Fortunately I have some good friends in China (just spent the weekend visiting one in Hangzhou), but it still can be lonely traveling by yourself to a country where you don’t speak the local language (note to self: learn Chinese).  Even the western folks (read: white people) that I run into are not keen to engage in conversation (they tend not to be English speaking from what I overhear).

The Internet is filtered here (google it, I am not bothering with explaining the details).  And TV is likewise limited.  I brought some books, but there is only so much time you can spend reading.  So I work.. not healthy, but it occupies my time.. and it is a business trip so I might as well give the company their money’s worth.

But I have come up with a list of things for any future trip I have the opportunity to go on (other business trips have never demanded such a list).

• Bring a USB drive loaded with movies and TV.  An ipad would suffice.
• Alternatively, I would buy a cheap DVD player and leave it at the office for future stays (and coworkers).  There are lots of DVDs available on the sidewalk.
• Bring medications.  It’s a huge pain to get over the counter drugs, so just bring plenty.  Coming to a time zone shift such as this (13 hours from New York), you should bring your favourite sleeping aid (normally I go with the pain killer PM version).
• Bring travelers cheques.  I have never had to bring these before, but I’ve found the ATMs to be a total nightmare in China and my credit cards are not accepted always.
• Find a way to relieve stress.  The culture and pace here is insane.  The driving is really something (Hangzhou being worse than Shanghai).  Everyone is in a rush.  It’s go-go-go, me-me-me all the time.  I tend to remain relaxed but after over a week it has gotten to me.
• In the winter months it’s REALLY cold.  The temperature might say 10 degrees celsius (50F) but at least in Shanghai, it is damp.. you feel the cold.
• It’s really cold.  Bring warm shoes in the cooler months.
• It’s really cold.  Bring plenty of layers in the cooler months.

All in all, it has been a good experience albeit exhausting.  I highly recommend visiting Hangzhou.. I’ll post pictures eventually.  If you go, stay at the Rulai Free Soul inn.  The location is great and it’s a nice calm retreat.

Kodak is sending me off to Shanghai to visit our office there… next week.  So off I went to 12th Ave and 42nd St to the Chinese Consulate.  I googled their web site and printed out the form (which has to be completed within Acrobat, not hand written).  I also had a letter from the Kodak office in China stating the purpose of my visit clearly.  The web site didn’t list a whole lot of other requirements (unlike India, but that is another story).

So I get up extra early today and hop on the train.  The web site I did find advised against going after 10am because it gets busy then.  Well, I think everyone sees that and goes early!

First step was to get a photo.  I did see some comments online that they can be strict about passport photos – plus I was too lazy to go to CVS ahead of time.  So I head over to the photo man in there, who declined to speak to me and instead used cardboard signs with printed english.  I suppose that avoids a lot of repetitions.  It was somewhat painless, though I don’t recommend anyone looks at the resulting photograph!  I will not be posting mine online to share.

So I wait in a very slow moving line for a couple of hours before I make it to the window.  Meanwhile I keep seeing folks leaving the windows to go use an old copy machine to photocopy things like their passport and returning to other lines.  The lady behind the glass was pleasant enough to smile, but after looking at my form and speaking with another lady handed me a highlighted piece of paper stating that I filled out the wrong form and here is the web site to go and get the right form.  I ended up there for two multiple-hour visits (with a break for lunch.. they close from 12:00-13:00h).  Don’t be me.

So my advice is this:

• Be sure to have the right form froms here:  http://www.nyconsulate.prchina.org/eng/lsyw/lszjx/sbqz/df/
• Bring a photocopy of everything – passport, green card, etc.  Just in case.
• Have lots of patience.

TL/DR – Make sure you have the right forms – bring a photocopy of your passport and green card

I started thinking about it because Christine and I are going through the process of buying our first home.  We’re using the best realtor in the world, Jenny Buchanan – and the best mom in the world.  It’s new construction, which gives us the rare opportunity of actually having architectural plans for the home.  Being the model home, we didn’t pick and choose the changes to the plans, but the copy of the plans I have are close enough for me to work with.

Next step, I am going to scan the plans into my Mac.  From there I will trace everything into Sketchup.  I am so glad I stumbled onto this tutorial because I was going to just do it from scratch.. and tracing is so much more efficient!

Wonderful idea.

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you’re keeping all of these in the Air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.

But the other four Balls - Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.” – Brian Dyson (CEO of Coca Cola)

While I do agree with this quote, there is also a tendency to feel like the balls are dangerously attached to each-other.  While your work ball might be made of rubber, the string (or sometimes a chain) can feel too tightly wound with the other balls.  Drop the work ball, and it might pull down the other balls  Unless you’re independently wealthy of course.

Fortunately, in my experience you can drop that rubber ball a few times before things turn nasty.

This time of year, stress levels are high for most of us.  It’s a busy time with family and friends, it’s the time for the end of year push at work, and it’s also a time where money doesn’t stretch far enough.  With all of that craziness, we all should be sure to keep an eye on what is really important.

Check it out at www.hughandchristine.com (or www.christineandhugh.com if you prefer)

I am considering open sourcing a bunch of code that I wrote 5-10 years ago… should have released it sooner, but I am quite surprised at how relevant some of it is.  More later..

This camera is located in the Indian Neck section of Branford, Connecticut.  On the left in the distance you will see an egret nest (hard to see.. not the best camera).

Click on the image to view a page that auto-reloads

Well, I ended up locating my calendar.. I put it in a safe place.. too safe for me to remember readily.  So just in case someone else needs it (the leaf pickup is good to know too), I have scanned it and put it here:  Branford Recycling Program 2011

I wish this was available on the town’s horrible recycling program web site..

I went with an iPhone 4 and immediately had the buyers remorse. It is the same phone, just faster.

Additionally, Christine picked the HTC Inspire 4G. It does fancy looking things. She doesn’t like the phone though. The sound quality of speaker phone, combined with all of the beeping it makes at night… It is being returned.

As a developer, I’d prefer working in Android.. But where the iPhone lacks in flexibility it is filled with stability.

Cell phones left the world of embedded devices a while ago, so I don’t know why I’m surprised they lock up and freeze now.

Anyway, my main complaint about the iPhone is the size of the screen. I can’t keep an iPad in my pocket, give me the biggest screen that fits in my jeans.