今天很不一般。收到一期新的A类专业期刊，本期发表的12篇文章的作者里居然有两位自己读PH.D时候的老师和四位同学。感觉自己很落后。

The rampage in Fort Hood was beyond tragedy. How can a man being described as gentle and kindly committed such a massacre, killing 13 innocent people and wounding 30 more? I can not begin to imagine what a suffering struggle the guy had gone through before his final act -- living through a whirl of conflicts and confrontation. And the bloody facts of the war, reminded by soldiers sent back from the front, were wrecking his sanity as he attended to them on medical care. Belief or religion, the back bone of our spiritual life which often pulls us through difficult times, can also destroy our balances of right and wrong. I am in grief for those who were lost and who lost them from this tragedy. But it now all seems the victims are more than just them.

人怀旧是一种很奇怪的情绪。昨天上完课又在办公室工作了两个小时才回家。今天早上实在是起不起来，索性赖床到8点半。起来后，莫名其妙地就想家了。春节回家的念头开始强烈地脑子里起伏。打开电脑，网页上的秋天漫山黄叶的图片又让我开始怀念明州。这是怎么回事呢？上周收到一个不大不小职业上的一个打击。拿到消息的当天，恰好和一个朋友一起吃晚饭。到底忍不住和她提了。她没有刻意安慰我，只是和我说她自己工作申请科研资金失败时，她的老板总是很平静地说，"move on, let's apply for next"。想想也就是这个道理。这个职业就是这个样子 －－被拒绝的频率永远高于被接受的，越早克服挫败的心理，越早积极地投入下一步，才可能越早接近下一个成功的机会。我想，我想家，大概是因为我潜意识里斗志还不足吧。

这个周六过得非常紧凑。7点半起床，9点至11点45分在办公室加班。12点到2点和另外19为朋友为一位海龟送行。2点半至3点45分和一位朋友在书店讨论公司财务会计的问题。4点到5点和两位闺蜜为晚上party的着装在我的几个closet里钻进钻出，把陈年不碰的衣服都翻了个遍。期间我还抽空做了个炒面，为party用。

因为过敏引起咳嗽有一个星期了。过敏很容易就控制了，咳嗽却迟迟不好。每个星期8个小时的课，加上我这个人一见到朋友话就特别多，恢复就更慢了。虽然昨天早早就从party上撤退，一整夜都不停的咳嗽，把自己吵醒。做梦还梦见自己去考 CPA。 当时想，自己要是考不过得多丢人啊。卷子一拿到，题目五花八门，有西方文学艺术，有推理辨别，就是没有一题是会计方面的。 早上起来，嗓子很疼。决定今天能闭嘴是就闭嘴。明天还得对着学生声情并茂呢！

上个星期到现在生活一直很规律。每天6点多起床，8点到办公室开始工作。运气好的话可以在6点以前下班。回到家休息休息，吃晚饭。还可以再工作一两个小时。觉得象是回到了刚刚开始读博士的时候，心里很平静满足。

昨天升级了手机的软件，现在试用中文手写输入。 网络也快了很多。不厚道地八一句，微软聚集了那么多人才，为啥设计的东西常常不make sense 呢？（以上由我的苹果手机输入）

周日和一帮朋友打了三个小时的羽毛球，很痛快。自我感觉比以前在明大时进步了很多。主要是因为身体体能的提高，手臂有力量，也比以前能跑动。有了这些基础，开始可以体会到一些技巧，这项运动总算让我感到兴趣了。

仿佛是一夜之间，生活因为更多朋友的加入而多姿多彩。虽然认识这些朋友时间不长，却很投缘。我真是幸运啊。

偷偷再放一张照片。我最喜欢的，每个人都笑得那么开心。

和励志毫无关系。你们有没有过这种经历，脑子一方面很兴奋，一方面人又太悃了。结果，上个十分之一秒想到个事情，下个十分之一秒就得费劲地回忆那到底是啥。我昨天一天基本上就是这样度过的。然后我就想到了李宗盛的这首歌 －－就好像我出点子的本事在和失忆的能力比赛，看看哪个速度更快。

那些一个星期工作100小时人是怎么做到的，我不知道。但是一天工作时间达到14／15 个小时，我现在完全相信其可行性了。当然当然，对我来讲，上个陈述句的重音要放在 “一”上。再有十几个小时就要熬出头了，憧憬啊。过去的三个星期我的大脑都在超强度地工作，等我明天下午把论文交了稿，大家说说，我该怎么放松一把才好呢？ 我计划的放松时间为 24 － 48 小时。欢迎各式建议！（有奖的！）

Mistakes are usually very expensive. I figured it out very quickly this morning when I was standing at the DFW airport, having my cell close to my right ear, and being held by a Northwest agent over the line.

This morning I got up at 4:30 am to catch a flight at 7:15. When my shuttle bus arrived at the airport, it was already 6:30 am. I needed to check in one bag and felt hurried. Just to add on my anxiety, the system wouldn’t recognize my flight information. A clerk tried to help and didn’t work. I started getting impatient. As I was just about to complain and swear, one airline agent realized what’s going on: my reservation was for MSP to DFW round trip. And the reservation should have been DFW to MSP.
….

There was a few things went through my mind while I was being held on the phone, waiting for the agent to help me. Naturally, I started with the question, “how could this happen to me?”. Then self-pitying such as “Oh, I am always a careful person – I must have been under too much stress ”. Luckily I moved on to more grateful thinking that I thank goodness that I am not a doctor—who knows what I could have done to my patients. And even if I work with numbers and financial reports, fortunately I am only a teacher, not a banker or broker. ….

The agent didn’t have me wait long. Turned out, it was not hard to resolve the situation. What to be done is for me to purchase another ticket on the spot. ($#@*$@)A!843) I felt grateful again that I was no longer a Ph. D student. I’ve always valued time, comfort, and pleasure more than money. Now I just make enough money to afford that taste.

Mistakes can be costly. Sometimes they are so costly that you can't put a price to it.  In my case, I am thankful that there is a specific price for my mistake, and that is $537.99.