Life--Naturally

"There but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford"

2012-01-30T17:02:00.000-08:00

A young girl was walking home one day and saw a poor homeless man on the side of the street. She asked her mom why he was there.

"Well, sweetie, he didn't want to have a job or responsibility, he just wanted to spend his money on drinking, so now he hasn't got a home and has to ask for money."

She thought about this, and said, "But it's very cold out, and I don't see that he has a coat on."

"Yes, he probably sold it or lost it somewhere. Most homeless are lazy and don't take care of their things."

She thought again, and asked, "What if he tried to take someone else's coat because he's so cold?"

"Well, then he'd probably go to jail and we taxpayers would have to pay for him, when he ought to be working and paying for himself."

The girl thought again, and said, "So, is this man not the one that I learned about in Sunday School? The one that Jesus said we should feed if he's hungry, or give him something to drink if he's thirsty, or clothe him if he's cold, or visit him if he's in jail?"

Her mother looked at her in shock. "Absolutely not! God blesses those who work hard and don't complain. Remember, Paul said if you can't work, you shouldn't eat."

"But, Mom, my Sunday school teacher said that early Christians lived in a communal style, and everyone had jobs to do. Does that man have a job he can work at?"

"I'm sure if he looked hard, he could fine one," her mother said firmly.

And thus the Pharisee ignored the words of Christ again, believing herself to be far superior to that cold, hungry, thirsty, homeless person.

Christmas Shopping!

2011-12-10T18:38:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas shopping, because it's the one time a year that I can spend spend spend and not feel guilty at all! This year, I did all of my shopping on etsy.com, and would like to share some great new sellers I found.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AshBeesCrafts

This seller completed our custom order quickly and with great results.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/JimAndGina

I am a huge fan of Jim and Gina, and have purchased multiple items of pottery from them before. Really solid craftsmanship, great designs, and microwave/dishwasher safe.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SockMonkeyFarm

Adorable kids' gift that you know will be free from lead paint. :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/elisehooperdesigns

A local Seattle area artisan, our blanket and skirt arrived quickly, and exactly as expected. Love the colors and the workmanship.

Overall, had a great time buying gifts for Christmas from small artisans making things in the USA!

Love in human form

2011-11-17T21:54:00.000-08:00

Today, my son is three weeks old.

Writing that makes me proud, scared, exhilarated, anxious, full to bursting with love, and back to proud again, with plenty of other emotions jumbled up in there as well.

His birth was about as textbook perfect as births go - had my "one week overdue" midwife appointment on Wednesday, at which I complained that my friend K had just had her baby the day before. However, by 6am Thursday morning, I was having the occasional contraction. At 2:50, my water broke, and at 6:50, my son was born.

All of my philosophy on life, being as close to what naturally occurs as possible, is exemplified in my son. During my pregnancy, I hardly ate any sweets or simple carbs and focused on eating tons and tons of grains and protein - even though eating fried eggs, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, omelettes.... got really boring - until the last month, when I just got miserable and started eating maple bars. So far, there have been almost no pesticides or processed foods going into him either in utero or via breastmilk. I am hoping that this will give him what he needs to grow up healthy, and reduce the risks of autism or ADD/ADHD.

Having a child is the most scary thing I have ever experienced. Everything I do is focused on making sure this little person is taken care of. When L came into my life, she needed supervision and care, but she was already two years old, mobile, eating regular food and sleeping (mostly) through the night. My son is completely dependent on me for food, although with pumping my husband can help, for comfort and care during the day, and he sleeps with me at night. It's an awesome responsibility, being so important to him, and knowing all the dangers there are to children that run over and over in my head - one of the hazards of working in product safety.

For now, I'm content just to stare at his face and tickle his toes and sigh over how amazing he is. I'm glad I'm good at compartmentalizing my fears and locking them away or I'd be a neurotic mess after just three weeks with my perfect, tiny, wonderful son, much less the many years to come.

China Study Tour: Shanghai - Paris of the East

2010-09-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

Our trip from Xi’an was entirely uneventful, as are the best plane trips. The airline food was minimally edible, although the Sprite was nice. We took the Maglev from the airport, and it reached 431kph, which is pretty darn fast.

From the plane upon arrival in each of the cities I’ve visited in the developing world, one could see the slums on the outskirts of the city. I think Chinese slums must look different than I’m used to, because all I saw were very cramped looking brick houses. India breaks your heart with the obvious human suffering surrounding the visitor every step, every day in India. One must eventually learn to ignore it, or else go slightly insane. Maybe China’s heartbreak is primarily rural and can’t be seen on a Study Tour encompassing only the urban centers of Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai.

Upon initial arrival in Shanghai, it struck me that I was reminded of Mumbai. There are so many people in the streets, there is a ripe scent to the air that I suspect is the combined odor of millions of sweaty bodies from the muggy, humid heat, and a certain late 19th/early 20th century European flair to many of the old buildings along the waterfront. However, this is where the comparison must end, as Shanghai is an amazing city, full of diverse, innovative architecture, it boasts a Maglev airport train, and is currently hosting the World Expo. No offense to Mumbai, but there really is no comparison after the initial superficial similarities are set aside.

After checking in and getting mostly settled in, we took a walk down to the river to see the Pudong and the Shanghai skyline. This resulted in much picture-taking before we settled on heading across the river to the Pearl Tower.

After a long stroll to reach the ferry, then a ferry ride (2 yuan!) and then a long stroll to the Pearl Tower, it was discovered that the cost for dinner was 280RMB, or 140 times the cost of the ferry ride. That price is completely ridiculous, so half of us settled on Subway, as we were starving, and others went to a nearby mall for other fare.

The view was mostly worth the price of admission (100RMB), although having my personal bubble invaded about every two seconds is honestly getting annoying. Having my alone time helps me get back my equilibrium to face the seas of humanity about me each day, but I have to admit it will be nice to go home, back to a place where an elevator with five occupants is considered full.

China Study Tour: Brother Machinery Co. Xi’an

2010-09-17T14:19:00.001-07:00

Brother is a Japanese company that initially began a joint venture with a Chinese firm in Xi’an in 1993. In this location, they make low-end to high-end industrial sewing machines as well as machine parts for large machinery primarily located in the south of China.

Our presentation was made by a Japanese employee who was fluent in Chinese, and reasonably good at English, although he kept distrusting himself and switching to Mandarin and one of the Mandarin speakers in our group would translate, usually Derek. He said that there were 11 Japanese employees at the plant, and only one of them spoke Mandarin. Their upper level plant managerial staff all spoke Japanese, and workers could attend Japanese courses if they wished. We found this very interesting – this is something seen in France and Japan, I would say most, this sense of national pride and an unwillingness to compromise national culture in a multinational venture. This is in reality too broad an indictment of all Japanese and French firms. However, I do believe that firms in China will either wish to speak their own language, or expect to conduct business in English. I feel that the Chinese have not yet attained a level of status in the world that would force those who wish to do business here to learn their language. Until then, I will be pleased that my language is now the language of the world, making my life much easier when traveling.

Our presenter wasn’t actually prepared for us when we arrived. He said that Chinese people are usually 1-2 hours late, and thus he didn’t expect us to be on time (we were five minutes early). Thus, some of the charts weren’t in English, and he seemed very flustered and unsure of how to structure what he had to say.

The most surprising part of visiting Brother was in hearing how not lean the processes at the plant were. Brother is headquartered in Nagoya, the same city as Toyota, and they ascribe to lean principles and the Toyota manufacturing method, and yet the volume of work in process inventory just sitting on the factory floor was staggering. The workers also weren’t wearing hard hats or safety equipment, but that is probably beside the point. The company’s core values, dress code, and team metrics were posted in prominent places in the factory. But, I just couldn’t get over the volume of inventory lying about – it was clearly not a just in time sort of operation.

The most interesting part of the presentation to me was the discussion of profit, or lack thereof, in the operation. Brother already makes virtually no profit on their lower-end sewing machine, which retails for $300, and is primarily intended for markets such as Bangladesh. They do quite well on their high end machines, but the presenter was saying that wage increases and logistics difficulties in transporting parts and finished goods were seriously eating into the potential profits of the business.

I really appreciate the time that Brother gave us in Xi’an. This was a real business tour, not a sanitized version for public consumption. We got a real picture into difficulties running an outsourced manufacturing business in China, something China is famous for in business worldwide, and the ways in which it wasn’t a successful venture, and the ways in which it was.

China Study Tour: Starfish Foster Home

2010-09-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

Website: http://www.thestarfishfosterhome.org/index.aspx
China Contact Information
Starfish Foster Home
Attn: Amanda de Lange
Maple Leaf New City, Area C, Block B-502
Ke Ji Road, Gao Xin
Xian 710075
CHINA
86.29.88044168 (Cell);
86.29.88390648 (Home)
chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com

Tuesday morning, we had the privilege to have Amanda de Lange, founder of Starfish Foster Home, give us a talk on non-profit work in China.

Amanda’s story for being in this line of work seems to be similar to many people who saw others in suffering and decided to do something about it – not generally a particularly clearly thought out plan initially – and took it upon themselves to make something happen. Amanda takes in babies with special needs who would otherwise likely die in the orphanages that they had been living in due to their special requirements. These babies can range from having problems like cleft palate, spina bifida, hemangioma, or congenital heart defects. All of these are treatable, but many parents in rural China don’t know where to go to help their child, or don’t have the money with which to do so, and so they are abandoned.

To illustrate the severity of the problem: children born with cleft palate in the United States (which happens at a much lower rate than in China, probably due to maternal malnourishment in the developing world) will have surgery to fix the deformity and will live the rest of their lives with a scar, but little else will be different for them. If a cleft palate baby goes to an orphanage here, the mortality rate is around 80%, according to Amanda, based upon the lack of available care to make sure that the baby gets the food they need to grow.

Any non-profit faces problems working in China. For one, it is very difficult for NGOs to enter or work in China, and Amanda said that none have been approved to work in China for the past ten years. For another, the legal framework doesn’t exist as it does in other countries to reward donors for giving to a charity, and the charity has problems setting up as a not-for-profit entity. For that reason, Starfish Foster Home is set up as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in the U.S., rather than in China.

Some of the management problems that Amanda faces are due to Chinese culture, and some are due to her own managerial style. She has faced numerous problems with her staff not being able to anticipate problems, or respond sluggishly when there is a serious problem, such as a stove broken for two days, meaning no warm milk for the babies. She also works way too many hours in the day, because she doesn’t have a capable administrative staff to take some of the load off of her shoulders. In addition, Amanda’s style is passionate – not business process oriented. Her love for her babies is more than apparent, but she admitted herself that she has flown by the seat of her pants for the past five years and more or less has approached her growth and non-profit business development in a very ad hoc way. If she had more specific and detailed processes for her staff to follow when inventory was low, something was broken, even in the form of a decision tree, she wouldn’t have to spend nearly as much time thinking for them, and could spend more of her time on fundraising and networking with the people who can help the children most.

Some of the organizations and people Amanda has worked with:
Smile Train
Operation Smile
Lisa Buckmiller (University of Arkansas Children’s Medical Center)

One of the things I found most admirable about Amanda is that even in the face of serious adversity, such as her rooms being torn down and needing to find new lodging for her nannies and her babies, and in the face of an uncertain future for her foster home based on the political climate in China, she still is passionate and giving of herself and has spent her life savings on this project, even when it probably would have seemed prudent to leave the work to someone else. I deeply respect and admire anyone who can take their reaction to the pain and suffering of others and build something to respond to that need. It is unknown to me how many babies Amanda has saved through her work, but even one baby would have made her effort worth it.

China Study Tour: Xi’an Hi-Tech Park

2010-09-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

Our visit to the Xi’an Hi-Tech Park was another public tour style view into Chinese business. While they had A/C, they did not have the candor of say, VanceInfo, or the usefulness of the U.S. Embassy presentation. What they provide most of all is a view into how China wants others from the outside to see itself, and how it chooses to present itself.

The layout of the demonstration area that is in a building, which is apparently dedicated entirely to the purpose of attracting businesses to Xi’an if the building directory can be believed, was similar to ENN’s in that it told the great and wonderful history of the Xi’an Hi-Tech Park. I’m sure there is some value to always painting a rosy picture to outsiders looking in, but it is to be hoped that they are at least honest amongst themselves in their own planning sessions about what challenges they actually face.

The primary focus of the presentation was about how Xi’an’s infrastructure was being improved to the point that it was just as desirable as a coastal city, while still having much lower costs and much lower turnover rates, especially as compared with a place like Shenzhen. The speaker was very much speaking the party line, and it reminded me of the professor from the University. The only reason the government has so much control and influence in these ventures is that people really seem to believe it’s working, despite the immense environmental degradation that rapid economic growth has wrought, as well as the clear disparity between the haves and the have-nots in society. What the government has done is provide them hope for the future – and any government who manages to keep the populace hopeful for future prospects does not have to worry about losing power.

Another thing that I found interesting, both in this visit and throughout the trip, is the focus that the Chinese are putting on high-value added services and goods. I have read some executives’ words in interviews saying that we’re only sending low-end goods abroad, and that the U.S. will continue to be a global center for innovation and high-tech goods. While I do not doubt this is partially true, since that is something we have experience with and are good at, this is precisely the area that we should realize China wants. The space station, the work on aerospace technology to build large places, micro-processing plant – if anyone still really believes that the U.S. can continue to be world leader and innovator in high-tech products and happily continue to dump only low-value added work to the developing world, they’re very much mistaken. Many of these countries have the hope of truly competing, and gaining for themselves the kind of respect and admiration we have garnered in our businesses in the past century, and it shouldn’t be at all surprising that this is so.

Another interesting note from the presentation was the volume of government sponsored educational institutions. While I’m sure they’re doing very good work in training the populace for gainful employment, I can’t imagine the professors enjoy any sort of actual freedom to teach as they like, when I can’t even access my own blog from here.

A rather shocking moment occurred partway through the Q&A with our hostess. She answered her phone in the middle of our professor’s question, and proceeded to speak for a good 30-40 seconds on her phone. That would be the height of rudeness in the U.S. We have spent a lot of time learning about Chinese business culture and what is acceptable or unacceptable and how to give and receive business cards properly – hopefully Chinese businesspeople do the same thing and realize that cutting someone off in the middle of a question and treating them as though their question is a far less importance than a phone call would be a serious faux pas to make.

China Study Tour: Northwest University Visit

2010-09-17T14:15:00.001-07:00

Our visit to Northwest University was intended as a comparison with the Beijing International MBA visit in Beijing. It ended up being a valuable experience, in terms of learning the kinds of students who chose Northwest University, and also the faculty.

The first speaker required our tour guide, Peter, to translate (and Peter did an excellent job), but I found it interesting as this is the first official person we’ve run into so far who has not chosen to speak English. Our second speaker was another professor who had recently returned from a Fulbright scholarship in the U.S., in Los Angeles. Her English was excellent, and she did a great job attempting to sell us on Xi’an.

Two thins became obvious to me fairly quickly during the presentations and subsequent Q&A. People from Xi’an are very proud of their city and what the government is doing to improve it, and the Northwest University students were much more willing to engage and listen to what we had to say.

To address Xi’an and governmental influence in greater depth: Chinese people we’ve met here are universally pleased with how the government is improving infrastructure and job opportunities in Xi’an. I expect that we would likely find a lot more discontent were we to meet people not benefitting from this deliberate investment. However, it is indisputably true that companies are moving to China, and that the Chinese economy is growing at a very fast clip, and the average wages of both rural and urban residents has increased significantly in recent decades, even if there is still a huge gap between them.

I still am undecided as to the wisdom of their method, given that the growth here still seems very artificial to me, being that it is forced almost entirely by government action and intervention. That, to me, is not sustainable business. However, another piece of the sustainability puzzle is infrastructure, and the United States is faced with an aging infrastructure system that is too heavily dependent upon roads for transportation of goods and people, and an electricity grid incapable of truly harnessing the power that exists in the U.S. for national use. This lack of investment in needed infrastructure will hamper growth in cities that do not make it possible for employees to get to work, and transportation hubs that cost companies time and money, rather than providing a seamless transportation network.

During out lunch, our hostess at the University treated us to a beautiful Chinese love song. As with Jackie’s singing on the bus, I could detect neither embarrassment nor vanity in their actions, merely a love of singing and true talent. It reminds me of what we read in China Road about the importance of singing in a culture where so little is spoken openly. We are still planning to get Jared to sing, but perhaps there are too few evenings left to make it happen.

China Study Tour: City Wall of Xi’an

2010-09-14T12:34:00.000-07:00

This morning, we took a leisurely Sunday morning bike ride along the old city wall of Xi’an. Xi’an was the capital of 13 dynasties throughout China’s history, and this particular city wall was built during the Ming dynasty (corresponding with Europe’s High Middle Ages).

The wall is made of large bricks, which can make riding a bit bumpy. Add in the rusty nature and dubious quality of the bicycles we rented, and it was quite an adventuresome excursion.

