After my last, somewhat depressing post re: the dissolution of my business group and the cancellation of my product line, I thought I might offer up something a little more lighthearted.
Here are a couple stories that I hope make you giggle - none of them really had me giggling (well the last one did a little), but feel free to yuck it up on your end!
I'll go in reverse chronological order and start with this afternoon's incident.
"I No Water!"
I am working from home today finishing off my recovery from a 24 hour bug that had me down yesterday. Our ayi tells Steph and I 'no water'. At first I think she's talking about the drinking water that's delivered from the service center, then I realize she's talking about the actual water in the apartment.
So I call the service center and explain we have no water. They explain they'll send a technician out in an hour or so. I did not expect that anyone would show up in an hour, but it wasn't worth trying to get them to send someone sooner.
Then I happened to walk out into the foyer/hallway between our apartment and the other apartment on our floor. The door was open and there was a guy in there mopping up water with a small mop and soaking up water with pieces of cardboard... he had started to flood his apartment. I called Steph out and showed her the guy mopping up, indicating that he no doubt broke something that is impacting our water supply.
Then I noticed that the 'water meter box' doors were open - and that they had not been opened with a key - they had been broken into. Then it all became obvious to me. He had wanted his water in the new apartment turned on... and instead of waiting for the service center to do so, he broke into the 'water meter room' and turned it on himself... at which point he realized it was turned off for a reason - as it started to flood his apartment!
Then I get his attention and ask in my best broken english, knowing he doesn't speak english: "You break door?". Not realizing I am accusing him, he says 'yes, yes'. Then I explain 'I no water!'. So he goes to the scene of the crime (water meter box) and turns our water back on. I am assuming at this point he has either figured out which one is for our apartment and which one is for his, or if they are on the same line, he has figured out how to shut off whatever caused the flooding in his apartment.
So we call the service center back and explain there is no need to send technician out. That our new neighbor broke into the 'water meeting box' and turned off our water. The service center asked 'how he have key to our water box'. Steph explained 'he doesn't have a key, he broke in'. At this they were very concerned... much more concerned than when our water was not working!
Non-Smoking Room
In early December I was asked to represent my now defunct (but not yet public at the time) group at a customer meeting. This is our top 30 channel customers in China. I agree to go and present content on Mobile as best we could.
So I get to the resort where the meeting is being held, and it's in the middle of no where. It's a Sofitel, but in need of some updating. There is a fabulous kiddie pool with slides and equipment to climb on and what not, but not a drop of water in it! The location picked for the event is in Hainan - which is sometimes called (not translated to) 'Chinese Hawaii' or 'Hawaii of the East', but they didn't pick a resort on the beach... which makes you wonder why they picked such a location at all...
Anyway, after an hour and a half drive from the nearest airport to the hotel, I go to check in. They start to hand me the key to room 1443, when I think to ask (since this is China where 70% of the men smoke), "is this a non-smoking room?" Which elicits the 'you want non-smoking room?' response.
Yes, I need a non-smoking room, I explain. At this point there are 2 receptionists helping me - which I have found is a good thing, as they can collaborate and make sure they are getting the English correct. They punch some keys on the computer, and make a couple of phone calls and say 'it's all arranged', and hand me the same key to 1443.
I try to be gracious about the mistake, and explain, I'm sorry, you were going to move me to a non-smoking room, but this is the same room you offered me to begin with. The nice woman behind the desk explains, 'No, no, it OK... we remove ashtray.'
And there you have it... need a non-smoking room, no problem, we'll remove the ashtray... So I try to explain I need a room that has not been smoked in before (realizing as I say it that this actually may not exist in all of China). The women now talk some more to each other, and one of them says 'you want room on non-smoking floor?'. Very proud at our progress, I smile and say 'yes, thank you'.
They then talk some more, make another phone call or two... punch in some things on the computer, and then explain that Intel's room block (and I assume special rate) is only on smoking rooms. It's no problem I tell them... I'll pay more, just give me a room on the non-smoking floor. "oh, OK' they reply, almost in unison.
More typing and phone calls... I am finally convinced that we are making progress.... Then one of them looks at me and says 'non-smoking floor, all sold out'. UGH.
Luckily, the weather in Hainan is far nicer than Shanghai, with evening temps in the 60s, so I could open the double slider doors to the small balcony attached to my room (overlooking the kiddie pool with no water) and air the room out... was nice enough weather that I could sleep with the sliders open at night and dissipate the musty smoke smell.
American Ingenuity
On this same business trip, it's important to explain that I was the only person there who did not speak Mandarin. There was one other native English speaker that was not fluent, but he knew enough to get through a superficial conversation. And the English of the customers was very limited.
The last night, they had a BBQ buffet dinner, and lots of toasts. The field sales guy made each Intel person offer a toast to the customers. Obviously mine needed to be translated. What I said was something to the effect of 'business is very hard right now, and when times are hard it's important to have good friends, together, as friends, we will come out on the other side of this tough time stronger, and richer'.
What the field sales guy 'translated' this to was: 'I have no friends, and I make friends by drinking'. When the customers all began to laugh, I knew I had been had. When I went back to the Intel table, I said to the people there 'he didn't translate what I said, did he?' They explained what he actually said.
A few minutes later the first customer came up to me. He brought two wine glasses half full of the traditional Chinese toasting drink Baijiu (pronounced bi-geo). This is not a sipping drink - this is a shooting drink. It is completely clear and absurdly strong (think grain alcohol).
I did my duty and drank the first glass along with the customer as a LARGE shot. Unfortunately, I knew what was coming. At this point, I engaged the support of the Intel employee sitting next to me. I explained to Melanie (thank god for Melanie) that I needed to get a waitress to bring me the same small carafe that the Baijiu was being served in, but I needed it filled with room temperature water. 'Room temperature?', she asked. I explained that hot water would steam the glass and cold water would sweat... If I was going to make it out of here alive, it needed to be room temperature.
Another Intel employee, who was sitting next to Melanie simply looked at me surprised and said, 'that's genius'. I explained that when you work for an International Fraternity (as I had in the past), you have to pick up some tricks that allow you to 'be one of the guys' but still be able to meet with the president of a college or university in the morning. I explained that this was just a variation on only ordering bottled beer at a bar with undergrads so you could go to the bathroom and pour them out while you peed... they thought you had the bladder of a little girl, but man could you drink a lot of beer.
So the handful of customers that came over to toast the sad American got what they wanted... They were able to drink with the guy that only knew how to make friends through drinking, and I was able to get a good nights sleep, having avoided far too much Baijiu.
The best part of the story is the last guy to make me drink was the guy who started it all, that first customer with the wine glasses.... As we were all headed out, he comes up to the Intel table with a full carafe of Baijiu and sees mine (recently refilled with room temperature water). He explains 'WE DRINK' loud enough that a small group gathers and sees each of us with a carafe full of Baijiu. I shoot a glance over to Melanie and Justin, who are complicit in my deception and give them a little smile... To the customer I simply shake my head and feign concern... But ultimately look him in the eye and say 'OK'.
He went first... He downed the entire small carafe of Baijiu in no time... Coming from an old fraternity guy, I was impressed... especially since he had been a big toaster and toastee all night.
Then I was up - all eyes were on me. I decided about half way through the carafe of water I needed to make this look realistic. So I stopped half way through and stumbled back a step or two shaking my head as if I could not go on... Everyone seemed to think 'ah, he's not going to be able to make it'... then after just a beat or two I slam the rest of my water, followed by my little shot glass of water (which was less about sending a message and more about not leaving evidence). Then there was much cheering... The now very drunk, and possibly alcohol poisoned, customer simply looks at me, clamps his hand on my shoulder and says (yells, really) 'YOU VERY STRONG'. That's the last time anyone saw him until lunch the next day. I was able to call into a 7am meeting. :)
This last anecdote could not have been possible without Melanie Yan who negotiated for the carafe of room temperature water, and Justin Van Buren who kept my cover. Thank you both!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Pre-Christmas Update - Changes Afoot
Christmas is right around the corner. Mike and Karmen Trzupek (dear friends from Seattle) are due to arrive on Friday. Looks like it'll be warmer here in Shanghai than it will be in Seattle. We have had a wonderfully mild winter to this point (knock on wood). It has included a number of sunny and clear days, with temperatures in the 50s and 60s!
I thought I would get this posted as a means to get everyone up to date on what's going on with the Shanghai Welshes, as well as what's going on with my job at Intel. Since it's now on a number of technology related websites, I can safely inform friends and family.
First, for the important stuff. Steph is feeling very well... She says she's in that second trimester space where she actually has some energy... Which is true only until about 8:30pm, when she starts to yawn and drift off to sleep. That being said, we did take in a couple of Christmas parties to this point, and she was a real trooper! Last doctor appointment was good - everything continues to check out OK!
Olivia is doing well at her International School, and is lobbying hard to do first grade in China. She loves her teacher, her friends and school and would like to stay until June 2010! She loves art, dance and music, and recently completed her role as 1 of about 30 birds in the school performance of Jack and the Beanstalk!
Gigi is enjoying her experience at the local Chinese pre-school. The other day Steph overheard her and our ayi have an entire conversation in Mandarin! She loves most everything her sister does, and has really enjoyed the extra time with mommy in the last 18 months.
Now, onto my situation. As I mentioned, this has become public information in the last week or so, but Intel has decided to dissolve the business group I work in, moving the work and the people into various other groups. On the face of it, this sounds harmless, but one of the actions involved includes shutting down the program I have been in charge of for the last 18 months. We will complete our roadmap of products over the next few months, then we will sustain the products for our pilot customers - but we will not be developing follow on products. This means my role has effectively been eliminated. I will have some work to do getting the remaining products out the door and 'shutting the lights off'... but I am effectively looking for a new job.
I have an upcoming assignment that was a 'special project' I was asked to support before any of this came down, so that has me busy while I work to finish the roadmap and job hunt. It's a special opportunity I will describe in more detail in a separate post, but it's something to keep me busy for the next few weeks.
I have a couple of 'irons in the fire' as we speak. I have had some conversations with managers in other groups about opportunities they might have, but everyone is sitting pretty tight until Intel gets past the budget and plan process and managers understand their headcount targets and get budget dollars finalized.
Probably the most unnerving part of this process is the uncertainty with our assignement in China. We have over 7 months remaining on our contract (oringially planned to come home the end of July, 2009). We had talked previously (prior to this annoucement about cancelling the project) about staying on another 5 months for the next generation's roadmap - which is now non-existent.
Where we will be living and when we will be living there remains a mystery. Steph can't travel after February 1st - possibly sooner depending on what the doctor has to say. Our house is rented out until July of 2009 (in alignment with when my contract expires). My next manager (whoever that will be) will have to look at their budget and the work required in the role to determine their ability to support my assignment until the contract is up (July 2009) or possibly beyond.
So, needless to say, it's a little nervous Christmas around the Shanghai Welsh family tree this year. I feel like I have had good conversations with a couple of managers, but with the economy as bad as it is, and budgets getting squeezed, and companies announcing job reductions left and right, it makes me temper any positive feelings I have.
I do feel bouyed by the fact that Intel has not yet annouced any wide spread headcount reductions. In fact the messaging has been opposite of that in the press. What we are being told is that the company plans on having the same number of employees in 2009, as we leave 2008 with... so on the aggregate, no large swings... but I know, of course, this means we can expect pockets of 'headcount redistribution' based on business needs.
I'll update my blog when I know more... and have a couple posts planned over the holiday; one about my upcoming assignment in Portugal teaching teachers and parents about how to use some unique Intel technology, and the other will be a couple of classic stories from a recent busines trip.
Our family Christmas card will be coming out via e-mail in the next week... Until then, I hope your holiday preparations are coming along well.
Cheers,
Joe
I thought I would get this posted as a means to get everyone up to date on what's going on with the Shanghai Welshes, as well as what's going on with my job at Intel. Since it's now on a number of technology related websites, I can safely inform friends and family.
First, for the important stuff. Steph is feeling very well... She says she's in that second trimester space where she actually has some energy... Which is true only until about 8:30pm, when she starts to yawn and drift off to sleep. That being said, we did take in a couple of Christmas parties to this point, and she was a real trooper! Last doctor appointment was good - everything continues to check out OK!
Olivia is doing well at her International School, and is lobbying hard to do first grade in China. She loves her teacher, her friends and school and would like to stay until June 2010! She loves art, dance and music, and recently completed her role as 1 of about 30 birds in the school performance of Jack and the Beanstalk!
Gigi is enjoying her experience at the local Chinese pre-school. The other day Steph overheard her and our ayi have an entire conversation in Mandarin! She loves most everything her sister does, and has really enjoyed the extra time with mommy in the last 18 months.
Now, onto my situation. As I mentioned, this has become public information in the last week or so, but Intel has decided to dissolve the business group I work in, moving the work and the people into various other groups. On the face of it, this sounds harmless, but one of the actions involved includes shutting down the program I have been in charge of for the last 18 months. We will complete our roadmap of products over the next few months, then we will sustain the products for our pilot customers - but we will not be developing follow on products. This means my role has effectively been eliminated. I will have some work to do getting the remaining products out the door and 'shutting the lights off'... but I am effectively looking for a new job.
