Beautiful Day

Again the Sky is blue and the West mountains are visible from my office.

I was in bed early last night for me and plan the same for tonight if possible. At breakfast I make plans with my traveling companions to go to the dumpling house across the street for dinner. Then I will pack for the trip home. I plan to be in the office tomorrow but only for a couple of hours. We leave the hotel at 12:30.

It was still hard to get up this morning. I wanted to sleep in. I'm supposed to be recovered from jet lag by now so my only excuse is I must be working too hard. Next time I come (if I come again) I will plan more down time for me.

The morning is crazy. I have over 200 emails to process this morning. A lot of it pertaining to the work we are doing this morning. I'm behind the curve when I start and it take me most of the morning to come close to catching up. For that we suffer on the work we are dong this morning. My apologies to the ream in Beijing for that. It's what happens when you have a single point of failure for information sharing. Me. That will change when I get back.

It is cold this morning. Right now, as I write this section of the blog, it is 11:30 AM Beijing time. Temperature is 46 F and with wind chill feels like 39. By comparison it is 11:30 PM in Durham and they are reporting 54F with not wind chill factor. Chilly morning here in Beijing. But as I said it is gorgeous. The air will deteriorate but this weather pattern seems to keep it clearer than I've seen it.

This will probably be the last post from Beijing. I doubt I will have time to post anything tomorrow. Too much travel time. Maybe a summary of thoughts once I get back to the states.

Here is an image for you. I'm not very good with the chopsticks but I keep trying. Yesterday at lunch we're sitting at the table and I look up. I'm sitting across from Jason. And I tell him "Now this is a picture. The American guy is eating with chopsticks and the Chinese guy is eating with a spoon. There is something wrong here." He replies "I'm not very good with chopsticks." Evidently in middle school he learned to use fork and spoon and abandoned the chopstick ways.

At lunch, back to the Sogo Food Court one more time. Today I have chicken and barbecue pork. The presentation of the chicken is quite interesting. It's a cooked leg of chicken that someone has chopped into equal pieces using a cleaver. Bone and all are intact. A little difficult to eat for me but others seem to handle it well.

Afternoon goes pretty well. Good conversation with the team about increasing their testing responsibilities. We basically say good bye in this afternoon session since I will only be in the office for a couple of hours tomorrow hopefully while they are busy with time critical work to do.

Back at the hotel my travel companions and I share drinks and peanuts. Plan our day for tomorrow and confirm our van to the airport. Good thing we did. They didn't have us scheduled to leave the hotel until 4:00. That's plane time.

Bob, Michael, and Peg head off for dinner. I still feel full from lunch so I head back to the room to pack and do a little work.

Good night from Beijing for the last time this trip.

And there is no picture today.

Time is Growing Short

It's Halloween in Beijing. The photo is from the Sogo mall next to our office building. Halloween is not big here, but it is apparently growing.

As with any trip, the things you wanted to do when you started out are partially done. Both personally and professionally. Some of that is OK. Some of it is not. As you reach the end you begin to assess where you've come and what you can still accomplish in the remaining time.

Personally I did not make the Forbidden City. That is OK because I did make it to the Summer Palace which was not on my agenda. I've also seen the Chinese Acrobatic Troupe that was not on my agenda. Generally I end up in the plus column with the personal side of this trip.

Professionally there is still a lot to do and will require additional work once I return to the states to insure training is done and done half way around the world.

The day is gorgeous. Cold to my colleagues here in Beijing but quite nice for me. My rain parka is enough to get me to work in comfort. The air is clear and the sky blue again. Good news. I think a cold front came through last night and cleared things out. I can see the mountains in the distance today. A good thing.

The morning is spent in one-on-one sessions with the team. Defects signals, bugver reports, and general assessment of the trip so far. We are hindered in doing testing tasks by a slow network. I again adjust my training schedule to try and maximize our remaining time together.

Lunch is in, yes, you guessed it, the Sogo Food Court. Chicken cutlet and curried rice for me today from a restaurant called 'Hollywood.' Terry decides I need to eat "Hollywood on Halloween." Quit tasty. They try and lure me into a game of ping pong after lunch but after watching them play, these folks are basically tough ping pong players. Since they are playing doubles, I send Lana in my stead and quietly slip back to the desk for work.

We took pictures this morning. A group picture and then I took individual shots to put up on the website at SAS. I want folks in Cary to be able to see who they are talking to when conversing with the Beijing staff.

Our afternoon session goes pretty well. It ends up being longer than planned but I'll sit and answer their questions as long as they want to ask them. I catch up on a couple of emails and then we're off to dinner. Hopefully back to the hotel a little earlier tonight. I think I need a little more sleep.

Air quality has deteriorated through the day making the sunset a somewhat gorgeous affair. I try to capture the sun going down behind the mountain on film but the windows are too dirty up here and the sun too bright to really capture what I want. If I go outside I'll be too low to see the view like I have up here on the 19th floor.

I realize today that I am going to miss these folks after I'm gone. Not nearly enough to keep me from going...I miss home a lot more, but I've become quite fond of them over the last couple of weeks. Their enthusiasm and hospitality will be missed.

But I do so look forward to being home again. In my bed. Eating my food. Seeing the people I love. Phone calls from abroad just don't cut it. While I'm not looking forward to that plane ride, it is my ticket home. I'll make it.

We did the trip administrative details today. Reconfirmed reservations. Arranged for a van to the airport. Set our departure time. Decide who was going to pay for what. We have to pay an exit tax in cash. 90 RMB...about $12. And 550 RMB for the ride to the airport...about $73 for the 4 of us in a van. We could probably get to the airport for less but the convenience for the 4 of us traveling together can't be beat.

Dinner tonight is with Terry at a place called, in the English translation, Wang Steak. It's not really a steak in the US sense. It's actually a giant beef rib. Very good. The last couple of nights with Terry have been relaxed and I feel like after nearly two weeks he is finally opening up to tell me things he really thinks. Good conversation. Good working dinner. Good dinner with a friend.

Get back to the hotel, and log on to talk with Janie. Get to see pictures of Kyle as the Incredible Hulk. Finish this blog and head to bed. Tomorrow night I pack for home.

Good night from Beijing.