At least six years have the small light bulbs of the circular pendent lamp set in our living room lasted. Wow, such long life. I don't know what kind of light bulbs they are.

Make no mistake. The bough of one's life tree is to work and learn. It's not to get rich and then do nothing except the so-called "investing".

San Jose, California wants a rollback of pensions of its policemen and so on. It's a drama.

See http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_19484394 .

When our toddler daughter cried "mommy" instead of "mama", I had a strange feeling that I, as a Chinese myself, have an outlander daughter.

Yes, my wife and I, a Chinese couple, bore a Westerner daughter.

The U.S.' perennial meddling in the Middle East seems to be largely caused by a crucial fact -- the oil produced by the Mideast is a critical energy source/input for the U.S. and its economy.

I might be too simplistic and naive over the particular issue though, because I've never studied the academic subject matters of History and Political Science.

Child stars often have big problems in their later life.

For example, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.

Despite her professional triumphs, Garland battled personal problems throughout her life. Insecure about her appearance, her feelings were compounded by film executives who told her she was unattractive and manipulated her on-screen physical appearance. She was plagued by financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. She married five times, with her first four marriages ending in divorce. She had a long struggle with alcohol and drug use during most of her career, dying of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 47, leaving children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft, and Joey Luft. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Garland

And see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Rooney#Personal_life .

The errant Z changes careers and industries often, which hasn't done him good over the last 10 years. He's still struggling in this world which is full of fierce competition, whether he knows that or not, in his 40s. He's never found his place in the world. Sigh.

Whether a young child has a mild temperament or not, she's quite amenable to her parents' words.

So be very careful with what you say to her or in the presence of her. And be very careful with what you shout at her, when she's pesty. :-)

Around 300 years ago, only the wealthy people in Canada could afford glassy windows for their houses. And average Joes and Janes only had house windows made of wood or something.

How the world has changed drastically.

During all my these years in Canada, it's my dentist whose courteousness has impressed me the most.

It seems that the drift of Stephen Harper's economic policies is that Canada is business-friendly and economy-friendly.

Some classic music pieces aren't hoary. Instead, they're intricate.

Discriminating eaters are apt to cook well.

If one cannot distinguish the delicious dishes and the mediocre ones, how can he make the former by himself?

How I wish that the Chinese cuisine proliferates to the entire society of Canada. That would make us Chinese Canadians' life easier and native Canadians' diet healthier.

I still remember last night's light flurries around -4 degrees Celsius.

You know, seeing the snow flakes askant flying down, and you didn't have to battle the cold so that you felt comfortable outside. That felt pretty good.

Pic - Willow

(Source: http://media.photobucket.com/image/willow%20tree/Serenity_Firefly_photos/Willow_Tree.jpg?o=21 )

The photo should be of CC license.

淒風苦雨 之後是 萬里蒼茫。萬里蒼茫 之後是 胸中丘壑、色彩、深度。

我早已在發心以後即登程。

The St. Denis street in Montreal has got a lot of local amenities. The French people knows to enjoy life.

It seems that in Canada, the baby boomer generation, who are currently retiring, has been and will be using up lots of financial resources that government funds possess.

And that will make the subsequent generations have less resources to enjoy, which has venomed some people of later generations.

With such a glut of young students around the world willing to pursue PhD degrees, if one hasn't shown very promising signs at a very early stage or one doesn't have the stamina to tough it out, it'll be a fool's errand for him to try to get a permanent job in the academia at all after his future graduation from his PhD program.