a few days into it

Beijing is different than I remember it. No surprises in that, really,
as it changes a lot.

I had lived there for a year in 2000-2001, and then again from
2002-2003, and visited once in 2005 and again in 2006.

But still - some striking things:

1. The city is filling out. Last time I was there, it did not seem as
there were many high-rise buildings beyond the fourth ring road. Now,
however, there are solid high rises well past the fifth ring road. The
feeling out there (in terms of density & quality of construction) is
similar to what the areas in between the 3rd & 4th ring roads was like
back in my student days. Compared to life in the US, it's mind-blowing
how fast the city can grow and change here.

2. Seems like there's a better English-level among the populace. Could
also be reflective of the company I was keeping and the places I went
to hang out...certainly, at some restaurants I would have been SOL if
I didn't speak Chinese.

3. People are more stylishly dressed than ever. Lots of teenagers
carefully dressed up. Still some country bumpkin looks among people in
the outskirts, but as one heads more centrally into the city it
appears that people are more sophisticated. Again, I guess this should
be expected as Beijing matures & grows as an international hub; on the
other hand it seems like this is one of those things that may not
strike you as you live in the city on a day to day basis.

4. Lots of cool places to hang out. One's options for night life seem
pretty diverse. Unfortunately, my jet lag seems to be kicking in with
a vengance around 23:00 or 23:30 most of the time now, and I'm not
staying out super late. (The first night, however, I was out well
until after 2 am - had a blast)...

5. Have not heard too much Kenny G being played at various stores &
public spaces - though we were passing by an elementary school and his
distinctive sax playing was heard through a loud speaker for the
children as they completed their afternoon exercises...

Anyway, I should get some brunch or something soon. Will be heading
down south to Shenzhen later today.

- Dan

good to be back

After a 12 hour flight to Seoul, and a 2 hour flight to Beijing, I
landed, was picked up by friends and immediately went out to eat some
Xinjiang food (Chinese muslim food).

Good to see friends, drink some local beer, and eat lamb on a stick.
In a part of Beijing's eastern sprawl - everything looked new at
night, but reviewing stuff in the morning will be good too.

Will probably visit the area in town around the forbidden city today,
and maybe visit some friends.

Jet lag had me up at ~5:15 local time, which I guess is okay. We'll
see if I can stay up past midnight today.

moonwalker

So yeah, one evening while the wife was watching Korean TV dramas online (mysoju.com is excellent for this), I was left to my own devices.

With my laptop (on my lap) I decided to play a couple games. I had MAME installed and fired it up. Nothing was holding my attention, but Michael Jackson's Moonwalker totally did.

Apparently the game came out in 1990, and 19 years later (wow, I feel old), it is still a weird game.

The reasons for this be three (plus one):

1. You play as Michael Jackson, and fight against ninja and robot enemies by shooting some kind of magic fire from your hands.

2. You run around levels rescuing tied up little children.

3. Your special "clear all bad guys" attack is the "moonwalk" button, and so you start dancing and all the bad guys start dancing too then blow up.

4. If you find michael's pet monkey, 'bubbles', and touch him, then you turn into a Michael Jackson terminator robot and your arms turn into guns for maximum long-range blastination of your enemies.

I got tired of it around half-way through level 3. I guess some of the intrigue is gone when you just need to hit the "5" key instead of pumping quarters into a machine.

Worth a look if you are some reason:

1. missing 1990
2. missing Michael Jackson
3. missing turning into a robo-killing machine after touching a monkey

on software lock-in

I dislike growing to be dependent on something (software-wise).

Splash ID is one program that I have grown to appreciate and keep using, and "need to have it" on whatever PC/Mac/mobile phone that I use.

Scriviner might be the next one. It's OS X only, but I am seriously loving it. It's not really a word processor, but more of a way to organize & compose outlines & notes & drafts. I do not want to go back to using just word or open office or whatever - this works better for me.

(I  had been on the fence about what to replace my aging but still functional iBook G4 with...but this is kind of making me lean "another mac" for now).

Clearchannel modern rock

So, seriously, apparently 1991 -era pearl jam, nirvana, alice in
chains, Soundgarden, and Bush are still so vital that their music
needs to be in hourly rotation 18 years later?

I appreciate the contributions by those respective bands (whom, except
Bush, were influential to me when I was in junior high), but come
on...they should get migrated over to the classic rock station and the
"modern" rock station should get a refresh.

And yet the suits behind the RIAA can't fathom why people are
rejecting their old, tired business model?

Count it Off!

