Weather changes one's mood It's not sunny, not snowy, and not windy, but just a normal cold cloudy day. I feel a little bit upset staying at home in the first day of the 2014. I still remember the year before last year when I watched the last sunset of 2011, and appreciated the first sunrise of 2012 in Key West. That was an amazing experience, and the warm weather got rid of all negative feelings, both mentally and physically. I hope in this brand new year, I can create a more positive atmosphere in my life. Happy new year!

How to use "hedge somebody's bets"? The context is like: They said there's no bug in this code, however, they added a bug-fix update later on (hedge their bets). Though I checked the dictionary, I'm still not quite sure how to really use it in daily life.

My friend is leaving US My firend from my undergraduate university, Lily, said she was going to leave US (she told me yesterday, but she hasn't left. She actually is going to leave next week. Should I use "is" or "was" in that sentence?). She has been a good friend of mine for years. We were taking classes together, sitting side by side in libraries, and joking around from room to room in dormitories. Most importantly, we have a lot in common and a million of things to talk about. She always had fresh insights to inspire me and I also had different things to share with her. That was a memorable life in old days when we were both young with a lot of fantastic imagination for the future. After we graduated, I went to US for a PhD degree, while she went to Hong Kong for a Master degree. One year later, she went to Europe for another Master degree, while I was still struggling in the same PhD program. She graduated again at the beginning of this year, and came to California for an exchange program. Finally we managed to get together in San Francisco. I enjoyed the time walking around in the city and hiking in Yosemite National Park with her in those days. During this thanksgiving, she came to New York City and Boston on east coast for another reunion. We had a great time here, however, I told her I couldn't join her last reunion in California this Christmas when she told me she was going to leave US next week. I wish to, but I had a lot of things to do, and I am still a poor PhD student. California may just seem too far for me. I hope she could understand that I am also sad about this decision.

Is GRE or SAT vocabulary useful? I've passed the stage to prepare the GRE or SAT tests, however, I still need to improve my English. I tried a flashcard application in iTunes today, and sadly found out that I didn't recognize even a single word from 50 random GRE words, even though I passed this test years ago. Do I need to memorize them again to improve my vocabulary? or should I try something else, like SAT words? Are these words really useful for daily work and life in US? I really want to be integrated into the new environment (like a native speaker), and even be an adequate expert if possible. Anyone have any idea to improve my vocabulary?

Any recommendation for a winter vacation? Hi, everyone! I'm living in northeastern US, which is pretty close to Canada. It is very cold and snows a lot in winter. I have about one to two weeks for a winter vacation. It is not necessarily during the Christmas, but I do hope to find somewhere warm. I've been to Florida twice in winter, such as Miami, Key West, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Clearwater beach. So I want to go somewhere else (can be still in Florida). I also thought about Southern California, but found it might be also cold (30-40F) at this time. Texas may be warm, while I haven't found anywhere interesting to go there. Do you have any suggestion or recommendation? Thanks a lot!

My Favorite Trail in Glacier National Park Iceberg Lake Trail, as it is said, is a trail heading to a lake filled with icebergs. This is my favorite trail in Glacier National Park, since I had an unforgettable experience there. It was sunny when we parked our car at the trail head. Ben was excited to test his brand new, expensive, and extremely heavy camera. Lucy was busy taking care of her 10 years old little brother, Joshua. I had nothing heavy and nobody to watch closely, therefore I became the hiking leader naturally. With giant mountains, and deep valleys passing by, green woods were replaced by all white. The sun hided somewhere behind the peak, and the temperature dropped. I was focusing on moving forward, when Joshua started to cough. "Let's take a rest for a while", said Lucy, "You'd better put on your coat, Joshua!". I stopped in the middle of the road, took out my water, and saw Lucy's face stuck. "What's wrong with you?", I asked. "Don't move! There's something behind you. Oh, come back!", apparently Lucy was scared. I slowly turned around, seeing two grizzly bears, crossing the trail, about 10 meters away from us. It seemed that one was the mother bear, and the other was her kid. This is the most dangerous situation, because the mother would become the most fierce and defensive when trying to protect her kids. I don't know why I didn't feel scared. I was just stunned, standing still for a moment. Ben was, however, too excited to decide which he should test first, his high-end camera, or his 45-dollar, 9-second, bear spray. Thank god the bears seemed not notice us in the end, but just calmly passed by. This was the first time I saw a bear not in a zoo. Hiking on the rest of the trail was just like climbing a snow mountain even though it was August in summer. Animals and plants just disappeared, instead, the white trail was heading directly to the heart of the peak like a silver sword. There was a clear lake in the heart of the mountain, which I believe is the so-called iceberg lake. Covered by a gigantic cloud and soaked in the chilly mist, the lake was so tranquil that it seemed we came to a place thousands of years before. Suddenly, a glorious light broke the grey atmosphere, the sun came out. Icebergs were sitting around the edge of the lake, sparkling green and blue. What an amazing scenery! It made our day! (I hope someone can help me to make my writing more natural. Thanks! )

A trip in the middle of the U.S. The best parts of the U.S to me are the national parks. I enjoyed the pure hiking experiences in Glacier National Park in Montana, the exciting rafting trip in Grand Teton National Park, and the extraordinary geographic features in Yellow Stone National Park. Two years ago, when the Delta plane landed in Salt Lake City, I knew that my trip started. Three of my friends and I rent a Recreational Vehicle (RV) from this Mormon city in Utah, and directly drove 10 hours to the entrance of Glacier National Park. After a week's hiking, on over 10 trails, with 10 miles a day on average, we headed back to Yellow Stone. There's an "8"-shape route in this park, so we began from the north entrance, travelled in a "S"-shape, and exited from the south entrance to Grand Teton National Park. We spent 8 days in these two national parks, and 2 more days in Salt Lake City, before we finally caught up our flight back to New York. Being a long, fun, and interesting trip, I think I should record something for us. In the next few notes, I'll attach more details. See you then! (I hope someone can help me to make my writing more natural. Thanks! )

How to get along well with the boss in US? How to get along well with the boss? I got very upset this afternoon, and it is not the first time. I was busy with my work in the lab when my boss, actually my advisor, came in. He started to talk with one of my colleague, Sam, loudly about his presentation practice yesterday. I couldn't focus on my work, so I left our lab and went to another shared lab. After a while, my phone rang and another lab-mate, Jake, asked me to go back and give advice to my boss, cause my boss asked everyone to be there and to help them make the presentation perfect. Then I went back and sat there, listened carefully, and expressed my ideas. I pointed out that one of the plots in Sam's slides may not be quite reasonable, because the power breakdown for the entire system is dramatically different from my previous experimental results and Jake's. I also pointed out that the results similar to mine could also be found in literature, or even derived from common sense. However, my boss just didn't buy it and became very mad. He said that I could be wrong, I shouldn't be an expert to comment this, and it was none of my business, unless I had a solid evidence. I felt upset from this moment, and Jake didn't say a word though he agreed with me. So I just googled this topic and found several references to justify my opinion. Showing these to my boss, however, he became even angrier. He said I was stubborn, should take a step back, and had to change. I just don't understand! The anger seemed to come out of nowhere! What should I do in this scenario? We are doing research in computer engineering at a university. Am I right to point it out? Did I corner him? Any ideas to get along well with the boss in US? (I hope someone can help me make these sentences as natural as a native speaker's. Thanks a lot!)

Why people say "literally"? Why people say "literally"? It indicates people are saying something but actually means something else??