I am on a magzine!

I had a great thanksgiving in Aurora, NE. What surprises me most is my room mate referred me one of her aunt's article. I am the "heroine". I always love to share my culture, especially tea. I decide to follow up some background of the tea culture in China in the coming posts. ---

It's my editor's note for the December issue of the Live Well Nebraska magazine:
>
>
> Charlie Brown described happiness as a warm puppy. For me, happiness could be a hot cup of tea.
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> I grew up in a tea-drinking family, and the taste of hot tea still has the power to transport me home. On page ?, contributing writer Kim Carpenter traces the history of tea and its health benefits.
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> I thought I knew something about tea. Over the years, my husband and I upgraded from tea bags to tea leaves. We have special tea pots. We’ve debated the best length of time to steep various types of tea leaves.
>
> Then I met Ling, a college friend of my niece. Ling is from the region of China where oolong tea originated. During our Thanksgiving celebration at my mother’s house, Ling described the tea farms around her childhood home. She talked about how tea is harvested and the history of how oolong was taken to other parts of the world. She described the differences of green and black tea.
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> And she talked about how to make tea. Throw out the first batch, she said, to get rid of the dirt and debris that is a normal part of the tea harvest. Then make a second batch from the leaves. That’s what you drink.
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> It was fascinating to hear Ling talk about tea. She spoke with deep knowledge and appreciation of this product for which her homeland is known. Could I speak as knowledgeably about Nebraska corn? I don’t think so, even though I grew up in Hamilton County, where center-pivot irrigation ensures the corn is way more than knee-high by the Fourth of July.
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> The lesson Ling offered wasn’t just about tea. It was about pride of one’s homeland.
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> I’m waiting until a special tea occasion to prepare the little pouch of oolong tea that Ling brought from China. When I make it -- according to her instructions -- I expect it will carry me in a small way toward China ... and a long ways toward my Nebraska home.
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> What is happiness to you? I wish it really were as simple as a warm puppy or a cup of hot tea.
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> In the midst of the season of joy, many of us can find it hard to be joyous. Appropriately, in this month’s issue of Live Well, contributing writer Judy Horan examines the concept of happiness.
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> Happiness is no guarantee, says Dr. Layne Prest. And once you find it, you aren’t guaranteed of keeping it. "It’s an ongoing journey," he said.
>
> Read Horan’s story on p. ?. Then turn to p. ? for joke-telling tips from comedian Vic Henley. A little laughter might help smooth the journey.
>
> What do you do to become and stay happy? Let’s talk about it online in the livewellnebraska.com<http://livewellnebraska.com> forums.
>
> While you’re on the forums, send us your favorite healthy recipe. Content editor Ananda Spadt and I are starting a healthy recipe feature that will appear both in the magazine and on livewellnebraska.com<http://livewellnebraska.com>. On the forums, look for the Recipes topic under the Nutrition board. Submit your recipes there. We’ll select some to appear in coming issues of the magazine and on the Fitness and Nutrition section online
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> I hope you have happy and warm holidays.
>
> Live well!
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>
>

Ken Yu's John Deer Life

Shaochen Ken Yu is a senior at Drake University. He is a part time internal controller at John Deer. He would like to share a few snapshots of his farm life.

FEI Lecture

Drake University will host a forum featuring national experts who will discuss solutions to the United States' fiscal challenges. Former U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker and Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert L. Bixby will present the Fiscal Solutions Forum.

I would like to share some good points from the lecture, as a citizen of the biggest "debt holder" to US. (just joking)

Happy new fiscal year(Fiscal year of 2011 started at the second day of the presentation)!

There is no doubt that US now is in a bad position in many ways many people don’t want or would never expect to be. Huge amount of the deficit is a big reminding right here waiting for a solution.

Social security, Medicare and Medicaid, defense and Non-defense are the four components of the government outlays. In FY 2010, the number of the four are coincidentally to be an average of 700 billion dollars with a total of 3.49 trillion compared to 2.14 trillion in revenue which comes from different sources of taxes. As Percentage of U.S. Economy, the federal spending in 1800 was only 2%, while in 2009, the number is 24%, and we predict the number in 2040 to be 35%. Especially the interest which is part of the non-defense component is flying under the radar but maintains a big base and a high increase rate, which contributes a lot to the big federal spending but not causing enough attention.

