31 August, 2006

Overwhelmed with Mandarin

I knew learning Chinese would not be easy, I knew it'd be one of the biggest challenges of my life. But boy, this is even harder than I expected. After two hours of 'b' & 'p' & 'iao' & 'ueng' & 'Mei guanxi' & 'yi' & 'er' & 'jiu' ... I am completely fried.

I've spent the last two lessons trying to master the initials, finals & tones in PINYIN. I've practiced some in between lessons. I more or less have the pronunciation down, now it's just a matter of implanting it into my head so I remember. Today I did some numbers, they weren't too bad, I was surprised. I can now easily say my apartment # ... shiba (sounds like... sheerba) B -> 18B.

We started surnames, names, how to ask and respond to questions about names, the proper grammar when asking. It's tough.

I have to hit the tapes, books & ipod a little harder. And, this Chinese girlfriend that I'm looking for can't come soon enough. Without daily, even hourly practice, it will escape my mind.

30 August, 2006

How to manage turnover in China

One of the biggest concerns I have with my job here over the next year is managing turn over within a "tech team." Internet/technology jobs are growing fast in China. The Microsofts, Googles, Yahoos...looking for the best, make attractive offers and people here are going for the big names. In fact, Google seems as though they will have some rapid growth in China soon. A friend here told me that 20 Google families have just moved to Beijing (I trust the information, due to the business he is in).

What I have been told, and have seen on resumes here...is that young Chinese, with limited experience and good tech skills will jump from job-to-job looking for more pay. Understandable, but not good for the employers. How do you stop that from happening? Don't know. Even if you give them a bit higher than the average salary, if they're good, they'll get more somewhere else.

The culture is going to have to be open & fun, the work, challenging and the people will need to have room to grow. Other than pay and benefits, those are the only things I can think of.

But how to do all of that? I have some thoughts, let's see if they work. Will post progress down the road.

Any suggestions out there, I'd love to hear them.

Cool stuff...tablet-like


I'm defintely figuring out a way to order one of these. I don't think I'd like a tablet PC (although, Lenovo's X41 tablet is pretty sweet). I want something simple and don't want to be worried about breaking it. I want this, it looks simple, easy to use and hopefully it will load up into MS OneNote, which I use for note taking on my ThinkPad (well, I do use notepad a lot too).

They do have to learn English!

I had a lunch meeting with some guys from WorkSoft today (very weird lunch, can't tell you what it was...but it reminded me of when I was a kid, when I would hide my peas under my mashed potatoes so my mom would think I ate them...I did that today, but they weren't peas and I used rice). We were talking about my long ass commute into Shangdi (where Lenovo is) each day and how the taxi drivers always take me a different route (some times the long way, to get more RMB).

Anyway, as I was wondering in my post a few days ago, the taxi drivers in Beijing do in fact have to learn some English prior to the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. They have to learn some basic English worlds/phrases ... "Hello"..."Where to?"..."40RMB"...etc.... They also have to understand and pronounce some Olympic terms/event names, hotel names, reastuarants, etc.... As I understand it, they will be tested over the next year & leading up to the Olympics, if they don't pass...they don't drive.

What a coincidence. I was on my way out to dinner tonight, and the taxi driver had a tape in...teaching him English! He was trying to learn the word "equestrian." You know, horseback riding, an Olympic event. So, I helped out a little, kept repeating it for him so he could here an American say it. That lasted about 5 minutes, then I had enough and listened to my ipod.

Happy Valentine's Day!...

in China. Today, my assistant had some roses on her desk when I returned from a lunch meeting. I asked her ... "so, did your boyfriend send those to you?" Her response was, "no, I don't have a boyfriend right now, a boy who has a crush on me sent the flowers." So, I left it at that.

Later, a colleague of mine came by to meet with her. They were talking and laughing, so I asked what was so funny. They were talking about the flowers and then told me that today is Chinese Valentine's Day. I was like, "huh?" apparently, Chinese Valentine's Day comes once every 38 years. I didn't really get it, something to do with lunar years, etc...

So, I told them... wow, that's awesome... you only have to buy your girlfriend/wife/whatever flowers or other Valentine's-like gift once every 38 years! They said... "no, we also celebrate the US Valentine's Day too, so, sometimes, we get gifts two times per year!" Thankfully, this happened prior to the girlfriend being in place.

