Standards

Inconsistency keeps people on their toes, or just frustrates them and keeps them from ever checking this little website.

Our Gaelic football club is now in its final preparation stages as the All Asia Gaelic Games approaches (Sept 25-26), and after a string of injuries to our veterans, we look to our young rookie class to carry us in competition. Kind of like the Patriots, but not really.

We were recently approached about writing for a new website in town called the Shenzhen Standard. The website is supposed to serve as a platform for business information and news regarding various aspects of life in Shenzhen. While it is still in its nascent stages, we have begun putting out some articles for them, mostly pom-pom waiving about how great China is and why Shenzhen is China's next hotbed for innovation, development, money, bla bla bla. Our involvement on the site has raised some interesting ideas that I'd like to talk about somewhere.

First, I'll be honest, I have reservations about the site. It is all good and fine, and has good goals, but I was initially bummed out by the blatant advertising not even thinly-veiled as news popping up everywhere within its pages (especially the homepage). Now this may sound pretty tame from a distance, but it is something that represents a greater shortcoming within the entire expatriate community out here. Now, I hope this advertising thing is short lived as expats like ourselves work to fill the website with meaningful, thoughtful content. This website is not alone either, there are a handful of expat run websites around shenzhen: Shenzhen Party, Shenzhen Stuff, etc, that are designed to help integrate East and West and create constructive environments for social networking and the like. The problem is not China.... it's the expats themselves. Poor moderation, low standards for quality, blatant disrespect for China in some cases, and a general negativity/hostility that is off-putting to many people, Chinese and foreign alike. I'm not saying this about the standard, but I feel with a name like that, it should hold itself in high regard, put only the best content forward, and keep things as professional as possible. I believe the same should be true for all expat run entities in Shenzhen and abroad in general. We have a responsibility, more than our fellow Americans back on home soil, to represent ourselves, our jobs, and our countries in the best light possible. Or hell, we should at least try to avoid looking the ignorant bastards that are so often portrayed in our own media (cough cough Q'ran burning).

I may be sounding a bit hot-headed, but I honestly believe that this kind of personal accountability is extremely important out here, especially in our increasingly transparent world, where internet personalities are universally accessible. Some times it is good and important to have a sense of humor, retain a biting wit, engage in a bit of jovial bashing, but know when to turn it off and put your serious-pants on. yeah... serious pants, what of it?

I'm having issues posting pictures, so no pictures of pants for display purposes... damn.

The second issue is much more minor and I'm guessing pretty well known. China cheerleading falls into a similar category as the last rant, but is one that is very important out here. Foreign dissent against China is not illegal per se, but not something I would recommend for anyone living out here who doesn't have some sort of diplomatic our NYT-level journalism clearance. This of course creates a double-edged sword for China. Let's say you have a foreign VC entity looking to get into the Sino-party that is Southern China. These guys are smart fellows, they read the news, they see the potential pitfalls that await as they've read in WSJ,Forbes, and various other financial news outlets. But even these highly esteemed news sources are subject to this cheerleading as well. The real picture is very hard to obtain without eyes and ears on the ground. I recently came across an article about doing business in Nigeria, and how, in an effort to show respect, someone will always say yes when asked if a particular task is possible. This is also true here, though perhaps not to the degree it is there. China-savvy people will have a general sense of this, but it is so difficult to understand that true nature of business-direction and action out here. We are dealing with our first handful of Chinese clients, and even as we show progress, competence and even surpass expectations, we are left scratching our heads when things do not go as discussed/agreed upon/signed upon. Frustrating? Absolutely. Important? Even more so.

