英雄大会

昨天才知道，除了全国的民主党精英，共和党的顶尖人物也到了丹佛。朱立安尼昨天在丹佛发表了演讲，说奥巴马是有史以来经验最为不足的总统候选人。共和党的副总统人选密特浩尼也发表了演说，为共和党阵营摇旗呐喊。奥巴马将会在今晚进行演说，希望能提出一些具体的政治措施，否则人气将会下降。

昨天有2000多名从伊拉克战役退伍的士兵在16街进行反战游行，声势颇为浩大，一度将百氏中心大门堵住。今晚奥巴马将会在能容纳7万5千人的丹佛橄榄球场进行接受民主党总统候选人提名的宣言，届时奥运金牌得主，16岁的熵约翰逊将会朗诵效忠国旗的誓言：“我发誓效忠美利坚合众国的国旗，和共和国的立场，一个国家，神圣不可分裂，人人享有自由和正义。”熵在下周将开始巡游40个城市的体操表演。

今天下午5：30开始，丹佛的主要高速公路25号公路将会关闭，橄榄球场周围的主要道路也会全部封锁，凡是进场的人都只能搭乘公共交通工具。丹佛市中心的各家商店的销售本周都持续上升，豪华轿车的司机们生意兴隆，前所未有。这次民主党全国代表大会无疑大大促进了丹佛的经济。

今晚讲话的人物有：科罗拉多州长比尔瑞特；马丁路德金的家庭成员，新墨西哥州州长比尔里查森；民主党主席豪沃德蒂恩；前副总统戈尔。之后参议员迪克德彬将会向大家隆重引荐他的同事 -- 巴拉克奥巴马。

看来美国就要有第一位黑人总统了。

DNC

This week the Democratic National Convention is going on in downtown Denver's Pepsi Center. Obama and his wife, Hilary and Bill Clinton and thousands of democratics are currently in Denver.

Hilary spoke last week. All TV channels are airing this live. Although we still don't have voting rights, we watched the speeches enthusiastically. Hilary is a good speaker - too bad she lost the primary, otherwise she could be a very good president. Colorado is a Republican state so there were hundreds of protesters on streets these days. A lot of police were gathered in downtown area to straighten out any terrorists.

Someone even made public announcement that they'd kill Senator Obama. Weapons were discoverd in his car trunk, but there were still not enough proof that he would be a threat to Obama's life. The whole city was emmersed in political euphoria. The peak of everything will be Obama's speech tomorrow evening at Invesco Field. Tomorrow is Dr. Martin Luther King's anniversary of the famous speech "I have a dream today".

整容

Biajee昨天去看整容医生了。他准备也像我一样自残，把腿上的一块胎记割掉。总之我们要乘我还有医疗保险，把所有的东西都割掉。整容医生好像是中国人，因为姓是马。Biajee说马医生擅长的好像是隆胸，因为她的办公室里摆满了隆胸的图片和填充物，也有一些关于皮肤癌的知识。也许Biajee切完腿腿可以顺便隆一下胸。日子定在下个月5号。Biajee得一早6：30就去报到，大概7：30开始动刀，45分钟结束。

好像切好之后会用订书器把皮夹起来，两周之后拆线。我也得请假陪Biajee去受刑。这种胎记好像很危险，有癌变的可能，所以还是切了好。届时Biajee腿上会留下一条长12厘米的刀疤，他终于不是完美的了。所有整容医生都是皮肤科专家，所以业务水平应该没问题。好像隆胸手术是很赚钱的，后悔当时怎么没学医？我们俩真是上岁数了，毛病越来越多。以前买了医疗保险几年也没用过，现在恨不得天天去医生那里报到。

