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Tsinghua Physics 89 Gallery

10. The number of Physics89 employees passes the number of students
Who is the first to work, and who will be the last?

9. Physics89 new marriages: Cui, Lin; Xu, Wang; Du, Weiliang; Wang, Jun; Zhao, Runchuan; and Liu, Xiaoming
How many are still available?

8. Physics89 new baby: Lucas
Who will be the next new parent?

7. DrXu.com: Dr. Xu’s Original Digital Photography Gallery.
Dr. Xu will make it a site for Physics89 family ablums as well

6. Los Angeles reunion.
Everybody got to know Huanyong’s flattering theory, but needs time to understand and practice. Thanks for LLP’s 2-week tickets, everybody here got a chance to visit Universal Studio/Sea World for free!

5. Little Bird, as the first crab eater, returns China for business
There is nothing shameful to be the 2nd crab eater?

4. Boss Wu’s visit
The first physics89 professor

3. Ms. Yuan is now the FLG spokeswoman of North America
Who can be as famous as she?

2. Physics89ers safe from 911 attack
God Blesses Physics89!

1. Las Vegas Reunion
Who didn’t laugh out of tears?

[Prelude]
I still remember, not long time ago, Mark Cao wrote a poem like piece, on how quickly time goes by. I wish I can quote some sentences here. I am still waiting for Lao Fei, to write something as good for this year, to almost move me to tear, on how much I miss you everyone.
A brand new new year again, I wish every one of us, to have a happy time. Happy new year to you, and your family.

Yes, I had a wonderful piece in my mind that would most likely gain Wang Jun’s most precious tears. However, I had to abandon my idea because nothing from me could possibly supersede the much more moving masterpiece composed by Runchuan and his bride at the end of the year. Runchuan has gone a long way from appreciating painting, music, carving, calligraphy, John Christopher, photographying, and I’m glad that finally, he found his best form of art. I’ve run out of tears for this year in LV’s hotel and in Lao Wang’s home when laughing belly-breakingly with more than ten of the old friends and their families. So for Runchuan, WangJun and all of you, I offer no tears, but blessings.

My dear friends,

This is Ma, Qiang (Johnny). I want to thank all of you that e-mailed me and called me (my wife picked most of your calls) to express your concerns and show your supports. My work place, World Financial Center, is right next to the WTC. It is completely shut down today. However, I am all right. So I am able to write to you today.

During the attack, I was attending Amex Fraud Team annual meeting at Brooklyn. When the shocking news broke, the EVP was presenting the very work I am currently involved in. It was only after talking to some senior employees that I realized how close we are to the tragedy. According to the tradition, we would hold the meeting at WTC yesterday. If that is the case, my story is gonna be much different. However, since Amex lost so much money during the first half of this year, we decided to hold this year’s meeting at a cheaper place. This is how I was able to avoid this mess. Life can be so dramatic. A threat to my job security becomes a bless to my life security. However, I did spend 9 hours to go home. When I finally arrived Jersey City through ferry, I was required to take a cold-water shower with my suit on for decontamination purpose. What a welcome.

My apartment building is facing the WTC, on the other side of the Hudson River. Every night, I am able to enjoy the nice lower town skyline while walking along the coastline. The day before the attack, we wife and I was talking about the WTC. The top portions of the twin building were covered by heavy cloud, which made the building quite scary at night. We never realized that was our last time to see the construction. We took some pictures of the downtown without the Twin Building last night. It is like something we can only see in movies.

To conclude, I am glad that all my family and friends are fine during this ordeal. And I wish your family and your friends are okay too.

Chongfei:

I’m considering switching to analog circuit design. Does anybody have any knowledge in that field? To be frank, my knowledge in that field is equivalent to my knowledge in law.

How does it compare with device physics?

It’s a hard decision for me now, any information will be valueable.

Mark:

Analog Circuit designer <==> Lawyer, Doctor
Device Physicist <==> Clerk, Nurse

Analog Designer: You will trash your soul for the millions you will earn.
Device Physicist: You will be able to embrace your soul because you have nothing else to hold on to.

Analog Designer: Famous cook who make gourmet dishes.
Device Physicist: Blacksmith who fix cookware for the cook.

Analog Designer: Fashion models who show off their flashy silk shirts.
Device Physicist: Silkworms who originally made the silk.

