《维拉德》与《柯里丝丁》

阿诺睡熟之后，棒球决赛已经结束了。费城得了本届总冠军。

为了消磨时光，我们昨晚看了两部恐怖片《维拉德》与《柯里丝丁》。本月是AMC电视剧场的恐怖节，每晚都播恐怖片。万圣节那天将会从早上7：30开始全天播放8部恐怖片。幸亏是星期五，我们都得上班，否则会被吓坏的。连着两天看恐怖片已经使我大倒胃口，幸亏鬼节是一年一度的，我要到明年才会再有被吓的兴致了。

《维拉德》是讲一个变态的职员和老鼠吃人的，非常恶心，建议对老鼠，特别是黑老鼠有障碍心理的同胞们不要看。结尾是主人公进了监狱，黑色的老鼠王被他打死了。

《柯里丝丁》的故事源于斯蒂芬金的同名小说，导演是著名的恐怖片导演约翰卡彭特。影片无论从情节和拍摄都属上乘，主要讲述了一辆车的故事，并不吓人。据说在小说正式出版之前电影就已经拍好了。斯蒂芬金还在科罗拉多埃斯特斯公园的酒店住过呢。他住在那里的208号房间时写下了一部关于酒店的恐怖小说。我曾经带Biajee和IL去过那间酒店，还拍了照片。

Biajee这个购物狂前天买了一家简易摄像机，只有100多块。现在我们只能使用廉价的电器了。在阿诺摔坏了两架摄像机之后我们已对高级器材失去兴趣。

99

I　found out last night that my score of the exam was adjusted to 99 because the professor didn't want to curve. He had to grant credits to four questions with different answers because the questions themselves are not that clear.　

It was such a relief because I was quite disappointed, thinking that I only got a 93 after studying hard. Obviously I wasn’t made to do accounting this life. There were even classmates complaining that the exam was too hard. I didn’t know what to say in return.

This certainly proves the point that Arnold needs to go to a good college like Harvard in future, otherwise he’ll be hanging out with some mediocre lazy students who have no motivation for studying. Obviously professors couldn’t extrapolate the class and materials when they have pressure of letting people fail or pass on the simplest definition problems.

We watched the first half of American Werewolf in London last night, a very old movie, but pretty interesting. Then we decided to go to bed and let Biajee check online to figure out what the end result of the werewolf was.

电视剧

我们看完了两部《狄仁杰探案传奇》，终于丧失了人生目标。这两部破案的电视剧拍得相当不错。好的推理故事凶手和坏蛋都是在一开始出现的，这样观众才能运用大脑，和破案者一起分析，最后印证自己的推论的正确性。故事里的狄仁杰胖胖的，充满智慧，当然还有武林高手保护他。总之情节非常扣人心弦，是央视热播的电视剧中较好的一部。 听说还有第三部，不过爸爸还没给我们买，而且据说没有前两部好看。

随着我慢慢进入孕期的第三阶段，身体越来越重，好像一个长了四只脚的大气球，走三步感觉就像跑了一个马拉松。现在已经很难找到舒服的姿势了，所以看电视剧可以分散注意力，使原本疲惫的身躯精疲力尽，才能睡好觉。

Biajee终于在星期日那天刻好了南瓜鬼，阿诺围着他转来转去，异常兴奋。以前不被我们重视的万圣节现在有了新的意义。我们得张罗着给阿诺打扮起来，然后决定到哪里去讨糖吃。阿诺简直就是一架吃糖的机器，不管讨来多少糖果，他都能在最短时间内将其消灭。这也成为我们不给他买糖的原因。糖吃多了不但对牙不好，对智力发育也不好。小孩子的味蕾对甜味最敏感，所以一定得由家长控制，还得监督阿诺每天刷牙。

今年阿诺的服装将会是红色的有翅膀的魔鬼撒旦，我们特意买了很厚的一件，这样晚上出去装鬼的时候不会冻坏。每年都要买一套新的行头，因为阿诺每年都在长个，好在他弟弟可以捡他剩下的衣服，否则这么好的衣服就穿一天便完成历史使命了。

Baseball World Series

This year the World Series is between Tampa Bay and Philadelphia Phillies. Biajee and I decided to root for Tampa Bay, but then found out the Phillies played much better. It's almost a rule that the team with the red outfit will win, as was the case last year.

The outfit of Tampa Bay is quite similar to that of Colorado Rockies, which led them to destined loss. Biajee and I watched Game 3 on Saturday night. Well, I slept through most of it since it was 3 hours and 41 minutes long. Can't believe it was played till 1 am in the morning. The poor Tampa Bay players must have been frozen to death in the cold weather.

