, diabetes, and other cardiovascular diseases.
The professor in Stanford is actually trying to develop a vaccine like drug to "cure" stress. I highly doubt the usefulness of the drug. Even it is useful, I thought it may not be a good thing as stress can also be good to people. People may improve himself and learn to handle stress, which may benefit them eventually. Stress can be a two blades sword.
Anyway, it also presents some methods to handle stress, like make friends, little of drink, face the fear, meditation, exercise when you like to, ...
Read another article about the death of phone call. It said the people are now making less phone call, instead using text message, or twitter, or IM more. The author usually won't take unscheduled call except from his mom. LOL. The punch line is, we are making less phone call but talk more.
After written this post, I realized that it is very true the ancient Chinese adage, "opening a book will always benefit you". Yes, I learned a lot from reading.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
iphone4
I plan to upgrade to my cell phone to iPhone 4, but it is hard to get one right now in Canada. The hungry marketing of Apple is so successful. Everyone has to be patient to get the latest model.
I come up with a Haiku for iPhone 4 on the bus this morning.
----------------------
slim sharp stylish
retina display has more
hold with fingers
I come up with a Haiku for iPhone 4 on the bus this morning.
----------------------
slim sharp stylish
retina display has more
hold with fingers
running, immigration
I've done quite a lot of reading recently during commute.
I was reading Runner's World, Business Week, and The Economist.
One article on the August's Runner's World about the life of two running coaches with the background of new illegal immigrant law in Arizona did touch me. The life of the illegal immigrates in the states are really miserable. The poor kids from Mexico were brought to the states by their parents. They had been living un underworld life without legal identity for 20 years. They learned English and went to school, got paid in low wage doing labour works. Only when they can get married with a US citizen can they be sponsonored a US citizenship. The two coaches had similar background and were runners in school. Running made them strong. The story is weaven with running of the high school students and the immigration issue. Sigh, the US legal identity is a nightmare to every immigrant. Even people with higher education in the US had to fight for their "green card", being "slaved" by US companies for many years. I saw and heard a lot of similar stories about Chinese students struggling to get the "green card".
It's a big topic about the immigration in the US. We are lucky to have obtained the immigrate status in Canada without too much suffers. Canada is a lot more friendly to immigrates then the States.
I was reading Runner's World, Business Week, and The Economist.
One article on the August's Runner's World about the life of two running coaches with the background of new illegal immigrant law in Arizona did touch me. The life of the illegal immigrates in the states are really miserable. The poor kids from Mexico were brought to the states by their parents. They had been living un underworld life without legal identity for 20 years. They learned English and went to school, got paid in low wage doing labour works. Only when they can get married with a US citizen can they be sponsonored a US citizenship. The two coaches had similar background and were runners in school. Running made them strong. The story is weaven with running of the high school students and the immigration issue. Sigh, the US legal identity is a nightmare to every immigrant. Even people with higher education in the US had to fight for their "green card", being "slaved" by US companies for many years. I saw and heard a lot of similar stories about Chinese students struggling to get the "green card".
It's a big topic about the immigration in the US. We are lucky to have obtained the immigrate status in Canada without too much suffers. Canada is a lot more friendly to immigrates then the States.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Tang Jun - the celebrity liar
The story about Tang Jun's fake education has been populated on the Internet for a while. I had no interests in this liar, and no need to add some fuel to this fire. However, when I was reading "The Economist" yesterday. This cheater's name was mentioned in one article about the corruption in education and publish in China. He was depicted as a celebrity executive got less swanky degree from California. It actually beautifies the cheater.
He is really a celebrity now with his name referred in "The Economist". The liar.
He is really a celebrity now with his name referred in "The Economist". The liar.
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
I had read some posts recently about the 7 habits again. So, maybe its a good time to refresh my memory about the 7 good habits.
The first 3 is to get yourself independent and the next 3 is to get interdependent. The last one is the way to keep improving yourself along the road.