“Since 1800, U.S. Debt Held by the Public has exceeded 60 percent of GDP (the maximum debt ceiling used by the European Monetary Union) only during World War II.” But US holds 40% of the world economy since then, the dollars are as good as gold. Then the government starts to rely on the big deficit. Let the foreign government to hold debt to the US is not necessary a bad thing, but we should consider the sustainability of the gap between spending and revenue and the percentage to the GDP. The average outlays as a percent of GDP is 21 while the revenue to be 18.3, which left a 3% gap in deficit in GDP which brings concerns whether the economy is sustainable  at such level. However some people argue that the GDP has an average growth rate of 3% every year, it should be OK and sustainable to the economy. But in a long-term structure stand point, we can see that is not working. “Without reforms, by 2022, future revenues will only cover Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and interest on the debt. By 2046, revenues won’t even cover interest costs.” And future U.S. Debt Held by the Public is projected to soar if current policies remain unchanged, which means in 2038, US government will hold almost 300% of the debt as a percentage of GDP, and 854% in 2080.

In another aspect, the Mandatory spending is consuming a growing share of the budget which means that the Congress will have less control of the budget. It will be a very negative impact on the wise spending the tax payers’ money.

In another inception, the Social Security program has experienced more surpluses than deficits. We expected in the future, persistent cash deficits are projected for Social Security.  Social security has current beneficiaries of 53 million dollars and Medicare has about 46 million but the trust fund will begin permanently operating with a negative cash sin 2015 for Social security and Medicare has already begun. The exhaustion year of those funds are not far away, respectively to be 2037 and 2029.

 We know the tax will increase. Total tax burdens are lower in the U.S. than many other industrial countries, 28% compared to Sweden 48%, France 43%. Individual income and payroll taxes comprise most of federal receipts  Main sources of growth in the Federal revenue over the next 30 years will be individual income taxes, about 6.5% which has to cover the 6.5% increase in Interest alone and almost 4% growth in Medicare and not to mention Medicaid and social security.

Thanksgiving 2010

The invitation said "Just some quick notes- my Grandma's house is pretty small, so you and me might be sleeping on the floor. (oh well : )  ) Typically, Des Moines to Aurora takes 4 hours; it is a very easy drive. My Grandma's town is not very exciting, but we will play lots of games, and you can meet all my extended family!"

That was very true, and we fulfilled all our targets and had great time in Aurora besides my speeding ticket, God!

 Say hello to Amber, I was told to avoid standing in the her back or I might be kicked. Good surviving  tip!

 I had a bucket list during my internship, the things I should done in America. Now check off one!

 This is always my favorite part of the family decoration... Nothing intentional, just place them there when time goes by, and someday, you smile in front of the fridge looking those photos...

  Nurst, best game ever, very competitive and exciting! It was the calmness before the storm.

Last year Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday since I have been in States.  No offense to the Christmas or Halloween, it is just that I had great time during this period of time consecutively for two year thanks to my room mate--Carly Hurley.

Last year, I was invited to her house in Denver. This year, I was invited to her grandma's house in Aurora, NE. I am a family guy(not that TV show), so family time are really attractive to me. I know most of the time are dull, but I just enjoy the relaxing and simple pleasure of sharing your time and things with the people you love which is so rare for international students.

Last year--Denver

 Staffing, topping were new terms to me in the table, they had to check the dictionary when I asked why staffing can be two things.

 Carly had to hold me the majority of the time, but finally I could stay still or move like ant on my own.

 It is a very nice town about an hour outside of Denver, great skiing place. I had the best sandwich ever!

 We were driving west to Omaha for cheaper flight. Was that beautiful! You have no idea how expensive the flight from Des Moines to everywhere.

Outside of the art museum of Denver

I was trapped deeply...


Denver is a bigger city, much cooler(not the weather) than Des Moines, great view of the mountains, and awesome places for shopping and entertainment. We enjoyed the great meal Carly's parents prepared, black Friday shopping, ice skating(first time)...

Late Halloween Post

Halloween here is so much fun. Last year, I was working during that night so I didn't enjoy the craziness. But this year I know why the news say that Halloween consumption is only second to Christmas.

I was Cleopatra!!!

