Ryu2.mind

Shanghai,while not SF, NY, or Paris, isn't lacking when it comes to choices toeat. Of course, there's good, cheap and yes (safe) Chinese food inabundance, but in addition, if you have a food craving from anywhereelse in the world, chances are it can be satisfied.

Most of theusual global chains are here and even those places like Noah's Bagels,Krispy Kreme and In-N-Out that haven't established themselves in Chinayet, I've generally managed to find somewhat adequate substitutes for.

Yetone gap in the culinary map, and not coincidentally with the onset of the muggy Shanghai summer, one thing I've beencraving for in the last few days (the first time in my 4 months that I've felt like missing any food from the USA)...

Cold Stone Creamery!For those of you not from the States, it's a chain of stores where theymake their ice cream on the premises, and let you choose from a varietyof "mix-ins" ranging from nuts to candy to fruit, which is then blended(by hand in front of you) into the ice cream on a cold stone -- hencethe name. Sure, not exactly Atkins diet-friendly fare, but tryingdifferent combinations is a rather delectable game.

Yes, there'slocal ice cream, or if I'm feeling like blowing money, Haagen-Daaz. Butnot even the latter compares to the infinite indulgent variety affordedat Cold Stone.

The Chinese love to copy a good idea, and maybethere's already such a place here... if so, let me know -- I'm allears. If not... let's just say if the game thing doesn't work out, Ithink I'm seriously going to consider franchising a Cold Stone here...=)

Or maybe just buying a ice-cream maker and having a party.That might be a good housewarming idea, come to think of it. Or is thathousecooling...?

Currently Reading Governing China: From Revolution Through Reform By Kenneth Lieberthal see related

Oneof my favorite places to read is while sitting on the toilet doing mything, and in China I find myself doing that a bit more often than inthe US (hope that's not TMI for you all... ;P ).

For mepersonally, the selection of suitable bathroom literature has severalunique constraints; first and foremost, it needs to occupy me and getme thinking enough to take my mind off of my bodily functions, and thusit should be more than just light reading such as the fluff found inentertainment mags like That's Shanghai.

On the otherhand, it's not something I can get too engrossed in, due to the factthat I (usually) have a limited amount of time I spend in the restroom,so novels or other literary works are generally out because I'm thetype who loves to voraciously read ahead (and ahead and ahead) to findout what happens in a good fast-moving story.

Basically, Iwant information that I can quickly pick up by reading, so somethingnon-fiction that's of use to my life, professionally, or otherwise isbest.

As for the specific subject matter, I for one don'tlike to read Christian books in the bathroom. Reading about His gloryand majesty while being surrounded by pungent odors is the wrongsetting for me; when the Book talks about fragrant offerings, I doubtthe writers were referring to that of Number 2... =P

But otherthan that, I read almost everything, from textbooks (Math and CS theorybooks are especially good, because they get my mind utterly focused onthe subject at hand, and not what my body is doing) to dictionaries(relieve mmyself while at the same time learning a few new words ofChinese or Japanese) to "deeper" newsmagazines such as The Economist.

For a while in my nerdiness, I was reading a commentary on the Linux source code-- little more than a listing of the core source files, and commentary.It's an perfect example of something that fits the criteria: somethingI can learn from quickly, but which I can take in in bite-sized chunksof 10 minutes or less, and yet is (somewhat) relevant for me. Also,it's a book that I can read in a non-linear fashion, for oftentimes Iforget where I left off in my last restroom excursion.

Currently, I've been picking up Lieberthal's Governing China,something recommended to me by more than 1 poli sci/IR friend of mine-- a work that I've always wanted to read, but never found the impetusto. Now that I'm actually living here, I figure it would be good to geta deeper understanding of this country and what makes it tick -- aswell as getting a good reality check on things. I've just crackedthe first chapter (so no commentary for now on the book itself), but it seems to be conducive to bathroom-break sizedreading and processing in terms of its organization... a rarity in andof itself.

I figure that this should keep me occupied for thenext month or two. Beyond that... anyone want to share their goodrestroom reading picks? =)

Currently Playing Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack By John Williams, John Williams, London Symphony Orchestra see related

I've been listening to the Star Wars soundtracks a lot more lately,spurred on by Episode III.  Since it tiestogether the first and second trilogies, I've been in turn listening toall the rest of the movies.  Like re-reading a novel knowing theplot goes and picking up all the foreshadowing that wasn't apparent thefirst time, it's been asimilar experience musically for me.

