12 August, 2007

Moving...again!

This is my third, and hopefully final, move. Blogspot has been blocked in China for a few months now. I've been publishing (not very frequently) via Windows Live Writer. It's been good, but I have to setup an ftp account on blogger for images (can't do - blocked). On top of that, I can't respond to comments.

So, I've got a new domain - mannblogs.com. I'm using Yahoo hosting and Wordpress for my blog. I'm continuing on with manninchina, but manninchina.com will redirect to the new blog location.

So - please visit - www.mannblogs.com/manninchina

1 Million cars...where did they go?

Supposedly, Beijing is removing 1 million cars from the roads between 7 August - 20 August. I'm not surprised by this and completely believe they can and will do this (did something similar last October for the China-Africa Summit). However, I didn't notice any reduction in cars between the 7th - 10th.

Beijing has over 3 million cars on the road today...they add over 1,000 new cars to the roads each day. Why not stop adding? I know it's not that easy...but for a government who can tell 1 million people they can't drive for 2 weeks, why can't they tell potential car buys they can't buy for 1 year? Yes, this has other impacts (car sales, fuel sales, etc...), but there will be just that much more of a demand post Olympics - just start preparing for that.

Much of the city traffic, in my view, is caused by people walking and on bicycles. The "people watchers with flags" really don't do much in the way of stopping people from walking or riding through the intersections when they aren't supposed to.

08 August, 2007

Blue skies

Happy to report that the skies are blue in Beijing today - not one sign of polluted air (other than the stains on all of the buildings).

Today marks the 1 year countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but it doesn't seem like there is much celebration going on. Maybe because I'm out in Shangdi, very far from the "cool area" of Beijing at work. But, even at Lenovo - I haven't seen any sign of a celebration...

07 August, 2007

The countdown begins...

Tomorrow (08/08/07) marks the 1 year countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It also marks my attempt to get back to regular blogging again and put some more interesting content up to get my following back! We'll see how that goes...

Lot's of talk as to whether China is ready for the 08' Olympics or not. I can't speak to the status of any project in particular, but I can tell you the following...

  • Construction projects - seem to be moving faster & faster. It's unbelievable to see how quick they are moving on the CCTV complex and China World #3 ... both huge, huge projects. But, will all the cranes be out of sight by year's end? ... doubtful.
  • Traffic - sucks...will continue to suck until; 1) They get better driving schools in China; 2)Stop selling new cars; 3)Current drivers get better road manners (patience, for starters).
  • Food - I haven't noticed a problem, but maybe that's because I'm used to it after being here for almost a year.
  • English - taxi drivers aren't even close to being able to take foreigners around without relying heavily on written directions from the passengers (in Chinese) or maps (in Chinese)
  • Air quality - keep forcing it to rain, maybe it will wash it all a way (for a few days). I think this and food are the two biggest concerns for Olympic athletes coming to Beijing.

NY Times has a good article published today too -

"China under fire..."

My recent experience (yesterday) with the traffic situation, which is mentioned in the article, really opened my eyes to how bad these issues may be.  My commute sucks as it is (1 hour in the morning, usually 1.5 hours in the evening). Last night ... 3 hours. Why? Due to the rain. It has been raining here a lot lately, which is very unusual for Beijing. Usually, the rain is "forced" (they seed the clouds with sulfur rockets). Why is this done? People believe mainly to clean up the air when there are important visitors in town. I'm taking a guess that this is why it's been raining so much the last week.

Well, a lot of rain causes problems...flooding. Was this not expected? Last night, 2 days before the 1 year mark, this flooding wreaked havoc on the city (and caused my shoes to be caked in mud). I hope tomorrow (8/8) proves to be a clear and traffic free day! 

09 July, 2007

"Toilet Culture"...what the....???

Let's just hope they can keep this clean...

"A lulu of a loo"

25 June, 2007

Back in Beijing & can access flickr!

I arrived back in Beijing yesterday afternoon...feels great to be back. I never thought I would call China home, but I do...for now.

I previously reported that flickr was blocked in China. It may have been last week, but can access it now. This is the good news. The bad news is, the pages (and images) in flickr are not loading completely. Pages with photos will load, but the actual photo won't appear. The status bar at the bottom of the page says "done" ... hmm. This may just be a network glitch now, but likely has something to do with the great fire wall.

So, I think I got my hopes up. Sucks to not be able to view images, but at least I can load up my images for those outside of China to view. The saga continues...