I'm accessing this blog via a crappy tunneling website, so I cannot post photos or links. Shenzhen Standard can be found at: http://www.shenzhenstandard.com

Another Year

We have all been commenting how this summer, while admittedly hot, happened late this year, and has been considerably milder from the previous one. The biggest difference has been the lack of smog that seemed ever-present during the summer months last year. It is indeed a welcome change, and the foreigners have a great time speculating as to the cause, since Shenzhen will play host to the 2011 Universiade Games. Could it be the new charge to bring electric public transit vehicles into wider use? Perhaps it is the result of a concerted effort to reduce emissions across the spectrum (doubtful given the construction and manufacturing here)? Our favorite answer, and one that really isn't outside the realm of possibility: weather engineering to fuel advertisement for next year's games and help with the general perception of the city as it gets ready to unveil a host of new civic projects, including high speed link up with Central Hong Kong. Russia and China have both admitted to weather engineering, and as crazy as it sounds... actually it is crazy, but who cares, I'll take my sunshine anyway I can get it.

Another oddity out here. Smaller bedrooms do not necessarily mean smaller AC units, and while this may sound delightful on the front, it is actually a bit of a problem out here. Last summer our assistant caught a cold on two occasions for forgetting to bring her AC to a normal level before dozing off for the evening. Many people complain of similar immune responses, and one that I have encountered in my new bedroom: dehydration. But Chris, haven't you been known to enjoy a few pints in the evening and also play two sports over there? Yes and yes, but it is in fact something that is reality out here. It sounds rather trivial but add dehydration to a UV index of 10, and heat indexes consistently over 100F, and you've got to be slightly concerned. Honestly, who'd have thought one would need a humidifier in a tropical locale in the middle of the summer.... go figure.

Dog Days

As with summer anywhere, things tend to slow down a bit productivity is eased, daydreams are focused on beaches and sitting beneath shaded trees, and getting out of China. Offices with proper (see: excessive) air conditioning will curb this natural tendency a bit, but cannot stifle it completely. Such is summer in Shenzhen. This year the summer has come much later, and thankfully, has not been nearly as smoggy. I credit China's weather engineering departments with the nice conditions.

Business is plugging along, and there is little if anything new to report other than yet another apartment that I am calling home. Landlord's do not seem to keen to honor contracts if they can break it in a way that benefits their short term (see: wallet) interests. Ours sold our unit and moved us to another location, which to our delight is nicer, larger, and has a HD flatscreen with speakers. This of course means I've been playing video games in my downtime instead of reading, as a good expat is wont to do.

What else to say really? Hope to get back to the States soon, looks like I'll be out in China for a bit longer. Anyway, here's a picture of the gang at our friend Isaac's birthday party in Hong Kong a few months back

Hiatus

Nope, not Haiti, hiatus.

I have not written here for some time due partly to a lazy demeanor regarding this blog, a trip to the US, and a return to China that has seen some seven day work weeks with hours that are reminiscent of college finals library hours. Could I have faithfully updated? Absolutely. Did I really want to? Not a bit, though I thank the small handful of followers that comprise the people I should actually be calling on a consistent basis, throwing my recent life onto the internet has not been high on my list of things to do.

I can most certainly say this about China, and our time here. The honeymoon's over. The savings are dry, and the horizon is exactly that... a horizon.

I'm not sure what I've written previously, but the education enterprise we set up was a statistical failure despite some promising student numbers and reviews. True Wind, our consulting firm, has been absorbed into a larger company that deals with management and strategy consulting, and my freelance design has netted one logo for an aspiring author and board member here in China.

I am now living in my third apartment with two chinese roommates, and very well may be moving again this week since our landlord has decided to sell our unit and relocate us to another, albeit nicer, apartment.

We've had birthdays come and go, weddings fly by, and several fellow expats have left china for humbler, better things (they came here for the bigger and better).

As a group/company/team whatever you want to call us, we are sitting on several potentially large projects. I may have mentioned bits and pieces back home, but our strict NDA's disallow me from saying much else. What I can say is that we are going to get taken for a bit of a ride on the fee side of things. And we are working to make sure that this will benefit in the long term. I may seem ok with this only because fees here are really villainized, and contracts with chinese partners are only worth the paper their written on and may be abandoned at any time really. It is therefore our aim to settle for the small but manageable fee, and maintain an amicable relationship with both sides, while securing very realistic future work.

If it all sounds a bit vague, that's because it is, welcome to China.

