Listening to Mandarin (2008-01-05/04-20)

Today I am intrigued by juxtaposition of contrasts in spoken (and written) Chinese:

• to ask, "Is it?" say shì bú shì (是不是), putting "is" next to "isn't";
• to refer to "thing," say dōng xi (东西), putting "east" next to "west";
• to ask, "How many?" say duō shao (多少), putting "many" next to "few"; and
  
• to refer to "size", say dà xiǎo(大小), putting "big" next to "small."

Though not in this blog's goal list, "Chat in Mandarin" is my 2008 non-work mental challenge. I listen daily on my 30 GB iPod to Instant Immersion Mandarin Chinese or Pimsleur Chinese (Mandarin) I, usually while doing 30 minutes of moderate activity. I chose Mandarin because Asia would be new to me and because there are perhaps 1.05 billion speakers. It's the language with the most native speakers (followed by Spanish and English, which I already speak)--an order of magnitude more speakers than other Chinese languages like Cantonese.

I've written about mental self-improvement several times. Recent research into neuroplasticity suggests thinking, learning, and acting actually change the brain. One of the activities Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot: Unleashing Your Brain's Potential consequently encourages is memorization. Since Mandarin is not in the Indo-European language family like Spanish and English, it poses a memorization challenge for me (though thankfully not due to noun declensions or verb conjugations).

An additional memorization challenge is learning Chinese characters or hàn zì (汉字). In fact, some recommend against learning characters at first; others think writing is the main reason Chinese is so hard. (In contrast, to me the four tones don't sound hard so far.) I am studying an average of one simplified character and compound per day from Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters Volume 1: A Revolutionary New Way To Learn And Remember The 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters.

For flashcards I enter hàn zì into Zhongwen Development Tool (zdt)，a program discussed in Chinese forums that has a plug-in to search the CEDICT Chinese-English dictionary. I also downloaded a Pimsleur word list for zdt. The zdt stores hàn zì, pīnyīn romanization, and English definition. Other information (e.g., Learning Chinese Characters visual imagery), I enter into Mnemosyne.

Instant Immersion Mandarin Chinese came with Talk Now! Plus software from Eurotalk Interactive. However, both of the SourceForge programs (zdt and Mnemosyne), like the Pimsleur language learning system, use spaced repetition techniques (an idea I first encountered in Tony Buzan's Use Both Sides of Your Brain). Mnemosyne uses an early version of (and simpler interface to) the SuperMemo algorithm discussed in this month's Wired.

This juxtaposition of modern research and tools with an ancient language and writing may help my memory, but it also provides direction for travel. True immersion may be available in the People's Republic of China, where the official language is Standard Mandarin and the government uses simplified characters.

Walking (2007-09-07/14)

Walking has long been and probably will continue to be important. For me it is part of a happy and healthy mobile lifestyle.

Walking was part of my life in various ways in the past. Summer visits to the houses of each set of grandparents involved a daily walk. During a few years of grade school I lived a block from public land in which I hiked and daydreamed short stories I would write. During high school I walked several miles to and from each Medford school I attended, each day choosing a different route than the previous. Later I again lived on the edge of public land. During undergraduate education I walked around Corvallis--especially the Oregon State University campus--alone or with friends, thinking or talking about life. During and after graduate school I similarly liked to walk the University of Washington campus.

My business partner recently revived his own childhood love of walking. A few years ago when my company moved to from the University District to Westlake, I encouraged walking to lunch in South Lake Union the way we had walked to lunch on The Ave. At most we would walk half a mile. Then he purchased a pedometer to compete with friends. Now he tracks his walks, totaling 10,000 steps per day, around the office and his neighborhood. He even ordered an Omron HJ-720ITC pedometer for me.

Consequently I have begun tracking my walking as well. I suspected I already met the guideline of 30 minutes of moderate activity 5 to 7 days per week, in walking to the bus, to coffee, to lunch (e.g., to Paddy Coynes in South Lake Union), and on the elliptical trainers (at the IMA). Now I am carrying a pedometer to verify that.

