We had a summer vacation visiting Olympic National Park, Seattle, and Victoria area. We were not able to go to Beijing Olympics, but we did visit the Olympic park (at least the same name), watched the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in a Seattle hotel.

Here are the photos from the trip

It was made for commemoration of the Seattle World Fair in 1962. It is 500 feet tall. It’s the Space Needle!

There were many ideas for the structure of the building. Some were balloons, some were wacky, some were weird, some were about the same as the one today. The first idea came from a man called Edward E. Carlson drew his interpretation of the building while drinking coffee in a coffee house! There were many spherical ideas until one person changed the ball into the UFO.

They had set the deadline for starting to build the building for June of 1990, but it passed. It then went to September, November, and finally December. Only a year and a half left!

Then they bought the land, which was hard because of the fact that many people thought that their idea was rubbish or that it would not work. But with the successes of Germany and Japan, they soon agreed. So Edward and his group bought the land for a pretty small price. But there were only 13 months until the fair!

They filled a 30 feet by 120 feet hole with cement, which was one of the largest cement filling attempts of the time. They built it quite quickly, and soon it was done, just in time for the fair.

Today, it is still a landmark, a symbol of Seattle. I loved it, and it was the thing that I was the most looking forward to. The height of the sculpture was awesome. We also bought some souvenirs in the SpaceBase, the gift shop. We also looked at the SkyCity revolving restaurant, which was both appealing and amazing. I had thought that it would be an entire moving level, but it turned out only to be a static room with a moving ring near the windows that the customers would sit. Unfortunately, we did not eat there.

To me, I think the shape is very sturdy and straight, and also flowing a beautiful. It’s height amazes me, and the structure is also very detailed.

The Skyline of Seattle

Emily looking through the telescope on the O-Deck

The View of the Experience Music Project from the Space Needle

On August 1st, I went to see the USA Women’s volleyball team play scrimmage practice.

Little could be heard over the blaring music and the many chatting people. The many, many people there. The stadium, the Haas Pavilion at Berkeley, was nearly jam-packed with the fans of the US Womens’ Volleyball team playing scrimmage half-on-half. The team was led by the Chinese legend “Jenny” Lang Ping, otherwise known as the Iron Hammer. She had led the Chinese to many World Championships and even some Olympic medals. It was said that when she spiked, it was so powerful and so fast that there was very little chance that the opponent could capture it. Therefore, her fist would come down like a hammer, hence the name.

It was soon 5:00. It was scheduled to start. But instead of playing immediately, they started with a set of running around, stretching, practice hitting, etc. With just that, it took up thirty minutes of the time. Then, finally, they started to play. The ball flew from left to right, here to there. Their scores were very close. There were two men up there too, teachers, to help the team that was losing.

During time-outs, they would throw some mini-volleyballs around for the fans to catch. It seemed that they were ignoring us, for they only threw a couple at our side and a lot at their side.

The US volleyball team would go to Beijing the next day, so This was their last scrimmage. There were some mistakes and some awesome hits, and they are truly very great. The players were:Ogonna Nnamani, Danielle Scott-Arruda, Tayyiba Haneef-Park, Lindsey Berg, Stacy Sykora, Nicole Davis, Heather Bown, Jennifer Joines, Kim Glass, Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, Kim Willoughby, Logan Tome, Cassie Busse, and Tracy Stalls. They are averaged about 6ft0in, an they are all very good. Some, like Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, have already gone to the Olympics on the team many times. Likewise, some are coming for the first time.

In my opinion, I thought that the tallest, Tayyiba Haneef-Park, was the best. She served well, spiked fast, blocked steady, and one time she, when the ball was about to go out-of-bounds, she kicked it at the last moment with a flying gymnastics-soccer kick that made the ball fly back to safety. Everybody was cheering after that.

It was truly a great time. I got signatures in the end, and Mom even got Lang Ping’s. Quite a line and quite a squeeze, I must admit, but it was worth it. I had a fantastic time and a great memory to last, hopefully, forever.

Here is a pic of some of the members of the team(click for larger version):

On July 16th, my family and I all went to Calistoga, embedded in North Wine Country. It was beautiful there, and when we looked out the windows of our car, there were rows and rows and even more rows of grape vines. Grape vines in a plain, grape vines on a hill, grape vines everywhere! It really is Wine Country and it lives up to its name. We had lots of fun there, going to the Mountain Home Ranch, where we stayed during the trip. We dwelled in the cabin “Grandma”, with “Grandpa” at its side. There was a massive orange tree right outside our door, and a little cherry-like fruit tree down the narrow paved path. The food was delicious, especially the breakfast fruit. They were truly at its freshest, sweetest point.
We also went canoeing on the Russian River, and many other places. Here are some of the pictures that we took there:

Russian River

We canoed across the Russian River, for 10 miles and 4.5 hours. The scenery was very beautiful, and there were many fish, small islands, trees and campers we encountered during the trip.

On an island beach amidst the river

Ready to take off from the island!

The beautiful view from the Russian River.