奥运会终于结束了。我对闭幕式的感觉没有开幕式好，那些人山人海和大红大紫已经让我觉得索然无味了。大概是审美疲劳吧。真正回北京看奥运的朋友回来以后都说感觉不好。中国人对持外国护照的人简直是奴颜媚骨，对自己的同胞却是耀武扬威，非常可悲。幸亏这样可以使外国鬼子对中国的感觉好上加好，为国争光嘛。反正他们对中国人窝里斗的事既不必了解，也弄不懂。

我的朋友苏珊爬乞力马扎罗山回来了，她说这是她此生做得最为艰难的一件事，不过庆幸完成了。我和Biajee准备等阿诺上大学之后再去爬。

2008 Tour of Gymnastics Super Stars

US Gymnastics Team and other gymnastics stars will be coming to Broomfield Event Center on October 4th for a sports and music extravaganza! Since Corporate Express put together a lot of money to build Broomfield Event Center, all the employees became VIPs now and can order the tickets earlier.

Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Jonathan Horton, Paul Hamm and a group of other people will all be here. I already faxed over my order of two tickets. Arnold is free because he is only two years old. This will be the first time we watch a gymnastics show. It'll be performed to hits by top Disney artists.

The more beautiful aspect is that it starts at 3 pm in the afternoon so it won't interrupt with Arnold's nap schedule. Well, he doesn't take much nap on weekends these days anyway. Maybe we'll send Arnold to learn gymnastics next year, but of course he'll have to be potty trained first.

We've signed up swimming class and balancing baby class for Arnold in the Fall. Hopefully he can improve a bit.

小胖娃摘金

昨天晚上，熵约翰逊终于拿到了女子平衡木的金牌。看台上熵的母亲早已泣不成声，这不是一块普通的金牌，这是10年辛苦和汗水的结晶，也是中国教练与俄罗斯教练之间的比武决斗。在此之前，熵已经在本届奥运会上拿了三枚银牌。宋飞曾经说过银牌是全世界最糟糕的奖牌，“当你拿到银牌的时候，就好像有人对你说，‘恭喜恭喜，你差点就赢了，在所有的失败者中，你排第一位。你就是失败者一号。’”就连柳金都说：“三块银牌感觉一定很糟。”众多网上的评论都说裁判在女子个人全能赛中打分不公，致使熵痛失金牌。

熵从六岁开始去乔良的体操学校练习体操，至今已经有十年了。由于中国队员的失误，在女子平衡木项目中熵的主要对手变成队友柳金。柳金的风格完全是俄罗斯的路子，不愧是受了她老爸的真传，可惜动作难度不够高，而且在完成时稍有瑕疵。不管裁判是多么不公平，也不会对此视而不见。熵终于以16.225分的成绩摘走女子平衡木的金牌，比亚军柳金高0.2分。赛后熵与中国体操运动员和教练一一拥抱。

大部分体操运动员都立即动身回国了。熵和她的父母决定看完闭幕式再走。衣阿华州举州欢庆，并决定在州嘉年华会上用黄油刻出熵的全身像，放在黄油刻出的奶牛像旁边。大家也许会觉得很奇怪，但在衣阿华州被黄油刻像是最高荣誉。衣阿华州的荣誉厅内不久将会有真人大小的熵的铜像。熵是第二位赢得女子平衡木项目奥运金牌的美国体操运动员，第一位赢得女子平衡木奥运金牌的美国运动员是米勒（1996亚特兰大奥运会）。这个娃娃脸的可爱的小姑娘已经成了全美国的偶像。

Tie Breaker

We watched the final of Women's uneven bars last night. Both He Kexin and Nastia Liukin got 16.75, but He got the gold medal because there was a tie breaker rule drafted by the International Association of Gymnastics.

Basically, after the judges give out the score, the highest and lowest are taken out first. Then if the 2 athletes tie, the lowest score will be taken out from both athletes and then the new totals will be compared to determine who is higher. He won the medal because her leftover 3 scores added up higher.

