Month: January 2006

A poor guy from St. Louis

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Last Updated on February 2, 2006 by stlplace

I happened to visit some of the high-end shopping malls in Shanghai yesterday. One is CITIC square (中信泰富广场), which host many world top brands such as Amanni, Bailey, Mont Blanc, etc. The price tag of some of the items amazed me quite a bit, e.g., I saw a ladies’ coat for RMB 9500, a sweat shirt for RMB 2500, same for a belt…Being a guy from St. Louis, which does not have all those specialty stores, I felt I am very ignorant and powerless. I feel pretty good about myself when I do shopping in St. Louis, as long as I don’t go to Plaza Frontenac for the real high end stuff such as Boss and Amanni, with my current salary. But in Shanghai CITIC, I felt much poorer. Interestingly enough, 10 years ago, when I was a engineer working for a state-owned factory in Shanghai, earning a 3 figure RMB salary, I had similar feeling when I visited the stores in Nanjing Rd.

But on the other hand, I believe money is not everything. We do want some money to spoil ourselves from time to time. A cup of Latte, a nice dinner, a concert, a new car…But do we really need those luxury items I mentioned above to make us happy? If happiness can be bought by money, I will work like crazy to make more $$$ so that I can buy happiness.

My other advice is to the guys not earning a six figure (USD) anual income: don’t take your significant other to the CITIC square. Just kidding.

I also checkd out the apartment prices in Shanghai. It went down a bit but it’s still very expensive considering the average wage in this city (I believe it’s about RMB 5000 to 10000 for white collar workers). It’s more expensive than St. Louis, a middle-size US city whose housing price is about the US national average. Although I understand Shanghai is a world class city these days and will have a status of New York or London in the future, I have a lot of sympathy for those young professionals who tried to buy an apartment here in Shanghai. Of course there are other options such as renting. But it seems like if a guy can not buy an apartment, very few girls will marry him. Not sure if it’s a culture thing or money thing.

Note: 1 USD = 8 RMB as of Jan 31, 2006. I hope the USD could hold its value because I am earning USD for now.

Note 2: I happened to see this special edition regarding luxury brands expanding in China from Yahoo.

China

Feel better

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Last Updated on March 26, 2025 by stlplace

Today is my first day in Shanghai for this trip, it’s also the Chinese New Year’s day. Obviously I don’t have a good start with a sleepless night. Also with majority of my friends spending time with family members, I felt I am a little weird. I can tell when I go to the caferia by the motel: I am the only one for the buffet style breakfast. But it was a good deal for RMB 10, I think it will cost USD 10 in St. Louis and the quality will not be as good.

I got to do what I got to do. First thing to the list is to fix my cell phone. I bought a China Mobile cell phone on my last Summer’s China trip. But the SIM card was expired. I was not aware of it initially. I should have read the fine print of the instruction but I did not. To make things worse, I bought a RMB 100 phone card at the airport and added it to the expired number. Because this number is already being used, which means somebody got 100 from me as new year gift. The end result is I bought another SIM card with a new phone No. and I complained China Mobile for my missing money and they promise they will get back to me in 3 to 5 days. I also found another technical glitch: the power outlet does not take my laptop adapter. So what did I do? Go to the reception desk and got an adapter. It worked.

When I was walking on the Shanghai street in the morning (on my way to cell phone place Metro City at Xu Jia Hui), the visibility was not very good. I don’t know if this is weather related (fog) or environment related (dust). Anyway I heard it’s hard to see blue sky in Shanghai nowadays. I can bear with it. But I was unhappy with the facilities in the Metro City, one esclator does not move (safety hazard), the rest room is small, just those small things.

After I got my cell phone, I was really tired. I was debating about to sleep or not: my worry is if I sleep during in the day, it will be hard to adjust my bio clock to China time. I talked this to a good friend of mine, his theory is “what the heck, if you are tired just go sleep”. I know I was physically strained because I did not have good sleep the night before the trip, spent 20 hours on the plane, and then the time difference. Eventually I took my friend’s advice.

