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 […]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
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.
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:
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 […]
Opening Ceremony in 15 Minutes
Watching the buildup to the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on CCTV-5/Olympics, I remember my excitement watching the Olympics as a kid, and my cynicism disappears. Switching to CCTV-1, some of my cynicism returns. But then I switch back to CCTV-5.
Artistic Gymnastics
In Chinese, Artistic Gymnastics (the kind Mary-Lou Rhetton competed in) is called 竞技体æ“, which means something like “Competitive Skills Gymnastics”. Rhythmic Gymnastics (the kind with the balls and the flags) is called 艺术体æ“, which means “Artistic Gymnastics”. That’s confusing.
Olympic Meltdown?
Kenneth Tan posts on Shanghaiist about how hotels are lowering their rates in Beijing during the Olympics because the expected influx of tourists doesn’t appear to be materializing. We were actually one of the apartment owners hoping to cash in on the Olympics. I don’t think we were being greedy–it was only worth it to […]
Olympics Obervations
The Olympics have been in the air for the last six years in Beijing, but over the last week or so it’s finally hit everyone that we’re less than a month away. It seems like just yesterday that the ubiquitous countdown clocks were showing several hundred days, and now they’re down to less than 20! […]