I have an upcoming assignment that was a 'special project' I was asked to support before any of this came down, so that has me busy while I work to finish the roadmap and job hunt. It's a special opportunity I will describe in more detail in a separate post, but it's something to keep me busy for the next few weeks.
I have a couple of 'irons in the fire' as we speak. I have had some conversations with managers in other groups about opportunities they might have, but everyone is sitting pretty tight until Intel gets past the budget and plan process and managers understand their headcount targets and get budget dollars finalized.
Probably the most unnerving part of this process is the uncertainty with our assignement in China. We have over 7 months remaining on our contract (oringially planned to come home the end of July, 2009). We had talked previously (prior to this annoucement about cancelling the project) about staying on another 5 months for the next generation's roadmap - which is now non-existent.
Where we will be living and when we will be living there remains a mystery. Steph can't travel after February 1st - possibly sooner depending on what the doctor has to say. Our house is rented out until July of 2009 (in alignment with when my contract expires). My next manager (whoever that will be) will have to look at their budget and the work required in the role to determine their ability to support my assignment until the contract is up (July 2009) or possibly beyond.
So, needless to say, it's a little nervous Christmas around the Shanghai Welsh family tree this year. I feel like I have had good conversations with a couple of managers, but with the economy as bad as it is, and budgets getting squeezed, and companies announcing job reductions left and right, it makes me temper any positive feelings I have.
I do feel bouyed by the fact that Intel has not yet annouced any wide spread headcount reductions. In fact the messaging has been opposite of that in the press. What we are being told is that the company plans on having the same number of employees in 2009, as we leave 2008 with... so on the aggregate, no large swings... but I know, of course, this means we can expect pockets of 'headcount redistribution' based on business needs.
I'll update my blog when I know more... and have a couple posts planned over the holiday; one about my upcoming assignment in Portugal teaching teachers and parents about how to use some unique Intel technology, and the other will be a couple of classic stories from a recent busines trip.
Our family Christmas card will be coming out via e-mail in the next week... Until then, I hope your holiday preparations are coming along well.
Cheers,
Joe
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Apartment Living... An Update...
Many of you found my last post re: apartment living and the middle of the night 'construction' noises amusing... Not sure if I closed that story with you all.
It turns out the guy living in 402 is pissed at the people living in 302. When the people in 302 put their ceiling fans on, the noise it makes in 402 bothers him greatly... And in a very open and direct way of dealing with the problem, the guy decided the most appropriate response was to bounce a bowling ball on the ceiling. It seems that after my late night pounding session on his door, he switched over to a basketball... seems it's just as annoying for the people below, but less so for people in other apartments!
The nice Aussies in 302 are pulling their hair out... They have involved the management company here at the complex, but since the guy in 402 owns the apartment, and is not renting from the management company, there is nothing they can do... And there is no such thing as a home owners association here. They are now to the point of involving the local government, going to arbitration and scheduling a government official to come into the apartment and measure the sound created by the fans below... I am sure that now that the government is involved, it will get settled in a speedy manner! :)
So, now onto our newest apartment living story... The family upstairs has a number of kids - three I think. They are generally very quiet.... but, they practice the piano an amazing amount. On the weekends the piano is being played quite literally from 8:30am - 7:30pm non-stop with the exception of what I assume is meals...
Of all the things to hear from your neighbors (including, evidently, bowling balls being bounced on the floor) this is not that bad!
Unfortunately, tonight things changed... for about an hour tonight, one of the kids started to practice a new instrument... it was what I believe was a trumpet, trombone, or french horn... I know it's unlikely that those 3 instruments sound anything alike, but I'm not a brass instrument expert... All I know, is that as much as they have improved the piano skills in the last 15 months, they would need to out pace that progress to get anywhere near bearable on the brass instrument!
Steph is in Beijing this weekend with her cousin Gina, Gina's husband Ben and Ben's mom. They'll be back here on Tuesday to spend the week touring Shanghai before heading back to San Fransisco on Sunday. This will have our medium sized apartment stressed on sleeping spots, but we wouldn't have it any other way! We have been so excited about them coming and are glad they are finally here!
Then in December we have our friend's Mike and Karmen coming with their kids Sydney and Sam for Christmas. Everyone is looking forward to the visit!
I hope this finds you all well and looking forward to the holiday season!
Cheers,
Joe
It turns out the guy living in 402 is pissed at the people living in 302. When the people in 302 put their ceiling fans on, the noise it makes in 402 bothers him greatly... And in a very open and direct way of dealing with the problem, the guy decided the most appropriate response was to bounce a bowling ball on the ceiling. It seems that after my late night pounding session on his door, he switched over to a basketball... seems it's just as annoying for the people below, but less so for people in other apartments!
The nice Aussies in 302 are pulling their hair out... They have involved the management company here at the complex, but since the guy in 402 owns the apartment, and is not renting from the management company, there is nothing they can do... And there is no such thing as a home owners association here. They are now to the point of involving the local government, going to arbitration and scheduling a government official to come into the apartment and measure the sound created by the fans below... I am sure that now that the government is involved, it will get settled in a speedy manner! :)
So, now onto our newest apartment living story... The family upstairs has a number of kids - three I think. They are generally very quiet.... but, they practice the piano an amazing amount. On the weekends the piano is being played quite literally from 8:30am - 7:30pm non-stop with the exception of what I assume is meals...
Of all the things to hear from your neighbors (including, evidently, bowling balls being bounced on the floor) this is not that bad!
Unfortunately, tonight things changed... for about an hour tonight, one of the kids started to practice a new instrument... it was what I believe was a trumpet, trombone, or french horn... I know it's unlikely that those 3 instruments sound anything alike, but I'm not a brass instrument expert... All I know, is that as much as they have improved the piano skills in the last 15 months, they would need to out pace that progress to get anywhere near bearable on the brass instrument!
Steph is in Beijing this weekend with her cousin Gina, Gina's husband Ben and Ben's mom. They'll be back here on Tuesday to spend the week touring Shanghai before heading back to San Fransisco on Sunday. This will have our medium sized apartment stressed on sleeping spots, but we wouldn't have it any other way! We have been so excited about them coming and are glad they are finally here!
Then in December we have our friend's Mike and Karmen coming with their kids Sydney and Sam for Christmas. Everyone is looking forward to the visit!
I hope this finds you all well and looking forward to the holiday season!
Cheers,
Joe
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Sometimes I am simply not very smart...
I am going to blame it on jet lag. If it weren't for jet lag, I'd be as smart as everyone else... perhaps.
I just returned to PRC after 3 weeks in the US. Couple weeks for my hunting trip and then a couple days of meetings in Oregon. Jet lag was much stronger and harder to overcome after being gone that long.
Saturday morning after having played basketball at the local international school, I decided to cut my hair. Anyone who has seen me recently, knows that I have embraced by developing baldness, and refused to go the way of the comb-over.
I started my 'bald friendly haircut' by asking the barber/stylist to shave my head with the clippers using a #2 guard. Then I progressed to the #1. During the warm summer, even going down to a #1/2. Cutting my hair with the clippers, guard in place, became so easy that Steph does it many times, and sometimes I manage it myself.
Well I had been gone nearly a month (week in Thailand for work, followed by the US for vacation and meetings). So it was time for a trim.
Saturday morning following basketball, I head into the bathroom to trim up my 'mop'. I start shaving, and am surprised at the amount of hair on the floor thinking to myself 'wow, that's a lot of hair for 1 month growth'.
Then I glance into the mirror and see my head - 1/2 shaved. Then I look at the clippers, and see NO GUARD. I had just started shaving away. So no #2, #1, not even a #1/2 - you could say I shaved my head using #0.
So now, when my kids tease me and call me 'Baldy Daddy' they are a little closer to the truth... I'll be wearing a hat as often as possible the next couple weeks! :(
I just returned to PRC after 3 weeks in the US. Couple weeks for my hunting trip and then a couple days of meetings in Oregon. Jet lag was much stronger and harder to overcome after being gone that long.
Saturday morning after having played basketball at the local international school, I decided to cut my hair. Anyone who has seen me recently, knows that I have embraced by developing baldness, and refused to go the way of the comb-over.
I started my 'bald friendly haircut' by asking the barber/stylist to shave my head with the clippers using a #2 guard. Then I progressed to the #1. During the warm summer, even going down to a #1/2. Cutting my hair with the clippers, guard in place, became so easy that Steph does it many times, and sometimes I manage it myself.
Well I had been gone nearly a month (week in Thailand for work, followed by the US for vacation and meetings). So it was time for a trim.
Saturday morning following basketball, I head into the bathroom to trim up my 'mop'. I start shaving, and am surprised at the amount of hair on the floor thinking to myself 'wow, that's a lot of hair for 1 month growth'.
Then I glance into the mirror and see my head - 1/2 shaved. Then I look at the clippers, and see NO GUARD. I had just started shaving away. So no #2, #1, not even a #1/2 - you could say I shaved my head using #0.
So now, when my kids tease me and call me 'Baldy Daddy' they are a little closer to the truth... I'll be wearing a hat as often as possible the next couple weeks! :(
Friday, October 24, 2008
Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you...
So the answer to the question 'how was the hunting trip' depends on how you decide to measure sucess!
Spending time with granddad was great... it had been over a year since I had seen him. It was so great to get a chance to spend this dedicated time with him, not phone calls and letters. Hard to believe that at 84 years old he's still out in the field, 'pushing the corn' and shooting at birds. We should all hope to be in such good shape at 84!
Now, as for the hunting, that wasn't the best we had ever had. Turns out the area of SD we were hunting has had a very wet fall. That has led to 'lots of cover' for the birds, meaning 2 things:
1) there is A LOT of corn that still has to be harvested, meaning birds hang out in the corn, which is hard to hunt with a small group of guys and a couple dogs and 2) all of the other cover (sloughs, shelterbelts, etc) are all overgrown, again making for flushing birds a chore!
The other really great thing about the trip was the dinners we were able to do with the Bratland family. It is really funny to hear my granddad and his friends tell stories about hunting 30+ years ago when the 'Bratland Kids' were kids. Now here I am hunting when the grandkids are all just kids... the next generation of hunters is seeing the next generation of Bratland's grow up (albeit 1 week at a time in the middle of October every year).
So the summary is 3 birds in 3.5 days of hunting (rained out the last day and a half) for the group... not a great showing. Close to the least birds they have ever gotten!
On the upside, I did hit the 1 pheasant I shot at... the downside of course was that was the only pheasant I got to shoot at... :(
The drive on both the way there and back was uneventful. Very little traffic either way. I never paid over $3.00/gal for gas, which was nice.
Weather was great for the first 3 days (sunny and cool). Then the rain set in. We hunted the morning of day 4, but man was it cold and windy. After a couple of hours of not seeing many birds and getting colder and wetter with every step, we called it a day... Then the next morning we woke to the same darned weather.
So we had breakfast and decided that we weren't going to hunt that day, instead we went back to the house and all packed up, getting on the road early.
Now I am finishing up my vacation days staying at our friend's house before finishing up my time in the states with a couple days of meetings in Oregon... Have loved my time in the US, but really miss Steph and the girls.
More later.
Cheers,
Joe
Birds or no birds, I am looking forward to next year's trip... Which I am sure my wife is rolling her eyes at as she reads this! :)
Spending time with granddad was great... it had been over a year since I had seen him. It was so great to get a chance to spend this dedicated time with him, not phone calls and letters. Hard to believe that at 84 years old he's still out in the field, 'pushing the corn' and shooting at birds. We should all hope to be in such good shape at 84!
Now, as for the hunting, that wasn't the best we had ever had. Turns out the area of SD we were hunting has had a very wet fall. That has led to 'lots of cover' for the birds, meaning 2 things:
1) there is A LOT of corn that still has to be harvested, meaning birds hang out in the corn, which is hard to hunt with a small group of guys and a couple dogs and 2) all of the other cover (sloughs, shelterbelts, etc) are all overgrown, again making for flushing birds a chore!
The other really great thing about the trip was the dinners we were able to do with the Bratland family. It is really funny to hear my granddad and his friends tell stories about hunting 30+ years ago when the 'Bratland Kids' were kids. Now here I am hunting when the grandkids are all just kids... the next generation of hunters is seeing the next generation of Bratland's grow up (albeit 1 week at a time in the middle of October every year).
So the summary is 3 birds in 3.5 days of hunting (rained out the last day and a half) for the group... not a great showing. Close to the least birds they have ever gotten!
On the upside, I did hit the 1 pheasant I shot at... the downside of course was that was the only pheasant I got to shoot at... :(
The drive on both the way there and back was uneventful. Very little traffic either way. I never paid over $3.00/gal for gas, which was nice.
Weather was great for the first 3 days (sunny and cool). Then the rain set in. We hunted the morning of day 4, but man was it cold and windy. After a couple of hours of not seeing many birds and getting colder and wetter with every step, we called it a day... Then the next morning we woke to the same darned weather.
So we had breakfast and decided that we weren't going to hunt that day, instead we went back to the house and all packed up, getting on the road early.
Now I am finishing up my vacation days staying at our friend's house before finishing up my time in the states with a couple days of meetings in Oregon... Have loved my time in the US, but really miss Steph and the girls.