My summary of good habits includes:
- be proactive
- begin with the end in mind
- put first thing first
- think win/win
- seek to understand, then be understood
- synergize
- sharpen the saw
The first 3 is to get yourself independent and the next 3 is to get interdependent. The last one is the way to keep improving yourself along the road.
My summary of good habits includes:
- proactive
- planning and persistency
- prioritize properly
- keep learning
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
de-weed
I was fighting with weeds on backyard tonight after dinner. It's not an easy task, I realized it when my legs were numb and heavy.
I love the experience and I found the fun gradually. The joy especially come when I got rid of the weed by following the leave to stalk, from stalk to root.
I learned how to debug in computer, and I learned how to de-weed in backyard. :-)
They are similar, indeed. Both bug and weed are hidden in the good code and grass. You have to be patient. Only when you found the root cause of the bug or root of the weed, can you remove it completely.
The weeds are outstanding in the lawn and you thought how hard it can be to remove them since they are there still always. But, when you start to work on them, you found that they are unwilling to leave the ground, and the root are hidden very deep. You followed the stalk, and you just found the stalk are interwoven under the grass like lattice. You don't want to hurt your grass so that it's another hurdle to remove just the root of the weed ...
Anyway, a lot of fun and the experience are good to me. I fixed two weeds today and work on more then.
I love the experience and I found the fun gradually. The joy especially come when I got rid of the weed by following the leave to stalk, from stalk to root.
I learned how to debug in computer, and I learned how to de-weed in backyard. :-)
They are similar, indeed. Both bug and weed are hidden in the good code and grass. You have to be patient. Only when you found the root cause of the bug or root of the weed, can you remove it completely.
The weeds are outstanding in the lawn and you thought how hard it can be to remove them since they are there still always. But, when you start to work on them, you found that they are unwilling to leave the ground, and the root are hidden very deep. You followed the stalk, and you just found the stalk are interwoven under the grass like lattice. You don't want to hurt your grass so that it's another hurdle to remove just the root of the weed ...
Anyway, a lot of fun and the experience are good to me. I fixed two weeds today and work on more then.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
First time driving a cargo van
I had rented a Penske cargo van in the last long weekend to transport some furniture I bought online.
It's my first time driving a cargo van, which is much bigger than a minivan. It's a full-sized van, like Ford E250. The experience is precious to me. There is no rear mirror in the van, only side mirrors are available. As I am used to checking on the rear mirror when driving, I have to be very prudent when I first started the engine. I bought the day insurance, which I originally rejected. The truck is pretty high, so your horizon is much better than driving a sedan.
The Penske truck rental is not bad. The cargo van is pretty big actually. The base price is $39.00, and per km is $0.21. Compared to U-Haul's $19.99 and ~$0.6 per km, it's a better deal to me at least, because I have to drive a long way from Vancouver to Surrey. I did some research online before I rent the truck. People was saying that the truck of Penske is better than that of U-Haul, so you have a better driving experience. Also, you have the truck for 24 hours, instead of the 4 hours from U-Haul. They have a 12% discount for AAA/CAA member as well.
The experience is precious to me, as I said. After the first time, I am more confident now to drive a bigger van, like 12/15 persons passenger van.
It's my first time driving a cargo van, which is much bigger than a minivan. It's a full-sized van, like Ford E250. The experience is precious to me. There is no rear mirror in the van, only side mirrors are available. As I am used to checking on the rear mirror when driving, I have to be very prudent when I first started the engine. I bought the day insurance, which I originally rejected. The truck is pretty high, so your horizon is much better than driving a sedan.
The Penske truck rental is not bad. The cargo van is pretty big actually. The base price is $39.00, and per km is $0.21. Compared to U-Haul's $19.99 and ~$0.6 per km, it's a better deal to me at least, because I have to drive a long way from Vancouver to Surrey. I did some research online before I rent the truck. People was saying that the truck of Penske is better than that of U-Haul, so you have a better driving experience. Also, you have the truck for 24 hours, instead of the 4 hours from U-Haul. They have a 12% discount for AAA/CAA member as well.