Halloween here sometimes made me feel that people are mocking the death...which is definitely a good sign in China. We have certain days that the underground spirits come out for some fresh air... Party, big no! We are still in tribe level. We bring the sacrifice to calm the anger and bribe some peace...

Look familiar? You are right, that is the bribe... the money in the second photo values 1 million under earth... impressive!

Money is not the only sacrifice, people are creative and considerate concerning the families' spirits

Besides the living necessity house, car, clothing, even certain special pharmacy product, mistress, in a odd way it reflects the society's twisted greed towards wealth, sex and other taboo... They burn all those sacrifice in front of their graves or the street corner. There is nothing fun, just dirt and creepy wind... 

What's loneliness?

How you know you fell alone? You pull out of you phone without a reason, and find out you spend 90% of your minutes talking to customer service from India or who knows which country... you take a lot of photos of yourself...you eat alone...you study alone...you listen to your favorite shows while browsing websites without a purpose...

Apple Pie

Final Work

Working on it

                                                                  Apple--Apple--Apple


Time have gone so fast. The same time last year, I was in my host family's house as well, curving pumpkins, tried to have small talks, (we were just met at that time) having a glance of creepy Halloween. And this year, the house seemed to be my second home. In the kitchen, we were joking about some school routine, household nuisance. We took different assignments and made a apple pie. I am impressed  that the pie tasted amazing.
But the after supper talk is serious. Senior year is hard in many ways, regular school stuff, choice about future on the corner. Keep doubting.... Everything doesn't make sense...
Hard work+Luck=Future? I am not sure that this equation would work, but that is the best I can think of right now...

ARL--Pet Expo

I cannot move my eyes away from his... Love at the first sight~

He is too arrogant to even give me a pity look...crying..

Her name is "Beauty", I double checked, her name is still beauty.

She is a very knowledgeable "federal agent", carry a "book" wherever she goes.

PUPPY

He is still aPUPPY, only 11-month old

Winner! The only criteria is the audience's recognition... This dog is popular 

That is where the romance starts~

Time to Book the Ticket!

买机票网站
1.    http://www.kayak.com/

我绝大部分的机票都在这里买的。这个网站不卖机票，但是会帮你对比所有卖机票网站和航空公司网站的价格。当然还有很多别的类似网站比如 Priceline, orbitz, travelocity和expedia，但比完发现，Kayak总是涵盖最大的信息量，能给你搜出最便宜的机票，还能搜flexible date，每个航班还能显示准点率。

2. http://www.priceline.com/
Priceline美国最大的网上订机票和宾馆网站，最高折扣可达60％。
这个网站的最大特色就是提供竞价，这样您可以通过竞价方式拍到最便宜的机票或宾馆.  你可以输入一个超低的报价这个系统会自动征询所有的航空公司 如果他们觉得没有坐满 愿意提供这个报价就会接受 往往在最后一刻会非常非常便宜. 另外有一点独特的功能，就是能帮你组合两个不同航空公司的航班，让你买到比正常情况便宜的转机机票。


3. http://www.studentuniverse.com/
有了Kayak你就不用去各大网站找机票了，但studentuniverse是另一回事。因为这是针对学生的价格（要有.edu的邮箱并小于35岁）。 大部分情况下它不会比kayak便宜，但有时候会推出便宜的惊人的学生机票。比如当时来美国峰季有人就买到4000rmb的票，比如我提前一周买纽约飞芝 加哥，其他地方转机飞机都要三四百了，studentuniverse却只要200还是白天直飞。

4.两个提供吐血机票deal的地方
在你无所谓时间地点的时候，有些吐血便宜的机票，可以在http://www.kayak.com/buzz上找到。它帮你按月份罗列当月最吐血的机票 deal。还有在studentuniverse主页右边有Recently Purchased Deals 在你第一次查找机票之后，会帮你罗列出从你出发地出发的最便宜的机票deal。

5. http://top20.travelzoo.com/
在旅游方面，强烈建议订阅travelzoo的每周top 20 travel deal （http://top20.travelzoo.com/）。有一些五十块钱住总统套房啊，一百块钱美国东西往返机票啊，还有200块钱加勒比游轮游 啊&hellip;非常诱人的，看看也开心。