20 June, 2007

This is getting old, really old...

Users rage against China's 'Great Firewall'


It seems that since I left Beijing last week for India, flickr.com is the latest casualty of the Great Firewall. It's starting to eat at me. Blogger blocked again and now flickr, where I have all of my photos (OK, not all, since I've been slacking).

I understand why the blocking happens (understand = know the reasons...not agree with), but I'm fed up. What can I do? Find work-arounds. I'm moving back into yahoo hosting for my blogs (have confirmed that it is accessible in China...as of now). As for flickr...not sure yet. I guess I'll just host my pictures on yahoo via my hosting account.

This sucks.

19 June, 2007

Biodome II anyone?

Space pioneers wanted for 520-day Mars experiment


This reminds me of the movie "Biodome." Don't think Pauly Shore is going to make the cut for this one though. Odds of this being turned into a reality TV show? I would say not good, but they should definitely consider it. I can't imagine the doors not being opened before 520 days.

16 June, 2007

Bangalore @ 6:30am

I decided to take a walk through the streets of Bangalore this morning. It's amazing to walk out of a nice hotel and see what you see around here. Not even pictures can tell the story about how far behind India is in many aspects.

This woman caught my eye as I was walking back to the hotel. I wonder what her story is. I don't even want to guess.

15 June, 2007

India vs. China - Outline

I'm on my third trip to India (Bangalore) and have spent about nine months in China (Beijing) so far. I think it's about time I start providing my view of a comparison between the these two massive countries.

What I'll cover (if anyone would like any other areas covered, let me know and I'll try my best):

1. Ease of travel to & from (Visas, Airlines, Routes, Airports, etc...)

2. Transportation in country (Driving services, taxis, etc...)

3. Infrastructure (Roads, Power, Water, Internet, etc...)

4. Hotels/Apartments

5. Population/Poverty

6. Skill/Capabilities/Cost

7. Foreign enterprises and investment

8. Stock Market

9. Culture

10. Language/Communication

11. What people think (about their own country and others).

12. Manners

13. Corruption/Government

I think that'll be a good start.

08 June, 2007

Blogspot blocked in China...again

Can't access manninchina.blogspot.com from China. This is getting old.

07 June, 2007

Pinyin to English / Chinglish to English / Old English to Proper English

Beijing is really starting to make an effort with changing out Chinglish to English. The most well known example is the change from the "Dongda Anus and Intestine Hospital" to the "Dongda Proctology and Intestine Hospital." That place is right near my apartment, laughed every time I saw it.

Here's an article covering the other areas...

"Hello toilet, goodbye WC for Beijing Games"

Some concerns with this:

1. Taxi drivers cannot speak English. Out of the thousands of taxis I've ridden in Beijing, a handful could speak some, very broken, English...similar to my level of Chinese. If street signs are changed to English - are the taxi drivers going to understand? I think not. Same goes for Olympic venues, restaurants, etc... I had heard all taxi drivers in Beijing have to pass an English test prior to the Olympics if they want to drive during the Olympics. I'm not sure how this is progressing, but from what I can tell...it hasn't move past "Hello!" and "OK".

2. I don't want to see the pinyin removed. For someone who lives here and is trying to learn Chinese to effectively communicate with the the people of China, the pinyin is very helpful. Keep the pinyin, add the English.

3. Good luck with the menus...that's all I have to say about that.

I have a feeling there is going to be a lot of pointing during the 2008 games. Pointing at maps, location cards, menus, sporting events, etc...

Windows Live Writer & Google Reader

After connection issues with live writter, it's working again. This is nice, especially because my blogger account still remains 100% in Chinese.

I've started to use Google Reader, mainly so I can read wordpress blogs (which are blocked again by the Great Firewall). However, I can't find a way to comment on blogs via Google Reader...is there a way to do so? If not, any other solutions out there?

Taxi ditch

I've done it before and I'll do it again in Beijing. There are some great taxi drivers in this city...the guys who are very cheerful, nice and always willing to help and deal with my poor Chinese...they even teach me to say things properly. Then, there are the guys who are  just aholes...pretend they don't understand you and then try to rip you off.

I have some friends in town visiting; they got to experience taxi ditch last night. Needless to say, they guy wasn't too happy when we ditched at a red light. As he pulled up to me and spoke some choice words...I did the same (those, I can say perfectly). We then hopped in another taxi and went on our way.

