Reflect On the Past Semester

Happy time is always passed quickly, whatever the life in the States or the semester in ALI. Now I recall that I had visited an exhibition of photographs, which name was Self-reflection; maybe it had already indicated the topic I would write in the end of this semester? Actually, it’s the time to reflect on the life I had in last few months, with my classmates and teachers.

I have never thought that I would study in a classroom, like a student since I got my master degree, but it really happened. God knows why I agreed with Margaret that went to English courses in ALI at that time. Now I’d regard it as the fate’s arrangement. Then I know you, my classmates, which younger than me; and I learn many things from you, different cultures from different countries. I am so respect your study attitude, serious, hard, and the courage that will not be afraid of making mistakes. I don’t want to mention the names of my dear classmates; otherwise it really likes to dress a farewell speech. However, your names are recorded in my heart; when I think about New York, I will think about you.    
   
Absolutely, I will never forget you, my beautiful teachers, for your help, for your patients…, and for your homework alsoJ I cannot remember how many essays I wrote and how many presentations I prepared. It’s painful and let me remind my past overtime experience in someway, but I’m still alive. Till now I can clearly remembered the occasion that I was writing in the placement test; it’s dreadful to think about that. Tell you a secret, I only wrote no more than 100 words. When I talk about it, I will always think about those Chinese teachers, how they will deal with the similar case, maybe just give student a simple “F”. Fortunately, I met the teacher in ALI, I met you. Hah, I digress. Now as you can see, the changes are happening. 

I will back to Shanghai with Margaret in next two months; that means whatever the exam score I get, I will be fixed at Level 5. However, all of things, such as our daily conversations, group discussions and presentations in the class etc., will become the part of my worthwhile memory in my life. Take care, my friends, and do visit me if you have chance to Shanghai! Herein, I'd like to use Churchill's words as close. 

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

--- Winston Churchill

What Would Our Life Have Been, If Artificial Food Ingredients Hadn’t Been Invented?

What do you have everyday? Many people said that they had salad, meat, bread, juice or soda etc., but they usually ignored those artificial food ingredients, such as trans fats, citric acid and artificial coloring! If time could go back, I wish all artificial food ingredients were not invented in the world. In fact, in my view, the technology of artificial food ingredients is meaningless and the most of products are not good for people’s health. 

Usually a technology has its positive and negative side, and the most of technologies can promote our social development; but I can hardly find the positive side of artificial food ingredients technology. Artificial food ingredients include artificial flavor, food coloring, food additive, and preservative. They are invented and developed just in order to satisfy people’s desire of taste, smell etc. unlimited cognitive expectation; therefore, I don’t think they contribute substantially to this society. To some degree, people are addicted to them and forget the natural foods’ tastes and smells. 

If the artificial food ingredients like a cup of coffee become the part of our life, it’s no matter; unfortunately, they more like cigarettes. People indulge in pleasant cognitive feeling but they don’t realize many things are unhealthy, even dangerous if they have them for long times. Take trans fats, for instance. We can find the track of trans fats everywhere; for example, crisp chicken and HBBQ wings in KFC, French fries and scrambled eggs in McDonald’s breakfast, even shortening and margarine in daily baking. While people are enjoying foods’ crumbly, more and more researches report that trans fact may cause heart disease, cancer and major depressive disorder … etc.

Technology is a double-edged sword hanging over us. In English learning, we have a grammar that use unreal conditionals to describe unreal conditions and related results; but in our reality life we cannot have these kinds of “if”. We cannot prevent those meaningless technologies inventing; but we can control ourselves, and choose use, don’t use, or minimize usage. Just for ourselves!

The Story of My Suit

I have never thought of writing something about clothes, to be honest. After all, clothes are simple for a man, especially for a man like me. In my view, clothes have three kinds according to their dress occasion: formal, business casual and casual. Normally I dress formal from Monday to Thursday, business casual on Friday, and the rest time are occupied by casual clothes. Among these clothes, if I have to make a choice, I would like to choose my suits. There are two main reasons. 

First, the suit can represent a man’s taste, style and attitude. I may not be a fashion man, I always like to choose navy blue cloth and two-button, single breasted jacket suit; and it lets me feel comfortable and safety. In fact, I value the suit for a working/life attitude behind of it; that is rigorous and conscientious. Therefore, if I have an important meeting or thing need to do, even if it’s Friday, I will also dress my suit. It indicates that I take it seriously; moreover, it can remind me and help me keep good working state.

Second, I like my suit because the clothier which I bought it and the three old tailors. It is said that the clothier had more than 90 year’s history. It is middle-sized but reflects its professional in some details. Since the first bespoke suits I had, the time has passed more then ten years; I am so appreciated that they keep their style in the age of quickly changed and impetuousness. I have gone the clothier couple times, and I always find that the old tailors takes professional measurement while accesses customers’ posture, slowly but conscientiously. This feeling has touched my heart deeply... ...