Mountain Home Ranch

We stayed here, at the Mtn. Home Ranch, and had a barbeque, played pingpong, ate, and explored the library here. Pretty big, with two pools, a small gazebo, and quite a number of rooms, it was more like a cabin-and-cabin kind than a hotel. No big giant building, no casino. Just a small, quaint, ranch.

Emily feeding the big white horse

Me feeding the brown horse

Petrified Forest

In the Petrified Forest, almost all the trees you see are stone. After a couple hundred million years ago, Mt. St. Helena exploded, and all of its volcanic ash fell on this area. Then the water came, and flushed away the volcanic ash, and slowly replacing the wood into stone and quartz, cell by cell. They then became the giants you see today there.

Emily and I with the petrified Mama Bear

The Queen is a very large petrified tree. It is the one on the ground, fallen, and not the one where the sign is posted on.

Sterling Vineyards

We went to a vineyard of Wine Country. It is on the top of a small hill, so that you have to ride a gondola to get to the factory. It is built in the style of Greek architecture, and There are many gigantic barreles and fermentation chambers. They gave lots of info there. I didn’t even have the thought that wine would take that much time and effort!

The Sterling Vineyard factory, on top of a hill.

The view from a gondola going to the factory.

On the deck of the building.

Wine tasting at Sterling.

The vineyards at Sterling.

LiShui is a magical place. It is where my Dad was born, where he would help his dad on the farm. The scenery is beautiful, with the graceful lakes and quaint little towns. I have been there a number of times, and I loved it. I loved to chase the chickens about the cobblestone tracks. Every time I went there was a great, fun memory.

LiShui is composed of one city, seven counties, among one of the counties made up of the Shè group. They all have towns, and they all are lovely. Among the towns is XiaoXi, or ‘little river’. That is where my dad was born. They all speak LiShuihua - Language of LiShui – instead of Mandarin. They taught me a little, like how to say ‘I am a LiShui person’.

LiShui is about the same size as the Bay Area. It is on the south-western side of the ZheJiang province and it tilts up from the south-western side to the north-eastern side, where the mountains are plentiful. There are not as many people in LiShui as in the Bay Area, though. The lower population density offers more land for building, farming, etc.

LiShui has a great big amount of trees. In fact, it has gotten the nickname “The Foliage Ocean of ZheJiang.” Every time I went there, I always marveled at the great green mountains. It also has much running water, so that many waterpower stations can be built. It 600 current waterpower stations has a potential waterpower of 2M Kilowatts. Then, LiShui will have more than enough energy to keep people going.

LiShui also has a ton of precious rocks and minerals, such as gold, silver, lead, zinc, etc. The 500 mines full of these rocks and minerals give it national acclaim. They use the abundant trees, rocks, and minerals to make traditional handiworks, like wooden toys, small electronics, gold pens, etc. They are very famous throughout ZheJiang and beyond.

LiShui is also a great farming capital. It makes teas, edible fungi, vegetables, and nuts, anything you can imagine. Foods such as Xiang Gu Mushrooms, bamboo shoots, etc. are known throughout ZheJiang.

As you can see, Lishui is a wonderful place in scenery and farming, and its trees and lakes only add to the charm. It has been a wonderful experience for me, from seeing my Dad’s old house to picking oranges from an orange tree. Its scenery is amazing, and I hope you will go there sometime, too!

David Xie
7/25/2008

History
The Yamaha Corporation has been going for about 110 years. The founder, Torakusu Yamaha, started liking making instruments when he was told to fix a neighbor’s organ. He soon developed Nippon Gaku Ltd., which made organs. It expanded to Pianos, Harmonicas, then to motorcycles, etc.

Price
Yamahas have a wide range of price. Small, upright, 44” ones may cost about $3,400, while large, grand, and 50” C and S series ones are $12,000. Most of them are about $6,500.

Sound Quality
The tone of sound is moderate. It is soft, and very responsive, so that even if you touch it softly, it will make a nice sound. Unfortunately, Grand pianos might sound “brittle”.

Types
There are many different kinds of pianos, with electric, acoustic, upright, and grand. New kinds allow you to record yourself, and play with yourself. You can also play with a CD. Their technology and time put into the pianos is great.

Durability
Unfortunately, Yamahas’ durability is not so good. The wood that they use is naturally hard and not of top perfection, so a 50 year old Yamaha is not so healthy.

Overall:
On a good tone, it is a pretty good piano, and many people use them. On a harder tone, it is quite less than its reputation.
SCORE: B-

Yamaha Dikslavier Grand

Yamaha P121NT Upright

Yamaha YPG535 Electric Keyboard

History
Steinway was founded by Henry Steinway in 1853, in New York. He already had made 482 pianos before starting the company, which let him make bigger, better ones.

Price
The Steinways are very expensive. Large and luxurious ones might even go up to $168,000!
The lowest average price would be about $19,500 for a 48” upright piano.

Sound Quality
Very deep and rich, and the pedal provides a great smoothing sound instead of ‘mushing’ sound, as the other pianos have. It is truly a great sounding piece of furniture.

