Monthly Archive for July, 2008

Transition 3

Published on July 26, 2008 1 Comment

突然有些兴致想要回家 overtime，谁知道做了一把火星人，遇到了 transit 以来让我觉得最 ridiculous 的笑话 ── Office 2008 for Mac OS X 竟然不支持 VBA，which means “existing macros in Office documents will be round-tripped across file open and save, but you will not be able to edit them and you will not be able to run them on the Mac”。没有 VBA，那么在 Mac 下用什么做 Office 的 scripting 呢？答案是 Applescript。于是乎这样的一段 VB

Dim newWkbk As Workbook
Set newWkbk = Workbooks.Add
With newWkbk
  .AcceptLabelsInFormulas = False
  .PrecisionAsDisplayed = True
End With

在 Office 2008 里面需要这样写

tell application "Microsoft Excel"
  set newWkbk to make new workbook
  tell newWkbk
    set accept labels in formulas to false
    set precision as displayed to true
  end tell
end tell

Office 的 Mac 开发团队说，除了 syntactical 的不同，任何 VB 可以做的事都可以用 Applescript 实现。这点我倒是不怀疑，甚至喜欢用这种脚本语言写 Mac 下 inter apps 的脚本。But, but, Applescript can not be implemented on office’s Windows desktop！I agree that any apps ported to Mac should be as Mac-like as possible, use Mac features, and take advantage of the Mac operating system. However, as far as Office is concerned, the most important thing is cross platform compatibility！

Category: Brain Tags: , .

Ten Ways to Taste Solitude for Oversea Students

Published on July 19, 2008 3 Comments

For the Anniversary of Graduation, II.

Recently some friends are talking about the feeling of lonely as being oversea students. We figured out several ways to make such a feeling an experience of pure solitude. Trying them can either make someone more appreciate ordinary life or, maybe more possibly, the opposite. Below are our top ten list.

  • Self-cook and eat alone for two days. The feeling could be very personal, especially if you are a glutton of some hometown 小吃, or you are a super fan of your mother’s cuisine, or you share some special memory with someone back in college restaurant.
  • Read the blogs of someone who is graduating in this June or July. The feeling could be mild or strong, depending on some keywords in posts, such as 寝室，西门，鸡翅。
  • Browse through your cell’s contacts at lunch break, best after a very busy morning. The feeling of solitude could be overwhelming if your contacts are full of old friends back in home country whom you aren’t able to reach at this time of a day.
  • Sitting in a bus which is full of 白人女高中生。You are the only one who is not white, who is not female, whose mother tongue is not English. You 傻X地 wear suites and tie while everyone else 穿着热裤.
  • Play CS or Warcraft alone ,play 8-balls alone, or play 升级 with yourself. If you are the 80 generation survived through the Chinese eduation system, should have some memory from at least one of them.
  • Call or chat with a domestic friend who keeps talking about another friend’s wedding or honey moon. Maybe N.A. if not single.
  • Climb an over 15 mile trail in Chisos Mountain. The only sounds you will hear are the birds, wind and the crunch of gravel under your boot. Besides solitude, it also delivers scenery and serenity. Looking at the desert mountains below your feet, you may either ask yourself 美好天地与谁共享 or 天地中自己有多渺小, depending on a high or a low position you are at on the career path.
  • Drive from Marathon (TX) west to Alpine (TX) during sunset. It’s a remote place where even GPS makes mistakes. Based on your personal experience, the feeling of solitude may be mixed with 老无所依 or 年轻无所依 or a fear of 德州电锯杀人狂.
  • 深夜出门寻找食物，开车翻越 curb，被警察逮住。被要求数手指，单脚下蹲，走直线。然后被戴上手铐，扔到警车不能从内开启的 back seat，听到英文版的“你说的任何话有可能成为呈堂证供”。
  • 倒立，转呼啦圈。
Category: Heart Tags: , .