Resuming Mandarin (2009-05-03)

It's a coin toss whether I will return to China this summer--this time with a business visa for coaching, consulting, or development. My employer might have an opportunity, and might send me. Asking simple questions before a Friday social (你想喝葡萄酒吗/Nǐ xiǎng hē pútáojiǔ ma/Do you want to drink wine?) suggests my rudimentary Mandarin study makes me the best non-native speaker in the office. I would enjoy traveling China again, and I need work, so I have resumed studying in hope of temporarily relocating there.

Imagining financial planning (2008-08-06)

Another life I imagine might be some sort of a financial planner. Clearly I like to play with numbers, and review personal finance books (e.g., illustrating compound interest and the cost of current gratification, or explaining stocks and bonds). While I'd like further education, I already have some competence with finance, following this advice:

• Simplify by donating or selling unneeded items.
• Maintain a used car as long as possible (e.g., by minimizing driving).
  
• Have no debt--in fact, through budgeting save an emergency fund for one year's expenses.
  
• Save and research for major purchases (including SIFF and travel).
• Pay bills online automatically.
  
• Almost always pay the full balance on credit cards selected for their features.
• Regularly review three free credit reports.
  
• Contribute to an (Roth or traditional) IRA.
• Use savings to defer income in order to start a business.
  
• Research and purchase auto, dental, disability, liability, life, medical, renter's, and vision insurance, combining when possible.
  
• Have an estate plan.
  
• Set up a 401(k) and fully fund it.
• Periodically review asset allocation.
• Have written goals and milestones for net worth and retirement.

While I'm not (yet) a millionaire, I would be interested in coaching others in Seattle, particularly those starting out in technical fields.

[Corrected wording.]

Imagining travel writing (2008-08-02)

Although it is probably more efficient to make needed money with another interest and take time to travel, I sometimes wonder what life would be like as a freelance travel writer and photographer. It's fun to imagine other lives.

I would continue my quest to visit every continent (except Antarctica), and then visit various regions within each continent. Without worrying about other income, I would also travel more slowly, writing each day--rather than recording only a small portion of the trip afterwards (like China, Paris, Hawai`i, east Africa, or the perimeter of the USA) or not at all (like Germany, Los Cabos, Banff National Park, or Honduras). That way I would finish my recollections before my next trip began! (For example, I don't remember which cathedral in Germany I was in when I took this natural light photograph.)

[Edited link.]

Hiking Boulder River (2008-07-26)

For me, July 2008 has included three short hikes a short drive from Seattle:

• St. Edward's Park with graduate school colleagues on ---05,
  
• Cougar Mountain (though I considered Ebeys Landing) with friends on ---12, and
• Boulder River with my dad on ---26.

A couple of these let me spend part of a day in the forest--one of my goals for this year. Only on the most recent hike did I remember my camera. I'm enjoying the exercise.

Building SF ATIS (2003-06-07/2004-03-24)

Sending the final invoice this month for maintenance of the real-time Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) Web site for the San Francisco Bay area has me reflecting on my company's past projects to discern what I would like to do next. I liked managing a team to build the site using repeatable processes. I contributed by implementing the site's driving times calculations in SQL and VBScript, writing an SQL test suite, and configuring Big Brother monitoring. Often I reviewed code and design documentation. In fact, some days I mostly made decisions. The result was an accessible and easy-to-use map and text system capable of delivering a million page views per day via (BIG-IP) load-balancing two three-server stacks.

I'm proud of our ability to rapidly reach this result within a fixed fee and schedule. Our team took less time to revise the requirements and build the site than the previous company had taken to produce the requirements--and did so in the remaining budget!

Seeing Forbidden City (2008-05-14)

Walking around in the summer warmth of the famous Forbidden City, taking photographs of the red buildings, I feel the elation of a first meeting with someone beautiful. Forbidden City is a fling, however, as I doubt I could live in Běijīng knowing that the sky is not misty but smoggy.

There are surprisingly few people in Forbidden City in the early morning as we work our way south to Tiān'ānmén Square. The crowds arrive later and travel north. We hear Spanish in the gift shop and chat with a traveler from Spain.

After Forbidden City, Tiān'ānmén Square, and a disappointing lunch, jet lag lures us into a nap before a Peking Roast Duck dinner at Quanjude. A friend of a friend who is in Běijīng working for Microsoft meets us. The duck there is delicious.

[Added more links.]

Arriving in Běijīng (2008-05-13)

May 12 we were in the United States of America, and May 13 we were in the People's Republic of China for three weeks of vacation (with no visa trouble). Two airplanes and a taxi brought us to Běijīng, to Xiyuan Villa. On the way the language around us changed from English to Japanese (changing planes in Tokyo) to Mandarin.

Běijīng smells burnt. That's my first impression as I sit in the speeding taxi. It's an official Běijīng taxi, from the taxi stand rather than the salesman inside, but still it has no seat belts. The impression of burning stays with me for a week. The back of my throat and my eyes burn. A business associate later says he smokes only in Běijīng. Since he's going to inhale smoke anyway, he says, it might as well taste good. He also doubts the seat belts would save me from anything.

[Added explanatory links.]

Leaving Feistel (2008-05-12)

We once again left our cat with a friend while traveling, this time for three weeks instead of two months.

Walking around Seattle (2008-04-22/05-10)

After 226 days of walking entered in Walker Tracker, on April 21 the Omron Health Management Software, while receiving data (using a USB cable from the pedometer to the PC), began reporting "The data transfer failed." I hoped it would eventually download--perhaps after the offending day's data had left the device's memory--but now my Omron HJ-720ITC pedometer has begun showing days with zero steps. Like others who have posted elsewhere, I am "disappointed" at the device failure. "For me the selling point was the USB connection," wrote one reviewer (see Google cache). I'll switch pedometers to resume tracking.

Getting immunized downtown (2008-05-06)

While I was entering Tarangire National Park (March 14, 2000), a tsetse fly bit the back of my hand. Fearing further bites, when I reached the porch of my ridge tent I took off my shirt to spray it with Permethrin--and a tsetse fly bit my back.

Later that day I developed diarrhea and a moderate fever. As my temperature rose I worried I would become delirious and no one would discover my condition. This was one of three times in Africa that I wished I had a traveling companion.

My fever stopped rising and finally dropped, I got some rest, and my driver checked with me the next morning. The following day I was well and resumed my safari, taking photographs of elephants and afternoon storms.

This illustrates part of my philosophy of travel. I take whatever precautions are possible, accept that traveling has risks, and then forget my worries and focus on enjoying the experience.

Some precautions are medications and vaccinations for vaccine-preventable diseases. Last year I wrote about anti-malarial medication, mosquito avoidance, and a red colobus monkey. Vaccinations include routine vaccinations like MMR, polio, and Tdap, as well as vaccinations like hepatitis (A and B), rabies, and typhoid.

When I went to Africa, I was watching wild animals, so I received rabies vaccinations. For our trip to China, there wasn't time for the series, and we anticipated less time outdoors. For similar reasons we didn't get the Japanese encephalitis vaccinations. In addition, there are shortages of both of those vaccines. We'll avoid malaria-risk areas of China as well. We did go to King County Downtown Public Health Center Travel Clinic to update routine vaccinations and get hepatitis and typhoid vaccinations. Finally, Ryan is spraying our clothing with Permethrin. At least this time I'm not traveling alone.