29 May, 2007

Frustration

My blogger account remains in Chinese, no matter how many times I've changed the country/language settings + cleared cache & cookies. The "recognize your country" function for some websites really sucks. Just because I'm in China doesn't mean I want my account in Chinese!

In addition to this problem, wordpress is yet again blocked.

Last...yesterday I went to the Lenovo "restaurant" with some other assignees here in Beijing (from Greenock, Scotland). My Chinese is the best of the group (which isn't saying much), so I did the ordering. Needless to say, it was a complete debacle. 5 minutes in, we had 4 or 5 waitresses hanging around us giggling and trying to figure out what the hell we wanted. In the end, we got what we wanted, just a bit too much of it.

Immediately following that, I contacted the language school and got my classes back on the calendar.

22 May, 2007

India


IMG_0055
Originally uploaded by MJM80.

After my second trip to India (Bangalore), it's starting to grow on me. This time around, I think it was the King's Castle. He had some cool stuff in there...namely, some elephant feet. I think they have fungus under their toe nails though. The head that belongs to a couple of those feet was also in the castle...picture is in the flickr stream, somewhere.

BTW...the King lives in the Castle too...weird.

18 May, 2007

Back at home...in China

Finally back in Beijing, after the US & India. Good to be back...lots of catching up to do.

27 April, 2007

Fast & free

I didn't think there was that much of a difference in internet speed from US & China, but wow, I really do notice a difference. At this 5 times faster here. And of course, the ability to roam the internet freely is a nice change.

Home sweet home

After 20+ hours of travel, I'm finally home in Buffalo. It feels good. I felt really weird when I was in Chicago, seeing so many people, that weren't Chinese. I also got to experience my first taste of home "hospitality" ... as I asked a woman working at one of the ticket counters in Chicago ... "can you tell me what terminal flight X is leaving from?" ... "No, I can't!" ... "Thanks so much for your help." So, that was nice.

First meal...BBQ chicken finger sub. First drink...MILK.

Hope to get some sleep tonight. Then it's off to Tony's in the morning for a haircut and then some friends from Raleigh are flying in for my brother's stag this weekend.

25 April, 2007

Goin' home!

Well, after 8 months in China, I'm finally making a trip back to the US. Hard to believe it's already been 8 months, seems like it's only been a couple.

So, off to Buffalo, NY tomorrow. 10 days there. My older brother is getting married on May 5. Stag (bachelor party) this coming Saturday. It's been more than 8 months since I've seen most of my family & friends, so I'm really looking forward to it. I've also got my liver nice and primed for the amount of alcohol consumption that will occur.

After the craziness in Buffalo, I'm heading down to Raleigh, NC for 4 days. More family and friends to see there & I'll finally get to see the new Lenovo campus there (wonder if I'll have a desk...likely not). Have a round of golf planned with some friends and people from work too.

So, after 2 weeks in the US, I'm off to India for a few days for work. Then finally, back to Beijing.

It'll be nice to get away from here for a while, but I'm sure I'll miss it!

23 April, 2007

Biking in Beijing

Yesterday was another great day in Beijing (the weather, that is). Saturday was golf and Sunday was biking around the death trap roads in Beijing. I didn't have a bike, until yesterday. I went to one of 1000 bike shops around Beijing and tried a few out. They don't really have any monster size bikes around here, but the one I got is big enough. A GIANT mountain bike with front shocks...very important for riding around Beijing.

So, after the purchase, a friend of mine and me headed off for a ride around the city. Started off at Ho Hai, then through the Forbidden City and back home. Was great. Almost got ran over a few times, but that's part of the experience.

Birthday in Beijing

Saturday was my bday, getting older. On Friday, my team had a little surprise for me. A cake & a video. Here's the video...sorry, can't share the cake.

20 April, 2007

MILK

I have not had a glass of milk since August 15, 2006. I can't remember a time before that when I've gone more than one day without a glass of milk, let alone 8 months without. I would say that I had averaged at least a gallon every two, maybe three days. Growing up, we lived on milk. Milk with every meal, including pizza. My parents probably spent more on milk than anything else.

In China, I do have milk. I put it in cereal and coffee, that's it. The taste isn't horrible, but it's just a lot different. I won't drink a glass of milk here.

I'm heading back to the States next week. People keep asking me what I miss most. MILK. A weird answer, yes...but I miss it. Of course, family and friends too...but as far is the non-important stuff goes, it's milk.

