The Long Winter (Maybe?)

One of the first things that Beijingers (native or ex-pat) will tell you when you arrive and begin the inevitable complaining about the weather (which, depending on when you arrive, will most likely be freakishly warm or freakishly cold): "You're going to love October. It's really nice. Oh and May, May is beautiful."

And it was only after several months of hearing this line that I began to freak out. "Wait a minute," I realized, "You're telling me that I live in a city that has only two good months of weather out of the year? How is that any comfort at all?"

The sad truth of the matter is it's only a slight exaggeration (September's actually quite nice, and so is April). Last year, the accuracy of this statement turned out to be extremely uncanny. After an excellent October (which may or may not have been aided by the hullabaloo of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Republic), a snowstorm erupted shortly after the clock ticked midnight on November 1. To be fair, a few flakes came down the evening of the 31st, but all of us awoke from our post-Halloween revelries (which involved tin foil robots, giant iPods and fried bananas) to a blanket of snow. So yeah, October turned out to be a nice month. Followed by at least 5 months of bitter cold.

Which brings me to the current situation. October has not been a particularly nice month this year, which has me extremely worried. Multiple Chinese friends have told us (probably because they all heard it on the same state-owned radio station) that this winter promises to be the coldest winter in a thousand years.

Wait...What??? In the words of my friend Kip, "Like anyone can even know that..."

Last winter, which was itself a doozy, was the coldest winter in 50-something years. Which leaves me wondering just how cold the other 940-something years before that were.

I'm reminded: "the first stage of grief is denial." So now that it's starting to dip below freezing while we're still solidly in the month of October, I'm starting to get a little freaked out. Basically, aside from leather leg and hand warmers for our electric scooter, there's not a whole lot more clothing that I had planned on bundling up in when winter came (I've already donned the thermals and my down jacket). I'm going to have to get creative, though, since we've got at least another 30 something degrees fahrenheit to drop on our way to spring.

Ahh, that China smell

You always forget that certain places have smells, until you go away and come back to it. Beijing smells like smoke, steaminess, and mothballs, with the occasional whiff of super-fruity shampoo. (When we first arrived at LAX, it smelled like the ocean. No joke!)

Rolling back into Beijing was surreal. I think I still have to come to terms with the reality that this foreign place is our life for now. This is where we work, eat, play, sleep. And, as Yale would say the Tick would say, this is where we keep all our stuff. (Ok, that's not entirely true. The bulk of our stuff is in Josh's parents' attic.)

Point being, I'm a bit of a sad bear for traveling over 6,000 miles -- away from beloved family and friends -- to arrive at the place we call home.

Then again, Josh and I are really excited to play out this next season of our lives. New jobs, new projects, new friends... there's a lot to look forward to.

And, is it just me, or do things move extra fast here? In the two hours that we've been back, it started sprinkling, alarms are going off downstairs leaving a bewildered and somewhat embarrassed security guard standing outside his wailing booth, my office shifted its schedule on me, and I might visit a migrant community center later this afternoon, then meet some friends for dinner. Hopefully that will force us to fend off our jet lag.

Wish Josh luck this next week as he comforts me through inevitable homesickness. He is a patient man.

This (6 week) American Life

Yikes, it's been a while. I guess we've been too busy eating and playing (and working) to update.

Just about every day, Marilyn looks up at the sky and exclaims, "It's so blue!" I'm pretty sure that's how it's supposed to look, we just forget that while living in Beijing.

Living in Beijing, it's odd that one of the things we crave most (other than nacho cheese flavor doritos and sour patch kids) is Chinese food. Beijing's style of food just isn't how we grew up. I'm used to southern Cantonese food and M's used to the Taiwan style. Anyway, it's sadly ironic.

Another odd thing is seeing friends we met in Beijing who live in California now. It's a total trip. But awesome, since we have a secret plot to move all our non-California friends out here so that we can have everybody in one place when we're ready to come back. Muhahaha.

My immediate family has grown to 17 people, what with significant others and kids. I can't believe we all fit into my parents house for a family reunion. It was definitely sensory overload having 7 nieces and nephews running around the house, but I do miss those kids a lot. When asked what we miss most about America while we're in China, watching our nieces and nephews grow up is usually the first answer out of my mouth. Then Berkeley Bowl.

During the family reunion, my mom had one of her friends come by to take some family photos. I wouldn't normally post the link, but this kids are just so darn cute.

Well, we're up in the Bay Area now, that mysterious land of wonder and delight. We've got about a week and a half left, and then it's back to Beijing.

First impressions

It's great not having to be on a VPN to post on blogger.  Although I guess that's mostly psychological since I spend most of my time online in Beijing just automatically logged onto the VPN.