More later.
Cheers,
Joe
Birds or no birds, I am looking forward to next year's trip... Which I am sure my wife is rolling her eyes at as she reads this! :)
Friday, October 17, 2008
Spreading Around My Tourist Dollars
As many of you know, I am back in the US for about 2 weeks for my annual pheasant hunting trip in South Dakota with my granddad.
I am sitting in a local hole in the wall restaurant in Bowman, ND. The sign said 'World Famous Big J's Restaurant' and actually had both an American and Canadian flag, as to make it clear that the world is bigger than ND and the US! I had to give it a try - heck if those kooky Canadians love this place, it must be good.
Turns out this little hole in the wall has Internet access... Amazing.
So I am making good progress... Started out from Canby at about 4:30am on Thursday morning (jet lag lead to an early awakening). Made it to Bozeman (as planned) on Day 1 and will get to Willow Lake, SD by this evening if all remains on track.
I stopped here in Bowman, ND for 2 reasons - #1, I have never been to ND, so I decided stopping for lunch would give me a real excuse to say I had been there... and obviously I lucked out and came across the world famous 'Big J's'. #2 - I decided to spread out my tourist dollars. This route only crosses the SW corner of ND, I can't be in the state for more than a hundred miles - so I grabbed this chance.
The 1 state that is in last place in the Welsh Tourist Dollars standings is Washington. I could not make it from Canby to Couer D'Alene on 1 tank of gas and was forced to stop in Spokane and get gas - which I was trying to avoid, as it was something like $3.2x/gallon. I got only $15 worth - enough to get me to the $2.89/gallon gas in Couer D'Alene.
Montana got some gas and a night's stay.
North Dakota got lunch, although that's only $5.79 ($6.20 with tax).
Oh, last reason Big J's will remain famous with me: they rightly serve ranch dressing in a squeeze bottle like ketchup and mustard... not limited quantities in little cups like most places... that alone was worth the stop!
More from the 'Pheasant Trail' later...
Cheers,
Joe
I am sitting in a local hole in the wall restaurant in Bowman, ND. The sign said 'World Famous Big J's Restaurant' and actually had both an American and Canadian flag, as to make it clear that the world is bigger than ND and the US! I had to give it a try - heck if those kooky Canadians love this place, it must be good.
Turns out this little hole in the wall has Internet access... Amazing.
So I am making good progress... Started out from Canby at about 4:30am on Thursday morning (jet lag lead to an early awakening). Made it to Bozeman (as planned) on Day 1 and will get to Willow Lake, SD by this evening if all remains on track.
I stopped here in Bowman, ND for 2 reasons - #1, I have never been to ND, so I decided stopping for lunch would give me a real excuse to say I had been there... and obviously I lucked out and came across the world famous 'Big J's'. #2 - I decided to spread out my tourist dollars. This route only crosses the SW corner of ND, I can't be in the state for more than a hundred miles - so I grabbed this chance.
The 1 state that is in last place in the Welsh Tourist Dollars standings is Washington. I could not make it from Canby to Couer D'Alene on 1 tank of gas and was forced to stop in Spokane and get gas - which I was trying to avoid, as it was something like $3.2x/gallon. I got only $15 worth - enough to get me to the $2.89/gallon gas in Couer D'Alene.
Montana got some gas and a night's stay.
North Dakota got lunch, although that's only $5.79 ($6.20 with tax).
Oh, last reason Big J's will remain famous with me: they rightly serve ranch dressing in a squeeze bottle like ketchup and mustard... not limited quantities in little cups like most places... that alone was worth the stop!
More from the 'Pheasant Trail' later...
Cheers,
Joe
Monday, September 22, 2008
Why I was worried about an apartment...
It took over 1 year... but it finally happened. I had a little voice in the back of my head that was concerned about going back to apartment living. The proximity to other people, and the impact of their living habits on my family... it worried me a little.
But the fact that we looked for 4 days, and this was the only place in our budget we could afford, and it was such a good location, I silenced the little voice that was asking if I really wanted to go back to 'apartment living'.
Our place is great, it really is. Great location, under budget, good landlords. But one night last week, it turned into exactly what that little voice in my head thought it might.
So we went to bed, fairly early due to Steph's evenings being more enjoyable for her when she is asleep! I woke up at about 12:45am. I don't know if it was the rhythmic banging or something else that woke me, but there I was awake and listening to the banging. Where was it coming from? I opened some windows to rule out the construction site not far from the apartment, and sure enough, that wasn't it. I paced around a little longer, and felt convinced the noise was originating in the building.
I picked up the phone and called the front desk/service center and explained that someone was seemingly doing construction of some sort in their apartment in the middle of the night. I asked they investigate and take care of it. It stopped for a period of time, which I was hoping was the end of it, alas, it started up again.
At this point, I decided to take the bull by the horns and started walking up the stairs from our second floor landing to determine the location of the midnight construction site. I got to the 4th floor and there was an employee of the apartment complex standing outside apartment 402. I asked him in English with accompanying hand gestures if this was the place. He indicated it was (lots of Chinese, then a nod). We waited. Then the banging started again. At this point the employee starts talking into his walkie talkie, talking to the front desk. I take a little more direct approach and knock on the door and ring the doorbell.
We hear footsteps on the other side of the door, and they approach right to the door and stop. Then nothing - obviously sizing us up through the peep hole. Then footsteps away from the door again... never bothered to open the door up.
So I head back to my apartment, assuming that the person on the other side saw a neighbor (white dude in boxer shorts and a t-shirt) and an employee of the complex at his door at 1:00am, obviously in response to his home improvement project in the middle of the night. That'll be the end of it, right?
No, not really... about 10 minutes later, it starts again... of course, just as I was falling asleep. So I call the front desk again. Here's the conversation:
Guy On Late Shift: You have call him your personally.
Angry White Guy: OK, give me the number.
Guy On Late Shift: Well, he no speak English.
Angry White Guy: Well then why did you tell me to call him?
Guy On Late Shift:
Angry White Guy: Can you call him? Did you call him?
Guy On Late Shift: I call, he no answer.
Angry White Guy: Did you send someone to the apartment?
Guy on Late Shift: He no answer.
Angry White Guy: Nevermind, I am going up there myself.
Guy On Late Shift: Thank you, anything else I help with tonight?
Angry White Guy: No thanks, you have been so much help to this point.
So I go up there. I wait for the banging, which has stopped for a moment to start up again... I don't have to wait long... about 45 seconds later, there it is... bang... bang.... bang, bang, bang.
So at this point I step up to the door and ring the bell. Banging stops, but no walking to the door. Just silence. I am really upset at this point and react a little less than maturely. I commence ringing his doorbell for about 3 minutes non-stop. Just keep ringing and ringing and ringing.
Finally feeling a little better, I head back down stairs, thinking to myself 'this guy doesn't know who he is messing with... I am regularly up and out of the house between 5:45am and 6:30am during the week... I have no issues stopping by the 4th floor on my way out to the car every morning and waking him up.'
Lucky for everyone, 3 minutes of ringing the guy's doorbell sent the right message, or he was just tuckered out at 2:00am and decided to knock off for the night. The banging stopped.
Unfortunately, I was still 'Immature Angry White Guy Who Was Really Tired' when I left for the office at 6:30am the next morning. So on my way out, I stopped upstairs to wish him a happy morning... I started to ring the doorbell, and lo and behold, he had unplugged it! Turned it off!
So rather than realizing I got the better of the situation, I pounded on the door for about a minute - long enough and loud enough to wake the guy up, and then headed down to the car and off to the office... he never answered the door.
Part of me looks back a little ashamed for being so immature... but part of me says 'there's been no midnight banging since then'.
1 night in over a year... that's pretty good, so I can't complain 1 bit about the apartment. It's all good!
Hope you all are sleeping well. :)
Joe
But the fact that we looked for 4 days, and this was the only place in our budget we could afford, and it was such a good location, I silenced the little voice that was asking if I really wanted to go back to 'apartment living'.
Our place is great, it really is. Great location, under budget, good landlords. But one night last week, it turned into exactly what that little voice in my head thought it might.
So we went to bed, fairly early due to Steph's evenings being more enjoyable for her when she is asleep! I woke up at about 12:45am. I don't know if it was the rhythmic banging or something else that woke me, but there I was awake and listening to the banging. Where was it coming from? I opened some windows to rule out the construction site not far from the apartment, and sure enough, that wasn't it. I paced around a little longer, and felt convinced the noise was originating in the building.
I picked up the phone and called the front desk/service center and explained that someone was seemingly doing construction of some sort in their apartment in the middle of the night. I asked they investigate and take care of it. It stopped for a period of time, which I was hoping was the end of it, alas, it started up again.
At this point, I decided to take the bull by the horns and started walking up the stairs from our second floor landing to determine the location of the midnight construction site. I got to the 4th floor and there was an employee of the apartment complex standing outside apartment 402. I asked him in English with accompanying hand gestures if this was the place. He indicated it was (lots of Chinese, then a nod). We waited. Then the banging started again. At this point the employee starts talking into his walkie talkie, talking to the front desk. I take a little more direct approach and knock on the door and ring the doorbell.
We hear footsteps on the other side of the door, and they approach right to the door and stop. Then nothing - obviously sizing us up through the peep hole. Then footsteps away from the door again... never bothered to open the door up.
So I head back to my apartment, assuming that the person on the other side saw a neighbor (white dude in boxer shorts and a t-shirt) and an employee of the complex at his door at 1:00am, obviously in response to his home improvement project in the middle of the night. That'll be the end of it, right?
No, not really... about 10 minutes later, it starts again... of course, just as I was falling asleep. So I call the front desk again. Here's the conversation:
Guy On Late Shift: You have call him your personally.
Angry White Guy: OK, give me the number.
Guy On Late Shift: Well, he no speak English.
Angry White Guy: Well then why did you tell me to call him?
Guy On Late Shift:
Angry White Guy: Can you call him? Did you call him?
Guy On Late Shift: I call, he no answer.
Angry White Guy: Did you send someone to the apartment?
Guy on Late Shift: He no answer.
Angry White Guy: Nevermind, I am going up there myself.
Guy On Late Shift: Thank you, anything else I help with tonight?
Angry White Guy: No thanks, you have been so much help to this point.
So I go up there. I wait for the banging, which has stopped for a moment to start up again... I don't have to wait long... about 45 seconds later, there it is... bang... bang.... bang, bang, bang.
So at this point I step up to the door and ring the bell. Banging stops, but no walking to the door. Just silence. I am really upset at this point and react a little less than maturely. I commence ringing his doorbell for about 3 minutes non-stop. Just keep ringing and ringing and ringing.
Finally feeling a little better, I head back down stairs, thinking to myself 'this guy doesn't know who he is messing with... I am regularly up and out of the house between 5:45am and 6:30am during the week... I have no issues stopping by the 4th floor on my way out to the car every morning and waking him up.'
Lucky for everyone, 3 minutes of ringing the guy's doorbell sent the right message, or he was just tuckered out at 2:00am and decided to knock off for the night. The banging stopped.
Unfortunately, I was still 'Immature Angry White Guy Who Was Really Tired' when I left for the office at 6:30am the next morning. So on my way out, I stopped upstairs to wish him a happy morning... I started to ring the doorbell, and lo and behold, he had unplugged it! Turned it off!
So rather than realizing I got the better of the situation, I pounded on the door for about a minute - long enough and loud enough to wake the guy up, and then headed down to the car and off to the office... he never answered the door.
Part of me looks back a little ashamed for being so immature... but part of me says 'there's been no midnight banging since then'.
1 night in over a year... that's pretty good, so I can't complain 1 bit about the apartment. It's all good!
Hope you all are sleeping well. :)
Joe
Update on Baby Welsh
First, thanks to all for the great response to our news! All the congratulations and well wishes are greatly appreciated.
Steph is starting her tours of the various hospitals and birthing centers in Shanghai. I have not been able to attend, as work remains stressful and busy beyond belief, not to mention logistics issues discussed below...
We had some good news today - Steph went to have an appointment and a 14 week ultrasound... they reviewed some of the early 'soft signs' for downs syndrome and all looks healthy! Steph said the baby was doing some pretty serious gymnastics during the ultrasound.
One of the big differences between having a baby in Oregon and in Shanghai has to do with my involvement with the pregnancy (outside of initiation, an activity in which my role was consistent from child to child). In Oregon the access to the doctors office was amazingly convenient. Our OBs office was basically right across the street from my office. For Olivia, I attended every pre-natal appointment. For Gigi, I was able to attend many of the appointments, but was sure to attend all ultrasounds.
Logistics of trying to get to these appointments is prohibitive... it takes 30-45 minutes to get anywhere in Shanghai and our office is in the middle of nowhere! And with 1 car and 1 driver, it means I had to put my pregnant wife on the subway to her appointment today! That will have to change... I will be working from home or carpooling as she gets farther along.
The other logistics issue is around the birth itself. Likely the hospital we will choose will be 30-45 minutes (during light traffic) from our apartment. If we need to get to the hospital during rush hour, there is no telling how long it might take! And then the complexity of being in a city in which we can't drive: our driver lives 1 hour away from us on the other side of the river. One of my fears revolves around Steph's water breaking in the middle of the night (like it did with Olivia)... Having to wait an hour on our driver, or taking the Shanghai Death Trap known as a Taxi? When this discussion starts to work its way into my head, I choose to ignore it and think about it later... always later...