6. http://www.cheapcaribbean.com/
加勒比海是美国的后花园，这个网站提供所有加勒比地区的旅行deal。如果想cruise游的话，这是最好的信息来源了。

7. http://us.lastminute.com/
如果你想出去玩，但只剩下一两周了，那么这个网站会有一些好的last minute travel packages。但是早动手才是王道，这里的deal肯定不会比travelzoo上提前两个月预定的deal好。

8. http://www.hotwire.com/
这个网站很有名，有很多酒店搞活动之类的，适合订酒店。

9. http://www.travelsuperlink.com/index_cn.htm
中文网站，有一些美国飞中国的机票走势价格提示什么的。也有一些中国机票代理的联系方式，和相关的deal。

10. http://www.iflychina.net/node/add/content-airfare
这里可以找到最近购买机票的价格，都是刚买了机票的人自己发布的成交价格，比机票自动搜索网站要更人性，但肯定不够全。

一些小tips:
1.    从08年6月15日起，American Airline的境内（含加拿大）飞机托运行李不免费。United Airlines和US Airways8月起也开始这么做了。 所以尽量少带液体能自己提上飞机最好。

2.    如果经常做同一个航空公司的飞机，一定要加入俱乐部攒里程。如果用他们的信用卡就更划算了。我用Onepass的信用卡，办卡送2万里程，刷1块钱送1mile，不到一年就能攒出来回国的往返机票了。

3.    买回国的机票，不要完全相信中国城那些代理，先自己在网上查价，心里有数了再去打电话问，不然他们有时候报的价简直离谱。

4.    订座位的时候，最后几排中间的座位肯定是人们最不会选择的，所以只要飞机不满，这些座位就是空的。所以，与其选择前排的靠窗或者靠走廊的座位，不如选择靠后的，因为你身边很有可能没有人（我屡试不爽）。

5.    一般在提前三四个月的时候，航空公司会西先发一批特价票探路，如果卖的好，后面就会涨价，如果卖的不好，就会再推出一批特价票，但一般第一批肯定是最便宜 的，所以如果肯定要回国的话，还是早买的好。一般来讲买周5的票最便宜，而且提前两三天买经常会比提前2周买便宜。

6. 最后从别人那学来一点是:  找到日期以后也可去航空公司的官方网站定 因为为了赢得竞争各大航空公司的官方网页售价都是不包括代理费的 往往比各大廉价机票网站的价格便宜数十美金 特别是Southwestern和United Airline 在官方网站获得的票价是很多廉价机票网站上根本不可能出现的.

Don't Laugh. I cann't recognize half of the symbols below in English, Gosh! It is my next project!

+　 -　±　　≡ ≌　＞　≮　≯　≤　≥　%　‰　∞　∝　√　
∵∴∷∠⌒　⊙　○　
π△　⊥　∪　∩　∫　∑　°　′　″　℃　{　}　(　)　() [　]　[].　|　&　*　/　//　#　\　~　.　,　:;　!　　--- ...　"""　‖ &　～　§　→　

Belated Happy birthday! Princess Maria!

I cannot believe little princess Maria has turned 21...

I have to work when all of you are celebrating(bursting tears!)

Wish you all the best, girl! Forever 21!

I will a post card  for you--

The old man in the picture is a symbol of living "long and prosper"(not a star war fan through except the newest one), but his peach is great. According to the legend. He has a garden with a lot of peach trees. Those trees took 1000 years to be alive, another 1000 years to grow up, anther 1000 years to blossom and another years for the peaches to mature. You will be immortal if you have eat enough those peaches.

Wishes: I hope you live a long life like a mountain, have a life flooded with fortune. (it is the literally translation of what the works in the picture.) We like a little exaggeration..

[转MITbbs]你回国吧，中国多复杂啊! Home or not?