Get the milk ready mom & dad, I'm coming home!

18 April, 2007

‘Mayor of Seneca Street’ dies at 60

‘Mayor of Seneca Street’ dies at 60

I can't say I remember Joey all that much, but I do remember him at block parties around South Buffalo. I'm sure he'll make some more people smile wherever he ends up.

The driver

I have a guy that takes me too and from work each day. A friend of mine in Beijing hooked me up with him, his company uses this guy and his friends as their drivers too.

His name is Shi (pronounced - Shir). He's a short, balding guy. He drives like a maniac and has come close to head on collisions many times, but I don't mind...he gets me where I need to go as fast as he can.

The funniest part of my day typically happens around 7am when he picks me up. Most days, he's passed out in the driver seat waiting for me. I open the back door...he whips his seat back up in place, throws the pillow to the passenger seat, starts the car and drives off. All of this before I even have the car door closed.

We gave him the nick-name, "Dale." He could probably be a pretty good race car driver. I don't know anyone who could navigate the roads of Beijing as well as this guy can.

My friend and I have been looking for a NASCAR jacket for a while now, but have yet to come across one. So, last weekend, we did come across something close. It's a Kappa jacket (Kappa - logo with two girls, back-to-back). It says "Speed Racer" on it, among other things.

My friend presented him with the jacket yesterday, and explained why we got it for him. This morning, he was all smiles...picked me up proudly sporting the new jacket. Wait...maybe he was all smiles because of the pretty girl sitting in the front seat....that's a story for another day.

Lenovo FY 2008 Kick-Off meeting - Beijing

Last week, Lenovo China had their FY2008 kick off meeting. My first "all hands" meeting in China. I've been to tons with IBM and a few with Lenovo in Raleigh, but those don't compare to this.

I can't say it was strange...but it was weird. At the beginning, the company song was placed. I've been here for almost 8 months, and I think that was the first time I've heard it. The first thing that caught me a bit off guard was that most of the meeting (almost 4 hours) was in Chinese. I should have assumed that going in, but Amelio and some other non-Chinese Sr. VPs were on the agenda too. We were handed headsets when we came in, used for an English translation during the meeting.

The translators were not good, at all. I'm sure it's not easy to interpret, real time, but it was bad. There were two interpreters switching on and off. They would come in and out of the booth, forgetting to close the door. Shuffling papers around, not able to keep up, skipping entire sentences, etc.... That part of the event just was not a good experience. I have a couple English majors on my team who could have done a much better job, I'm sure.

It was interesting to see how excited the employees here in China got. The employee recognition here also seems pretty good. I believe they had over 100 employees recognized at the event. All received flowers, a plaque or trophy and likely some cash too.

At the beginning of the meeting, I noticed some sections had large flags rolled up. I had no idea what they were going to do with them. At the end of the meeting, the leaders of each organization in China got up on stage one-by-one, chanted some stuff, rolled out some small signs in Chinese (I believe they were stating their commitments for FY2008). Then, they asked their teams to stand up in the crowd and repeat after them. That's when the flags came out (Lenovo flags) and people shouted back the statements to the people on the stage. Very interesting, never saw anything like that before.

The last part of the event had Chairman Yang and Bill Amelio on stage, in F1 racing jackets. They grabbed a couple of "gas pumps" and began pumping blue liquid into a clear Lenovo glass tank. When the tank was full, race car sounds began and a car appeared on the big screen. Finally, an F1 race car (AT&T/Williams car - Lenovo sponsored) came crashing through a paper wall and revved its engine for a while. Kind of cool, got people excited.

I'll get to experience a few more of these here, I'm sure the next will be more interesting than the last.

16 April, 2007

Beijing Construction Team

A friend of mine here in Beijing had a great idea over the weekend.

In most cases, every construction worker has a very specific job around here. One guy has a small phillips head screw driver, one has the big one, one has the hammer, on the drill, etc.... They use that one tool pretty much all day. So, on their next job, they can say "I'm an expert with the medium size flat head screw driver." We see these guys every day and it gets more and more hilarious every time we see them.

So, what are we going to do? Picture time! We're creating a collection of the Beijing construction workers. Over the weekend we captured one guy with 3 shovels! I think we got one with a welding mask too. Collection will end up on flickr. Stay tuned.