Seu-jan had decided to go to Huashan instead of come with us biking, as that seemed much more interesting to her. Honestly, it sounded more interesting to me too, but maybe if the temperature had been cooler, I might have gone. Heat and me don’t get along. She said when she got back that the best part of her trip was the view and the clarity of the air.

After getting back from the bike ride, we were to head off to a Sechuan restaurant. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get taxis, and we really couldn’t make it in time walking (our guide in Xi’an, Jackie, was kind of lame about some things) so we ended up splitting off, the vegetarians and company going to Pizza Hut, and the rest going for Muslim food, which is very meat-heavy.

Speaking of Jackie, our cultural tour guide here in Xi’an, he offered a “laundry service” on the bus, and it was at 30% of hotel prices. Hotel prices are, to give you some idea, a $1.75 to wash a pair of underwear. Unfortunately, I did not hear the price, and sent off my laundry happily, to be stuck with a 210RMB bill when it came back. It is beyond ridiculous to pay $30 for laundry. He informed me that if I had not used his “friend’s” service, then I would have had to hang up my clothes in my room perhaps, to which I replied, “That’s exactly what I would have done!” Bilking your tourists is not a good way to be a successful tour guide. To top it all off, my clothes were still damp when they arrived.

For the afternoon, we all went our separate ways to enjoy our last free afternoon of our trip in China. For the rest of our time here, we have daily obligations. I plan to enjoy my day doing very little, maybe reading a book, or lazing about. It sounds truly heavenly.

China Study Tour: Dumplings, Dumplings, and more Dumplings

2010-09-14T12:32:00.001-07:00

For our evening meal, we were able to enjoy an 18-course dumpling meal. In China, however, there is no tradition of vegetarianism, and thus all of the dumplings, other than perhaps dessert dumplings, were likely to have meat in them.

Madhu asked specifically for vegetarian dumplings, and the four vegetarians seated at our table were provided with one dumpling. This was not the veritable feast that the carnivores were planning to enjoy. After explaining again the situation, the kitchen sent out more vegetarian dumplings, some bowls and about five steamer baskets. Then, everything started to break down when they brought out meat dumplings with them. The ultimate bad joke – the vegetarians won’t eat meat, and can’t tell which dumpling has none, and the omnivores would prefer to get the meat dumplings but keep randomly getting a dumpling stuffed with broccoli instead.

Somehow, we all managed to survive dinner craziness, and ventured out to explore Xi’an. Some of us went for 50¥ massages (7RMB to the dollar), and some went up the Drum Tower or walked around in the evening air.

Xi’an has the feel of a city that is lived in. Beijing is very nice and quite impressive, but the parts of it that we saw were sanitized and perfect. It was nice to see people eating dinner on the sidewalk outside their apartments, seeing two chickens in the street, and an actual pile of bricks for an unfinished sidewalk project. Madhu, Shefali, Amit and myself agree that Xi’an feels much more like an Indian city, while Beijing feels much more modern. I just feel that the atmosphere here is much more open and friendly and much more of a busy, working city, where people take the time to enjoy each other’s company over dinner on the sidewalk.

China Study Tour: September 11 in Xi’an

2010-09-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

One of the things I enjoyed about being in China at this time of year, and in India last year is that I was not in the country on 9/11. I have not been in the country four times now in the past nine years, and that’s the way I like it. It was such a transformative day, both in terms of the American psyche and the American spirit, and in terms of what it represents to me, given the events that occurred as a result of those deaths and the destruction of the towers.

Last year, we were in Mumbai on September 11, and we were visiting the Times of India. They had lost employees and friends during the terrorist attacks there, and it was in some way comforting to share a moment of silence with them. I feel that 9/11 has become so politicized in our country that it is impossible for me to watch news coverage of its anniversary. It is also too painful to see the footage that is played incessantly of people dying. I do not wish to see their deaths as some form of news entertainment for the sake of ratings. They are more valuable than that.

I believe that the best we can do for those who died is honor what it means to be American – what the terrorists were trying to obliterate, and what they have succeeded in obliterating for some portions of the population. The complaints about our actions throughout the world during the past 50-60 years in the name of “capitalism” and “democracy” are in a number of cases reprehensible. But we also are a representation of what it means to be intellectually and politically free people, and that is what I want to remember on 9/11.

China Study Tour: Here Lies Ozymandias, King of Kings

2010-09-11T13:46:00.000-07:00

In 1974, a few Chinese peasants discovered the Terra Cotta warriors while digging a well in a field. The Terra Cotta Warriors are the warriors meant to accompany the First Emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huang Di) into the afterlife – so that he could conquer it too, presumably. They are comprised of infantry, archers, cavalry, and charioteers. The Emperor Qin had them built in the latter half of his time as emperor, and they were smashed up shortly after his death in the peasant rebellions.

Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote a poem called Ozymandias:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

This is the terra cotta warriors. There is no historical record of them, they had simply been forgotten about. It must be one of the most mentally damaging occurrences in the world to believe that you are something on the level of a divine being. But if there is an afterlife, and if he could still see this one, how grating it would be to watch everything you believed defined you to disappear into the sands of time.

China Study Tour: The night train to Xi’an

2010-09-11T13:43:00.001-07:00

Our berths for the night train were four to a compartment, but because we’d not booked as soon as the tickets were available, all of our berths were upper bunks. For most of us, this posed no problem, as we’d had the experience before, but I can see how it would be disconcerting to sleep so closely to strangers if you haven’t done so before.

Since it was P.J.’s birthday, we had a celebration with yummy cake in the dining car. I honestly think there’s not much more fun than traveling by train, although traveling by train with typical luggage is not my idea of fun. If I’d fully realized – oh, train! – I would have brought my backpack and done the usual hiking pack on the pack, small pack on the front Euro tour sort of method of transporting luggage.

Our bunk mates had a friend in the compartment next to us, so Tami and Katie suggested a switch, but apparently the top bunks are not desirable. Personally, I feel more comfortable in the top bunk. It takes a lot of effort to get up there, and once you are, it’s hard for anyone else to get up there. They were very gracious about my large bag that had to go between them, because it wouldn’t fit under the seat.

One of the things I love about sleeping on a train is that it’s basically a noisy rocking chair, all night long. This means better and longer sleep (if you’re the kind of person comforted by the movement of a train). I awoke refreshed, with an amazing head of bed hair. I ventured to the breakfast car to find other amazing heads of bed head.

Upon arrival at the Grand Noble Hotel in Xi’an, everyone got some food, then everyone took showers. Night trains are all well and good, but our stink radius was reaching 2-3 feet by that point.

China Study Tour: Hot weather, hot taxis, and getting some real answers

2010-09-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

It’s Friday morning and our last day in Beijing. We arrived this Sunday, and have had a very full week so far. Today, we will go to the Forbidden City in the morning, and we are all splitting off in the afternoon before meeting at the hotel lobby at 7:20pm and catching our train to Xi’an. Just a side note about this hotel – it is not impressive. There is no room service menu, the rooms were by turns dirty, and our TV didn’t work, not as though we actually had time to watch it. But still not my idea of 5-star. Okay, rant over.

The Forbidden City is much more enormous of a complex then I originally expected it to be. We were late arriving, and late getting in – Peter said that it was quite possibly the fastest tour he’d ever done, rushing through the Forbidden City in an hour. I have to say that the renovated parts just look new and cheap. While it’s still beautiful, it doesn’t have the patina of age, and thus isn’t as impressive as the parts that haven’t yet been renovated. However, knowing the Chinese government, I’m sure there’s plans in the works to cover the entire complex with new paint. By the time I got through the Forbidden City, I was soaked in sweat, and hoping that my sunscreen-less skin could successful handle the bright sun.

Peter and I took one auto-rickshaw and Rubina and Suna took the other back to the hotel, while others in our group walked back. By the time we reached the hotel, my pants were sticking to my legs. It is astounding how much one sweats.

I left to go shopping after we checked out, and sweated some more while getting ripped off buying cheap Chinese goods. I’m perfectly happy with what I paid, but I know it was way too much. Still cheaper than buying at home. Plus, I got a great deck of cards with Mao as the Joker. That, I think, is brilliant.

I caught a taxi to take the “15 minute” ride to Ocean International Center to meet my colleague Jing at the Amazon.cn/Joyo building. This turned into an hour long taxi ride in the heat because the taxi driver thought he was lost, even though he initially took me to the correct building. I was ridiculously sweaty again by the time I finally arrived, a half hour late. I did enjoy the taxi driver’s musical choice though: “If My Heart Had Wings” – some sort of American country song.

I had a wonderful chat with Jing. I asked her a few questions about things that had been bothering me.

Q: Where are all the homeless people?
A: If the police find any homeless people, they will check who they are, notify their family and ask them to come and get them. If the family can’t come and get the homeless person, they will be sent back to the village, ticket paid by the government.

Q: What are housing prices like?
A: For a 100 sq meter apartment building, it could cost 30,000-40,000RMB per square meter, meaning that an apartment the size of my first studio in Seattle would run about 3,000,000-4,000,000RMB to buy (at approximately 7RMB to the dollar).

Q: What was the deal with the ENN presentation?
A: I (Jing) went to such a place in Mongolia, showcasing milk production. The cows were outside in the grass, and the machines were clean and lined up. But, these are the public versions of the facilities.

Q: Why were you taking a tour of a milk production facility?
A: In China, anyone can take these sorts of tours as a tourist destination. I was in Mongolia on vacation with my family to see the grasslands and desert, and thought it would be interesting.

On my way back to the hotel, it took 15 minutes to catch a taxi, and when I said Beijing Hotel, the taxi driver said, bu yao, bu yao! Which means, No, I don’t want to. However, I was already in the taxi, so he took me for awhile. But, traffic was really slow, so he suggested that I take the subway, and dumped me off on an offramp, at which point I had to jog down the offramp, then cross four lanes of traffic to get to the sidewalk that led to the subway. Ridiculous. However, I made it…. With five minutes to spare.

China Study Tour: Beijing as a tourist

2010-09-11T13:25:00.001-07:00

One of the things that struck me most in India, and is also very clear in China is how very aspirational most of the population is. On the road to ENN, there were many nice vehicles – but there was also a massive traffic jam that delayed our arrival well over a half hour. The traffic in Beijing is atrocious. It’s the kind of traffic that makes you want to poke your eyes out – but only want, as you do eventually get to where you’re going.

Fashions here are really quite funny. On Thursday night, we went to Coco Banana, an aspirational club in Bar street. I say aspirational because most of the people who were there didn’t seem to be there because they were anyone special, but it was definitely a see and be seen sort of place. Tami said that she hadn’t had so much fun people watching in quite some time. My favorite was the guy wearing a leather vest – only the vest – with a slicked back low curly ponytail, white belt, and tight club hipster pants. Runner-up was the Chinese hipster hick – big aviator sunglasses, white beater rolled up at the waist, and a baseball cap.

Before going to the club and giggling at the patrons, some of us went to the Olympic stadium park to see the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest. Those are some truly amazing buildings. I very much enjoyed being able to see them up close and not just on TV watching Michael Phelps kick everyone else’s butt. Go Michael Phelps! Anyway, the architecture is definitely a theme here – the CCTV building is also an amazing and interesting structure.

There is significant anecdotal evidence of European influence in the area. I saw a number of cargo containers on the highway for Merck or Hamburg-Süd, and I keep hearing German and French from other foreigners walking around the city. I haven’t actually seen all that many Americans, compared to the numbers of Europeans I’ve seen so far. Maybe I’m not looking in the right places.

China Study Tour: U.S. Embassy

2010-09-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

As much as I like to complain about my country, I am, like many Americans, very patriotic. There would be no sense in complaining unless I actually cared about the place that I live. So, it was really fun to see and visit the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for that reason only – seeing the Great Seal of the United States of America. It took awhile to get inside, though, due to security measures. Since my name was submitted with my old name, it was confusing to the officers. Three of us in the group have different names, due to marriage, and apparently this completely threw a monkey wrench into their well-oiled security machine. In all seriousness, though, the security was quite good just to get inside to see the Marine military guard. The doors are strong, and there are multiple doors to get through before you’re inside. It makes me feel happier about the level of security that our diplomats and local staff enjoy when working at the Embassy.

The presentation by Rosemary Gallant of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was the most candid and realistic picture of doing business in China that we’d seen or heard . She was very clear about what the U.S. government could and couldn’t do in terms of facilitating trade, advising companies, and working to improve the balance of trade. Being there made me want to apply for the Foreign Service again.

Some of the most interesting things she told us:
- 30% of the water supply is contaminated
- 20 new nuclear sites are under construction (none have been approved in the U.S. since Three Mile Island)
- There are 53 open positions in Rosemary’s team, but she has only 40 employees due to the hiring freeze
- 70% of healthcare costs are incurred by urban population, but 70% of the population is rural
- All Americans visiting China should assume that they are being watched, and their goods are subject to snooping at any time

Overall, the visit to the Embassy painted the clearest picture so far of what American businesses would really need to deal with when doing business in China. Also, the bathrooms were standard American bathrooms – it was heavenly.

And I didn’t see any pictures of children or butterflies anywhere.

China Study Tour: ENN – Butterflies and Children

2010-09-11T13:17:00.001-07:00

The visit to ENN was interesting for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that it was very clearly a marketing presentation. The first place we went into was a very expensively decorated room, with TV screens and interactive display. The history of energy usage was told in the “progress” perspective, and was concluded with a presentation on “clean coal.” After the visit, I discussed with some of the others on the trip that there really isn’t any such thing as clean coal – just potentially less dirty coal. I understand they’re using “clean” to refer to the burning of the coal, but I think that any “clean” energy technology needs to be viewed in aggregate before saying that it is, in fact, clean. Upon leaving the first building, we saw a video of children laughing and butterflies.

The second manufacturing site we visited was for solar energy. This was actually quite fascinating, as I didn’t realize that solar panel technology has changed so much in the past decade. No longer is a clunky large silicon based panel necessary; thin-film technology fits between two sheets of glass. Potentially, an entire high rise could be powered only by its windows. Even here, though, in such a high-tech area – and there were a lot of machines, this was not a labor heavy manufacturing center – there was a leaky roof, and a sketchy walkway that made people in the group feel slightly uncomfortable walking on it.

The last area we visited was the algae facility. This was merely a demonstration facility, the real gas production from algae facility is in Inner Mongolia. The machines looked a lot like flash pasteurization machines that I saw at Beecher’s cheese in Seattle.

Overall, the work they’re doing is very interesting, and it’s good to see that China is so concerned with green energy and green technology. I simply found it rather suspicious how impressive and developed the presentation was – and there were five other groups that day other than us – and it makes me wonder what exactly they aren’t saying.

China Study Tour: Joint Session with Beijing International MBA students

2010-09-11T13:15:00.000-07:00

Wednesday afternoon, we had lunch and a joint session with the “cream of the crop” of the Chinese education system for business. The lunch was absolutely delicious, and for me was much better than the spread last year in India at Christ University, because by the time we’d gotten to Bangalore, I was thoroughly sick of Indian food. I’m still quite happy to munch on Chinese food, so this lunch was lovely.

There were probably a two-thirds/one-third mix of Chinese to international students in the International MBA program. In the Indian joint class, there were thirty plus students, only two women, and all Indian. The gender balance was fairly even in this program. In our group, we had two Chinese men and a Spanish woman. I felt they could have been more prepared and didn’t seem to me to be any more special than we were in terms of our analysis, and yet the expectations had been driven very high for this group of students.

We continued to discuss VanceInfo, and the group came to the conclusion that while VanceInfo didn’t really have the ability, from an internal management expertise level or from an experience level to do so, they needed to move up the IT services value chain in order to service long term. This is especially important due to both of their reasons for competitive advantage. As a Chinese company with whom to form a long-term strategic partnership, a company would want to potentially get more out of the relationship than low-level testing services. Further, as the yuan appreciates against the dollar, the cost advantage enjoyed by China will be usurped by Vietnam and other lower-cost competitors.

Overall, I thought the students were well-spoken, but their English was about a 7 on a scale of 1-10. Most of the English we’ve encountered in China so far has been at this level.

In addition to the joint session with the students, we had a talk from the Chinese entrepreneur running out tour, Jennifer Pan. She has an undergraduate degree in Chemistry, a graduate degree in computer science, an MBA, and is now working for herself setting up tours for business schools in China. Her talk focused on the importance of knowing yourself and following your passion. She said that getting up every day for work in the U.S., and being part of the rat race actually takes more courage than what she is doing because you have to force yourself to do something you hate in order to make the life you want to live. While I partially disagree, in that I don’t really mind my little part of the cube farm (and I have a window), it is true that in the pursuit of so much stuff – the American “dream” of ownership, almost indiscriminate ownership of things, it sometimes seems – we lose track of what it really means to be human.

China Study Tour: Bring me a pig! – The Red Queen

2010-09-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

This morning, we are going to the Summer Palace before having a joint class with BiMBA students regarding the VanceInfo case. It was built by the Empress Cixi who had much in common with the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland, that I could see. If any other monarch was less concerned about her subjects and more concerned about herself, I don’t know if you could find her or him easily. There are probably a lot that are unconcerned with their subjects and more concerned with themselves; however ,this particular level of unconcern led to China having no defenses when the English and French chose to forcibly open China in the 19th century.