Anyhow, I thought I would post the most recent pics from today's ultrasound... Steph remains tired and fighting off evening nausea, but otherwise doing OK.
Hope this finds you well.
Cheers,
Joe
Friday, September 5, 2008
Big News: Another Monkey Being Added to the Zoo!
So I was finally able to convince Steph that we needed to have another baby… Indeed, it was a mammoth effort to get her on board with the idea… OK, so those of you who know us well realize just how big a load of crap that really is. I was long reluctant to add another girl to the family (and we all know that Stephanie and Joe only make girls – something about those ‘Merryman women genes’). The idea of starting over with diapers and midnight feedings, not to mention another college education and wedding expense (hopefully in that order) had me spooked. Alas, after a number of conversations and the realization that our 2 girls are the sweetest things in the universe, we decided to try for a third!
Note: here is the potential TMI (Too Much Information) part of the post… move to the next paragraph to avoid!
So Steph and I historically are very good at making babies… what I mean by “very good” is that there is not much “practicing” or “trying” involved. On the contrary, I tease Steph that she is the most fertile woman on the planet, and she counters that I am too virile… I still think if I looked at her just right, that would be enough to conceive! When we got pregnant with Olivia a good friend gave Stephanie a congratulations card, and gave me a sympathy card for us being so efficient at getting pregnant!
So just as with Olivia and Genevieve, conception was instantaneous! Three kids and I never got the extended period of ‘trying to get pregnant’… I tease, as I know friends who have struggles with conceiving, so I know we are really blessed to be expecting our third! But… really, God? You couldn’t work with me on just this one thing? :)
Family has been duly notified, and I updated my Facebook page with ultrasound pictures. We are working on a message to friends – some of which will hear via Facebook first as opposed to from us directly – you can blame me for that… I was just too excited to wait! I guess for some of you who discussed #3 with me when I was in the ‘no way’ phase that is hard to imagine.
So Steph has had a rough go of the first trimester to this point… She does OK in the morning, but about mid-afternoon starts to get really tired and nauseous. No fun for anyone, but mostly her. I am sure she’ll be posting to her blog to keep everyone posted on the action!
I have prepared a little ‘Reactive QnA’ about Baby Welsh based on the most anticipated questions:
Q: Are you going to have the baby in China?
A: Yes… everything else on the planet is ‘Made in China’, why not Baby Welsh? Also, there are 1.3B people in China, they seem to have the baby making and delivery process down pretty well!
Q: Do you want a boy?
A: As cliché as it sounds: 10 fingers and 10 toes, healthy baby, and we will be perfectly happy. Part of me would love a boy, what man doesn’t want a son? But that being said, my two girls are awesome, just complete joys (most of the time). And we know how to do girls, we’ve gotten pretty good at it.
Q: Will you find out the sex?
A: Not unless we get another ultrasound technician that graduated at the bottom of their class. With Olivia we didn’t know, and with Gigi we didn’t want to, and 7 minutes after telling the tech that, she said ‘wow, you usually can’t tell the sex this early, but if you look right there, this is obviously a girl’. UGH. We would prefer to be surprised.
Q: Really? Having the baby in China?
A: Yes, we happen to live there.
Q: Any names picked out?
A: Gomer for a boy and Esmeralda for girl… OK, not really, but friends of ours were doing some financial planning before they had kids, but knew they wanted to have 2, so they created placeholders and called them Gomer and Esmeralda and the names stuck until Nicolas and Carter arrived… We thought it was hilarious. We have some ideas, but won’t be sharing until Baby Welsh arrives.
Q: What if you have twins?
A: I kicked the imaginary person who asked this imaginary question in the shin. What would make a person think it was a good idea to put that out in the universe?
Q: But what if?
A: I immediately go to confession and seek forgiveness for whatever it is that caused God so much pain and anguish that brought this on me… Then I go to B&Q (Chinese Home Depot) and apply for a second job at night stocking shelves. My aunt Patrice had 2 kids and then had twins on the last ‘go round’… She tells me 4 is the perfect number of kids and we should welcome twins, or just have a fourth… I can only think that the experience of four kids has made her a little nuts.
Q: With as much as you travel, are you sure it’s yours?
A: Stephanie kicked the imaginary person who asked this question (his name is Dan Roth) in the shin… He keeps it up and she starts kicking higher. Joe asked ‘if it’s not mine will someone else pay for the college education and wedding (hopefully in that order)?' Steph then kicked Joe in the shin.
Q: Really? China?
A: I thought we covered this... Did you graduate just below the ultra sound technician?
More later…
Cheers,
Joe
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Couple interesting things about Olypmics Closing Ceremonies
1) In the first part of the program all of the actors/participants had bike helmets on - which is ironic, given that no one in China (save expats) wears bike helmets!
2) http://www.cnn.com/ had an article on the web describing the closing ceremonies - BEFORE the ceremonies were over. We were in China, in our apartment watching them live on TV and I am reading about them on the web as if they were already over... classic - cnn just could not get 'scooped' so they published before they were over... but seriously, the story did not at all indicate the ceremonies were still happening!
3) Steph and I can't remember which comedian (Sam Kinnison? Bill Cosby? Jeff Foxworthy?)does the bit about TV when they were growing up, but the punch line is that it sucked when the president was on TV because he was on every channel - welcome to watching openning and closing ceremonies for the Olympics in China - 3 CCTV stations and the EXACT same thing on every channel!
2) http://www.cnn.com/ had an article on the web describing the closing ceremonies - BEFORE the ceremonies were over. We were in China, in our apartment watching them live on TV and I am reading about them on the web as if they were already over... classic - cnn just could not get 'scooped' so they published before they were over... but seriously, the story did not at all indicate the ceremonies were still happening!
3) Steph and I can't remember which comedian (Sam Kinnison? Bill Cosby? Jeff Foxworthy?)does the bit about TV when they were growing up, but the punch line is that it sucked when the president was on TV because he was on every channel - welcome to watching openning and closing ceremonies for the Olympics in China - 3 CCTV stations and the EXACT same thing on every channel!
My First (Semi) Real Bike Ride In China
I consider my blog family infotainment - family friendly if you will... But I have to say - my ass hurts (no comments from fraternity brothers allowed)!
My friend Dwayne explained to me that there was a ride from our suburb of Shanghai (JinQiao) east to the ocean. He was explaining that it was on concrete along the canal, then it turned into a dirt path that cut through fields and small villages. Eventually it delivers you to the ocean.
I am experiencing a period of complete disinterest in going to the gym. I am excited for basketball to start up, but I am not a runner - in fact I can't stand it, it is just completely unenjoyable to me. I can manage something similar in the gym with the elliptical and treadmill, but lately, I can't even bring myself to do that.
Having gained a significant amount of weight over the summer, and seeing basketball approaching with me in no semblance of shape had me looking for something athletic to do... that's when I remembered Dwayne's ride to the ocean.
So I tried to talk Dwayne into a Sunday morning ride. He begged off for Beijing to catch some final Olympic action, but I was pretty sold on the ride. Steph had a pretty good idea where this ride was, and Dwayne explained it to me... of course he explained it in a text message as 'cross Jinxiu Lu, turn left on the small road on this side of the canal... gets confusing at each bridge/intersection... braille from then on...".
Still I was undeterred.
So this weekend I bought a bike helmet and a 'camelback' and decided on Sunday morning I would set out on the adventure alone.
On the way back from dinner with friends on Saturday night I was telling Daniel when we would need him on Sunday. I explained that we would need him starting at 12:00pm. Then I tried to explain I was planning on riding from JinQiao to the ocean. I was explaining that if I got lost, I might call him to talk to a local person on my cell phone and either come get me or explain how to get home!
He didn't quite understand, but I think thought I was just crazy (or dumb enough to do it)... So he asked 'you go with who?' I explained I was headed out on my own. He responded 'why?'. Like it was strange enough a couple of expats were going to ride out to the ocean, but unfathomable that one was going to try it by himself.
Resolved that I was doing this, I set out Sunday morning. iPod set to a special playlist created just for the ride, 'camelback' filled with water that was kept in the fridge overnight, couple frozen water bottles for extra hydration and to keep the water in the bladder cold, a couple hundred kwai (aka RMB or Yuan) in case I got into a tight spot and a cell phone.
So I put 'semi' in parentheses in the title because Shanghai is amazingly flat, so I knew that the hardest part of this ride was going to simply be the heat and how long it took me to complete it. the weather helped out and it was not too hot... probably high 70s today, maybe low 80s.
The time to complete the ride is why my backside hurts. The last real ride I did was in high school when we rode around Applegate Lake in southern Oregon. I used to really enjoy mountain biking. It turns out I still enjoy it, but my 'bottom' isn't in riding shape. It was an hour and a half out and a little under that on the way back in. Almost 3 hours in the saddle was more than my hindquarters were prepared to handle!
The way out was longer in part due to some back tracking I had to do... Dwayne was right that bridges and intersections got confusing, and I had to braille my way to the ocean at different points. One memorable point was riding along the canal when I reached another canal feeding into the larger one perpendicular... meaning I was at the corner of 2 canals with no way to cross. So I turned North and rode parallel to the smaller canal across some grass field of sorts... which was fine, until there were gullies that fed into that small canal, resulting in having to get off the bike and carrying it across the gully! This led me eventually to a bridge I could cross, then had to work my way back to the main canal and head east again. There were a couple more times I had to cut north, and then back south to the canal, but was able to make it just fine.
I realized when I got there that this was not Dwayne's route, as there were no dirt paths cutting through fields - rather this was primarily concrete out to the ocean. I found out later that Dwayne was concerned enough about me finding my way (probably due to my poor Mandarin
skills) that he didn't try to explain the more complex route - and for this, I can't blame him!
The ride was really interesting. As it headed out to the ocean it was really a 1.5 hour crash course in Shanghai - specifically Pudong. I saw neighborhoods that were some of the worst living conditions I could imagine. I saw men walking out of their shack/houses in their underwear with no self consciousness at all. I saw men swimming/bathing in the canal - which is disgusting water. I saw the neighborhood open air butcher with a fan blade over the meat to shoo away the flies - no refrigeration in site, and the meat was still out and under the fan blade when I passed some hour + later!
I also saw some seemingly very nice homes on either side of the canal at certain points. I saw many factories that no doubt employed the folks in these neighborhoods. I saw new factories and commercial buildings being built.
When I got to the ocean, I saw all the barges in the ocean lining up and waiting to be called into the port.
I called Steph at this point - I think she too was concerned I would make it! I rested for a few minutes, then rode back in.
Only 1 close call with a truck on the ride. His bumper and my wheel about 2 feet from each other... As if the ride wasn't getting my heart rate up enough!
It was a great way to spend a few hours and get some exercise. I look forward to Dwayne's ride through fields and woods. And I look forward to proper rides in the Northwest when I get home!
Cheers,
Joe
My friend Dwayne explained to me that there was a ride from our suburb of Shanghai (JinQiao) east to the ocean. He was explaining that it was on concrete along the canal, then it turned into a dirt path that cut through fields and small villages. Eventually it delivers you to the ocean.
I am experiencing a period of complete disinterest in going to the gym. I am excited for basketball to start up, but I am not a runner - in fact I can't stand it, it is just completely unenjoyable to me. I can manage something similar in the gym with the elliptical and treadmill, but lately, I can't even bring myself to do that.
Having gained a significant amount of weight over the summer, and seeing basketball approaching with me in no semblance of shape had me looking for something athletic to do... that's when I remembered Dwayne's ride to the ocean.
So I tried to talk Dwayne into a Sunday morning ride. He begged off for Beijing to catch some final Olympic action, but I was pretty sold on the ride. Steph had a pretty good idea where this ride was, and Dwayne explained it to me... of course he explained it in a text message as 'cross Jinxiu Lu, turn left on the small road on this side of the canal... gets confusing at each bridge/intersection... braille from then on...".
Still I was undeterred.
So this weekend I bought a bike helmet and a 'camelback' and decided on Sunday morning I would set out on the adventure alone.
On the way back from dinner with friends on Saturday night I was telling Daniel when we would need him on Sunday. I explained that we would need him starting at 12:00pm. Then I tried to explain I was planning on riding from JinQiao to the ocean. I was explaining that if I got lost, I might call him to talk to a local person on my cell phone and either come get me or explain how to get home!
He didn't quite understand, but I think thought I was just crazy (or dumb enough to do it)... So he asked 'you go with who?' I explained I was headed out on my own. He responded 'why?'. Like it was strange enough a couple of expats were going to ride out to the ocean, but unfathomable that one was going to try it by himself.
Resolved that I was doing this, I set out Sunday morning. iPod set to a special playlist created just for the ride, 'camelback' filled with water that was kept in the fridge overnight, couple frozen water bottles for extra hydration and to keep the water in the bladder cold, a couple hundred kwai (aka RMB or Yuan) in case I got into a tight spot and a cell phone.