It is helpful to distinguish moderate activity like brisk walking from other steps. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cites publications suggesting that 30 to 60 minutes of activity broken into smaller segments of 10 or 15 minutes throughout the day has significant health benefits. The Omron HJ-720ITC has an aerobic step function that displays the minutes walked and number of steps walked at more than 60 steps per minute for more than 10 minutes continuously.

This past week provides me preliminary step estimates for moderate activity. Evidence suggests 30 minutes of moderate activity is equivalent to 3000 to 4000 (aerobic) steps, and that even sedentary adults accumulate 5000 (other) steps. I'm pleased that my average aerobic walking time was 35 minutes per day (3860 steps), but this week only three days had more than 30 minutes (3240 steps). Other (not aerobic) steps ranged from 3310 to 8740 with an average of 6480. An average day for me with 30 minutes of moderate activity therefore would have 9720 steps (though carrying a pedometer may have an effect like the Hawthorne effect). Perhaps I'll join 10,000 steps.

In addition to the health and happiness benefits of moderate activity, there are lifestyle benefits. Walking to and from the bus stop is part of a lifestyle in which I drive cars less and read more books on the bus. It is also part of a lifestyle in which I am fit enough for adventure.

Demonstrating Sailing on Duck Dodge (2007-07-10)

Got out of town on a boat goin' to southern islands
Sailing a reach before a followin' sea
She was makin' for the trades on the outside
And the downhill run to Papeete

Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas
We got eighty feet of waterline, nicely making way
In a noisy bar in Avalon I tried to call you
But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away

--Crosby, Stills and Nash, "Southern Cross"

(Despite the lack of link, "making way" in "Southern Cross" is also a sailing term.) As my previous post on sailing may show, after the exhilaration of the wind in my hair and the bouncing bow beneath my feet, the next most enjoyable aspect of sailing may be explaining it, beginning with sailing terminology:

• starboard and port,
• fore and aft,
• bow and stern,
• beam,
• mast,
• boom,
• lines (sheets--main and jib--, halyard, shrouds, stays, downhaul, cunningham),
• parts of a sail (tack, clew, head, luff, leech, foot),
• windward and leeward,
  
• what to do when the skipper calls out "Ready about" and "Helm's a-lee", or "Ready to jibe" and "Jibe ho",
• points of sail (close hauled, reach--close, beam, and broad--, running), etc.

The July 17, 2007 Seattle Times article on Duck Dodge suggests that this aspect of sailing fascinates observers as well. Like the June 6, 2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer article, the Times also mentions the "raft up" party afterwards (like what I wrote about last week).

At last week's Duck Dodge I spent most of my time instructing, since of Allan's usual crew I was the only one present. Allan filled the boat with friends from Banya 5, except for my guest J. Behmer and his friend. (I bring a guest each Tuesday, and whenever else we sail.) In the middle of a tack I announced, "I'm not usually this directive in social situations." My friend responded, "You, get me a beer! You, get some chips! You, make smalltalk!" pointing to a different crew member for each command.

(Switching from sailing geek to technology geek, I'll credit John with a photograph taken by his Treo and located precisely on the map of Lake Union using Allan's eTrex Vista® Cx.)

[Updated 2007-07-18 to remove redundant words.]

Remembering Le Chao-Ba-Café

Schmap added Chao-Ba to its list of Vietnamese restaurants in Paris and received my permission to use our photograph of le café. Driving to the Seattle office, I miss my morning commute in Paris.

Receiving New T-Mobile MDA® (2007-06-27)

T-Mobile shipped me via UPS a new MDA because within the one-year manufacturer warranty period the one I purchased began flickering and failing to find the network. I took pictures of the old MDA to show there were no cracks or water damage and sent it back.

I probably would have procrastinated the return even longer if it didn't irritate friends and significant others that they couldn't call me. I regularly use Skype from anywhere. In fact, I noticed a lot of redundancy among the mobile devices I've mentioned: Canon PowerShot SD600 Digital ELPH, Dell D820, and iPod nano. Out of curiosity, I took an inventory of the activities I can do with each device, and (except for the ELPH) the feature or software available for that activity.

