51 Flights in A Year

Now to illustrate how crucial it is for me to have a passport - other than to remain legal in a foreign country - this is a summary of the traveling I've done in 2008.

• I flew at least once every month except February
• The busiest traveling months were May (5 trips) and October (4 trips)
• October was the heaviest month as I was on the road 22 out of the 31 days
• My favorite destinations were Shanghai, Beijing, and the NW
• Altogether there were 26 trips through the air
• Most trips were two-leg round-trip, some trips had more than 2 legs with transfers, and a few trips were counted as one-leg due to additional trips prior to the return flight
• Altogether I took 51 flights (a take-off plus a touchdown constituted one flight)

In other words, on average, I had a trip every other week, and a flight per week! But perhaps here is the most telling number of all:

• Out of the 26 trips, 23 were personal (88%)
• Among the other three, 2 were solid business trips (including one to UAE), and 1 was for my company but not for business (it was a "charity trip")

Now you see how much I like to travel through the air. I must say, however, that 2008 was a bit extreme. :-)

Passport!

I wonder if this is the first time that I use my blog to send out an urgent prayer request. I seem to have misplaced my passport! Of course, losing a passport is not the end of the world; nor is it life threatening. It's just a lot of trouble to get a replacement - not to mention also a replacement for the Chinese visa.

What is bothersome is that this would prevent me from traveling in the near future, as I already have plans:

• A New Year's Day trip to Beijing to visit a friend who has been in hospital for over a year.
• A week after that, a trip to Singapore to meet a group of friends to discuss our annual summer camp.
• Two week after that, around the Chinese New Year, a trip to Hong Kong to meet another group of friends for a retreat.

I would love to make these trip, especially the last one (since the first two can be postponed).

100,000

Occasion: Toyota Camry hits 100,000 miles

Date: Sunday, November 30, 2008

Time: Just about 3:00 PM, Pacific Standard Time

Location: Highway I-880, going south (S.F. Bay Area)

City: At border of Fremont & Milpitas, CA

On Radio: FM 102.1 KDFC, Solomon: Overture (Handel)

The Story: I bought the car more than 9 years ago (1999), as it was brand new. When I left California for China 4 years ago, it was already over 90,000 miles (averaging 18,000 miles a year). During the 4 years since, I put on maybe 3,000 miles a year for the home visits (twice a year).

Live photos taken when the car hit the milestone, or "100-thousand-mile stone"?

(I guess I wasn't speeding. :-)

Some before-and-after shots:

Finally, a video showing the exact moment:

Mid-autum Updates

Being sick at home gives me an opportunity to post some long over-due updates. (Which means, I am not that sick.) Interestingly, I can easily pick up from where I left off in my previous updates - more than 2 months ago - on exactly the same topics.

Olympics: Other than watching the spectacular opening ceremony, I didn't follow the Games a whole lot. When the two weeks were over, I thought, that's it, no more Olympics. Not so fast. A couple of weeks later, I was visiting Beijing for the Mid-autumn Festival long weekend, and guess what, a friend got me a ticket to the Paralympics! I ended up inside the Bird's Nest. A memorable experience.

Traveling: After missing that Dalian trip in June (see previous post), my traveling hit full stride in the summer. I am averaging 2 weekend trips a month, and that average is bound to raise after this month. Will I ever get tired of traveling? I don't know. But for now, comparing to how much I work in the office, these weekend trips can be considered leisurely. :-)

Province: I did add another province to my list! In August, I went to Hubei for the first time (another weekend trip), thanks to a friend's invitation. It was a very good trip to the "countryside." It was a short-term trip and quite productive, making friends and enjoying the fresh air.

Movie: Yes, the Three Kingdoms movie came out in July. (Official name: Chibi, or Red Cliff) It was quite entertaining. Since the Three Kingdoms is such a cultural phenomenon in China, naturally the movie drew lots of criticism, and it showed that sometimes people are just too serious. It's a movie, and it's mainly based on a fiction (granted, a fiction based on history). Get a life, people. Anyway, it drew lots of audience too, breaking all kind of Chinese box office records. What we saw was Part 1. Part 2 will come out early next year around the Chinese New Year.

Balance: At least, all the 4 items above are evidence that I am making an effort. Meanwhile, work pressure continues to mount. Did I mention that I was sick today? Can you guess how I got sick? If you thinking along the line that I worked a lot and lack of rest made me prone to sickness, you are very unfortunately correct.

Time to indeed get some more rest. Until next time.

Mid-year Review

Before you know it, it's already July, and half of the year 2008 has gone. Or should I say, good-bye, 1004? :-) It's time to review the few goals that I set for this year if you recall a blog entry from six months ago. (Gosh, I was serious, wasn't I?)

Olympics: I already shared with you that I missed the Olympic torch when it went through my city. Up to this point, I haven't heard anything or from anyone about my volunteer application. May I safely say that I won't get it? Now the question is, will I want to have anything to do with the Olympics - say, going to Beijing to watch a few competitions? Honestly I don't feel passionate about it. As much as I used to enjoy watching it on TV or reading Olympic stories in the books, I don't feel like to be just a spectator this time around.

Traveling: I indeed have lived up my own expectation, traveling extensively the first half of the year, including a home visit to the U.S. (during which I had a few trips within the U.S. to Chicago, Salt Lake City, and L.A.). But I hit a major stumbling block when I returned to Shenzhen: I planned a trip to Dalian a month earlier but I had to skip it due to work pressure!! That was a first time for me. But looking back, I made the right move because we did need some extra effort to turn things around at work. I have two more trips coming up very soon, including one to the NW. I feel good about them because work pressure is not as acute now.

Province: Well, due to the skipped trip to Dalian, I failed to add to the list of provinces that I've travelled to in China. (Dalian is a beautiful city in Liaoning province, which I have not been to.) I look forward to making it up. Dalian is on my list of destinations for the second half of the year.

Movie: The new Three Kingdoms movie is going to be released very, very soon! (In less than two weeks, in fact.) I cannot wait. So much anticipation. The best part of it? There will be two parts of the movie. The first part in July, and the second part in December. This is the Asian edition of the movie. The non-Asian edition that will be released next year will have just one part. I am glad to be in Asia, being able to see the "extended" version.

Balance: I hate to say that I have failed in this area - balancing work and life - but indeed I haven't succeeded. There are plenty signs of improvement, however, and the best part is that I am bringing a positive impact to the project team that I am managing in this area. We are a bunch of engineers, okay? We are a bunch of hard-working engineers. It is probably refreshing for some of them to hear and see a manager who advocates that sufficient rest is key to the success of work. If only I could do what I preach!

I look forward to a better 1004 coming up. :-)