Updates

I am sick at home today. :-( That gives me the opportunity to update my blog, which has been idle for a month, or since coming back from the U.S. I guess it's bad timing to get sick on the Valentine's Day. I had a lot of plans - big plans - and now I had to cancel them and break some hearts. (Just kidding. :-)

This reminds me that I almost didn't get sick at all the entire year of 2007! It was my lucky year.

The past month seemed very long to me; it happened to be a month sandwiched by the New Year and the Chinese New Year. You can imagine how busy one could get.

Early in the Morning

I didn't need to make any adjustment for the time-zone difference when I returned, since immediately I had to work on odd hours, like early in the morning or late in the night, to have meetings with our U.S. client. The following picture of a taxi receipt showed that one day I went to work at 5:30 AM. It wasn't the only day that I went before 6 AM.

But guess what happened when I showed it to our finance department to get reimbursement for my overtime work? "Big deal!" one gal said, "Another department reported that they went home at 7 AM!" Gee, I won't get into competing for that. Okay, no more bragging.

Singapore

Then I spent a weekend in Singapore. The weather was just perfect, and my winning streak of "bringing good weather to a city" continued. Oh wait, did I just say no more bragging?

I met some wonderful friends who went on the summer orphanage trips with me the past few years. I heard more stories from the NW. As I looked ahead to a new year, if anything, this trip seemed to tip the scale between whether to stay put at where I were, or was it time for me to move toward the NW. I kept asking myself, "Your best years are right in front of you. How and where do you want to spend them?" My friends, are you asking the same question?

Of course, there was the food of Singapore. I was treated with some incredible local delicacies.

The Hostel

Shortly after returning from Singapore, I continued to be busy at work. Then some friends began to going through Shenzhen, mostly en route to Hong Kong. I tried my best to be a nice host. Picking them up at the airport, showing them around the city a little bit, having dim sum or other food that they preferred, and even pointing to them my apartment.

But I would not actually take them to inside! My excuse was, "Oh, it was so messy, and you don't want to see it." Most of them politely complied. This particular friend, however, had "booked" my place two months ago. I thought I would have enough time to clean up my little apartment, but I never really got the time - or I was just not motivated - so two days before he came, my place was still not ready.

Then, another friend arrived ahead of him, and he booked a hostel in Shenzhen. I took him there, and I was very impressed by the accomodation. It was not very spacious, as you wouldn't expect from a hostel, but it was very clean and neat. In other words, much better a place than my place to spend a night. (Okay, my bed is quite all right, but I am not going to share it with anyone. Or, he can sleep in my bed and I go to the hostel. There was just no room for two.) So after settling down that friend, I went back and emailed the friend who was about to come, "Please?" He finally agreed.

Next time you know what to expect when you go through Shenzhen. :-)

Project Management

Since I returned to China, I assumed the official role of the project manager for a key project. It was a bit overwhelming, but I held on two things: 1) Be nice to my engineers. No matter how much pressure I was getting from above, I wouldn't dump it directly to the team. I shared the situations with them, but our focus was on the solutions, not the problems. (Of course, that's a lot easier said than done.) 2) Be honest to my upper management. Not in a direct way, but just like I wouldn't dump all the pressure to my team, I wouldn't take in all of it by myself either.

There was an interesting scenario when the Chinese New Year was near. Most people wanted to go back to their hometowns. But for the project, we really needed some people to stay behind. It was very difficult for me to refuse their application for time off; I wanted them to have a good rest and return to work with more energy (well, that might be a bit of wishful thinking, but hey, it's holiday time). As it turned out, the biggest snow storms in decades attacked most parts in China, and some of my engineers ended up changing their plans and stayed in Shenzhen. They came to office to join me, which was quite fun. (Really.)

Rest in Hong Kong

A bunch of us (including the friends mentioned above) went to Hong Kong for the Chinese New Year. We stayed at an absolutely gorgeous university campus for a few days. The program was great, and we got some much needed rest. The only complaint was that it was a bit too cold, even in Hong Kong. Actually, people in the south have a much harder time to cope with the cold weather because they typically don't experience it.

My most memorable experience during this retreat was some of the life stories that I heard, including those from the guest speaker, whom, incidentally, I had met more than 3 years ago before I moved to China. She was blind, but she could "see" a lot better than many of us.

Parents' Health

While I was in Hong Kong, I received an email from my sister in San Jose, saying that the hospital spotted something in my mom's kidney. Initially (this was before I left the Bay Area) they thought it might be kidney stone, but they weren't sure, thus my mom wouldn't go for an operation. (She was actually quite irritated by all the different check-ups by the hospital.) But now, after another check, it appeared that it was mostly like a tumor based on the size and location of it. It had about 90% chance of being cancerous, but it would be in really early stage, and an operation would eliminate it.

I called my mom a couple of times since then, and it wasn't conclusive yet. She sounded fine, but once an operation is set, I will decide what to do - maybe making a quick home trip. Of course, I already started doing something. Would you please join me in pr*yer.

My dad, meanwhile, is doing quite all right.

Valentine's Day

So that brings you up to date. I am making adjustments during this new year season, and the biggest challenge is still how I should focus. "How and where to spend my best years" is a big question, but "how to spend each and every day" is just as crucial a question - and perhaps more practical.

Finally, again, this is the Valentine's Day. Here is a little poem that I'd like to share with you.

It's that time of the year again,
Let's forget all the pain.
O, warriors of the brave hearts -
Victories are yours to gain.

Every year every where at this time,
Young and old celebrate the Valentine.
O, when will peace come to heart?
Until you find yours I find mine.