同学的双胞胎们

拒绝东厂的白色恐怖

实在找不到地方泄愤了，就发在这儿吧。一个同事自从提了Full之后越来越扮演起警察的职务来了。正事没干多少，三番五次来挑别人的毛病。其实他的职权也不大，就是管本科专业的课程设置。在他的管理之下，本专业内的学生越来越少。主要业绩没搞上去，别的方面到是不放松，这不又板起脸来写他的那种又臭又长的八股文抗议本科生管理机构允许两个本课生注一门课，人家一个想学一个想教，你管得着吗？这样的policing行为纯粹是浪费别人的时间。

因为这次override与我无关，我也没有被直接问到意见，我尚且不愿意跟他对着干。所以我能做的就是无声的抗议：咔嚓一下把他发的email删除，整个世界清静了。如果他在出来闹事，我就要到所有的同事chair, director甚至dean那里去complain了。

Find your coaching style.

I figure that when approached by a friend for advice, different people have different ways of handling it. Do you know how your approach is different from others? here is a test of your coaching style.

http://info.specialolympics.org/Special+Olympics+Public+Website/English/Coach/Coaching_Guides/Principles+of+Coaching/Developing+a+Picture+of+Your+Style+2+-+Example.htm

游子身上衣

老爸老妈还在越洋飞机上，我的生活已经恢复原来的状态－－像往常一样工作、在外面吃饭、锻炼、甚至喊人一起吃晚饭。直到我打玩了球汗津津的回家，才觉得家里气氛不一样了。窗帘都拉着而不是开着。厨房被老爸临走前擦得干干净净，却不再热气腾腾散发饭香。门前的小花坛被爸爸妈妈收拾的井井有条。老妈一再叮咛，不要等灌木长长就要修剪免得影响了小松树的生长。我们一家载小松树的经历还历历在目，我提议做这件事的。栽哪一种是老妈拍的板，“我就看这这种小松树好”。爸爸妈妈一起设计的小松树的位置，给他们留了足够的生长空间，准备将来取代后面长得过高的灌木。爸爸挖坑，我和妈妈栽树，还挖出来好多蚯蚓被他们用来钓鱼。快太阳落山的时候我们开始给小松树浇水。后来妈妈又分好几次整理花坛里面的草，把墙跟垫高，并且开了一道水渠好让雨水留走。妈妈说我这样给你整理一次应该可以管一两年。栽树的时候我跟他们客气说让他们大老远的帮我干活，爸爸说了一句话让我心里一震，“我们载这些小松树是有意义的”。我想到就鼻子一酸，他们想到了自己不能在这儿照顾我但还有他们亲手载的小松树可以让我想起他们。妈妈还说等过一段时间发长小松树的照片让我们看看长多大了。

现在我的阳台都油漆一新，地下室脏的和未粉刷的墙壁也都被老爸粉上了白色涂料。楼梯和地下室的门被漆成了银色。快走前两天车库的门坏了，我看看觉得没办法修。老爸说不用找人了，你只要能买来铁剪子我们自己也能修。后来他真的把车库门修好了，而且比原来更加牢靠。而且我还赚了一把铁剪子。聪明的老妈已经利用它来剪断鸡腿上的骨头了。

后来我在想人真是自私的，我留恋的无非是他们带来的种种好处。但这也应了老爸颇有深意的一句话，信誉是做出来的不是说出来的。我把它延伸一下，爱是做出来的不是说出来的。他们的爱就表现在游子身上衣，表现在为我考虑的方方面面和做的各种看似微不足道的事情。越是这样的爱越真实。

