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| Auto-protection mechanismAs we grow, does it usually mean enabling and cranking up one's auto-protection mechanisms more and more?
We actually get afraid more and more easily when we're older. We get more afraid of death, of uncertainty. We are only perceived to be more capable because of "experience". We learn about different situations and different things in the world, and we learn better how to handle everything from our experience -- but the more we do, the more we're afraid of the now-fewer uncertain things.
I noticed that these days I have a harder time to get back to sleep when I'm woken up (whether it's midnight by a phone call or some external noise in the morning). It seems that I'm afraid of falling asleep due to the fear of being woken up again (harshly) -- my auto-protection mechanism kicking in. That probably has some to do with stress too..
We also have an auto-protection mechanism emotionally. A person can only be hurt so many times before he covers himself with thicker and thicker layers of protection. I can't say all my experience from relationships have been bad and in fact some were extremely nice; but seeing where I am today (as a single person), I think it's fair to say the overall net result had been negative. And I'm also sure I'm also just another common man going through life, so I should speak for most. As we grow older, it's harder and harder to have true feelings for someone else. When we're 15, it might take us 2 days from meeting someone to grow feelings for them. When we're 25 (at least for myself), it might take years to open up. While your true heart is still weak inside, it's covered by layers and layers of protection, one thicker than the other, not letting anyone get to it with any ease.
Um... I don't know where I'm really going with all that. (I always have this trouble with blogging) I'm going to stop here and let you all think about it...
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| Here is a graph of the traffic level on a typical web application vs time of the day.
Now here is a similar graph, for highways traffic, for a typical busy highway like 101 on peninsula, or 880 on the east bay, or 50 in sacramento.
Now let's look at what a web app with a good architecture and system design can handle. The red line is what the system will be designed to handle.
(Note that for many good systems, the red line is much higher than that, even.)
Notice that anything lower would be unacceptable as it would cause congestion and down time during peak hours and you run into all sorts of negative things -- including pissed off consumers, people less likely to spend money on your service, you get less profit in general. It's bad. Very bad.
Now, let's look at what a typical highway is designed to handle in terms of traffic level; that is the red line.
Now, I only have one question about this. WHY?
If only the government departments architects are more capable and design better systems -- people would be happier, less grumpy, be willing to spend more money on the society because they can actually GO OUT at peak hours and buy stuff (thus stimulate the economy), cause less accidents (which are because people are angry during traffic), and infinitely more positives.
Sigh. Why are computer scientists always better at everything?
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| 08/09 冬季滑雪全記錄往年通常每去滑雪﹐都會寫 journal 記低。
今年可能太忙﹐又或者去過太多次﹐無時間寫... 現在一次過﹗ 1. Dec 13, 2008
登場人物﹕Bigi, Benny, Deannie, Harris, Eva, Kaka (山上再遇上 Edmond, Patrick, Wilson, Ben, Nathan, Tip)
滑雪場﹕Northstar
時間﹕一日一夜 (星期五晚逗留)
由我發起﹐最初希望搞多人 cabin trip ﹐後來只有這幾個人。不過也好﹗
好的地方是多得 Benny 和 Eva 積極幫忙﹐Benny 廉價租車﹐及 Eva 給我們免費住 Hyatt 。
此行我終於開始練習 toe side 的技巧 (滑了兩年 snowboard 終於開始...)
滑雪後到 Thunder Valley 吃自助餐﹐亦不乏趣事... 2. Jan 24, 2009
登場人物﹕Bigi, Tommy, Florence, Clarence, Hao, William, Jake
滑雪場﹕Boreal
時間﹕兩日兩夜 (星期五晚至星期日早)
由我和 Tommy 發起。基本上多數功夫由我包辦﹐包括租車﹐駕駛(全程)...
