Tonynet Explorer

Our Neighborhood Panda Dog

Dyeing dogs has become pretty popular in Beijing. CNN just ran a story that talks about this phenomenon; they even highlighted this dog from our neighborhood! We see this dog pretty frequently. The owners' ayi (maid) is too embarrassed to walk the dog except in the early morning (when she also apparently doesn't feel the need to scoop up after him).

I think the shop they mention in the story is in the shopping center across the street from us. I've seen a dog painted like a tiger or more simple ones with just rainbow colored highlights.

Canon Expo at the 798 Art District

I went with my friends Imran and Misha today to a Canon expo at the 798 Art District. This was a free event put on by Canon to showcase some of their new products like the EOS 60D and 300mm f2/8L IS II lens.

The event was in an old water or oil tank. The space was actually pretty cool.

Inside, they had a almost their whole line-up of gear to lust over.

One of the nice freebies they offered was sensor and lens cleaning. Through this process, I learned my beloved (but battered) 70-200 2.8L lens has some moisture residue inside and the barrel is loose. Time for a repair.

Around the edges they had set up mini-studios with their gear to shoot plus models in different environments to shoot in. In the middle they were printing peoples' photos on the various Canon printers. They also had a stage for presentations and a little theater to show movies shot with the Canon DSLRs.

Unfortunately, I think the models were a bit bored and let it show.

Still, the event was fun and worth every penny. :) I really appreciate Canon putting these kinds of events on to let the community try stuff out.

Beautiful LongQing Xia

Last week, the senior leaders on my team at work and I went offsite for two days to discuss our future plans. After staying for an evening at the lovely Commune by the Great Wall (super cool resort -- worth checking out their site), we went to Longqing Xia for some "hiking" (really a ton of stair-climbing). This lovely gorge is about fifty miles north of Beijing, past the Great Wall at Badaling. The mountains rise up almost straight up from a beautiful (and clean!) lake formed by a big dam.

For some reason I still don't understand, instead of taking the gondolas halfway up the mountain before starting our climb to the top, we elected to hike up from the bottom. You can see how far the gondolas go up here.

We just kept climbing up and up the stairs. I was dying most of the time. Not only was I really out of shape, but I was also carrying a big camera bag full of gear including my big 70-200 2.8L lens. Still the view at the top was worth it.

Here's are me and my colleagues at the top.

As you may be able to tell from the photos, we had a beautiful day for our outing. It was a little warm but not bad for Beijing, and the air quality was good since we were outside of the city. My only regret was not getting a chance to take a boat ride down the lake. I hope to go back soon to do that with my family.

Longqing is also the home to a winter ice festival (like a mini-version of the one in Harbin). We went to this festival last winter (although I was too lazy to blog about it then...)

"Glee" - Woodbury High School-style circa 1985

I'm not embarrassed to admit I'm a huge fan of the TV show Glee. (OK, maybe a little embarrassed, but not too much.) Part of why I enjoy the show so much is that I sang in a show choir (we called it "swing choir") while I was in high school in Minnesota. Watching the show has definitely brought back memories.

We sang and danced to songs like Sweet Sweet Smile and Bill Bailey. Obviously, we weren't nearly as good as New Directions or Vocal Adrenaline from the show. (Heck, we didn't even have a name beyond "Woodbury High School Swing Choir"). Our singing was decent, but our dancing was pretty basic (I can do a jazz square, but that's about it). We had a great pianist, but we didn't have a backing band, full church choir, or jazz horns like they do in the show. Our sets were pretty basic too -- a bunch of black wooden boxes (as seen in the photos below). Our outfits, however, were almost identical to the ones the guys in Vocal Adrenaline wear (their shoes are better, I guess.)

I hope the popularity of Glee spurs growth (or at least survival) of show choirs across America. I had a great time with it and hope kids today can too.

Here's us in 1985:

Here's the choir in 1986:

Here's Vocal Adrenaline, from the show, so you can compare outfits:

A Perfect Afternoon

I thought this shot from our Whidbey trip was a great one photo summary of my ideal afternoon.

Crab Heaven on Whidbey Island!

Last week we rented a house in Holmes Harbor on Whidbey Island with our friends Barbi and Kellie for a few days of crabbing, sunshine, and general laziness. Our friends Nori, Stacy, and Jarrett (and Stacy's dad) from Beijing came out too for a bit since the were in Seattle as well.

