Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Homecoming
It’s good to be home.
I spent a number of years in the Navy, and the return from deployment was always special. There was a special feeling that accompanied stepping off the plane and on to your home ground. I would picture it similar to the feeling of knights returning home to their lord’s castle after a successful campaign. For that brief shining moment, there is a heroic feeling. There is a taste of victory and accomplishment. Now I can say that after being in the business world for a number of years, there is nothing that compares to that feeling. Yes, we have good quarters, and yes it is good to get a big bonus, but nothing compares to the feeling of stepping off the plane, having your commanding officer telling you “well done,” and having friends and family greet you. It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it. Its a great feeling.
So coming home from China was not quite like that, but it was still a good feeling.
At last they rode over the downs and took the East Road, and then Merry and Pippin rode on the Buckland; and already they were singing again as they went. But Sam turned to Bywater, and so came back up the Hill, as day was ending once more. And he went on, and there was yellow light, and fire within; and the evening meal as ready, and he was expected. And Rose drew him in, and set him in the chair, and put little Elanor up his lap. He drew a deep breath. “Well, I’m back,” he said. Lord of the Rings - JRRT
This is perhaps one of my favorite paragraphs in all of literature. Sure one can argue that there are more heroic passages, and there are. One argue that there are passages that more elgantly captures the spirit of humanity, and there are. One can easily argue that it is not written very well, and I agree with that too. But this paragraph captures that special feeling that comes with homecoming, and there is nothing better.
I spent a number of years in the Navy, and the return from deployment was always special. There was a special feeling that accompanied stepping off the plane and on to your home ground. I would picture it similar to the feeling of knights returning home to their lord’s castle after a successful campaign. For that brief shining moment, there is a heroic feeling. There is a taste of victory and accomplishment. Now I can say that after being in the business world for a number of years, there is nothing that compares to that feeling. Yes, we have good quarters, and yes it is good to get a big bonus, but nothing compares to the feeling of stepping off the plane, having your commanding officer telling you “well done,” and having friends and family greet you. It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it. Its a great feeling.
So coming home from China was not quite like that, but it was still a good feeling.
At last they rode over the downs and took the East Road, and then Merry and Pippin rode on the Buckland; and already they were singing again as they went. But Sam turned to Bywater, and so came back up the Hill, as day was ending once more. And he went on, and there was yellow light, and fire within; and the evening meal as ready, and he was expected. And Rose drew him in, and set him in the chair, and put little Elanor up his lap. He drew a deep breath. “Well, I’m back,” he said. Lord of the Rings - JRRT
This is perhaps one of my favorite paragraphs in all of literature. Sure one can argue that there are more heroic passages, and there are. One argue that there are passages that more elgantly captures the spirit of humanity, and there are. One can easily argue that it is not written very well, and I agree with that too. But this paragraph captures that special feeling that comes with homecoming, and there is nothing better.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Final day in China
A year goes by very quickly. We are in the middle of packing our suit cases and we just have stuff everywhere. I suspect that today will be a long one. It seems like every time we travel the night before is always a bit crazy. I will be glad when we are safely back in the US.
I started blogging a little over a year ago partly to document my time in China. Once I started to blog, I realized I wanted to blog about a number of topics, but mostly about game related stuff. Next week I will return to blogging about game topics, but I will also post some additional pictures from China. I have a long list of stuff that I will be covering, and I should have plenty of time to cover this stuff!
I started blogging a little over a year ago partly to document my time in China. Once I started to blog, I realized I wanted to blog about a number of topics, but mostly about game related stuff. Next week I will return to blogging about game topics, but I will also post some additional pictures from China. I have a long list of stuff that I will be covering, and I should have plenty of time to cover this stuff!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Xi’an – The City Wall Pictures
Enclosed are more pics from Xi’an. These were taken while walking on the wall and in the park at the base of the wall.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Xi'an
Just returned from our trip through Beijing and Xi’an, and I have to say that it was awesome. Everyone knows Beijing, but not many folks may know about Xi’an. Sure folks know about the terra-cotta warriors, which are really cool, but the city itself is amazing. The inner city is surrounded by a 600 year wall that is still in great shape. The enclosed picture is from the wall. I probably could have spent the entire day taking pictures of this wall. Wikipedia has a nice summary of the city. As a quick footnote, the “X” is pronounced as “SH,” so Xi’an is pronounced “she-ann.”
Expect to see more pictures this week from Xi’an.
Expect to see more pictures this week from Xi’an.
This one is taken from just outside the wall.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
The Great Wall
WOW!
That’s a big WOW, not a little wow. The Great Wall is just impressive. Pictures do not do it justice. It is a wall with numerous guard towers running along the length of it. The terrain that it sits on is rugged hilly terrain, which makes it all the more impressive. When one is actually on the wall, the verticle nature of the wall as it climbs the hills is an amazing view. Needless to say, it is a bit of a bear walking up and down all the little steps, but it is a great workout.
