Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Friday, September 05, 2008
Herding Cats: Risk Management is How Adults Manage Projects
Herding Cats: Risk Management is How Adults Manage Projects
Nothing judgemental there... :-) But some important key info on risk management in projects.
Nothing judgemental there... :-) But some important key info on risk management in projects.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Orville Schell on China
Very interesting piece in New York Review of Books (online, of course) by Orville Schell, reviewing the movie Dark Matter, about a Chinese PhD student in the US who, perceiving that his advisors have caused his humiliation and loss of face, kills them and himself.
It's a very perceptive historical review of the "100 years of humiliation" that Chinese feel (and celebrate, if that's the right word) that goes a long way to explain the actions and reactions of the government and Chinese citizens in response to things like the torch protests.
Check it out:
China: Humiliation & the Olympics.
It's a very perceptive historical review of the "100 years of humiliation" that Chinese feel (and celebrate, if that's the right word) that goes a long way to explain the actions and reactions of the government and Chinese citizens in response to things like the torch protests.
Check it out:
China: Humiliation & the Olympics.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Blue Sky Day, Shanghai
OK, I should've posted this when I got here. When we got in the van to head to the hotel, what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a bunch of puffy clouds and blue sky! All the rain must have had some positive impact, I guess.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
China, the Olympics and the Visa Mystery
Fascinating and somewhat provocative piece here with a really quite compelling analysis of the Chinese visa restrictions. Some key points:
* Beijing is willing to sacrifice stability to retain power (and there are plenty of historical examples of the same thing)
* China is due for an economic crisis due to the underlying nature of the growth
Fascinating reading. Stratfor
* Beijing is willing to sacrifice stability to retain power (and there are plenty of historical examples of the same thing)
* China is due for an economic crisis due to the underlying nature of the growth
Fascinating reading. Stratfor
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Euros in Mono
We're on a quick trip down the east side of the Sierras, and are spending the night (and tomorrow AM) in Mono Lake. Having dinner, it was impossible to miss that easily half or more of the diners were European. The Euro must be doing quite well.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Tale of Two, er, Three Flights
Get to the Shanghai Pudong airport at 10:30am June 11, check in for United 858, nice new airport terminal (Pudong Terminal 2) and nice business class lounge. Board the plane, push back.
Pilot annouces the air conditioning is broken. We sit out on a side runway. After two hours, we get towed back to the gate, and told the flight is cancelled. We have to walk back out through immigration (typical Chinese queueing, meaning, every person for themselves), get our bags (no agents to tell people exactly *where* to get them), and stand in line to be reticketed. We decide to stand in line at the ticket counter, since the sooner you get reticketed, the more options you have (overhear people calling their travel agents and rebooking while waiting to re-enter. Isn't it annoying that our new agency only has a toll free number, worthless outside the US?) While Lizette waits, I dash downstairs to get our bags to shortcut things. No news, no info, not enough agents visible (really, just one or two not behind the counter). Turns out you walk down to the Burger King (!) and go through a side door through security and get the bags and exit customs, back up to ticket line, where we're at the front of the line, but... 300 people changing their flights - it's a little slow. By 4:20pm (4 hours after original push-back), have tickets to Chicago and then to San Jose. Those folks who rebooked while waiting to get through immigration have seats to SFO, but we don't, too late.
Oh, did I mention that United cancelled 858 the previous Saturday and Sunday? Are they skimping on maintenance to pay for gas?
Board the nonstop to Chicago, push back at 5:30pm or so. Kinda warm - pilot tells us, one of the three air conditioning packs is "degraded". Seems it was that way when the plane flew from Chicago the day before, and there's no way to fix outside the US. Good planning, guys!
3 hours into the flight, the captain comes on and says, "We know it's in the 90s back there in coach, but the only other choice we have is to turn around and go to Tokyo, and you wouldn't get home for 2-3 days. Just think of it as a summer day." He must be getting lots of flack. Plenty comfortable in business class - I stand at the boundary for a while to cool down. After about 8 hours, temperature finally reasonable. Only 4-5 hours to go!
On the ground in Chicago. Recheck bags. (Later, we realize that they failed to remind us about checking duty free in checked luggage -- helpful ticket counter agent fixed that up.) Security again, and at least that paid-for-with-miles Red Carpet Club membership comes in - wireless and power (and potato chips).