On a side note, most of us here are excited the World Cup is over and that we can return to our normal sleep schedules. on a sider note, I was recruited to join a rag-tag group of soccer misfits for a 6 a side tournament on Sunday, against 8 other teams from the city. None of us are sure how we pulled it off, but 8 games later, we emerged victorious, undefeated, and winning the championship with a penalty kick struck by yours truly. rock and roll and sore muscles everywhere.

China things

I've just landed in the States and have completely given up trying to sleep on these flights anymore. Good times, but take this entry with a grain or two of salt.

If you've met an expat living in China, you'll probably here of something called a China-day. This can manifest itself as China-week, China-month, or the elusive and saddening, China-year. There are certain frustrations out here that are commonplace, traffic in all shapes and forms (walking, bicycles, cars), general differences in common sense, and completely different standards for acceptable procedures. Anyway, a China-day (in my opinion) is a day when many of these minor irritants are compounded, along with any other frustrations that occur normally, like say...Mondays. It's funny, a bit ignorant, and generally an acceptable response to "how are ya?"

Not all of these quirks and nuance of China are annoying. Back during the All China Games that we hosted recently, several of us noticed that the port-o-potties, or port-o-squatties as we feel they should have been named, were manufactured and patented in the US, in Minnesota of all places. Long-winded sentence aside, it was something that made you scratch your head and then just shrug in acceptance: China is full of some weird stuff, one example being portable squattie toilets manufactured solely for Asian countries, by an American manufacturer... gotta love it.

Better late than never

One of the best parts about being out here is the chance to get into some good sport. The Gaelic Club out here is great fun, and everyone agrees it's nice to have one night a week to get away from people talking shop and sharing pints, and have a good run around. It helps that we're not terrible either. Despite the fact that I hadn't heard of the sport a year ago, I was lucky enough to get to a half-respectable level. I mentioned our trip to Thailand in October and the wonderful time that was for the All Asia Gaelic Games, not knowing at the time that it was in fact the largest amateur sporting event in Asia. Pretty neat.

Anyway, a few weeks back Shenzhen hosted the All China Gaelic Games, and competed with teams from all around, including the big three, as well as some lesser known cities. A few of us spent the entire day before the games literally assembling the goals, chalking the fields and building all the advertising billboards. I mean we literally put together the entire tournament, it was pretty impressive to witness how the guys on the team arranged factories to build out goals, put together player packs, organize hotels, and various entertainment venues. Pretty neat process, but to the better point, Shenzhen came in second overall, upsetting several cities (Shanghai included) and nearly defeating Hong Kong in a really great match.

It was a great little weekend. hmm.. I guess that's all for now.

Sabbatical

Wow, it's been too long.

I have not been traveling into Hong Kong much lately, and the Great Firewall is strong as always, but I managed to connect.

While my last post may have painted a distraught and frustrated picture of my life out here, there is more to it. Yes, everyday we work hard to try and make something of ourselves out here, and yes, things don't materialize the way you'd always like them to, but we are far from feeling defeated. TWC is taking on a whole new life, and I cannot discuss much about the details, but the way business is done out here has required us to tweak and modify.

On a personal note I am beginning to resign myself to the fact that I will never be able to escape my artistic side, however unpolished it may be. I had a mentor in high school who pulled me aside one day after a classroom critique. We were nearing graduation and I had a brush with a full on final project failure when a 6 foot sculpture I was making began to fall apart due to poor engineering foresight. Long story short, i spray-painted the abomination, carried it around campus and took pictures of it... artsy pictures, and handed in a photo project instead of a sculpture. How I got the grade I did is beyond me, but my teacher thought it was commendable. He told me that despite my best efforts I would be making art my entire life, and not the art that some consider sports radio, or deception, or statistical modeling to be, real art, which is scary. Real artists study art, live it, make careers out of it, and very few are successful. It is an extremely competitive field that discourages scores of less-than-exceptionally talented young artists from ever considering an art school or graphic design major. I may be naive, or just dumb, but that's always been my take, art isn't worth the effort to make a career out of it, it should be a hobby.