So I put 'semi' in parentheses in the title because Shanghai is amazingly flat, so I knew that the hardest part of this ride was going to simply be the heat and how long it took me to complete it. the weather helped out and it was not too hot... probably high 70s today, maybe low 80s.
The time to complete the ride is why my backside hurts. The last real ride I did was in high school when we rode around Applegate Lake in southern Oregon. I used to really enjoy mountain biking. It turns out I still enjoy it, but my 'bottom' isn't in riding shape. It was an hour and a half out and a little under that on the way back in. Almost 3 hours in the saddle was more than my hindquarters were prepared to handle!
The way out was longer in part due to some back tracking I had to do... Dwayne was right that bridges and intersections got confusing, and I had to braille my way to the ocean at different points. One memorable point was riding along the canal when I reached another canal feeding into the larger one perpendicular... meaning I was at the corner of 2 canals with no way to cross. So I turned North and rode parallel to the smaller canal across some grass field of sorts... which was fine, until there were gullies that fed into that small canal, resulting in having to get off the bike and carrying it across the gully! This led me eventually to a bridge I could cross, then had to work my way back to the main canal and head east again. There were a couple more times I had to cut north, and then back south to the canal, but was able to make it just fine.
I realized when I got there that this was not Dwayne's route, as there were no dirt paths cutting through fields - rather this was primarily concrete out to the ocean. I found out later that Dwayne was concerned enough about me finding my way (probably due to my poor Mandarin
skills) that he didn't try to explain the more complex route - and for this, I can't blame him!
The ride was really interesting. As it headed out to the ocean it was really a 1.5 hour crash course in Shanghai - specifically Pudong. I saw neighborhoods that were some of the worst living conditions I could imagine. I saw men walking out of their shack/houses in their underwear with no self consciousness at all. I saw men swimming/bathing in the canal - which is disgusting water. I saw the neighborhood open air butcher with a fan blade over the meat to shoo away the flies - no refrigeration in site, and the meat was still out and under the fan blade when I passed some hour + later!
I also saw some seemingly very nice homes on either side of the canal at certain points. I saw many factories that no doubt employed the folks in these neighborhoods. I saw new factories and commercial buildings being built.
When I got to the ocean, I saw all the barges in the ocean lining up and waiting to be called into the port.
I called Steph at this point - I think she too was concerned I would make it! I rested for a few minutes, then rode back in.
Only 1 close call with a truck on the ride. His bumper and my wheel about 2 feet from each other... As if the ride wasn't getting my heart rate up enough!
It was a great way to spend a few hours and get some exercise. I look forward to Dwayne's ride through fields and woods. And I look forward to proper rides in the Northwest when I get home!
Cheers,
Joe
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Teaching in China
Intel sent me to China to do a specific job. That job is the matrixed management of several product development teams focused on developing ingredients for notebook computers. These ingredients are the boards that go inside the notebooks and the plastic cases on the outside. This is a pretty simplistic explanation of what I am doing - but enough for this post.
In addition to the job I am sent here to do, there are certain expectations about mentoring and training. I am a mentor (official and un-official) to a couple of my Chinese co-workers, and for the last 4 months or so, our internal training group (called “Intel University” or “Intel U”) has really been pressuring me to deliver one of the classes that I am certified to teach.
I have been hesitant to teach while I am here in PRC. My biggest concern hasn’t been the time involved (although the class is a big commitment – 2 days delivery and at least ½ day prep when I have not taught in a while). My biggest concern has been my insecurity over delivering the class to a group that uses English as a second language and a culture that is less direct than my own.
The class is called Situational Leadership. It is targeted to our managers. I have been teaching the class for a number of years, and generally have received very good feedback in our evaluation process. I credit the class itself for the majority of the feedback. The material is extremely well developed, put together in a format that allows the material to be engaging throughout the 2 days, and highly applicable to the participants taking the class. I have no doubt my new co-workers will benefit from the class.
So why hesitant? First, I really think the class and the material is outstanding, and in the light of Intel choosing not to continue with the best management class we have (Managing Through People – which I also facilitated), I think this class is important for managers to take and apply. I was fearful that my delivery – all in English, and sometimes too fast – would result in students not being able to fully grasp the concepts. I was also concerned that they would be hesitant to stop me and tell me I wasn’t making any sense. Surely a Mandarin speaking instructor would be better.
My second concern was that I have exclusively delivered the class to participants in the US (and occasionally one from Costa Rica or Europe). I was really concerned that the material would have parts/pieces that would be culturally challenging to apply to these people’s teams. I have learned a lot about working with my Chinese colleagues, and learned enough about Chinese culture not to make an ass out of myself in public – but fall far short of being a ‘cultural guide’.
I tried desperately to find an instructor in PRC (native Chinese, or Mandarin speaker) that would co-teach with me. I struck out.
Then the Intel U contact that owns the class started to sound as desperate as I did – turns out the Shanghai site took a ‘quarterly objective’ to get a certain % of managers trained in this material… and they couldn’t get anyone to teach.
So the desperation of the Intel U guy, along with the feedback that the organization wanted me to step up and provide more leadership for the site, outside my specific responsibilities led me to bite the bullet and agree to teach.
This week was my first class. Overall it seemed to go well. The feedback from the couple of students that did talk with me afterwards was good – they indicated that they enjoyed the class, and one asked if I was going to teach any other classes. Another indicated that he wanted his staff to attend my next class.
I lead off the class with giving them express permission to ask me to slow down if I spoke to fast, to ask me to rephrase if they didn’t understand what I was saying or trying to communicate, and to stop me if they thought any of the concepts would not be applicable to their teams/work groups based on cultural differences between the US and PRC. None of the above happened, but I don’t necessarily think it was because everything was perfectly clear and applicable. I think it was a combination of some people being there to ‘complete the requirement’ and potentially their concern over ‘questioning the instructor’.
A couple of interesting observations I thought I would share.
I struggled to get the class to engage in discussion – In the US I usually have to cut off the discussion – everyone wants to give their opinion and be heard! I really struggled to pull comments and discussion out of the group and continue to rack my brain on why that might be…
So many possible reasons were running through my head ‘they don’t understand what I am asking them – this will be the worst class ever’ and ‘they are so bored they aren’t paying attention – this will be the worst class ever’ and even ‘they are so uncomfortable with their English skills they won’t engage – this will be the worst class ever’. I do have to admit it got a little better the longer class went on, but nothing like class in the US.
The second really interesting observation was about a game we play in the class. It’s a game focused on applying the learnings from the class about management and leadership. The group is split into teams and they read scenarios and decide on the appropriate response from a list of 4 options. They get to move their playing piece either forward or backwards based on the response they choose. First team to the end of the game board wins.
In the US what happens is one team wins and all the other teams stop and put the game away. “Someone won, it wasn’t us, the game is over” – the pieces get put away.
But in PRC it was totally different. Every team wanted to get to the finish line. They continued to work on the scenarios – continued to ask me to score their answers. They worked right through their break, as it was important to them to finish. Not that winning wasn’t important – they all wanted to win… but if they could not win, it was still important that they finish.
Now, I don’t have any idea what this says about the US culture vs. the Chinese culture, just something different that I didn’t expect… And it was cool!
As I mentioned, some folks came up to me afterwards and mentioned they enjoyed the class, and they thought it was a good use of 2 days. The evaluations went out today, so I should be getting some feedback in the next few days to see what they really thought! :)
For anyone curious, I’ll post about the results when I get them!
In addition to the job I am sent here to do, there are certain expectations about mentoring and training. I am a mentor (official and un-official) to a couple of my Chinese co-workers, and for the last 4 months or so, our internal training group (called “Intel University” or “Intel U”) has really been pressuring me to deliver one of the classes that I am certified to teach.
I have been hesitant to teach while I am here in PRC. My biggest concern hasn’t been the time involved (although the class is a big commitment – 2 days delivery and at least ½ day prep when I have not taught in a while). My biggest concern has been my insecurity over delivering the class to a group that uses English as a second language and a culture that is less direct than my own.
The class is called Situational Leadership. It is targeted to our managers. I have been teaching the class for a number of years, and generally have received very good feedback in our evaluation process. I credit the class itself for the majority of the feedback. The material is extremely well developed, put together in a format that allows the material to be engaging throughout the 2 days, and highly applicable to the participants taking the class. I have no doubt my new co-workers will benefit from the class.
So why hesitant? First, I really think the class and the material is outstanding, and in the light of Intel choosing not to continue with the best management class we have (Managing Through People – which I also facilitated), I think this class is important for managers to take and apply. I was fearful that my delivery – all in English, and sometimes too fast – would result in students not being able to fully grasp the concepts. I was also concerned that they would be hesitant to stop me and tell me I wasn’t making any sense. Surely a Mandarin speaking instructor would be better.
My second concern was that I have exclusively delivered the class to participants in the US (and occasionally one from Costa Rica or Europe). I was really concerned that the material would have parts/pieces that would be culturally challenging to apply to these people’s teams. I have learned a lot about working with my Chinese colleagues, and learned enough about Chinese culture not to make an ass out of myself in public – but fall far short of being a ‘cultural guide’.
I tried desperately to find an instructor in PRC (native Chinese, or Mandarin speaker) that would co-teach with me. I struck out.
Then the Intel U contact that owns the class started to sound as desperate as I did – turns out the Shanghai site took a ‘quarterly objective’ to get a certain % of managers trained in this material… and they couldn’t get anyone to teach.
So the desperation of the Intel U guy, along with the feedback that the organization wanted me to step up and provide more leadership for the site, outside my specific responsibilities led me to bite the bullet and agree to teach.
This week was my first class. Overall it seemed to go well. The feedback from the couple of students that did talk with me afterwards was good – they indicated that they enjoyed the class, and one asked if I was going to teach any other classes. Another indicated that he wanted his staff to attend my next class.
I lead off the class with giving them express permission to ask me to slow down if I spoke to fast, to ask me to rephrase if they didn’t understand what I was saying or trying to communicate, and to stop me if they thought any of the concepts would not be applicable to their teams/work groups based on cultural differences between the US and PRC. None of the above happened, but I don’t necessarily think it was because everything was perfectly clear and applicable. I think it was a combination of some people being there to ‘complete the requirement’ and potentially their concern over ‘questioning the instructor’.
A couple of interesting observations I thought I would share.
I struggled to get the class to engage in discussion – In the US I usually have to cut off the discussion – everyone wants to give their opinion and be heard! I really struggled to pull comments and discussion out of the group and continue to rack my brain on why that might be…
So many possible reasons were running through my head ‘they don’t understand what I am asking them – this will be the worst class ever’ and ‘they are so bored they aren’t paying attention – this will be the worst class ever’ and even ‘they are so uncomfortable with their English skills they won’t engage – this will be the worst class ever’. I do have to admit it got a little better the longer class went on, but nothing like class in the US.
The second really interesting observation was about a game we play in the class. It’s a game focused on applying the learnings from the class about management and leadership. The group is split into teams and they read scenarios and decide on the appropriate response from a list of 4 options. They get to move their playing piece either forward or backwards based on the response they choose. First team to the end of the game board wins.
In the US what happens is one team wins and all the other teams stop and put the game away. “Someone won, it wasn’t us, the game is over” – the pieces get put away.
But in PRC it was totally different. Every team wanted to get to the finish line. They continued to work on the scenarios – continued to ask me to score their answers. They worked right through their break, as it was important to them to finish. Not that winning wasn’t important – they all wanted to win… but if they could not win, it was still important that they finish.
Now, I don’t have any idea what this says about the US culture vs. the Chinese culture, just something different that I didn’t expect… And it was cool!
As I mentioned, some folks came up to me afterwards and mentioned they enjoyed the class, and they thought it was a good use of 2 days. The evaluations went out today, so I should be getting some feedback in the next few days to see what they really thought! :)
For anyone curious, I’ll post about the results when I get them!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
The Games Of The XXIX Olympiad, Part 3 - Joe and Steph go to the Olympics
Our 'Facebook Friends', Eric and Caroline (long story) had tickets to Olympic Football (soccer) here in Shanghai that they could not use due to their trip to the States being extended. They offered them up to friends and Steph and I pounced on the Quarterfinals tickets they had.
It was men's football, and until the week of the game, I didn't even know who we would be watching... All I knew is that we were going to the Olympics, and I was excited. And even more excited that I would not have to trek to Beijing to do it!
Now truth be told, if given the choice of any Olympic sport to see, football would not have been my first choice... Football has grown on me since being in China (Women's World Cup last year, Olympic this year). I am even falling in with all the Euros here in Shanghai and calling it 'football' as opposed to 'soccer'.
My top choices, unrestricted by cost and logistics, would have been gymnastics and swimming, both second place to Team USA basketball, of course!
That being said, we jumped immediately at the offer of tickets to both experience the Olympic games, as well as for me to grow my budding affinity for soccer. Steph had been to the summer Olympics in the US in 1984, so this wasn't a first for her, but she grew up playing soccer, so she naturally enjoys the sport - compared to me, who's still trying to convince himself 'offside' is a good rule.