Now I have a soft spot for the European style castles. I love everything about the old castles, and Europe has a number of really interesting ones. The multi-floor designs with the guard towers resonate well with me. One can picture knights going forth into battle with their pageantry held high. It’s all good stuff.
But the Great Wall is a bit different than that. Looking out over the hillside is an awesome view. A number of trees have grown up very close to the wall, which I suspect were not there several centuries ago, add to the scenic view. It seems hard to believe that this was built so long ago. It would be quite an undertaking now to build something that is 4000 miles long with modern tools and equipment.
That’s a big WOW, not a little wow. The Great Wall is just impressive. Pictures do not do it justice. It is a wall with numerous guard towers running along the length of it. The terrain that it sits on is rugged hilly terrain, which makes it all the more impressive. When one is actually on the wall, the verticle nature of the wall as it climbs the hills is an amazing view. Needless to say, it is a bit of a bear walking up and down all the little steps, but it is a great workout.
Now I have a soft spot for the European style castles. I love everything about the old castles, and Europe has a number of really interesting ones. The multi-floor designs with the guard towers resonate well with me. One can picture knights going forth into battle with their pageantry held high. It’s all good stuff.
But the Great Wall is a bit different than that. Looking out over the hillside is an awesome view. A number of trees have grown up very close to the wall, which I suspect were not there several centuries ago, add to the scenic view. It seems hard to believe that this was built so long ago. It would be quite an undertaking now to build something that is 4000 miles long with modern tools and equipment.
I found the guard towers to be very interesting. The inside was not just one big open area, but rather bunch of smaller areas. There where a number of walls in the towers that divided up the inner area. In most of the towers, there must have been ladders leading to the roofs, as they were all gone, except for the open hatch that lead to the roof. I was actually a bit disappointed that a ladder way was not still present to climb up to the roof.
I have enclosed a number of pictures that we took today, and I will try to post some more within the next day or two.
Enjoy!
Enclosed is a snippet from Wikipedia.
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire from Xiongnu attacks during various successive dynasties. Since the 5th century BC, several walls have been built that were referred to as the Great Wall. One of the most famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains; it lay farther north than the current wall, which was built during the Ming Dynasty.
The Great Wall stretches over approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles) from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia, but stretches to over 6,700 km (4,160 miles) in total; a more recent archaeological survey using advanced technologies points out that the entire Great Wall, with all of its branches, stretches for 8,851.8 km (5,500.3 mi). At its peak, the Ming Wall was guarded by more than one million men. It has been estimated that somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 million Chinese died as part of the centuries-long project of building the wall.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
China - less than 2 weeks to go
China – 2 weeks left
Well two weeks left in China and then I head back to the US. It has been a fast year. There are going to be things that I will miss and there are things that I am looking forward to back in the US. Shanghai is actually a very interesting place to live. My boss has a saying that all things are possible here in China, but not necessarily easy.
I suspect that my blogging over the next two weeks will be rather light, as I work on getting ready to leave. Once I get home, I should be back to my normal schedule of blogging. We are spending this week in Beijing and Xian, which will be our last trip we take inside of China. We waited until the last minute to travel to Beijing, but we wanted to make sure that we visited the numerous sites about Beijing, including The Great Wall, prior to coming home.
Overall, I think this has been a good experience for the family. I think the kids will really appreciate it as they get a bit older. I think any chance to do something a bit out of the ordinary is a good thing.
Paizocon
On a similar note, one of the things that I am missing this week is Paizocon. There were a couple of conventions that I really would have liked to have attended, and this was one of them. Gencon will probably be the only convention that I will be able to attend based on my schedule. Next year, I am hoping to attend this one, as well as a couple of other ones. One of the things that I do like is the number of postings on the Paizo boards about the various updates and such.
This brings me to a general comment on conventions. One of the things that I really enjoy about a good convention, besides meeting tons of folks that like gaming, is attending the seminars. I will be honest on this one, playing the games is fun and all, but I really like attending the seminars that give an inside look at what is coming down the pike. For some reason, and I maybe totally alone on this one, I really like hearing about all the new stuff, and in some cases being able to buy advance copies of gaming material before it hits the shelves.
The second thing I really like about conventions is wandering about the vendor booths and talking with the folks that actually are creating the material. I could spend hours just looking at the miniatures on display. The stuff on display is just stunning to look at. At my last Gencon, I stopped by the Green Ronin, and ended up talking with one of the folks there about the Dolphins for about 30 mins or so. It’s all good stuff.
As a final note, yes living here in China is cool, but I am looking forward to getting back to the states.