… …

Chongfei:

Your words took my breath, your words boiled my blood, your words froze my heart. I’m in between the heaven and hell, experiencing the love that burns my soul. I’m gasping for air, I’m trembling to the root of my hair. With blindness, I saw glare… only because I’ll be a damn LAWYER.

Please offer more details, as one never feels enough for love.

Mark:

First let me claim that I am not in the industry. So if anything I said or am going to say is true, that must be a pure coincidence.

The detail I can IMAGINE is:

As a analog circuit designer: Your job is not extremely exciting in a precise sense. You tweak anything you are allowed to put your hands on, but you may still yet to reach your spec. You worry about all kinds of damned parasitic you are never aware of when you took a circuit course. Any subtle process detail may ruin your ingenious design. You work 12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week. However, you may need to do some real good physical exercise before you take the job. Just to take the tons of stock options home may hurt your back or stretch you muscle. You will have to be mentally strong too. Trying to calculate your net worth three years later will bring you many long sleepless nights. After you finish a project, you feel a great accomplishment. If you a naughty enough, you can put your name on the chip layout to show your competitors that will definitely try to reverse engineer your chip who is their worst nightmare. You may feel tired at the end, then why not start your own company? You have already identified a few promising markets that will enjoy more than 100% yearly growth in the next five years. Several venture capitalists have called you a couple of times to get your permission to send their checks over. Why not, you think, although I have more money than I can spend in the next three lifes, I want to do something more challenging to make a difference, that is what entreprenuership is all about.

As a device physicist: Your job is not extremely boring in a precise sense. The girl in the circuit design group came to see you again. She thinks personally you can be charming sometimes, but she does not like the device model parameters you extracted after weeks of hard-working. Even though process variation can lead to 10% error easily, they insist that your model’s RMS error has to be lower than 3%. You start to hate the process engineers. How on earth can they make such crooked little devices that does not obey any physical law? Think positively, you remind yourself. It always does not hurt to do a better job than necessary. She is also very disappointed that the SPICE simulations sometimes crash and she is pretty sure it is because of your inadequate model. The design deadlines have been pushed back many times because of this. Your mind start to drift away from the scene, it just want to kick some ass. Did all the Berkeley guys out of their mind? Look at their SPICE simulator, look at their BSIM model, the invisible traps and poisonous bugs are all over the place. Did they ever take Numerical Methods 101 or Device Physics 101 in college? You are brought back by the sound of a door being slapped. On your desk is a report prepared by the circuit gurus about why the greatest chip ever in human history failed just because your foolish device models ruined it all. Do not worry, a deep voice showers down from far beyond the ceiling, miracle happens all the time, you are not necessarily get fired because of this. Then you will live happily, for ever.

Chongfei:

I’d rather be a doctor than a nurse,
yes I would, if I could, I surely would.

I’d rather be a laywer than a clerk,
yes I would, if I could, I surely would.

I’d rather be a fashion designer than a silk worm,
yes I would, if I could, I surely would.

Away, I’d rather sail away
Like a famous cook, that’s in my dream and gone
A man gets tired of fixing the pots,
He gives the world
Its saddest sound
Its saddest sound

I’d rather be a circuit designer than a device physicist
Yes I would, if I could, I surely would

I’d rather feel LA’s sunshine than NJ’s polluted air
Yes I will, and I can, I surely will.

It always surprises me how soon the wind from north is coming. A shirt is no longer enough to keep you warm, but you still have a difficult time to remember putting on the jacket. In the night, the sound of the wind reminds you the long and darker winter of last year. You kind of feel lost, wondering if anything has changed.

But the afternoon sun becomes friendlier. You think of it as warm, not as hot. Even it does become hot, you do not complain, like you did ceaselessly just two months ago. Sitting in the sun with a cup of coffee in hand, you even begin to understand those people who lied on the beach when the temperature exceeds 100 degrees. Those people you called idiots just two months ago.

You even begin to like the fall, even though the winter is approaching fast. There is not any cloud in the blue sky. I really do not know any better expression to describe the fall. Or maybe I can try “The moon is brightest and roundest in the middle of the fall”.

It also surprises me how easily I get used to saying “when we were young”. When we were young, we didn’t care the fall very much. We love the spring. We could be happy without any reason and money. We even had a little bit sense of entitlement then.