The house was part of an eighteen acre holly farm (yes, Christmas holly needs farms too), appropriately named Holly Hills Farm. It was really a lovely place on a quiet harbor. They have three houses for rent there - a larger, modern place (which we had), a mid-sized farm house, and a smaller farm house. Our place was well outfitted with everything you could want -- great kitchen with every manner of tool/pot/pan, grill, propane boiler (for all those crabs!), washer/dryer, fluffy towels, etc.

Here's the house from the water side:

Here's the view down from the house toward their dock:

Barbi brought her 19' speedboat and crab traps along. We soon found a good spot and were hauling in tons of crabs. We probably pulled up 200 over the course of four days, keeping about fifty (there are size/gender restrictions plus daily limits -- fortunately, we had several licenses so we could get a lot of crabs. The beach was also full of lovely, easily-dug clams as well as mussels, although we bought mussels since the store-bought ones are cleaner and not stuck together.

Michael (10) driving out to check out traps:

A pot full of yummy crabs -- turkey legs are awesome bait! They are cheap, last all day, and crabs can't resist.

A blazing pot full of crabby goodness:

The day's bounty (actually, just part of it...) We wound up eating crab a million ways -- boiled crab, crab fried rice, black bean crab, crab roll, crab omelets, crab cocktail, cold cracked crab, and more. We also had oysters (with whisky and one of this year's Oyster Wine Content winners), hyper fresh and ripe berries of all descriptions, black cod kasuzuke, fresh corn, and mussels and clams. It was absolutely incredible. By the second or third day, though, Michael declared a crab moratorium for himself.

In addition to crabbing and being lazy, the kids fished a bit. Stacy's dad is an avid fisherman and taught the kids how to bottom fish for dogfish -- little sharks:

Andrew (13) hooked into two of the dogfish, but since we weren't using steel leaders, both cut the line as they approached the dock. I can't say that I'm disappointed that we didn't land it. I wasn't sure I wanted to mess with unhooking the things.

We also just played in the water a bunch (OK, the kids did -- it was pretty cold...)

It was really a perfect way to spend a few days. We highly recommend Holly Hills Farm and hope to go there again next summer.

Our experience with an MRE

Like many boys, Andrew (13) and Michael (10) are fascinated by all things military and have expressed interest in becoming snipers or some such. So, as part of helping them explore this interest, on our recent camping trip, I brought an MRE (Meal Ready to Eat -- a military ration) along for them to try.

Here are the contents of the MRE laid out. Our menu for the evening was a "pork rib, boneless, imitation" (really a chopped pork burger formed into the shape of ribs and covered in a barbecue sauce of sorts), refried beans, crackers, cheese spread, peanut butter (which we couldn't eat since the kids are allergic), and an oatmeal cookie.

In the interest of giving us the best chance of enjoying the meal, I heated up the meat and beans in some boiling water (the pack didn't contain chemical heaters unfortunately).

Here's what the meat and beans looked like. The beans tasted fine, just like you'd expect canned refried beans to taste like. The "pork rib, boneless, imitation" wasn't as bad as I had feared. Overall the meal tasted like a mid-quality school cafeteria lunch.

That said, once they had a taste of the various parts of the MRE, the boys went back to their hotdogs pretty quickly.

Even after this experience, the boys have not renounced their interest in going military, although I think they'll have to broaden their dietary tolerance before they can really make it.

(For the record, the MRE was made by Sopackco and was a civilian version of the MREs they make for the military.)

Camping at Deception Pass

The boys and I enjoyed our camping trip two summers ago at Deception Pass so much that we decided to go back again this summer.

We set up camp two spaces down from our last site in space 186. It was a nice, level spot, close to the bathrooms and water. (You can see our lovely rental Jeep Commander.)

Andrew (13) decided to bring a little American Gothic vibe to the site, but he couldn't get Michael (10) to join in the photo.

Of course, the big draw (besides cooking stuff on a fire and playing with driftwood) is the beautiful scenery at Deception Pass.

The next morning was a bit foggy (although fortunately it didn't rain on us like last time.)

The boys decided to hang out in the tent in the morning for a while playing card games. As you can guess from their clothes, it was bit chilly. Fortunately, we learned from our last trip and brought a lot more firewood so we could have more and bigger fires. This was a big improvement and important for our general comfort.

Eventually, the fog started burning off, and it became a lovely day with more playing the beach, hiking, and climbing the rocks. I also showed Andrew how to make snares and deadfalls as part of his camping education. It was kind of lucky that they worked since I hadn't ever made them either, having just read about them in books... (Of course, we didn't leave the traps out nor did we try to catch any animals in them.)

