It's hard not to love China with Headlines like these

There is never a break in the interesting and outright absurd headlines that come to us daily here in China. Whether it be the old man that pushed a potentially suicidal man to his death because he was annoyed the man was seeking attention and holding up traffic, or the large apartment building in Shanghai that simply tipped over one smoggy morning because of shoddy foundation work.

This article epitomizes all that is hilarious and a bit cruel at times in China. Suicides seem to be fine here. The rule is, if you messed up bad enough, no one is really going to care, as long as you don't hold up traffic and slow down progress for others. It is a grim reminder that the value of a human life in this overpopulated country is far less than we are accustomed to in the West. I don't care if you do it, just don't do it where it will bother others... comedy noir would thrive here.

If I can find a link, I will post a small article I read a couple months back about a hilarious and somewhat scary mishap at a yogurt plant. The story reads that a woman went in to a local convenient store to buy her favorite yogurt drink, and noticed it tasted funny. When she approached the clerk, he said it was a new flavor, no need to worry. She kept drinking and when something wasn't right, she took her complaint higher. It turns out what she thought was yogurt was in fact white paint.

I pose a serious question to China: HOW is it possible that a factory producing yogurt drinks or any product for human consumption could possibly get mixed up with paint.... Which leads me to question how factories multi-task... or do anything really. Hilarious on paper, but kind of disturbing at its core.

Anemoi & Co. is Growing

Apologies for the recent lack of entry quality, it has been very busy here in the SZ apartment-turned-office. We are currently wrapping up our first assessment of a small company operating in Shenzhen and are gathering our forces and resources to present to a behemoth of industry, but thankfully to a small sector of its Shenzhen Operations. This is rather daunting as we are currently unknowns in the truest sense, but... we have planned for this.

We have been working to create a list of advisors and partners, by soliciting those we know and those we know peripherally to come join our humble company. The response has been very good, and by weeks end, we could (stressing here COULD) have 2 more partners on board in the company. Our current company is comprised of Anemoi Holdings and two partners, plus a group of several non-executive directors (a term I had never heard before but essentially means their resumes are on our site and they advise us on strategy and execution). Cool stuff right? Well it's exciting knowing people here are willing to get behind us.

The hard work is now getting work. And doing this while two of us will be in the states for 2 and 3 weeks respectively. It is interesting to say the least, but late nights writing assessments and trying to contact colleges at the same time has made us remember that hard work is unavoidable, and perhaps welcome, as it has been some time since we've had to pull this much work together so quickly and (now more than ever) professionally.

I return home soon to Newark, the airport of Continental, and will immidiately head to Boston pending some unforeseen inability to stay awake long enough in Penn Station. Get excited, I certainly am, and if anyone has any requests for souvenirs and the like, get em in now, because time is running out.

Healthcare Road Map

Apologies for the deceptive title. Only reading MSNBC, Boston.com, and BBCNews, my information is limited to how much time I feel like spending on those sites, but it seems that the healthcare issue is stirring up good-ol' fashioned mobs with pitchforks and torches. I cannot even begin to have an opinion on it, since I really have enjoyed distancing myself from the American Media (it's actually very refreshing not being bombarded with garbage 90% of the time).

I am really posting to lay out an ever so small portion of my trip home, mostly because it gives me an excuse to play with some screen-capture software that I purchased, and because I'm putting off doing some work at the moment (yeah midnight right?).



I'm thoroughly convinced there are only 3 people who still read this, so it seems like a lesson in futility but who cares, it's the internet

Sunrelenting

It is August and the heat is really on. The humidity too, extra even.

That's not really news though. There is little new to report on. We are grinding away at getting this new company moving forward, and the prospects look promising. We have several partners lined up, and two are already committed. We also we're able to secure some gravitas with the help of some senior figures both in China and abroad throwing their names under ours.

That is exciting, but not money-in-my-pocket exciting. My Macbook is still dead and the more research I do on it, the more it looks like 6 years of music and 3 years of documents have been all but erased thanks to a tiny needle scratching a tiny disc in a rather compact little computer.... That is frustrating to say the least.

