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.