This is totally unfair. Both girls performed a great exercise and they both deserved the gold medal. I remember years ago the Olympics allowed people to tie their scores so you'll often see 2 gold medals or silver medals standing together on the podium. Biajee said there was a reform in gymnasium not too long ago.

Well, there should be more reforms coming up then. It's totally all right for two gold medals to be issued for the same category because each athelete's style is different and it's hard to measure them with the same ruler.

飞人大赛

这个周末观看了男女100米飞人大赛。牙买加得了两枚金牌。波尔特以9秒69的成绩刷新了男子100米的世界纪录。从四分之一决赛，半决赛到决赛他都跑得非常轻松，在左顾右盼之中将对手们落得很远。女飞人没有破世界纪录，但也成绩斐然。田径的项目一般都和中国没有缘分。昨晚正要睡觉时又看到了刘翔因脚伤未能参加110米跨栏决赛的坏消息，实在是遗憾。

昨天因为带阿诺出去散步而得以看了跳水决赛。跳水一般都是在晚上7点钟左右播出，届时我们正忙着给儿子做晚饭，所以还没有看过。昨天郭晶晶在3米跳板的比赛中以绝对优势胜出，夺得金牌。那潇洒的空中翻转和优美的入水姿势真让人赏心悦目。Biajee说因为有了奥运会，好像健身房里的人也比平时多了，我怎么没觉得？

最遗憾的是女子单项体操比赛，程菲连连失误，与金牌无缘了。我们都为她感到惋惜，她是中国女队唯一有望得金牌的人选。美国的小胖娃熵约翰逊表现得不错，得了银牌。

公司的最新消息：财务部有65人受影响。其中10人的职位消失了，另外55人会保留一段时间（从2个月到2年不等）。订书器的平均薪水比我们公司低15%，所以如果要为他们工作就得降工资。我们部门的情况将会在9月2日宣布。

很快就要失业了，终于可以让Biajee养着我了。

P. F. Chang's

Our group went to P.F. Chang's today for Jared's fulfilment of his internship with us this summer. He is an MBA candidate of Denver University and has helped us working on IFUs for the whole summer. Tomorrow is his last day and we think as a courtesy we should take him out to lunch to show our appreciation of his hard work.

We ordered some appetiizers and entrees from P.F. Chang's and sat there chatting about the Olympics, recent movies and all kinds of funny stuff. When our entrees were finally presented to us, the restaurant owner came by and told us that since we had waited for over 25 minutes for our entrees, she would take off all the entrees and make the house pay for them. We were shocked.

A bill of $148 suddenly became $48. We regretted that we didn't order more. Never had I had such an experience at a restaurant before. We were so happy and full that we didn't even bother to order dessert before we came back to work. I never knew that they had such a policy. Maybe we should all try it again at P.F. Chang's some time later.

开学

今天是我的第一堂课。美国这边每逢秋季开学家长都得给孩子买很多新的文具和学习用品。我也赶紧从公司订购了一些笔记本和笔之类的东东，所谓靠山吃山，靠水吃水嘛。Biajee迫不及待地帮我打开了新课本的塑料封皮。“真无聊啊!" 我懒洋洋地瞟了目录一眼，再也懒得看了。这么重的书一定得用我那带轮子的电脑包拖到学校去，我最讨厌拿重东西了。

今天还得去办理新的学生证，否则就无法在那个最近的停车场泊车。所以又可4点下班了。 最近我好像很轻松，经常上班去散步，看小说，估计这公司是快解体了。想到就要和愚蠢的本科生在同一间教室上课，我一点都打不起精神来。不过这门课有可能是在机房上，因为需要学习数据库的基本知识，也许可以上上网。最好教授每堂课布置些练习，做完就可以早回家，这样我只要混5分钟就可以回家了。

