Boston-bound

Eugene and I said goodbye to Heather & Mauro last night. They moved back to Boston today.

In the afternoon I went with Gabe to the largest antique market in Beijing.

Family Day

Attended MSRA's Family Day where we all played laser tag before the gala dinner.
Then met Mauro & Heather at the Nelson's for their last game night.

blood diamond

As part of a presentation training we had to give a 5 minute talk about any topic. I chose to talk about Moissanite.

29

Thanks for all the birthday love. Had a dinner at my favorite restaurant -- Ganges.
Luke, Eric, Katie, Bennett, Sungmi, Frank, Heather, me, Gabe, Matt

CEO dodges eggs

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had to dodge eggs hurled at him by a Hungarian dissenter.

Ever since I moved away from home a decade ago, these care packages have always found me.

Game Over

Returned from Thailand -- where I paid $4 for this T-shirt -- and went to the Nelson's for Heather & Mauro's goodbye lunch.

Thailand Day 3

Took an organized tour to
1 - ride a bamboo raft
2 - pet tigers
3 - ride elephants
4 - visit a WWII memorial
At the airport we couldn't satisfy our BK craving but could have prayed in a Muslim Prayer Room.

Thailand Day 2

1 - Slept in.
2 - Ate some tasty chicken kabob and fresh fruit smoothies at Khaosan Rd where we met a new friend Kristina.
3 - Rode the SkyTrain to do some shopping.
4 - Discovered Bangkok's nightlife at Soi Cowboy.

Thailand Day 1

Arrived in Bangkok late last night and woke up early to find a new hotel ($30/night) and buy $5 sunglasses (I lost mine last weekend in Qingdao).We spent the day exploring Wat Pho(reclining Buddha), Wat Indrawiharn(standing Buddha), the Grand Palace, and cruising on the river.
Somehow every meal was unbearably delicious. One restaurant owner claimed his BBQ chicken was the best in all of Thailand. It's difficult to argue with someone who grows 6-inch long hairs from their mole.
In the evening we sat ringside at a Muay Thai boxing match and then enjoyed a $12 Thai massage.

"you can do it!"

Many playgrounds in public parks here have this piece of equipment that's exactly like Tony Little's Gazelle (which cameo'd in this Geico commercial).

The Microsoft Research Asia site has also been changed to gray scale to reflect our condolence

At 2:28pm -- to mourn the earthquake exactly one week prior -- air raid sirens sounded, cars stopped and honked their horns, and people poured in to the streets with their heads hung low.

All over China the flag hung at half-mast, various events were canceled, and local newspapers and websites were printed without color in black & white only.

Qingdao - Day 2

After breakfast in the revolving restaurant atop our hotel, we headed to the former German governor's residence where Chairman Mao spent a summer in 1957.
We feasted on Korean BBQ followed by a trip to the Tsingtao Brewery where we randomly ran in to coworkers Gene & Kathy from the Beijing office.
During our stroll along the boardwalk we saw countless brides & grooms waiting their turn at picturesque locations.

Qingdao - Day 1

After 1 hour of sleep I left for Qingdao -- a port city formerly occupied by the Germans and the site of this year's Olympic sailing events. The German influence is apparent in its Bavarian architecture and beer brewery (the source of Tsingtao Beer). Selina, Bridget, Eugene, and I spent most of the day eating fresh seafood delicacies (they don't kill it until after you order it) and strolling along the beach. It was nice to see the Pacific Ocean again. In the evening we hit up Qingdao nightlife at a club called Babyface. I didn't recognize any of the music but they did put on a great show every half hour.. including various pyrotechnics and a Michael Jackson imitator.
The dance music was this same slow tempo the entire night.

Cosby & Vics

After watching some Cosby Show at the Nelson's place, I met up with the crew at Vics. We were rolling 14 deep and had a table reserved. It was the usual bass-pumping-sweaty-dance-a-thon that I'm getting too old for. Apparently the government is planning to close this club and others like it during the Olympics.

Bruce

local Cantonese food restaurant

hao

The MSFT provided Chinese language class for employees started today.
Many characters have interesting stories. For example, the Chinese character for the word "hao" (which means good) has two parts that are literally the characters for man & woman. So putting a woman女 and man子 together achieves harmony which is "good".

Gave a talk to the Innovation Engineering Group today about "performance optimization of web applications". While explaining the slow-starting congestion avoidance mechanism of the TCP protocol I managed to work in a Soulja Boy Superman pose. I don't think anyone made the connection but it was entertaining for me.

tremor

I didn't feel the earthquake today but coworkers say they did. Thanks to everyone who expressed concern.

Happy Mothers Day

Have you called your mother today?

man up

Seven hour hike up Haituo Mountain with Jay, Jenny, and Bridget. While descending my knees were in pain but what can you do? The only way to come down is to man up.

Helped Microsoft Research Asia Library clear out some outdated books

My gray hairs are multiplying exponentially. I plan to do nothing, Anderson Cooper style (or not).

ground breaking

Microsoft broke ground in Beijing today on what will be our largest R&D center outside of the U.S.
you can watch their 10 seconds of glory starting at 0:53 on the CCTV news

Now that the gym renovation here is complete, I've started going in hopes of gaining back the 10 lbs I've lost in China.

Mr. Rogers

I recorded several demo videos for our team blog while trying to use my friendliest Mr. Rogers voice

view larger size

What are the "general hygiene recommendations for living in China"?

MacBook Air vs ThinkPad X300

Hung out with Gabe and his Irish attorney friend Andrew at 798 Art District.

Two of my favorite things -- Michael Jackson & bhangra..

Today is Chinese Labor Day.

Some fun facts from the latest edition of National Geographic...
-119 baby boys born for every 100 girls
-The number of unmarried young men (called bare branches) is predicted to be 30 million by 2020
-45% of Chinese women surveyed say they do not want to give up their careers to get married
-3 in 10 Chinese families have grandparents living in the same household
-Beijing enforces a one-dog policy that prohibits pets more than 14 inches high