Well two weeks left in China and then I head back to the US. It has been a fast year. There are going to be things that I will miss and there are things that I am looking forward to back in the US. Shanghai is actually a very interesting place to live. My boss has a saying that all things are possible here in China, but not necessarily easy.
I suspect that my blogging over the next two weeks will be rather light, as I work on getting ready to leave. Once I get home, I should be back to my normal schedule of blogging. We are spending this week in Beijing and Xian, which will be our last trip we take inside of China. We waited until the last minute to travel to Beijing, but we wanted to make sure that we visited the numerous sites about Beijing, including The Great Wall, prior to coming home.
Overall, I think this has been a good experience for the family. I think the kids will really appreciate it as they get a bit older. I think any chance to do something a bit out of the ordinary is a good thing.
Paizocon
On a similar note, one of the things that I am missing this week is Paizocon. There were a couple of conventions that I really would have liked to have attended, and this was one of them. Gencon will probably be the only convention that I will be able to attend based on my schedule. Next year, I am hoping to attend this one, as well as a couple of other ones. One of the things that I do like is the number of postings on the Paizo boards about the various updates and such.
This brings me to a general comment on conventions. One of the things that I really enjoy about a good convention, besides meeting tons of folks that like gaming, is attending the seminars. I will be honest on this one, playing the games is fun and all, but I really like attending the seminars that give an inside look at what is coming down the pike. For some reason, and I maybe totally alone on this one, I really like hearing about all the new stuff, and in some cases being able to buy advance copies of gaming material before it hits the shelves.
The second thing I really like about conventions is wandering about the vendor booths and talking with the folks that actually are creating the material. I could spend hours just looking at the miniatures on display. The stuff on display is just stunning to look at. At my last Gencon, I stopped by the Green Ronin, and ended up talking with one of the folks there about the Dolphins for about 30 mins or so. It’s all good stuff.
As a final note, yes living here in China is cool, but I am looking forward to getting back to the states.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
General Stuff
I have been fairly lazy with my blogging this week. My motivation has been lagging a bit with the other activities that have been occupying my time. I have three weeks left in China before returning to the US. My remaining time left will just fly by. Yesterday the packers came and now we are living out of suitcases until we leave. Most of my game stuff that I brought with me will be intransit for the next 2 months or so. Hopefully we will get it soon, along with the rest of the stuff.
I was also able to close on my new car when I get back to the States. I had sold my old one before going to China, so I need a new one when I arrive back. I am picking up the Toyota Venza, as it is a good mix between fun and utility. Yesterday I received confirmation that they had acquired the car I was looking for and it will be ready when I get back. I am actually really excited about this. While I do not consider myself a car buff by any stretch of the imagination, I do enjoy getting a new car. I have a tendancy to keep cars for ~8 years, so this does not happen that often. At the moment, I have a driver and a silver mini-van, so it will be fun to get behind the wheel again. I am convinced that in China, mini-vans only come in one color and that is silver. Although, there are a couple of blue and white ones, but for the most part, they are silver.
My son has been getting back interested in playing D&D again. With him, his interest comes and goes, but he has been back interested again. When I mentioned in passing Tomb of Horrors, he immediately wanted to play through. I did give him fair warning. He and his friend created 4 10th level C&C characters, and I am using the 3rd edition version that was published on the WotC website. We played for an hour or so this morning, and they have figured out the right entrance to in, after hitting the traps on the other ones. They know to look for traps, and they have found a couple, so we will see how it goes in the next session.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Pictures and Such
Just because I am feeling lazy today. Enjoy the pictures!
As an aside, these guys really know their bamboo!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Pandas
So this weekend is Dragon Boat Festival in China, so we are off to Chengdu to see the Pandas. For the pricy ticket of 1000 RMB ($145 USD) one can hold a panda and get a picture taken. This compares to the free price to wander around with the kangaroos and the $20US to hold the koala in Australia. It appears that China has Australia beat on market economics.
With this in mind, I will post today, and then it will be a couple of days before I can blog again.
With this in mind, I will post today, and then it will be a couple of days before I can blog again.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Work really interferes with fun
After a hectic week followed by a vacation in Hangzhou, I am ready to get back to blogging. I actually feel very guilty if I do not blog for a couple of days, and I meant to write some stuff up on Monday, but I just did not get there. Last week I was hosting a summit with all our regional partners, and it just chewed up any time I had.
Over the weekend my family went to Hangzhou which is a beautiful city located about 3 hours south of Shanghai. The city is centered around West Lake which is a good sized lake. Once it was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, before the Mongols came and then the capital was relocated to Beijing. It is rumored that Marco Polo visited the city and called it the finest city in the world. Without a doubt, the area around West Lake is very stunning. Wikipedia has a good article on the city, and can be found here.