同事都建议我第一堂课就问教授一些刁钻古怪的数据库问题，让他下不来台。反正也没什么可学的，逗闷子呗。

昨晚看了CCTV直播的男子体操团体决赛，中国队勇夺金牌，触目惊心。我们终于彻底放弃NBC了。广告太多，比赛被肢解得七零八落，而且每天都宁愿播沙滩排球预选赛也不播决赛。有网络的存在真好，否则我们就成为这个最先进的国家里最落后的人了。

明天我那就未谋面的老板就要出现了，不知又会出什么花花肠子。最好不要给我浪费时间的项目做。不过那样的话我就真的无事可做了。

Olympics Weekend

We went to our friend's house in Golden to watch the Olympics and play cards. Biajee helped them fix their computers again. I broke their vase just as Biajee started to eat to the BBQ round-eye steak. The vase was a pottery that easily broke on the carpet when it fell from less than one meter high.

Biajee witnessed the whole process but couldn't help or say anything. I had to apologize to the hostess and hope that it doesn't cost over $100. I think it is pretty cheap although it looks quite elegant.

We watched the swimming and gymnastics together. It's a pity to see the level of gymnastics fall a lot from where it was a few years ago. Maybe nobody could bear the hardship of training and pain any more. Swimming is always fun to watch. Michael Phelps has had 2 gold medals so far.

We also watched a lot of rowing during the day. The poor atheletes had to row in the cloudy weather with their coaches and assistant coaches paddling ashore keeping eye contacts with them. China's Quadruple rowing was a great success yesterday. They advanced as No. 1 in their team to semi-finals.

Biajee took Arnold to grocery shopping while I enjoyed all this. I don't like to move around these days, especially with a wounded foot. The doctor finally pulled the thread out and said everything was fine with me and I didn't need to see him again.

日出东方，唯我不败 ---- 奥运开幕式

今天早上，举世瞩目的奥运会终于在北京拉开了开幕式。可恶的NBC在买断转播权之后居然不向广大观众进行现场直播，害得我们只好看网络电视了。Biajee5点就起床将电脑调好了。北京时间8点零8分，中华人民共和国国歌奏响，鸟巢的场地上铺开了长达70米的国画卷轴，浑身涂墨的舞者在卷轴上泼洒了一幅即兴山水画。中国五千年的历史及四大发明-指南针，造纸，活字印刷术和火药以不同形式展现在观众面前。好莱坞最强势的特技表演也难出其右，观众们收到的视觉，听觉以及心灵的震撼是历届奥运会开幕式难以匹敌的。

当那幅金黄色的卷轴被高高悬起，呈现在众人眼中的是一幅旭日东升的图画。“这简直就是东方不败嘛！”我大声对Biajee说。“日出东方，唯我不败！”节目的节奏十分紧凑，高潮迭起，扣人心弦。当看到丝路这一节时，我不禁感叹道，“这得花多少钱呀！都是老百姓的血汗钱。”

在美丽的大地球冉冉升起之后，各种申请过专利的焰火冲天而起，随之而来的就是运动员入场式。今年有80多个国家的代表团参加奥运会，盛况空前，能容纳9万人的鸟巢座无虚席。北京全市8月8日放假一天，任何人都不必上班。各国代表团是按照简化汉字的笔画顺序入场的，所以我和Biajee看到的是一些非洲老大哥，穿着鲜艳的部落服装，兴高采烈地走进会场。由于得上班挣钱谋生，我们没有看完入场式，只好今晚补上了。

美国对奥运会的重视程度几乎为零。全世界人均观看奥运会最短的就是美国人，平均每人3小时。最喜欢奥运会的是日本人，平均每人观看35小时。

应该说我们都非常喜欢张艺谋导演的这一杰作，中国人民多年来争办奥运的夙愿终于在今天得偿了，大家心里有一点自豪，有一点感动，有一点悲哀，眼眶竟然湿湿的了。

梅里美

上个星期借休病假之机，读完了梅里美中短篇小说集。梅里美是18世纪的法国作家，曾写下传世之作《高龙芭》和后来被改编为歌剧的《卡门》。他的小说特点是节奏紧凑，故事情节扣人心弦，绝少大段的景物和心理描写，常常是开门见山，切入正题。除了法语之外，他还精通西班牙语，德语，希腊语，拉丁语，立陶宛语等等，对欧洲各国风土人情也了解至深。梅里美不是多产作家，特别是成名之后，常常被皇族和名嫒召进宫中在社交场合周旋，故后期无甚惊人之作。