I guess I was a quite serious person, way too serious. I always felt that morality is essential for every human being. But I began to doubt this contention more and more. It seems to me now that persons with strong moral sense are incapable of happiness. A ready example is the “religious right”. So morality is inconsistent with happiness. Happiness is good. Then morality must be bad. That leads us to … impossible.

I guess I have to let it go. That’s also the lesson of the fall. The winter is coming, and no matter what you do, nothing is going to stop the winter. So you have to let it go, and be satisfied with what you have at your hand.

That’s very pessimistic. But it is also liberating to know that there is only so much you can do. You cannot go wrong. The sky is clearer than ever.

Relax and have fun of the lovely weekend.

It is now 9:00pm on Dec.24th, 1998. X’mas is coming, and so is the dreaming…

Time went back to four years ago when I just arrived at JFK… Luo Camel and Tang girl were waiting there, waving their hands and I rushed to them… Although only been to States for four months, T-girl and L-camel have already learned how to effectively hug you… I wondered they must have practiced it many times, but with who… ???

I have never told anybody, at least till today, the plane I was taking almost crashed in Ankradge, Alaska. We tried to land at Ankradge airport for two hours… Fortunately we did it. Now Air China does not stop at Ankradge in winter anymore, maybe that was part of the reason!?? After such experiences, Yang Jie’s driving makes me feel so comfortable, although that was probably their first long-distance drive and Ding XiaoJun, who is Yang Jie’s (who is Cao Mark’s classmates in Middle school) wife keep on saying, “Woops, we missed an exit again.” We stopped at a McDonalds after one hour’s driving. There I made every one laughing but me by asking a cheese-burg and French fry in Chinese to that big black gal. She must think I was teasing her because I got twice as much French fry as T-girl has, and her smile to me meaned a lot if thinking carefully today… We safely arrived at L-Camel’s home… so exhausted, I thought I could fall in sleep very quickly, but I was wrong. Time zone (I forgot the correctly English expression) effect kept my thought active although not meaningful. T-girl and L-camel are excited too, but in about 10 minutes, I discovered the real reason. They just borrowed several videotapes. After Ding XiaoJun left, they turned on the TV…

The next day, I suggested staying at home because I wanna to have a sleep. We ended up eating in a nice Chinese restaurant. I did not agree with them that was very good Chinese food, however, exactly four months later, I realized I was wrong. After the meal, we had a walk around L-camel’s house. Accidentally, we arrived at the video-shop. I can not help but recalling, “eating and … person’s desires.”

I spent about four days in L-camel’s home. On New Year’s day, I aimed to Bloomington, Indiana by a greyhound just after T-girl left for Boston. It was so nice to meet L-camel and T-girl there. And thanks to them, I experienced no shock at all except during nights. I had a picture where three of us were celebrating reunion at States. I sent a copy to both of them. We all leaned back on L-camel’s a big mattress facing the camera placed on top of the TV. Whenever I look at this picture, I recall that TV and I bet they can recall more.

Mr. Zhuang has done a marvelous job, far beyond my expectation. Huang’s work of Phys’89 drivers is also fantastic. I am so thankful to them to be overpraised as the “best driver” of Phys’89, which is obvious an undeserved complimentary to me. But I do drive a lot at our meeting both in Washington and Boston, and lots of guys have been my passengers. So this article is made as replenishment to Huang’s job.

The most courageous passenger, Huang Xiaoming.

On our way down the Mountain Washington, the brake of my car totally lost function, due to the mis-manipulation. I’d say we are so lucky that the brake is down right at the bottom of the hill. It is the first time I am so scared, ever since I begin to drive, because Ms. Tian Lin and Zhang Qian are in my car. I can’t imagine if they got hurt. Anyway, after the brake was recovered later, we can not let two girls take the risk. Huang stood out and said “want to go to either the heaven or hell with me”. We almost got into another fatal accident, while Lei Ming leading us to a wrong lane. We avoided a head on collision at 65 m/h at last second. If it does happen, I probably have a little bit chance to survive, because there is an air bag at the driver side. To show my respect to Huang’s courage, I joke to him, if, then I will get two wives, one for him and one for myself, which, you know, looks like mission impossible for me.

The passenger who has the most learning spirit, Duan Gang.