I thought maybe I had escaped this hallmark holiday, wrong!

28 August, 2006

What I learned today

OK, this is hilarious. I would have never guessed a ritual like this would happen here, or anywhere for that matter.

Chinese police end funeral striptease acts

When is belly shirt season over?

I've been in and out of Beijing since June, so have more or less got to experience summer here. What I've also gotten to experience are the belly shirts. One out of every ten guys who walks around town here pulls their shirt up over their stomach as they're trotting around. Not sure how much longer I can take it. I keep wanting to get a picture, hopefully will before belly shirt season is over.

English is very popular in Beijing

Last night, I put a posting up on thatsbj.com for a language exchange partner. It's amazing how many responses I've already got! I received over 20 responses from people interested today. Have to weed through them to see which ones are legit and which ones look promising.

Many locals here certainly see the benefits of understanding & speaking the English language. More and more students study only English in college, because jobs as an interpreter are everywhere. It's hard to find the technical skills + experience + the language skills right now, but I'm sure that population will grow rapidly.

I'm surprised the taxi drivers aren't trying to brush up on some basic English words and phrases, considering the Olympics are coming here in a couple of years. Maybe it will happen soon. Some drivers will get some help from me, because as I start learning more Chinese, I'll certainly be practicing it in the taxis & will offer some English words to them as well.

27 August, 2006

Language tutor vs. language exchange partner

I've mentioned how a lot of people have told me that the easiest or best way to learn mandarin is to get a chinese girlfriend that speaks very little english. I guess this would force me to learn, or maybe would just drive me completely insane. Then again, a girlfriend that you can't really communicate with? ... That may not be bad for a while.

So, I have a tutor, someone I will pay to teach me mandarin. A language exchange partner is someone you meet up with, informally to "exchange languages." This is someone who wants to learn English, and will help you to learn Chinese. No money exchanged, just dialouge. I think I'm going to find an exchange partner. This will supplement the lessons nicely (I hope). I think this is something I'll only do on the weekends though, no time for it during the week.

Now, if I also find a chinese girlfriend, this will give me three ways to learn the language. Though, I think one or two of them would end up going away at some point. First to go...would likely be the exchange partner (unless she becomes the girlfriend, that is).

My Saturday & Sunday in Beijing

After I left SPR yesterday afternoon, I took a walk down to Mexican Wave, a reasturant (Mexican, obviously), just down the road from SPR. I'm told it was one of the first "foreign" reasturants around this area. I didn't feel like eating there, so took a quick look at the menu and decided on a pizza (yes, pizza in a mexican reasturant). The 35 minutes it took to get the thing felt like 2 hours. I was getting pretty impatient, but stuck it out. It was good.

Post pizza, I decided maybe I was a little tired from the night before...so, it was time for a nap, just a couple hours. Woke up and not sure what I did, likely just sat around for a while.

Ray called, suggested meeting up for some dinner. Steak & Eggs was the suggestion. I hadn't been there yet, but had heard about it a lot. It's a quick 15 minute walk from my apartment. The guy who opened it is an American, it's been there for a few years I guess. Huge menu, tons of western dishes. I opted for the patty melt. It was good.

Jimmy called, it was seeming to turn into another evening out. Headed back to the apartment and got a call from my parents. They just converted over to Vonage, connection was good. Was glad to hear from them.

So, we were headed to "Face," a new bar/reasturant near the Worker's Stadium. It's an old converted school, tucked away down a wide ally. Awesome atmosphere. The outdoor patio has tons of tables/chairs, dim lighting and a stream running through it. Indside, pool tables, more tables & chairs, bars. There's also an Indian and Thai reasturant inside (upstairs). After a pitcher of beer, the guys decided to make it a wine night. I'm not that into wine, but I like it...so, OK.

Jimmy invited a girl who works for him, Katie (Chinese) and her friend Marina (also Chinese) out to join us. When they showed up, we decided to out to the next location. Bar Blu was the choice...I've been there a few times before, not that into it. It's always hot as hell in there, and kind of dirty.

They've got a large dance floor in there, it was packed. It was funny to see how into rap music some chinese girls are. They sing along to the music and their moves are unique...it's like they sit around and watch american MTV (because they do have Chinese MTV) and try to immitate the moves.