The Summer Palace is a beautiful place, located on a man-made lake. It is a very large lake. Cixi was carried around the complex on sedan chair (of course). It has one of the longest promenades in the world. It was probably one of the most peaceful, restful places we’ve been so far on the trip.

One of the things I found highly ironic about the whole thing is that at the end of Alice in Wonderland, Alice decides to send her father’s shipping venture to China. So, in both cases, the Red Queen loses.

China Study Tour: “I am not for the nunnery”

2010-09-11T13:02:00.001-07:00

This evening, we were treated to two excerpts of Chinese opera, a selection from the Cantonese opera “The Scholar and the Maid” and a Beijing style martial arts opera, “The Monkey King.” “The Scholar and the Maid” tells the story of a young girl from a nunnery who decides that she needs to follow her heart and pursues the scholar Pan, her one true love. It’s a comedic play, with the facial expressions and tones of the music telling the story. “The Monkey King” excerpt was the section where the Monkey King fights twelve fighters. This was interesting for about ten minutes, but not much longer than that. Give me a smart, well-performed comedy any time.

Overall, I have been struck by the very clear differences between China and India. The roads in Beijing are very good, no potholes and traffic moves most of the day, albeit slowly at times. There are virtually no homeless people in the city, and very few beggars even. There is some truly amazing architecture here as well, partly for the Summer Olympics in 2008, but also it seems for regular commercial buildings. In all, from an initial view perspective, Beijing is much more developed looking than New Delhi.

China Study Tour: VanceInfo

2010-09-11T12:58:00.000-07:00

Our first impression of the VanceInfo offices was that they were very unprepossessing. One of the ways that I like to judge the overall wealth and success of a business in a developing country is the quality of the bathrooms, particularly the women’s bathrooms. A newer, lower-revenue company will have squat toilets only, whereas a newer, more expensive building will typically have western-style toilets. VanceInfo had poorly appointed squat toilets.

We were ushered into a very sad little room with tan crepe-ish drapes on the sides. It was incredibly hot. Our speaker was a soft-spoken American named Ken Schulz, who had been living and working in China for a number of years after getting laid off by HP after the first dot.com bubble burst and outsourcing was ramped up in earnest around 2000-2001. He gave us a marketing style presentation demonstrating VanceInfo’s phenomenal growth, and expansions of graphs for the case we studied prior to visiting the location.

The most interesting business aspects of VanceInfo are its growth, and its status as a Chinese-owned company on the NYSE. Just two years ago, when the Stanford case we read was written, there were only 5,000 employees at VanceInfo. When we went on Tuesday afternoon, Ken said that there were nearly 11,000. Entirely aside from the daunting HR challenges that would pose, this sort of growth is virtually unheard of outside of a developing country. The jobs for unskilled labor aren’t coming back to our economy, they are going to developing countries and are likely to stay there. However, VanceInfo does have offices in Seattle, San Diego, and somewhere else in the U.S., so perhaps growing Chinese and Indian outsourcing companies will start hiring locally in the U.S. as prices continue to rise in the home countries. The second important aspect of VanceInfo is its status as a NYSE traded firm. This allows it to offer stock based incentives to employees, and provides an important source of pride for the Chinese government. It is my opinion that this status will help it immensely in the coming years.

By the end of Ken’s presentation, no one was listening because it was so hot. There was no A/C, as apparently it was considered unnecessary, but if there isn’t to be A/C, there at least needs to be a fan. We took a tour of their other building, which was also A/C free, but at least had more airflow. I think by the time we left, no one was able to pay attention to the value of the information we were receiving because they were too overwhelmed by the volume of sweat stuck to the backs of their legs and the small of the back.

Also, apparently a “low voltage area” is a “weak electricity room.” I will never tire of reading amusing English translations.

Our case debrief in the bus focused on VanceInfo’s future prospects, as they offer a very low-end, not much value-added service to their partners. This is work that virtually anyone could do, so what is the reason VanceInfo would be chosen above anyone else? To be honest, there isn’t any reason other than that they are Chinese. They are low cost, certainly, but there are other low cost locations globally. VanceInfo is first and foremost a Chinese company, and this is the value they will add over a long-term partnership, which is the proper way to approach setting up a business relationship in China.

China Study Tour: Microsoft

2010-09-11T12:55:00.001-07:00

Tuesday morning we went to Microsoft’s R&D Center at the Sigma building. We received a presentation from Yongdong Wang, General Manager of Search Technology Center Asia, meaning that he was responsible for the development and growth of the Bing search engine for China, Japan and Korea.

The presentation was very tech/future focused, as might be expected from an R&D facility. He focused on three screens connectivity, client and cloud functionality, natural user interface, Green IT and more. The center currently holds 300 engineers, and their new campus will hold 5,000.

Yongdong showed us a chart of R&D spending by country for BRICs. It was interesting that while China outspent them all, nearly outspent them all combined, China doesn’t have the reputation that India does, and I would say that sending a job to China wouldn’t be any more guaranteed than sending it to Brazil, India or Russia – and yet, they have invested much more heavily in R&D and infrastructure. Perhaps this investment will pay more dividends in the future, but for now, they seem to be spending quite a lot for a minimal return on investment.

When asked about piracy and data privacy issues facing Microsoft in China, Yongdong stated that Hotmail’s servers are located outside of China, as is sensitive cloud data. He also said that if Microsoft were actually paid for the volume of Microsoft products in China, they would probably quadruple their current income easily.

After his presentation, we were presented multiple promotional videos by a young Chinese woman wearing hipter 80’s glasses. These videos ranged from 1-3 years old, so we questioned the “cutting edge” aspect of the work. Overall, I think it will be interesting to see what Microsoft comes up with in the next few years, as they have the cash to invest heavily in R&D in a variety of markets.

China Study Tour: Jinshanling

2010-09-06T22:46:00.000-07:00

Normally, Madhu takes the group to the Simatai portion of the Great Wall, but it’s currently closed for renovations, so we have gone to Jinshanling. The trip there is to take between 3.5 to 4 hours, depending on traffic out of Beijing. We had been warned from the first Saturday class of the steepness of Simatai, the need to train, and so on, and provided pictures demonstrating the point. We were told by our study tour guide, Peter, that Jinshanling would not disappoint as a replacement.

Before heading up the wall, we had a traditional Chinese lunch. It was pretty much the same as anything one could get in my favorite Chinese restaurant at home, Shanghai Gardens, making me think that it’s more authentic than I thought. We had noodles, various types of veggies, sweet & sour pork, cashew chicken, egg drop soup, corn fritters, and watermelon to finish off. My favorite was the garlic bok choy. My favorite dish in Singapore was bok choy with oyster sauce or garlic bok choy, and it has been one of the things I’ve been looking forward to most, culinary-wise, as I’ve never been quite able to replicate the flavor or texture in stir fry at home. The spread is reassuringly familiar and there is virtually no spice. This will be a much easier trip for my stomach than last year’s sojourn to India. I still can’t even look at red chili without my stomach clenching in remembrance of red curry. Stir fry bok choy sounds wonderful to me.

These sorts of groups are apparently one of the only ways for farmers in the region to make money, so they attach themselves to one tourist each on their trip along the Great Wall. My guy’s name was Zhou, and he was from north of the wall, and he is ethnically Mongolian.

Just the walk to get onto the wall was quite steep, and we’d driven very close on the bus. Actually being on the Great Wall was amazing. You could see all of the nearby peaks and could view dozens of guard towers before the wall disappeared into the gray-blue sky. We were there the same day as a cooperative marathon between Chinese and other nationalities. From what I could tell, mostly Germans were participating, and these folks were running a marathon along the Great Wall in sweltering heat. I commend them. Many of the non-Marathon tourists were also German, although I noticed a few French and Americans not with our group. I will use this as anecdotal evidence that Germany is recovering from the recession faster than everyone else, and will not listen to any protestations that that is completely anecdotal and can’t really be relied upon. All of the Germans, and speaking to a couple of them, made me a little homesick for Austria. I haven’t been back since May 2008, and it is my second-favorite place in the world, outside of Seattle.

Madhu wanted to make it to the thirteenth tower along the wall from the Jinshanling. However, from what I heard, Tami and Seu-jin decided to run the wall instead, and they went further, thus necessitating that Madhu go further as well. I did not participate in this portion of the Great Wall entertainment, having been nursing a particularly nasty travel migraine all day. Rubina’ and Zhou helped me get to the third tower, at which point I had to decide between my pride and my body, and my body won out. Still and all, I made it to the third tower, got some amazing pictures, and have gained a new appreciation for the sheer scale of what was accomplished when this wall was built without the benefit of any modern machinery.

China Study Tour: First Impressions

2010-09-06T22:44:00.000-07:00

The road from the airport provides a marked contrast to the road from the New Delhi airport in India. For that trip, we shared the road with all manner of conveyances, including oxen, multiple combinations of bicycle usage, pedestrians, and hand-drawn carts. This was a proper highway, with a wide variety of cars.

From the bus windows, I could confirm what I had viewed from the plane, the widespread communist influence in architecture and city design. This is something seen frequently in Eastern Europe: exactly the same ugly high rise apartment building five times in a row. Occasionally, one could also see an exceptionally ugly concrete structure that could only have been built during China’s more austere days. For the most part, though, China reminds me most of Eastern Europe than any other place I’ve been. They seem to be working as hard as they can to shed their Communist aesthetic and embrace the new cars, bright paint, and shining lights of the typically Western cityscape.

On the way to the Beijing Hotel, I learned that Buick is apparently a prestige brand in China, I saw a number of brands of vehicle, from Peugeot to Audi, to Ford, Jeep, Hyundai, Volkswagen – one could probably find nearly every brand of car imaginable on the highway from the Beijing Airport.

When we arrived at the hotel, we passed Raffles Beijing Hotel, which gave me a momentary pang of remembrance for Singapore. The only place I’d truly felt comfortable and happy there was reading a book in the courtyard of Raffles Hotel, a stately European style hotel named after the Raffles that half the downtown seems to be named after. This Raffles is also stately and European in styling, although not nearly as beautiful or inviting as the Singapore Raffles in terms of the foliage and location of the hotel. The interior of our hotel reminds me of an old lady who has put on a lot of jewels to try to hide that she has gotten old. The rooms increased my opinion that this was, in fact the case. The windows are double paned windows of the style that were in my 100-year-old Austrian apartment building, and the styling is also older. The beds are incredibly firm, and nearly everyone has had problems with a lack of cleanliness in their rooms. Relatively speaking, they’re clean, but a 5-star hotel in the States or Europe would not have flecks on the toilet upon arrival, or questionable still-sticky stains on the carpets. It’s a classic hotel, but not quite as nice as the similarly appointed hotels we stayed at in India.

We took an evening walk to Tian’anmen Square to stay up a little longer and perhaps put off worse affects of jet lag. There are very few street people in Beijing compared to any city in India, even compared to Seattle. All of the street people we did see were selling cheap knick-knacks or playing music, there were no outright beggars that I saw on the way there and back. As I am sure there are many homeless and destitute in Beijing, I conclude that they must have been moved elsewhere.

After our walk, the group splits up, some to experience the Night Market and see scorpions on a stick, and some decide it’s time to give in and get some sleep. Tomorrow, we travel to the Great Wall.

China Study Tour: 1 confiscated water bottle, 2 packs of M&Ms, 21 fellow study tour participants, getting through security with a box-cutter: priceless

2010-09-06T22:41:00.000-07:00

I hate airport security. When I arrived for my flight on Hainan Airways, the check-in staff seemed apologetic that I had to wait even the five minutes that I did, and there was a literal red carpet for the business class travelers. They were polite, efficient, and fast. Security was also fast, but polite and efficient is definitely stretching the definitions of the terms. I got an admittedly cheap water bottle on my recent trip to Sitka, Alaska. However, it was my water bottle, and it was my souvenir, and it posed no terrorist threat whatsoever. I find that airport security makes me feel angry, harassed, and not at all safer, especially once I discovered that while my cheap water bottle had been confiscated, the box cutter in my purse apparently wasn’t an issue at all.

After submitting my pre-departure paper from the gate waiting area (Madhu only said before we fly out…), I grabbed some snacks at Hudson News along with a neck pillow. I found on the plane, however, that while the peanut butter M&Ms were as yummy as they always are, the neck pillow was not a brilliant investment. Hainan Airways has quite possibly the tiniest seat dimensions of any airline I’ve ever flown on. When I, a 5’5” female feel scrunched and uncomfortable, I can’t imagine how the taller guys in our group are feeling.

Customs and Immigration in China provided a marked counterpart to American security. In fact, the customs folks even had satisfaction buttons at their stations. I could express my pleasure or displeasure at the quality of customs arrival! I want one of those for security at home.
The first place everyone in the group noticed upon arrival was the KFC and Starbucks. While no one went for the KFC, Starbucks provided an allure that was nigh irresistible – cool, delicious coffee drinks. Somehow, even though I ordered a caramel frappuccino, I got a caramel cream frappuccino, which is more like an iced blended milkshake than a coffee drink… so there were some communication issues, but a cream frappuccino is still refreshing after a non-stop Seattle to Beijing flight. Everyone else got the coffee they wanted, and apparently the only difference is the taste in soymilk.

Somehow, our second professor Rubina’ was stopped in Customs, we are assuming because her passport is in Urdu. So, while we waited, we observed all the people around us. My favorite was a young Chinese guy dressed like the Situation from Jersey Shore. There was also a sign for “Familie Kuh” – Family Cow in German – which made me giggle. When Rubina’ finally arrived, there was much cheering and imaginary champagne toasts. We had all arrived safely in China.

My name is Rachel Greer, and I’m writing the student blog on behalf of the China Study Tour 2010 for the Albers School of Business at Seattle University. This blog will include the group activities and experiences on our trip, as well as my personal reflections and impressions. I hope you enjoy learning about China through our first-hand experiences.

Snohomish farm

2010-07-16T20:26:00.001-07:00

Today I stayed home from work because of the headache that prevented me from being able to walk without looking like a drunk octogenarian. I worked at the kitchen table, which overlooks the horse pasture. My in-laws have two beautiful chestnut horses (at least, I think that's what they're called). I just fed them some carrots.

I also checked on the kohlrabi, carrots, rainbow chard and basil I'm growing. The kohlrabi (white and purple) have already started to germinate, the first little sprouts are always the most fun for me to see. I may be pretty terrible at growing plants indoors, but I feel happy when I have dirt smeared hands and my knees and back ache from weeding and tending plants. I don't really like flowers all that much, although I'm a big fan of perennials. What I really enjoy is planting vegetables or fruits and then eating them when they're grown. There's just something so satisfying about sustenance gained from your own work, and knowing exactly where your food is coming from.

While I'm not a huge fan of the new commute, I love our new place. When we buy, I want enough space for a garden - kohlrabi, chard, lettuce, spinach, carrots, herbs, and cauliflower or broccoli. And I want some lovely perennial flowering plants surrounding the house and yard. I am so glad that, unless something truly odd and unforeseen occurs, I will never live in another apartment.

Today's Lyrics

2010-06-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

http://www.pandora.com/music/song/lily+allen/fear#lyrics

I have discovered a passion for the most recent British invasion of female folksy singers, like Lily Allen, Kate Nash, Adele, and Duffy. Not necessarily Amy Winehouse, but she's alright. This is my favorite song today.

http://www.pandora.com/music/song/kate+nash/birds#lyrics

This is my second favorite of the day.

And now for some of their American counterparts - I absolutely love Regina Spektor. Brilliant music, brilliant piano.

Items

2010-06-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

1. For L's dinner - two whole sliced up carrots, three natural cheese curds (Beecher's Cheese), grapes, and two slices of baguette.

2. Visited the new place yesterday, things are getting cleaned out in short order. Looking forward to moving, actually. :) And sleeping the whole night though with no ambulance noise.

3. One week of misery and pain left, Friday night final. I WILL make it through. With chocolate.

Happy Sunday!

Cheap Stuff

2010-06-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

Last night, Colbert did a hilarious report on the Foxconn plant in China that is currently embroiled in a nasty public relations scandal with so many workers committing suicide, thereby drawing attention to the extremely unpleasant living conditions of the workers there. Colbert pointed out, quite rightly, that there would be no market for such cheap items were Americans not seduced by promises of cheap, cheap and cheaper.

For all of you made in America folks out there, how many of you actually buy American? How many of you bought American in the 90's when we were sending factories south of the border for cheaper wages? It's not corporate America that's at fault here - corporate America does what it does to increase value for the shareholders. What increases value? Sales. American CONSUMERS consumed the cheapest products, rather than the quality products, so American factories moved offshore.