My lack of real world experience out here has relegated me to art. Websites, logos, brochures and the dreaded powerpoint presentation are my new 9-5 routines. I cannot say that I don't have an opinion since I consciously used the word relegated in the previous statement, but i am apprehensive about the tone it may set for me out here despite the fact that I enjoy a small bit of it. How it will affect my China experience will remain to be seen, but it's paving a new path out here, one that I am walking down without bias hopefully.

Everyday I'm humblin'

I'm no Rick Ross, but that's neither here nor there.

VPN is (sort of) working at the moment, so let's get this up before it decides to shut itself down again.

Not everyday out here is difficult, in fact many aren't. As the three of us prepared ourselves for the transition into China, I wanted to keep everyone's ambitions grounded, and maintain a realist tone in our group of eager and ambitious go-getters. I warned that the trip would test the limits of our friendship, our bank accounts, and our patience, and that of these, none were guaranteed to hold up. Having said that, in the back of my mind, I was as ambitious as the others, and secretly imagined things would be ok.

It is certainly not easy, and while many days are smooth, the ones that are not good link together, forming arduous rough patches that test all three aforementioned issues we were worried about. I always write about payday here, and perhaps with too much hubris, or to tell myself things are going well. In fact, things are not horrible, we are all still friends, and my patience has matured over the last year, but it has been as difficult as I warned myself it would be. Every aspect of our business(es) has faced hurdles, and left us frustrated at some point in time, and every time we seem to devise a solution to either fix the issue, or at the very least, offset the damages. It is making us stronger, smarter, and for some of us, a bit more grounded in the reality of this kind of life. It is not all victories, as I had predicted, but the losses, the frustrations, as much as you can prepare for them in your head, are still just that.... frustrating.

Originally we planned for a 6-month minimum time slot out here, that has since been extended and tomorrow marks my completion of one full year here. It is looking like that will be extended another year, and how I feel about that is irrelevant really, as we have a duty to fulfill out here, and a responsibility to remain and see this through. It is not all bad, far from it, but it wears on a person, and I believe makes them stronger. Learning your weaknesses is important, overcoming them or correcting them is the true, and most difficult goal.

I miss Boston, America, and everyone I've had the honor of calling my friend in the last few years. I hope to return again in May for a couple weeks.

VPN Issues

My free VPN has decided to be rather fussy as of late and as a result my unfettered access to the interwebs has been limited to China-approved content. While this very humble little blog does not incite direct wrath of the censors, it is under the umbrage of .blogspot.com which is completely shut down on the mainland.

It's a good thing I've got a multiple entry visa into Hong Kong.

The last few weeks have been rather busy, hectic, and draining. Our bank accounts are on the Nicole Ritchie diet, and we've been pulling some long hours. Our first students have arrived, and we've been busy managing that as well, while also dealing with the frustrations of young, ambitious students, and recent grads who are trying to squeeze everything they can out of our internship program.

It is frustrating work, but I guess with any program where large numbers of students apply and only a few actually show, this is to be expected. We have been working very hard to find these applicants good spots, and perhaps it is time for us to look at what we offer, as maybe we have made some critical mistakes that are keeping students at bay.



On the slightly brighter side, I have moved in to my nice little apartment, and it is refreshing to live alone for a little while, although it can get rather quiet at times. I'll be posting pictures of it on Monday (which is when I'll be back in Hong Kong for some hopefully positive banking work).

Good afternoon from Hong Kong

Afternoon folks, The New Year holiday has come and past, as has the Lantern Festival which marks the end of the new year holiday (pretty neat huh?). Our province only reported a measly 19 deaths this holiday due to Fireworks-related accidents, and was considered an overall success.

Work on our end continues as normal, with some sparks of hope in the form of potential clients that disappeared and then suddenly reappeared. Always nice knowing we're being considered without our knowledge.