Our driver was concerned about being able to get us close to the stadium. He had heard from other people in town that there were many roads closed around Shanghai Stadium, and as was no surprise to us, there was no real way to know what roads would be closed at what times. So on the way to the stadium we hatched a plan for Daniel to drop us off at a Metro (subway) station a few stops away, and then we would meet him back there after the game using the Metro again.
This plan worked well, as it was obvious that there were several roads closed. We exited the Metro station and while we had to walk quite a ways, it was easy to find the stadium and where we needed to enter.
The Chinese do a number of things very well, and among them is moving large amounts of people efficiently. As upwards of 85,000 people descended on the stadium, things were very orderly and very efficient. There was a tremendous security presence. They were helpful when people asked directions and they were EVERYWHERE! There is no doubt that despite the tragedy in Beijing (stabbing of the US tourist), the Chinese are taking security very seriously and using their vast 'people resources' to provide what many would call an overwhelming amount of security.
When we got to the stadium we qued up and went through what seemed just like airport security. Bags through an x-ray machine and people through a metal detector, and after the metal detector, everyone was 'wand scanned' as well. Once inside it was easy to find our seats, there were plenty of ushers and people to assist.
Before the match was the traditional pageantry - Olympic theme song, national anthems, etc. Before the pageantry was an interesting activity - on the big screen they went through the basic rules of football. It seemed that they expected that there would be a number of people that were 'coming to the Olympics' just to 'come to the Olympics'... so in response they provided a basic understanding of the rules. I would have loved this for Judo, since it's on all the time and I don't understand the scoring one bit!
The Chinese are evidently big fans of the Argentinian football team. There were jerseys all over the place, Chinese with their faces painted with the Argentinian flag and chants supporting Argentina throughout.
I preferred to root for the Netherlands. There are 2 basic reasons I defied Darin's advice on who to root for (referenced in a previous blog):
1) I love to root for the underdog - also the reason I don't do pools for the NCAA tourney, I really want to see the #16 knock off the #1
2) Having been to the Netherlands on a business trip, a friend and I realized that everything in Holland is 'better than it has to be'. This takes a little explaining, so bear with me.
When we drove from Germany to Amsterdam on a business trip (also referenced in a previous blog) we noticed that in the Netherlands/Holland they took the time, money and energy to do things beautifully. A prime example was the cement walls next to interstates. As we drove through Germany, these cement walls were just that - gray walls. In the US sometimes we make an effort to scrawl designs in the walls to make them look like rocks - but really it's just cement walls. These barriers in Holland were beautiful mosaics or paintings - just 'better than it had to be'.
That became our description of Netherlands/Holland from that point forward: "Holland, better than it has to be' versus our description of other places, 'just enough to get by'.
Thus I was pulling for Holland.
The match was tied 1-1 at half time, with many exciting shots on goal to go along with the 2 scores. The second half proceeded scoreless. In Olympic football, in the quarters/semis/finals, when tied at the end of regulation you play 2 extra 15 minute periods. I had incorrectly assumed it was 'sudden death' - meaning the first team to score in OT won. If both 'extra time' periods expire and the match is still tied, you move to penalty kicks to decide the match.
Argentina (like the US women the night before versus Canada) scored a goal during the first 15 minute 'extra time' period. Holland had one 15 minute period remaining to tie the match and force penalty kicks... Alas, one thing that is not 'better than it has to be' is the Netherlands Men's Football team. They could not score a tying goal and ended up losing 2-1 in 2 extra time periods.
It was a great match, and a great experience for my first Olympic experience.
We headed out of the stadium - which was, as usual another example of efficiency - and made it to the last Metro train so we could meet Daniel a few stops away. They held the train an extra long time to give people the opportunity to catch it... This was not enjoyable, as the heat of the evening, and the heat of the bodies was amplified by the crush of people on the train - it was hot and sweaty!
Luckily we were off the train in a few short stops and back into the car with Daniel and air conditioning heading back home.
Daniel filled us in on the 100M men's final that was run earlier that evening. He explained the ease with which the Jamaican athlete won the 100M and set the new world record... unfortunately, he ended the story with 'we think he take medicine'. The ease and cushion with which the man won immediately opened suspicion of steroid use. This is the legacy of athletes like Ben Johnson and Marion Jones (and countless others) - when someone does something amazing - something that has never been done before, the first thing that pops into people's mind is 'they must be juiced'.
Luckily the IOC has done a tremendous amount of testing of the Jamaican team due in part to the very underdeveloped testing program in Jamaica, as well as the knowledge that the team was in contention for numerous medals. The testing has been consistent enough that the Jamaican officials are complaining... Hopefully they see this for what it is - a good thing... hopefully in a matter of days we will be seeing stories about how all the athletes passed all their tests and we can assume that the results are legit!
My first Olympic games was limited to one event. The remainder of my experience this year as been Chinese commentary on CCTV and a little SlingBox, but it's been awesome!
Cheers,
Joe
It was men's football, and until the week of the game, I didn't even know who we would be watching... All I knew is that we were going to the Olympics, and I was excited. And even more excited that I would not have to trek to Beijing to do it!
Now truth be told, if given the choice of any Olympic sport to see, football would not have been my first choice... Football has grown on me since being in China (Women's World Cup last year, Olympic this year). I am even falling in with all the Euros here in Shanghai and calling it 'football' as opposed to 'soccer'.
My top choices, unrestricted by cost and logistics, would have been gymnastics and swimming, both second place to Team USA basketball, of course!
That being said, we jumped immediately at the offer of tickets to both experience the Olympic games, as well as for me to grow my budding affinity for soccer. Steph had been to the summer Olympics in the US in 1984, so this wasn't a first for her, but she grew up playing soccer, so she naturally enjoys the sport - compared to me, who's still trying to convince himself 'offside' is a good rule.
Our driver was concerned about being able to get us close to the stadium. He had heard from other people in town that there were many roads closed around Shanghai Stadium, and as was no surprise to us, there was no real way to know what roads would be closed at what times. So on the way to the stadium we hatched a plan for Daniel to drop us off at a Metro (subway) station a few stops away, and then we would meet him back there after the game using the Metro again.
This plan worked well, as it was obvious that there were several roads closed. We exited the Metro station and while we had to walk quite a ways, it was easy to find the stadium and where we needed to enter.
The Chinese do a number of things very well, and among them is moving large amounts of people efficiently. As upwards of 85,000 people descended on the stadium, things were very orderly and very efficient. There was a tremendous security presence. They were helpful when people asked directions and they were EVERYWHERE! There is no doubt that despite the tragedy in Beijing (stabbing of the US tourist), the Chinese are taking security very seriously and using their vast 'people resources' to provide what many would call an overwhelming amount of security.
When we got to the stadium we qued up and went through what seemed just like airport security. Bags through an x-ray machine and people through a metal detector, and after the metal detector, everyone was 'wand scanned' as well. Once inside it was easy to find our seats, there were plenty of ushers and people to assist.
Before the match was the traditional pageantry - Olympic theme song, national anthems, etc. Before the pageantry was an interesting activity - on the big screen they went through the basic rules of football. It seemed that they expected that there would be a number of people that were 'coming to the Olympics' just to 'come to the Olympics'... so in response they provided a basic understanding of the rules. I would have loved this for Judo, since it's on all the time and I don't understand the scoring one bit!
The Chinese are evidently big fans of the Argentinian football team. There were jerseys all over the place, Chinese with their faces painted with the Argentinian flag and chants supporting Argentina throughout.
I preferred to root for the Netherlands. There are 2 basic reasons I defied Darin's advice on who to root for (referenced in a previous blog):
1) I love to root for the underdog - also the reason I don't do pools for the NCAA tourney, I really want to see the #16 knock off the #1
2) Having been to the Netherlands on a business trip, a friend and I realized that everything in Holland is 'better than it has to be'. This takes a little explaining, so bear with me.
When we drove from Germany to Amsterdam on a business trip (also referenced in a previous blog) we noticed that in the Netherlands/Holland they took the time, money and energy to do things beautifully. A prime example was the cement walls next to interstates. As we drove through Germany, these cement walls were just that - gray walls. In the US sometimes we make an effort to scrawl designs in the walls to make them look like rocks - but really it's just cement walls. These barriers in Holland were beautiful mosaics or paintings - just 'better than it had to be'.
That became our description of Netherlands/Holland from that point forward: "Holland, better than it has to be' versus our description of other places, 'just enough to get by'.
Thus I was pulling for Holland.
We got really lucky in the fact that the storm that had caused a 1 hour and 40 minute rain/lightning delay in the Women's quarterfinal the night before had passed/subsided such that the game started right on time, and there was no delay during the match.
The match was tied 1-1 at half time, with many exciting shots on goal to go along with the 2 scores. The second half proceeded scoreless. In Olympic football, in the quarters/semis/finals, when tied at the end of regulation you play 2 extra 15 minute periods. I had incorrectly assumed it was 'sudden death' - meaning the first team to score in OT won. If both 'extra time' periods expire and the match is still tied, you move to penalty kicks to decide the match.
Argentina (like the US women the night before versus Canada) scored a goal during the first 15 minute 'extra time' period. Holland had one 15 minute period remaining to tie the match and force penalty kicks... Alas, one thing that is not 'better than it has to be' is the Netherlands Men's Football team. They could not score a tying goal and ended up losing 2-1 in 2 extra time periods.
It was a great match, and a great experience for my first Olympic experience.
We headed out of the stadium - which was, as usual another example of efficiency - and made it to the last Metro train so we could meet Daniel a few stops away. They held the train an extra long time to give people the opportunity to catch it... This was not enjoyable, as the heat of the evening, and the heat of the bodies was amplified by the crush of people on the train - it was hot and sweaty!
Luckily we were off the train in a few short stops and back into the car with Daniel and air conditioning heading back home.
Daniel filled us in on the 100M men's final that was run earlier that evening. He explained the ease with which the Jamaican athlete won the 100M and set the new world record... unfortunately, he ended the story with 'we think he take medicine'. The ease and cushion with which the man won immediately opened suspicion of steroid use. This is the legacy of athletes like Ben Johnson and Marion Jones (and countless others) - when someone does something amazing - something that has never been done before, the first thing that pops into people's mind is 'they must be juiced'.
Luckily the IOC has done a tremendous amount of testing of the Jamaican team due in part to the very underdeveloped testing program in Jamaica, as well as the knowledge that the team was in contention for numerous medals. The testing has been consistent enough that the Jamaican officials are complaining... Hopefully they see this for what it is - a good thing... hopefully in a matter of days we will be seeing stories about how all the athletes passed all their tests and we can assume that the results are legit!
My first Olympic games was limited to one event. The remainder of my experience this year as been Chinese commentary on CCTV and a little SlingBox, but it's been awesome!
Cheers,
Joe
The Games Of The XXIX Olympiad, Part 2 - Sleeping Kids and SlingBox
Please note, have your ballot for 'father of the year' ready to fill out, so when you read this post, you can quickly make your submission on my behalf!
Sleeping Kids
So last Friday the US Women were playing Canada in the Quarterfinals of US Women's Olympic football. The game was being played in Shanghai, so I figured that surely the match would be on one of the 3 CCTV stations covering the Olympics.
I talked one of my co-workers into meeting me at a local 'American' bar which has a pretty good sports bar set up with a large screen and various other flat panel TVs. Steph was still feeling badly from a bug she picked up and the jet lag, so she opted to stay at home, and the girls and I braved the rainstorm to head to Malone's and meet Tom.
Unfortunately I learned upon arrival, that there was no football match being televised... The ever popular sports of Judo and Badminton were consuming all the televisions. I found out from the manager that the storm had impacted satellite coverage, so there was no way to get the match, and only the standard CCTV stations (not featuring football) were available - DRAT!
Anyhow, the girls and I waited for Tom and ordered dinner... Tom showed up shortly and as we were all eating, the girls were 'hitting the wall' - getting very sleepy. Normally I am a stickler for good table manners, but given the jet lag the girls were operating under, I didn't give them a hard time about slouching, our laying their heads down in between bites... We were in a bench seat with pillows, so it was so inviting for them.
And the father of the year moment - get those ballots ready:
Gigi laid her head down on my lap at one point, while eating a bite of her 'kid's spaghetti'. While I was talking to Tom I realized I felt something on my leg - it was her drool mixed with some spaghetti... it seems she had laid her head down and fallen asleep mid-bite; fork still in her hand, some food still in her mouth, some escaping from her mouth. Classic.
I removed the fork, wiped my leg and let her sleep. Tom and I were still finishing up dinner, and I saw no reason to wake her. She then prompted to wiggle around - I assume to get more comfortable... she stretched her arms a little, and one of them, when she returned to a resting position, she placed directly on my dinner plate... so image this: she's laying on the bench seat, head in my lap (at least no drool or food coming out of her mouth), with one arm up on the table, resting smack in the middle of my french fries...
So there it is - please get the 'Father of the Year' ballots in the mail as soon as possible as not to miss the cut-off! :)
SlingBox
Once I got the kids home and into bed, I decided to switch on the SlingBox and see what kind of events were being televised in the US. It turns out the US Women's match vs. Canada had been delayed 1 hour and 40 minutes to accommodate the rain/thunder/lighting. The upside of this for me was that I was able to see the 2nd half of the match from the comfort of my couch, no drooling child on my lap, no judgemental eyes looking at me saying 'how can that man bring his kids to a sports bar and let them fall asleep here, just so he can watch sports'. (Here's hoping your 'Father of the Year' applications arrive before their 'dissenting opinions'.)
