I started drooling when the iPhone was announced in 2007, and finally bought one in September of 2008. In this post I want to share some reflections on the iPhone itself, procuring and using an iPhone in China, and what i’d like to see in the new iPhone that will hopefully be announced (released?) on […]
Author Archives: John
2009
I can’t believe it’s 2009. Catherine and I spent this afternoon reviewing 2008 and talking about what we want to do in 2009. For some reason, I often think of things in terms of threes. For 2008, I set the following three goals for work at New Channel. 1. Set and carry out a realistic […]
Chengdu and Shanghai New Channel Schools
I’ve spent the last week on the road visiting our new schools in Chengdu in Shanghai. I’m tired of hotel rooms and miss home, but it’s exciting to see what we’re building.
Beautiful
My camera doesn’t quite do it justice, but today was the first time I noticed how stunning the CCTV building is.
An Apology
Despite the fact that he is almost certain never to read this, I would like to use this forum to make a public apology to the Bank of China teller I yelled at yesterday. Most people regard me as having a pretty good temper. I don’t get angry very often. But there are some things […]
Where the Internet takes you…
I was sad to hear of Paul Newman’s death recently. Somehow I came across this video of David Letterman’s tribute to Newman: Obviously, I was very impressed by the story about the Volvo. Then yesterday I came across this story elaborating on the Volvo. I’m a big Jon Stewart fan, so I searched YouTube for […]
Our Choice: Food or Inflation?
This CNN segment about the bailout is incredibly entertaining, terrifying and confusing. The guy on the left reminds me of one of the bad guys from The Princess Bride, and the guy on the right reminds me of one of the guys from Upright Citizens Brigade. Both of them describe very bleak futures. Best quote: […]
Letterman and McCain
I used to love watching the first twenty minutes or so of David Letterman’s show, but since moving to Beijing I haven’t seen much of him. This reminds me of how much I like him: And this is approaching sublime:
Random Olympic Notes
Hybrid Taxis There are now hybrid taxis on the streets of Beijing! One type looks just like the regular taxis, and another is shaped more like a Subaru Outback. Before anyone gets too excited, though, they’ll be gone after the Olympics. Like a lot of stuff. “Beijing/China After the Olympics” will become a huge, huge […]
Stalking the Dream Team
Some of these pictures are just priceless. My favorite is the second one. It’s on very different scale, but people sometimes want to take pictures with me after I give a lecture at a school, and very often they don’t really care whether I’m looking or not, or if I know the picture is being […]