On a personal note I have just moved into a new apartment (solo this time) as I've realized that I need my own space out here. Things are going quite well with the partnership given that half of us are no longer in Shenzhen at this point, and it is merely a decision I made some time ago. I look forward to having my own little (45sq meters) place, and testing it out for a few months.


I'm also planning a weekend trip up to Shanghai, if anyone has contacts/recommendations/advice they'd like to send me way, I'd love it.

Sweatin' to the Oldies

Chinese New Year/Spring Festival is over, and in proper form, the weather has followed suit and begun to warm up a bit. in fact it's been 75 for the last three days! This sounds delightful right? Well sort of. Having temperatures at night about 41 is always nice, but the turn in weather has reminded us once again why there are palm trees about: humidity. Much like southern Florida, the humidity is now in the upper 80's. This is all fine and good except for the curious matter of physics occurring in many apartments around the city. We had been told legends of the "sweat out" but had never laid witness to it. The concrete-heavy nature of construction here has left buildings' interiors cool, and relatively dry after 2 weeks straight of 40-50 degree, somewhat dry weather. The sudden increase of temperature and humidity has the buildings literally sweating out this temperature adjustment, and the results for all those inside are rather annoying. One: Nothing will dry, and if it was already dry, it feels like it needs another 20 in the dryer. So that's kind of gross, and the floors are quite slippery as they are covered in a light mist, and the mirrors and windows? well I've posted a picture below for reference. Complaining you say? Sure why not, but it's pretty damn interesting as well. I cannot decry the shoddy construction methods, or curse the Chinese like many an expat do out here, because I am neither engineer nor meteorologist, and do not understand how construction works in these kinds of climates. Cool? sure Annoying? you betcha



PS: I've gained some movement back in my little finger, but mostly because it's the knuckle that was affected the most. black and blue pics are coming soon. sweeeet.

Kung fu

Sadly I am not taking any martial arts lessons these days, but I was recently introduced to a nice judo chop between my ring and pinky finger whilst on the gaelic football pitch. An accident of course, and one that adrenaline kept at bay until arriving home to see my left hand look, quite literally, ham-fisted. I doubt it's broken but its swelled up nicely, and I'm told tomorrow is when the real fun starts.

I'll be sure to post pictures if I get some sweet black & blue on this guy. So until next time folks.

Chinese New Year Cold spell

There's nothing quite like waking up... fully clothed... at noon. And no, it's not because I'm hungover, it is because the cocoon I have built is far too warm and I am lazy to get up and go about my day while being cold. I was supposed to go into Hong Kong for lunch and to run some errands, but alas, that window is now much smaller due to my late rise.

The New Year holiday is finally beginning to dwindle down and people are alleged to begin returning to the Seattle-like weather of Shenzhen. Nothing special to post here today other than some quick photos of our apartment and the hotel lobby all decked out for the holiday, and a glimpse into the mysterious underbelly of China.... bowling alleys. Actually, they're neither mysterious nor nefarious, and are exactly what you'd expect a bowling alley in China to be like. Exactly the same, only a whole lot more Chinese.

Enjoy for now, I'll post something half-insightful/interesting at some point, I don't think I have to date on this blog, but I'm still trying.

A Belated Valentine

I've been known to cross state borders just to hang with people who are also single for Valentine's Day, so it should come as no surprise that I would troll the interwebs for sarcastic and dry Valentines. Well the internet has an abundance of snarky V-day e-cards, but they're mostly lame. Then I came across tacky Star Wars Valentine's cards and was impressed with both their dorkiness and hilarity. I felt compelled to post a couple here. Others may end up in various inboxes, a few days late.

The business facet of my life is interesting. Our summer program now has over 20 applicants, and our first student arrives in a few weeks. We are expanding our offering to Shanghai, where TPBJR will be settling shortly, and are generally optimistic about the program and it's potential to generate income and lasting student interest in Shenzhen. I'm a big fan of "tech blogs" specifically one called Engadget. I mention this because I frequently come across articles about cellphones or tech that have some relation to Shenzhen, and that makes me feel kind of cool knowing almost exactly where all those wares are sold (illegally) and manufactured (not so illegally). I would hope that some nerdy dorky college types want to come out here to try and be part of the action as well.