In particular, listen to Emperor Palpatine's theme on the Return of the Jedisoundtrack.  Now, cue "Augie's Great Municipal Band" -- the lasttrack on the Phantom Menace soundtrack, played during the final paradeon Naboo with Senator Palpatine watching -- paying close attention to thechoral line...

 a line which is essentially a transcription of the Emperor's theme in amajor key, set to a upbeat rhythm and with jubilant brass flourishes tofurther disguise it.

It's a musical wolf in sheep's clothing, and a brilliant foreshadowingof what Palpatine would become, right under everyone's nose -- possiblythe best twist I've heard thus far in Williams' work.

This little revelation that too me six years to figure out reminded me a lot about the xtian walk... inthat evil that leads to our falling is rarely manifested directly orovertly, but rather, it comes indirectly,insidiously, even joyously.  Whether it be pride,complacency, greed, or one of a multitude of other things, it comes tous in a way such that we often embrace wholeheartedly what we ought todespise.  And vigilence comes solely from the mental arsenaldescribed in Ephesians 6... a mindset for me to remember to adopt whenI do my readings.

And while we're on the subject of music -- any GrXer out there willing to send me a GrX Easter Worship CD?  I'll Paypal you.  Xie xie/kam sa ham ni da/arigato gozaimasu. =)

Heads up: another techie entry.

Even 24 hours after the fact, I'm still recovering from the shock of Steve Jobs' bombshell.

My engineering-centric take on things (from someone with both low-level X86 and now PPC experience): The reaction of the Mac crowd seems to be evenly split between predictions of doom, and optimism that this could be the gutsy move that catches Microsoft off guard and elevates Apple to the mainstream.

Personally, I disagree with both camps, and -- despite getting caught off guard myself and it being something I never would have predicted myself -- I just like to think of it as a natural evolution given the evolution of hardware (more below). Specifically, on thinking of it some more, I predict the status quo with regards to Apple's market share post Intel transition.

** Apple's hardware "edge": OS X on generic PCs -- it's not a matter of IF, but WHEN. Considering the fact that people have already managed to get Windows (somewhat) working on something as non-PC as Xbox, I'm expecting to see OS X/Intel running shortly on all our crappy no-name boxes, despite what Apple might wish.

Despite this, I don't think it will necessarily diminish Apple's hardware revenue stream (but it certainly won't increase it) -- witness the fact that iPod sales aren't exactly in trouble despite everyone and their dog in the electronics world having their own cheaper MP3 players. Apple has always been known for its quality (certain iBooks excepted... =P) and industrial design.

Also, with the more carefully controlled Mac hardware combinations, they can hopefully avoid driver hell that plagues even the best PC installations due the myriad of hardware possibilities -- anything else is just "not supported" officially.

** Why is it natural? The gap between RISC (eg, PPC) and CISC (x86) is diminishing; internally, the latest x86 chips all translate the x86 ISA instructions into RISC-like microcode anyhow. Furthermore, RISC code by its very nature takes up more memory, and that is not getting faster nearly at the same rate as the chips themselves. Thus, transistor space which is saved by less complex decode logic on RISCs is taken up by larger L1/L2 caches and larger register files.

Furthermore, pipelining and out of order execution are run of the mill now, these days, and you're going to get a complicated chip, RISC or not.

So with these things more or less equal these days, consider Intel has economies of scale in R & D and production; development costs can be amortized over hundreds of millions of units, rather than a few million. This is solely because of Microsoft and it's no fault of Apple's own, of course. I certainly don't have the numbers myself, but despite the fact that I think that Jobs is certainly someone that sometimes can spew out the Kool-Aid for the masses in the cult, this time I do agree with him that economics alone are a compelling reason.

** Is RISC dead? There's a lot of crap being spewed on various sites and forums predicting this after today's announcement. Far from it! Where RISC shines are embedded/consumer apps like game consoles (remember, IBM is making chips for all 3 next gen platforms), or high-end stuff like supercomputing. The reason is that for those, your hardware platform is fixed, and they aren't subject to the endless upgrade cycle that your desktop PCs are. You compile your code, and it's going to be running on one CPU type, so the compiler can do instruction scheduling and other tricks for a specific type, shifting it from the hardware (one of the original touted advantages of RISC that our computer architecture profs were always touting in our classes).