The first time we have the meeting in Washington last Christmas, he said he want to learn driving. When I went to Washington two months ago, he said he want to learn how to drive stick shift car. I am sorry Duan, I promised every time but never realize. Come on, who ever can drive steak shift car, can you help this guy out of there?

The most “Muo4 Ji1 (slow)” passenger, Xu Jianling.

In the first meeting at Washington, before the soccer game, he took my car to air the soccer ball. We tried one gas station after another and cant find one has the air bump. It is kind of late, time pass by, and we drive far and far. Finally I lost patience, and tell him to give up, who is still eager to check another one. Based on the behavior of Xu and the all new appearance of me (embodied in the morning at the hotel at Maine), I apply for your admission to pass this title from me to the more deserved one, besides his “Xu 100″.

The most know-how driving passenger, Huang Shu.

Maybe Huang Shu is more looks like a driver than anyone else is. Whoever has been in the same car with him (no matter see him driving or not) will know he is a good driver. Huang Sir, as a passenger, is with me much longer than Huang Shu, but he always believe Huang Shu is better, till now. The last comment from Huang Xiaoming is, he told me at Boston, “I think Huang Shu and you are the best drivers of 89″.

The passenger, a most well prepared writer, Zhang Yu.

Zhuang Sir is the most silent one among these passengers, but he keeps tracking each single stuff. This is the reason that he mentioned in his great article that I have ever joked that I always drive on highway 95, while I can not remember at all.

The most narratives favorite passenger, Liu Xiaofeng.

Luo Di always wants to sit in my car, to hear me to “tell story”. All those I told him are from Feng Donghai. However, Luo Di doesn’t look like to listen to the original story teller. On the way back to Boston, he fell into sleep after an exhausting soccer game. I was talking with Miss Zhang who is also in the car, said now Luo Di can not hear story. Luo Di woke up right away, and ask “What story?”

The most harmonious passengers, Lei Ming and Tao Kai.

They stayed too long together, and their cooperation always seems seamless. On the way to pick up the rental car at airport, Lei Ming said, Tao Kai is the best “old horse”. But old horse turns to lead us to a wrong exit on the highway. Lei Ming found every kind of excuses until you feel that everyone have to make the same mistake on their way to the airport. Don’t you guys feel that they two even looks alike now?

The passenger most lack of common sense of car, Tian Lin.

How many times did Ms Tian be in a car? I do not know. She was in my car all the way to the White Mountain, but until the brake loss function did she realize that there are two kind of cars in the world, automatic and manual, and my car happened to be a manual. After we returned the rental cars, my car can only accommodate Ms Tian and Zhang Qian besides all the stuffs, so I am worrying that we will have trouble to find the way to home. Ms. Tian question why I do not let Tao Kai to drive back. Obvious in her sophistical mind, automatic car is much complicate than manual. Ms. Tian is Ms. Tian.

The passenger most dare to tell the truth, Tian Lin.

As good as Ms. Tian, I hope no one will say something if she has two “most”. On the way to the White Mountain, she and Ms Zhang are in my car. We talked about cooking. I asked how good is she and I assert that lots of boys are better than girls among us, while Duan Gang is an outstanding represent and I am proud to be one of them. Ms. Tian announces that if a man knows how to cook, it means, “he is afraid of sth”. You can imagine what is my feeling at that time, angry, disappointed, dejected, while keep the speed of more than 70 m/h. She is right. Remember at Washington, the guys who stay most in the kitchen are Duan, Huang Shu and me, while Peng fan never step in. I talked this topic a lot with a lot of persons, but no one can get into it as deep as Tian to a theoretical height. Ms. Tian is Ms. Tian.

The most self-confident passenger, Zhang Qian.

As I said before, after returned the rental car, my car can only accommodate her and Ms. Tian besides all the stuff. We are on our own and no one to follow. Ms Zhang said she knows the route of Boston well. The fact is we lost at the first intersection, turns on an opposite highway. At the time I am desperate to find the way to Lei Ming and Tao Kai dorm, she could comfort you, “Don’t worry, I can find it if we can get into within one mile distance of it”.

The most high class passenger, Feng Donghai.

All the stories I told Luo di are from him. He knows all the democratic elite, like Wang Ruowang, Wang XiZhe, Chen Yizi, etc, who are thought by me to be far away before and now looks closer. If someday there will be Chinese “Father of Democracy”, it should be from one of those. When talking about them, Feng behaves exactly like a successful politician, except for some time inattentively flip cigarette ash directly to the floor of my car.

