在Black Friday都就快要结束的晚上给大家送上迟来的感恩节祝福。祝愿大家都饱吃一顿以及扫到称心满意的便宜货！

今年的Thanksgiving恢复到三年前的模式，在纽约过。不过这次就没有看Macy's Parade啦——以后有个小朋友做道具才再去吧(dreaming about两年后借用表哥的Baby Grace...)。晚餐的饭桌上没有火鸡，也没有其他美国传统的感恩节食物，不过就有很久没吃过的广东风味糯米饭，很正呢！感觉像是过冬至多些。两个“牛魔王”表弟出现了又意外的匆匆消失，让这个Thanksgiving多了点peace，少了点喧闹。

至于Black Friday，我一如往年，没有购物，而是在午饭时间之前去拨第二颗智齿——可惜牙医不会在Black Friday打折呢，嘻嘻！过程就像上一次般快捷而painless——由我抵达诊所至ready离开，只需要25分钟... 我真的要be very thankful that这一个多月来的两次拨智齿的过程都如此顺利。剩下的两枚智齿，虽然已经随着另一半的离开而失去了咀嚼食物的功能，但还不至于影响健康，就暂且留着吧！在我有dental insurance之前，应是done with wisdom teeth removal了。

也不知道是不是牙医打的麻药OD了，我竟然在拔完牙后的第9个小时，仍然未感疼痛；专门随身带着的Advil，也因此一颗都未下肚。这大概是另外一件值得thankful的事。今天的食物就是在Chinese bakery买的蛋糕和ice cream sandwich（医生说今天都不要吃热的东西，于是我趁机满足一下最近对ice cream的craving）。余下的节目就是躺在床上看House,以及在网上浏览各种deal的广告流流口水... 今天Amazon上的好多TV DVD都超级便宜（痛啊！我之前刚刚收集齐的"Two and A Half Men"!!），正在犹豫着要不要买a couple of seasons of House来看看...

Was just talking about recent announcements of university budget cuts with someone in the lab yesterday, now it's BC's turn...

News from http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/11/boston_college.html:

Boston College to cut spending to bolster financial aid

Boston College President Rev. William P. Leahy called today for a university-wide 2 percent spending cut to bolster the institution's financial aid budget in anticipation of increased requests for tuition assistance.

"Need for financial aid will increase as some BC families struggle with lost jobs and diminished home values," Leahy said in a letter to the college community. "It will be critical to have additional funds available."

The cut will total $2.5 million. The savings will be placed in a reserve account to assist students next semester and the following academic year.

Leahy said the financial crisis and steep market slides had hurt the college's endowment, which it relies on for about 10 percent of its yearly budget. Last month, university officials said the endowment totaled $1.7 billion.

"While Boston College depends on investment income significantly less than many of our peers, the decline in our endowment certainly affects our revenue projections and must be compensated for in our budget process," Leahy wrote.

Since the economic downturn, colleges across the country, including Harvard, MIT, Dartmouth, and Boston University, have announced cost-cutting measures to offset endowment losses.

Yesterday, Northeastern University confirmed it was shelving plans for a multi-million dollar dormitory, and MIT this week announced it will seek to trim its budget by 10 percent to 15 percent in the next two or three years.

College officials are expecting a sharp increase in financial aid requests next year because of increasing unemployment and declining home values and investment funds, and many education specialists predict that more students will apply to less-expensive public colleges.

Leahy said BC remained committed to making admissions decisions without regard to families' ability to pay, and to meeting the financial need of accepted students. Boston College costs close to $50,000, but 70 percent of undergraduates receive financial aid, with an average award of about $28,000.

This year, BC awarded $114 million in financial aid, $75 million to undergraduates.

Leahy said university officials would make specific decisions about tuition, salaries, hiring, and construction plans in the next six weeks. The college's sweeping expansion plan, including new dormitories and athletic fields on its Brighton campus, is now under city review.

Last month, Boston College launched a $1.5 billion fund-raising campaign, the largest in its history. The college has raised $535 million so far, including $15 million in donations in the past month.

Well, at least the money saved would be put into financial aid. (And from that I'm guessing they certainly won't cut the stipends for grad students since we're also students.) Wondering where the scissors would go to... I guess we'll be fine without getting a new lawn and a different species of flowers every other week in the summer, but other than that, I don't know...

------------------------------------------UPDATE------------------------------------------

Here's a clue where the scissors are going for action - an email received from the department a moment ago:

Dear Colleagues,

            In accordance with a University-wide mandate from the offices of the President and the Provost, we have just been informed that “no University funds are to be used for Christmas parties” this year.  We regret that we will not be able to celebrate the winter holidays together in Merkert as we have in the past. 

             T’is not the season, but the economy. 

Bah, humbug!

Donna

This is another thing I can live without. So... so far so good. By the bye, I really do appreciate the sense of humor permeating the American culture. If you like humor, here is the place to be.

無聊了,貼點照片吧.上周末去康州短途旅行時拍的.

朋友居住的town叫Norwich,有山有河,風景其實很不錯.據說曾經是個軍港,十多年前navy撤走後便成為一個安靜的小town,我在town中心都能看到不少空置的樓房.如果不是附近的兩個賭場(Mohegan Sun和Foxwoods),應該更加僻靜吧.天氣極為可愛的星期天下午,三三倆倆的人在河邊釣魚曬太陽,不也是很寫意的生活么?

原計劃是坐Greyhound回Boston的,結果由于賭場車站的管理極度混亂,直到我們原本應乘坐的bus開走了,才有工作人員來問我們是不是去Boston... 而下一趟車要等到午夜.跟朋友商量過后,決定由他開車送我們到Rhode Island的Providence(其實都送我們一半路了...幸好兩地還算離得近),然后我們坐commuter rail回Boston.路上所見,已過了秋葉的最好時機,唯有隨便拍幾張照片留作紀念.

到了Providence,離下一趟開往Boston的火車出發還有一個多小時,于是趁天還沒黑,在車站附近走走.原來車站一出來就是State House (Providence是Rhode Island的首府),很有氣勢的樣子,跟D.C.的Capitol Hill都有得一比呢.因為幾分鐘的誤差,我們就ended up在旅程計劃外的一個州(當然也浪費了朋友two hours of his life that he'll never get back). You never know where life takes you, isn't it?

這是State House馬路對面的大草坪和建筑物.照片的右手邊是一個大mall,我們進去略略走了一圈(只為找點吃的,免得在車上太餓),發現里面各大牌子店一應俱全.可惜我家離South Station(commuter rail在Boston的總站)有點距離,不然哪個周末高興了,就跳上commuter rail舒舒服服坐上一個小時,便可抵達Rhode Island來個shopping spree,是多么美好的無車人士的生活呀!

------------------------後記------------------------

我發現我還是滿會挑時間出游的--眼看這個周末的陰雨天氣,唯有看回這些陽光燦爛的照片解悶啦!

"I don't recall how I felt about coming to Boston when I got the offer from BC. But now I can say I like Boston. Not crazily in love, but like this city enough to be content and smiling every day, even without my dearest ones by my side."

I wish I could still say the same thing... 2006 seems to be a good year for me, while 2008 does not. It is going to end soon anyway.

I mean besides being glued to the TV or the computer...

Decaf herb or fruit tea (personal favorite: anything with mint - chamomile for example); and

scented oil and/or candles.

Will be out of town for a short fun weekend trip. To the casinos, haha~~ It'll be a nice change of scenery, hopefully. I hope the foliage in CT is still yellow and/or red enough for worthy photography.

By the way, I did not go to the Halloween party even though I had the costume picked out two weeks ago. Sign of depression, maybe?