Z说的一句话很对，越是父母这样没有念过多少书的人越会做事。读书人说的多做的少。我这次跟他们生活了这么多天深有体会。同样的事情他们办出来就多快好省，而我就事倍功半。比如说小松树吧，我原来花150美金买过两颗小松树；花钱找人栽上了，但后来可能浇水没有跟上就干死了。这次他们帮我选的小松树一棵只有三四块钱，而且他们开始时围着树挖了坑把水浇得特别透。小松树已经长了很多了。这样的例子还不胜枚举。这么多平常的小事上他们所表现出来的生活的智慧让我这个受过高等教育的人汗颜。我想我在工作和处世上都不及他们这么有智慧，真是自己要注意了。

Hit the slopes

今年就没怎么滑雪，因为膝盖时有不爽，所以对滑雪有了一定程度的心理障碍。
但是前段时间一场大雪过后终于忍不住想hit the slopes。于是乎叫了人
去，结果某同学的朋友一下拉了14个人，让我们毫不费力的凑齐了团体票
15人的规格。

星期六气温高达60度。虽然是晚上，雪还是在化，有的地方结了冰，虽然
雪基很厚，但雪质实在是不怎么地。即便如此也阻挡不了我们的兴趣。有了
以前的经验，这次我跟同伴Stick Together。

Roger是个美国人，从小就滑雪，是我们之中的高手。他带我们从小树林
中一个较陡的高级坡上下来。我虽然以前也滑过类似的坡，所以不会有什么
问题，但是有时候也不免有些吃力。于是我请教了一番Roger。

Roger很快自己去另外一个更坎坷不平的坡上滑。他开始拉拢我和Gao也跟
他挑战那个坡，只有我跟他去了。那个坡确实要更上一级，有较大的落差，坑坑
洼洼的不平，所以没有大的空间让你转弯，而且雪道就是从树林中穿过。所以你
必须避开树。我第一次滑由于转弯太大变成向上滑--我可还没掌握倒滑，
所以小摔一跤，掉头冲下之后才滑了下去。经Roger一番指点之后再滑
这个坡就没有问题了。我们把Gao诱骗到这个坡的边上，从下面向上喊话，
他徘徊了半天，最终还是放弃了。Roger说这个缆车下来有个Double Black
Dimond的滑道，我们去找来试试。结果我们上了坡顶，一看图，
原来我们滑了几次的正是传说中的Double Black Dimond级的
Show Time。我在不知不觉中已经从一个黑星跃升为两个黑星了，嘿！

我总结滑雪经历过这几个阶段：
1. 八字刹车，学会了免摔跤之苦。
2. 初级坡上练八字转弯，左转右转皆可
3. 中级坡上摔两跤，之后提高转弯的自如度。
4. 中高级坡上试刀，体会速度带来的麻烦，改Parallel Ski, 利用侧行斥雪减速。
5. 改进Parallel Ski, 利用频繁小弯控制速度，可在开阔的陡坡上高速穿梭。
6. 上崎岖不平的高级坡，感受到快速急转的必要。
7. 练习Parallel ski Jump turn，在更狭小陡峭的情况下控制速度。
8. 跳跃，对付突然落差 （没学）

Winter break comes

Today officially marks the start of my winter break. Winter break means some catching up for me, and some holiday-ish.

小而无当

不知道从什么时候起，我开始注意做一些看上去没用但让我有一种满足感的小事情。比如，每次Review完一篇文章，我就规规矩矩的把Review打印出来，跟原文别在一起，放到一个固定的文件堆上去。我知道很少会再去看它们 -- 但是打印出来拿在手里的那两片纸给了我一个享受一下完成一件事情的小小乐趣。我像坚持宗教仪式一般坚持我自己的小小仪式（哈哈,宗教仪式好像也没有直接的用处）。

还有就是如果我制定了一个To Do List，我也特别享受把一件完成的事情从
纸上划掉的感觉。因为比较喜欢这样的感觉，我有时候把一些小的不起眼的
事情也偷偷地加上去充数，因为大脑这时候只会愚蠢的数数。把大脑哄高兴了，
它也就少罢工了。

最近波士顿室友买房了，奥斯汀的妹妹要生小孩了，身边的朋友有的恋爱了，
有的要走人，有的要毕业了，还有担心走不了的。真是一个变更的季节。

ZZ: Overcoming Procrastination by Pavlina LLC.

i cannot help forward this article.

