Beijing Day 3

They've been treating us like Kings & Queens here! Aside from the hotel, we have a nice bus with big comfy seats. Yesterday at one of our company visits they not only served us a great lunch but we also had Haagen Daz! That was at another amazing five star hotel at the Chinese WTC. Beijing is so much better than Shanghai. Being here, I can totally see why people would relocate. It's got character. It's clean. Sure there's MUCH pollution but it's still amazing. There's a lot of greenery. It is a lot less like Chinatown. I would describe Shanghai as all the Chinatowns in the US plus all the major metropolitan cities all in one. Beijing is a city of its own.

A little piece of heaven

Last night, I entered a dream. I didn't believe where I was and where I will be for the next few days: I am staying at a five star hotel in Beijing! (The Regent)

 

First of all, the original hotel we were to stay in was nice. But this is only better. Carlson bumped us up from their four star hotel to their five star hotel because of some alleged booking error. I can't even be mad. This place is breathtaking. The building is so new that I feel like we are the only guests staying here.

 

To give you an idea of how great this place is:

• I had an aromatherapy bath drawn for me last night.
• I took a dip in the infinity pool and hot tub. (You know the kind that looks like it goes on forever?)
• We had complimentary happy hour with snacks and champagne.
• The towels are amazingly soft.
• There is a separate bath and shower.
• The plasma screen TV is surround sound so you don't miss a minute of it even in the bathroom.

 

I've never stayed in such a magnificent hotel. But I do plan on enjoying EVERY single minute of this.

Limited Internet Access

As you may know, I've had limited access to the web. I've tried to do
some of my normal internet activies while I've been here including
blogging. Aside from posting, it also means checking out other blogs.
However, I haven't been able to view other blogs. It's weird. The only
thing I can think of is that the internet here is restricted by the
Chinese government from those kind of opinion-type sites.

I can't even visit my own blog! That's crazy.

On another note, I'm leaving Shanghai and will be in Beijing tomorrow.
Please stay tuned.

Trip to Asia

It's been an amazing past few days. I've taken a lot of notes and will
share more shortly.

I must talk about last night. We decided to go from dinner to a trendy
bar we'd heard about. Keep in mind that the city of Shanghai is HUGE
and since our group is big we had to take 4 different cabs to get
there. To get there we only had a sheet of paper with Mandarin letters
to give to our taxi driver. That's it. We had NO idea how far it was,
which way we were going, what kind of neighborhood, etc. That was
scary.

However, we got there with no problem. It was just crazy to think that
we had no cell phones and no way of contacting any other member of our
group. But that's how it is for me and most of my group. We don't
speak the language and we don't even know much to get by.

But overall, we've had a chance to see interesting things already.
I'll share more for the journal soon.

RStheGr8: Try Again, Please

I wrote my undergraduate thesis on the stereotypes of black male athletes in the media with a focus on Kobe Bryant. At the time, it was an issue that I thought was important and deserved attention. Fast forward about 3 years and now we have Mr. Michael Vick. I definitely don’t agree with what he’s been involved in—I think it shows insanity in many ways. However, I don’t believe it is the job of the media to be the judge.

Today, a handful of papers had a picture and/or story of Vick. That’s okay. Tell the story. But one paper that I saw took it a bit too far. The problems are many but I’ll start by pointing out how thuggish and menacing he looks. Yes, what he did was a crime but photoshopping two of these kind of pictures for dramatic effect is over the top. What exactly are they trying to say? And does it really speak to the nature of the story?

I guess they were just trying to be different. Not so much.

RStheGr8: Beneficial detour?

As a result of the 35W bridge collapse here at the beginning of this month, I have had to make several changes. And through this period, I've been looking for positive outcomes that have occurred as a result. I've come up with many. But one of them just hit me today:

I am no longer a five-minute drive away from McDonalds and those tempting fries.

Yeah, it may not sound like much but it's been a good thing. The fact that I'd literally have to drive out of my way to get there--almost tripling the one-way travel time--I've managed to decide it's just not worth it.

By the way, I am totally serious. It's been a good thing for me.

RStheGr8: Around the world in 5 months?

I got an e-mail invitation to travel around the world next year. My initial reaction: I wanna go!