[Updated to link to Google Docs & Spreadsheets instead of embedding table.]

Wanting Longer in Africa (2000-03-06)

This is another story of Africa in March 2000: My business partner and I worked together at a civil engineering consulting firm in Bellevue, WA, before we started our current software development company. I've long loved travel, and it was while working at the consulting firm that I took a month off to go to east Africa. We were working on a telecommunications project at the time, and a month was all we could spare--not the six weeks I wanted. (Unlike my trip to Paris, we didn't determine a way to work abroad.) On the fifth day of my trip I sent this email message:

It hasn't rained for the last two days. I booked a Mt. Kili climb and a safari. The rain won't stop the Land Rovers on the latter. I just hope that I can work a camera with the remaining arm and leg after I've paid for it. In anticipation of the rain, and because KLM lost my tent somewhere, and because the known trustworthy trip agent is high-end, I'm going on the hut/lodge variety, rather than the budget tent variety of trek.
Are you *sure* that an extra two weeks here would put our work behind? :-)

I came back to Bellevue as planned at the end of March. Upon returning to the office, I learned that there was a stop-work order on the telecommunications project!

At Café on the Ave (2007-02-14)

This popular cafe on University Way NE has WiFi (the key is on the receipt), many power outlets, cute baristas, good drinks, decent meals (the price buys generous helpings rather than gourmet food) and music (Washington band Death Cab for Cutie is playing now). Due to its proximity to UW students often occupy the four-person tables near the windows, but there are outlets elsewhere.

I "Sharpen the Saw" (as Stephen R. Covey writes) physically by getting my heart rate in the target zone three times a week--in addition to trying to eat healthy food. I use UW's IMA for this. Since other goals are to simplify my life by driving less and making transit time more tolerable, it makes sense to stay in the University District before or after my workout. Café on the Ave is a good place for me to work.

Reading, and Listening to Podcasts

"Something was going on which I didn't get."--Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

In the week and a half since my last blog post about a book, I've been reading Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man for a book club meeting February 19. I would probably not read this book if someone else hadn't selected it; it's not in my usual genres.

I find myself reading Invisible Man slowly because the narrator is frequently bewildered. If, in contrast, I understood the events he witnessed, this would be dramatic irony. Since I don't understand, either, it's simply confusing.

Savage Love Podcast

So sometimes I make transit time more tolerable by listening to podcasts instead of reading. I tried this several years ago with an MP3 player, and found the downloading and updating inconvenient. I tried again with a second-generation iPod nano, and the synchronizing is automatic, now that I use iTunes instead of WinAmp. I can listen in the car as well as on the bus, using a cassette tape adapter. On my iPod currently are .NET Rocks!, 43 Folders, AA Meeting: The Academy-Awards Related Obsessions of David Schmader (and Guests), and--because sex has always fascinated me--Dan Savage's explicit Savage Love sex advice podcasts. Several of these are Seattle locals.

At Ancient Grounds (2007-01-24)

If you want art, atmosphere, coffee, WiFi, or wine while you wait for your transfer bus, then I recommend a small shop called Ancient Grounds, 1220 First Ave. The walls have Japanese, Native American, and other art. The sound of running water emanates from fountains.

I found Ancient Grounds by looking on Plazes map for a coffee shop in Seattle near the buses on 1st Avenue and Columbia (four blocks away). I wanted a place to meet a friend today along his bus route from the University District to West Seattle. I enjoyed the atmosphere (and my soy hot chocolate with mint).

Working on D800 in Seattle (2006-12-28/2007-01-11)

Jim waved his hands and said, "Chicken, chicken, chicken," the previous time my laptop refused to turn on. I assume this was because he lacked a dead chicken. Afterward, when he replaced the battery, the laptop turned on. This time (I bring all my hardware problems to Jim) even removing and replacing the battery failed.