On a happier note, this American adventurer is coming back home, not for 1 week, not 2, but three weeks. I expect my home coming to elicit a response similar to this:


And if you call in the next 30 minutes we'll include a full sit down face-session with this guy himself, something we've never offered before on this show. But wait, there's more (Billy Mays and Ron Popeil would be proud) I am multi-tasking this trip. Mixing business with leisure with family time with wedding time. It does of course mean a road trip (work related for a solid 75% of it), which means that if anyone who still actually reads this is on the northeastern seaboard, they should let me know when they are free between Sept 7th and the 21st.
The trip will be interesting to say the least as we find ourselves dealing again with our humbling South China Learning Institute summer program. But it's new, improved, with a curriculum and of course a snazzy powerpoint that details all of our wonderful opportunities. Folks if you've got kids in college or just out, they cannot afford to miss a summer in arguably one of the most important cities of the next 20 years.

Time it's flying

The last week and a half has been incredibly busy here. We are prepping for our return to the states, as well as moving forward with the new business concept which is neatly represented by this little logo I put together one day.

The craziest thing is the fact that our best friend is getting married, marking the first of the SSCC to succumb to that most hallowed institution. What's crazier will be the 15/16 hr trip that it'll take to get back in , and the awkward customs conversation when they ask why you've been in China so long with only a tourists visa.

The trip home will be both business and pleasure however as I plan on doing another Eastern seaboard trip to meet with as many schools as possible, armed with a powerpoint pesentation, brochures, and of course, snazzy business cards. The aim is to get as many schools on board with the SCLI program and look for recommendations of places to vet our services. We'll see how it goes this week as we begin approaching schools for meetngs.

The company that I have been rather surreptitious about is going to run in the True Wind vein. The "C" stands for consulting. Not my area of expertise, but the boys have a history with this stuff from their time in Gotham city, and we have some partners with experience both in China and in the field. The feeling is positive as we move forward securing a company line as well as a website (another one right?).

On a side note, it's hard to believe August is nearly half way over. This of course comes up to mark the 6 month point in my time here, and it's rather scary to think about. It's gone way too fast, and well... the results we were hoping for have not been realized just yet. I seem to say the next few weeks will tell, and I keep trying to believe it. We'll see where things go.

Junkin' It

Things have been slow out here lately, and unfortunately there is little new to report on other than the drain of funds and the intensity of the heat. SCLI is gearing up for the school season and our curriculum is beginning to come together. We are currently working on a pitch presentation and educational materials to show to schools and potential students. Sadly, any revenue from our efforts will not be realized until late fall at the earliest... Which is frustrating.

The new direction we are working toward is seeing some positive progress, and though we are in the due diligence phase of things,the potential market is promising. We are excited about it, but cautious nonetheless.

The bright spot in the past few weeks was junk boat cruise we were invited on this last Saturday. The weather was perfect, albeit painfully humid, but the sun stayed out and the waters were calm. It was my first junk experience in Hong Kong and most certainly will not be the last. The cruise set off from a large pier paaacked with parties ranging from 10-40 people all awaiting their respective boats. Our meager crowd of 15 or so dialed in the reserved boat and set sail for the island of Po'toi about an hour and a half away. Po'toi is one of the southern most islands under Hong Kong's jurisdiction and is home to a small town that exists solely to run a large restaurant frequented by junkers. The fish was amazing and diverse, and the atmosphere, though a bit muggy was quite interesting. Large round tables housed boat parties and all were seated on various levels of decking. all of this overlooked the medium-sized cove that sheltered the 6 or so junks that were there at the time of our arrival. Lunch was great, but it was time for a swim.

I have since been told that the salinity of the waters varies greatly depending on which coves the captains decide to stop at. Ours happened to be quite salty. Eye-burny salty. A damper on the afternoon's activities? Absolutely not. We christened the swim with a couple jumps of the top of the boat, then proceded to loung about in lifesavers for a good half hour, before swimming and jumping in some more. The good life.

Swimming was nice and a few of us retired for naps on the main deck. We slowly raced the sun back to Hong Kong and once there, decided it wasn't yet time to go home. Negotiations were in order, and an extra couple hundred hong kong dollars a head bought us and extra 90 minutes to watch the sun come down and the city light up, in an unprecedented on-water view.

A great day indeed, and sadly, it's all in the past as we continue to work, study mandarin (we're a bit behind regrettably), and continue to make something of our time here.