Overcoming Procrastination

source: Pavlina LLC.


Procrastination, the habit of putting tasks off to the last possible minute, can be a major problem in both your career and your personal life. Missed opportunities, frenzied work hours, stress, overwhelm, resentment, and guilt are just some of the symptoms. This article will explore the root causes of procrastination and give you several practical tools to overcome it.

Replace "Have To" With "Want To"

First, thinking that you absolutely have to do something is a major reason for procrastination. When you tell yourself that you have to do something, you're implying that you're being forced to do it, so you'll automatically feel a sense of resentment and rebellion. Procrastination kicks in as a defense mechanism to keep you away from this pain. If the task you are putting off has a real deadline, then when the deadline gets very close, the sense of pain associated with the task becomes overridden by the much greater sense of pain if you don't get started immediately.

The solution to this first mental block is to realize and accept that you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Even though there may be serious consequences, you are always free to choose. No one is forcing you to run your business the way you do. All the decisions you've made along the way have brought you to where you are today. If you don't like where you've ended up, you're free to start making different decisions, and new results will follow. Also be aware that you don't procrastinate in every area of your life. Even the worst procrastinators have areas where they never procrastinate. Perhaps you never miss your favorite TV show, or you always manage to check your favorite online forums each day. In each situation the freedom of choice is yours. So if you're putting off starting that new project you feel you "have to" do this year, realize that you're choosing to do it of your own free will. Procrastination becomes less likely on tasks that you openly and freely choose to undertake.

Replace "Finish It" With "Begin It"

Secondly, thinking of a task as one big whole that you have to complete will virtually ensure that you put it off. When you focus on the idea of finishing a task where you can't even clearly envision all the steps that will lead to completion, you create a feeling of overwhelm. You then associate this painful feeling to the task and delay as long as possible. If you say to yourself, "I've got to do my taxes today," or "I must complete this report," you're very likely to feel overwhelmed and put the task off.

The solution is to think of starting one small piece of the task instead of mentally feeling that you must finish the whole thing. Replace, "How am I going to finish this?" with "What small step can I start on right now?" If you simply start a task enough times, you will eventually finish it. If one of the projects you want to complete is to clean out your garage, thinking that you have to finish this big project in one fell swoop can make you feel overwhelmed, and you'll put it off. Ask yourself how you can get started on just one small part of the project. For example, go to your garage with a notepad, and simply write down a few ideas for quick 10-minute tasks you could do to make a dent in the piles of junk. Maybe move one or two obvious pieces of junk to the trash can while you're there. Don't worry about finishing anything significant. Just focus on what you can do right now. If you do this enough times, you'll eventually be starting on the final piece of the task, and that will lead to finishing.

Replace Perfectionism With Permission To Be Human

A third type of erroneous thinking that leads to procrastination is perfectionism. Thinking that you must do the job perfectly the first try will likely prevent you from ever getting started. Believing that you must do something perfectly is a recipe for stress, and you'll associate that stress with the task and thus condition yourself to avoid it. You then end up putting the task off to the last possible minute, so that you finally have a way out of this trap. Now there isn't enough time to do the job perfectly, so you're off the hook because you can tell yourself that you could have been perfect if you only had more time. But if you have no specific deadline for a task, perfectionism can cause you to delay indefinitely. If you've never even started that project you always wanted to do really well, could perfectionism be holding you back?

The solution to perfectionism is to give yourself permission to be human. Have you ever used a piece of software that you consider to be perfect in every way? I doubt it. Realize that an imperfect job completed today is always superior to the perfect job delayed indefinitely. Perfectionism is also closely connected to thinking of the task as one big whole. Replace that one big perfectly completed task in your mind with one small imperfect first step. Your first draft can be very, very rough. You are always free to revise it again and again. For example, if you want to write a 5000-word article, feel free to let your first draft be only 100 words if it helps you get started. That's less than the length of this paragraph.