[转MITbbs]你回国吧，中国多复杂啊! 来源： 梁其伟的日志

在国外呆的时间长了，你会发现，几乎你所遇见的每一个中国人，都是一个祥林嫂。他们喋喋不休地反反复复地披星戴月地不断追问你追问自己：以后想不想回国?以后想不想回国?以后想不想回国?……回还是不回，这真是一道算也算不清的多元方程题。

曾经，出国留学读学位，毕业留下找工作，娶妻生子买house，是一个水到渠成毋庸置疑的选择。但突然有一天，“市场经济的春风吹遍了祖国的大地”，一直在国外的实验室、公司小隔间里默默耕耘着的中国人猛地抬头，发现太平洋彼岸，祖国的大地上已千树万树梨花开了。

紧 接着，“坏消息”接踵而来。留学生开始听说以前住他隔壁的张三已经是国内某某大公司的经理了;还有那个人不怎么地的李四，听说他小蜜已经换了半打了;然 后，在一次回国的旅途中，他发现自己在国外吃的、穿的、玩的、乐的，只能望国内朋友们的项背了;还发现自己在为一个小数据的打印错误而向自己的部门经理频 频道歉点头哈腰的同时，他的老同学，那个以前远远不如他的王二，此刻正坐在KTV包间里打着手机，说“那个房地产的项目贷款，我们还可以再协商协商……

他 也免不了察觉，自己的全部精神生活──如果他年少时候的“愤青”气息还没有被国外的阳光彻底晒化的话──就是窝在某个中文论坛，发两句明天就要被版主当作 垃圾清理掉的牢骚而已，而与此同时，他的某某朋友已经成了国内媒体上的 “专家学者”，在那些激动人心的关于“转型”的辩论中频频发言……

不 错，他的确，或最终会，住上美丽的房子。在经过那么多年辛辛苦苦地读书、胆战心惊地找工作之后，“一些梦”实现了。买了大房子，门外有草坪、草坪外有栅 栏、栅栏里有花丛。可是，说到底，有一天，他在院子里浇花的时候，突然沮丧地意识到，这样的生活，不过是那曾经被他耻笑的农民理想“面朝黄土背朝天，老婆 孩子热炕头”的海外版本而已。

那么，他到底还要些什么呢?生活里到底还有些什么比“面朝黄土背朝天，老婆孩子热炕头”更伟大更性 感更美丽呢?更大的房子?他现在的房子已经大得可以闹鬼了。更正宗的夫妻肺片?说实话，出国这么多年，他已经对辣的不那么感冒了。更多的工资?那是当然， 不过他下次涨工资的日子其实也不远了……

说到底，他内心的隐隐作疼，与这一切“物质生活”都没有什么关系，他所不能忍受的，是 “历史的终结”，是那种生活的“尽头感”，是曾经奔涌向前的时间突然慢下来、停下来、无处可去，在他家那美丽的院子里，渐渐化为一潭寂静的死水。窗外的草 坪，那么绿，绿得那么持之以恒，那么兢兢业业，那么克尽职守，那么几十年如一日，简直就像是……死亡。

而国内的生活呢?虽然据说 有很多腐败，有很多贫富差距，小孩子有做不完的作业，农民有跑不完的上访，工人在不停下岗，甚至据说还曾经有人在路上走着走着就给逮进去打死了，可是，对 于有志青年，中国这个大漩涡，是一个多么大的“可能性”的矿藏：愤青有那么多东西可战斗，资青有那么多钞票可以赚，文青有那么多感情可以抒发──历史还远 远没有抵达它的尽头，未来还坐在红盖头里面激发他的想象力，他还可以那么全力以赴地向它奔跑，并且从这全力以赴中感受到“意义”凛冽的吹拂。如果是这样， 干嘛不回国算了?难言之痛，一回了之。

这时候，他又开始嗫嚅。他开始怀疑自己对国内的种种向往，也许只是“距离产生的美感”。他 开始担心如果凑近了观察，会看到祖国脸上的麻子和粉刺。“毕竟，在中国创业，是要靠关系的，我又没有什么关系，回去也白回去。”他说。“这里再怎么不好， 基本上还是一个凭本事和能力吃饭的地方，至少还有公平可言，不用平白无故受很多气。”他又说。

接着，他想到国内走到哪里人们都是 一拥而上没人排队随地吐痰环境污染严重，他感到头疼。又想到国内那些衣衫褴褛的民工一天工作12个小时到年底竟然可能拿不到工资，他感到齿冷。还想到那些 个被假药假酒假奶粉毒害的人们，因此又不可避免地感到胃疼。他越想越多，越想越疼，越想越害怕，最后不可避免地抵达了“文明”、“民主”、“法治”等光芒 四射的高度。