Biajee对我能在家一动不动坐一天看书深表惊讶。其实读好的古典小说是一种至高无上的享受，比现在的通俗小说强多了。不敢说情操被陶冶了，只能说忘记脚上的病痛了。

最倒霉的是每天晚上睡觉时都要被Biajee逼着讲当天读过的故事。学物理的人对很多基本的世界文学史和中国古典文学史都不懂，每天只研究量子力学，大爆炸宇宙学和黑洞。我常常让他给我讲天体物理，这样就能很快睡着。而讲古典小说则恰恰相反，越讲越兴奋，最后两个人干脆聊到快天亮都睡不着。相比之下，我们对阿诺的要求多么苛刻呀--他必须每天晚上准时睡觉，还必须睡整夜不醒。

我又准备订购一些古典文学了，我们家已经有整整三个书架的书了。如果我们能够把所有这些书都读完，我们就会成为一个高尚的人，一个纯粹的人，一个脱离了低级趣味的人。这里面包括统计，金融，物理，财务，生物，文学等等各个科目的葵花宝典，读完之后去闯荡江湖就可以天下无敌，独孤求败了。我们俩把希望全都寄托在阿诺身上，但愿他能修炼成功，称霸武林。

Tumor

We got to the hospital early on Tuesday. The doctor was an hour late so we got a lecture from the anasthesiologist. He said he could perform a regional block or put me to sleep. Both will have risks of birth defect or pre-term labor. Biajee looked really nervous.

"I still want the surgery." I said calmly. "Just do the regional block."

The nurse drove Biajee out of the room in case he faints and they started to poke on every nerve on my knee. I was tortured for half an hour before they finally found the right spot and injected the ansthesia.

Dr. Cooney came in shortly afterwards and they wheeled me to the operations room. I suddenly felt that my foot was still hurting so I told him not to cut me yet while I could still feel the pain.

"Why didn't you block his ankle?" Dr. Cooney asked the anasthesiologist.

"Well, a local ankle block would take four needle shots, which would be dreadful to endure so I chose to give her a regional block. Looks like it takes a while for the skin to get numb. Would you give her another shot next to the operation spot?"

At that moment I was furious. The flake didn't tell me I had the choice of local ankle block. For all the pain he created for me in the pre-surgery room, I'd rather have four needle shots.

Dr. Cooney gave me another shot of anasthesia and started to work on me. It didn't take too long before he finished. The nurse asked me whether I'd like to see IT. I said yes. So she showed me the little sucker that'd been bothering me all along. It's milky white in color, about the size of the pinky finger tip, wrapped around by some pink muscle-like tissues. Dr. Cooney ordered it to be sent to the lab for testing.

After Biajee came into the recovery room, Dr. Cooney told us that this wasn't a ganglion cyst. It was a tumor. "Fortunately," He said, "It is benign. That's the most important thing. I still had it sent to the lab to make sure everything is all right. I'll have to pull your stitches out in 10 to 12 days."

"Would you write me a note so that I could take some time off work?" I asked.

"Sure." He grabbed a note from the table. "How many days do you need? No work for 2 years? How about till Monday? You want to work on Friday? All right, just call me if you need more days. Don't take off the bandage in 48 hours. You can shower after 72 hours, but it's better if you can keep it from water for 5 to 7 days."

We were soon discharged. I just saw a TUMOR! I cannot believe it. It's great that I had it taken out now because with all the hormones from the pregnancy, the tumor could well turn into cancer in the end. It was close and I live.