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生日快乐! 十年前的今天，我们和你一起庆祝你的生日。

Greyhound Trips

I had been on numerous Greyhound trips since I first came to the US. Apart from the prolonged sitting, which is quite hazardous for one with back problem, I had really good experiences and learnt some life lessons on these trips too. Most people would think that travelling in a bus is quite similar to taking a road trip, as you cruise through various part of the country, enjoying the scenery and take it easy. It's true that you cruise through various part of the country, enjoying the scenery. There's where the similarities end.

When you are on a road trip, you usually have a destination in mind, then you plan the stops along the road. There's a set of cities and towns that you would stop. With Greyhound, you will end up stopping in the most unimaginable locations for transit or just a stopover. I traveled from Bozeman MT to Lubbock TX once and I stopped in Wichita KS, Oklahoma City OK, Dallas TX, Big Spring TX then Lubbock TX.

Back in the early 2000, before Greyhound changed their routes, Greyhound stopped in practically any podunk town if there was any passenger boarding or disembarking. If you think that living in Bozeman MT, Lubbock TX or Ames IA is boring, wait till you stop in one of those town without any stop sign and there is no sign board to indicate the town's name and population. If it weren't for the stop, I would not even realize that there are people living in those places. The people that I had seen in these numerous trips really convinced me that anything is possible under the sun. Being in school and hanging around those elitists, there's a whole other side of the world that I am definitely not familiar with.

On one transit, I was in Oklahoma City station over night. If you are a female traveling alone, the most rational thing to do in any stopover is to stay awake and alert. I decided to walk around the bus station to stay awake. I met a woman in her forties outside the bus station, rearranging a number of large suitcases. I went up to lend her a hand and I strike up a conversation with her. She was on her way to Flagstaff AZ. She was moving from Illinois, all her worldly possessions were in the suitcases. Her thrice ex-boyfriend asked her to move to Flagstaff AZ and restart their relationship. She did not have a job line up, she did not have a definite place to stay and she had uprooted her life in Illinois. I wished her luck. I do not know why, but I remember this encounter very well, and often wonder what had become of her.

It was late at night, during one of those stop without any indication of the town name or population. A young man came onboard, all dressed up, looking smart and no suitcase. The driver asked him where was he heading. He said that he was going for a job interview in the next big city that we were heading to, five hours away. I could see the nervousness in his eyes and his body language. He did not sleep at all, fidgeting around all night. When we finally arrived at the big city, the driver wished him luck before he got off.

I was in a transit and boarded a bus that was already quite full. I found a seat next to a young woman with her toddler on her lap. That was the longest trip I've ever had, at least that's how I felt. Of the two hours I sat next to her, she was on her cell phone ninety percent of the time, talking to a guy. I couldn't make a tail or a head out of whether this guy is her husband, boyfriend, her son's father or something else. I do not think that my writing and description could do any justice to her conversation. The gist of her 0.90 * 2 hours conversation is "Don't f*** around while I am out". I was exhilarated when we finally stopped and we went different way.

It was my very first trip on Greyhound, bright eyes, bushy tail. I was in transit and was about to board another bus. I saw a guy gesturing to the employee at the boarding door. It was the policy of Greyhound to allow passengers with disabilities to board first. Apparently, this guy was trying to get to the front of the line so that he can board first based on his disabilities. I went up there and explained to the employee that he probably has disabilities. The employee asked the guy to show his disability card and he did. All were fine. After the bus was on its way, this guy came up to me and showed me a piece of paper, "I'm poor and hungry. I am disable. I need money to eat. Can you help me?" I wasn't sure if I should call that panhandling or extortion.

I like to travel light. One backpack and one small wheeled suitcase, that's the most I would take on any domestic leisure trip. I learnt a whole new meaning of travel 'light' over time on Greyhound. I saw a family of three, mother and two boys, each with one pillowcase full of their personal belongings, no other suitcases. Another time, I saw a guy traveling with a medium black trash bag, half full. On the other extreme, I saw a young woman, traveling by herself, with three huge suitcases and two pillows; at every stop, she will go down the bus to check that her suitcases are still in the cargo area before the bus takes off again.

Men are funny creatures. When a woman dressed very provocative, they tend to leave them alone. At least that was the case based on several instances that I had seen. I was in a bus station out in the Mid-West. I saw a woman in black bra and black short shorts. At the same time, there was another woman in shorts and t-shirt. Guess what, I saw a number of men approached the one in t-shirt, be it giving her a hand or just talking. One would assume that dressing more provocative might attract more attention, but I was quite wrong in that particular case. This happened on several occasions in various bus stations. That's when I started to question my theory.

When traveling all day, the bus would stop at some restaurants or restaurant in a gas station during meal time for the passengers and also the driver to get their meal. These stops are usually longer, about an hour, and usually at fast food restaurant. It was quite disheartening when I found out that quite a number of passengers could not afford to get themselves a meal from the restaurant, surviving on crackers and pressurized Cheez Whiz. I talked to a number of them and I found out that a large number of the passengers actually paid full price for their bus fare. I usually bought mine at least 14 days in advance for a discounted fare, about thirty to forty percent off the full fare. They were not aware of the existence of advance purchase discount at all. I could not help thinking, how the lack of information could produce so much disadvantages.