于是他陷入了僵局。他一会儿想到国内张三李四王二的刺激生活，一会儿又想到了国外王二李四张三的安稳命运。国内的生 活，他看不到上限，因而充满希望，但也看不到下限，因而特别危险;国外的生活，他看得到下限，因而感到安全，但也看得到上限，所以特别乏味。国内的生活像 是买股票，可能升得快，也可能跌得快;而国外的生活像是定期存款，挣不到哪里去，却也亏不到哪里去。啊，海外的游子，一个个高学历、高收入、高素质的三高 “白骨精”，就这样被逼成了成天喋喋不休自言自语的“祥林嫂”。

有一次回国，我和几个朋友吃饭，其中一个说“你回国吧，中国多复杂啊……”复杂，嗯，就是这个词，恰切，精确。对于一个有胃口的灵魂来说，“复杂”是多么基本的一种需要，而美国阳光下的郊区，美得那么纯粹，那么安静，对于习惯惹是生非的人来说，说到底是一种灾荒。

对 “复杂”的向往，让我暗暗希望，自己能过一辈子东跑西窜、颠沛流离的生活。这个愿望，使我觉得，自己是多么贪婪的一个人。贪图安稳，又贪恋刺激，回不回 国，不仅仅是一个“创业”的问题，甚至不仅仅是一个“文化”的问题，如果说这种贪婪是一种“犯贱”的话，我坚持要把它推卸到“娜拉的悲剧”这个哲学命题上 去。

在历史的道路上，人们披荆斩棘、奋勇前进，可是到达了历史的终点之后，啊，站在北美五月的美丽风景里，我惊恐而又伤感地想，人们对那坎坷不平然而激荡人心的道路，又犯起了“思乡病”。

Double Nineth Festival=Mum's B-Day! 重阳节妈妈生日！

The Double Ninth Festival observed on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese calendar, is a traditional Chinese holiday.

According to the I Ching(it is another book, talking about Yi,Yang and life) , nine is the yang number; the ninth day of the ninth lunar month (or double nine) has too much yang (a traditional Chinese spiritual concept) and is thus a potentially dangerous date. Hence, the day is also called "Double Yang Festival" (重陽節). To protect against the danger, it is customary to climb a high mountain, drink chrysanthemum wine, and wear the zhuyu (茱萸) plant, Cornus officinalis. (Both chrysanthemum and zhuyu are considered to have cleansing qualities and are used on other occasions to air out houses and cure illnesses.) Also on this holiday, some Chinese also visit the graves of their ancestors to pay their respects.

In 1966, the Republic of China (Taiwan) rededicated the holiday as "Senior Citizens' Day",[1] underscoring one custom as it is observed in China, where the festival is also an opportunity to care for and appreciate the elderly.”
---from Wikipedia

Don't mention anything related to "senior" that day, my mum will bite you. This year, the festival will be on Oct 16th. I will be in Minneapolis for a job shadow--connect 2011 and shopping time yeah!

But I already looking for something for dad and sister. International shipping cost is No cheap, so I will accumulate presents and send them all together.

By the way, folks, half a semester is almost  passed...
Did you know that?

On and Off Campus Safety Tips

This is a series of safety tips from Boson University, but most of them still apply to us as well. We know we are grown-ups, and we are in Des Moines, a lovely mid-western city, but it won't hurt to be cautious, right?  

 Bicycle Safety

• Always wear a helmet.
• Learn, use, and obey traffic signals. Remember, bikers must obey the same traffic laws as motor vehicle operators.
• If riding at night, use reflectors and lights.
• Give pedestrians the right of way.
• Ride defensively. Watch for cars and car doors opening.
• Do not weave in and out of traffic.
• Slow down at intersections and look both ways before crossing.
• Keep your bike well maintained.
• Always lock your bike with a strong lock in good condition.
• Register your bike with the Boston University Police Department (BUPD); call 617.353.2121.

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Pedestrian Safety

• Be careful when crossing streets and “T” tracks.
• Use pedestrian crosswalks.
• Always look for cars, bikes, and trolleys before crossing the street.
• Always be alert to your surroundings. Take care when using personal electronic devices, as they limit your awareness.
• At night, walk in well-lit areas.
• Use the Escort Security Service (811 for Drake Security) or walk with a friend.