On top of the music immitations, some of these girls love to swear. Of course, they've learned it over the years from all the americans they've talked to. It's just funny to hear, "do you ever shut the f up?" ... out of a tiny, 80lb chinese girl's mouth, saying it to Ray, a 6 foot+ 200lb american.

Red wine was the drink of choice here. We sat around, played some dice game (forgot the name), many ganbei's (cheers/bottoms up) later, 3 bottles were gone and it was time to go.

The suggestion was to head back to Jimmy's or, "the clubhouse." He's got a place in Chaoyang...35th floor, about 6000 sqt, amazing place. After a bunch of debating and listening to Katie practice her english swear words at Ray, we decided to all part ways and go home...

...Sunday...

Up around 10 today, over for my weekend coffee at SPR, browsed on CNN.com to see what's going on in the world. I met up with Ray, we headed over to bai now wei to get some gadgets. Bai now wei is basically a 6 story technology store... everything you need, from Lenovo PCs
to Linksys routers, to knock off ipods. I needed to get a new wireless router, since I fried the one from the States. I also found a power adapter that I'm praying will work, I think it will. Ray needed a USB HDD... his research assistant got a nasty virus on his PC, so he's going to try to salvage what he can and reformat.

After the geek shopping, it was off for some lunch. Ray suggested Russian...sure, I'm game. About a 10 minute taxi ride away, we get out in what I'll call "Little Russia" ... I don't think that's what they call it here, but it's what it is. Great food. I had some Russian goulash. Basically was potatos, ham, mushrooms, eggs, cottage cheese & bacon, all baked together, topped off with some melted cheese. Good stuff, I'll be going back there again (if I can find it).

Time to try to setup the network. I was anxious to try out the power converter...so, I pulled it out of the box, plugged it in. I listened to it hum a little bit, thinking maybe it was normal. I plugged the vonage power adapter in... BOOM. Sparks fly out, a very, very loud pop (my ears still hurt) and my apartment goes pitch black...power's out. Great, just great...I'm sure the vonage router is now fried and I have no power. Flip the breaker and I'm back in business, but pissed off.

OK, onto the wireless router. Hook it up, power & connection lights are on, try to run the "install" and it keeps recycling through the process. Try going into the router settings via IP address to configure, it's all in Chinese with no English option. I spent about an hour trying to figure out what the problem was (I know I have to input my Chinese ISP ID/PW, but can't figure out where. Time to give up.

Fantasy Football draft in about 5 hours, will be good to chat with the guys back in the US for a while. Need to spend a couple hours with the repeat recorder and my mandarin book tonight, without constant repetition, I will never learn this language.

Back to the office Monday morning, can't wait for the 6:30am commute. It's going to be a long week, I can feel it. More interviews, more negotiations, more navigation through the processes here and a project back in the US that needs some much needed attention.

26 August, 2006

The internet is cool

Despite having some things blocked while here in China, without the internet I would feel pretty lonely. How would I communicate? No email, no instant messaging, no blogging, no VoIP phone.

I'm sitting in SPR coffee, in Beijing, connected to the free wi-fi. Chatting with my buddy Chris on AOL IM, doing some email, attempting to do some research for my Fantasy Football draft that's taking place tomorrow night & typing this blog. How cool is that?

Some people think being too connected is a bad thing, I don't. If you know when to stop & how to use it, it is a very good thing. More productivity, more communication and more ways to stay in touch with family, friends and collegues...especially when you're away from everyone you know. I would certainly feel pretty damn lonely if I didn't have the internet.

How ironic is this...? I'm chatting with Chris, who is from West Virginia, and I look out the window of SPR, what do I see...? A kid with a mullet! HA! Not a chinese kid either, but I think he was European, not West Virginian...sorry Chris.

Out til 3...up at 8

Why I'm up at 8am on a Saturday after a fairly long night out is beyond me. I'll admit, I'm a little bit anxious to get out and walk around my 'hood today. I want to see what's around here, and I haven't seen much...other than walking up and down Guanghua and spending a lot of time in taxis.

I'm going to head over to SPR Coffee, it's just about a block away. It's a nice, usually quite coffee spot. Comfortable chairs, decent coffee, good service. I'll get the typical stares through the window "big american sitting at small table." Yeah yeah, hilarious. All of the reading materials are in Chinese, and I'm not quite ready for that yet. They do have free wi-fi, which is great. So, I'll go connect over there, plow through some email and maybe come up with a few more posts for manninchina.