When I lived in Austria, I knew people who would save up for months to buy high quality items because they didn't want to have to replace the blender they bought for at least a decade. When you buy a 100euro blender that you expect to last ten years or more (my mother's old Oster lasted fifteen years, the old Sharp microwave lasted 18 years), you're paying 10euro per year (not getting into the TVM issue here), while others who buy cheap blenders buy 20euro blenders every year or two, plus the frustration of using a lousy product. American consumers chose price over quality, and those folks who shop at Walmart should just be quiet about not having jobs, because we did this to ourselves.

Arizona Bill

2010-05-27T15:31:00.000-07:00

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the new bill in Arizona targeting illegal immigrants will likely increase rates of unsolved crimes and destabilize urban and rural communities. But, this reporter writes it a lot better I do. Worth reading.

Beecher's Cheese

2010-05-24T16:08:00.001-07:00

For my operations course this quarter, I had the great pleasure of getting a private tour of Beecher's Cheese, located in Pike Place Market here in Seattle. They made 1.2 million lbs of cheese in their tiny location (see picture) last year. Their cheese is not only amazing, but they also donate 1% of profits to the Flagship Foundation, which helps to educate schoolchildren about making good and healthy choices in eating food. Touring Beecher's was like taking a master class in operations, and snarfing down fresh curds and mac 'n cheese made it all that much better.

Why not just shoot yourself?

2010-05-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

I keep trying to remind myself that some people don't fully grasp what it means to be alive. And that teenagers and people in their lower twenties don't yet have fully developed brains. But it really doesn't matter, when people are SO incredibly stupid and wasteful with their lives. Other people desperately wanted to live and didn't get to, and these idiots are throwing away that precious gift - for what?

I just read an article from the AP about the risks associated with a new very pure, very cheap form of heroin from Mexico.

From the article:
Glendale, Calif., often ranks among the safest cities of its size. But police are concerned about a growing heroin problem tied to Mexican street gangs from nearby Los Angeles. Gang members make the quick drive up Interstate 5 to deliver heroin straight to high school kids.

"They tell them, 'Just smoke it. It's just like smoking a cigarette. It's just like smoking marijuana,'" said Glendale police Sgt. Tom Lorenz. Once the kids are hooked, "they've got a customer forever."

Just smoke it?? JUST SMOKE IT??? Even marijuana is more potent and dangerous than it used to be, and everyone knows - or at least ought to - that if you mess with heroin, you've just given up your life. Not to mention, these are gang members driving up to you, offering you random powders, and you have no idea what's in it. How about potassium cyanide? Mix it with a little sugar or starch, and sell it as cocaine - how would you even know the difference? And these kids just SMOKE it??

Shooting yourself seems about at the same level of stupidity as using this new form of heroin. I just can't get over the concept that people are really so bored with the life they've been given, and so incapable of appreciating it and everything it offers that they would waste it in such a pointless fashion. I am personally offended at anyone who treats their life so carelessly.

I feel a lot more sorry for the loved ones that they care so little for, they'd throw their lives away than those stupid idiots who think it's FUN to take random drugs from gang members. If someone is that stupid, I feel no obligation to feel sorry for them, even in a general way.

Odds of Childbirth Success

2010-05-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

It's probably quite well known that women usually make less than men over the course of their lifetimes, and that's in large part due to taking time off to have children, and the career sacrifices one must make if one wants to raise a happy, healthy child. Thus, it's difficult for a career minded younger woman to have a stable environment, financially, in the family, and career-wise, to have a baby. So, in general, it seems better to have a baby when older. But, just to depress you, here are some great statistics from Baby Center on fertility to show that having a baby in your 20s is what biology wants you to do:

In your 20s, the stats are on your side, says leading fertility specialist Sherman Silber, director of the Infertility Center of St. Louis at St. Luke's Hospital in Missouri and author of four best-selling fertility books, including How to Get Pregnant. You have about a 25 percent chance of getting pregnant in any single ovulation cycle. Your chances of conceiving within a year of trying are about 98 percent in your early 20s and about 84 percent by your late 20s.

Only 7 percent of 20-year-old women struggle with infertility — whereas two-thirds of women over 40 have infertility problems. A 20-year-old woman has only a 6 percent chance of remaining childless, while a 40-year-old's chance of never having children is 64 percent.

A woman in her early 40s is three times as likely to have a miscarriage as a woman in her early 20s. For women 45 and older the rate leaps higher still.

As for other risks, at age 20, the risk of carrying a child with Down syndrome is one in 1295. That risk jumps to one in 759 when you're 30.

Yoga

2010-05-18T08:50:00.001-07:00

I took up yoga almost a year ago, with fits and starts in my sessions with the amazing Emily Murray. My (self-imposed) schedule has not helped in this endeavor. In any case, I am now to the actual "routine" stage.

Yoga has made me more aware of my body's capabilities and limitations than anything I've done in terms of physical activity before. One of the most interesting things I've noticed is how my feet react to practice. Because of wearing shoes, I almost don't use my pinky toe, and it's all curled up anyway. My big toe is slanted inward. During practice, I make a serious effort to uncurl and use my pinky toe for balance, and make my big toe angle outwards. I have also decided to buy some toe shoes. Feet and hands have very similar bone structures; why shouldn't I utilize my feet more than as support systems for walking upright?

I have also noticed the effects of long years of sitting at a desk, either for school or work. I routinely sit with one leg under me - this knee bends much more easily in certain poses, and has a very hard time stretching out in others, where my other knee has the opposite problems. My right bicep is much stronger (strong being a relative term) than my left bicep. I have a back like Gumby.

All of this has made me much more appreciative and thankful for the body I have to use while I'm here on earth. I don't care much for philosophical discussions on mind/body/soul/heart and where each starts and stops. But certainly, a stronger body will help me to have a stronger mind, heart, soul - and same goes for each of the others. I have put so much effort into improving and building my mind and knowledge, and not nearly enough in building the intelligence and capabilities of my body. What I love most about yoga is the wholistic approach to strength and balance in the body and mind. I don't wish to become thin; I seriously doubt I could become thin even if I tried very hard. But I do want to show myself enough respect to approach my body with the same strength and purpose that I approach my work, studies, and family.

Organic produce

2010-05-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

Article on organic produce: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37156010/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

"Exposure to pesticides used on common kid-friendly foods — including frozen blueberries, fresh strawberries and celery — appears to boost the chances that children will be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, new research shows."

Large corporate farming interests have been saying for years that pesticides (chemicals designed to exterminate living creatures) do not pose harm to humans. This might be true for adult humans, although I would argue that there has been insufficient study of a lifetime exposure to these chemicals, but it is most certainly not true for babies and children, for whom even a little extra Tylenol for a few days could prove lethal.

Even people who are on a limited income can choose not to pay for certain luxuries so that their children are not being systematically poisoned by large corporate food interests.

Colin Firth

2010-05-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

I first became aware of Colin Firth after checking out Pride & Prejudice from the library. While I do dearly love me some Matthew McFadyen... no one does Mr Darcy like Colin Firth.

I saw him next in Bridget Jones' Diary, a book that had charm as a movie, but in my opinion remains a much better book than movie. Then I saw him in Love Actually, a movie I know quite well most people won't admit to liking, but I thought it was a lovely version of what it was.

Somewhere along the way, I saw The Importance of Being Earnest - a movie that I still dearly love, and not only because Oscar Wilde is brilliant.

I am currently watching What a Girl Wants. This is not, by any means, a brilliant movie, nor a brilliant script. The acting, also, is not brilliant - but for Colin Firth, who is a king among men.

I <3 Colin Firth.

Next phase

2010-05-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

This morning in my yoga session with the amazing Emily, I discussed with her the best way to do yoga while pregnant. While I am not yet pregnant, it is in the (relatively) near future plan, and I want to be in as good of health as possible before that happens so I don't turn into a giant blimp. A merely plump blimp will suffice, no Hindenberg, thank you very much.

My friend Kungfuramone just had a baby with his lovely wife B. They're having difficult combining breast-feeding and formula, what the correct supplement should be, and so on. This reminded me of the incredibly offensive post (guy apologized for the offensiveness later, so I guess he can be off the hook) calling the practice of parents who choose cry it out as a method of getting their kids to sleep on their own (when they're old enough to do so, of course) "child abuse." His wife is a lactation consultant up here in Seattle, and he frequently updates the parents@ list with interesting tidbits and often good advice on lactation and new mother issues.

All of this is making me both really excited and quake with fear about what the future will bring. But, I think mostly excited.

Weekends

2010-05-15T23:34:00.000-07:00

I finally have weekends again. Well.... sort of, given that I still expect to be working, and I have homework. But, in theory - I have weekends. I also am very happy with my new job. Now, as soon as school is done, maybe I'll start having a life again too. :)

I am reminded today of how important it is to take time off for one's self, to do things that allow the mind to slow down, and appreciate the little things that make one remember that life is more than the endless hamster wheel.

Today, on my day off, I made about a dozen apple pocket pies and German style potato salad. And some laundry and dishes. But, no obligation to work. I still am having a hard time with that soaking in, I do believe.

I also watched a lot of TV today. Today has been a truly lovely day, and now I'm watching Iron Chef America, with the secret ingredient being cheese. I love cheese. Tomorrow, I have yoga. It's been a good day.

Food addiction ramblings

2010-01-08T18:46:00.000-08:00

The latest season of the Biggest Loser began this week. I love the show, mainly because it's a show about people getting healthy and gaining power over themselves and their food addiction by learning about a healthy diet and exercise. For some of them, the lessons don't seem to stick the first time around, which is probably to be expected, considering it's a reality show competition, not a wellness program.

On msnbc.com today, there was a story about a new issue of V magazine featuring plus size models in designer wear. Plus-size meaning normal size - in general, plus size models are sizes 12-14 which sits very well on some women's bodies.

Watching the Biggest Loser, seeing ads about the current health care debate and obesity crisis, and reading about the growth in popularity of larger size models made me think about how Americans have a love/hate relationship with fat. Most Americans are overweight or obese - over 1/3 are so obese that their health is damaged more by carrying so much fat than it is/would be by smoking. A lot of women support the movement to be more inclusive of normal sized women (size 22 should NOT be normal, it's a health hazard), but will stare at themselves in the mirror for extended periods of time poking at their own fat in miserable self pity.

When I finally was able to stop gaining weight and lose thirty lbs a couple years ago, it was for two reasons: I built walking into my everyday lifestyle, and I ate in small portion sizes. To lose more weight, I'd actually have to work at it, which isn't something I'm particularly good at - but there just doesn't seem to be on average a really honest attitude about weight and health in the United States.

For myself, I can say that I am a food addict. I crave sugar and sweets most, chips aren't really all that tempting. I love chocolate fudge. And cookies. And candy. LOTS of candy. I have the fillings in my teeth to prove it. But, I didn't know how to moderate my intake, and I didn't know how to love myself enough to make it a priority. Not everyone should be a size 4. Some people are naturally; good for them, that's not me. But no one should be a size 22, either, because the damage that being morbidly obese does to your body is truly quite extensive.

I think everyone's journey through controlling their addictions will be different. I didn't have to quit smoking, which I hear is extremely difficult, because I never started, but if I am to honor my own presence on this earth, I need to be honest enough to treat my body with respect and do exactly what other addicts have to do, which is first admit they have a problem. I have a problem with food that I expect I will have my entire life. But, I won't and can't let that addiction to the high I feel when I stuff my face with an entire pound of saltwater taffy at once destroy my long-term happiness.

Trip to India - Entry 26 - Back home!

2009-09-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

I know I told everyone that I wouldn't have any group withdrawal, but that's not true. The first day, I kept looking around, waiting for someone I knew to appear, but it was just back to the same old daily grind.

I also got sick on the flight back. I am quite thankful I avoided any sort of colds, flu, serious stomach ailment, or fractured bones while in India (unlike some folks...), but now I get to pay for it.

I find myself feeling as though I understand India much more, and yet it's almost as opaque as it ever was. While I think I was one of the few people on the tour who know what the Gupta period was when our guide told us about it in the Elephanta Caves, Indian culture is still far more difficult for me to comprehend than European culture, for example, which I spent years studying, along with European languages. I feel almost at home in Europe, based on my knowledge of the culture, the history, the language, the wars, the customs. I honestly do not understand how someone could do business or live for any length of time in India without making the effort to learn at least some of that, but I'm sure many do.

I once read that a culture without history is an amnesiac culture. Thus, history and culture shape the way that a people describe and feel about themselves and their place in the world. If one doesn't know, understand or appreciate that history and culture, how could they possibly hope to interact with or do business from someone of that culture? I feel like this trip has helped me fill in the gaps to some extent, and has made me more respectful and appreciative of Indian culture and where Indians are coming from as people.

Trip to India - Entry 25 - Leaving Bangalore

2009-09-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

Last night, I completed the rest of my shopping and we had our Farewell to India! party. At which Indian food was served... I just can't win. I keep telling people that I don't hate red curry... red curry hates me.

All of us had to wear some Indian item that we had bought while in India. Most people just bought a simple long tunic or something pretty laid back, but a few of the ladies went all out and bought saris, and Sarah bought the most hilarious hat ever. I also find it highly amusing that Vikas, one of our resident Indians, had to rush out in a hurry to buy "something Indian" because he didn't have anything for the farewell party.

This morning is a lazy morning, as some of us are definitely slower after having fun the night before, and some of us elected to get henna, and some went shopping for one final time. I don't think anyone is looking forward to the 36+ hour trip back home, but it will be nice to get back onto a normal, crazy spice free diet.

Trip to India - Entry 24 - Last Company Visit!

2009-09-25T21:21:00.001-07:00

Today, we visited GE Healthcare, our last company visit here in India. During the presentation, I have to admit I was shocked at what was developed here in India, both in the complexity of the item being made, and the size and breadth of the GE campus in Bangalore. The office we were in was actually incomplete, the whole campus having been conceived under Jack Welch, which gives you an idea of how long this construction of the campus project has been going.

I really enjoyed the part of the lecture where we learned that items being developed and intended for rural India - which in general has no electricity or running water - are being snapped up like hotcakes by people in rural India and around the globe, because they run either on batteries, or using no running or electricity. For example, the water purification system runs on reverse osmosis, making it the most eco-friendly product possible. I am reminded of the Lowe Lintas presentation, in which the second presenter said that India is one of the greenest countries on earth per capita almost by accident, due to how many people are simply too poor to afford pesticides, use fossil fuels, or electricity. I am interested to see in the future if India can use this opportunity to simply leap frog the developmental pattern of the West and skip traditional forms of infrastructure and energy usage altogether.

According to the CIA, Indians make, per capita, $2900/year. Divide that out, that's $7.95/day on average. As some people make quite a lot of money, that would mean that there are a lot of people making less than that. US per capita income? $46,900, or $128.50. Of course, these are straight per capita numbers, meaning that the wealthiest people in both countries skew the results, but I think that sometimes our complaints seem a lot more trivial when compared to some of the people we've seen here.

One last item of note at the GE company visit - the preemie baby warmer sold in India and other parts of the world meet US regulations, but it isn't sold in the US. Rather, a much more expensive version with lots of bells and whistles is sold in the US - at a much higher cost, of course. And we wonder why our healthcare costs so much.

Trip to India - Entry 23 - Bangalore reflections

2009-09-25T20:51:00.001-07:00

Tonight, I met my colleague from Amazon here in Bangalore, Sangeetha. For the first time since I have been here, I paid a fair price for the items I wanted to buy. Juliet, my roommate also came with us. We went out for some dinner, and by the time we were ready to order, the smells of the Indian food at the table next to me had turned my stomach to the extent that I ordered a mushroom pizza.

When Sangeetha and Juliet got their dosa (a large fried crispy crepe style bread, stuffed in this case with potatoes and onions), Sangeetha gave me a small bite, saying that it wasn't at all spicy. It was SPICY. I think that Indians don't have a functional spice-o-meter, and everything that is made in India seriously has such a huge pile of spices that even smelling the food caused my poor stomach to start jumping from fear that I would eat anything.

I feel like, on this penultimate full day in India, that I have not only learned a lot about India on this trip, but also about myself and my preconceptions of outsourcing. Everyone I've met here has been optimistic, hopeful about the future, hardworking - some to a fault. If I were to use only two words to describe Indians, I would use hard-working and optimistic. From the slum SGH women, to the Christ U MBA students, to the workers at Hero Honda, the young man at Expeditor's with the two hours each way commute, and the managers at Hewitt - Indians seem to have no problem with working hard, and what's more - they seem to have a hunger for the future.

I honestly don't think many Americans do. I think Americans realize quite well that for the average American, this current generation will not be as well off as the previous one, and that continued upward mobility - the American Dream - which was always rather a pipe dream, is even more out of the reach of ordinary Americans than it was before. I remember teaching undergraduate history courses at the UofO, how many of my students had been out partying most of the week and weren't prepared, and how the Christ U MBA students put in hours of preparatory work and competed for the opportunity to have a joint class with us. Indians want it more. So I don't feel like many Americans can honestly complain, when I don't think that as many Americans have put in the kind of effort I am seeing people putting in here.