I am not a big baseball fan, but when I suggested to Biajee that we watch some horror movies to celebrate Halloween, he decided that he was a solid baseball fan and needed to follow the World Series. He is fearful of horror movies. He is more afraid that I get afraid during the movies and start screaming. Thus, we haven't watched any horror movies this year. I tried to watch Halloween on Friday night before Biajee and Arnold got home. It was shot 30 years ago and Jamie Lee Curtis was in it. Of course I wasn't able to finish because the father and son came home with their huge load of supper groceries.

考试结束

昨晚终于结束了考试，除了要背的一系列概念之外，这份试卷关于数据库和计算的问题简直荒唐无比。几道试题如下：

1。 你的公司准备扩建，决定买新的厂房，所以需要付首付和按揭，计算每个月应付多少按揭付款应用以下何种公式：
A. FV B. Payment C. Nested IIF Function D. PV

2. 计算净利润的公式为：销售-进货价格。未来的净利润将比现在高2%。你的表格名称是利润，你键入的未来利润的公式为：[利润]！销售-[利润]！进货价格*102%， 却发现结果不对，结果错误的原因为：
A. Access无法处理小数计算 B. 公式中的运算顺序不对
C. 应该乘以2% D. 算式应为 销售-[利润]！进货价格*102%

由此可见美国学生的数学水平实在一般，老师可能知道所以也不敢出一些很难的计算题。这份试卷没有一道计算题。数据库和公式类的问题全都与以上两道题类似。 不过我还是没考满分，好像是漏背了几个概念。Biajee要是知道我这么弱智，非笑掉大牙不可。不过他今晨因为找不到刮胡子刀的充电线，只刮了右半边脸就去上班了，还把所有责任都归结在阿诺身上。

Professor Nieschwietz

Biajee was shocked when I told him that most students in my class address the professor by his first name. I personally think it's very impolite and I've always addressed my professors by their last names followed by either "Professor" or "Doctor". The American undergrad students are poorly trained on how to respect teachers.

"Nobody addressed me by my first name when I was teaching in CUNY." Biajee said.

"That's because they don't know how to pronounce it." I said coldly.

Some students even asked the professor how to pronounce his last name during the Tuesday class. Dear me, we're 2/3 into the semester already. And his last name is very easy to pronounce because it spells like Nieschwietz. He got his CPA license in Texas and then he went to the academic area and never renewed it for 10 years. After he moved to Colorado, he suddenly wanted to transfer his license so Texas wanted him to pay $250 renewal fee for each year and $200 fine for each year, which would total up to $5000. He thought it might be cheaper to retake it. Then he found out that he could simply transfer his test scores to Colorado and re-apply for the license without paying any fee.

"Definitely take the CPA exam." He said. "You only need to do it once in your life."

流感预防

昨天逼着Biajee在我们公司打了流感预防针。这是公司的福利，对员工和直系亲属是免费的。Biajee从来没有享受过，因为他怕打针。我则每年都打。不打败不打，多占小便宜。打针在10号会议室进行，总共有3个护士。我摊上的那个护士好像是个老墨，下手极狠，现在我的胳膊上还有淤青，疼痛不已，而Biajee早就没感觉了。我狠命捶他的针眼他也没感觉，真迟钝。

4岁以下的小孩子是要去医院打针的，所以公司发了每人一张哭胖，家属去医院打针不要钱，所以今天下午要带阿诺去医院打预防针了。由于这是他有生以来第一次打流感预防针，剂量要分成两次注入身体。今天先来一针，31天以后再来一针。突然想起以前的老板说过，打流感预防针会得老年痴呆症，也许过几十年以后我和Biajee都得老年痴呆了，谁都认不出来了。Biajee还盼着他老了以后阿诺给他换尿片呢。他说只要给他换一张就满足了，真是痴人说梦。

突然大风降温了，我们中午买了很多水果和早餐，准备明天吃的。想起塞得满满的冰箱，觉得很惆怅。当年我一个人住的时候，冰箱里都是空的，非常干净。家里也一尘不染。Biajee每次来找我玩都怀疑我是不是住在那里。 自从Biajee和阿诺搬来之后，我们的家就像猪窝，生活就像无底洞。

油价终于跌到66刀一桶了，是16个月以来的最低。欧元也跌到1.3了。我们持有美元的人又富有了，多么具有戏剧性呀。

How to Interview

I attended a class about The Art of Interviewing today. It's mostly helpful in a lot of behavioral questions. The key is to always say that you're a terrifc fit for the position you're interviewing for even though you may have sucked at some other questions. This is the way the Americans like.

They want confidence, nacissism and ego regardless of what your real skill sets are. If you say something like, "I have the right skill sets, but there will be a learning curve." You'll absolutely lose a few points there. It's not the right time of being humble, feasible or practical. It's the time of bragging, exaggerating and magnifying what you can do.