With a mass-market software app for Mac or PC, you can't really do this, less your careful tuning work goes to naught with the next processor release.

** Finally, the million dollar question: Will I still get a Mac and make the Switch myself? If OS X is hacked to run on non-Mac hardware, probably not... but I would definitely get a copy to play around with and maybe do my email and websurfing on.

Wait... I take that back. I'm in the market for a new laptop to replace my 5 year old T20, and if I can dual-boot Windows and Mac OS X, I'll be the first to get a future Pentium-based Powerbook. =D

Anyhow, to everyone, I say... nothing to see here, move along. Nevertheless, thank you Mr. Jobs for giving me something to think about on this otherwise lifeless Tuesday. =)

It seems individual websites and blogs have to be registered and licensed by the Chinese government now.

Thisisn't new; information websites have always been required to get aInternet Content Provider license if they have their own domain name. Wang Jianshuosums up the situation nicely (the laws cited in that entry are a hootto read, with the whole pie-in-the-skyness of their provisions). Thedifference now is that apparently, they're now targetting personalsites now as well... presumably including those hosted on Xanga and thelike.

Choice quote from the Inquirer article: "one bloggerwho contacted the Shanghai police to register was told there was nopoint in registering as independent blogs would not be grantedpermission to continue."

Of course, then again, the following activities are also "not permitted" in China:

* spitting in public places
* jaywalking
* movie/music/software piracy
* running red lights
* corruption

Inother words, my other China-resident friends and I will be blogginghappily for quite a while to come. ;) Having a US passport and havingthis hosted on a US server also helps... I hope. But if by some chancethis page mysteriously disappears, now you know why... =P

Another Star Wars entry, if anyone still cares. =)

I originally posted a shorter version as a comment on Jimmy's blog, but I've been reading multiple peoples' 'reviews' on the movie, most touching on the seemingly abrupt and rough depiction of Luke's "turning" to the Dark Side -- so I thought it might be good to throw my opinion out there.

Yes, a 2 hour movie does not do the movie and Anakin's "fall" justice... but I think the best way to understand what Anakin goes through is NOT to typecast the Light Side and Dark Side as the "good guys" or the "evil guys", nor view the cause of Anakin being "converted" being solely persuasion from Palpatine/Sidious. (If the latter were the case, then I totally agree, the hurried exposition in the movie would be flimsy at best.)

Instead, Anakin simply is naturally fulfilling his fate of bringing balance that was prophesied and predestined, that had been happening throughout his whole life; his transformation is not something unexpected, but a natural part of this. The thing with the nightmares about Padme merely catalyze it, but the ball was already rolling quite merrily by the time of Episode III.

To elaborate some more, Light and Dark are two manifestations of the same Force, adhered to by two groups, the Jedi and the Sith, respectively. The harnessing of the Force was already unbalanced in that there were thousands of Jedi, following the Light Side through pursuing ascetic detachment from everything, and only 2 Sith, following the Dark Side with a Machiavellian philosophy of ruthlessly using power and treachery for gain.

Both these schools of thought and their practitioners are extreme and have their shortcomings, and a implicit lesson expressed in the Star Wars story arc as a whole is that there needs to be a middle ground between the two. While it's easy to see the Sith as being odious in their thoughts and deeds, the Jedi too have their fundamental faults -- through e.g. their decree on forbidding any affection towards another person, or the reactionary nature of the Jedi Council (cf. the reluctance in Episode I towards training Anakin).

Anakin, as the prophecy foretold, did restore balance... but not in the way one might think. Rather, after ultimately destroying both the Jedi and the Sith (himself included), he leaves a legacy in the form of his son Luke who is able to reestablish a new Jedi order without the dogmatism of the old one, one that embraces both the Light and Dark Side as integral in its thought.

There's been a lot written about this by others, and this is hinted at more in the novels, so I can hardly claim credit in any way for this.

[Yup, you could say I'm into Star Wars, albeit a notch below the folks who dress up in costume and camp out at the movie theaters for seats on opening night of every new Star Wars flick and go to conventions like this one.

Now, I'm fully expecting jedimasterdan to write an essay in the comments elaborating on what I wrote or furiously rebutting everything. =P ]

After the international church service today, I joined some folks fordinner and dessert: a management consultant, a professional violinist,a US diplomat, a model/talent coordinator, a cancer researcher, aproducer of TV commercials... and of course, me.  One thing's forsure -- it's certainly slightly more diverse than the typicalGrX/Silicon Valley crowd (where oftentimes "diverse" means you haveboth hardware and software engineers in the mix... ;P ).