It was a fun trip. I really enjoyed getting the spend time with the family outside in such a beautiful place. They boys didn't have their electronics nor did they seem to miss them. The camping system is pretty well set up in Washington so it's easy to find and reserve a spot online (especially if you do it well in advance like I did). I really don't have many excuses to not take them camping more often, especially once we move back to Seattle from China. 

20 Years at Microsoft

Today is my 20th anniversary at Microsoft. I never thought I'd be at one company so long (although my dad was a lifer at 3M.) Even during most of senior year, I had not really thought about Seattle a potential place to live or about Microsoft as a potential employer. I had, however, designed the perfect job in my mind so when I learned about the Program Manager role at Microsoft, I knew I wanted it.

I thought I blew it at the job fair though. After I left my resume with the guy at the table, I took two Microsoft pens they were giving away. He noted, "That's odd. Everyone is taking pens. These pencils are great too." I replied immediately, "We're Stanford students. We don't make mistakes." and walked off. I thought for sure my arrogance would kill the deal, but later that week I received an invitation to fly up to Seattle and interview. (It turns out that kind of "confidence" is a desirable trait at Microsoft.) The rest, of course, is history.

I feel very fortunate to have found a job I love so much right out of college. One of the many great things about Microsoft is that you can do very diverse things without having to switch companies. Among other things, I shipped perhaps the first really video intensive game for Windows 3.0 (Golf for Windows 1.0 -- I hit the only hole-in-one during testing), worked on the first new English dictionary in the last 20-30 years (Encarta World English Dictionary), was grilled by the US Department of Justice and the European Union anti-trust dudes -- on the same day, ran a very profitable $200mm business (Works), helped secure and revive Internet Explorer, spoken in front of huge crowds around the world on topics from digital imaging to computer security to internet standards to search, and now have the opportunity to live and work in China and deal with issues like Internet censorship. It's been exciting and challenging every step of the way.

More important, I've learned a ton from my managers, peers, and reports. It really is a privilege to be surrounded by some of the smartest, most creative, most passionate people in the world. There's no way this experience would have been even one-tenth as much fun without these people. I'm a bit surprised every day that the company pays me to do something I love so much.

Things have changed a lot in twenty years. Microsoft had just passed 5,000 employees and had its first year with revenues over $1 billion. (Today we have around 100,000 employees and earn around $60 billion in revenue - nice to see the 60x growth in revenue on 20x growth in headcount.) The first computers on my desk were an IBM PS/2 Model 30 (10 mhz 80286) and a Mac IIci (25 mhz 68030). Microsoft had just shipped Windows 3.0. There was no Internet (not really), mobile phones were just coming out (and were huge), and CD-ROMs were just on the horizon.

Sometimes people tell me how lucky I was to work in the "old Microsoft" and opine how much cooler it must have been then when everything in the industry was new. It was fun, to be sure, but I think today is even better. A lot of the great ideas we had back then were limited by the constraints of the hardware, memory, network, computing power, screen resolution, cost, etc. and even more by the readiness of people and companies to be a part of a digital world. Today, of course, we have computers in our pockets, nearly ubiquitous wireless connectivity, insane storage and computation available to us, and a population comfortable and reliant on technology. Today, virtually the only thing limiting what we can do is our imagination and ability to execute. Now is the time we can finally do really cool stuff.

In commemoration of my service anniversary, Microsoft gave me a ridiculously huge crystal. It's the big brother of the five, ten, and fifteen year crystals (although I never got those since they introduced them after I reached those milestones.)

Here's the huge box on my conference table. That's a 19" monitor on the table for size reference.
 

The crystal comes well packed. There's a base in the box too plus some cards and other stuff.

Here are my five year (the clock), fifteen year (the stock certificate), and twenty year (the huge crystal) awards side-by-side, in order. (The ten year one looks just like the fifteen year one, so I don't keep it in my office.) Today, all of the awards are progressively larger crystals.

Included in the box is a card from Steve Ballmer thanking me for my service. It was kind of him to pen such a personal note after twenty years...

Anyway, it's been a hell of a ride so far. I'm sure the future will be as much fun (if not more).

The Test of True Gentleman

During college, I had the privilege of joining Kappa Alpha Order, a national fraternity founded on the principle of upholding the virtues of being a gentleman. The spiritual founder of the Order is Robert E. Lee, among the most amazing Americans in history.