其實頗為辛苦﹐不過好處是主要是滑 green 和教他們新手學滑雪﹐所以我都只是練基本功﹐
滑完後一天完全無疲勞... 亦多謝 William 給我們在他家 (Sacramento) 過了兩夜。
星期六晚餐是 Texas Roadhouse 扒房﹐很不錯。 (Elk Grove) 3. Feb 7, 2009
登場人物﹕Bigi, Jerry, Kat, Stephen, Alex Cen, Jolin, Eva, Andy, Jason Dere, Kenneth Yung
滑雪場﹕Homewood
時間﹕一日一夜 (星期五晚逗留)
再次是由我發起﹐由於上年去完 Homewood 後曾發誓要再去此場 (笑...)﹐因此再去。
今次沒有像上年般如入仙境的感覺﹐但都很不錯。住的酒店是 North Tahoe 名為
Cal Nevada Resort 的小店﹐非常不錯兼便宜﹐又有賭場。可以再去。(Eva 等人則住 Hyatt)
星期六晚餐是 Tahoe's Joe 扒房﹐都很不錯。(Roseville 附近) 4. Feb 28, 2009
登場人物﹕Bigi, Benny, Tracy, Candy, Brian Lin, Roger Kao, Candice, Echo Tam, Carrie, Brian Ho, Kenneth Chan, Deannie, Harris, Eric, 還有加入半日的 Denise, Mantong, Will
滑雪場﹕Diamond Peak
時間﹕一日一夜 (星期五晚逗留)
這個都算是今季的大型 ski trip 。由 Benny 發起﹐及差不多全數計劃﹐一腳踢。
絕對要多謝 Benny 的毅力。Diamond Peak 基本上是非常 beginner-friendly 的滑雪場﹐
可是對高手來說會悶了點。我個人認為很值 $37 的回票價。後半天我於這裡的 blue trails
獨自苦練 toe side 及 linking turn ﹐終於有些成果。
星期六晚餐去了 Sacramento 的 Mizu 自助餐﹐很不錯﹐比 Hokkaido 還好。 5. Mar 8, 2009
登場人物﹕Bigi, Eva
滑雪場﹕Kirkwood
時間﹕一日 (星期日一天 day trip)
事發於 Jerry 原本說那 weekend 可以去﹐後來 Eva 又上去及還有個朋友去﹐本來剛好
三四個人 day trip 。後來 Jerry 臨時甩底﹐Eva 朋友又無去﹐變成兩個人 ski trip...
這天正好前晚較鐘 (日光節約時間) ﹐睡得四個半小時又開車... (幸得回程時 Eva 開了個半小時)
話說我們全都未去過 Kirkwood﹐又傳聞 Kirkwood 乃 Tahoe 之最﹐因此決定去。
果然名不虛傳﹐此地確是滑雪聖地﹐唯獨不靠近泰河湖﹐無湖景看。
晚餐我們二人去了 Davis Fuji ﹐又是自助餐... 一季去五次﹗今年成績不錯... | | |
| My brain works sort of like memcache. (Which is special because that's not how most people work.)
In memcache, you can't browse by keys. It's not like a database. It's hard to see what exactly you stored in memcache unless you know all the keys. There's no way to "list everything" like a "select * from table" in SQL. However, if you do know the key and pull data by the exact key, it can tell you exactly what is stored about it in great details and great speed.
That's how my brain works. I'm not very good at tasks that require me to list out things. In a meeting with coworkers that discuss specs, projects, etc. if I am ever asked the question "do you have any problems/concerns about it?" I am never able to come up with any answer. But if someone mentions "what about the database, can it handle it?" I can tell you the exact answer yes or no, and why or why not, in complete details. I even have the entire code base in my brain and can tell you exactly what part might not work in exact details.
Outside of work, this means I'm not very good at carrying out conversations. Dead air is my closest friend. If people don't bring up any topics, I can't think of any. The best I can think of would be "the weather is nice." If someone brings up a topic and any topic, I can probably go on and on about it.
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| Snowboarding does feel pretty damn good. The soreness, tiredness, the cramp you get, and the feeling of getting your face stuffed with snow when you fall and roll, do make you feel pretty real and alive. On top of that, there's the speed element too. When you're better and can go faster while being able to control yourself, is a pretty cool feeling.
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