The consulting side is interesting and multi-faceted to put it lightly. We are expanding and refocusing and are perhaps running out of fingers to put into pots. This is fine though at the moment because we are lining up to wrap up a few clients this month and that of course means rent becomes a little bit easier to handle. I cannot post much about this as most of it is confidential and/or ongoing and/or I'm just not on the same page at the moment. But things are good.

I need to get organized, and start jotting down things to post about here, I'm currently waiting for a sunny day to record a video of a taxi-trip downtown, and perhaps one of the electronics city Hua Xian Bei, because these are two things/places that really need to be seen to be understood. The electronics city is shut because of Chinese New Year which was on the 14th but continues for the remainder of the week, and the weather is just miserable settling in nicely at 45F with overcast/fog/drizzle. It may not sound bad, but our buildings do not have heat, and China isn't quite sure what insulation is yet. It is often colder inside because of the concrete nature of our domiciles. Tea and Oatmeal, and the one sweater I didn't forget in the states.

I'm off to lunch, but will leave you with another Star Wars V-day card. Hope everyone's met or exceeded their expectations.

Up in the Air

People have been telling me to check that movie out, and I'll probably do so this week. While I've never been a fan of George Clooney the person, I'm a fan of some of the stuff he's been in, and this movie looks kind of cool.

Anyway, I've been putting off a post for a while, and continued efforts to sound smart, have a well thought out post, and generally avoid all my usual syntactical pitfalls have fallen short. I will thus rage blindly forward, write as I go, and post without any regard for life, rules, or proofreading.

I am by no means a well traveled person compared to the friends I have back in the states, and the unbelievable characters I have met out here. Many have lived out in Asia since I was watching Animaniacs after school with a fervor that bordered on the religious. And while that may have only been a couple years ago, they permanently set up shop over here. Olivier and I do not consider ourselves to be of that variety of expat, we both have lives firmly rooted in the States, and plan on a swift return at some point in the foreseeable future.

While the foreigners living out here are content with staying out here, we are not. They do not regard trips home the way I do. I will leave OPJ out of this since I am not keen on his take about this, and will not put words into his mouth. It has come to be that I have two lives, separated completely with the exception of two friends and a plane ticket. If I was lucky enough to have lucid dreams I would imagine it to be something like being awake, and then being lucid. Two things that help these two worlds remain separate: The flight, and separate cultures/languages.

The Flight
It is not the longest flight anyone has taken, and it is not the most harrowing/dangerous, or even very interesting, but done enough times it transforms into something else. I am not fortunate enough to have a body/mind that sleeps well on planes, and as a result, I spend 14 out of the 15+ hours awake. I laud Continental for their phenomenal movie collection, and the occasional cartoon or 30 Rock episode doesn't hurt either. But watching these 4 times a year for that many hours, I've seen several movies on more than one occasion. I'm rambling. The flight takes a ton out of you, and the travel time door to door measures somewhere between 22-28 hours depending on how other legs of the journey play out. You exist in a fog for much of it, albeit a pleasant, un-obstructive, "good passenger" fog. You do not make yourself a point of contention because you'll either be stuck with them for 15 hours in a small space, or pulled aside for "special screening".

This fog I speak of makes the whole journey seem like a bit of a dream, enhanced by a full 12-13 hour time difference, and exacerbated by the 4 days it takes to fully adjust to your new location.

The Culture
I'll be frank [thank God right?] China and the US are very different. The language, the climate, the smells, the sights, everything really. Yes yes, I've gone on about similarities, but outside of the apartment, you know you're in China.

Other elements that add to the double life are the separate groups of friends, watering holes, and daily routines. I am without family in China, but there is a familial network here of close friends fills the gap to a degree.