The Custom Clothier as stated in the text (Shanghai, photo from website)

“My Way”

“For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things, he truly feels,
And not the words, of one who kneels.
The record shows, I took the blows ---
And did it my way!”                                 

--- Written by Paul Anka (1967)

If you ask me what my favorite song is, I will give you a clear answer, My Way ( full lyrics and related link see atached in the end); because never had a song like My Way can give me so deep impression, whatever the occasion that I heard, or the feeling from the philosophical lyrics.   

I went to many farewell parties in passed years, included held for me. And I will never forget the first time I attended due to it happened in the period that I worked for Gillette, which is my first job; and the leading role of the party, Henry Chen, is the first boss in my life. I heard My Way just at that time. Henry had worked for the company for more than 15 years, and established the business in the Great China. He recruited me and trained me to deal with variety business situations; he was strict with us on professional ethics, on the other side, he allowed us to make “mistakes”. He is the one of few leaders that I appreciate and admire in my career life. Just a person like him would leave from us, so sad we were; and he used the lyrics of My Way to encourage us to persevere when we meet whatever challenges. Meanwhile, he hoped we could overcome all of difficulties while keeping our integrity in the future. 

Although I had worked for different companies and taken different responsibilities after that, but I always remember what Henry said; it had already stamped on my working style. When I meet problems, I’d like to hear My Way; when I feel depress, I also like to listen it. “Did it my way,” as a creed, it supports me experience many tough periods.  

My Way

And now, the end is near, and so I face, the final curtain.
My friend, I'll say it clear,
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain.
I've lived, a life that's full, I've traveled each and every highway.
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention.
I did, what I had to do, and saw it through, without exemption.
I planned, each charted course, each careful step, along the byway,
and more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew,
When I bit off, more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up, and spit it out.
I faced it all, and I stood tall,
and did it my way.

I've loved, I've laughed and cried,
I've had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing.
To think, I did all that, and may I say --- not in a shy way,
"Oh no, oh no not me,
I did it my way".

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things, he truly feels,
And not the words, of one who kneels.
The record shows, I took the blows ---
And did it my way!

Yes, it was my way.

Hello Buddy, How Are You?

I believe that the best friend is your treasure in your life. You can make many friends, even you keep fairly close relationship with some of them, but the chance that you can get best friend is rarely. One of my best friends, Byrd Moore, we have learnt each other more than ten years and he will be my children’s godfather in the future.  

It is said that you couldn’t find friends in the office. It maybe true in the most of times, but it also has exception, such as Byrd; he was my colleague in Imation (3M). We knew each other owed to the project we fulfilled; we were both the project team member, he had solid technical background and I had rich marketing & sales experience. We’d like to use “solid” to praise each other in our team at that time; and till now “solid” is the symbol of that working period and the proper word that describes our friendship.

We had been a good friend while the project was accomplished. And after that, our friendship became more and more profound. We often went out of office and had a cup of coffee in the afternoon while we felt tired; we also had some drinks when we finished our overtime job and dinner together. We exchanged our thoughts in terms of our works and communicated our plans in the future. When I left from Imation, we were close friends; although we would not work together, we also keep close contact and we both enrolled in MBA program. Our topics also were broader than before, from works to our personal lives.

The one thing that I will never forget due to it let us become the best friends. That was a rainy night, I got Byrd’s phone call; he said that he had resigned from Imation and hadn’t received any new offers. I knew his characters and recognized that he must meet some unusual things; otherwise he would not make this kind of decision. But I only can talk few words briefly with him due to I was having the meeting with my boss, and I promised that I would call back to him later. When the meeting finished and I rang Byrd, but his phone was switched off. I tried many times to ring him at that night, and worried about him; fortunately, we got the contact in the next day morning. Since then we both realized the weight of each other in our minds.

Now we haven’t many chances to meet together due to he is living in Lijiang, the city in Yunnan Province, and has his own business; but we still keep regular contact. There are many, many stories between us; it may need to write a book! J Herein, I just want to say, hello buddy, how are you?

My Spring Break --- Transportation Experience in Norfolk, Virginia

In this spring break, Margaret and I visited Norfolk in Virginia and Washington, DC. The reason we chose Norfolk, the city which is not so famous, because it is the home of world’s largest naval base; I love navy and join navy was my dream. As for transportation, we had three options: driving, Amtrak and Greyhound; and we’d like to ride Greyhound because we thought Greyhound is one of symbols of American culture.

Like Big Hook?