The experience is precious to me, as I said. After the first time, I am more confident now to drive a bigger van, like 12/15 persons passenger van.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
move into new house in South Surrey
We have moved into our new house in South Surrey at the end of May.
Finally got almost everything unpacked and arranged. Moving feels like a change of your life. It is indeed. To move into a new neighborhood, new area, new city.
It takes about 3 weeks to get the Internet up and running. When I have to cuddle the baby at night, I remember I was walking into every room of the house and felt a sense of fulfillment.
Yes, a house is part of your "Canada Dream". Spent almost 10 years in Canada, it is about the time to start enjoy the life a little bit.
The commuting takes me about 90-100 minutes one way, by bus and skytrain. That's not too bad, considering it took me 60 minutes before from Burnaby to Richmond. If I drive, it takes about 45 minutes, much better than I had thought, if there is no accident on the bridges.
Anyway, I've posted a lot of photos of my new home online.
Finally got almost everything unpacked and arranged. Moving feels like a change of your life. It is indeed. To move into a new neighborhood, new area, new city.
It takes about 3 weeks to get the Internet up and running. When I have to cuddle the baby at night, I remember I was walking into every room of the house and felt a sense of fulfillment.
Yes, a house is part of your "Canada Dream". Spent almost 10 years in Canada, it is about the time to start enjoy the life a little bit.
The commuting takes me about 90-100 minutes one way, by bus and skytrain. That's not too bad, considering it took me 60 minutes before from Burnaby to Richmond. If I drive, it takes about 45 minutes, much better than I had thought, if there is no accident on the bridges.
Anyway, I've posted a lot of photos of my new home online.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
The first email post: Engineers vs. Software Developers
Working in the new company for a week and I already feel the difference of the culture between the new company and my previous one.
One interesting point I found this morning, is the difference between Engineers and Software Developers.
In my previous company, it is a semi-conductor company and most of people working there were graduated with engineering degree although most of the people are still working on software development. While, in the new company, as most of the people here are working on software development, they have degree mostly in computer science, I guess.
People are working on software development, with different background and environment. Here are some difference I noticed.
* Tools:
* software developers like to use tools, all kinds of tools, for development like code analysis, for productivity like build tools, for fun like chatting, They like to change to different tools and try new tools if possible.
* engineers like tools as well, but mostly hardware tools, they don't want to change to different tools. If one tool works, use it forever.
* Documentation:
* software developers created a lot of document, organized or un-organized. That's why you need a search engine to dig out the useful information from the mammoth amount of documents. They intended to document a lot of steps and guide to share with others, as they know how hard it is to figure out those info.
* engineers don't like too much document. They believe the source code is the best source of information.
* Environment
* a lot of software developers like Linux environment
* many engineers prefer Windows, as a lot of tools are actually viable in Windows only
* Culture: geeky vs hacky
* many difference of software developers and engineers can be deducted from the culture difference. I would say the software developers are more geeky while engineers are most hacky. Geeky like to play around gadgets, tools, toys. Hacker like to fix things and get things done.
* engineers are more active apparently. They have a lot of sports activity. software developers like to stay in the cubicle and chat online and stay ..
* Philosophy:
* For software engineers, you can always improve the software as there are always new bugs introduced.
* For engineers, if it works, don't break it.
I am biased, as I am a software developer. :-) But I think software developers can still learn a lot from engineers.
--
Hao Leo Chen
http://leochen.net
One interesting point I found this morning, is the difference between Engineers and Software Developers.
In my previous company, it is a semi-conductor company and most of people working there were graduated with engineering degree although most of the people are still working on software development. While, in the new company, as most of the people here are working on software development, they have degree mostly in computer science, I guess.