Anyway, it was something that I had mentioned to a few close friends, and I have never heard anyone else mention it. While I am far from unique in my experiences, I thought it was odd to have never heard it from someone else. It's an odd world where one lives out two lives, separated by a dream. I will ultimately have to decide which life to chose, and am confident that I will return stateside, but I was always awful at Chose Your Own Adventure books.

Reflection and free time

A couple weeks back I mentioned going into some detail about the transition that occurs when traveling between China and the States. I still don't think I've got the proper wording to really explain it here, but I am working on it in my spare time... which is now going to be dwindling thanks to the addition of an Xbox.

We finally caved after learning that our roommate and business partner, TPB JR, would be moving to Shanghai at the end of Chinese New Year. His console sat dormant for months, wallowing in its own shame, brought on by the infamous (in gamer's circles) 3 red rings of death. It only recently was rejuvenated for our gaming pleasure, and in doing so, ruined any chance of engaging in mentally stimulating free time activities.

Well now that the old dog console is leaving us for greener pastures, ie: Tom's new Shanghai digs, we decided to bring home a puppy to play with. This baby packs enough time wasting power to strike fear into the heart of even the most liberal parents, and nestled in the apartment of two young self-employed bachelors... well I don't think much further on it.

This is the first game system I've ever purchased, and I'm a bit excited and rightly so, my wallet was quite heavy, and with all of its contents no longer weighing me down, I'm free to stay up past my bed time and play mind-rotting games.

I'd continue blogging but, you know... video games.

Good morning from Hong Kong

I hadn't really planned on getting up here this day, but I came across and article and am unapologetic in posting an article I came across on msnbc.com today. This may be a knee-jerk posting but hey, it's the interwebs, it was built for this sort of thing.

Anyway, you can find the article here, and perhaps I won't go into detail about it's contents here, but I laud the author in the same way I laud the efforts of Matt Stone and Trey Parker for their satire.




Next time I'm in Hong Kong I'll be sure to have my snazzy new picture taker, and put up a post of some of the sites you can expect to come across while being an expat out here.

Comments are always welcome of course.

Fingers Crossed

Life out here is never short on big ideas and pies in the sky. I've said many times that people have multiple projects running at the same time with varying degrees of importance, but it is really surprising how ever present it is. We continue moving forward with our core business but people, partners even, keep suggesting new ideas or services to bolster our offerings or expand our base. I worry sometimes that this chronic entrepreneurialism dilutes real business out here, and keeps people from really focusing on delivering a quality product. Perhaps that is just the way real success is achieved though. We often mention the two approaches to attracting clients: The shotgun, and the sniper. There are not many snipers out here.

On a more pressing note, I am off to Hong Kong today to renew my wonderful tourist visa in hopes that I can continue backpacking through the countryside, taking pictures with locals who I think are just fantastic, sampling local regional cuisine, and really embracing my fascination with the wonderful Chinese culture. Yep, some things really are great out here, and visas can be one of them, but venturing out of the country to renew is always a bit harrowing since you never really know how much they'll scrutinize your application.


Perhaps I will post from Hong Kong tomorrow.

Breakfast on a Foggy Sunday

Some rather nefarious character tipped off the weather gods of my return back to Shenzhen, as I was greeted with a Floridian level of humidity and cloudy grey days, when I had heard tell of sun and 60's prior to my touchdown.

The return to the warmer weather is welcome though.

I plan on a more engrossing post sometime in the near future based on a conversation I had back in the states. I have only begun to examine the kind of life I live at this point in time, and how two completely different lives are separated by a mind-numbing flight. more on that later.



I was going to share with you my delicious breakfast this morning, but for some reason blogger isn't doing too well uploading the photos.... you've all been spared my mundane photos for now....

Nod to the Warriors

New camera takes some snazzy photos eh?

The extended trip is over, and this weary traveler is back in China.

Nothing exciting to report about the flight other than a busted GPS system that pushed our takeoff back an extra two hours. The plate over here is full, and the afternoon found me sitting at my macbook (PC was hijacked by Windows Defender if anyone has any advice, I could really use it), fixing and updating our SCLI website, and gearing up for new work.