I felt much better after the 5 to 6 hours sleep. I went to a few places with good bars. The first stop is Heng Shan Road, I was there last night but this time I am alone. I found it’s easy to become a target for people who tried to sell you certain services, I met two of them and I declined them politely. I went inside “Bourbon Steet” and the music was good. Seems like foreigners like it. There are also some restaurants like TGI Friday (TGIF). I went to “Han She (humble house)” which is a Taiwanese style, and they don’t have food at the time (about 10 PM). I decided to go to Xin Tian Di (new place), which I visited in year 2002. I think I like Xin Tian Di better. It has better music, many foods selection, and good architecture. I ordered a “Jiu Niang Yuan Zi”, it’s not as good as the “Ningbo Tang Yuan” my grandmother used to make, but I felt good when I sit there, listening to the music by “Paradise”, and just relax.

I felt much better now. Hope tomorrow will also be a nice day.

Tags shanghai, TGIF

China

Sleepless in Shanghai

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Last Updated on February 6, 2006 by stlplace

I could not fell asleep at my first night in Shanghai. The jet lag is one reason, but I know the real cause is deeper in my heart. There were lots of firework in Shanghai between 11PM to 12 AM, I have not watched the firework that closely for a while. The amazing thing is that it was fairly quiet in the night. While I was feeling bored because of my sleep problem, I was very glad to see a Chinese English book titled Love & Life in my motel. I opened this little book, it reminds me all the good love stories I used to read from “Reader’s Digest” ten years ago. Besides stories it also contains lots of “words of wisdom” from famous and anonymous people. Let me paste some here:

You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly. — Sam Keen

It hurts to love someone and not be loved in return, but what is more painful is to love someone and never find the courage to let that person know how you feel.

I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.

Don’t try so hard, the best things come when you least expect them to.

Maybe God wants us to meet a few wrong people before meeting the right one, so that when we finally meet that person, we will know how to be grateful.

Remember that the man who can shoulder the most risk will gain the deepest love and the supreme accomplishment.

Don’t trust a lover who kisses you without closing his/her eyes.

Remember the best love is to love others unconditionally rather than make demands on them.

In love and cooking, you must give 100% effort…but expect little appreciation.

6:52 AM, Lunar New Year, Shanghai, China

China

Taking vacations

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Last Updated on February 6, 2006 by stlplace

I will be taking vacations from tomorrow Jan 27 till Feb 5. I expect to have access to Internet regularly but I hope I can find something more fun than computer. Life is much more than computer and Internet.

Today is my last day at work before this Chinese New Year. I told some of my coworkers about my travel plan to China. Interestingly I saw more and more people are aware of the Chinese New Year. Probablly it’s because of all the media coverage of China’s economic development/growth. The other day I heard NPR “Market Place” program did live broadcasting from Congqing, southwest China. While I enjoyed all the praise and good words for China’s growth, I am also aware there is a long way for China to catch up with the developed countries. I think this is why there are opportunities for overseas educated/experienced Chinese professionals. Initially I thought I will be doing exactly same thing at my company for many years to come. Now it seems unlikely if I keep my eyes open.

Wish all the friends have a great Chinese New Year, whether you are overseas or in China!

China Fun

Jack Ma

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Last Updated on January 25, 2006 by stlplace

Ma Yun (Jack Ma) is the founder of Alibaba. Although I don’t agree everything he says, I like his personalities and stories…

I read this article from Wenxuecity, here is the link.

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马云的纯真年代：内心深处那位女孩是块玉《英才》杂志

或许是太瘦，马云胳膊显得很长。他的手从雪白的衣袖中垂下来，几乎垂到膝盖上。他沉浸在回忆里，时而欣喜，时而愤怒。

他的手永远在空中挥舞，说几句就忍不住换一个姿势，好像随时准备展开搏击。

　　马云的“语录”之一是“男人的胸怀是冤枉撑大的，受的冤枉越多，胸怀越大”。这句话中，不仅有愤怒，委屈和自我解嘲，而且饱含宽容。在与现实世界的抗争中，究竟是什么让他始终斗志盎然，意气狂狷？

　　那个叫曾瑾的小女孩

　　幼时，马云很敏感。

　　马云爷爷是保长，属“黑五类”。由于被欺太甚，这个从来不和人争吵的男人有一次终于不能忍受了。结果，警察到家里来，很多同学也趴在窗户上看热闹。警察当面大声呵斥，“只许你老老实实，不许你乱说乱动”。当时，这句话很经典。