People are working on software development, with different background and environment. Here are some difference I noticed.
* Tools:
* software developers like to use tools, all kinds of tools, for development like code analysis, for productivity like build tools, for fun like chatting, They like to change to different tools and try new tools if possible.
* engineers like tools as well, but mostly hardware tools, they don't want to change to different tools. If one tool works, use it forever.
* Documentation:
* software developers created a lot of document, organized or un-organized. That's why you need a search engine to dig out the useful information from the mammoth amount of documents. They intended to document a lot of steps and guide to share with others, as they know how hard it is to figure out those info.
* engineers don't like too much document. They believe the source code is the best source of information.
* Environment
* a lot of software developers like Linux environment
* many engineers prefer Windows, as a lot of tools are actually viable in Windows only
* Culture: geeky vs hacky
* many difference of software developers and engineers can be deducted from the culture difference. I would say the software developers are more geeky while engineers are most hacky. Geeky like to play around gadgets, tools, toys. Hacker like to fix things and get things done.
* engineers are more active apparently. They have a lot of sports activity. software developers like to stay in the cubicle and chat online and stay ..
* Philosophy:
* For software engineers, you can always improve the software as there are always new bugs introduced.
* For engineers, if it works, don't break it.
I am biased, as I am a software developer. :-) But I think software developers can still learn a lot from engineers.
--
Hao Leo Chen
http://leochen.net
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
iPhone app development (2)
I have some more application development idea for iPhone platform.
1. Language learning application, especially Mandarin.
The target customers are people who are learning Chinese.
2. A social game, with everyone can place some trap, or throw bomb.
3. A drifting bottle application, where you can place throw your drifting bottle into the sea, and the server will track down where the drifting bottle goes. You may also choose to scan and pickup other person's drifting bottle.
1. Language learning application, especially Mandarin.
The target customers are people who are learning Chinese.
2. A social game, with everyone can place some trap, or throw bomb.
3. A drifting bottle application, where you can place throw your drifting bottle into the sea, and the server will track down where the drifting bottle goes. You may also choose to scan and pickup other person's drifting bottle.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
distance running in Japan
I've read some article today about the distance running in Japan. One of the most popular distance running called "Ekiden", which means "post transmission". I can sure that it is coming from ancient Chinese, "Yi Zhan". It's a road relay race. In the article, it discusses the rigorous training and seriousness of the Japanese athletes. We knew that Japanese are serious. They are serious in every training. This is one of the reasons that Japan rise so fast after WWII. It worths of thinking and learning by our Chinese, I believe.
iphone app development
I was pondering about application development for smart phone, ex. iPhone, or Android for a while. It's almost certain that the smart phone will eventually replace every feature phone, when 3G prevails and data plan becomes cheaper. It's like the 1980s and 1990s, the pre-boom era of PC market. Mobile computing is finally here knocking our doors. Both the hardware, software, and infrastructure are ready for the big boom era to come.
There should be a lot of opportunities in this mobile computing era. For individual or small software company, to develop phone apps for other companies maybe a good way of making money.
For example, you can make an e-menu application for a restaurant. The multimedia menu application will be definitely better than traditional menu in the restaurant. You may sell the application to the restaurant for a one time fee, such like 3~5k. Or you may have a better strategy, to sell the app for only 3~5 hundred at first and charge the restaurant for $1 for every order coming through your app later on. Of course, your app should be able to make order and track the order.
For smaller business, the later pricing strategy may be appealing, as there isn't much upfront cost for them and they may be willing to pay commission later for orders. You may also develop websites for those restaurants will no current websites. This business model may be applied to other industries like entertainment, or ticketing business.
So, for this business model, it may be appealing to individual developers and small business market. That's a perfect match.
There should be a lot of opportunities in this mobile computing era. For individual or small software company, to develop phone apps for other companies maybe a good way of making money.
