Category Archives: Uncategorized

I’m a bit behind with my blog writing. In part because I got a cold that was more persistent than I had originally thought and in part because work got in the way. Here is the blog entry I started last week and didn’t finish until the week after. Sunday afternoon, June 6th, I decidedContinue reading “A smoldering Sunday afternoon”

Friday afternoon, June 4th, I had some spare time after a morning filled with calls and I decided to walk up to Tian’anmen square which is around the corner from where my apartment is. I had already noticed that there was increased security around Tian’anmen square and the forbidden city since I arrived the WednesdayContinue reading “Attempt to visit Tian’anmen square”

In the fight against COVID19, China mobilized its mobile infrastructure (pun intended) to track its citizen and foreigners alike by introducing health and travel codes. Although these are all apps, I decided to dedicate a separate blog entry to them because they are such an important part of today’s society. You cannot go anywhere inContinue reading “Health and travel codes”

China is the most automated and cell phone app-based society I know of. Everything is online and everything can be arranged through an app. While the US has good apps as well, I have the feeling China got there earlier and its app ecosystem is much better integrated and more pervasive. While these Chinese appsContinue reading “Simplifying your life with Chinese Apps”

The highspeed train system (高铁) in China is second to none. It rivals airplanes, especially for 2-4 hours flights, like the one from Shanghai to Beijing. By the time you have checked into the airport, gotten through security, dealt with the inevitable delays that plaque China’s air transportation network, the 4 hour and 28 minContinue reading “Taking the train to Beijing”

This has been a busy 10-days in Shanghai. With the exception of Saturday evening, each evening was filled with dinners and typically I had meetings during the day as well. Rather than describing each day individually I figured I jot down some of my overall impressions to make it less boring. Shanghai is about makingContinue reading “Impressions from Shanghai”

Never a dull moment. After we reconfirmed last week with the company that runs the long-term stay apartments in Beijing that the current Beijing policy is 14+7, I got an email today from that same company that stated that the policy was 14+7+7. Apologies, if this is a repeat from my previous blog, but ChineseContinue reading “Should I stay or should I go?”

You would think that at some point I’ve taken enough COVID tests to prove that I’m safe, but no, there is always room for one more. I’ve had five tests over the last 4 weeks already. One test in Austin to make sure I wasn’t caught off guard in San Jose, 2 tests in SanContinue reading “Shanghai hospital visit”

While in the US there is a stigma about COVID and Asian people, here in China it is the other way around: foreigners are potentially contaminated and should be avoided. I was reminded of that today. I had made a coffee appointment with a mentee that I have in Shanghai. We agreed to meet inContinue reading “Microsoft Research Shanghai”

Sunday was a slow day. My body was still recovering from the abuse the night before. It was also raining cats and dogs in Shanghai, so it wasn’t a great time to explore the town. However, there were a few things I had to take care of, one of them was to get money onContinue reading “My foray into money laundering”