Now that I am back, I will start posting again on a regular basis.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Legacy of Fire
I spent the majority of this weekend reading Pathfinder 20 & 21. The mail to China is a bit dodgy, and one can never tell how long it is going to take to get something in the mail. I have had my Pathfinder shipments take a week to get to me, and I have had them take over 3 weeks. Pathfinder 20 took well over 3 weeks, and Pathfinder 21 took about a week so they arrived a day apart, even though they shipped 3 weeks apart. UPS ground is something I miss being here in China. In the US, I know that my UPS shipment will arrive on my doorstep in 5 working days, and I can check on the progress on the UPS website. I am not suggesting that UPS is the best, but it is only slightly more expensive than priority mail, and I can track my packages. For my China packages I have no idea and when I am going to get them. I will say that so far, I have received every Paizo and Amazon package that has been sent to me. Now when it comes to magazines, I have no idea where they are going, as I have yet to receive one of my subscriptions. Brutal.
Once Paizo has finished with their Legacy of Fire series I will post my more in depth product review. However, I will say that they are very attractive looking books, and their art director Sarah Robinson has done an amazing job. By far, this series is one of the best looking RPG products on the market.
Once Paizo has finished with their Legacy of Fire series I will post my more in depth product review. However, I will say that they are very attractive looking books, and their art director Sarah Robinson has done an amazing job. By far, this series is one of the best looking RPG products on the market.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Mr. Styrofoam Man
More ramblin' about China.
China is an interesting place, in that just when you think you have seen it all, up pops something that you would never expect. When I go to work, I sometimes stop by to pick up some Starbucks coffee in the morning. If I get there early enough, I get to see the Chinese old folks practicing their Kung Fu (although, it could be Tai Chi) with swords (or fans) right in front of the mall where Starbucks is located. Its a bit of a kick to see the gals out there swinging the swords or snapping their fans. Just recently, an old western guy has been trying to join in. The leader of the group has been very patient with trying to teach him the various maneuvers. I get a chuckle at watching this every morning. Apparently the western guy is making some progress, as his Chinese teacher was giving him a thumbs up on one of the things that he was trying to do.
This brings me to Mr. Styrofoam Man. There are these old guys that ride these beater three wheel bikes that some times are motorized, and sometimes are not. Mr Styrofoam Man rides one of these bikes and he has a mountain of styrofoam that is piled 20’ high. I do not exaggerate. It is just plain scary how high this stuff is piled. He has it all bundled up and it looks like a white mountain making its way down the street. Sometimes the stuff is piled on such that the white mass of styrofoam looks like it is about to envelope Mr. Styrofoam Man. When you look at him, he has this crazy grin on his face that is never changing. The truly scary part is that he is very quiet and does not stop. Nothing stops him. Traffic stops for Mr. Styrofoam Man, but he does not stop.
I was out to lunch with a colleague the other day, and I was coming out of the restaurant and I was about to cross the bike path, which runs beside the road. I looked right and then I looked left and there he was. He was barreling down the bike path at a good clip, and he was upon us in an instant. I shudder to think what would have happened if I had actually stepped out on to the bike path. Nothing stops him, and his ability to pop up out of nowhere is a bit uncanny. Truly an amazing sight.
This brings me to Mr. Styrofoam Man. There are these old guys that ride these beater three wheel bikes that some times are motorized, and sometimes are not. Mr Styrofoam Man rides one of these bikes and he has a mountain of styrofoam that is piled 20’ high. I do not exaggerate. It is just plain scary how high this stuff is piled. He has it all bundled up and it looks like a white mountain making its way down the street. Sometimes the stuff is piled on such that the white mass of styrofoam looks like it is about to envelope Mr. Styrofoam Man. When you look at him, he has this crazy grin on his face that is never changing. The truly scary part is that he is very quiet and does not stop. Nothing stops him. Traffic stops for Mr. Styrofoam Man, but he does not stop.
I was out to lunch with a colleague the other day, and I was coming out of the restaurant and I was about to cross the bike path, which runs beside the road. I looked right and then I looked left and there he was. He was barreling down the bike path at a good clip, and he was upon us in an instant. I shudder to think what would have happened if I had actually stepped out on to the bike path. Nothing stops him, and his ability to pop up out of nowhere is a bit uncanny. Truly an amazing sight.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Observations from China
This is normally by gaming blog, but every now and then, I will throw in an interesting observation from China.
Usually, if I am up early enough, and I stop by Starbucks for coffee (and yes they have Starbucks in China), there are a group of old folks (in their traditional uniform) practicing Kung Fu with swords in front of the store. They have a boom box shouting out cadence, and they go through their routine, which takes about 30 minutes of so. For some reason, I continue to find this fascinating. Well, this morning, there were only a couple of the gals doing their routines and they had put away their swords and were using fans, which they were able to create a bit of "pop" with.
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