The US won 2-1 in 'extra time' - basically 'overtime' as described in mainstream sports in the US. It was a good match to watch, and thanks to the amazing technology called Slingbox, I was able to do so!
The interesting thing about this was that I was sitting in China, watching a football match that was being played in the same city I was in, watching over the computer, hooked up to a TV in Seattle, watching on channel 099, which is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation! Just crazy!
Next Post will be Part 3 - our heading to the Olympics: Argentina vs. Netherlands Football!
Cheers,
Joe
Sleeping Kids
So last Friday the US Women were playing Canada in the Quarterfinals of US Women's Olympic football. The game was being played in Shanghai, so I figured that surely the match would be on one of the 3 CCTV stations covering the Olympics.
I talked one of my co-workers into meeting me at a local 'American' bar which has a pretty good sports bar set up with a large screen and various other flat panel TVs. Steph was still feeling badly from a bug she picked up and the jet lag, so she opted to stay at home, and the girls and I braved the rainstorm to head to Malone's and meet Tom.
Unfortunately I learned upon arrival, that there was no football match being televised... The ever popular sports of Judo and Badminton were consuming all the televisions. I found out from the manager that the storm had impacted satellite coverage, so there was no way to get the match, and only the standard CCTV stations (not featuring football) were available - DRAT!
Anyhow, the girls and I waited for Tom and ordered dinner... Tom showed up shortly and as we were all eating, the girls were 'hitting the wall' - getting very sleepy. Normally I am a stickler for good table manners, but given the jet lag the girls were operating under, I didn't give them a hard time about slouching, our laying their heads down in between bites... We were in a bench seat with pillows, so it was so inviting for them.
And the father of the year moment - get those ballots ready:
Gigi laid her head down on my lap at one point, while eating a bite of her 'kid's spaghetti'. While I was talking to Tom I realized I felt something on my leg - it was her drool mixed with some spaghetti... it seems she had laid her head down and fallen asleep mid-bite; fork still in her hand, some food still in her mouth, some escaping from her mouth. Classic.
I removed the fork, wiped my leg and let her sleep. Tom and I were still finishing up dinner, and I saw no reason to wake her. She then prompted to wiggle around - I assume to get more comfortable... she stretched her arms a little, and one of them, when she returned to a resting position, she placed directly on my dinner plate... so image this: she's laying on the bench seat, head in my lap (at least no drool or food coming out of her mouth), with one arm up on the table, resting smack in the middle of my french fries...
Livi also fell asleep shortly behind Gigi... And her I could not wake up when Tom and I had finished eating... Could not physically do it! So Tom is carrying Gigi (recently extricated from my lap and dinner plate) while I am dragging Olivia across the 'pleather' bench seat in an effort to get her close enough to me to pick up.
So there it is - please get the 'Father of the Year' ballots in the mail as soon as possible as not to miss the cut-off! :)
SlingBox
Once I got the kids home and into bed, I decided to switch on the SlingBox and see what kind of events were being televised in the US. It turns out the US Women's match vs. Canada had been delayed 1 hour and 40 minutes to accommodate the rain/thunder/lighting. The upside of this for me was that I was able to see the 2nd half of the match from the comfort of my couch, no drooling child on my lap, no judgemental eyes looking at me saying 'how can that man bring his kids to a sports bar and let them fall asleep here, just so he can watch sports'. (Here's hoping your 'Father of the Year' applications arrive before their 'dissenting opinions'.)
The US won 2-1 in 'extra time' - basically 'overtime' as described in mainstream sports in the US. It was a good match to watch, and thanks to the amazing technology called Slingbox, I was able to do so!
The interesting thing about this was that I was sitting in China, watching a football match that was being played in the same city I was in, watching over the computer, hooked up to a TV in Seattle, watching on channel 099, which is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation! Just crazy!
Next Post will be Part 3 - our heading to the Olympics: Argentina vs. Netherlands Football!
Cheers,
Joe
Thursday, August 14, 2008
The Games Of The XXIX Olympiad
Thought I would share my impressions of watching the Olympics in the host country...
TV Coverage: It's simply outstanding. Having a state run television network has proven to be a great way to broadcast coverage of the games. The TV network (CCTV) has 3 stations dedicated to Olympic coverage morning to night. As you can imagine, they are primarily focused on the Chinese (I've seen quite a bit of badminton), but they also make an effort to show popular things like Team USA basketball.
When the TV is state run, there are the obvious downsides (see: free speech, Tibet, 13 year old gymnasts) - but one of the upsides is there is no need to generate ad revenue... there are next to no commercials on CCTV when you are watching the games. It's such a nice respite from the US where I imagine it's 2 minutes of commercial for every 10 of coverage... and you have political ads to deal with as well!
There are also none of the sappy human interest stories that NBC seems to show as many hours of as they do actual sports... I know those must be popular, and I know some of these athletes have amazing stories - but let's see the games, people! Well in China, you get the games... even if I don't understand the commentary... and sometimes the rules (see: Judo).
Of course there is no way for a non-Chinese speaker or reader to have any idea what they are showing when, there's no Comcast 'guide' feature... in fact some friends and I showed up at a bar to watch some women's football (US vs. New Zealand) to find out it wasn't being televised... but the 78Kg Men's weightlifting was very popular!
I watched the most amazing 5 set comeback in women's volleyball the other night. Cuba was down 2 sets to love against the host team China. The 3rd game they won 34-32 (games are to 25, win by 2). Then they won the 4th and 5th sets fairly closely!
At work today, they set up a TV hooked to a Classmate PC (Intel product) and using a TV tuner card were able to show the Women's (not sure why we call it 'women's' since all these athletes are really 'girls') Gymnastics All Around Final. It was being broadcast by the Chinese government over some special system they built just for the Olympics so people without digital TV (read: cable/satellite) could watch.
I looked around at one point and it was me and 27 Chinese people, all speaking Chinese, watching a broadcast in Chinese, and them all rooting for the Chinese... you can imagine who I was rooting for! It was a good afternoon to be an American as we took Gold and Silver to the Chinese Bronze! I jumped up on the ping pong table, started dancing around and yelling 'take that, how ya' like me now?'!!! OK, I didn't... and I didn't even think about it, but I wonder how many of you think I am just competitive enough to have done it? :)
Many people have asked us if we are going to the Olympics 'in Beijing' when we are here... We are in fact going to the Olympics, but not in Beijing. As it turns out many of the football (soccer) matches are being played in Shanghai. We had friends (our 'facebook friends') - Eric and Caroline - offer tickets to their friends, as they could not use them. We picked up their quarterfinals tickets - Argentina vs. Netherlands.
I asked my friend Darin (who explained a system to his wife so she knows who to root for in college athletics when she seemingly has no allegiance) who I should root for. I asked if I should root for Netherlands - a northern hemisphere thing, or Argentina - an 'our continents are closest' thing. He responded simply 'You root for Argentina, because they are going to win.' DONE - Argentina it is!
I'll post about how going to my first Olympics was sometime this weekend, or early next week.
Go Argentina!
TV Coverage: It's simply outstanding. Having a state run television network has proven to be a great way to broadcast coverage of the games. The TV network (CCTV) has 3 stations dedicated to Olympic coverage morning to night. As you can imagine, they are primarily focused on the Chinese (I've seen quite a bit of badminton), but they also make an effort to show popular things like Team USA basketball.
When the TV is state run, there are the obvious downsides (see: free speech, Tibet, 13 year old gymnasts) - but one of the upsides is there is no need to generate ad revenue... there are next to no commercials on CCTV when you are watching the games. It's such a nice respite from the US where I imagine it's 2 minutes of commercial for every 10 of coverage... and you have political ads to deal with as well!
There are also none of the sappy human interest stories that NBC seems to show as many hours of as they do actual sports... I know those must be popular, and I know some of these athletes have amazing stories - but let's see the games, people! Well in China, you get the games... even if I don't understand the commentary... and sometimes the rules (see: Judo).
Of course there is no way for a non-Chinese speaker or reader to have any idea what they are showing when, there's no Comcast 'guide' feature... in fact some friends and I showed up at a bar to watch some women's football (US vs. New Zealand) to find out it wasn't being televised... but the 78Kg Men's weightlifting was very popular!
I watched the most amazing 5 set comeback in women's volleyball the other night. Cuba was down 2 sets to love against the host team China. The 3rd game they won 34-32 (games are to 25, win by 2). Then they won the 4th and 5th sets fairly closely!
At work today, they set up a TV hooked to a Classmate PC (Intel product) and using a TV tuner card were able to show the Women's (not sure why we call it 'women's' since all these athletes are really 'girls') Gymnastics All Around Final. It was being broadcast by the Chinese government over some special system they built just for the Olympics so people without digital TV (read: cable/satellite) could watch.
I looked around at one point and it was me and 27 Chinese people, all speaking Chinese, watching a broadcast in Chinese, and them all rooting for the Chinese... you can imagine who I was rooting for! It was a good afternoon to be an American as we took Gold and Silver to the Chinese Bronze! I jumped up on the ping pong table, started dancing around and yelling 'take that, how ya' like me now?'!!! OK, I didn't... and I didn't even think about it, but I wonder how many of you think I am just competitive enough to have done it? :)
Many people have asked us if we are going to the Olympics 'in Beijing' when we are here... We are in fact going to the Olympics, but not in Beijing. As it turns out many of the football (soccer) matches are being played in Shanghai. We had friends (our 'facebook friends') - Eric and Caroline - offer tickets to their friends, as they could not use them. We picked up their quarterfinals tickets - Argentina vs. Netherlands.
I asked my friend Darin (who explained a system to his wife so she knows who to root for in college athletics when she seemingly has no allegiance) who I should root for. I asked if I should root for Netherlands - a northern hemisphere thing, or Argentina - an 'our continents are closest' thing. He responded simply 'You root for Argentina, because they are going to win.' DONE - Argentina it is!
I'll post about how going to my first Olympics was sometime this weekend, or early next week.
Go Argentina!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Againt the golf gods confuse me...
Some of you might remember one of my posts from just before we moved to China.
I played a round of golf with a good friend and shot the best score of my life to that point - a 4 over par 75. At the time, I was confused at what the golf gods were trying to tell me... was it good messages and vibrations as a send off to a really good decision to move to China? Was it a cruel attempt to rub in the fact that I would be moving to China where golf takes 7 hours (including transit time) and costs $150/round - effectively limiting my ability to play regularly?
I never did figure it out... Then it happened again... As I am abount to head back to PRC I played one last round of golf with a friend here in the great Northwest.
Even par through 8 holes, I bogeyed #9 to shoot 37 on the front. Then I shot 38 on the back for a 3 over par 75, my newest 'best round ever'.
The golf gods are no friends of mine!
Cheers,
Joe
I played a round of golf with a good friend and shot the best score of my life to that point - a 4 over par 75. At the time, I was confused at what the golf gods were trying to tell me... was it good messages and vibrations as a send off to a really good decision to move to China? Was it a cruel attempt to rub in the fact that I would be moving to China where golf takes 7 hours (including transit time) and costs $150/round - effectively limiting my ability to play regularly?
I never did figure it out... Then it happened again... As I am abount to head back to PRC I played one last round of golf with a friend here in the great Northwest.
Even par through 8 holes, I bogeyed #9 to shoot 37 on the front. Then I shot 38 on the back for a 3 over par 75, my newest 'best round ever'.
The golf gods are no friends of mine!
Cheers,
Joe
Home for the summer...
It's the end of July and I am headed back to China in a matter of days... One more weekend at the lake with Steph and the girls, then I am on a plane to Shanghai where I will be a 'bachelor' for about 10 days while Steph and the girls finish up their time in the US.
It has been a great summer! Even with all the different beds and the living out of suitcases - it has been fabulous.
Steph and the girls flew into Seattle and spent a week with our friends Mike and Karmen. They had a good visit and the girls had a comfortable environment in which to get over the jetlag. Steph says it took them 4 nights of being wide awake in the middle of the night to get acclimated.
Then I flew in (convieniently after everyone had adjusted) from Europe, as I had been there for a week meeting with customers in Germany and the UK. (Side note - Europe, and especially the UK) is atrociously expensive right now with the value of the dollar).
We spent the week of the 4th of July at Stephanie's family cabin at Lake of the Woods in Southern Oregon. It was a great week of sun, family, good food and golf! Our friends Brian and Lisa (and their 3 kids) and Shelly and Ray (and their "kid" Jack) were down as well... It was a fabulous time.
Then we packed up the family and drove back to Portland (at over $4/gallon). I worked for the week and Steph ran errands for a few days before she jetted off to New York City for a long weekend as a celebration of her good friend Lisa's 40th birthday. We were able to stay with our good friend Gary - to whom we are eternally grateful for openning his home to us for part of our 'home leave'.
The girls and I headed back down to the Lake at the end of that week for a 2nd week of vacation, and my mom drove out from Wyoming and joined us. It was a great week of the girls catching up again with Gram, enjoying the lake - swimming and 'crazy driving' boat rides.