I think I am also beginning to understand how to approach certain issues with training and culture that I otherwise wouldn't have known how to address. I will certainly be able to address them with more knowledge and cultural sensitivity. I still think that Indian IT workers are replaceable, if someone more shiny and interesting and cheaper comes along, like the cheap bangle bracelets we bought. All that's important is that it is a circular bracelet and it's shiny and cheap; the quality of construction is irrelevant, and I have no concerns over the welfare of those producing it. So one thing I do think is that while India is seeing the benefits of global outsourcing now, I feel like they'll be in our position in a decade or two (or less, in certain fields which are already being outsourced to the Philippines instead), and lamenting the loss of those jobs.

The most interesting and valuable insight this trip has given me is that economic prosperity almost forces gender equality. Many of our speakers were women in significant posts in the organization, and women are dominant in call center work. The women in the slums gained greater value in their homes because of the value of the micro-lending program in their daily life. When the women are empowered, child birth rates go down, education and health spending goes up, and society in general benefits. I read an article that in rural India, only 12-18 months after seeing shows where women had greater equality and value in the household, women in rural India were demanding the same for themselves. Certainly there have been losers in the recession and during globalization in recent years - but I would venture to say that the biggest winners in the past two decades of globalization since the fall of communism and end of the Cold War are women, especially poor women who basically started at the very bottom. And I don't see that as a bad thing at all.

Trip to India - Entry 22 - Boeing

2009-09-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

I finally learned at Boeing how it works when an American company wants to sell/do major business in India. Boeing, if it gets certain contracts, incurs contractual counter trade obligations. So, if they get, for example, a contract to make fighter jets, a certain percentage of the jet (or increasing numbers of parts of the jet, or all of it) will be made in India.

Some interesting points of note:
- In 2008, India's airways sustained a loss of $2billion (compared with $9billion worldwide)
- The air freight market is so tough to get into that the big players essentially have it sewn up in India, and trains are considered good enough. This reminds me of the difficulties that air freight is having in the US - people have decided that the boring old Postal Service can get their packages delivered just fine, even if more slowly
- The India center is an R&D center - thus, if something is developed entirely there, then it falls under Indian regulatory laws, not US law about exporting certain sensitive information
- The Boeing representative who spoke to us was very positive about the future of air travel in India, although I doubt that it is as rosy a picture as he would like it to be. Right now, because of the recession, demand is down in the US and Europe for fossil fuels, leaving more room for growth in India and China. As soon as demand goes back up, so will price, which makes alternatives to air travel more attractive

The Boeing 787 is an example of global outsourcing. The floor beams are made by Tata in India, which are then shipped to Romania to be put into the body, which is then flown to the States to be assembled along with all the other parts from all over the world. I think that this is an interesting case study (as is the A-380) why outsourcing everything is probably not the most effective and efficient solution to a problem. I thought it was funny when one of my colleagues asked about the quality of items arriving to be used in the airplane, and the speaker said, "Oh, you mean how many parts get "dropped in the ocean" on the way over?" I can understand the desire for a very lucrative deal, but it seems like there is a lot of cost incurred when you're paying for the same part multiple times because your outsourcer messed it up. It would also seem to me that you would have greater difficulty monitoring the quality controls if you have to travel to a plant to check up on them, as I've heard that this gives them time to prepare the "visitor" version of the plant and materials. I'm sure that outsourcing the initial production would save money. I can't imagine building something twice saves anyone money.

Trip to India - Entry 21 - Accenture

2009-09-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

This morning, I woke up itching like crazy due to the many bug bites that appear to have been multiplying on my legs in the past couple of days. As I am one of those who elected against taking nasty malaria pills, I can only hope that I do not get the still nastier reason for taking those pills, malaria.

Today, we have Accenture in the morning and Boeing in the afternoon. Never say we didn't get to visit some significant places of business while here in India - when I signed up for the tour, I didn't even realize how much we would be doing and seeing.

There were two significant parts of the Accenture visit - the first was the talk given by the Managing Director of Accenture India, Sandeep Arora, and the second was meeting the mid-level managers and speaking with them.

Sandeep's message was that the growth of India means good things for overall economic growth in the world, and that thinking with an attitude of scarcity is a negative course of action whenever it is chosen. However, I think that this attitude is quite understandable, given what I've seen here in India. At Hewitt, Indian managers were discussing how best to move the non-entry level positions to India after having moved nearly all entry level positions - other than governmental support positions which couldn't be moved - from North America. At Accenture India, Sandeep took over a group of 15,000 employees in 2006, and in 2009, Accenture India employs 40,000 people. As an American, one who is working in a department where more than half of the operations staff are in India, how am I supposed to look at this as an opportunity? This is a time of opportunity for Indians and for upper level American managers; I do not see this as a time of opportunity for the average American wanting to get an entry level job in HR - because those jobs don't really exist anymore in the United States.

However, I noticed the same problem with the person who spoke before Sandeep that I noticed with the Christ U MBA students. One of our group asked a big picture question, and the speaker went off on a tangent filled with interesting data tidbits that really had nothing to do with answering the question. I was honestly surprised to see this tendency with someone who had so much experience at what is, after all, a global company. My colleague asked his question three different times, with different phrasing each time, and still got the same non-response. I also found it interesting that this speaker was so convinced that India will continue to be a low cost leader. It would seem from what we've learned on the trip, that cost of living and wages in India are rising at exponential rates. In light of this, it would seem odd to suggest that the cost of doing business in India will remain the same without some sort of significant change in the status quo. One final question which was asked was regarding intellectual property laws. India has great intellectual property laws on paper, but truly lax enforcement of those laws, which places the onus of protection of IP upon the business itself.

It actually seems as though this is a common story in the Indian businesses we visited - they were all very independent in their development - choosing generators and their own developmental structures over reliance on existing infrastructure (because the existing infrastructure wouldn't be able to handle the need), and treating it as simply a by product of having to do business in India. While that is obvious, it begs the question - can a business which must act like a self-contained capsule actually be a cost-savings model for the future? Or are the cost savings achieved by outsourcing to India merely a short term window of opportunity which will be over within the decade before companies move on to cheaper and cheaper destinations?

We did get some great book recommendations from Sandeep, however: Innovator's Dilemma, Driven and Tipping Point.

The meeting with the mid-level manager was also very interesting. She was surprised to see all the notes that Kyle and I had taken during the lectures, and said that while her team used to be all entirely in the US, now there's a whole team in India, and one contact point person in the US who continues to lead and direct the team at the wishes of the client. If India is ever to break the mould of just being the "go-to" person for cheap, intelligent English speaking labor, it would seem to be necessary that the leadership on these projects move to India, otherwise, the entire Indian team is just as replaceable as the entire US team was before it. Again, as an American seeing a massive recession in the US that isn't likely to recover soon due to a lack of jobs, I don't find any of this particularly comforting, in spite of being told that an attitude of scarcity isn't helpful.

Trip to India - Entry 20 - Christ University Joint Courses

2009-09-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

When I arrived at the Taj hotel in Bangalore, I went with some of the other students to the small cafe which also had books, magazines and Western goodies. One of the magazines had Hrithik Roshan on the cover... and I finally understood who my colleagues had been stalking in Goa. Had I realized who they were stalking, I might have joined in.

This morning, we went to Christ University to spend the morning learning about CSA (Center for Social Action), visit a slum, have lunch, then spend the afternoon in a joint session with the MBA students at Christ University.

The first thing I think we all noticed about the university is that there weren't any western style toilets. This is fine, generally, just not entirely expected at a university campus.

The visit to the slum was both heartening and disheartening, simultaneously. I think I left with more positive feelings than when I arrived, however, and noted the sheer amount of dirt and filth all over the roads, with children running around in bare feet in the same mud the cows and chickens and goats and dogs were running around. It also looked as though many of the older people squatting on the side of the road wearing cheap sandals had eye damage and ringworm in their toenails and feet. We were visiting the slums to see a waste reclamation project. As I understood it, women were paid to gather waste, it was treated, then used for compost. This not only created something useful, but it prevented the waste from polluting the slum (in which children ran around barefoot, and ringworm appeared to be ubiquitous).

While we were waiting with the students who came with us outside the project building, we were taking pictures of the kids. They were so joyful, even in their incredible surroundings that you couldn't help but smile when you looked at them. We ended up taking a lot of pictures and showing them in the viewfinder what the picture looked like. I think my favorite was a little boy wearing a pink Minnie Mouse sweatshirt (yes, sweatshirt) in the heat of the day.

I think by this time, I was thoroughly depressed at the thought of how many children there were, and the conditions in which they were living. It is do-able to help one child; even a dozen; even one hundred children. But there had to be a few dozen just in the part of the street where we were. I wasn't particularly excited about whatever was coming next, because the part that we'd already gone through was such a harsh dose of reality.

We went to the St. Sara's School to speak with a SHG (Self Help Group) that the CSA had helped to set up and finance. These are micro-lending groups - but the unique thing is that they are not for the wealth of a bank or individual, but the interest on the loans goes back to the group so that it can make more and bigger loans. The Q&A with these women showed me how to help all those kids - empower their mothers. It was absolutely amazing, the stories they had to tell. One used a loan to help her husband open a welding shop. One of them used it to open a shop, and now her husband helps the kids get ready for school in the morning, something really unusual for a lower-class, conservative male in India to do. Another used a loan to lease a house instead of renting, so now she basically pays rent, with interest, to the group, rather than to a landlord. The way they spoke, and the animation and hope and optimism in their faces and smiles made me realize that this - not the fancy glass buildings we'd seen plenty of - is the future of India. More than that, it *has* to be the future of India, or India has no future at all.

They also brought their little children, and this little girl was just the sweetest, cutest little one I saw the whole trip.

We had Indian food for lunch... I and a few others I noticed (I won't name names), picked through anything with color and mostly chomped on rice and naan. Such is the state of my poor stomach.

Our afternoon session was a very interesting experience, and I think helped me to understand where some of my Indian colleagues are coming from. All of the Christ University MBA students arrived with multiple pages of notes in hand, completely prepared and well thought-out, and some even had charts and other articles to reference (our topics of discussion were Shopper's Stop Group and Tata Consultancy Services). However, while one of the guys in my group had well organized notes, my colleagues reported that some of the members in other groups had a pile of information, but poorly organized notes, and they couldn't track down their information quickly, or quote it off the top of their head. The group I was in was also unusual in that we moved to big picture questions fairly quickly (I am convinced this is actually due to a lack of preparation on the part of some people in our team), while other groups reported being bogged down by the numbers.

The members of our group (Seattle U students) who weren't as well prepared actually asked the most salient big picture questions, while the highly prepared Christ U MBA students had the data to support the eventual conclusions we reached. I found this difference in styles - immediate movement to big picture thinking vs. taking refuge in the hard data - actually resulted in a very interesting and useful discussion which would have been either missing significant hard data were it just the American students and missing a generalized, big picture viewpoint were it just the Indian students. I think this was my most useful takeaway from the discussion with these students, and it shows the weaknesses in both systems of education on their own. Americans often feel very comfortable making choices and decisions with little data and gut feeling, which can sometimes have disastrous results; while getting bogged down in the data can end up paralyzing people in other cultures who are more data-centric.

After we finished the scholastic portion of our day, we were treated to a truly amazing display put on for us by the university. I am quite certain that Seattle University would not go to such an expense for a visiting group of Indian MBAs - or anyone else, for that matter. Maybe the Albers school would put up a dinner, but probably not the display of traditional dancing and the band that played for us, and the choir that sang the introductory song - they were all really good, too. Christ U also provided us dinner... more spicy Indian food. However, there was this amazing dry fried chicken that was SO YUMMY, but other than that, I stuck with the rice and naan.

In the evening, we went out to hang out with the Christ U students somewhere along MG Road, and much fun was had by all. Maybe it's just me... but we're packing a lot into two weeks.

Trip to India - Entry 19 - Arrival in the Silicon Valley of India

2009-09-18T21:57:00.000-07:00

Bangalore’s airport is significantly nicer than New Delhi’s airport. I believe we also got our bags the fastest here. However, any time made up for at the airport was long in Bangalore traffic. We heard this saying here, “In India, people drive on the left of the road. In Bangalore, people drive on what’s left of the road.” I definitely can see this.

After arriving and checking in and drinking a red drink that tasted like jello, Madhu suggested walking to Brigade Road. He said it was within walking distance. Finally, on this fourth leg of the trip, I understand what “walking distance” means to Madhu – it means that if he says five minutes, it will take fifteen, and if he says fifteen, it will be more than a half hour. The sidewalks in Bangalore are really horrible, worse than New Delhi. It appears that half the city is in a state of construction.

At Brigade road, we all separated to go shopping. I chose to go with Sarah and Carlos and we went to Cauvery Emporium to look at various items. Some of the little carved statues were truly ridiculously expensive, and I had no idea why we should be induced to pay so much for the statues, but Kyle said that, according to Madhu, some families have been in that particular business for generations, and thus charge more. Me being an ignorant Westerner, all I know is that this elephant is three times the price of that elephant, for no apparent reason.

I have decided that bargaining is very stressful. When I went to buy some shawls from one of the stores on Brigade road, I accepted the price quoted to me without any complaint (which you should NEVER do, especially on Brigade Road), and the guy said, “No no! You offer me price, I offer you, you walk out the door, that’s the way.” So yeah, I got schooled. Sarah, however, is an excellent bargainer, so I got the overall price down by including a beautiful black paisley shawl along with the plain shawls I had already chosen. I probably still paid too much.

Our dinner choice for the evening was Pizza Hut. Again – no judging until you eat spicy Indian food for almost two weeks straight. I am definitely very careful around Indian food, and don’t eat more than one meal per day now. Otherwise, I am just asking for stomach upset.

Our last stop on the shopping expedition was a Kashmiri handcrafts shop. It had the normal carved items, inlaid marblework, etc., but I’d seen some crochet crewel work at a previous shop on one of the seat covers, and was trying to find it. I saw some crewel work on one of their shawls, and asked if they had any wall hangings in that style, and one of the guys (who had apparently lived in Canada), came over and said he would bring the wall hangings from upstairs.

These crochet crewel work hangings were seriously one of the most beautiful items I have ever seen. As an avid crocheter who knows quite well just how much time it takes to make something like that by hand, I was so excited to have the opportunity to buy an item like this. When Kyle bought his beautiful marble inlay plates in New Delhi, he said that the only reason he bought them was because they really grabbed his attention, and he had to have them. I definitely felt that way about these beautiful wall hangings. The one I bought was listed at 6800 INR, and I paid 6000. Clearly, I did not do a particularly good job of haggling. In my defense, though… it is quite possible one of the most beautiful pieces of hand crafted crochet work I’ve seen in a very long time.

Sarah, Carlos and I took a tuk-tuk back to the hotel, me with my giant bag of stuff in my lap which Sarah called my “shopping baby.” My original goal was to do nearly all or all of my shopping in Bangalore, so I appear to have gotten on a successful start for this endeavor.

Trip to India - Entry 18 - Such sweet sorrow...

2009-09-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

Today is our final full day in Goa, and it is really quite sad.

At breakfast, Rico came over and Juliet and I decided to go with him to Old Goa. This is the first actually “tourist”-y thing we’ve done so far on the trip. We went down to the Basilica of Bom Jesus (the Christ Child) and were completely mobbed by old women attempting to sell us candles and marigold chains. I appreciate the need for such items – candles for the prayer offering, and the marigolds are a traditional offering in India – but I really, really hate being mobbed like that. We have been working on understanding Indian culture and what works here in India, I just wish that Indian salespeople in general had someone to tell them that most foreigners *really* dislike the in your face sales style. I’m sure this would only be important to actual shopkeepers, however, as I would be willing to bet that sales of these candles and marigold chains are all that supported these old women.

The square is a revealing glimpse into the practices of Catholic missionaries in non-Western countries during the early modern period (1450-1789) and beyond. The Basilica we visited was built by the Jesuits, an order started in the mid-sixteenth century in Spain by St Ignatius Loyola. Across from the Basilica were a church and Cathedral, one built by the Franciscans (founded by St Francis of Assisi in the early 13th century) and the other built by the Dominicans (founded by St Francis’ contemporary, St Dominic).

One of the most destructive aspects of missionizing in this time was the competition for converts between the various orders. Mission work had two different aspects: the spiritual and the physical. Spiritually, many of these missionaries sincerely believed in the need to save heathens and provide them the opportunity to choose Christ and go to heaven. However, the corollary was that these missionaries were very far away from home, and needed money and resources to support themselves and their flock wherever they happened to be. Poaching of flocks became a financial hardship and thus competition between the orders became the norm. Thus you have three very nice, very expensive large churches built within a short walk of each other.

The competition between the orders actually grew so fierce in Japan that the government there threw out all the Catholics and only the Dutch, being Protestant and uninterested in converting anyone, were allowed to trade on a remote island in Japan for nearly three hundred years until the United States forcibly reopened Japan in the mid-19th century.