So, a recap from last night...

After my mandarin lesson, I had a few Heinekens in my apartment. Ray (a guy a met through my pseudo cousin Matt last time I was here), called me earlier in the day to see if I was up for some fun later in the evening. He suggested that I meet him and one of his "girl friends" for some Korean BBQ. I was up for that, hadn't yet tried that in Beijing. I forgot the girl's name, but she was grilling me on my mandarin and suggested to me...don't get a tutor, get a chinese girlfriend and you'll learn all you need to know (this is literally the 10th time I've heard this).

Ray tells me to give him a call when I get in the taxi so he can tell the driver where to go. Ray's been here for about 4 years, speaks the language very well. So, I hop in a taxi and try calling Ray. No answer. The driver just takes, me in the car, shrugging my shoulds, motioning to him that I have no f'ing clue where to go. Try calling again. No answer. Driver keeps on driving, as if he knows exactly where I want to go. OK, he's got to answer this time...ring.... no answer! At this point, I was ready to get out of the cab and wait for the call back, but it was raining, so I just hung around for the ride, wherever he was taking me. Finally, Ray calls back...his ringer was off. He tells the driver where to go, 3 minutes later we were there. He really did know where I wanted to go! Well, I'll think that anyway.

So, I head into the reastaurant, Ray apologizes for the missed calls... I didn't mind, will just add it to the list of experiences in Beijing. He's got a couple bottles of saki on the table, and a lot of food on the way. I'm thinking to myself, "boy, this is going to be one of those nights."

After many toasts & little food, the saki was gone. I was ready to move onto some beer. Tsingtao it was, good stuff, especially if you can find it cold (which, you can't always find). Dinner was good... had some beef, hamburger-like thing, spicy as hell spinach and some fruit with a mayo-like dressing on it?? Anyway, most of the stuff was good, time to head out.

We were going to meet Jimmy (another guy I met through Matt). He was at a party over at Central Park (a large high-rise apartment complex). This was the second time I want to a party in Beijing, invited by Jimmy and felt awkward once again.

Bill, the host, had no clue who we were when we walked in (6 w's in a row, I probably broke some grammar rule). Jimmy quickly came over to introduce us. Bill has been in China for about 1.5 years, he works for a gaming company here in Beijing. Red Mushroom Studios. The company employees about 50 people and is just about to launch a new game.

We hung out at Bill's, with a bunch of people we didn't know and didn't seem to want to get to know us, for about an hour. It was time to hit the bars.

Jimmy suggested the ever popular, Suzie Wong's. Likely one of the most popular bars in Beijing. So no objections, so we got into Jimmy's "party van" and headed over.

Jimmy is a character, always up to no good. As we were leaving the gated apartment complex, a taxi was heading in... what does Jimmy do? He drives right towards him, head on. Basically, he just wanted to see if the guy would move. He did, we left, on the way to Suzie's.

You see all types of people at Suzie's, when I say all types, I really do mean all types. You've got the locals (mostly local girls), the expats (from all over the world), the tourists, the random 50 year old business tripper, the "working girls," etc.... And in this mix, you can break it down some more... the local girls just looking to let loose and dance, the local girls looking for a foreigner to be there boyfriend (or, just buy them drinks), the Europeans, who mostly dress weird around here. The expats, who are mostly all regulars. You can be anyone you want here, no one knows you. I think a lot of people do this. Especially funny is the dancing, I am defintely not a dancer, I try to do it as little as possible. But, there are some people up on that dance floor that are just horrible. Even worse than my brother Tim, the famous arm pumper.

China is going through an interesting time right now...the economy is booming, the summer Olympics are only 2 years away, jobs are growing, poverty is down. Ray and I were talking about this...it's almost like they're going through an industrial, tech & sexual revolution all at the same time. You can actually see the excitement on the locals faces at Suzie's ... they're up on the dance floor, dancing away, not a care in the world at the moment, just enjoying life. Great to see.

So, Ray and I order a bottle of Black Label, it was a whiskey night. Jimmy and another guy (J I think) were doing redbull/vodka. The waitress shows us to a table near the dance floor, we crack open the bottle and just sit back and watch. I love people watching when I'm in this place. I really think I'm going to buy a video camera while here, though I don't think many bars will let me use it. You've got the local chinese up on the dance floor dancing away to lame 80s music mixed by a DJ. The "50 year old business trippers" up on the dance floor showing their stuff, just a large mix out having a blast (in their own mind anyway).