A couple random occurrences since we arrived:
5.9 richter scale earthquake within hours of arrival.  Oh California.
Opened my suitcase to find a never-before-seen Chinese knife inside.  Hrmmmm.....???

Both of those really aggravated the sense of sur-reality that we were experiencing.

In keeping with a California tradition, we got In'n'Out burgers on the way back from the airport.  M's mom wanted to stop at Trader Joe's too, and we ran around the store wide-eyed.  I laughed maniacally at the guacamole prices and bought some.  Looking forward to that creamy goodness.

Here we come!

Happy Fourth of July.  We celebrated with a delightful lunch at NOLA Cafe, which serves up some mighty fine New Orleans style food.  I'm not really sure why, but I've always had a thing for southern cookin'.  Then we headed over to the Silk Market to do some last minute shopping, because what's more American than being a consumer? :P  i've mentioned it before, but it's actually quite fun celebrating the Fourth abroad, even if it does make us a bit homesick.

But that's not a problem right now.  Because we're all packed up and ready to go for our first trip back to the US since we got here.  It's still all pretty surreal, but we can't wait to see all of you.  Unless you're a random reader that we don't know, then we'll just have to keep it impersonal.

Touch-able Anticipation

I'm writing this with my auto-refresh windows loaded up. Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference is about to kick off with a keynote speech from Steve Jobs. It's always weird following this stuff from the other side of the world. Back when I was working in California, I'd get in to work and load up the live feeds while opening up shop. Instead, it's 1 am and I'm trying not to fall asleep while waiting for these feeds to refresh.

My predictions?
The next iPhone? Already leaked.
Magic Trackpad? No big surprise.

I think we're about to really see that Touch is here to stay. If the Magic Mouse wasn't enough of an indicator, the Magic Trackpad is one of the last bridges between touch as a mobile feature and full integration of touch into the Mac product line.

The crown jewel? It's not ready for primetime, but it looks to me like the groundwork is being laid for a Macbook Pro Touch. A fully featured laptop with a touch interface, fully backwards compatible with the App Store, either as emulation or through a secondary chipset.

The iPad has had an overwhelmingly positive response once it made it out into the wild, but this is just the beginning. Steve Jobs has really embraced the Clarke-sian law that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," as their recent products and marketing campaigns have touted the new magical qualities of their products. Apple is hot right now, they've got this fierce momentum, and Steve is the Wizard. The common thread in their magic rhetoric? Multi-Touch. Magic mouse, Macbooks, iPad? Revolutionary interfaces where the layers between user and interaction are being ripped away.

Well, Steve's started up, so sit back and enjoy the show.

(insert awkward touch innuendo to conclude)

What Could Have Been

These are the descriptions and their corresponding images for the different options available at China Prom.  I wanted the images creepy, sinister in their un-reality; Ingrid succeeded beyond what I could have hoped.

The Clean Cut

I know what you’re thinking: “Cop Out!”, but hear me out.  Maybe for me, normal is the new weird.  A good many of you have never actually seen me in person with a normal haircut, and some of you have only known me with a mustache (and for that I’m sorry).  Are you sick of being creeped out by my Fu Man Chu?  Now you can do something about it.  On behalf of my wife Marilyn, I’m giving you the chance to vote for a ‘normal’ hairstyle.

The Super Bowl
This cut was inspired by Lin Yu Chun, who gained Internet notoriety after belting out a stirring rendition of “I Will Always Love You” on a Taiwanese talent show.  There’s always been something powerful and moving about the symmetry of the classic bowl cut, but Lin Yu Chun has updated it with a modern swoop along the temple ending in an angular sideburn, boldly defying the gentle curves of the bowl.

The Friar Tuck

In homage to feudal piety, the Friar is in the same family of the bowl cut, only inverted;  more accurately, it’s a bowl within a bowl.  A small rice bowl and a razor is all it takes to prove my faithfulness.  In fact, I’m pretty positive that the good Friar uses the self-same bowl to form his shiny pate as he does to help himself to seconds at the Monastery shi tang.   I am not ashamed.

The Statue of Liberty

Back in the fall when I did a vote-off on our blog, the Statue of Liberty came in second place behind the Page Boy Bob.  It’s a daring tribute to Democracy and Lady Liberty, involving shaving off all but the bangs, which are then spiked into pointy sunbursts of Freedom.  By voting, you are waiving your right to sue, should I accidentally poke one of your eyes out.

Front to Back

How’s this for symmetry?  I found this online and thought to myself: “I’ve got the ‘stache for it, I’ve got the glasses, this cut was made for me.”  That might not be 100% accurate, but having a mirror image face on the back of my head promises to be entertaining.  The level of detail on this man’s head is minimal, but I’m confident that the right stylist could really work some magic.  You won’t be able to tell if I’m coming or going.