The Saturday Knights - "Count It Off" from Lincoln Leopard Films on Vimeo.

I was thrilled to see this video from one of my favorite Seattle bands, The Saturday Knights.

Very well done video. I really hope these guys make it big nationwide. Fun music, and they are musically solid. The whole album is good.

Their other big hit was "45". It got a lot of college radio airplay last summer/fall; I'm glad that they are still working it.

New prince record

The cover of "crimson and clover" is pretty sweet.

Nothing else super special. I'm usually pretty forgiving to prince's
90's and later musical efforts. But I want my 11.98 back.

Guilty pleasure

From the circa 1998 chef aid album: "nowhere to run". Featuring DMX,
Ozzy Ozbourne, and Ol Dirty Bastard (while he was in his "Big Baby
Jesus" phase).

This should have been a throw away track, but it is still super
enjoyable & fresh sounding to me.

the curious case of benjamin button???

Had heard that this movie sucked.

I was pleasantly surprised. Although, perhaps a little slow, I thought it was pretty interesting. Well done.

Juxtaposition of age opposite of one's life experiences provided interesting contrast to exploration of the human condition.

Will probably think about this movie for a while afterward.

Chinese Feast!

 

So I felt like cooking today...2 hours later, here's my results. From the top of the picture down (for any of you reading this on Facebook, I'm not sure if the picture will syndicate properly), the dishes are: Ma po dofu, Indonesian Fried Noodles, Gan bian si ji dou, and Gong Bao Ji Ding. (Forgive the bastardized names, that's what I know them as and I don't want to look up whatever the prevalent translation is over here).

Lots of left-overs...I can take a break from cooking for a couple days!

The Ma po dofu was a little disappointing in that I accidentally added some Lee Kum Kee branded spicy garlic sauce (the characters on the jar were 鱼香酱 - fish flavor sauce - usually very tasty in China when done properly but this crap was NASTY). The aftertaste is still lingering unpleasantly in my mouth.

The Gong bao ji ding (Kung Pao Chicken) turned out pretty okay. I used the recipe from the book "Land of Plenty". It turned out to be fairly tasty, although not quite the same as I remember the dish to be when prepared in the best kind of dive restaurants in Beijing.

Anyway, the wife was very happy to come home and see most of this stuff ready.

plans aren't firm yet, but....

Probably will do a little bit of international traveling in the relatively near-ish future.

The amount of time I'll spend on it is a little up in the air at this point, but it seems very likely that I'm at least going somewhere.

Woot.

Good to have something to look forward to.

We'll see how this goes.

While I do appreciate having time to myself, adequate time to go to the gym, myriad chances to cook, and many opportunities to prove to my cats that I'm a worthy host, the prospect of getting away from all that sounds pretty sweet.

things overheard a little more - suckas...

At a coffee shop again, trying to do some writing on a book that I've been kicking around for a long, long time.

I guess things aren't flowing, creatively speaking, as I'm suddenly hyper-aware of everything going on around me. Even as I type things out and surf the net and listen to music.

Right now, there's a lady to my right (who frequently uses the never-cool phrase "cool beans") who is starting to pitch some guys on some sort of comission-only sales job position.

I can't tell if it's for a position as a real estate agent, mortgage broker, or financial planner.

I want to tell the people getting this spiel, "IT'S A TRAP!!!"

They said they did not finish high school and are exploring their options.

Having been down this road myself (a long, long time ago, and will never be on my resume).

The whole thing is just rubbing me the wrong way...lady is dropping a bunch of TLAs that describe various positions in the scheme, and how one earns points, and how these lucky people who are "empowering" themselves will soon be providing this kind of "training" to others in the very near future and how they can start getting instant promotions if they just make a commitment and stick to the simple plan...

Where's the market for this now??? Who's in a rush to buy insurance and investment plans and home loans and Arbonne stuff?

I guess I better move tables or something.

(I know that this sort of commission-only sales stuff can really work for some people, but I am just not in the mood to hear it)

Nicely done

Took me an extra couple days to finally watch the battlestar galactica
finale. But I am pleased. Very well done ending to what was a very
well done series all-around.

in case you missed this re-tweet

Funny (and sad) since it rings so true:

RT @goldkorn: Employer of Holocaust deniers, homophobe, telling Africans not to use condoms: is the Pope actually evil?

http://www.africafiles.org/article.asp?ID=20428

I don't go to church anymore, nor do I really give a shit what the pope says or does.