For example, you can make an e-menu application for a restaurant. The multimedia menu application will be definitely better than traditional menu in the restaurant. You may sell the application to the restaurant for a one time fee, such like 3~5k. Or you may have a better strategy, to sell the app for only 3~5 hundred at first and charge the restaurant for $1 for every order coming through your app later on. Of course, your app should be able to make order and track the order.
For smaller business, the later pricing strategy may be appealing, as there isn't much upfront cost for them and they may be willing to pay commission later for orders. You may also develop websites for those restaurants will no current websites. This business model may be applied to other industries like entertainment, or ticketing business.
So, for this business model, it may be appealing to individual developers and small business market. That's a perfect match.
Friday, April 23, 2010
2 weeks with the new born
Un-noticeably, two weeks passed since the baby was born. We have worked out a lot of things in these two weeks.
Why a baby will enrich the parents' life? Because when you bring a baby to the world, you gave him/her a life. You are reflecting your own memory of life. I think most of the people won't have any memory about their very early days since birth. You must be asking the same question again and again to your parent, "how was I doing when I was a new born?". Right now, with a new baby of your own, you finally have the chance to answer the question yourself. You were just like your own new baby when you were a new born at that time. It completes your life experience. Every parent should thank your own baby to complete your life.
When the baby was still in mother's uterus, I don't know what to expect and I was kind of worry about that. I doubt my ability of being a father as I have no experience and don't know what to prepare for this great role of a person's life. In the case room, when the baby first come out, she was so beautiful, crying loudly, like an angel. The feeling of fortunate suddenly filled my whole body. I looked at her. Her skin was pale pink and her lips are red and lovely. The first sight, I fell into her.
In the next couple of days, I was excited to get up every night when I heard of her crying. I learned to change diaper, swaddle the baby, cuddle her, talk to her and play with her. I felt so natural. Everything just comes smoothly and I don't have any complaint even though I was tired and felt fatigue. My lower back hurt a little bit for a few days when I have to lower myself to the height of the bed to change diapers for her. I had to get up several times at night to feed her and soothe her. There is no complaint from the bottom of my heart, and I felt happy and fortunate to be able to do so, as that's role of a father will do and can do.
With the baby grow up everyday, she becomes more responsive and I felt more rewarded.
It's two weeks since the baby was born. I just write the above for my feeling.
Why a baby will enrich the parents' life? Because when you bring a baby to the world, you gave him/her a life. You are reflecting your own memory of life. I think most of the people won't have any memory about their very early days since birth. You must be asking the same question again and again to your parent, "how was I doing when I was a new born?". Right now, with a new baby of your own, you finally have the chance to answer the question yourself. You were just like your own new baby when you were a new born at that time. It completes your life experience. Every parent should thank your own baby to complete your life.
When the baby was still in mother's uterus, I don't know what to expect and I was kind of worry about that. I doubt my ability of being a father as I have no experience and don't know what to prepare for this great role of a person's life. In the case room, when the baby first come out, she was so beautiful, crying loudly, like an angel. The feeling of fortunate suddenly filled my whole body. I looked at her. Her skin was pale pink and her lips are red and lovely. The first sight, I fell into her.
In the next couple of days, I was excited to get up every night when I heard of her crying. I learned to change diaper, swaddle the baby, cuddle her, talk to her and play with her. I felt so natural. Everything just comes smoothly and I don't have any complaint even though I was tired and felt fatigue. My lower back hurt a little bit for a few days when I have to lower myself to the height of the bed to change diapers for her. I had to get up several times at night to feed her and soothe her. There is no complaint from the bottom of my heart, and I felt happy and fortunate to be able to do so, as that's role of a father will do and can do.
With the baby grow up everyday, she becomes more responsive and I felt more rewarded.
It's two weeks since the baby was born. I just write the above for my feeling.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Just installed a blog for Alrisha Chen
I just installed a blog for Alrisha Chen at http://alrishachen.com using wordpress, which is really easy to install.