I removed the hard drive, shipped the D820 to Dell for repair, and went back to using a D800. The D820 hard drive contains the photographs that I would use to bring this blog up to our 2006-12-04 return flight from Paris to Seattle, instead of leaving the travel diary at Château d'Amboise. I'm disappointed: my Europe blogs posts were my most complete travel diary to date, tripling the 9 handwritten entries in my 1996 European travel diary. I want to finish the trip diary in photos, once the D820 returns and I have easy access to the nearly 2100 photographs Ryan and I took.

In the last half of our Europe trip I traveled and developed software. Now that we've delivered the 0.2 (alpha) version of the user interface, I want to begin blogging books and--when the D820 returns--finish the travel diary.

Using Skype

For business conferences we used Skype when we needed to confer even before I left for Paris for two months. It's easy to download and sign up. In September, though, I bought Skype credit so I could "SkypeOut" to any telephone number, not just Skype contacts or US land lines. In Paris it's useful when I want to communicate with friends, online buddies, and work. It permits text chat, voice conversation (Skype to Skype), SMS text messages, and telephone calls (Skype to phone). The latter is cheaper than the $0.99 per minute international roaming that T-Mobile has in France. At a current rate of € 0.02 per minute to the USA I suspect it's even cheaper than a French phone.

Referring to Wikipedia

After I noticed that I had started referring to Wikipedia like I used to refer to the Internet Movie Database, I added a link to the blog template sidebar. Subsequently Jim Benson posted about Wikipedia in J. LeRoy's Evolving Web. He wrote that Wikipedia generally provides an overview, a Topic 101, the kind of high-level information that Google used to provide. Recently it provided me with a couple interesting location- and transportation-related posts.

I refer to Wikipedia not only because it's interesting but because it's convenient. Books take longer to obtain. Six months ago in a chat a friend who writes that he "would like to see footnotes on the nightly news and newspaper" expressed incredulity at my quoting Wikipedia, noting that it is not a primary source. While this is true, for him it means that it is not a reputable source. To me Wikipedia, with its intent to be a collaborative encyclopedia, is as reliable as "common knowledge," the sort of information someone might tell you in a discussion. Such information need not be perfectly accurate to be useful.

Discovering Plazes (2006-10-12)

I'm experimenting with Plazes to track my exploration of WiFi locations. On Thursday I went back to Le Cafe les 2 Moulins to "discover" it.

Commuting to Morning Workplace (2006-10-09)

Tuesday through Thursday I plan to walk up Montmartre from Pigalle, from our homestay to the office of Jean Claude, where I'll borrow his Wi-Fi from 10:00 until 18:00 (+01) when he closes. Then I'll walk back down to Pigalle to Le Chao-Ba-Café for a Skype conference call with Seattle at 18:15+01 (09:15-08), and work until 20:30+01 when Madame serves dinner. (Mondays I plan to work at Le Chao-Ba-Café in the evening only; in the morning we'll be returning from our weekend--to Montpellier, Nantes, Chamonix, Berlin, Barcelona, Venice, and London, perhaps.)

Working at Le Chao-Ba-Café (2006-10-07)

My dad wrote "AH PARIS... Have you found your cafe?" It appears I have. I have my laptop, and with free wifi (connecting and asking the server for the "mot de passe") I also have email, chat (using trillian), and Internet telephony (using Skype). It's a remote office!

Trying Wi-Fi in Le Cafe les 2 Moulins (2006-10-06)

Near our homestay is Le Cafe les 2 Moulins featured in the movie Amelie. The springs pushing out of the seats made my leg numb. (The Wi-Fi interrupts every half-hour, and resumes five seconds after pressing a button on a Web page. This is better than other locations which require a new login every half hour!)

Buying Air Canada Tickets (2006-05-05)

Ryan and I bought September 27 and December 4 tickets to and from Paris at STA Travel. We arranged to stay October and November with a Paris host family through France Accommodations & Culture. During these months Ryan will study in the University of Washington Department of Comparative Literature Fall Quarter in Paris and I'll work remotely. We hope to travel Europe on long weekends. We think it is a great opportunity, and we're excited!