I really enjoyed this part of our trip, though with mixed feelings. The architecture and statuary design were completely untouched by the influence of the high Baroque that changed the face of so many churches in Europe, but the very existence of the churches represented centuries of subjugation by the Portuguese in Goa. In fact, although India gained its independence in 1947, Goa only gained independence from Portugal in 1961.

After visiting the church square, we visited the ruins on the hill of the church of St. Augustine. This church had become a fulcrum point of tension, and was destroyed in the mid 19th century. Only one tower was still partially intact, but even from that tower, you could see the immense size of the structure, which would have been visible upon entrance to the harbor. Rico and Juliet decided to climb the old tower – which, as I just pointed out, has been in ruins for over a century and a half – as I watched from below, praying very hard that there would be no broken bones or scrambling to run for the driver in Goa. However, they both made it safely… and complete with some pretty cool pictures.

The control of Goa by the Portuguese actually reminds me of Lord Bevin’s famous quote to Mahatma Gandhi upon the departure of the British from India – that India was ungovernable due to its large size, multiplicity of languages and religions, and so on. I find it ironic that the local flavor of Goa is very Christian and Portuguese in general (the local folk songs are very Iberian in style), but everyone still speaks English. The very thing that Lord Bevin and the British gave to India – the English language – is what makes India governable. In India, no ethnic group or language can be valued in total above any other language group (even though Hindi is privileged), because English cuts across all boundaries. I compare this to my experience in Myanmar, where the Burmese people form the largest ethnic group, but there are multiple large ethnic groups in Myanmar which are essentially marginalized, both deliberately by the government and by default through the official use of the Burmese language.

In the evening, we arranged a great game of cricket. The rules of cricket as I know them – there are five overs with six balls each for each side. There can be only one bowler per over. If the ball hits the wickets, the batter is out. If the ball is hit and immediately caught, the batter is out. You can achieve runs by actually running, by being thrown a wide ball by the bowler, or by hitting the ball a distance far enough to achieve an automatic four or six runs. Apparently, the proper way to play cricket actually takes five days. And we thought baseball could go long!

For our final evening in Goa, many of us chose to go to Caravela restaurant again and linger over dinner. It was international night, so I was very happy with the food selection. By this time, nearly everyone on the group has had some sort of digestive/stomach upset, with various levels of severity, so I think nearly everyone was happy with the selection. Derrick has decided that naan and beer is the way to go for the remainder of the trip. Our group clearly isn’t accustomed to the volume of spices that are used in most of the food here.

We fly out in the morning to Bangalore, our long weekend being over. I expect Bangalore to be more developed than New Delhi and more shiny and less colonial looking than Mumbai. We’ll see if I am correct. I also understand that Bangalore is cooler than our last three destinations (meaning about 80’F), and I think all of us are ready for that after three days of near 100% humidity. I know that I am personally interested in seeing Bangalore as it is in the south of India, and I am curious to see what is different here than in the north and on the coast that we have already seen.

Trip to India - Entry 17 - Big Plans

2009-09-16T19:48:00.000-07:00

Today, I plan to go to the pool and to the spa. That is all. Those are my only plans. You may be jealous if you wish; I would be jealous of me if I weren’t me right now too.

My morning, I spent sleeping in, then having breakfast. After that, I helped my roommate, Juliet, get set up on Skype so she could call and talk to her family and boyfriend, then we got ready to go to the spa and have a massage – I got the massage plus mani/pedi, she just got the massage plus pedi.

I am sure there were great restorative and healing properties in this fancy wrap thingy I got – but all I know is that a) it smelled like pumpkin pie, and b) it BURNED. A LOT. I didn’t actually make it through the whole process, and had to ask her to take off the towels so I could shower earlier. Once the cooling oils were put on for the massage it was all good, and no further problems, but my poor skin was so mottled and red I was worried there would be more permanent damage, such as hives or extreme sensitivity, but there wasn’t. Juliet made it through, but Sarah also reported not being able to make it through the entire process. I am very pleased with my mani/pedi, though, way more relaxing.

For dinner, nearly the entire group went and had this amazing Thai stir fry. I have decided that I love Thai stir fry… it also didn’t turn my stomach like Indian food is now doing. Just to be random, there was whole wheat bread pudding for dessert. In the evening, we stayed in and hung out on the overlook at the water. The Arabian Sea really is quite beautiful.

My plans complete for the day, it was time for bed. I love Goa.

Trip to India - Entry 16 - First night in Goa

2009-09-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

Let me preface this by saying that Goa ROCKS. That is all.

Now I will describe it to you so that you can be properly jealous too.

The airport upon arrival is highly unimpressive, especially since we arrived late in the afternoon after a long, hot muggy morning at Elephanta, considering Goa’s reputation and the people to whom it caters. The bus also was poorly air conditioned and small, so we went to the resort hot, sweaty, and a little grumpy – or at least, I was a little grumpy. I’ve never been too hot on resort vacations, as there’s not all that much to do there.

I have now decided that is why they are AWESOME. After dumping our luggage, we meandered over to the Caravela Restaurant, which was labeled as serving “modern Mediterranean cuisine.” Given my current aversion to anything spicy, I decided that farfalle in garlic parmesan sauce sounded *wonderful*. The view from the restaurant is of the Arabian Ocean breaking against the beach to the right side, and to the left, Fort Aguada. Surrounding the restaurant were palm trees – or what looked like palm trees with coconuts, so maybe they were coconut trees.

That evening, we went to Tito’s, a club we are told is frequented by movie stars. It was not on that particular evening, however. What is amazing is how many times you have to tell people NO ICE before they realize that means, NO ICE. Not, I’ll fish the ice out of your drink, or, I’ll just blend it all together, but NO ICE. After we left, we got caught in this crazy traffic jam that really I’ve only ever seen in this form in India. All sorts of vehicles all stacked up against each other, and only mopeds or two wheelers can make it through. When we got back to the hotel, we went down to the beach in the dark and got our toes and feet wet in the squishy sand.

As I said…. Goa ROCKS.

Trip to India - Entry 15 - Elephanta Caves

2009-09-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits of traveling in a large group is that the expense of hiring your own boat instead of bothering to wait for a ferry is really not a problem at all. We didn’t even fill our boat to get to the caves, and I doubt it was significantly more than going by public ferry would have been. The energy level was amazingly low…. I blame the energy level from the previous night.

Elephanta Caves are on an island which used to be the entryway to Mumbai, when it was still islands. The people living here have no running water, and subsist mainly on fishing and fathering, and what tourists visit. To reach the caves, you have to go up stone steps to the top of a hill. Generally, steps aren’t a problem – but in 100% humidity at 32’ Celsius, it can be a bit more of a problem, especially for yours truly, the delicate English flower. Anyway, we all made it to the top without incident, and Sarah actually took the human conveyance, thereby bringing her list of conveyances to include: auto rickshaw, bicycle rickshaw, train/metro, car, plane, boat, elephant, and now “Indian.” I think next we need to find a water buffalo taxi.

The caves are carved out of a single large granite rock, probably by monks during the Gupta period (5th-7th century), also known as India’s golden period. The cave was dedicated to Lord Shiva, known as the destroyer of evil. He is part of the Hindu triad of Rama, Vishnu and Shiva, who create, guide, and destroy life together. All of the statues in the cave depicted Lord Shiva in various poses and stories about him. One of the most infuriating aspects of visiting the cave was seeing the rampant destruction of the carvings done by the Portuguese when they first entered Mumbai in the sixteenth century. While I realize that, because the Portuguese were Catholic, they had no interest in or respect for the religion of the Hindus in the area, and to them these statues were an affront, they weren’t their statues to destroy, and the defaced structures represent the arrogance and lack of concern for the history and culture of others displayed by Westerners traveling east or west for many hundreds of years. To be fair, I don’t think this is necessarily a Western thing, but a human thing, and we Westerners just happened to have benefitted from a confluence of historical factors placing us in a position of dominance globally.

In any case, the remaining parts of the statues and stories are really quite beautiful, and one in particular – a trinity-like view of Lord Shiva – are stunning in their simplicity of design and elegance of form. Our guide said that the sculptors were more than likely Buddhist or Buddhist-influenced sculptors based on the stylization of the figures.

On the ferry on the way home, Rico had the brilliant idea of recreating the scene from Titanic on the front of the boat (and no, there were no safety ropes or any such thing like that), an idea which was eagerly pounced upon by Andy and myself. The first two to test the idea were Vikas and Rico, who make a charming couple… Andy and Lauren then went to the front of the boat. It is amazing how free and invincible one feels with a camera in front of the face. Rico took a picture of me while I was photographing Lauren and Andy, and I am literally leaning completely over the side of the boat with my hips nearly over the side. Then, we decided that me being on the ground in front of them at the bow would make a much better picture, so I shimmied out to the front of the boat, with my head over the front. Did I mention carrying a camera makes one feel invincible? Oh, and that I also don’t know how to swim? Got some great pictures, though…

After returning from Elephanta, we all prepared to leave for Goa, something for which we are all very excited – an excitement that for me has heightened since seeing everyone’s jealous reaction when we say we’re going to Goa!

Trip to India - Entry 14 – Marketing master classes

2009-09-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

This morning, we went to visit the Times of India, a newspaper. The way in which the presenter from the marketing department discussed the newspaper was a completely different way of approaching the print media than we are used to here, especially in Seattle since the Post Intelligencer went out of business. Overall, even though we saw her perspective as admirable and certainly appropriate for the current reality in India, we agreed in the debrief that as soon as Internet penetrates deeper into the Indian market that print media will decline as it has for us.

At the beginning of the session, we had a moment of silence for 9/11. Even though it happened eight years ago now, and I know no one who was there, and don’t actually know anyone who knew anyone who was there either, I still get a visceral reaction in the pit of my stomach when I see photos or am reminded of the towers collapsing. It is literally painful to think of how significantly that one act shifted not only our own view of the world, but how the actions resulting from this changed the world’s view of us. 9/11 isn’t just the “new Pearl Harbor” – it is also the date which marks the beginning of cowboy diplomacy and the beginning of one of the more shameful chapters of our history.

After that rather depressing moment of remembrance, we spoke with the editor of features about the attacks in Mumbai last year, in which one of their good friends at TOI died. When she finished her story, there was simply silence.

After TOI, we went to Lowe Lintas, an Indian advertising agency. A few interesting points of note:

- Rural India makes up 65% of India, and farmers don’t pay taxes. This means that there is actually quite a lot of wealth in rural areas
- The CEO was British, but had spent quite a lot of time in Asia. It was interesting to see how he defined his role – bringing value through worldview and process – when so few Indian companies are led by expatriates. In fact, he said that there are actually only 1200 expatriates in all of Mumbai.
- The tea with milk and sugar was delicious
- The ads produced for Tata Tea and Bajaj were very clever and culturally relevant – I am at a loss to think of something similar for the United States. It would seem that humor is the primary method in which advertisers grab our attention, rather than these culturally relevant issues used by Lowe Lintas

Being a Friday night, many in the group are going out and making a night of it. In the morning, we head to Elephanta Caves and fly to Goa (everyone is jealous when we tell them) tomorrow afternoon. I am very much looking forward to the massage opportunities in Goa.

Trip to India - Entry 13 – Jawaharlal Nehru Port

2009-09-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

The port is probably the most complex to plan visit we will have on this trip. Just to get approval to go onto the port, we had to fill out a complex form detailing such things as our blood type, some sort of personalized identification mark (a scar, for example), blood type, and for the women, the name of our father or husband (Madhu tactfully left off the husband part on the form). The Expeditors representative who greeted us apparently was highly amused by the pictures we were also requested to provide. We were, of course, happy to amuse.

The initial prepared presentation ran a little long, but the content wasn’t really a problem – the primary problem was actually the heat. Somehow, the Expeditors guys manage to work in the heat and humidity wearing suits. I was wearing a light shirt and a skirt and still managed to overheat to the extent that the rest of my day was ruined and I had to sit in the bus for the remainder of our time at the port. It is an unfortunate circumstance to be in a country in which one must drink lots of water… but in which bathrooms are rarely regularly available.

On the way back from the port, we were able to stop and check out a mall. While I realize the importance of malls in terms of Indian development – it was still just a mall. And, I must admit, the volume of Indian food we’ve been eating took its toll and I gorged on McDonalds. But, before you judge me – the potato wedges are almost as good as Jojos. A lot of us also checked out the Shopper’s Stop – which, contrary to what one might think, is a high end store. It just reminds me so much of a Stop and Shop that it’s hard to take it completely seriously.

I was much too tired to do anything and have no idea what anyone else was doing, because I was sleeping. And so goes another day in Mumbai.

Trip to India - Entry 12 – Paani Nahin!

2009-09-11T17:56:00.000-07:00

Arrival in Mumbai was entirely uneventful – the best kind of flight arrival. The ride to the hotel demonstrated how completely stir crazy all of us were getting. Paul and Vikas got into a tickling/wrestling match, Carlos was filming everyone with his camcorder topped with the crazy looking rat thing that I’m told has something to do with the sound, Becky was showing off her (actually quite impressive) guns, and the rest of us were either restlessly moving around in our seats or attempting to doze.

Mumbai’s colonial past is one of the most immediately apparent aspects of the city, after one gets past the immense length and size of the skyline. There are tall buildings yes, but there are a *lot* of buildings. Anyway, there are entire buildings that look as though they could simply have been plucked from some European city and dumped in their entirety here in Mumbai – minus the restoration efforts Europeans have put into their old buildings in the past thirty to forty years.

Upon arriving by air, one of the most visible items from the air is the vast quantities of blue tarps which are used to block the rain in the slums. There are a lot of slums. What I think is most odd about the slums is that some of them are actually made of brick. That is not what I think of when I think of slums.

On the bus to the hotel, we watched a number of Bollywood music videos – I can see where Shahrukh’s appeal lies – dude is seriously ripped. I can’t decide if it would be a blessing or a curse to have to constantly worry about my body as the currency of my career.

This evening we ate more delicious Indian food – the kind of food that tastes great going down, but you know will cause problems later…. Afterwards, we celebrated Carlos’ and Tara’s birthdays downstairs, but everyone was still lacking in energy, and the day was then done.

Trip to India - Entry 11 - Racial Profiling

2009-09-09T12:09:00.000-07:00

Today, I was racially profiled. Instead of having my water bottles (three of them, I forgot about the two in my backpack) taken away, I was waved through by the very nice man with the gun at the security checkpoint. Just as an aside – the number of security guards with big scary guns is actually pretty alarming here.

We are now riding on Spice Airways instead of Jet Airways. Apparently, there was a pilot’s strike, which makes me happy that we’re not riding on the airline with the angry pilots. I am reminded again however, how completely antiseptic and smell-o-phobic we Americans are. The sheer volume of *scent* that one encounters nearly everywhere here in India can feel like a literal assault, so unused to it most of us are.

The stewardesses on this airline are young and pretty, which has been my experience everywhere in the world except the United States, where you have either a variety, or all veteran stewardesses. I was told in Statistics by Prof. Rex Toh that stewardesses are retired on Singapore Airlines when they reach the age of 25. Based on my experience with airlines in this part of the world, I can definitely see that in practice. I remember traveling back from Myanmar a few years ago, and knowing that I was on an American airline again on the arrival from Tokyo to Seattle when a flight attendant literally yelled at the passengers, saying that if they all didn’t immediately sit down, she was going to tell the pilot not to open the gate until they did. Very few of the passengers were actually ten years old – but this was clearly no matter to this veteran flight attendant.

Still, putting up with rudeness and a lack of real customer service is better than simply accepting a world in which sexist ageism is accepted as a matter of course.
It just rained – for five minutes, the heavens poured forth and the rain gods got into a spat. Then it stopped. Very, very odd.

And on that note – we take off for Mumbai.

Trip to India - Entry 10 - Checkout/Leaving New Delhi

2009-09-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

After disputing the charges for internet today with the front desk lady, I ended up paying 1200 rupees for the privilege of uploading this blog and using Skype to speak with my husband and the sweetest little girl in the whole world. So, in spite of my annoyance that such an expensive hotel which caters to business travelers has lousy, expensive internet – a note on infrastructure to mention in my post tour write up paper - I can still justify the expense. Plus, the front desk lady was nice, so thanks to her and Hotel Lalit.

I feel completely outspent by my colleagues. Kyle bought some incredibly beautiful marble inlay plates at the Cottage Emporium (after being accosted in Agra, simply going in and buying was a relief, I’m sure). Subroto also bought a beautiful marble inlay plate… and a terribly expensive silk rug – which, to be fair, would have cost well over twice as much at home in Seattle.

The story of the Ganges – Ganga was asked to provide water for the people on earth. But Ganga said that the earth would split from the impact if Ganga fell directly to the ground. So instead, the Ganga came down to earth by filtering through Shiva’s hair, and thus the holy Ganges came into being.

The Ganges is now polluted almost beyond repair, which is slightly ironic considering its significance for India and Indians.