　　不幸的是，语文课本里也有这句话。那节课，马云只好硬着头皮听，老师念到那句话时，一个孩子扭过头，看了马云一眼。“哗”的一下，马云的课本就砸过去了。那孩子更猛，把整个书包猛掷过来。马云躲闪不及，书包里的铁文具盒角刚好撞在额角，顿时血流如注。

　　关于“七人之中必定有混蛋”的认识，或许在这时已经萌芽了。而“六人之中必定有俊杰”的论断中，或许隐藏着更多的温暖。

　　喜欢打抱不平，经常帮别人打架。少年马云坚定不移地践行他在武侠小说中看到的“侠骨仁心”。

　　到了小学四年级，他在学校又帮人打架，白骨都露出来了。没有麻药，只好直接缝针。“虽然很疼，但我当时眼泪都没掉一滴。”马云的勇敢赢得同学的好感，期末评三好学生时，他本以为自己肯定没问题，结果却没人推荐提名。

　　终于，一个女孩子站起来说，我选马云。马云吃了一惊，因为当时男女生互相不说话，更不能有好感。马云太感动了，而能不能评上三好学生对他而言，已经不再重要。直到今天，他仍记得那个西安女孩的名字：曾瑾。他强调说，是玉字旁的“瑾”。

　　在他内心深处，这是一块不折不扣的玉。

　　漂亮的地理老师

　　各门课中，马云最得意的就是英文。

　　英文好，他才能念杭州师范大学外语系，才能做英文老师，才有海博翻译社，才有机会到美国接触互联网，也才有后来的阿里巴巴。

　　为什么喜欢英文？

　　读中学时，教地理的女老师非常漂亮，讲课让人如沐春风。马云特别崇拜她。

　　后来，这老师讲了一件事，马云受益终生。她说，在西湖边上，几个外国人问她中国地理，她英文也很好，自然对答如流。老师总结说，你们要学好地理，不然他们问你的时候，你会给中国人丢脸。

　　一回家，马云就花6毛多钱，买了个纸喇叭，每天听英文广播。地理老师常去的西湖边，也成了他的最爱。遇到外国人，马云就凑上去和人讲话。他的英语口语就这样一天天流利起来。

　　有了兴趣，才能做好。马云坚信这一点。而在兴趣基础上建立起来的实力，“就是一次次失败的积累。只要不把我打死，还会再来过。霉运当头时，要跳出来看，放弃不等于用头撞墙。搞不过就绕一下。学会放弃，才开始成功。”

　　那个数学老师姓余

　　马云最头疼的，是数学课。

　　第一年高考，他数学考了1分。他垂头丧气，准备去做临时工。他和又高又帅的表弟去一家宾馆应聘，结果录用了他表弟，他遭到拒绝。至今，他这位表弟还在洗衣班里，做一名普通的洗衣工。后来，通过父亲的关系，马云到《山海经》、《东海》、《江南》杂志社，蹬三轮送书，打零工。

　　偶尔，他会到浙江舞蹈家协会，为协会主席抄写文件。就是在舞蹈家协会，他看到路遥的《人生》。他喜欢高加林，暗暗在心里将他作为榜样，并且决定不再打零工，参加第二次高考。

　　这次，马云的数学考了19分，总分离录取线差140分。父母都觉得他不用再考了。马云只好白天上班，晚上钜剐！Ｐ瞧谔欤斯睦约阂幌拢透?个小时的路到浙江大学图书馆读书。

　　当时的6个死党，就是在图书馆抢座位时认识的。有一天，6个人躺在草地上，对着天空发誓，6个人一定要考上大学。

　　第三次高考前3天，一位姓余的数学老师告诉他说，马云你的数学一塌糊涂，如果你能考及格，我的“余”倒着写。

　　考数学的那天早上，马云一直在背10个基本的数学公式。考试时，马云就用这10个公式一个一个套。从考场出来，和同学对完答案，马云知道，自己肯定及格了。结果，那次数学考了89分。