Never say anything negative about yourself. Picture you as the best of all in the whole wild world. The thing is, I have interviewed a lot of people and have never asked them such questions before. I pretty much could judge whether they are a perfect fit for the job based on all the other questions I have asked. And they'll always lose points if they tell me they're the perfect fit for the job.

Sign Change

Today the sign in front of my company was changed to Staples from Corporate Express. It's very ugly now compared to before as the colors don't match that smoothly. Anyway, it is the milestone of the transition of the company. I no longer work for the company I was hired to work for.

I'll have to study very hard this weekend for my accounting class as there are so many terms and definitions to remember for next week's exam. I need to memorize everything to be able to ace the 35 multiple choice questions. The problem is, aside from COBIT, COSO, PCAOB, ACL, IPS, RADIUS, etc, there will also be accounting questions. I'm pretty sure I'll be a new soldier equipped with all the auditing definitions and ideas after this exam.

Biajee just found out for me that my accounting professor used to work for KPMG. Somehow he quit his high-salary job there and became a professor for UC Denver. According to the online disclosure, he almost makes nothing for the current job. Maybe he just enjoys teaching.

Jogging

Biajee got up at 5:30 am today and went jogging. He said his right leg was thinner than his left now due to the surgery and no movement in the past 1.5 months. He must have felt really bad because it's really a drag for him to be able to get up that early. And he was late for work after that because he couldn't manage his time very well. Of course he blamed me really hard for it.

What can I do? I have a 7 am conference call tomorrow and an 8 am meeting. I don't see how I can add to his misery by disappearing from his sight as early as possible.

Anyway, I attended a work shop for Networking today and it was very helpful. I've never found a job through networking before. Maybe I should try it now. My boss comes back tomorrow so I should be all burned out with work.

I turned in my 2nd project for my accounting class last night and the professor was surprised. He was going to spend half the class showing them how to do the projects. I thought it was supposed to be an individual effort on his announcement. I left the class early because I already spent my time on it and didn't want to waste any resources.

厌食症

自从Biajee开始做饭以后，我和阿诺不约而同地得了厌食症。具体表现为对什么食物都没有胃口，看到食品就想逃之夭夭，尤其是Biajee加工过的食品。Biajee不会做面食，不会做饺子馅，包子馅或者混沌馅。所以我们的菜谱总是老三样，逼急了Biajee就给我们煮速冻饺子和方便面吃，搞得我和阿诺也懒得抱怨了。 就连素食的品种都没什么变化。我大概已经有一年没吃过素什锦了。Biajee当然不会做，也想不起来要做。阿诺现在已经瘦得前搓板后糖葫芦了，我们不久就要被Biajee饿死了。

上周末去了丹佛的自然历史博物馆。我买了一年的会员卡，这样在里面看IMAX电影和球幕电影都有优惠，吃饭和买礼品也可以打九折。 我们观看了最新的有关恐龙的纪录片，是麦克尔道格拉斯解说的。 这个IMAX的屏幕是全世界最大的，看起来非常爽，只是因为我们没有提前排队，所以坐在了侧面，最好的效果应该是正中间靠后的位置。电影长达40分钟，讲述了关于恐龙的最新发现以及古生物学家和研究生们如何使低洼去恐龙化石的过程。我不由暗自庆幸自己没有选择古生物学作为专业，那种风餐露宿，含辛茹苦的生活我肯定受不了。我们学到了一堆关于恐龙的英文词儿，还看到了很多复原的恐龙在打架，非常生动。

散场后，我们路过放映室，看到直径大於1米的胶盘，每张相片都是120的尺寸，每场放完之后，放映员用胶布将胶片上的灰尘吸走清洁，煞为壮观。 电影院能容纳441人，座无虚席。这个生意真不错，肯定能赚钱。不象日前去过的丹佛水族馆，还破过产呢。

Winter

Winter is finally here. We'll get snow this weekend. I just finished Project 2 for my accounting class. I was using Access 2003. It bothers me that when I try to print the relationships, it won't show the primary key(s) for each table as bolded. Maybe Biajee can help me with that. I'll just burn a CD for the professor so that he won't even need to see the relationships on paper.

I've scheduled 2 sessions with Resnik Partners next week, one for Resume Building, the other for Networking. It's a shame that everyone else is participating in these seminars while I'm still working so hard. Fortunately my boss won't be in the office from Monday to Wednesday so I decide to take advantage of it and do something fun for myself.

The stock market keep plunging. We see no hope at all for it to rebounce. People are panicking that $700 billion is not enough. The funds I put in my 401K plan has shrunk 25% since Jan. 1st. Well, I don't want to take money out and pay 20% penalty either. Let the mutual funds ride the rollercoaster and crash.