I have registered another http://alrisha.ca, which will be reserved for Alrisha. She may construct the website later based on her own opinion. I may use it as a photo/video sharing website for her as flickr/youtube may not be available in China though.
I have registered another http://alrisha.ca, which will be reserved for Alrisha. She may construct the website later based on her own opinion. I may use it as a photo/video sharing website for her as flickr/youtube may not be available in China though.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
A baby is born, a family is growing, a father is learning
A baby is born
a family is growing
a father is learning
altogether
haha, this is my first attempt of Haiku, very fun as it is simple.
Alrisha, my daughter was born on Apr. 8th, 23:15. An angel is brought to the earth by my wife, Linda.
Alrisha was so beautiful when I first saw her, pink skin, little mouth. She is so healthy as well, cried loudly and waved her arms swiftly.
A magic bond is established between me and her in my first sight of her. The blood is such a strong bond.
The next few days we have experienced similar troubles of most of the new parents. We are excited about the new baby but we don't know too much about how to take care of her.
The baby sleeps most of the time, whenever she wake up and cries, there must be something she want to express, such as she is hungry, she needs diaper change, she is preparing pooh ... what a different life experience for us.
I was thinking the new born is the best reflective experience of everyone. You are getting a chance to live what you've lived but forgotten. Everyone has lived the similar new born period but I don't think anyone has any memory of it. You are given a chance to re-live that period of time, by living with your baby. This is precious and the most valuable life experience you can ever have.
I may be sleepless at night, but I love it. When I saw the tranquil and satisfied face of my daughter, I think all the fatigue and exhaustion are definitely worthy.
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
poker night
Tonight is the poker night in our company. We played Texas Hold'em after work. There are six players come out tonight, much less than before. Anyway, I was just coming out after the organizer called in the announcement.
I won the game again tonight. Since 2005, I played 4 games in the company and I won 3 of them. Twice number one, and once top two and split the pot. That's fantastic. Seems that I have some talent in playing Texas Hold'em anyway. I'll find out maybe years later when I have more time to play pokers.
In today's game, D was wiped out of all his chips in the first hand against me. I had a 3-of-a-kind, which beat his 2 pairs with pocket Aces. This winning in the first hand built the base of my success in the whole game. I was aggressive since I was the chip lead. I had some luck tonight, with some small chances of winning hands. Anyway, the game was fun and I loved it.
I am usually aggressively prudent when I was playing pokers. I bluff sometimes, but I basically won't go too bluffly in the game. I guess I am good at reading other players' hands. I raise the bet when the opportunity is calling and I am afraid of going all-in when there are chances. I should study more about the Texas Hold'em, maybe I really has some knack of it. Winning the game in the company 3 out of 4 games are definitely not just lucky. Maybe most of the players in our company are lousy players. :-)
I won the game again tonight. Since 2005, I played 4 games in the company and I won 3 of them. Twice number one, and once top two and split the pot. That's fantastic. Seems that I have some talent in playing Texas Hold'em anyway. I'll find out maybe years later when I have more time to play pokers.
In today's game, D was wiped out of all his chips in the first hand against me. I had a 3-of-a-kind, which beat his 2 pairs with pocket Aces. This winning in the first hand built the base of my success in the whole game. I was aggressive since I was the chip lead. I had some luck tonight, with some small chances of winning hands. Anyway, the game was fun and I loved it.
I am usually aggressively prudent when I was playing pokers. I bluff sometimes, but I basically won't go too bluffly in the game. I guess I am good at reading other players' hands. I raise the bet when the opportunity is calling and I am afraid of going all-in when there are chances. I should study more about the Texas Hold'em, maybe I really has some knack of it. Winning the game in the company 3 out of 4 games are definitely not just lucky. Maybe most of the players in our company are lousy players. :-)
Saturday, April 03, 2010
three stages of doing things
I was pondering the idea of three stages of doing things when I was running today.