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Theft and Larceny Safety

• Always lock and secure your door(s) and windows.
• Do not leave valuables unattended.
• Record all serial numbers of valuable possessions.
• Register your laptop with the BUPD . ---Not sure Drake has the similar service, but you can check home owner insurance, I have that as a bonus to my car insurance. 
• Report suspicious activity to the Drake Security.
• Use campus emergency blue light phones.
• Do not lend your DUID card to anyone.

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Sexual Assault and Rape Safety Tips

• Avoid walking alone after dark—use the Escort Security Service or travel in groups.
• When going to a party or a bar, always use the “buddy system.”
• Be aware of blue emergency phone locations.
• Use your peephole to identify anyone who knocks on your door before you open it.  If you do not recognize someone, do not open your door.
• Make a safety plan with friends.  Tell them where you are going and when you will be home.
• Carry a cell phone, and change to use a pay phone.
• Do not allow yourself to be left alone in an unfamiliar situation.
• Avoid excessive use of alcohol and drugs.
• Do not drink anything that you did not open or mix yourself.
• Trust your instincts.

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Take Responsibility for Your Personal Safety

Staying safe on and off campus requires common-sense precautions and attention to your surroundings.

• Carry your DUID card at all times, but don’t carry your keys and DUID on the same key ring or holder.
• Use the Escort Security Service .
• Always secure personal items. Never leave your valuables unattended.
• Stay off the frozen Charles River during winter months.
• Wear protective gear when rollerblading, skateboarding, and biking.
• Stay off rail/train tracks.
• Register your bike with the Drake University Police Department . A registered bike is more likely to be recovered if stolen.
• Report suspicious persons or activity to the BUPD.
• Log important (DUPD, 911, your RA, cab company, etc.) numbers into your cell phone.

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On-Campus Residents

• Always lock your door.
• If you lose your key or it is stolen, report it immediately to your residence hall office, your resident assistant, or the resident assistant on call.
• Do not leave valuables unsecured in your room.
• Do not let strangers enter or sign in to your residence.
• Do not prop open doors.

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Out and About

• Do not carry large sums of cash.
• When walking on campus, follow well-lit paths and avoid alleyways.
• Use caution when crossing streets and the MBTA tracks.
• Avoid walking alone late at night – instead, use the Escort Security Service or travel in groups.
• Be alert to your surroundings and know the locations of the Emergency Blue Light Phones.
• If you go out alone, tell your roommates where you are going and when you expect to be back. If your plans change, call your roommates.
• Check your directions in advance and know where you are going.
• Walk purposefully.
• Be cautious of people asking for money or assistance.
• If your wallet is stolen, report the loss to the DUPD immediately and contact your credit card companies as well.
• Avoid potentially dangerous situations and neighborhoods.
• Don’t dart in front of traffic to catch a “T” or bus.
• If you feel uneasy or threatened, change direction, cross the street, locate and use a blue light emergency phone, or enter a store or place of business.
• When jogging or walking, exercise care when wearing headphones. You are less aware of your surroundings when wearing headphones and are more vulnerable to accidents or to being victimized.

First Lady in the Moon

Breaking News!

First Lady in the Moon, when? At least 300BC!

Her name is Chan Er.

She was the most beautiful lady in the village, when those days 10 suns were hanging in the sky. He was the hero who tried to make a difference to the world by shooting down the redundant suns.

They fall in love, of course. And a magic medicine came of no where, but could make people immortal. Maybe the hero spent too much time outside, maybe the lady got greedy. Romance did not work out. The hero was left behind and she was flying to a place she pictured to be magnificent, but it turned out to be another lonely land.

There are many version of stories about this lady, I choose one that is not so perfect, and somehow awkward. But it is a version I believed closest to reality.

Care your love around, it is so vulnerable, it could vanish in a second...

L..O..V..E... what can I say?

Mid-Autumn Carnival--Live

We need a better historian... But it was a great turn out last Friday!

 

pre-work

 awesome moon cake

 a small-big project

 Can you guess what this guys are doing?

 Copy one by one!

 The word is "Vampire".

 Apple Management

 The girl won!

 I and my ghost partner present the prize, an etiquette tea set!

 O, what is that smile...

 Balloon, Go! Go! Go!

 Game is not easy, another assignment on Friday night? Come on!