In this trip, we had a bus tour in Naval Station Norfolk, enjoyed cherry blossoming beside Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, and visited Smithsonian Museums, such as National Gallery of Art etc. All of these make the trip full of exciting; without exception, transportation experience is a very important part, especially in Norfolk.  

Norfolk's Darkness

When we arrived in Norfolk, it was getting dark, and no cabs were waiting outside. We tried to look for car rental service and failed due to there wasn’t any service networks around Greyhound station. We also stood at the bus stop but no bus arrived. Fortunately, a cab came to pick up us through the help from customer service desk. I inwardly felt transportation might be the main issue throughout the trip in Norfolk. At the hotel reception, I asked the question on car rental service and was told that it was only available at airport and downtown, where both far from our hotel. It seemed we only can place the hope to HRT (Hampton Roads Transit) which provide light rail and bus services, like MTA in NYC.

The second day, sunny day, beautiful beach, peaceful city… everything was satisfied; we went to Norfolk Naval Base according to our plan. The bus stop was easy to find, but the same thing was happened like the day before, i.e. no bus came to the stop. We decided to walk along the street and enjoy the beauty of the Norfolk landscape. We passed by three or four bus stops, there still hadn’t bus and also without people at he stop. It was hardly to learn the reason because seldom had I seen people on the street… Finally, we went back to the hotel and asked for cab service. Later, we knew that the bus service only run one time per hour in Norfolk and people living in Norfolk are dominated by automobiles. Gosh… US is called the country on the wheels, I really understood it at that time.

The rest time in Norfolk our transportation depended on the cab. We were very happy because we can go where we want to go and the transportation cost also under our control; at the same time, we got to know Valerie, our exclusive cab driver, have stayed in Norfolk for five years. She is a black lady, warm and friendly; we chatted in the car from her job to her children etc. She knows this city very well and then she had another role, i.e. our tourist guider. 

The view of waterfront

When we talk about transportation in Norfolk, the paddlewheel ferry is really worthwhile to experience; and I think it helps HRT saves the faceJ. It is fast, economical and offers a unique view of the Elizabeth River and the waterfront.

Norfolk isn't like the metropolitan city which has completed and concenient public transportation system; but from the other side, it has less noise and more quiet, less dirty and more cleaning, less chaos and more peaceful. Just one tip: if you want to enjoy the life in there, please have your own car or you can fly... 

The Longest Day

Do you like travel? If you ask me this question, I will say yes without hesitation; but when I think it over, I’m not sure about that because travel has wide meaning and it is just “the general activity of moving from one place to another.” Travel can be a tour, it also can be a boring business trip, or it is a daily commute from a city to another. Therefore, my feeling on travel is complex; I’d like to talk about my “longest day” this time, joyful coexisting with painful.

The experience of my “longest day” was happened in one of my business trips. I used to travel by early flight when I had business trip, and this special trip was without exception. It happened in Feb., 2005, when most of people still enjoyed Chinese New Year vacation; I travelled from Shanghai to Shenyang, which locates in the northeast of China. I got up around 5:00am and caught the first flight. Everything seemed on track, I arrived at Pudong Airport (one of airports in Shanghai) and the plane departed on time. I took a nap like I usually did and was waiting for the plane landing; the whole journey would take two hours. When I was dazed with nap, I felt the plane started landing. What’s up? The time was passed a half hour only; the broadcast from captain soon told us because of mechanical trouble we must land at Hongqiao Airport, another airport in Shanghai which is close to my home. After landing, we transferred to Pudong Airport again by bus; it was around 10:00am. Five hours had been passed since I got up and what I can do was waiting for an uncertain time that plane took off.

This painful experience was just beginning; otherwise that day would not be the longest. Sooner we got the announcement that we could take off at 12:00pm. I was so appreciated the airline company’s punctuality, the plane departed from airport according to the schedule; and I was really tired and fell asleep quickly. It has another 30 minutes flight time to destination when I woke; but in the meantime we got the depressed information that the plane should turn back due to destination weather issue. I was almost collapse! Ten hours passed! I couldn’t believe that I was still in Shanghai since my eyes opened in the morning. I was only keeping my fingers crossed that everything was going to be OK and imaged some pleasant scenes, such as drinking with friends after landing etc. Fortunately, the air flight wasn’t cancelled. After two hours’ waiting, the plane finally accomplished its mission; I safely arrived to Shenyang at 7:30pm.

The same coin has two sides. In fact, on the other side, this travel experience was a good opportunity to practice my patience, let me keep optimistic mind. Meanwhile, the time wasn’t waste too much because I finished couple reports while I was waiting. I feel happy so far although that is my “longest day”.

This is travel, full of surprise; you will never know what will happen. Just free your mind, stay clam and face it; nothing is impossible!