I just read an article about online Social Networks that said people who were most active online really have the poorest social networks in real life. Might explain why as I got better at speaking chinese I stopped blogging. interesting idea, anyway.

I just read The Earth is Flat, by Thomas Friedman. Interesting book, considering my job. The book is mostly about globalization, and Friedman talks about people developing skills that transfer from place to plae.
In Curlys immortal words " I resemble that remark".

Made it through the New Year holiday. I got an Asus EEE PC to replace my beloved Psion. It's much like the Psion, the display and keypad are a bit smaller, but it's got 3 USB ports and Linux for the OS, so it serves.
I've been carrying it everywhere, using it like a PDA/Laptop/Ebook reader.  Neat.

Looking at my last entry, there are a few changes. I work for VanceInfo now (www.vanceinfo.com). I'm once again a PeopleSoft Consultant. I liked teaching at Tsinghua, but the visa issue and all decided me to bolt.

I'll post a pic or two, maybe sometime this year. :)

another graduation at 对外经济贸易大学 ！ It hardly seems like a year since the last one.  It was great seeing all the faces I remember from  东方大学城    This group were freshmen when I first saw them, starting college. Now they're done.

I have pictures, of course. I hope all of you who took pics will send them to me or at least post them where I can see them.

Good luck, everyone.

It's a nice day here.  Cool, breezy and very sunny.  Some friends took me to a Vietnamese restaurant last night. It was fun, haven't had Pho in a long time. It was also interesting in that none of us are native speakers of chinese, but Mandarin is our common language. So we all talked in our accented Mandarin. Later we went by a club and danced, though we got tired of it fairly quickly.

Today is straightening up and getting ready for next week.
I tried the English classes on the Sopranos, with mixed results. A few people 'got it' and seemed to like the contradictory nature
of the plot. Most, however, didn't like it or didn't understand. I'll have to try something else. I don't like Prison Break
myself, particularly since the plot has taken on obvious political overtones. It's amusing to me that people here like the
Teabag character in PB but don't like Tony Soprano. Maybe because T-bag is a psychopath, dangerous to everyone
around him, while Soprano seems like a fairly intelligent and likable guy who just seems to be in the wrong business. And
that business is driving him crazy.

Time to check out some other series....  Desperate Housewives seems pretty popular. I just can't bring myself
to use 'Friends'.  Trying to explain that series would drive *me* nuts.

It's too nice outside. I have to go out and enjoy it.

Hasta la Vista, baby.

a href="http://zhongwen.com">

 

Cool, hunh?  Love it.       即便我每天学汉字, 我还不会看报或书 我应该很长时间学习汉语......

Got grades done, can turn them in and be finished for this term. I've realized that I was way too disorganized this term. Good luck that my habits of order and filing pulled me thru. That will change though. Got a project going live on the weekend, and I gotta get ready for that!  The change of pace should be good for me. I can change hats and try a different tack.  As the bard said: All the world's a stage, and the people merely players on it. I'll change costume and roles.

Watching the 4 Musketeers - the sequel to the 3 Musketeers - It's merely the 2nd part of Dumas' story, but to my mind is the best film adaptation of that story ever made.  The scenes between Oliver Reed as Athos and Faye Dunaway as Milady are just great. One time lovers who are now deadly enemies - but who both remember the former time.
George MacDonald Fraser wrote the screenplay, and he did a superb job. As did the cast- Reed, Michael Caine as D'Artagnan, Richard Chamberlain as Aramis, Raquel Welsh as Constance, and Charlton Heston as the ominous Richelieu. To me it's one of the best casting jobs ever. Made a lively little tale into a rousing story of love and intrigue.  

I'm having a dram of Laphroaig in celebration. A friend brought me a bottle, and I save it for special occaisions. No doubt 'twill lift my spirits a bit. It will help in my appreciation of the musketeers - I love the language they use, and a bit of the malt will enhance that.

I've news that a set of 'Firefly' is waiting, and I'm anticipating. I really liked 'Serenity', the Tutor and I sat here trying to figure out just what the Putonghua phrases meant. :)    She couldn't understand them much better than I did. In fact, I was the one to point out that they were Putonghua!  
Ah well, time to go.  Gotta go in tomorrow and figure out what's up with the project. That will be and exercise in using Putonghua!
Adieu.

Made it to another year!!!  
This one should be interesting.....

Saw the movie 'Serenity' recently.  Interesting movie, fun story and plenty of action. I was watching with tutor and one of the characters said something I couldn't understand... backed up, listened again - dong le ma?  Hey, that's Chinese!!!  Badly pronounced chinese, but there it was.  We listened carefully throughout the movie, catching and trying to understand the phrases thrown out.
我想昧耳，昧心，变石头 screamed a girl later on.  One character says "大家坐下“　.  
Really fun, that an American movie would have American actors speaking Mandarin.  
The story to the movie is that, far in the future, the US and China have colonized planets far from Earth.  The people there have elements of both cultures, and use both English and Chinese in daily life. The movie starts with a look at the ship's name :
Serenity, with the characters 宁静 behind it. Shiny, as they'd say:  
One of the most fun movies I've seen lately and I've seen it a lot cause I re-ran parts to catch the chinese:)

Oh, well. Happy New Year everyone.  Let's see how this one goes!

Woke up early, looked out the window and all was white. Too late for a White Christmas, but still nice to see. I have to go to work this morning, cause of the holiday. No rest for the wicked, I suppose.

The earthquake damage has the 'net so slow that posting is a pain.  More later.

Another launch of the Space shuttle!  I was just watching NASA TV,  showing the orbital path over the earth.  Looks like it's going right over Beijing!  If the air were clear we might see it go over. Oh, well. 

Neat to think NASA's still pushing out into space. Good luck to them.

Fancy word for taking a break. I started this space at Dancing Girl's suggestion, in the summer over a year ago. It petered out because I don't put private things up here, so it gets to be a rather boring chronicle of daily life. I suppose if a major event come along, like another graduation, I can post pics here. Otherwise I'll use emails to communicate.

Actually went pretty well.
I had the Project Management students today. I talked about what project managers do, including the sort of things textbooks usually dont' tell you. They were pretty articulate and asked good questions. I think they'll be a fun group.

The English class this morning started off dull, but I got them talking freely at last.  One guy decided we should talk about sex. "Ok, it's your topic, talk about it."  heh. He started off ok, but wanted to say something , couldn't seem to describe it, started waving his hands in the air  maybe 20-30 cm apart. He whispered something to one of the girls, who translated " He means a condom" then she held her hands up with her fingers 2-4 cm apart. It was hysterical.

Korean restaurant tonight, ate too much.  Time to crash now.

Later