The trip would include Asia, Africa, Central America, South America and the UK over the course of March through August 2008.

As of now, I don't have many details about the trip. I don't know how much it'll cost, what shots I'd have to get, where I would stay, how I would manage to not work for that period of time yet still pay bills and on and on.

But I still want to go. I feel like it would be the type of opportunity that is too good to pass up.

Over the next few months, I'll be praying about it. Then I'll try to see if it's feasible.

And the farther away I can get from a real job, the better. (At least at this point.)

Fashionista L: Shopping with a strategy

I admit that I have problems--many of them.

One that came to forefront today was my problem with not wanting to pay for certain things. Now don't get it twisted--I'm not talking about stealing. I just want to see what I can pull.

With that in mind, I've been shopping for a new fragrance to replace my current wimpy summer selection. The problem is: I don't have any intention of buying a new one until I finish what's left.

But I went into a fragrance store to find that new scent. I left with a handful of samples. Those will hold me over until I'm actually ready to buy. Something for nothing? Just about. I made small talk in the store so that it wasn't obvious that was the only thing I wanted. However, walking in, I knew that's what I wanted to walk out with but I couldn't just do that.

Learnings: Get what you want WHENEVER you can.

She-Unit: What's up with the Remix?

The remix needs a remix.

This summer, there has been a lack of good music. Yeah, I know about
Common's album. But other than that, I've got nothing. The only music
that I've acquired this summer are remixes—remixes of songs that I
already have. I don't understand why there seems to be fewer new songs
yet more and more remixes.

Here are the remixes I've downloaded over the summer thus far:
Let it go--Keyshia Cole
Make me better--Fabolous
Bartender--T-Pain
Tamborine--Eve
When I see you--Fantasia
Same girl--R. Kelly
Do it--Nelly Furtado
Do you--Neyo
(the list goes on and on...)


And the majority of the songs are, if not all—whack!

Where did all the good music go?

She's On the Money: Tipping

I've realized that there are many things that annoy me when it comes to tipping. Since I just got back from a mini-vacay to Vegas, I'm more recently reminded of these things.

 

EVERYBODY IN VEGAS THINKS THEY DESERVE A TIP!!

 

That's ludicrous. (I'm purposely focusing on Vegas since I was just there.)

 

I'm a fan of rewarding someone for hard work or a job well done. But I don't think a tip should ever be required or expected.

 

Here are a couple examples of where I don't fully understand tipping:

1. Taxi cab drivers—especially when they expect or even demand a tip. Unless you handled my bags or went above and beyond the call of duty (driving me from point A to point B), why?
2. Housekeeping. I pay good money to stay in a hotel, again, why should leaving extra money also be a part of the deal?

But I can understand tipping bellboys (the ones who have to handle a bunch of heavy bags), cocktail waitresses who allocate free drinks (I'm not paying for the drink so what's an extra dollar or two) and, sometimes, I even feel that tipping a flight attendant should be allowed—for the ones who are good at their job.

 

Now I must say that I have worked in a job where I received tips. Don't get me wrong, it was great. But never once did I ask or beg for a tip—it just wasn't appropriate.

 

There are many places in China where tipping is not a part of the culture. Tipping is something that people in the United States came up with to compensate for long hours and low pay. Furthermore, proper tipping does not always mean the service will be better.

 

More service industries should latch on to the customer experience model. Firms should be responsible for rewarding their own employees—not the customer. It's not the customer's fault that the company is too cheap to provide a real, substantial salary outside of tipping. If this were the case, there'd be many more happy employees and thus satisfied customers. Tipping should be a surprise and delight—not a requirement to earn enough money for a reasonable standard of living.

Looks like I've got another company to add to my list: Sun Country Airlines.

Changes

You may have noticed that there is a way to subscribe to my blog via
e-mail. Within the next several weeks (beginning Aug. 25), I'll be
traveling to Asia and I anticipate that posts will be less frequent
than normal.

So now you have three choices:

Keep checking back regularly for updates.

Or

Subscribe to my feed. (Link on the side of this page.)

Or

Simply enter your e-mail address to receive new entries as soon as
they are posted.

Either way, I promise to post as often as I can. I can't wait to share
all the stories I'm sure I'll have while traveling.

She's on the Money: Fraudulent Activity?