We learned one quote that always stuck with me; I thought I'd share it here since it's just as relevant today as it was over a hundred years ago.

The forbearing use of power does not only form a touchstone, but the manner in which an individual enjoys certain advantages over others is a test of a true gentleman. 

The power which the strong have over the weak, the employer over the employed, the educated over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding, even the clever over the silly, the forbearing or inoffensive use of all of this power or authority, or a total abstinence from it when the case admits it, will show the gentleman in a plain light. 

The gentleman does not needlessly and unnecessarily remind an offender of a wrong he may have committed against him. He cannot only forgive, he can forget; and he strives for that nobleness of self and mildness of character which impart sufficient strength to let the past be but the past. A true man of honor feels humbled when he cannot help humbling others.

I hope to live up to this standard every day.

2010 Oyster Wine Award Winners

Once again, Taylor Shellfish (and my friend Jon Rowley)sponsored the Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition to find the best wines to accompany oysters. The best wines are crisp and God-like with fresh oysters. Here are this year's winners:

Listed alphabetically:

Acrobat 08 Pinot Gris (OR)

Anne Amie Vineyards 09 Pinot Gris (OR)

Anne Amie Vineyards Cuvee A 09 Müller-Thurgau (OR)

**Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery 08 Sauvignon Blanc (WA)

CMS White 08 (WA)

*Columbia Winery 08 Pinot Gris (WA)

Franciscan Estates 08 Sauvignon Blanc (CA)

Heitz Wine Cellars 09 Sauvignon Blanc (CA)

*King Estate Winery 08 Pinot Gris (OR)

**Kunde Family Estate 09 Sauvignon Blanc (CA)

* Prior Oyster Award Winner       ** Multiple prior Oyster Awards

I'm sure these are all great, or you can always drink whisky with oysters for my personal favorite food/drink pairing...

Beijing temperature exceeds the Air Quality Indicator!

This is a first for me.

 

 

Note the time -- it's only 10am, and it's already 93 degrees. What's more, it looks like the temperatures will keep rising and the AQI will keep dropping. Wow.

More on AQI

NPR Hosts Read the Declaration of Independence

This year, I celebrated the Fourth of July alone in Beijing. Many people who know me will know that I'm a huge fan of the founding charters of freedom of the United States: The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States of America, and The Bill of Rights (click for the full text of the documents). While this has always been true, I value the true foresight and values encoded in these amazing documents by The Founding Fathers even more living outside the US, particularly in a country that is founded on a different set of values.

If you haven't read these documents recently, I urge you to do so. They are as meaningful and powerful 234 years later and perhaps even more applicable as peoples and governments around the world struggle with the definitions of nationhood and the balance the rights of individuals with broader needs. I also hope our elected officials remind themselves of a few things, that the role of government is to secure our unalienable Rights and that the government derives "their just powers from the consent of the governed." Finally, I hope we all really take a moment to appreciate and deeply value what we as Americans have in the form of these documents. Even today, billions of people have nothing like them in principle or in practice.

In addition to the links to the full texts of the documents above, I've included a special link to the annual reading of the Declaration of Independence performed by the hosts, reporters, newscasters, and commentators of NPR. I found it even more moving than just reading the text.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone, and Happy Birthday, America!

The Declaration of Independence, Read Aloud by NPR Staff

Getting a iPad 3G to work in China

Even though iPads aren't officially available in China yet, there's no problem using them here, even the 3G versions, since (unlike US iPhones), the iPads are not SIM-locked to AT&T.

You first need to get a China Unicom 3G SIM with a data-only plan. You cannot use the 3G from China Telecom or China Mobile because they use different (read: incompatible) 3G standards. There's more information here on what to get.

Next, since the iPad only takes the new microsim size cards, you need to cut the China Unicom SIM card to the right size. This is pretty simple. I used the template on this site and had no real issues. Just remember to measure twice and cut once.

Once you insert the SIM into the iPad, go to Settings and turn on Cellular Data. Your iPad should find China Unicom right away. You need to set the APN settings; "3GNET" is the APN, username, and password.

Tada! You should now be surfing at a pretty fast speed, anywhere there's coverage!

Socks and sandals

I'm glad Michael (9) hasn't forgotten about life in Seattle. This morning as we're preparing to leave for Seattle he shouted with joy, "I'm wearing socks and sandals! It's time to go back to Seattle!"