Replace Deprivation With Guaranteed Fun

A fourth mental block is associating deprivation with a task. This means you believe that undertaking a project will offset much of the pleasure in your life. In order to complete this project, will you have to put the rest of your life on hold? Do you tell yourself that you will have to go into seclusion, work long hours, never see your family, and have no time for fun? That's not likely to be very motivating, yet this is what many people do when trying to push themselves into action. Picturing an extended period of working long hours in solitude with no time for fun is a great way to guarantee procrastination.

The solution to the deprivation mindset is to do the exact opposite. Guarantee the fun parts of your life first, and then schedule your work around them. This may sound counterproductive, but this reverse psychology works extremely well. Decide in advance what times you will allocate each week to family time, entertainment, exercise, social activities, and personal hobbies. Guarantee an abundance of all your favorite leisure activities. Then limit the amount of working hours each week to whatever is left. The peak performers in any field tend to take more vacation time and work shorter hours than the workaholics. By treating your working time as a scarce resource rather than an uncontrollable monster that can gobble up every other area of your life, you'll begin to feel much more balanced, and you'll be far more focused and effective in using your working time. It's been shown that the optimal work week for most people is 40-45 hours. Working longer hours than this actually has such an adverse effect on productivity and motivation that less real work is done in the long run. What would happen if you only allowed yourself a certain number of hours a week to work? What if I came to you and said, "You are only allowed to work 10 hours this week?" Your feeling of deprivation would be reversed, wouldn't it? Instead of feeling that work was depriving you of leisure time, you'd feel you were being deprived of work. You'd replace, "I want to play" with "I want to work," your motivation for work would skyrocket, and all traces of procrastination would vanish.

I also strongly recommend that you take at least one full day off each week with no work whatsoever. This will really recharge you and make you eager to start the coming week. Having a guaranteed work-free day will increase your motivation for work and make you less likely to procrastinate. If you know that the next day is your day off, you'll be less likely to put off tasks, since you won't allow yourself the luxury of allowing them to spill over into your day off. When you think that every day is a work day, however, work seems never-ending, and you always tell yourself, "I should be working." Thus, your brain will use procrastination as a way to guarantee that you get some form of pleasure in your life.

Use Timeboxing

For tasks you've been putting off for a while, I recommend using the timeboxing method to get started. Here's how it works: First, select a small piece of the task you can work on for just 30 minutes. Then choose a reward you will give yourself immediately afterwards. The reward is guaranteed if you simply put in the time; it doesn't depend on any meaningful accomplishment. Examples include watching your favorite TV show, seeing a movie, enjoying a meal or snack, going out with friends, going for a walk, or doing anything you find pleasurable. Because the amount of time you'll be working on the task is so short, your focus will shift to the impending pleasure of the reward instead of the difficulty of the task. No matter how unpleasant the task, there's virtually nothing you can't endure for just 30 minutes if you have a big enough reward waiting for you.

When you timebox your tasks, you may discover that something very interesting happens. You will probably find that you continue working much longer than 30 minutes. You will often get so involved in a task, even a difficult one, that you actually want to keep working on it. Before you know it, you've put in an hour or even several hours. The certainty of your reward is still there, so you know you can enjoy it whenever you're ready to stop. Once you begin taking action, your focus shifts away from worrying about the difficulty of the task and towards finishing the current piece of the task which now has your full attention.

When you do decide to stop working, claim your reward, and enjoy it. Then schedule another 30-minute period to work on the task with another reward. This will help you associate more and more pleasure to the task, knowing that you will always be immediately rewarded for your efforts. Working towards distant and uncertain long-term rewards is not nearly as motivating as immediate short-term rewards. By rewarding yourself for simply putting in the time, instead of for any specific achievements, you'll be eager to return to work on your task again and again, and you'll ultimately finish it. You may also want to read my blog entry on timeboxing.