Beijing Paddy's Day - one of my favorite pictures

This is a picture I took of my cousin in the Forbidden City, on Paddy's day. It's a great shot. I need to get this one blown up and framed. I've got another picture of the same cousin, a couple hours after midnight on this Paddy's day...it's another favorite, though I'm sure his mother wouldn't be happy with the shot ;-). It'll make its way onto the blog or flickr account sooner or later.


I've got 3 months worth of posts and pictures to talk about up here... they'll come out one at time, maybe a few at a time, if I get really ambitious.

10 April, 2007

The duck saga, continued...

Sad news today, the ducks perished in the vehicle trunk yesterday evening. The burial is being held today at the Beijing Da Dong Roast Duck restaurant in Chaoyang District.

Lesson learned...ducks can only live in a trunk for 24 hours, no longer.

09 April, 2007

Pet ducks...who does that?

I heard a story today that almost made me pee my pants. Over the weekend, someone in Beijing purchased some pet ducks (I think for their kid). First off, who does that? Maybe farmers, but not people who live in a city, right? I do recall a Friend's episode when Joey had a pet duck.

Anyway, as the story goes, this person purchased two ducks, put them in the trunk of the car and proceeded home. I assume maybe this person was excited to break out the ducks and present them to the child...or maybe, just excited to get home and have some dinner. Well, the ducks remained in the trunk of the car, probably just chatting away to each other...all night. Yes, they remained in the trunk of the car through the night and into the morning. Did this person recall the purchase from the previous day? Nope.

Have you ever been driving down the road and hear a sound coming from your car? Usually the sound is a flat tire, something you ran over, etc... how about quacking? I guess this person couldn't hear the quacking, until he arrived at work in the morning. They weren't dead! Could you imagine the "duh, you dumb ass" feeling you would get if you did this? I guess someone or some ducks could probably survive in a trunk for at least a couple days. And hey, if one of the ducks dies, the other one could snack on it. Beijing Duck!

So, what would you do? Turn around and take them home? Let them go? Give them to one of the cleaning people or parking attendants? Nah, let's ask someone else if they can take care of the problem for you....

"Hey, would you mind putting a couple ducks in your car and taking them home for me?" " Sure, no problem, I love duck poop. "

Well, that didn't work either. So, now, these ducks are just chilling out in the parking garage, making a mess of this person's trunk. Probably time for a trade in.

Moral of the story...don't buy pet ducks.

22 March, 2007

Paddy's Day in Beijing

For now...no words. Just pictures. More to come.








12 February, 2007

Test from Windows Live Writer

I am migrating to a new ThinkPad (X60).  With the migration, I am gettting myself more organized. As part of that, I'm going to try out Windows Live Writter for blogging. I've heard good things about it and I'm sick of jotting potential blog posts down in text files.

09 February, 2007

Thankfully I'm a sweater

Women like man sweat

Fear not, all you sweaters out there!

31 January, 2007

A first

Tonight was the first time in 5 months that I noticed the stars in the skies above Beijing.

I don't think this is an anomaly. Rumor has it that the "smackdown" is put on the factories here (i.e., use your filters) when the Olympic committee is in town. Oddly enough, they were here in the middle of January.

The real blue zoo

My apartment didn't come "fully stocked" with things like dishes, glasses, etc.... It had some, but not much and certainly not anything you'd be proud to entertain people with. Well, I decided I'd have some people over for dinner this Friday, so...time for some purchasing.

Where to go? I figured either Walmart or IKEA. I had been to neither thus far in my stay here in Beijing. I've heard stores about both. Particularly, IKEA...where people would hang out on the couches (which are in the furniture showrooms), go there just to eat the Swedish meatballs in the food court, over-crowded, etc... Based solely on those rumors, I decided I'd go see for myself....and, buy some stuff too.

I'll start off with the good stuff. All of the rumors I heard are true. The place is a mad house (hence, the blue zoo), people literally do seem to go there just to hang out. The top floor consists of many different style rooms (living rooms, dens, kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms). There were people just sitting around, chatting away in every one of these rooms. I didn't come across anyone sitting on a toilet, but I was hoping too (thankfully, they don't have squatters in the show rooms). The food court, it was packed...not an unhappy person in there. And the elevators, you could fit a mid-size car in those things!

All-in-all though, it's a great place to go shopping for "home stuff" here in Beijing. They have everything you need. I'd highly recommend it. Although, be prepared to get pissed off due to the over flowing amount of people wandering around.

BTW...I walked around just about that whole place. I think I was 1 of 10 foreigners in there. Thousands of Chinese.