The first leg of our trip is now over as we take our yellow “TOURIST” bus from Hotel Lalit to the airport. I have fully enjoyed my time here so far, and am really looking forward to the coming three cities. I do have to admit feeling slightly homesick for my husband and daughter and kitties… but I just tell myself that two weeks isn’t really a very long time.

Trip to India - Entry 9 - Deutsche Welle

2009-09-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

Our flight was cancelled due to a pilot’s strike. Apparently, this strike has affected thousands of travelers. However, we have apparently gotten a new flight causing us to leave only a half hour later.

I am using the time to relax a bit and watch some BBC and DW. Well, mostly DW. One thing I love about traveling anywhere outside of the US is the ready availability of German language TV which simply isn’t available without spending a lot or Netflixing everything in the US. The BBC, I changed fairly quickly because it was quite depressing, talking about how an increase in energy consumption as we come out of the recession could have a severe correcting effect which causes the world to drop into a true depression as oil exceeds $100/barrel.

So I switched to DW and am watching Projekt Zukunft (Project Future) and the first topic…. was about harvesting oil from plastic trash to prepare for the future expected extreme price of oil. One simply can’t escape.

So, this of course, reminds me that we took two very long flights to get here, will take two very long flights to get back, and we’re flying between New Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, and Bangalore here in India… thus helping to contribute to the worldwide usage of oil. One simply can’t win.

But hey…. At least I get to watch some interesting German language TV in the meantime.

Trip to India - Entry 8 - Full day in Delhi

2009-09-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a less early morning than the morning before, with a wake up call at 6:30 rather than 2am. That’s always good.

In the morning, we went to Hewitt, an HRO – Human Resources Outsourcing – company. I found their optimism and can-do attitude particularly worthy of note. All of us found a great deal of negativity in the readings we had about India for our papers before arriving. For example, comments about the infrastructure, which is to our minds quite terrible, or about a lack of potential qualified workers for the BPO industry. And yet, the speakers mentioned oh yeah – we do have to have our own generators and we do need to provide a shuttle service for our employees, or yes, it takes four years to fully train someone on our system, so it’s a really big deal if someone is lost due to attrition – which would all appear to be huge issues, but the attitude was that it was no biggie. If I were in the position of deciding where to open a new call center, I believe that the additional cost of running my own generators and shuttling my employees around would be a factor – it makes me wonder how long India can maintain cost leadership when wages keep rising and infrastructure is still such a huge issue for new ventures.

Another aspect of the company visit I found to be very interesting were the people we got to talk to. One of our speakers, Akshay, is head of global talent acquisition – not just Indian talent, but ALL talent acquisition globally. That guy is pretty high up, and he showed up and was like hey… what’s up? It’s really quite amazing, the kind of people we’ve been given access to here in India.

One of the items I found very interesting from the Learning & Development manager who spoke was the training program they have for new associates. This reminds me of the training that is necessary for associates in my department in Amazon. American associates can get by on minimal training and reliance on “tribal knowledge” – and while I personally feel that this is not ideal, most associates will do fine on this model. I have yet to meet a German or Indian associate who can manage without significant written material and clearly drawn out SOPs. I find this cultural difference in terms of training and individual expectations regarding self-sufficiency to be fascinating. Indian associates at Hewitt also have their career progressions mapped out for them by their managers. Those of us speaking about this at our lunch table agreed that one of the primary factors in our career development was our own engagement in the process, and willingness to both manage up and manage down in an effort to make our own career progression happen. It is interesting to me to speculate on the value of engendering such intense self-driven attitudes in one’s American employees, while other locations worldwide are far more paternalistic in nature.

Our second visit of the day was to the Gurgaon manufacturing plant of Hero Honda, a joint venture between the Indian Hero group and the Japanese company, Honda. Their sales of 100cc two wheel motorbikes in the past decade have been astounding, and the growth has simply been exponential since the effects of 1991’s liberalization policies began to have an effect on the disposable incomes of Indian workers. The ability of even relatively poor people to purchase these items now was my personal major takeaway from this presentation – it took Hero Honda 20 years to sell 10 million bikes (they began their venture in 1984). They sold another 10 million from 2004 to 2007, and sold 5 million from 2007 to 2009. That kind of growth is simply mind boggling.

The visit to the manufacturing floor was amazingly impressive, as there are three production lines producing a bike every eighteen seconds, thus the plant produces one bike every six seconds – there are three plants doing this, and thus Hero Honda produces a motorbike every two seconds. It was incredibly noisy, busy and fascinating – and I couldn’t hear a word our guide was saying. One item upon which nearly all the females in the group agreed – the guy at the engine room assembly line putting on the green squares was definitely hot.

Since our company visits took so much time, we didn’t have much time for shopping as planned, but instead went to the Cottage Industries Emporium to check out some of the items there. There was some pretty amazing stuff there, but what in the world I would ever do with a life size wooden carved statue of the Buddha, I have no idea.

We then went traipsing through Delhi on our empty stomachs to get to our restaurant. It is amazingly dirty. The smells, the general state of disrepair throughout much of the city actually reminds me quite a lot of Yangon, Myanmar. The major difference is that this is ALL that Yangon is, while Delhi is also high rises, Mercedes, and Hero Honda. You would never see such an incredibly complex and high quality manufacturing venture in Myanmar. Also, I think the attitude is a major difference – most Burmese people I met had a very laissez-faire attitude and didn’t think twice about toilets not functioning, or the fact that half the sidewalk had been torn up months before and nothing had been done about it – in India, the toilets sometimes don’t work and the sidewalks are torn up – but I get the impression that when asked, someone will attempt to fix the toilet, and the sidewalk will eventually get repaired.

The food, once we finally arrived… was quite good. I really love the naan and the sauces – those seem quite safe and delicious to me. The meats, I’m very leery of, and am unable to eat more than a few bites before caution takes over. I feel the same way about any dairy or water. I have only two weeks here – the last thing I need is to be puking and or on the toilet for a significant part of it.

We finally made it to India Gate – a tomb of the unknown soldier sort of affair – around 10pm. The hawkers there weren’t quite as insistent as the ones at the Taj Mahal, and generally responded well to a firmly spoken NO. They laugh if you say Nahin, in case anyone tries to get you to use that if you ever visit India. A firmly spoken NO will get you much farther than a polite Nahin. Anyway, it was a lovely monument, and a fitting end to a very long day. I think most of us passed out pretty quickly last night – at least, I know I did.

This morning, shopping is planned, as well as checking out and flying to Mumbai. Our airline is on strike, so we might be having to travel on another airline. Apparently, this is also a frequent issue in India – lot of strikes. A lot of Indian culture reminds me of southern Europe…. And striking at the drop of a hat reminds of nothing so much as Italian train employees.

But for now… getting ready for a new day, and giving thanks for a healthy stomach, clear head, and healthy nasal passages…. And we all want to keep it that way.

p.s. The internet here.... really, really really REALLY is lame. I have no idea how people deal with this.

Trip to India - Entry 7 - Taj Mahal and Agra

2009-09-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

The sun is setting in a haze of gray, which changes the otherwise plain sky to a purple/pink mist as the day disappears. It was a long day, and I, being utterly exhausted and not wanting to get sick at the beginning of the trip, have decided not to make it longer.

This morning, the phone rang at 2am. That is early by any standard, but given that we’d all gotten to bed no earlier than 10:30pm the night before, we were all slightly zombified on the bus ride to Agra after the initial calorie rush from breakfast.

Highlights from the bus trip:

-Madhu had not yet called his mother. Every single one of us had made the effort to let our mothers know we had arrived safely… and Madhu’s mother lives in Delhi. This required poking fun, there was simply no way around it

-Primate references – Vikas mentioned clubs in New Delhi in which men danced with each other, presumably to impress each other. This, of course, reminded me of Bonobos (look them up, they’re fascinating) and the male Bonobo proclivity for – literal – penis fencing. I personally find that a much more honest approach than the way we humans approach the issue. Then Madhu mentioned the monkey at our bathroom break stop was female, and you had to be careful if you were female, because she would get jealous if you got to close to her male handler and slap you. So I guess there are a lot of things we can learn from our primate cousins about humility.

-Nifty Travelmasti gifts – a pen and a set of coasters

-The amount of garbage you see on the sides of the roads is appalling. I don’t mean, the highway patrol girl scouts of whomever need to come out – I mean, literal piles of garbage. I think that even seeing the humans digging around in these piles wasn’t nearly as pukifying as seeing the white cows which roam everywhere delicately picking through the trash.

-Traditional dress in India allows women to freely let their belly fat hang out! I love this! I wish that I were comfortable enough with my body and my own belly fat to wear an outfit like the ones I saw today – a short silk top, long bottoms, and a beautiful flowing scarf that covers only your middle while the sides of your tummy show for all the world to see.

The Taj Mahal was definitely impressive – once we finally got there. All the jokes you’ve ever heard about Indian roads and traffic? They’re all true, and then some. I saw a variety of beasts of burden dragging carts, bicycles in various states of repair and style, mopeds, motorcycles, tuk-tuks both motorized and non motorized, small cars, nice cars, trucks of all shapes and sizes, buses, and pedestrians. It is a madhouse.

A few years ago, people started to notice that the Taj Mahal was beginning to turn slightly yellow. This was determined to be due to pollution, and all factories within a certain radius were closed down, and to get close, one must ride in an electric car. We were also told that certain items weren’t allowed inside due to the practice of stealing the semi-precious stones from the walls. Seriously, what kind of jerk pries off semi-precious stones from the interior walls of the Taj Mahal??

The Taj Mahal is a lovely building, rivaling any of the truly amazing structures I’ve seen in Europe in beauty and symmetry. I think the marble inlay was the most impressive part of the decorative aspect of the building. The amount of effort it must have taken to create something like this is really quite mind boggling – and we were treated to a visit later to a marble inlay cottage factory to see how it was made, which made it even more impressive.

Although we had left so early, it was still amazingly hot outside. All of us were at least pushing the seriously uncomfortable level on the misery scale, and some of us were edging on towards ‘acting like a toddler’ on this scale. By the time we finally made it across the large piazza to the Taj Mahal itself, I was hearing bees in my head and was concerned over my ability to keep my breakfast down. Luckily for me, there was a step to sit on inside. The last thing one needs is to be the idiot American who pukes and/or passes out in the Taj Mahal. Lauren also ended up sitting on the floor next to me, feeling quite similar, as I fanned us with the fan the nice army man with the giant scary gun had given me when I sat down with the gray face and shallow breath.

When we finally got back outside, Lauren, Elizabeth, myself and Sarah (all of us quite pale) were mobbed in various places by other tourists wanting pictures with us. This I don’t mind so much, as long as no one is trying to steal my stuff or give me lice.

The trip back was even longer than the trip there due to the traffic. I have also realized that I should have brought my coat…. JUST for the air conditioning in the bus. I was so cold I had goose bumps – the same day I almost passed out from the heat in the Taj Mahal. Someone should turn down the A/C when you have to pack a coat.

So now, I’m done for the day. I’m quite happy to be preparing to make friends with my pillow again – and an awesome pillow it is! If I had no shame, I would stuff it in my suitcase.

Trip to India - Entry 6 - Up too early

2009-09-07T07:42:00.000-07:00

This morning our phone went off at 2am. I have since showered (because somehow I managed to continue sweating even after coming inside and even after my shower last night), put on my SPF 30 foundation to cover up the purple smudges surrounding my eyes that make me look very much like I got into a fight, and inspected the state of my swollen ankles. In general, I don’t have a problem flying – I am comforted by statistics, and statistics tell me it’s the safest way to travel. I also rarely have problems sleeping on the plane, and the food is (generally) satisfactory as long as I don’t think about it too deeply. What I hate about flying, however, is that my ankles always swell to twice their size for a good 24 hours after touchdown, both directions. You know all those articles about how unattractive cankles are? These are like the Godzilla of cankles, except that I’m also still hot, so they’re now like enormous, pink fleshy cankles. For this reason – and this reason primarily – I dislike flying.

There are a couple of items that I forgot that would have been good not to forget. These items are sunscreen, deodorant, and my pashmina scarves. Thankfully, I have tiny travel items for the second, my roommate has the first, and India is full of pashminas. But still… I knew I would forget something.

After arriving at the bus at the airport, we started loading our bags into the back. A pushy man tried to grab my bag and said, “You give me paper money!” Madhu told us he was hoping to get American dollars from us. Good for me, I had used almost all of my American dollars, and my stash of cash is actually euros. I don’t think the guy ever got a tip for lugging all of our heavy suitcases into the back of that van.

The ride to the hotel has got to be one of the most surreal experiences I have ever had. We drove on a “special” lane for the first part of it because Delhi is building a metro to the airport for the 2010 Commonwealth games (hear that Seattle?? Delhi, India almost beat you to Light Rail!). As I looked out the window, I saw pedestrians, auto rickshaws (those who have visited Thailand know them as tuk-tuks), people riding bicycles, people riding sidesaddle on said bicycles, hand-drawn carts, bicycle-drawn carts, bicycle-drawn carts with people pushing – and yet, I saw only one car on the side of the road, and it appeared to have had a flat, and not an accident. This is, I am convinced, a miracle, and I don’t know how they do it. I have seen similar visions of mayhem elsewhere in SE Asia, especially Myanmar, but typically pedestrians and mayhem don’t go well together, so I think that’s what really set this scene apart – there are a LOT of people just ambling along on the highway into Delhi.

I must say I am quite pleased with the hotel. Cool hardwood floors, a “marble” bath and “marble” accent items throughout the room (it looks like marble, but it can’t be – these rooms aren’t *that* nice), and a giant wide screen TV. The blow dryer actually managed to dry my hair in under a half an hour, and my new adapter has successfully charged my computer in spite of being only two prongs.

So far… a successful beginning to our trip. Today, we see the Taj Mahal, and I have to admit – even though it’s the first full day in India – this was the main reason I wanted to go on this study tour aside from my professional reasons for wanting to go on a study tour. The Taj Mahal is, quite simply, COOL.

Trip to India - Entry 5 - Arrived

2009-09-06T10:14:00.003-07:00

I have only a few moments before my internet runs out - but we have arrived!

It's a very nice hotel - but we're all quite tired, and have a 2am wake up call to head to the Taj Mahal in the morning. So for now.... goodnight!

Trip to India - Entry 4 - En route

2009-09-06T10:10:00.000-07:00

Today is a huge blur. We are now getting seated on our flight from Newark to Delhi. I am told our plane seats 500 people. As always happens when I must confront the reality of the vast sea of humanity outside of my tiny little world in Seattle, my brain hurts a little to think of all of the lives, all of the hopes, all of the stories surrounding me, crammed into tiny economy class airplane seats.

The trajectory of our flight will take us over the north Atlantic and northern Europe, something I try not to contemplate, as even thinking too hard about the concept of flying so long and so high in a metal tube kicks my latent motion sickness into overdrive. So far, I’ve had only a mild headache, for which I am thankful.

Remakes of a popular pop songs are playing on the player (currently Chicago’s “If you leave me now”) while I inhale the scent of sandalwood and other smells so familiar to me from traveling to Myanmar.

In my IT paper, my summary argument was that the crushing pressure of extreme water shortage and the eventual depletion of the world’s inexpensive source of oil will put such extensive pressure on the very poor in India that the government will be too unstable to effect the kind of reforms it would need to enact in order to continue to progress towards development. I find it highly ironic that, in light of this argument, I am now participating in the burning of jet fuel to take me halfway across the planet for just two weeks before doing it again to return. Somehow, I think such activity in general is not sustainable on a regular basis for the entire population of the planet. For now, however, I am going to take advantage of the small window in history in which someone of my limited means has the ability to travel the world, learn about other places and cultures firsthand, and have a few small adventures.

It’s dark now, and the captain has asked for us to put on our seatbelts. Ahead of us is a 12 hour plus plane ride and a whirlwind two week tour of India, its people, businesses, and culture. I can’t wait!

Trip to India - Entry 2

2009-08-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

Only six days to go! Next week, we have to be at the airport at 5am. That... is severely lame. We go from Seattle to Newark, NJ, then from there directly to New Delhi.

Today we discussed our final readings and started our preparations for the actual trip. Highlights:

Discussion points:

What is the future of IT outsourcing in India? In a country surrounded by conflict zones, with seriously lacking infrastructure development, how efficient is it, in reality, to outsource?
Will India continue to be a low cost center for inexpensive service support, or will those jobs migrate to even more low cost areas such as Vietnam or the Philippines?
How should India's economy diversify from such a service based economy to one more conducive to manufacturing and general labor jobs? Can India's economic boom be sustained if there is no large working class population to sustain it as in the Western model of development?

Packing points:

Wet wipes are a must. When you are sweating for hours in a hot, dusty place - being able to wipe your face and hands can be all the difference between misery and tolerable conditions
Thieves will grab the necklace off your neck! Carry a moneybelt or something similar
Bring only one check in bag so that you can buy lots of stuff on the trip and carry two bags back to the States at the end

Okay, so the last one isn't actually a packing tip... but it's definitely a good idea!