The three stages of doing things are based on some Chinese adages:
The first stage is: "The mountain is just the mountain."
What does it mean is that when you just start to do something, you only know the basic and you only learnt to do the thing by mimicking other people or learnt from some examples. In this stage, you probably have no idea about the underlying theory, or short of in-depth analysis on how to do thing efficiently or effectively. This is the beginner's stage. When I started running couple of years ago, I believe that I was in that stage. I just knew running is good and I'd like to run on treadmill for 30 minutes. I seldom run outside and seldom run more than 3 miles. The adage tells us that the mountain is just the mountain, you don't know about the tree, about the flora, and animals in the mountain.
The second stage is: "The mountain is not just the mountain."
What does this mean is that you now know more than on just how to do things. The mountain has more meaning to you. You not only knows the mountain, you also know the history, the stories, and some data of the mountain. So, the mountain is not just a simple mountain to you. As you have gained more experience and have learned more skills on the subject, you have insight knowledge and in-depth data on how to do things. This is a long stage and is very important as well. To my own experience, after I bought the Garmin 305 and read a lot of articles, some books about running, I understand the pace, split, heart rate, lactate level, threshold, vo2max, and so on. I have dig into different training plan, try to set proper running pace, and explore different running forms. This stage has lasted for a while maybe 2 years till now.
The third stage is: "The mountain is still the mountain."
This is the third stage of doing things and I think that I am entering the this stage of running. When I run outside, I would just have a simple watch with me. I don't care too much about the pace, the heart rate anymore. I just run with my heart and my own felling. I just run for fun. That's purely like the first stage of running. I simply just enjoy running. In this stage, you realized that the mountain is still the mountain, no matter how much details you know, it is still the same old mountain over there.
The three adages seemed quite philosophical and that's the zen, the wisdom of Chinese.
The three stages of doing things are based on some Chinese adages:
The first stage is: "The mountain is just the mountain."
What does it mean is that when you just start to do something, you only know the basic and you only learnt to do the thing by mimicking other people or learnt from some examples. In this stage, you probably have no idea about the underlying theory, or short of in-depth analysis on how to do thing efficiently or effectively. This is the beginner's stage. When I started running couple of years ago, I believe that I was in that stage. I just knew running is good and I'd like to run on treadmill for 30 minutes. I seldom run outside and seldom run more than 3 miles. The adage tells us that the mountain is just the mountain, you don't know about the tree, about the flora, and animals in the mountain.
The second stage is: "The mountain is not just the mountain."
What does this mean is that you now know more than on just how to do things. The mountain has more meaning to you. You not only knows the mountain, you also know the history, the stories, and some data of the mountain. So, the mountain is not just a simple mountain to you. As you have gained more experience and have learned more skills on the subject, you have insight knowledge and in-depth data on how to do things. This is a long stage and is very important as well. To my own experience, after I bought the Garmin 305 and read a lot of articles, some books about running, I understand the pace, split, heart rate, lactate level, threshold, vo2max, and so on. I have dig into different training plan, try to set proper running pace, and explore different running forms. This stage has lasted for a while maybe 2 years till now.
The third stage is: "The mountain is still the mountain."
This is the third stage of doing things and I think that I am entering the this stage of running. When I run outside, I would just have a simple watch with me. I don't care too much about the pace, the heart rate anymore. I just run with my heart and my own felling. I just run for fun. That's purely like the first stage of running. I simply just enjoy running. In this stage, you realized that the mountain is still the mountain, no matter how much details you know, it is still the same old mountain over there.
The three adages seemed quite philosophical and that's the zen, the wisdom of Chinese.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
a book about children education
Recommended by a post on mitbbs, I skimmed a book named "Come here, child", written by a famous Chinese female author in Wuhan, ChiLi.