　　对于反对和质疑，马云说：“我们这类人，欣赏我们的非常欣赏，讨厌我们的极其讨厌。我不希望大家都喜欢我，这也不可能。当人们都反对我时，不是一件坏事。我讨厌中庸。”

　　正是对“度”把握不同，承受度存在差异，“可能你的承受度是2000万，他的承受度是3000万，而我的是2个亿”，导致了每个人异样的人生。

　　如果此生能有5个概括马云的词留下来，载入史书，他希望是：普通，简单，永不放弃，运气，学习。
=====================================

China

Chinese New Year

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Last Updated on January 25, 2006 by stlplace

我已经有八年没有回国过年了。来美国八年多，先是上学，然后是工作。前几年每年春节的时候大多是我工作最紧张的时候，因为产品RELEASE的关系。这两年换了部门，自己的资格也老了一些，老板也比较好说话。我就跟老板说想回去过年。老板很爽快地答应了，前提是活不能拉下。这对我来说不是问题。自从元旦过完节后，我就开始加班加点，把我的项目给做出来了。看来人还是要有动力。

其实我并不是很想回家过年，不是因为我跟我家里人关系紧张，而是因为我不喜欢过于流于形式的过年方式。走亲戚，送礼品，吃喝一通。。。其实美国的圣诞节不也是如此，买礼品，包礼品，装模作样地猜礼品。。。其实知道里面是什么。我只是想找一个地方安静一下，跟一些谈得来的朋友聊聊天。也许我是搞错了方向，在过年的时候到国内找安静的地方？没听说过黄金周吗？OK，我承认我也许有点失策，但我认为我追求的是一种平静的心态。外界的影响当然有，更重要的是自己怎么去调节。我想我真的很需要这样的QUITE TIME。并不是说美国工作有多紧张，生活压力有多大。很多时候，我过于在乎名利，追求快速的成功。一个事情一看没希望，马上放弃另起炉灶。浮躁，缺乏韧性。

我并不指望我能马上改头换面，但是我看到了一点希望。这里我要感谢很多朋友，尤其是去年夏天在上海碰到的一个新朋友。是你们，帮我看到了希望。

Saint Louis

St. Louisian don’t cry

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Last Updated on January 24, 2006 by stlplace

Today is a sad day for St. Louis, especially the Hazelwood city in the north county. As expected Ford Motor Company announced the closing of Hazelwood assembly plant, see an article from stltoday here. This will eliminate 1900 mostly well paid blue collar jobs. I think the workers there should earn USD 60,000 a year – in other words, one worker can raise a family of 4 comfortably. In recent years St. Louis area has seen the leaving of SBC (now AT&T) headquarter, the decline of TWA and McDonald Dougless (MD) and their subsequent sales to American Airline and Boeing, repectively. Ironically, MD was also located in Hazelwood area. The policians are still trying to lobby the Ford and keep the plant. But in my humble opinion the chance is very slim. This is not the first time the Hazelwood plant facing closing. They dodged last bullet by lobbying Ford and offering tax incentives. But not this time. The soaring oil price and changing of consumer taste dramatically reduced the sales of Ford Explorer SUV, which is the main product of Hazelwood plant.

This reminded me a discussion I had with a friend couple weeks ago. He said the current American life style, such as living in suburban areas, everyone driving a car to work (some drive gas-thirsty SUVs), spend all the money they earn, the goverment borrowing money from Asian countries…can not sustain. I recalled another friend told me he knows a professor who spent USD 600 a month for the gas (heat) because she has a big house. If my math is right, I think that’s about 4 times a migrant worker’ monthly pay in China.

A little off the topic. I understand it’s a painful thing for the UAW (united auto workers) to let go their jobs. The question is will St. Louis continue the slide? Or is St. Louis in declining? This is not an easy question for an economist; me neither. I have been in St. Louis for more than 5 years. Although I have heard those bad news from time to time, I did see more Chinese immigrants and businesses. I also saw the growth of healthcare and biotech industry. The Panera Bread (St. Louis Bread Company). The new metro-link. The new ball park. The new downtown. I guess that’s the strength of US economy, diversified, resilient, market driven…I believe St. Louis will recover from this loss, just like Cardinals and Rams lost a few important games this year, let it be the past…we will recover and become even stronger tomorrow.