I would like to thank everyone who was nice enough to host me, put up with me, hang out conmigo during my extended trip home, it was an interesting break from China to say the least, and the longer I am home, the more difficult it is to come back here. The 7th Annual Warrior Weekend was hosted again at the Vermont domicile of a good friend, and it was a welcome sight to see the group again, sans a few key players who are laid up in various corners of the world. Hey, had I not come down with my cocktail of illnesses and conditions, I would not have been able to partake either, and I guess these things happen (no I will not say for a reason, as I am not a fan of that cliche). Pictures of the weekend will not be posted here, but can be found on the usual social media sites once I get access to the Facebook again.

Look for a return the States sometime around the Memorial Day holiday.

Business updates and news:
- SCLI is looking into a Shanghai expansion office as one of our partners, the ever venerable TPBJR moves up and onto bigger things while still remaining an ever present Anemoi partner.
- TWC lost two potential clients over the break, but is actively working two new clients, as well as potential add-on work supplied to us by our partner firm SGC.
- My time seems to be promised to others without my knowing, and I'll now be consulting on/designing two websites over the next few weeks for friends of friends and a colleague out here. I must now put my limited use of code and the interwebs to good use apparently.

That is all for today, I will be updating again on a consistent basis now that I am back here and will have news that is hopefully more interesting than my body temperature and various ailments

Maintenance & Upkeep

"I once thought I had mono for an entire year, turns out I was just really lazy."
- Wayne Campbell

We run around: young, newly professional, maintaining relationships and our lingering collegiate social circles all while experimenting in the undersized kitchens in our apartments. Maybe we get to the gym, or go out for a run, but a late night with Anna's or the Golden Arches quickly brings us back to zero.

Please disregard my poor sentence structure, but I am trying to paint a picture. I have always been a terrible painter.

Life in China is a roller coaster, busy weeks and lazy ones, hectic ones and hedonistic ones, and sometimes everything is due at the same time. I guess that sounds no different from home, and I apologize for not being better able to describe why, but it is.

I honestly thought I was just tired from work and late nights, then I thought it was just cold out, and that it was just jet lag. It was not, and it is the reason I am currently still in the US. Everyone uses the term 'wearing yourself thin', and perhaps it is that sense of invincibility that leads us to say we are doing it to ourselves, but never really think it will actually happen. Now, I didn't get myself anything chronic or terminal, so perhaps I'm over dramatizing it, but it certainly was a bit of a wake-up call for someone who has never had anything more severe than a touch of the flu.

It's been one hell of a way to welcome in the new decade, but you've got to stay positive, and keep an optimistic eye out for the coming years. These are the handful of years that will dictate the next 30 for many of us. It's a bit daunting, but challenges keep us sharp. Stay healthy everyone.

Goodbye to the most interesting year so far

Full Disclosure: I am not a fan of New Year's as a holiday. I typically try to reduce it to an excuse to see friends and celebrate being together. That's cool and all but this year is really special. For one, I was not a blogger this time last year, and while that may not necessarily be a good thing, it is certainly a change.

Someone at a gathering last night made us aware that as 20 somethings, our eyes will now witness our fourth decade of existence. A truly sobering thought.

That is not why I decided to write this morning however. I must keep it China-focused, and where do I begin really? 2009 has seen my life change in ways I really could not have imagined even two years ago.

I cannot in all good conscience offer advice blindly via a an ill-received, rarely read blog, but it is amazing how much taking active control of your life can alter things. It is far to easy to follow a path that seems set out for you, rational, and safe. I am on no high horse, as I am currently extremely... 'invested' in China, and cannot really leave until I get a return on that, but if I can give anything to anyone of my colleagues or friends, it is this, take risks before you are unable to do so. Win or lose you learn, and hell, if you want to fall back to a normal path (school and the like) someone who has taken a unique risk, and dedicated themselves to it and failed, are so much more interesting than someone who has never taken a real risk.

It's not for everyone, but it is for more than one may think. If it doesn't kill or bankrupt you (Trump excluded) it will make you stronger.