30 January, 2007

Pond hockey at the blue zoo

On Sunday afternoon, I went and met some friends at a restaurant near the "Blue Zoo" and the "Worker's Stadium." The Workers Stadium is a huge soccer (futbol) stadium that is being renovated now for the Olympics. The first NFL game will also be held there in August, this year.

Anyway, the restaurant looks over a small pond in front of the blue zoo. It's frozen now...well, mostly frozen. There were quite a few people out there skating. Not only skating, but also scooting around on these small wooden stools with short wooden poles to push them along. Weird. I'll get some pictures next time. There were also a lot of old people out there, skating along in their "speed skates." Those are the skates with long blades and flimsy boots.

All of the sudden, I see a puck slide down the ice! Then, a group of four Chinese guys appear with some sticks and gloves on. I didn't think people would play pond hockey in China. It was pretty cool to see. Made me want to get out there with them....but...I can't find any sticks here! I also don't have the rest of my equipment. Sounds like a job for my cousin, when he comes here in March.

I'm not sure this ice would hold me too well though. My mom does say I'm a graceful skater, but I think this ice is a bit too thin for this big, graceful guy.

What is the "blue zoo" you ask? Come on!

29 January, 2007

The coffee maker

A few months ago, I bought a coffee maker for the office. I did this mostly for my benefit, but I figured some people on the team would use it. I knew that coffee was not very popular in China (tea, of course, is the hot beverage of choice). However, I didn't realize that people would not know how to use a coffee maker, stupid me.

So, after a couple weeks of just assuming no one else wanted coffee, the team finally asked me for a quick tutorial on how to make coffee. I was a bit surprised and found it a tad funny, but I went on with the tutorial. I went through it, step-by-step ... how to put the filter in, how many scoops of coffee, how much water ... that's pretty much it!

So, it was going fairly well. Although, the coffee pot would get left on for hours & hours...I think they were using more of the powder cream than the coffee...to be expected, I guess. Then, something happened...we ran out of coffee filters.

My expectations...someone would order some more. Nope. They continued to make coffee, using the little basket that you place the coffee filter in, as the filter. I wasn't sure what to think, but it was time for another quick tutorial.

I think we're back to normal now, but we'll see what happens when we run out of water.

24 January, 2007

Lost in translation x 2

Last night, I wandered around the corner to an Irish pub (Tin Whistle) I had heard about in Dalian. It was a Tuesday night, but I was expecting to see some people in the bar. I walked in to find only the bartender and another women who works in the bar.

This was my first visit to an Irish pub in China. I ordered a Guinness and felt like I was sitting at the Blackthorn in South Buffalo (though, I would be drinking Labatt Blue there). The bartender's name; Cherry. She spoke some English, but not a ton. I decided I wouldn't ask her why she chose that name. I sat there for about an hour talking to her about China, where she's from (Harbin), why she's in Dalian, etc...

Then, the owner stumbled in the door. He said a quick hello & proceeded to sit down on a bar stool with his head hanging down as if a brick was hung from his neck. Cherry whispered to me..."I scared of him." I asked why. She said..."Because when he drunk, he crazy and he always drunk!" He's an older Irish man. He lives a simple life..."runs" a bar, lives in China, gets drunk.
Finally, he decided to leave (after he left and came back about 5 times).

Next, a French guy wandered in. He was clutching two books...a French-English dictionary & a French-Chinese dictionary. Both looked to be heavily used. He really could not speak much English. I almost found it easier to try to communicate with him in the little amount of Chinese that I know, but that didn't work either. I did manage to determine that he lives in Dalian as a ship captain.

It was very interesting to be in China (Dalian), sitting in an Irish pub, drinking a Guinness, listening to U2 and trying to bridge communications between a French guy, two Chinese women and myself. Very interesting couple of hours.

23 January, 2007

Spit sacks

I'm going to be a bit negative here...

"Shanghai cabs to get ‘spit sacks’"

What the hell are you thinking!? I'm sorry, but there is no way this is a good idea, nor is it going to help to alleviate the amount of spitting in Shanghai. Really, spend 30 seconds and think about it.

First of all, does anyone want to ride in a vehicle sitting next to a bucket full of spit? I don't. Second, does anyone want to ride in a vehicle with spit all over it (because, people are not going to hit the 'sack' 90% of the time)? I don't. Third, does anyone want to ride in a vehicle with a bucket full of spit tipping over on you as the taxi driver weaves in & out of traffic, dodges people on bikes, etc...? I don't.