Among other things, tonight reminded me of one of the great truthsabout expat life in general and relationship-building amongst thecommunity: No matter what we do, where we come from, and where wediffer in, we naturally have a common thread linking us... beingstrangers in a strange land -- and thus all in a position to belearning, grasping, encouraging, sharing, strengthening, laughing,commiserating, and experiencing life together. We just have to reach out.

But even so, one faces substantial challenges -- forexpats are a transient lot, in few places more than Shanghai. People come, and people go; every week at church during service,bright-eyed folks introduce themselves to the congregation, andveterans say their often-tearful goodbyes.  Before going deep, oneneeds to see just where the deep end is... and if it's going to bethere tomorrow.

For me, my MO for the first few months was to get a feel for thelandscape... both physically and socially.  From Hongqiao toZhangjiang, and from church cell groups to so-called "expat mixers" atbars (not to mention the occasional protest),for the most part, I delibrately chose to dive breadth first into theoften-tumultulous, never-predicatble pool that is Shanghai.  Thankfully now I'm more or less settled in,logistically speaking.  Culture shock and 'TIC' moments have subsided.  My life,professionally and otherwise, has started to have some semblence of aroutine.

Thus, as summer kicks in, I've realized --  it's time for me to shift relationships fromquantity to quality... to seek out like-minded partners and supportersin this ever-evolving journey of mine who are also in it for the longrun even though the destination is unclear... to hold each otheraccountable and encourage each other all the more as we see the Dayapproaching. 

Tonight, I'm thankful for those who are staying for a while, and forthe One who brought us all here through many paths that have for someReason intersected here and now.  Physically and metaphorically,the first season of my Shanghai life is over, and the next season isstarting.

I leave with this quote from a great man, one of the few people in recent history whom  I truly admire in all respects:

Life is one grand, sweet song -- so start the music.
   -- Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1911 - 2004.

You got it, Ronnie.

An article featuring my employer that appeared recently in Game Informer (with pictures if any of you are wondering what my office is like...):

Readingit reminded me of the big picture, and more importantly, that despitethe challenges, professional and otherwise, I'm thankful to many (andOne) for giving me the chance to be here at this company and in Chinain general, right here, right now...

(AndreaZ, I guess that's my song!)

The first Burger King (汉堡王, hanbaowang)in Shanghai is opening on the 28th of this month, near Jing An Si, mypart of town. The whole place is plastered with banners on thestreetlights, with a pervasiveness that would have made any CCP propaganda director envious. If it's not the firstBK in China proper, it's definitely one of them -- certainly I've neverseen one here nor in Beijing, though I swear I came across one inShenzhen before...

I'm kind of divided whether to celebrate ormourn. As many others have observed already, this city and itsinhabitants are becoming more and more Western, synthetic, and unlikethe rest of the country by the minute, and BK was probably thelast major missing piece when it came to major international fast foodfranchises setting up shop here.

Still, in the US, I've alwaysliked BK's taste better than McD's. And in all honesty, on theinfrequent occassions I've eaten American fast food here in Shanghai,I've noticed that in general, the taste is slightly better thanwhat we get in the US at the same chains. I'm not sure if it's becausethe raw materials are better (less mass factory-type farming or use ofpesticides/hormones/drugs) or if it's because Western food is stillconsidered somewhat "upscale" in China so more effort is put intopreparation.

It'll be interesting to see their menu, and howmuch of it is the same as BK in the states, as well as the pricing --if they have a decent salad/veggie offering (admittedly unlikely), itmight just be a new daily stop in my commute for me to grab somethingalong the way...

In any case, I'm still waiting with bated breath for the day when an In-n-Out franchise lands here...

Igive you the view from my office circa 4:15 PM Shanghai time, Tuesday28 June 2005 -- unretouched and unedited except for stitching.

Notehow as the scene moves to the right, the scene gets greyer and evermore dismal. Yes, it changed like that as I was taking successiveshots.

So much for a dryer summer in Shanghai this year...

BTW,in the ultimate irony, while we were getting drenched today, the waterin my apartment complex stopped running, and is still off (18 hours andcounting). I wonder if I'll beat dreyersice's record for water-free living on the field. =P