Yet, given his position, authority & influence over the masses of people who do listen to him, how irresponsible of him is it to be keeping up with these outdated, ass-backwards agendas?

Things overheard

So, much like my life two years ago, I'm at a starbucks in a mall,
surfing the Internet and looking for a job.

Different continents.

But not much is different.

Well, I guess that there is much more English being spoken and far
less Chinese. I overhear the Chinese conversations, understand what
people are saying, but keep holding back at saying anything (unless
someone strikes up conversation). I mean, merely understanding what
others are saying is not an entitlement to chat with them. (it would
not usually be kosher to do that with people who natively speak your
language, right?)

But still, it's interesting hearing chinese people comparing starbucks
here and at home much like I am too. Did not learn anything special,
but I guess if one acquires a taste for lattes, you will feed that
hunger whenever and where ever you can.

Brewed coffee for me. Black, like I like my men. :p

we're already living in a revolution, in a way

Read a very interesting article comparing the spread of internet publishing, its implications for newspapers & traditional media.

It's probably the most similar to when the printing press first emerged in 1500 - and the implications of that were very widespread indeed.

Not to say that people back in the 14th century wouldn't have understood the significance of the printing press, but they may not have been able to see the full extent of its influence...probably very much like people now trying to deal with the impact of the networked/"interneted" society we're creating.

Anyway, the article is long but I found it fascinating.

http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2009/03/newspapers-and-thinking-the-unthinkable/

Thanks to Charles Stross' blog for pointing me towards this article.

(If you like sci-fi books, then you would probably find his work very interesting)

stupid monkey!

Tried out this site - you can make your own machinima movies for free; and have lines delivered in a Radiohead-esque (or new ipod shuffle-esque) artificial voice.

Just did a test run; it seems to work well.

hindsight is 20/20

I took my PMP exam today. Passed. (yay)

But this story is about prior to taking the exam.

I showed up to the test site about an hour early (was a little jittery and there wasn't much else to do at home).

Nothing in the way of a starbucks or somewhere else to hang out prior to the test in the immediate vicinity, so I went out for a walk and came across a small-ish doughnut & espresso shop.

There was nothing else comparable around so I went in. The proprietor had maybe 3 dozen doughnuts left (he starts business at 4:30 am each day and it was already 1:30 pm when I walked in).

I got a few things and we started talking. It turns out this guy's family was originally from somewhere in Guangdong province, China, somewhere outside of Guangzhou. Of course I was interested as I cannot easily forget my life over there (but I'm really not living in the past either).

When we got to discussing the topic of China & the rapid economic growth & changes there, he mentioned that he had the opportunity to go in on an investment with some of his cousins, who had remained in China and not immigrated to the US. Their business? Selling gravel.

If I were in this man's shoes, in the mid-80's, hearing about an opportunity to invest in a Chinese cousin's gravel company, I would have been suspicious, to say the least. As the guy I was talking with had been back then.

However, it turns out that his family's business turned out to be wildly successful. Sounds as if they have more money now than they know what to do with. They ended up selling gravel on a lot of gov't contracts for train & subway development...and infrastructure spending was certainly going on with reckless abandon in China in the 80's and 90's.

I had to pause and reflect how I'd deal with a missed opportunity of sorts like that if I were in his shoes.

The shop owner seemed to have some pangs of regret, but on the other hand did not seem to be a broken man - far from it; he was jovial and spoke proudly of his sons, who are gainfully employed doing jobs they really like (both involving computers & software) around Seattle. He was also very proud about his business, which had been running strong for 22 years.

I guess that there could always be missed opportunities in one's life, but if you let that eat at you then you would miss out on what you were actually living.

Meh. I guess it is late for me (finally getting used to the time change) and I'm reaching to find something profound in what was just a random conversation.

(but hey, talking with the dude was both interesting and cleared my mind prior to taking the exam).

flawed logic

Mean people suck.

Everybody is mean (sometimes).

Therefore:

Everybody sucks (sometimes).

I was pleased enough with myself for putting that together (or remembering it) in the midst of cleaning the house earlier. Now...well, whatever - it's a post.

gotta recommend a game - on sale for the rest of this weekend

If you love simple, but beautiful games as well as being thrifty, then this is totally worth a look.

(Assuming you read this blog, and see it on march 8, 2009 within a US-based time zone).

http://store.steampowered.com/app/22000/

World of Goo is an engrossing game, and $5 is a very good deal for it. I had heard about a lot of critical love for the game, but I had not tried it...at $5, I gave it a whirl & I must say it's excellent...great casual game.