I haven't seen the design of this thing, maybe it's great and none of the above will happen. But, I can assure you, people aren't going to use this. Spitting will continue until people have suck straws (like dentists use) permanently installed in their mouths.

Sounds of a hotel lounge in Dalian

"Hit me baby one more time"
- The cell phone ring tone of a Chinese guy...not only was it weird to hear it, it was the loudest I've ever heard a cell phone ring in my life

Deep southern accents
- A couple of guys from North Carolina chatting away over a couple of beers

Hotel girls asking for room numbers
- About every 3 minutes, you hear the hotel greeters asking for room numbers as people enter the lounge.

The constant beeping of car horns
- OK, this is anywhere you go in China

CNN
- On every TV...for the foreigners, of course

19 January, 2007

Starbucks...maybe a bit too invasive


P1010233
Originally uploaded by MJM80.

While there isn't a Starbucks on every corner in China, they are certainly plentiful. In my recent visit to Shanghai, I came across a Starbucks that just seemed to be a bit out of place (pictured above). This Starbucks is located in the Yu Garden area of Shanghai. I don't know much about the Yu Garden, but I know it's a very old and historic place in Shanghai & maybe Starbucks shouldn't be there.

This morning on CNN, I heard Starbucks may get evicted from its Forbidden City location in Beijing. I kind of hope they do. There really is no reason for Starbucks to exist inside the gates of the Forbidden City. If us foreigners want some Starbucks, we can get it before we enter the gates. Read more here...

Time to move out Starbucks, there are plenty of other corners in China for you to park your over-priced beverage stand.

It's a small world

Buffalo is a fairly well-known city in the US (mostly negatively well-known, that is ... snow & the Bills ... also known as the home of the chicken wing & the Sabres are starting to add some positives to the city). Buffalo is also known for the huge number of people that leave the city each year.

I would have never thought that I'd run across someone from South Buffalo, living in China. Well, on Wednesday night, I did! I was out at the Goose & Duck in Beijing with a guy from North Carolina (he's a friend of my Uncle's). Ed (the guy from South Buffalo) was rifling through some DVDs and as we were asking him about the titles, we found out he & his wife were from South Buffalo. I forgot his last name, but we didn't seem to know any of the same people (which is strange), but I'm sure we'll meet up at the G&D again.

Weird!

15 January, 2007

More pictures from China, finally!


PC250121
Originally uploaded by MJM80.

I have finally gotten around to loading most of my backlog of pictures from the last few months (Beijing, Dalian, Taishan, Shanghai, etc...).

Check them out here @ my flickr account.

11 January, 2007

The flat world + pizza

As I get back into the blogging groove, I thought I would start with some fresh content. I still have loads of content from the last 30 days to get up here, including a lot of pictures. I've been really slacking lately (sorry).

Anyway...tonight I learned something new. Pizza is a "global food." Before coming to China, I obviously knew pizza would exist here, but I didn't know how many Chinese have actually every had it, or like it. Well, tonight, I asked my team to hang with me until about 9pm, so I ordered a bunch of pies. From where? Domino's.

I didn't ask the entire team before I ordered it if they liked pizza, I was kind of just hoping everyone would. Well, they did...the really, really liked it. I asked some stupid questions, like..."have you ever had pizza before?" There were a couple who hadn't, but the majority did.

I guess this was just one of those experiences that may seem really trivial & common, but it was actually pretty interesting for me.

So, the reason for the pizza dinner in the office...

Tonight, I held my first video conference, with the help of friend and colleague Esteban (thanks dude!) Obviously, Lenovo has teams across the world, in many different countries. Well, part of our web teams are in Buenos Aires, Argentina & Beijing, China. Aside from the language barriers, 11 hour time differences and slow connection speeds, we pulled off a first video conference between the two teams. There was a very simple purpose...to introduce the two teams to each other. It was a cool experience and there will certainly be many more to come.

Through 2007, my "flat world" experiences will be a theme over here on manninchina.

03 January, 2007

I'm still alive

The last 30 days or so have been very busy and quite interesting. I will admit, I did slack on the blog. However, much hiring was done and it was a first for me to spend the Christmas & New Year holidays away from the US and away from my family.

Don't despair, there is a blog backlog built up that will be released soon.

As for the new year...still thinking about it.