The writing of this article serves as a good example of applying the above techniques. I could have said to myself, "I have to finish this 2000-word article, and it has to be perfect." So first I remember that I don't have to write anything; I freely choose to write articles. Then I realize that I have plenty of time to do a good job, and that I don't need to be perfect because if I start early enough, I have plenty of time to make revisions. I also tell myself that if I just keep starting, I will eventually be done. Before I started this article, I didn't have a topic selected, so I used the timeboxing method to get that done. Having dinner was my reward. I knew that at the end of 30 minutes of working on the task, I could eat, and I was hungry at the time, so that was good motivation for me. It took me a few minutes to pick the topic of overcoming procrastination, and I spent the rest of the time writing down some ideas and making a very rough outline. When the time was up, I stopped working and had dinner, and it really felt like I'd earned that meal.

The next morning I used the same 30-minute timeboxing method, making breakfast my reward. However, I got so involved in the task that I'm still writing 90 minutes later. I know I'm free to stop at any time and that my reward is waiting for me, but having overcome the inertia of getting started, the natural tendency is to continue working. In essence I've reversed the problem of procrastination by staying with the task and delaying gratification. The net result is that I finish my article early and have a rewarding breakfast.

I hope this article has helped you gain a greater insight into the causes of procrastination and how you can overcome it. Realize that procrastination is caused by associating some form of pain or unpleasantness to the task you are contemplating. The way to overcome procrastination is simply to reduce the pain and increase the pleasure you associate with beginning a task, thus allowing you to overcome inertia and build positive forward momentum. And if you begin any task again and again, you will ultimately finish it.

the Madness of Crowds

对于最近的美国经济危机的思考，我觉得从下面这篇纽约时报文章中找到共鸣。

I have a friend who regularly reminds me that if you jump off the top of an 80-story building, for 79 stories you can actually think you’re flying. It’s the sudden stop at the end that always gets you.

When I think of the financial-services boom, bubble and bust that America has just gone through, I often think about that image. We thought we were flying. Well, we just met the sudden stop at the end. The laws of gravity, it turns out, still apply. You cannot tell tens of thousands of people that they can have the American dream — a home, for no money down and nothing to pay for two years — without that eventually catching up to you. The Puritan ethic of hard work and saving still matters. I just hate the idea that such an ethic is more alive today in China than in America.

“Parts of Wall Street got disconnected from investing in human endeavor — helping business to scale and take up new ideas.” Instead, they started to just engineer money from money.

Charles Mackay wrote a classic history of financial crises called “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds,” first published in London in 1841. “Money ... has often been a cause of the delusion of multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper. To trace the history of the most prominent of these delusions is the object of the present pages. Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.”

我对于金融一直抱有一种狐疑的态度（也是我为什么不喜欢学金融/搞金融）。但问题是，哪怕是我的狐疑是正确的，它被Law of gravity证实的时候也仅限于这样的百年不遇的一刹那间。在其余的时间我都要为坚持狐疑付出代价。比放说，相信着房市不落的神话的大众会投资房市猛赚一笔，而像我一样狐疑的人就被视为缩手缩脚很少有机会分一杯羹。那么损失的是狐疑的人，至少是相当长的时间里面。于是哪怕开始狐疑的人都开始对自己理解的基本法则产生怀疑，甚至背弃它, 跟大家一起做梦。

在理论世界里面，大家关心的都是均衡点（即落地之后）。而在真实的世界往往是处于均衡点之间。肥皂泡存在的时间是如此之长，以至于我们基本上可以假设它一直存在下去了。于是就有了一个推论，审时度势的聪明人应该跟大家一起吹皂泡，分享当中的红利，但同时悄悄做好肥皂泡破裂的准备。而独善其身远离这个肥皂泡的人则只好承受寂寞。

最近一位友人职场上的意外也让我感到，一个人再怎么成功，基本的东西还是不应忽视的。