In this book, the author scratched her experience of raising her daughter, from birth to 16, in the perspective of a mother. She focus on the interaction of the daughter and the mother, instead of chronology. Unlike most of the parents in China, her education of children is based on nurture the child's interests to nature, to what she love, and to encourage child to pursuit her goal.
This is somehow agree to my idea of children education. In Canada, children are treated as individuals. Parents usually give children a lot of freedom and encourage children to develop their own interests. But in China, the author's attitude is very rare and precious.
Author summarizes her three rules.
One is to treat child as individual. Let her decide on many things. This point is widely believed in Canada. My friend, Jimmy, treats his son, Eddie, as an individual. We went to a trip together, Eddie presented a high level of self-governance, self-discipline, and individualism, unlike a 9 year old kid, which surprises me a lot.
The second point is to nurture the kid to love the mother nature. This one is also important, as we know that human being are nature animal at first, and then social animal. Unfortunately, author didn't tell us how she and her daughter develop social activities. Maybe because the author herself is a writer and divorced, which may affect the social activities of the child, who knows.
The last point is to tell stories to the kid and help develop the reading habit of her daughter. I can't agree more with this point. Reading is almost the most educative and informative method of education. Every child, who developed a habit of reading will benefit from it in the whole life. Naturally, her daughter is also good at writing, as she is a writer.
* Link to the post of about the book.
http://www.mitbbs.com/article_t/LeisureTime/79109.html
* Link to the book
http://www.guyizhou.cn/article/3554.htm
In this book, the author scratched her experience of raising her daughter, from birth to 16, in the perspective of a mother. She focus on the interaction of the daughter and the mother, instead of chronology. Unlike most of the parents in China, her education of children is based on nurture the child's interests to nature, to what she love, and to encourage child to pursuit her goal.
This is somehow agree to my idea of children education. In Canada, children are treated as individuals. Parents usually give children a lot of freedom and encourage children to develop their own interests. But in China, the author's attitude is very rare and precious.
Author summarizes her three rules.
One is to treat child as individual. Let her decide on many things. This point is widely believed in Canada. My friend, Jimmy, treats his son, Eddie, as an individual. We went to a trip together, Eddie presented a high level of self-governance, self-discipline, and individualism, unlike a 9 year old kid, which surprises me a lot.
The second point is to nurture the kid to love the mother nature. This one is also important, as we know that human being are nature animal at first, and then social animal. Unfortunately, author didn't tell us how she and her daughter develop social activities. Maybe because the author herself is a writer and divorced, which may affect the social activities of the child, who knows.
The last point is to tell stories to the kid and help develop the reading habit of her daughter. I can't agree more with this point. Reading is almost the most educative and informative method of education. Every child, who developed a habit of reading will benefit from it in the whole life. Naturally, her daughter is also good at writing, as she is a writer.
* Link to the post of about the book.
http://www.mitbbs.com/article_t/LeisureTime/79109.html
* Link to the book
http://www.guyizhou.cn/article/3554.htm
Saturday, March 27, 2010
three stories
There are three Chinese adages I'd love to share with you. Actually, they are three simple stories that I sometimes think about them during running.
The first story is "To repair the ward after loss of lamp". It tells you that life is never to late to do something.
The second story is "Race between rabbit and turtle". It tells you that the slow runner may eventually win the race if he keeps running, while the fast runner may lose the race if he stops.
The third story is "The view is the same on the top of the mountain, for both snails and eagles". It tells you that you can enjoy the same success no matter you achieve it fast or slow.
The first story is "To repair the ward after loss of lamp". It tells you that life is never to late to do something.
The second story is "Race between rabbit and turtle". It tells you that the slow runner may eventually win the race if he keeps running, while the fast runner may lose the race if he stops.
The third story is "The view is the same on the top of the mountain, for both snails and eagles". It tells you that you can enjoy the same success no matter you achieve it fast or slow.
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