A lot of people consider taking Greyhound a waste of time, I have to concur with them that when you have the resources but not much time on hand, Greyhound is time consuming. However, if you are not in a hurry to get somewhere, it is worth to take a trip on Greyhound. When you are on a Greyhound trip, open your eyes and observe people. You will see so many things that you would never imagine possible. Several things I learnt from traveling on Greyhound: No matter how large the size of your headphones, people will still approach you to talk to you; Eye contact is a good enough sign for most people to start a conversation; Travel light so that you can keep all your belongings with you at all time; If someone tries to preach, just say "May God Bless you and your trip."

Dying Swan

林蛋大

I got this in an email from JYM. Enjoy if you understand Chinese.

Sexism

One of our cat, Lupe was cleaning herself. I took these in a series of pictures and put them together. No audio, so don't bother. Enjoy!

P.I.N.K. (II)

I saw this when I was browsing Huffington Post. Click on link to go to the source.
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Female Bank of England Employees Must Wear Makeup and Heels from NY Mag

Well, this is appalling: Earlier this week, the Bank of England held "Dress for Success" day. On that day, they sent out a memo to female employees detailing just how they should dress for success, important now more than ever in These Economic Times, the worst financial crisis Britain's dealt with since the Depression. WWD obtained a copy of the memo:

“Look professional, not fashionable; be careful with perfume; always wear a heel of some sort — maximum 2 inches; always wear some sort of makeup — even if it’s just lipstick.” Shoes and skirt must be the same color. No-no’s include ankle chains — “professional, but not the one you want to be associated with;” white high heels; overstuffed handbags; an overload of rings, and double-pierced ears.

On behalf of all women at the BOE, excuse us? A woman can dress almost exactly opposite to these rules — in black flats, with gray trousers, no makeup, and a giant handbag — and still look professional and chic. We understand the need to enforce a dress code, but mandating heels of a certain color, makeup, and degree of handbag-filling is ridiculous. What about rules for the men? It wouldn't hurt BOE governor Mervyn King and deputy governor Sir John Gieve to wear ties that aren't so loud — set an example if you're so concerned about color-coordination, gentlemen. And while you're forcing women to wear two-inch heels, you should, too. Sarko does it, after all.
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I will be fine with this kind of memo IFF the memo also addresses men's dress code. But only women? And down to the very detail: "maximum 2 inches", "Shoes and skirt must be the same color". I don't see how the economic crisis has anything to do with the female dress code, unless the male employees are perverts.... Well, I guess I rest my case with my P.I.N.K. post....

P.I.N.K.

MC and LL was here this past week and we got to talk a little. MC bought a Wii Fit for her son and she was looking for a silicon cover for the Wii Fit. We saw some blue, pink and clear cover. I suggested her to buy the pink one, just for kick. She didn't because her son is not going to like it. Last night, we were chit-chatting and one thing led to another, we noticed that the majority of male in western world has a learnt dislike for pink color. Given our academic background and the male population that we deal with, this dislike is especially pronounced.

I was telling MC and the rest that someday, when I finally decided to go into academic, I will make sure that the color pink is prominent in everything. For example, I will photocopy everything on pink paper, that includes the exams, course syllabus, homework assignment. The power point presentation background will be in pink color as well. I will also make sure that any homework that they submit in printed form has to be printed on pink paper. If the students have to present, pink shirt is the uniform, pink tie is optional, but pink shirt is required. Its either pink shirt or you do not present and get zero grade for the presentation.

I do not have special preference for pink, in fact, pink is not even close to be in my preferred color list. Call me sadist, masochist, sadomasochist or whatever you want, but this is my way of letting the male population know what its like for female to live in the world dominated by male and dictated by male. When you do not dress according to their dress code, you will not be taken seriously. If the your clothes look too much like male style, they perceive you as a threat; if it is too colorful or the cut is a little too complex, they see you as being 'female' and not serious about your job. The worst part, if your clothes are not conservative enough, i.e. a little revealing or it makes you look sexy, all they think about when they see you is "sex", its time for you to change your job. Well, I don't want to go on ranting on the glass ceiling that female has to face when working in the field dominated by male. I just know that as a female, in addition to the fact that you have to look 'right', you definitely have to be visibly better than your male counterpart if you want to win the job.

According to my boss, education is the key to reform. To right this wrong, we have to start with education. Like my boss says, education is the best way to change the world and that's why he is in education and not in industry. So my first step will be to teach them to respect female, to teach them other than the anatomical and physical differences, male and female are equally capable when it comes to brain power. I have to let them know and let them experience the oppressions that female experience on their job, such as dealing with the color pink, the least favorite color in the male population. Well, all in all, doing a decent job as an educator is a tough, and I am definitely not up for that challenge yet.

MC has a another idea. She is going to make all her students in her graduate class sit like a female. I will do the same too if the law in this country allows. But, this is definitely a good suggestion for future reference.