Software development

Asking questions

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Last Updated on May 28, 2009 by stlplace

It’s very rare in software development a developer can work out things all by him/herself. At least not for me. During my work I have encountered all kinds of problems, puzzled and exhausted by them from time to time. But with the right approach, asking the right question to right people, and lots of luck, most of time I was successful.

First I want to admit I was a bit shy when I started working for my current employer. And I was not very good at programming lanuages C/C++ either. When I encountered some simple problems regarding the syntax, I always tried to figure out myself — don’t want to show my ignorance before my colleagues. I extended this good habit a bit too far. When I have real problems such as algorithm or functionality, I usually spent too much time trying to do it all by myself. Sometimes my project manager/leader had to come to me and rescue me.

On the other hand, I think it’s good for a developer to do his/her own work, get some feel about the real problem, and even have some vague ideas about the solutions before he/she approaches somebody for help. Although these days most companies have the “open-door” policy, which means you can go to your boss’s office or colleagues’ cubicles at any time. You still want to show them you did your homework. Remember they also have their own priorities, you can not expect they give you the answer without any meaningful contribution from you. I think this applies more toward algorithm, functionalities and other meaningful questions. Another factor to consider is “urgency of task”, if your boss need it by yesterday, go ahead and ask for help and get an answer as soon as possible. Otherwise you may want to exercise your brain a little and do more homework before asking for help.

For simple questions related with code conventions, syntax and development environment, you can just go and ask. That will save you some time. I used to be responsible for the development environment of my group. I have a coworker who usually asks me questions about Unix; and another coworker asks me questions about Windows. I believe I saved them some time because I usually solve their problem in a short period.

Sometimes you can get answer yourself just by describing the problem to somebody else. I believe if you formalize things in words (rather than do all work in your head), the answer will become more obvious.

These days Email is used widely in the business world. It has some advantages. Sometime you want to ask questions to multiple people. Because you don’t know who has the expertise, and who will have the answer. Or you want to people to discuss about the problem. Sometimes the person you want to ask is at the other side of the globe. But I still enjoyed “face to face discussion” as much as possible. We programmers communicate with computer all the day, why not leave some time for human interaction? Besides that your colleague maybe bored with his program too.

Another thing about email is that the repliers have different levels. Some people can write a clean answer for a difficult problem; some people can make a problem more confusing. My advice is whether people give you good answer or not, you need to do own homework and solve the problem. You can ask different people for the same problem.

The last thing about asking question is don’t make it accusatory. Suppose you found a bug made by another developer and have some questions about it. Your problem is caused by his/her bug. Don’t take it personal and make the other person look like an idiot; or feel good about other people’s mistakes. Remember you will make mistakes too. Simply point out the problem and politely ask for a fix. This way people are more willing to help you out and you will only get more respect.

Fun

Senior moment

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Last Updated on January 21, 2006 by stlplace

A few signs I am getting older:

I don’t need an alarm clock to wake me up. The night before if I remind myself to get up early in the morning, I usually do wake up early.

After walking 4 miles (6 kms), I can feel my knee is sore.

I went to the St. Louis Bread Co. for breakfast, but forgot to bring my purse (wallet).

Software development

I love this job…

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Last Updated on May 28, 2009 by stlplace

I was pretty busy lately. Getting ready for the upcoming China trip, and tried to get some work done before I leave. I even put in some hours after the dinner these days — I have not worked that hard for a while. My effort seems paid off today. My new functionality worked. I was a bit too excited and then I made a stupid mistake — I checked in all my changes to the source code control system without much testing. Soon after I found out I can not run my program with a simple case (which used to work), I felt the seriousness of the problem. So what did I do? I backed out all my changes and ran the program, it worked. Then I put in one change and ran the test, see if it works…and so on. Eventually I found the cause.

I was not sure about my programming career in the past year. But recently I fell in love with my job again. I think I like the time pressure, the design process, the intelligent discussion with my coworkers, debugging, and solving real problem for the customers. I am also very thankful for my boss for his trust, understanding, and the interesting projects he gave me. I think he is smart (much smarter than me), because he knows by keeping me happy, I could be more productive too.