Jimmy's up to something again... a girl sets her drink on our table, so she could go dance. Jimmy sees this, and the bottle of Black Label right next to it. He's tempted, what's he going to do? Well, I guess he thought her drink wasn't stiff enough, so he dumped some whiskey in it. She sees him, makes him drink the entire glass, then buy her a new one. Comedy.

So, these guys start to disperse...they're running into past "girl friends" and it is getting late...so, I end up left at the table, thinking to myself... should I talk to some girls or head home. I was ready to head home, plenty of time for the girls later.

I was thinking I'd feel like shit this morning, but Ray told me last night...when he drinks saki & black label, he doesn't get hung over. I didn't believe him, but now I do, no hang over in sight!

So, 3am it was...got home and passed out.

25 August, 2006

Results are in...first Mandarin lesson

Well, this evening I began the long, long road to trying to understand the Chinese language. My tutor, Linda, brought me my "repeat recorder," the tapes for the recorder & my first lesson book. Tonight started my 2 x week lessons / 2 hours per lesson. I think that's all I can handle for now & it will give me time in between to practice what she taught me.

Linda is a good teacher, very patient, which she'll need to be with me.

We started off with PINYIN. PINYIN is the international form of the Chinese alphabet. It was developed in the 1950s. There are three parts to PINYIN ... 1) Initials (the beginning of the PINYIN word) ... 2) Finals (the ending of the PINYIN word) ... finally, 3) Tones (there are four tones in the Chinese language).

This is a very, very difficult language to learn. So many different ways to pronounce (at least, you think there are!). This is where the "repeat recorder" will come in handy. I'll be spending a lot of time in the evenings in front of that thing, talking to myself trying to stick this stuff to my brain.

I'm looking forward to the challenge, I just hope this stuff sticks to me. I'll be practicing it at work, in taxis, at restuarants, with other foreigners here...as much as possible.

Now I'm off to celebrate a week of accomplishments and my first mandarin lesson. Heading out to meet some friends for a few beers, maybe I'll try some of my newly learned words on the locals (local girls), ha!

TV in your car, worth the price?

Checked out engadget and came across the new DirecTV satellite for vehicles. This is tad expensive just to get TV in your car. Just under $3000 for the "dish" and $45 a month. Not worth it to me. But, I guess if you're loaded and have kids that like to fight in the car (like me and my brothers used to do), this may be a good investment.

I'm wondering when slingbox is going to come out with a mobile slingbox. Hook up your typical slingbox and home, but need a small slinger using a somewhat highspeed cell connection that you can hook up to the TV in your car. Why not? Otherwise, you could hook your laptop up to the TV, or just watch the slingbox on your laptop.

I'm connected to a slingbox in my uncle's house (NC), from Beijing. I can't say it's perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than watching chinese TV.

Important people

I was walking back from China Mobile, where I was charging up my SIM card. Which, btw, are very cheap here. When I was first in Beijing back in June, I got a SIM card and charged it with about 50RMB (~$6USD), that has lasted me up until now (maybe about 3 weeks of total usage). I wouldn't say I use my phone here a ton, I mean, I don't know that many people yet. I mostly use it for communicating with people at work, when I'm not at the office. And, this past week, I've been using it with my real estate guy and trying to find a tutor and a housekeeper. Text messaging is king here, as it is all over Asia. It's the preferred message of mobile communications. I've found myself using it far more than I do when I'm in the US.
So, I charged it up this time with 150RMB (~$18USD). I'm guessing it will last me at least 6 weeks, that is defintely cheap!

Anyway, as I was walking along Guanghua Road (where my apartment is located), in the Chaoyang District, I noticed Chinese military peppered along both sides of the road. Their superiors (I'm assuming) where riding up and down the road on bikes. They were all standing at attention, facing the road...waiting for something. They weren't the "security guards" that you see everywhere around here, they were defintely military. Beijing Police where also all over the main intersections.

I'm assuming someone or some important people were going to be making their way through there soon. The Embassies are very close, so it could have been some important foreigners too. I would have stayed at watched, like a tourist, but I had to get back to prepare for my first Mandarin lesson this evening. I don't want to be a complete moron.