Hey! Guess what? Plane to San Jose is delayed! Finally take off two hours late - 10:20pm, in to San Jose at 1am. Thanks to Debbie Boydston, there's a very patient limo driver waiting to drive me to Berkeley. Finally in bed at 2:15am Thursday June 12: 32 hours after departing the Salvo Hotel in Shanghai!
Pilot annouces the air conditioning is broken. We sit out on a side runway. After two hours, we get towed back to the gate, and told the flight is cancelled. We have to walk back out through immigration (typical Chinese queueing, meaning, every person for themselves), get our bags (no agents to tell people exactly *where* to get them), and stand in line to be reticketed. We decide to stand in line at the ticket counter, since the sooner you get reticketed, the more options you have (overhear people calling their travel agents and rebooking while waiting to re-enter. Isn't it annoying that our new agency only has a toll free number, worthless outside the US?) While Lizette waits, I dash downstairs to get our bags to shortcut things. No news, no info, not enough agents visible (really, just one or two not behind the counter). Turns out you walk down to the Burger King (!) and go through a side door through security and get the bags and exit customs, back up to ticket line, where we're at the front of the line, but... 300 people changing their flights - it's a little slow. By 4:20pm (4 hours after original push-back), have tickets to Chicago and then to San Jose. Those folks who rebooked while waiting to get through immigration have seats to SFO, but we don't, too late.
Oh, did I mention that United cancelled 858 the previous Saturday and Sunday? Are they skimping on maintenance to pay for gas?
Board the nonstop to Chicago, push back at 5:30pm or so. Kinda warm - pilot tells us, one of the three air conditioning packs is "degraded". Seems it was that way when the plane flew from Chicago the day before, and there's no way to fix outside the US. Good planning, guys!
3 hours into the flight, the captain comes on and says, "We know it's in the 90s back there in coach, but the only other choice we have is to turn around and go to Tokyo, and you wouldn't get home for 2-3 days. Just think of it as a summer day." He must be getting lots of flack. Plenty comfortable in business class - I stand at the boundary for a while to cool down. After about 8 hours, temperature finally reasonable. Only 4-5 hours to go!
On the ground in Chicago. Recheck bags. (Later, we realize that they failed to remind us about checking duty free in checked luggage -- helpful ticket counter agent fixed that up.) Security again, and at least that paid-for-with-miles Red Carpet Club membership comes in - wireless and power (and potato chips).
Hey! Guess what? Plane to San Jose is delayed! Finally take off two hours late - 10:20pm, in to San Jose at 1am. Thanks to Debbie Boydston, there's a very patient limo driver waiting to drive me to Berkeley. Finally in bed at 2:15am Thursday June 12: 32 hours after departing the Salvo Hotel in Shanghai!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
China’s Loyal Youth - New York Times
China’s Loyal Youth - New York Times - an interesting article about internal Chinese opinion on Tibet. The English language media in China is pretty much the same way.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Stuck on the Plane in Shanghai, or, Mei You Deicer Truck
Almost 150,000 passengers were stranded at Guangzhou Railway Station on Saturday night after a power failure caused by snow, ice and sleet stopped more than 136 trains in Hunan Province on the trunk line between Beijing and Guangzhou.
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6345929.html
I’m stuck on the plane (shockingly, stealing internet access from some place at the airport), with conflicting information about when the deicer truck will be available, and when we might freakin’ leave this place.
This is the impact of two or three days of sleet and snow on a city that if it's lucky, gets a few drifts each year.
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6345929.html
I’m stuck on the plane (shockingly, stealing internet access from some place at the airport), with conflicting information about when the deicer truck will be available, and when we might freakin’ leave this place.
This is the impact of two or three days of sleet and snow on a city that if it's lucky, gets a few drifts each year.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Back to China...
I flew into Hangzhou Airport this afternoon from Tokyo Narita. What a quick and easy process... except for the many hour schlep to Narita. Immigration and Customs at Hangzhou is amazingly quick - 10 minutes. They seem to have copied the unfortunate plan of putting the airport way way out in the boonies, though - an hour to the hotel and our office.
And it was snowing! Not sticking, but snowing...
And it was snowing! Not sticking, but snowing...
Thursday, January 10, 2008
oobject » best Rube Goldberg Machine videos
You've got to check this out: oobject » best Rube Goldberg Machine videos: http://oobject.com/category/best-Rube-Goldberg-Machine-videos. I have a special fondness for these kinds of systems, having been a software architect :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