Only one paper remaining to be written, and then it's time to spend hours on a plane, crammed into tiny seats and watching movies that somehow, everyone has already seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfMYK25d0EI

Trip to India - Entry 1

2009-08-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

There are many different reasons to travel to a foreign country. You could be going because you have a love for adventure, or because you are interested in other cultures and peoples. You could be needing to travel for a job, or to visit family. You could also travel to spend time with loved ones or to meet study abroad requirements for school. All of us have our own reasons for taking the India study abroad tour outside of those school requirements.

My impression of India is of a vast country with a long history of foreign domination which is just coming into its own. My knowledge of Indian people comes from various sources, both good and bad. The Indians I’ve met at work have been uniformly intelligent capable people, who speak English with varying levels of intelligibility. Personally, the only Indian I knew growing up was a Dalit orphan who had been adopted as a baby and retained none of her Indian heritage. The last I heard from her, she was planning a trip to India to visit the land of her birth, about which she knew nothing. My impressions of Indian abroad while traveling in other parts of Southeast Asia have been very negative. Coming from a culture in which it is not only rude to stare, but also in which people are given space and respect, being constantly stared at by Indian laborers while traveling made me feel like a slab of meat at a butcher shop, if the slab of meat could feel. One of my primary reasons to travel to India is to understand Indian culture at its source, and to try to understand not only where my colleagues are coming from, but maybe where those laborers are coming from too.

Our group seems like a well-rounded, well-traveled group of educated Americans. That is to say, we’re not precisely your “average” group of Americans. We have been told to expect frequent delays, constant heat, and that our adherence to a schedule isn’t likely to be a regular occurrence. I am personally excited to be traveling with a group of Americans like ours. On an English speaking tour through Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, I overheard a rather heavy set American woman complained loudly about the stairs and lack of and elevator … in the castle.

I think what is most exciting about our preparations thus far has been the extra lecturers invited to come and speak to us about Bollywood and Hindi. Somehow, discussing immersion in Indian culture is making our imminent departure much more tangible. Also… thinking about waking up at 4am next Saturday is helping to solidify the “real-ness” of our preparations. Only a week, and we’ll all be on a plane for nearly a full day. At least there is the Taj Mahal to see immediately upon arrival to make up for the insanely long flight.

Our group's song and dance number:

And.... go

2009-04-17T15:01:00.001-07:00

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2009/04/the_backlash_tracker_build_em.html

Easter Sunday

2009-04-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

This morning, I got up early to go to church, then hit snooze. Thus, I ended up at the 10am Easter Mass... at 10am. As anyone who has ever gone to church on Easter Sunday knows, the church is always packed. Unfortunately for me, I'm dizziness/fainting prone, and such packed churches are, well hot. Last time this happened was in Singapore where I had an excuse - I was standing in 90' humidity - today was fairly cool and a little rainy, but the inside of the church was quite warm.

I am now at home, after two near misses hitting the floor. Such is life. I should have gone to the 8am, no one likes waking up at 7am to go to church.

Queen Noor and Stephen Colbert

2009-04-11T18:33:00.001-07:00

I have to admit, when I first heard the President say we were going to get rid of nuclear weapons, I thought he was being *very* hopeful, rather than the average level of hope he typically projects.

However, I'm actually pleasantly surprised at the growing chorus of people trying to get rid of nuclear weapons. Queen Noor was on the Colbert Report the other day to promote her organization whose goal it is to eliminate nuclear weapons in a phased timeline.

I have to say, though, that the best part of the piece was that Stephan Colbert appeared to have been knighted by Narsil. :D Now, THAT I can believe in.

Cheery

2009-04-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

I am wearing my favorite bright yellow swirly skirt today. It looks like a giant burst of sunshine, so I wear it when I am feeling in need of bright yellow sunshine feelings. :)

I think that this picture of L. is quite possibly the cutest, cheeriest picture ever.

Today, I finally find out how I did for the past year, as Amazon's three month long review process comes to an end. I don't know how cheery I will be after that.

Cheers!

Resume tips

2009-03-05T07:17:00.000-08:00

I recently was privileged to speak with a controller at a large local non-profit near here, and I have been attending ongoing meetings with my Seattle U mentor, and have gotten a couple of good resume tips that I'd like to share.

If your primary value as an employee is your education, don't just list your degree; also list some of your coursework or activities. Under job experience, don't say that your responsibilities were blah blah, write a couple of "success stories." Under your "Expert in MS Word" list *exactly* what you're an expert in - can you write macros? are you a whiz with Pivot Tables in Excel? Are you good at calendaring appointments or setting up group mailboxes in Outlook? Above all, list only the most important, interesting items to get their interest. A too-full resume is just as off-putting as a thin one.

Both of them agreed that the most important factor to consider is that your resume is probably one of at least 100 sitting on someone desk or in someone's inbox, especially in this economy. Anything you can do to make yourself stand out should be included, such as sports awards, music, whatever makes you unique, you should include in your resume. Your goal is to get the person reviewing resumes to spend more than 20 seconds scrolling up and down your resume and actually hook them enough to want to give you a ten minute callback, and then hopefully an interview.

Job Loss graph - turn your eyes away quickly, it hurts too much

2009-02-20T11:00:00.001-08:00

Job loss projections

2009-02-11T21:36:00.000-08:00

I read recently that job loss projections for workers between 18-30 is supposed to reach 30% this year, and over 10% nationwide. Which is, quite frankly, really disturbing.

I'm thankful I have a good job right now, but you never know. Everyone keeps talking about how consumers shouldn't be so worried, and it's their worry that is slowing the economy - no spending. But, when you feel like you might lose your job next week, what in the world would induce you to spend this week?

I have the feeling I'll be eating a lot more rice in the coming months. Good thing I like rice. :)

Pachelbel's Canon in D

2009-02-04T11:48:00.001-08:00

being sick....

2009-01-26T11:05:00.001-08:00

...is super lame.

:(

At the Inauguration. Yes, those are people.

2009-01-21T12:44:00.000-08:00

Inaugural Address

2009-01-20T10:20:00.001-08:00

First, let me say that today is a grand day. A wonderful day. A simply splendiferous day. :) And, fact check Obama - there have not been 44 presidents, there have been 43 presidents.

My favorite parts of the inaugural address:

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.

...

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

...

What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

...

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Go President Obama!

Horrifying plushie

2009-01-14T14:35:00.000-08:00

http://iheartguts.com/recall/index.htm

Das Bild haengt schief - the picture's tilted!

2009-01-12T09:47:00.001-08:00

Why I work for Amazon

2008-12-31T17:02:00.001-08:00

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/amazon_recommendations_understand

hehehe....

2008-12-30T16:37:00.001-08:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

The Decider - The Origin

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

and this is why JibJab is awesome

2008-12-28T16:47:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Are your cats old enough?

2008-12-15T13:47:00.001-08:00

http://www.poe-news.com/forums/sp.php?pi=1001895601

Berlitz Language Commercial

2008-12-11T11:53:00.000-08:00

Almost busiest time of the year!

2008-11-22T15:49:00.000-08:00

One of the truly joyous aspects of working at a company whose primary function is retail sales is the Christmas holiday season. Since this is the busiest time of year, and since this Christmas is combined with a once in a century economic meltdown worldwide, the department in which I work is going to be doubly inundated.

Which brings me to my main problem - my intellectual "eyes bigger than my stomach" problem. Because you see, I thought I could handle a full time job and a full time school load. And I have. But just barely, and starting next week, there is mandatory overtime scheduled.

It's going to be fun.

So, to anyone out there who wants to write me an email or talk to me in any way, shape or form - I am likely to send Christmas cards as a way to decompress, but that's probably about it in the way of communication for the next 5-6 weeks.

Did I mention it's going to be fun!?

YESS!!!!

2008-11-05T09:54:00.001-08:00

I am in such a fabulous mood. I was cautiously optimistic before the election, and I am SO HAPPY that Obama won by such a huge electoral margin. That's a very clear mandate, unlike just having Florida or Ohio deciding the election.

Today, I'm more proud to be an American than I ever have before as an adult.

Don't worry, I'm sure it'll wear off soon. ;)

Funny definitions

2008-11-02T14:31:00.000-08:00

Definitions:
Communism: you have two cows. The government takes both and gives you the milk.

Socialism: You have two cows. You give one to your neighbor.

Fascism: You have two cows. The government takes both and sells the milk.

Nazism: You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you.

Bureaucracy: You have two cows. The government takes both, shoots one, then pours the milk down the drain.

Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.

Not precisely correct, but made me smile. I'm completely on tenterhooks for the next two days. I'm wearing my Obama/Biden t-shirt and hoping the undecideds who don't know how to use their new voting technology don't screw it up for the rest of us. Two more days and no more political ads! Woo-hoo!

Max and Sisi

2008-10-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

They are named for Maximilian I and Kaiserin Elisabeth (Sisi) of Austria. Ha.... big surprise... :)

Max's mannerisms remind me a lot of Caesar, but Sisi's "cattiness" is totally Caesar. :)

Sisi is laying down in the picture. :)

The Dark Knight

2008-10-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

Make sure you watch until he checks out. Note the music. :D

Birthday!

2008-10-16T17:35:00.000-07:00

Although the highlight of today was my dental appointment (no cavities - woo-hoo!), it has still been a very nice birthday.

I'm looking forward to my mac'n'cheese and strawberry angel food cake for dinner (which I am not making, K. is) and to our trip to the San Juans this weekend, up to Friday Harbor.

One could have a worse birthday. :) Hope y'all are having as good of a day as I am!

Leadership Retreat

2008-10-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I had the lovely experience of participating in a leadership retreat for my Leadership class (imagine that...) at Seattle U. I only thought I was going to die once, so that's good.

This thing, called the 'Wall' - a highly imaginative name - was the hardest exercise all weekend. We all had to get over this wall using ONLY our human resources, meaning each other. Some of us, the more athletic ones, needed only two people - one to push them up, one to pull them up at the top, one guy only needed one on the ground and he pulled himself up no problem. I, however, needed four from the outset, two on bottom and two up top, and I still almost panicked. Gotta say, not my fave part of the weekend.

Still, I learned a lot and got a lot more accomplished than I ever thought my clumsy, non-athletic self would get accomplished.

For example, I got up four rungs on this ladder, being pulled up while simultaneously pulling myself up and swinging my leg up and around the ladder rung. My team, however, got up five rungs - we just weren't able to get me - the third member of the team - all the way up to the fifth rung. Still, I'm pretty proud of how high we got.

I'm still sore. And I'll be bruised for a good two weeks in some places. Those harnesses? Not really so much fun. I'm glad I got this class out of the way first.

Veep Debate

2008-10-03T09:55:00.001-07:00

777.68

2008-09-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

Is how much the DOW dropped today.

Pardon me if what keeps going through my head are a few rotating phrases: "the sky is falling, the sky is falling!" "seven hundred billion WHAT?!?" "George Bush said it was going to cost less than that ungodly sum? well sign me up!"

I'm just glad I don't have much money in my 401(k) at this point. I'm in a mutual fund anyway, so I probably didn't lose much overall. But still.

I am also glad that I bank with USBank, one of whose directors in charge of deciding whether they should get involved in sub-prime mortgages said, "I don't understand these" and so it's currently the most stable bank in America.

I'm also glad I don't work for a company whose sole function is financial services. The stock of my company dropped only $2 today, which is fine by me.

But yeah. Henny Penny.

Indecision 2008

2008-09-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

Here's to the only worthwhile news on television.

Christ in me

2008-09-23T14:02:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately, it appears that this video has been removed. So sorry, because it was HILARIOUS.

Hurricane Ridge

2008-09-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

I went up to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mountains with my mom last Saturday (this picture being one of the results:

This is "pre-burn." You see, I frequently forget to use sunscreen here at home, as there aren't all that many days in the year to get burned in Seattle, and the vast majority of the year, it's overcast or raining and I'm inside working at a computer. So in general, sunscreen is not entirely necessary.

Cut to the part where I'm hiking up an open hill with lots of sun - sans sunscreen - for the better part of 2-3 hours.

My shoulders look like the bottom of one of those dry lake beds - all cracked and flaky with deep breaks where the lack of moisture has split the mud into tiny islands. Except it's my skin, and it's itchy and gross.

It's no more than I deserve, I've read all the stuff about wearing sunscreen daily, etc - but at least I had a fabulous time with my mom and finally got outside. :)

Tony Blair on the Daily Show

2008-09-19T14:34:00.001-07:00

To see this, go to www.thedailyshow.com.

Jon Stewart dedicated more than 15 minutes of his 21 or so minute show to the interview with Tony Blair. They went over the ground you'd expect them to - the Iraq war, 9/11, international terrorism, and so on, and while I've heard much of the same rationale before, I think I have a great deal more respect for Tony Blair as a result of this interview than I had before. He actually seemed to take Stewart's questions seriously and attempt to answer them as best he could without sounding like a jerk about it. Clearly, they disagreed on nearly every major point, but it was civil and respectful.

I just can't imagine George Bush doing that. I can imagine him, however, making that irritating smirk he always makes after making a statement about something that to him seems breathtakingly obvious and you're just a stupid moron for not understanding something that's so utterly clear to him. I can't imagine at all George Bush engaging in a reasonable, measured conversation in which his opponent disagrees with him entirely without resorting to his usual tactics of asserting that his opposition is just completely wrong-headed and is going to destroy the United States by allowing the terrorists to win.

So good for you, Tony Blair, for going on the Daily Show. More than that, good for you for being a decent human being about it, even if I do disagree with the way you chose to involve your country in my country's greatest mistake in recent history. And good for the Daily Show for keeping what matters in the news and always treating every guest - of whatever persuasion - with the same sense of humor and humanity.

future suicide bomber

2008-09-03T15:06:00.000-07:00

I just read this article on msnbc... it's hard to imagine a situation in which the intelligence could be so wrong as to bomb the life out of a large wedding party.

Iraq:
Confirmed US dead: 4151
Confirmed US injured: 30,000
Estimated Iraqi dead: 1,033,000 (as of August 2007) acc to Opinion Research Business survey

Afghanistan:
Confirmed US dead: 582
Estimated Afghani dead: 2700

World Trade Center attacks: 2974

I don't think this math adds up very well.

And I think I might want to join up and fight against anyone who bombed the life out of my future spouse and entire extended family.

dry drowning

2008-09-01T12:53:00.001-07:00

I read recently about the case of a boy who died of 'dry drowning.' Essentially, he got enough water in his lungs to start the shutdown of the lungs but not enough for anyone to really notice anything was amiss, other than a general lack of energy and lassitude. Poor kid took a nap and never woke up.

My job is slowly dry drowning me. Just enough at a time that I don't storm out cursing all of them to perdition, but still drowning me, nonetheless. My job should be done by 2.5 people (the .5 working half in German inquiries, half in other organizations) and right now, there's just me. What I remind myself is that I have extraordinary job security (compared to many in the American workforce at the moment) and that the job itself is interesting enough to ignore a lot of the unhappiness that comes attached to being overworked and undercompensated. I wonder how long I'll be able to continue to convince myself of that....

Aquarium and Underground

2008-08-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

Totally awesome fish at the aquarium:

Largest octopus in the world.... while sleeping:

The Seattle "underground" looking up:

Seattle was originally built on tide flats, thus making flushing the toilet rather hazardous at high tide:

And... a list

2008-08-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

Because I'm a follower. I'm good at following. And there have been entirely too many pictures up on my blog lately.

Things I have been good at:

Music - started violin at 5, flute at 9, Baritone at 11, piano at 13, trombone at 16 and French Horn at 17. I have officially stopped starting new instruments. Too much effort. I've always been able to sing fairly well, but I probably wouldn't get very far on American Idol - not enough of a diva.
Cooking and baking - both of which I find relaxing, which my friends have, on occasion, found convenient. :)
Organizing - this may sound silly, but I can create a kick-butt filing system, complete with color-coding and neatly printed labels that is both intuitive and efficient.
Languages - I admit that I am lazy and haven't always done the vocab memorization that I ought to have, but I can learn the basics of a language - any language - very quickly. Getting to the more advanced concepts usually took more effort, which was where I hit my wall, not because I have a problem with language, but because I am inherently lazy.
Writing papers - I once wrote a 26 or so page paper in 24 hours. And it didn't suck. Getting through grad school would have been a lot harder if I weren't good at stringing words together.

Things I have been bad at:

Getting things done on time - I am quite possibly one of the biggest procrastinators you'll ever meet. I almost always get things done; it's just usually right under the wire or late.
Swimming - I can't swim. I understand the concept, I spent the better part of two months in the pool every day, but I used one of those kid's training boards the whole time. Water and I just don't get along.
Balancing my bank account - now that I have built in overdraft protection, I'm safe. But I know that my overdraft fees supported my bank for years. The one I disliked most was the $5 check the park service waited five months to cash. Exactly when I had only $3.50 or so in my checking account.
Personal relationships - I can't help it; I don't like people as a general rule. So I generally find it most convenient to stick with the people I know.

The Meatrix

2008-08-07T17:11:00.000-07:00

http://www.themeatrix1.com/