I wonder who it was???

24 August, 2006

One week in...

Well, I'm a week into my year in Beijing. My blogging has suffered due to the "network issues" here in China. But, I'm on to blogger now, this will be where my blogging will happen for the time being.

It's been an interesting week, a lot accomplished, but a hell of a lot to go. I still have the "am I really doing this?" feeling going on. I hope to get over that feeling soon, I think I will.

The good:
  • The Lenovo driver picked me up from the airport, helped me with my 5 pieces of luggage and successfully got me to my apartment in the Chaoyang District. He even helped me bring the stuff into the apartment, very nice.
  • I managed to get a new cell phone and setup a local bank account (more on this in "the bad") in the same day.
  • In Chinese, I know what to say to the taxi drivers to get me to work, back home, to HSBC and to a couple of stores near by.
  • Work stuff is progressing, but a long way to go still
  • I met with my mandarin tutor for the first time last night, Linda. She's very nice, young, cute girl. She has her act together too. I found her on That's Beijing. Great website to find things here in Beijing. Lessons begin tomorrow evening, I'm really looking forward to it. I'm starting with Tues/Fri lessons, 2 hours each lesson.
  • Slingbox works like a charm over here, though I haven't really had a chance to use it much

The bad:
  • BANKING: So, when I was in Buffalo in early August, I setup an account with HSBC. HSBC is an international bank, my dad works for HSBC & they have branches in Beijing. I figured this was going to be the easiest solution to "international banking." Basically, I need to transfer $ from my US bank acocunts over to China, convert to RMB and pay my rent. That's the main need for the account here. Well, it's not easy, it's a big pain in the ass. For the last week I've been trying to xfer money from my US HSBC account to my Beijing HSBC account. Finally, I am resorting to a wire transfer, because HSBC truly is not an international bank, branches in other countries act like completely separate companies, which sucks when dealing with a bank. A collegue told my Citibank is the way to go...you open one account and you can access it/convert funds anywhere.
  • FOOD: I need to go food shopping, for food I'll actually eat. I've been living off of gatorade, water, cashews, banana chips & Subway. I eat some lunch at work, mostly rice. And, I've gone out to dinner a couple times, once for the ever popular Peking Duck (it's good).
  • TRAFFIC: Way too much traffic here, it's the worst I've seen. This is causing me to leave for work by around 6:30am, if I do that, it only takes 30-40 minutes. It is also causing me to leave for home from work around 7:00-8:00pm. Otherwise, I could plan to send at least 1-1.5 hours each way.
  • I brought over a wireless router and my vonage router. Well, stupid me plugs in my wireless router without a power converter...it fried within 20 seconds. Need to go find a new one. Last night, I bought a power converter...tried vonage router, no power and it started to make some weird noises like it was also going to fry, so I quickly unplugged it. I need to fix this problem

The weird:
  • I've been sleeping on the couch in my apartment for the last week. This is defintely weird. The only explanation I have is, it's where I feel comfortable. I guess I'm just not ready for the "new room" yet. I'm weird. But, last Saturday I went out with some guys I met over my last couple trips to Beijing. One of them, Will, told me he did the same thing when he first arrived. Does anyone else do weird things like this when you're "out of your comfort zone?"
  • I still get stared at on a daily basis. Whether I'm walking down the street, sitting in a cab or eating in the cafeteria at work...
  • I had my entry "physical" on Tuesday, this is for my Z Visa/work permit. I was really worried about this, but it was nothing. The biggest thing was getting stuck with a needle. Other than that, they don't really check a whole lot.
More from me tomorrow, I need to go take it easy & do a little reading

Google analytics - now tracking my blogger blog

So, I just threw the google analytics tag into my blogger template. Now I just have to get some people coming over here to read so I can see how well it works!

The blogging saga continues...

Well, I have had zero luck getting my yahoo! hosted domains/blogs to work from China. I can't post to them or even access the domain names. I just got off the phone with yahoo! and they didn't give me any useful information. Their response to me was "it's not yahoo's fault, check with your ISP in China" ... I know that won't do me any good.

With that said, I cancelled my web hosting service with them & have forwarded www.mannthoughts.com & www.manninchina.com over here to blogger.

So, until I figure something else out, this is going to be my "home blog" from China for now.