My credit card company called me bright and early this morning around 7:45. They said they suspected fraudulent activity on my account.

They were wrong.

I've been putting so many random charges on my credit card and I'm not surprised it raised concern. It should've. It's actually somewhat of a relief to know they're actualy monitoring.

But what they should've said is: "Miss, we've noticed you've been charging a lot to your card lately. Are you sure you really want to do that and are you sure you have the financial capacity to repay all of these charges?"

It would be nice to get that kind of reminder every now and then. They'd be monitoring it anyways. That way credit card companies are actually delivering on a potentially positive and social responsible mission.

That would be the day.

One week later...

I'm still humbled by the events of last week. I purposely have avoided talking about it. I had been still trying to process my thoughts. But one week later, I feel stronger. I'm hopeful in God, I'm encouraged by my family and friends and I'm relieved that this tragedy wasn't any worse.

For the past week, I've been virtually engulfed in this event. It's on the news. (I wake up to NPR every morning.) It's evident in my new route home from work. It's evident by the number of helicopters constantly flying overhead. It's apparent by the reduced traffic in my immediate neighborhood—it's simply harder to get there to now. It's obvious by the increased number of ambulances and emergency vehicles in the area. It's all around me.

I take comfort in the fact that I have someone on my side. Someone who was telling me to leave work early and skip the errands that would have taken me across that bridge around the time of the collapse. I am thankful to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

RStheGr8: Tough times for journalists

So this almost goes without saying that this is a tough time for people in the journalism business--especially young people.

But you know it's bad when you're own family member who works for the New York Times can't get you a job.

RStheGr8: Weather changes

Never thought I'd live to see the day when a tornado rolls through New York City!

I'm not pointing fingers at global warming, although I suspect that is the culprit, but it's interesting to note all these different climatic changes.

More monsoons, flooding, earthquakes and excessive temperatures. How did we get here?

I do know that with all these changes, regardless of where you are in the world, are helping us to establish new "normals".

I wonder if that means the Midwest or the East Coast will have to ever deal with severe earthquakes. Or will the West Coast ever see hurricanes and tornadoes? Maybe that will be the new norm.

RStheGr8: Please tell me this is NOT still happening

The following excerpt was taken from an article about Barack Obama's wife. Read the last paragraph. For real?!?

In photographs, she appears rather ordinary. On the stump, she comes
across as down-to-earth. But in person, the wife of U.S. Sen. Barack
Obama is stunning.

Last week, when I sat down with her for an interview in Rockford, she
wore a white sleeveless blouse made out of a tulle material that
showed off her sculpted arms, and navy blue slacks with a double
stranded leather belt.

Her hair, pulled back and held in place with a wide headband, was a
no-fuss do peculiar to black women who actually sweat when they work
out.

Please remind me what year it is again. 2007? Really?!?

RSdoesNU: So over it

I decided that I'm so over school.

I'm in the midst of writing a 10-20 page paper about my experiences during my summer residency (glorified word for internship). And I just want to know why? Is anybody even going to read it? I mean I like to write but sparingly. This is definitely in excess.

Then today (about two weeks before our trip to Asia) they conveniently send a syllabus for the trip and class. MORE WORK!! When are we supposed to get this done? Should I be reading a book while holding the steering wheel navigating the highways back to Chicago? Or better yet, should I use valuable "residency" time to get this pre-trip work done?

Either way, I'm over it. And to think I was looking forward to school...I'll take work for now. Thanks.

What do you think...

this picture says about me?

She Unit: Old Man in the Club

I don't want to be the old man in the club.

Not literally.

I just feel that there's a time and a place for everything. Because I'm in my 20s, I'm entitled to be in the club. I should be found in any given weekend having a good time in the company of a crowd. But post-20s--not so much. It will be much more occasional, I would think and one would hope.

Not true for the two guys who came up to me in the club tonight. I couldn't help but wonder if they realized they looked quite a bit out of place. Boo, you're the only guy in here with gray hair--Get a clue!! I felt like the older guys should've stayed at home to plan for retirement. Or better yet go to a club with people closer to their age. I'm not hatin'. I just don't think you can get mad when you try to approach a group of obviously young girls and they laugh in your face.

The 35W Bridge Collapse

A first hand account:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6157897609118060156