Chinese Nationalism

Picked up an issue of Newsweek while in London, and found the following article an interesting read:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/131751

It's interesting to realize that though we are more connected to each other globally through the internet and ease of travel, we still know relatively little about each other's cultures. Whether we're talking China (or any of the Asian cultures) or the Middle East, how much does the West really understand? How much of our problems today are due to lack of understanding?

Tower Bridge

This trip has probably been one of the most tiring, yet most fun I've had on a business trip with this company. After spending time with Phoebe and Joey, I've concluded that London is a fantastic place to visit (even better on someone else's dime), but can be a pretty frustrating place for an American to live. Simple things such as setting up a bank account or getting internet and cable can take months, whereas it's just a few phone calls in the States.

The weather has been amazingly nice here in London, a lot warmer than it was in SF when I left. Having seen most of the landmarks in London already, spent my last free afternoon in London checking out the Tower Bridge. Unfortunately, got to Tower Hill just a few minutes too late, and missed out on the London Tower tour. Next time!

Yum Yum Gimme Some

Souvenirs, anyone?

Platform 9 3/4

Today was my one free day in London, so I took the opportunity to meet up with Phoebe and Joey Tan, both people I haven't seen in ages. Spent most of the day with Phoebe walking checking out London sites - it turns out that I'd seen most of them during my last trip here, but since Rob and I mainly just wandered aimlessly on foot, we had no idea what we were seeing. My nerd moment of the day was courtesy of Phoebe, who really wanted to check out the Churchill Museum and the Cabinet War Rooms. I had no idea there was an underground War Room, and also realized that I really didn't know anything about Sir Winston Churchill. For anyone interested in Britain's role in WWII, the museum is really well done and worth the visit. We ended the day together by having afternoon tea with scones and crumpets at Phoebe's apartment. Incidentally, Phoebe lives by King's Cross Station, which for you Harry Potter buffs out there, is home to Platform 9 3/4. Phoebe reluctantly agreed to the obligatory tourist picture.

Nahyun Natalie Lee

This entry will serve as my long overdue portrait. It's not the best photograph, but I think it captures the moment well. After welcoming baby Nahyun into the world yesterday at 2:07pm, new dad Stephen is completely fixated on the Spurs' first playoff game. Poor Nahyun. As Stephen pointed out, "Imagine if she came today!"

Momma Mannam looks incredibly well and cheery, but then again, I don't think I've ever seen her without the sweetest smile on her face. As the first baby, Nahyun's definitely going to be getting a lot of attention from us. She's so tiny and precious; I think I love her already.

I Heart SF

While trying to find the address for the Sports Authority in San Francisco, I came across this review on Yelp, which I found to be absolutely hilarious and true:

I hate runners and I want to flatten fucking cyclists with my SUV. How can this shithole of a city call itself a CITY, without so much as a real sporting goods store???? Its bad enough that I have to drive out to Daly City or Colma for homegoods, tools, etc., but it seems that all the local mom and pop sports stores cater to the vegan-yoga-politically motivated-triathlete, leaving others to scratch their balls in amazement at the lack of anything baseball, football, gym, or non-lululemon related.
Enter Sports Authority. Its not the biggest, its not the best, but you can probably find what you need, and it won't come in annoying Earthtones.

Well said, Brad D.

An Inconvenient Truth

I haven't gotten around to watching the movie yet, but I did get a chance to hear Al Gore give the closing keynote at the RSA Conference 2008. The talk itself was titled, "Emerging Green Technologies", but a good portion of it was spent highlighting the evidence and issues surrounding global warming. About halfway through the talk, a woman stood up in the middle of the audience and started screaming how Al Gore was spewing lies, which them prompted two other groups of people to stand and heckle. Everyone was immediately removed by security, but what really amazed me was how unfazed Gore was by all the commotion. Once it was clear what was going on, Gore simply continued on with his talk, neither hurrying his speech or increasing his volume. It was as if the hecklers weren't there, his disregard muting their cries.

What puzzles me are the arguments these people make and how Gore's "lies" further invalidate the idea of global warming. Let's assume for a moment that the facts presented by Gore are grossly incorrect and that global warming is nothing more than urban legend. Does that really change the fact that pollution is a problem and we should do something about it? Does it change the fact that we shouldn't rely on non-renewable energy sources? It seems to me that these are good ideas in general, regardless of what you think is going on with the polar ice caps.

I Protest

I'm thoroughly fed up with all the brouhaha surrounding today's Olympic torch relay in San Francisco. There has so much BS and sensationalism from both sides, both before and after the event. People pissed left and right for every little thing imaginable - the mayor changed the route at the last minute even though that's exactly what he said might happen? How dare he keep his word! I'm tired of hearing people being "embarrassed for the city because the Mayor changed the route". Calm the fuck down, people.

How many people out there today actually know the details of Tibetan history? How many people were walking around today assuming that all Chinese people are against Tibet and all people from Taiwan must hate China and therefore support Tibet? This is not black and white, people, and the Tibet issue has been around for a long time. Doesn't this country know better than to make sweeping generalizations?

Pangea Day - May 10, 2008

I've heard about this a number of times, but only recently watched some of the videos available. The concept of having countries sing a national anthem other than their own is pretty interesting, and at times quite beautiful. Here's France sings for USA:



I wonder how citizens of the other countries featured feel about the idea. And yes, Pangea Day is brought to you by Nokia. :)

Up High

If there's one thing I've learned from going to mobile conferences, it's that Nokia always knows how to attract a crowd. Here at the CTIA Wireless 2008 convention in Vegas, Nokia setup an Internet Cafe in the Sky to promote the Nokia N810 internet tablet. With everyone seated and strapped in around a WiFi equipped platform, a crane lifts the whole thing up 180 feet in the air while you browse the internet with your N810. The whole thing was being filmed and broadcast inside the convention hall, while another lady took pictures on-board with a Nokia N95 device. The first press conference of the week was held up here, and judging from the lines to participate, it was a big hit with the crowd.

As a whole, this conference has been surprisingly fun because I ran into a bunch of old co-workers and hung out with them a bit. Walking through the exhibit halls yesterday, I ran into another ex-employee and she convinced me to join her in the Internet Cafe in the Sky. She's afraid of heights, we're both prone to motion sickness, but the Nokia people were so nice we couldn't say no. Good times.