The most skeptical passenger, Duan Gang.

Duan have so many characters, so I have to give him another title. Even good drivers will loss sometime. We always joke that we use only two soccer disposition, 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 (should we try Qi Wusheng’s famous 4-5-1?). At that time we happened to be in a 4-4-2 (10 persons in three cars), and Duan is the only passenger. We were lost right after an unsuccessful try at a hotel (my car is always the last one). We drove on to the planned route, and cant catch up the others. We realized they may have changed their mind and went to a different highway, so have to went back to the hotel and wait there (our only choice). After a while, I asked him, what will the others do when they found we lost, and guess that they will leave a car wait there and send the other back to find us (The best choice, and the one happened). Duan doubted, “Are they so smart to make this decision?”

The most careful passenger, Luo Xiaohui.

At Philadelphia, he always worry about we will get into an accident. Probably this poor guy only sit in cars without insurance before in America, and can not feel the tranquility of sitting in an insured car.

The most unwanted passenger, Peng Junyu and Zhao Hong.

On the way from Washington to Atlantic city and back (2 and half hours each way), Peng Fan and Ms Zhao are the only passengers, last Christmas. They fell into sleep in the first five miles of departure, and woke up in the last five miles of arrival at the same time, and could tell you that they just had a very good sleep and could play “Tuo LaJi” all night long, without a single least feel of guilty.

Take care,

Hi, buddies,

In this short report I just want to post some of my opinion about Phys’89 drivers.

I have ridden cars by some of 89 drivers. Among them, the most experienced (or appear to be) is Wang Jun. Great respect to him, and thanks for saving my life. When we were in Mount Washington, his brake didn’t work after we downhill from the summit. It was because he set the gear to neutral when going downhill, so he must use brake a lot. After a while, his wheel got overheated and didn’t work anymore. We waited some time for it to cool down. When we were about to go, I decided to sit in Jun’s car to accompany him to check out where we were going, the heaven, the hell or to see Marx. On the way, the leading car (by Lei Ming) led us to the reverse side for a short time to bypass a troubled car in our way. He did not even slow down a little bit. Both Jun and me did not notice that we were on the reverse side. So we headed on the coming car. Great great thanks to Wang Jun, he swerved our car suddenly back to our lane. Just within ONE SECOND. You know, he has an air bag in driver’s position but I don’t. So, strictly speaking, he just saved my life. Thanks to God, He let me still alive to write this stuff to entertain you (I hope so). Since I have sat his car for some times. I have to agree that he is the most experienced driver of 89 and the most dangerous one. The one who got drowned always can swim.

In my opinion, Duan Gang is not bad, except sometimes take a nap with 70mph.

Lei Ming is like he appears on the soccer field. You’d better not let him give you a ride when he is driving a Mercedes or BMW, ’cause he always wants to go as fast as the engine can afford.

Bird is a little bit mediocre, I think he like drive a little bit crazy but as a leader (or just former leader) he still can keep his mind.

Li Gang, Oh, gosh, a crazy guy. I bet he would drive his grandpa’s car all the way to CA with 80mph if he had time to visit CA.

Gao Huanyong, I bet he could be a not bad driver if he wished to drive taxi in Manhattan. (The trick is turn what ever you want to turn regardless whatever lane you are in and whatever the signal is).

Li Leiming, I can’t imagine which guy of you can drive a car of a 82 body with a 89 engine like him.

Huang Shu, All I can say is that he is not so carefulness when he is driving a car. I give him 80 credits.

Luo Tuo, he must be the most careful driver when driving his car, because he didn’t buy insurance.

Xu Jianling, need more practice before drive his wife go shopping. 59.9 credits.

Shanzi, maybe can drive gentler with Zhao Hong in the car. Otherwise, go crazy.

The one recommended by me, the most experienced passenger, is TAO KAI, who is the most reliable driver, 99.9 credits. The missing 0.1 points is because of he can not drive a manual car.

I know there are a lot of great drivers among our 89ers. So I can not tell which one is the craziest. But always keep in you mind that I don’t want rush to somewhere to attend a kind of meeting in memory of some guys.

Thanks for you time to read this stinky stuff.

I am really tired, got to sleep.

See U guys!