Then it was back to psuedo-reality for me. Steph and the girls stayed at the Lake for 2 more weeks while I have been working in Portland. I did escape to Seattle for the weekend to spend some time with Mike and Karmen and play a little golf with Mike.
So here I am, finishing up my last week in the states, readying myself to head back to China. Steph and the girls will have another couple weeks (10 days actually) in Oregon before they head over to Shanghai.
I was originally concerned about the girls getting back to the US and falling in love with home again and being hesitant about going back. Our friend Kathy asked all of us at dinner one night, "what are you looking forward to about going back to China?"
Much to my delight all 3 of my girls came up with answers easily. Then Kathy put me on the spot and asked me, even though I was purposely trying to duck the question. You see, as it turns out, the assignment in China hasn't been the greatest experience for me... Potentially I was niave in my expecations.
I get up everyday between 5am and 6:30am. I am in the car between 5:30am and 7:00am every day. I drive an hour to the office while I work, since I can't really talk with the driver (his limited English and my complete lack of Mandarin). I work on a difficult program every day, get in the car at 5pm and work in the car for an hour to an hour and a half (one day 2+ hours). I get an hour or two with the girls (dinner and some play time) before they are in bed. Then it's a little more work, then to bed, then a few hours later I do it all over again.
That's a lot of complaining - but to be honest, PRC is not a hardship posting. We have a wonderful apartment, we have a driver to get us around a 'traffic-crazy' city, we have some good friends we have made in the last year, I have a crew of guys I play hoops with. It's just not the adventure I had expected.
That being said, it looks like we'll be in PRC for an additional 5 months! The next generation of product I am managing development of is a 'late launch' meaning it launches after my scheduled repatriation date. So while in Oregon this week, we close don the fact that I should remain in China until we launch - and since I don't want to move the family in the middle of the school semester. This means the Welsh family is likley to return to the US in December of 2009!
This extends the window that people have to come visit the Welsh family in China. We are always interested and available to host guests!
Cheers,
Joe
It has been a great summer! Even with all the different beds and the living out of suitcases - it has been fabulous.
Steph and the girls flew into Seattle and spent a week with our friends Mike and Karmen. They had a good visit and the girls had a comfortable environment in which to get over the jetlag. Steph says it took them 4 nights of being wide awake in the middle of the night to get acclimated.
Then I flew in (convieniently after everyone had adjusted) from Europe, as I had been there for a week meeting with customers in Germany and the UK. (Side note - Europe, and especially the UK) is atrociously expensive right now with the value of the dollar).
We spent the week of the 4th of July at Stephanie's family cabin at Lake of the Woods in Southern Oregon. It was a great week of sun, family, good food and golf! Our friends Brian and Lisa (and their 3 kids) and Shelly and Ray (and their "kid" Jack) were down as well... It was a fabulous time.
Then we packed up the family and drove back to Portland (at over $4/gallon). I worked for the week and Steph ran errands for a few days before she jetted off to New York City for a long weekend as a celebration of her good friend Lisa's 40th birthday. We were able to stay with our good friend Gary - to whom we are eternally grateful for openning his home to us for part of our 'home leave'.
The girls and I headed back down to the Lake at the end of that week for a 2nd week of vacation, and my mom drove out from Wyoming and joined us. It was a great week of the girls catching up again with Gram, enjoying the lake - swimming and 'crazy driving' boat rides.
Then it was back to psuedo-reality for me. Steph and the girls stayed at the Lake for 2 more weeks while I have been working in Portland. I did escape to Seattle for the weekend to spend some time with Mike and Karmen and play a little golf with Mike.
So here I am, finishing up my last week in the states, readying myself to head back to China. Steph and the girls will have another couple weeks (10 days actually) in Oregon before they head over to Shanghai.
I was originally concerned about the girls getting back to the US and falling in love with home again and being hesitant about going back. Our friend Kathy asked all of us at dinner one night, "what are you looking forward to about going back to China?"
Much to my delight all 3 of my girls came up with answers easily. Then Kathy put me on the spot and asked me, even though I was purposely trying to duck the question. You see, as it turns out, the assignment in China hasn't been the greatest experience for me... Potentially I was niave in my expecations.
I get up everyday between 5am and 6:30am. I am in the car between 5:30am and 7:00am every day. I drive an hour to the office while I work, since I can't really talk with the driver (his limited English and my complete lack of Mandarin). I work on a difficult program every day, get in the car at 5pm and work in the car for an hour to an hour and a half (one day 2+ hours). I get an hour or two with the girls (dinner and some play time) before they are in bed. Then it's a little more work, then to bed, then a few hours later I do it all over again.
That's a lot of complaining - but to be honest, PRC is not a hardship posting. We have a wonderful apartment, we have a driver to get us around a 'traffic-crazy' city, we have some good friends we have made in the last year, I have a crew of guys I play hoops with. It's just not the adventure I had expected.
That being said, it looks like we'll be in PRC for an additional 5 months! The next generation of product I am managing development of is a 'late launch' meaning it launches after my scheduled repatriation date. So while in Oregon this week, we close don the fact that I should remain in China until we launch - and since I don't want to move the family in the middle of the school semester. This means the Welsh family is likley to return to the US in December of 2009!
This extends the window that people have to come visit the Welsh family in China. We are always interested and available to host guests!
Cheers,
Joe
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Earthquake Update
Many people have asked how we are doing after the earthquake... All is well in Shanghai. The quake was centered around a city called Chengdu. Many of you might remember this city from Steph's post about her trip to the panda reserve... This is where she flew in and out of, about 2 hours flight from Shanghai.
We have had friends that felt some swaying buildings (those that are in high rises closer to the center of Shanghai) but have not heard about any damage or issues here.
The devastation reports have been sobering. Over 50,000 dead, 4,000 children orphaned.
One thing we feel lucky for is that there is an Intel facility in Chengu, and at last report there were no serious injuries to any of our employees or their immediate families.
Lastly, one of the local television stations did a benefit drive to raise aid money. One Chinese company in the south of the country donated 10,000,000 RMB - over $1M USD. In total the event raised over 10,000,000,000 (that's 10 Billion) RMB - well over $1B USD.
This is in addition to all of the other donation efforts that are going on at companies and schools - both local and expat.
It seems as though the Chinese government is responding as best they can given the situation, although with the state of the media in China, you never know.
Anyhow - just wanted you all to know, if you had not already heard, that we are doing just fine... praying for the people of the area and their families.
We have had friends that felt some swaying buildings (those that are in high rises closer to the center of Shanghai) but have not heard about any damage or issues here.
The devastation reports have been sobering. Over 50,000 dead, 4,000 children orphaned.
One thing we feel lucky for is that there is an Intel facility in Chengu, and at last report there were no serious injuries to any of our employees or their immediate families.
Lastly, one of the local television stations did a benefit drive to raise aid money. One Chinese company in the south of the country donated 10,000,000 RMB - over $1M USD. In total the event raised over 10,000,000,000 (that's 10 Billion) RMB - well over $1B USD.
This is in addition to all of the other donation efforts that are going on at companies and schools - both local and expat.
It seems as though the Chinese government is responding as best they can given the situation, although with the state of the media in China, you never know.
Anyhow - just wanted you all to know, if you had not already heard, that we are doing just fine... praying for the people of the area and their families.
It's been over 4 months... and Kentucky Fried Chicken
Hello again! Hard to believe it's been over 4 months since my last post. I can give all the lame excuses in the world for the lapse, but I think it comes down to not being appreciated! :)
I can't tell you how many people tell me when I am back in the US on business, 'Please tell Stephanie we miss her Blog posts' or my favorite, 'It's so great you and Stephanie are blogging, please tell her how much we enjoy hers'.
But seriously, for those of you that have asked where our blogs have gone (thanks for thinking of me mom), we are both going to try to get more serious about it... for better or worse.
So my lapse has mostly to do with work... The program I am in charge of here in PRC for Intel is not going well. My team is working incredibly hard, but the complexity of what we are trying to do, and the relatively short amount of time in which we are trying to do it, has finally caught up with us. It's really been complicated by the fact that we are relying on an outside company to deliver a central part of the platform, and the General Manager of the company told me today (through a translator) that if he had known how complicated this was going to be, how much work it was going to take, and the resources it was going to require, he never would have signed up to do the job in the first place. It seems the representative of the company that committed on his behalf never really gave him all the details! Oh Joy.
What keeps me going everyday is the fact that the people on my team (spread out over Malaysia, Taiwan, Shanghai and the US) are truly working hard - and my job, in part, is to try to remove roadblocks and keep them moving forward... I feel like my job is really to limit the amount of confusion, manage the messaging, insure communication is being done effectively and that decisions are made in a timely manner... If I weren't doing these things, these people would be far more frustrated than they already are. So as one of my colleagues (who happens to be a USC grad) constantly reminds me - we Fight On!
Anyhow - the funny story I'll end with on this brief post (and I think this one was actually brief) is this: I have been spending a significant amount of time at the factory for this vendor we are relying on. I have had to have many meetings with their General Manager, and broach some sensative cultural ground - how do I indirectly tell this guy that he's screwing me, and allow him to save face?
Well it's not uncommon when we are there over lunch for them to bring food into the meeting rooms from their on site food service. It's usually marginally OK Chinese food (I am spoiled by the food cooked by our ayi, which is excellent). There is one Chinese gal that works for the General Manager and as far as I can tell her job is to bring food and drinks into every meeting he is in. We only see her when were meeting with him, and the menu is always the same since I have not been with him over lunch - she's only deliver snacks: 1 bottle of water each, 1 can of coke each, and 1 small plate of Roma Tomatoes. Pretty funny. I am sure she does other things, but as far as I can tell, she's his personal snack delivery service.
So we are in a somewhat tense meeting this week - there are about 6 of us in the room and it's 10:00am in the morning. In comes 'snack delivery gal' with a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was the funniest thing. My friend Bill, who was in the meeting with me, looks at me and can hardly contain his laughter - as could I. So the gal makes the rounds and it's a leg here and a thigh there. Corn on the cob for this guy and then a second round to see who wants rolls. And then during the meeting everyone is chowing down on KFC.
People have told us that over time, you will find yourself acting more and more Chinese. I have to say, on that day, I was.... Chewin' on a chicken leg at 10:00am, figuring out how to keep a train wreck of a program on the tracks... This is China.
I can't tell you how many people tell me when I am back in the US on business, 'Please tell Stephanie we miss her Blog posts' or my favorite, 'It's so great you and Stephanie are blogging, please tell her how much we enjoy hers'.
But seriously, for those of you that have asked where our blogs have gone (thanks for thinking of me mom), we are both going to try to get more serious about it... for better or worse.
So my lapse has mostly to do with work... The program I am in charge of here in PRC for Intel is not going well. My team is working incredibly hard, but the complexity of what we are trying to do, and the relatively short amount of time in which we are trying to do it, has finally caught up with us. It's really been complicated by the fact that we are relying on an outside company to deliver a central part of the platform, and the General Manager of the company told me today (through a translator) that if he had known how complicated this was going to be, how much work it was going to take, and the resources it was going to require, he never would have signed up to do the job in the first place. It seems the representative of the company that committed on his behalf never really gave him all the details! Oh Joy.
What keeps me going everyday is the fact that the people on my team (spread out over Malaysia, Taiwan, Shanghai and the US) are truly working hard - and my job, in part, is to try to remove roadblocks and keep them moving forward... I feel like my job is really to limit the amount of confusion, manage the messaging, insure communication is being done effectively and that decisions are made in a timely manner... If I weren't doing these things, these people would be far more frustrated than they already are. So as one of my colleagues (who happens to be a USC grad) constantly reminds me - we Fight On!
Anyhow - the funny story I'll end with on this brief post (and I think this one was actually brief) is this: I have been spending a significant amount of time at the factory for this vendor we are relying on. I have had to have many meetings with their General Manager, and broach some sensative cultural ground - how do I indirectly tell this guy that he's screwing me, and allow him to save face?
Well it's not uncommon when we are there over lunch for them to bring food into the meeting rooms from their on site food service. It's usually marginally OK Chinese food (I am spoiled by the food cooked by our ayi, which is excellent). There is one Chinese gal that works for the General Manager and as far as I can tell her job is to bring food and drinks into every meeting he is in. We only see her when were meeting with him, and the menu is always the same since I have not been with him over lunch - she's only deliver snacks: 1 bottle of water each, 1 can of coke each, and 1 small plate of Roma Tomatoes. Pretty funny. I am sure she does other things, but as far as I can tell, she's his personal snack delivery service.
So we are in a somewhat tense meeting this week - there are about 6 of us in the room and it's 10:00am in the morning. In comes 'snack delivery gal' with a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was the funniest thing. My friend Bill, who was in the meeting with me, looks at me and can hardly contain his laughter - as could I. So the gal makes the rounds and it's a leg here and a thigh there. Corn on the cob for this guy and then a second round to see who wants rolls. And then during the meeting everyone is chowing down on KFC.
People have told us that over time, you will find yourself acting more and more Chinese. I have to say, on that day, I was.... Chewin' on a chicken leg at 10:00am, figuring out how to keep a train wreck of a program on the tracks... This is China.
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