Types
There are many types, electric, grand, upright, but also special edition ones from around the world, re-makes of historic ones, and other pianos that no other company has. Yet they all have the unique, full sound of the Steinway.

Durability
Steinway’s durability is very good. They may last up to a lifetime, maybe even two. This definitely compares to the Yamaha, with only about 30 years of beautiful melody.

Overall
Very nice sound, very nice looks, very nice durability. The Steinway is simply the best in pianos and people take pride in playing one. One thing: the price is a bit too high, though.
SCORE: A

“Aspen”

“Ellipse”

“Satin”

那阳光碎裂在熟悉场景好安静，
一个人能背多少的往事真不轻，
这故事好像真实又象虚幻的情境。——by 五月天《时光机》

Some photos about Xiaoxi.

It was July 4th, Independence Day. On this day, but in 1776, 40 signatures appeared on the Declaration, 39 from the members of the Colonial Congress (3 from each of the 13 colonies) and one from the President of the Congress. The thirteen colonies were one that day, united as America. They had to go through a hard and perilous war to come to this point, but it was worth it. They were free of British Rule, red-coated soldiers invading, and taxation without representation.

Now, 232 years later, we still celebrate this heroic day. Parades weave through the town, the stars and stripes waving at almost every house. Little shops sell little souvenirs. I got a little dragon from one of the shops. But the most famous, the most traditional, the biggest, the best part of 7/4 is the Fireworks!

I had seen many fireworks on TV, but this is the first time I remember seeing them live. They were AWESOME! Red, blue, gold, silver, every color in the rainbow was blasted in to the air. In the beginning it was cool, but as luck would have it, the thick SF fog came in hard on Berkeley, where we were, and the fireworks were completely engulfed with the clouds. Then, all you could see was the sky light up with one color, then another, but not really the fireworks. After about 15 of the 30 minutes of fireworks passed, most people were heading for their cars. It ended up being a he traffic jam that kept us sitting in the car not moving at all for about an hour.

Still, I had a wonderful time. My favorite firework was a series of small but loud explosions going off simultaneously. The result? A series of loud car alarms going off simultaneously. It completely cracked me up. This is to be a Fourth of July to remember!

For more info about FIREWORKS, click here.
For more info about INDEPENDENCE DAY (7/4) click here.

David Xie
July 7, 2008

Swimming is such a wonderful sport. Its tips and turns are tricky and many people can be made rich and famous by it. It can also be a relaxing kind of activity, lying on the warm water, feeling the soft little waves rock you side to side. Yes, it is comfortable, and it can also bring good health, as it exercises the whole body, from the tips of your fingers to the points of your toes.

There are four different kinds, or strokes, of swimming: Butterfly, Backstroke (back crawl), Breaststroke, and Freestyle (front crawl). Each one looks different, feels different, and goes a different speed.

Butterfly is tiring, as your arms have to heave over the water and bring your body up as your feet are kicking together rhythmically. But once it has been perfected, it looks a lot like a butterfly on the water.

Backstroke is the only stroke on your back, while your arms enter and exit the water in a circular motion, one at a time. The feet kick separately, so if one foot is kicking up, the other is kicking down. It goes quite fast, and is also relaxing.

Breaststroke is based on a frog, as it looks like. Your arms pull back as your head comes up, then shoot forward as you feet are doing some kind of ‘scissor kick’. It is not as fast as the others.

Freestyle is the fastest stroke of all. It is pretty much backstroke on your belly, with you feet kicking furiously, and your arms are swinging your head. There is always a love for freestyle in everyone, because of is speed and easiness.

Races might occur often if you are on a team. I love them, as they let you show how much you improved during the time between. The heat of the race pushes you on, urging you to go faster. When you finish, you might be surprised at the awesome time you made, or, unfortunately, dismayed. But that is that, and there are many other things to be happy about. The food is great, and my favorite is the Cup of Noodles, which are convenient, fast, and tasty. There might be some other games gong on, and I like a lot to play with my friends. They are always such a lively group!

Practice usually happens daily, for lengthy periods of time without practicing may seriously hurt your performance. It might be tiring at first, but with me, it gets better afterwards. I especially like my coach, Coach Michelle, because she is funny and likes to make jokes a lot. Now that I don’t see her anymore (it is summer break) I feel kind of sad. The Coach is often a big part of the practice.

Swimming in the ocean is very different than swimming in the pool. The colossal waves might splash you away, but it is still very fun. Also, since it is saltwater, it lets you float even higher and easier, so that it would be easier to swim. But you always have to be careful for your mouth. The water is very salty, with various bacteria in it, so you always have to be careful. Still, it is a very fun experience to enjoy.

So, however you like it, competitive or fun, or if you are lazy or active, swimming is certainly just for you! It gives you a full body workout, while you can still relax. With all these wonderful things about it, swimming is sure to come up on your to-do list!

David Xie
7/2/2008

Here are some questions dealing with a normal hen egg.
1. What is the volume of the egg?
…How do you figure it out?
2. What is the surface area of an egg?
…How do you figure it out?